409: Chapter 409 This is the Ancient Path to Ascension?!

As Su Chen's 'dashing' silhouette, accompanied by a group of 'family members' with bizarre artistic styles, vanished into the distorted spatial ripples of the massive stone gate, the entire plaza erupted into chaos, boiling over like a pot of water!

"I... what did I just see? The Divine Son... not only didn't refuse, but even had a doting look on his face?"

"Default? Was that a default? That was a full-blown declaration of sovereignty! Didn't you hear his 'Alright, stop fooling around'? My heavens, that tone... even a burly man like me felt his bones go weak listening to it! What supreme composure and dominance!"

"Too strong! Faced with the public embrace of the seductress from the Hehuan Sect, not only was he unflustered, but he turned the tables and had her completely under control! This is a real man, a role model for us all!"

"The Su Family's Divine Son is terrifying to such an extent! Not only is his strength unfathomably deep, but he even dares to enjoy such romantic fortune, and by the looks of it... this is merely the tip of the iceberg of his vast harem!"

For a moment, Su Chen's image in everyone's minds did not suffer damage due to Hua Nongying's 'ambush.' On the contrary, his audacious, 'in-for-a-penny-in-for-a-pound' maneuver made him appear even more profound, unfathomable, and more worthy of awe.

Meanwhile, Hua Nongying, one of the parties involved, found her mind in utter turmoil.

She had been half-pushed, half-dragged by Su Chen through the gate.

Only when her feet landed on solid ground and she was hit by a wave of desolate, deathly stillness—an aura completely different from the Profound Origin Continent—did she snap back to reality.

Her alluring fox-like eyes fixed intensely on the back of the man walking ahead, who remained as composed and unhurried as ever. Her heart felt as if battered by a massive wave.

[Something's off! This is way too off!]

[This man... how can he be so calm? How dare he be so calm?!]

[My plan was flawless! First, use public opinion to tie him down, leaving him unable to argue, forced to accept the fact that our master and disciples would follow him! Then the initiative would be in my hands!]

[But why didn't he follow the script? Shouldn't he have been furious and humiliated, or panicked and flustered?]

[His utterly matter-of-fact, even slightly impatient attitude made it seem as if... I were the one desperately clinging, throwing myself at him like some lovesick fool! When has this Hehuan Sect Master ever suffered such indignity?!]

Hua Nongying felt her Dao Heart had suffered an unprecedented, massive impact.

Her meticulously planned 'public humiliation play' had backfired. Not only did the other party not feel humiliated, but he also went with the flow, turning her into a mere embellishment for his own 'playboy persona.'

This gave her a stifling sense of having punched cotton, only for it to bounce back and smack her right in the face.

"Master, we... what do we do now?" Hua Yingxue asked in a small voice, her face flushed red as she leaned close to Hua Nongying.

She too had been completely bewildered by Su Chen's final move.

She felt as if she had inexplicably transformed from a creditor demanding repayment into someone who was desperately throwing herself at him... like a concubine?

This shift in status was just too fast!

"Observe and adapt," Hua Nongying gritted her silver teeth, squeezing out four words from between them.

She refused to believe it!

She refused to believe this man could truly be so composed!

He must be forcing himself to hold on!

As long as she stayed by his side, she would definitely find his weakness!

And just as the Hehuan Sect master and her two disciples were still tangled up in the aftermath of that 'status dispute'...

Jiese, Jian Buping, Yue Qinghan, and the others were utterly stunned by the scene before them.

"amitabha..." Monk Jiese pressed his palms together, gazing at this magnificent yet desolate world that left one speechless. For the first time, his face, painted with angry eyebrows, revealed genuine piety and awe.

"The Buddha said, a single flower is a world, a single leaf is enlightenment... But why does this world before us... why does it radiate such an aura of extinction and sorrow?"

Crossing the bronze gate, their vision suddenly opened up.

Before them was not the ethereal, immortal realm they had imagined, with cranes dancing amidst immortal energy.

Instead, it was an ancient stone path stretching across the endless dark cosmos.

This stone path was boundlessly wide, seeming to have no end.

It lay there like the severed spine of a cosmic dragon, floating quietly in this dead silent starry expanse.

On either side of the stone path was an endless darkness so deep it could swallow all light.

In the distance, stars of unimaginable size slowly fell, burned, and finally turned into wisps of dazzling yet tragic cosmic dust.

Not far off lay the corpse of an unknown species, larger than a star, with a bloody hole in its brow. Its dark, blackish blood wasn't yet dry, emanating a terrifying, heart-palpitating pressure.

Further away, a broken giant axe, larger than a mountain range, floated silently. Within a notch on its blade, the phantom of a shattered world seemed to linger.

Shattered continent fragments, colossal divine-demon corpses, and the remnants of magical artifacts whose original forms were unrecognizable drifted quietly by the roadside like trash in the starry river.

A wave of desolation, antiquity, solemnity, and an indescribable sense of tragic heroism washed over their faces.

Standing here, they felt as insignificant as grains of dust, as if they could be swallowed by this dead silent cosmos at any moment.

Jian Buping gripped his sword tightly, its blade humming incessantly.

His fearless Sword Heart was pounding wildly. He could sense that countless strands of terrifyingly extreme Sword Intent lingered in this heaven and earth.

There was the domineering intent to sever Karma, the deathly stillness intent to annihilate all things—each strand was tens of thousands, hundreds of millions of times stronger than his own!

"This... this place was once... a battlefield of supreme beings!" he concluded, his voice hoarse.

Qian Duoduo slumped directly to the ground, his golden abacus clattering as it fell. His shrewd face was frozen in a mix of stupefaction and terror. "My god... this... this place is too terrifying! A single scale from that corpse could probably be sold as an Emperor Weapon! That axe... just a wisp of its residual power could annihilate us!"

"Divine Son! We... shouldn't we find a place to hide now?" he pleaded, looking towards Su Chen at the front of the group.

However, Su Chen merely stood there quietly.

He looked up, gazing at this magnificent yet desolate starry ancient path before him. His eyes held not a trace of fear or awe. Instead, they held a calmness as if he had long anticipated everything, and beneath that calmness, a barely perceptible excitement.

[It's here.]

[Finally here. Although this place looks scary, the spiritual energy and Laws are hundreds of times stronger than the Lower Realm. Perfect for me to quietly make a fortune... ahem, I mean, go into seclusion and Cultivate!]

[My wives, I'm coming!]

[Wait for me. I'm going to catch each and every one of you! Then line you up, waiting for the family discipline... ahem, I mean, the education of love!]

[Hehehe...]

Just as Su Chen was fantasizing about that 'wonderful' future harem life in his heart...

A particularly ill-timed yet extremely excited, crisp voice shattered the solemn and sacred silence.

With a *click*, a flash of light went off.

Yue Qinghan held up that recording spirit stone adorned with pink crystals and lace, striking a perfect 45-degree side profile pose, with the colossal divine-demon corpse as her backdrop.

"Wow! Besties! This background is absolutely killer!"