500: Chapter 500 The Heavenly Emperor (65)

Ye Yun's place of seclusion was an ancient palace located at the very core of the Ye family ancestral grounds, infused by the convergence of nine ancestral Dragon veins.

Once the palace doors closed, two thousand years passed.

For the first three hundred years, he focused all his energy on the Water sacred bone.

The fragments of Five Elements insights left behind by the remnant consciousness of Ji Fan, the North Sea Heavenly Emperor, were his greatest aid.

On the final day of the three hundredth year.

Hum.

The fourth sacred bone in his chest shuddered violently, and blue-black water patterns fully solidified on its surface.

Abyssal sacred bone.

It was done.

Ye Yun looked within himself, sensing the power contained within this newly formed sacred bone.

It was completely different from the previous three sacred bones.

Sacred Flame focused on offense.

Star Suppressing focused on hardness.

Buzhou focused on defense.

The Abyssal focused on control.

Once activated, a blue-black water Domain would form around him, within which undercurrents surged and Laws twisted.

Any opponent stepping into the Domain would be tightly restrained by the omnipresent water pressure and corrosive force, their speed plummeting and their Divine Abilities obstructed.

Four sacred bones. Four forms. Coupled with the Foundation of the Desolate Ancient Sacred Body itself, Ye Yun's combat methods had become rich to the extreme.

But he was not satisfied.

The fifth Wood sacred bone remained silent, not even a trace of a pattern appearing on its surface.

Lacking this final link, the Five Elements could not be unified, and the concept of the Five Elements Saint Body would forever remain just a concept.

Ye Yun did not force it.

He turned his attention to the Dao of the sword.

Heart Sword.

That Legacy from the second supreme sword technique of the Sword Tomb in the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths had extinguished the remnant soul of the great terror with a single strike in the Desolate Palace.

The level of this sword technique was far higher than he had previously realized.

He began to comprehend it with all his might.

One sitting lasted another seven hundred years.

The essence of the Heart Sword gradually became clear in his comprehension—it did not rely on any external Laws, nor did it borrow any power from Heaven and Earth.

What it severed was the "Heart."

All things have a heart.

Living beings have a Dao Heart.

The great terror has obsessions.

Laws have a core.

Even the Heavenly Dao itself has an "operating hub."

Once the Heart Sword is unleashed, it points directly to the Origin.

The more powerful an existence is, the more complex and fragile its "heart" becomes.

This is why it had such a miraculous effect on the remnant soul of the great terror—the "hearts" of those eerie entities were precisely their weakest links.

In the final stage of his two-thousand-year seclusion, Ye Yun's cultivation reached its natural conclusion.

His Dao Fruit climbed all the way up.

Six thousand.

Seven thousand.

Eight thousand.

Nine thousand.

Nine thousand five hundred.

Nine thousand nine hundred.

Nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine zhang.

It stopped.

The barrier of the ten-thousand-zhang Dao Fruit stood before him like an invisible iron wall.

Ye Yun attempted to break through countless times, but each time he was bounced back.

He knew very well what breaking through ten thousand meant for the Dao Fruit.

But the Heavenly Dao did not seem to allow him to cross this step so easily.

Ye Yun did not obsess over it.

He collected his thoughts.

Breaking through to Sainthood with a Dao Fruit of nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine zhang, entering Sainthood meant one Lotus, and after another thousand years of cultivation, he reached the Four-Lotus Saint King realm.

It was time to come out of seclusion.

...

The Ye family ancestral grounds had changed a lot.

The moment Ye Yun stepped out of the ancient palace, he was met with two breaths he had not expected.

Imperial Might.

It came from the Empress.

She had become an Emperor.

Ye Yun was stunned for a moment.

The Empress stood on the steps outside the palace, wearing her Phoenix robes, her bearing elegant and graceful.

Although her cultivation was only at the Early Stage of the First Heaven of the Emperor Realm, that Imperial Might was incredibly pure, and her Foundation was solid.

"Mother."

"Congratulations."

The Empress smiled, her gaze gentle.

"After your father returned, my mental block was resolved. My Dao Heart became clear, and everything fell into place."

She did not say much more, only taking Ye Yun's hand and examining him carefully from head to toe.

Only after confirming that her son was unharmed did she let go.

"Your father is waiting for you inside."

Ye Yun walked into the council hall.

The Desolate Heaven Great Emperor sat at the head, his aura much better than a thousand years ago.

His injuries had recovered by seventy or eighty percent, but the aftereffects of burning his Origin remained, and he could probably only exert about eighty percent of his Peak combat power.

The Fifth Ancient Ancestor stood to the side, his Emperor Realm stable, his aura heavy and profound.

In a thousand years, his cultivation had climbed from the First Heaven of the Emperor Realm to the Second Heaven, and his Foundation was extremely solid.

Ye Wuchen was also there.

Saint Realm.

His Qiankun Sacred Body had advanced further, making him a completely different person compared to two thousand years ago.

Ye Yun's gaze swept across everyone's faces, and he nodded.

"Everyone has become stronger."

The Desolate Heaven Great Emperor did not exchange pleasantries and got straight to the point.

"The situation in the Three Thousand Dao Provinces is not good."

Ye Yun's expression tightened.

"Over these two thousand years, traces of fallen creatures have appeared one after another in the remote areas of various Dao Provinces. The scale is not large, and their strength is not strong, but the frequency is getting higher and higher."

The Desolate Heaven Great Emperor's voice was steady, but Ye Yun could hear the gravity within it.

"The Heavenly Emperor of the Eastern Heavenly Court and the Heavenly Emperor of the Western Heavenly Court went to the Land of Expedition several hundred years ago, and so far, no news has been transmitted back."

"The Central Heavenly Court remains silent. That Heavenly Emperor is 'in seclusion and not coming out,' and there is no news of the Son of the Heavenly Emperor."

Ye Yun was silent for a moment.

"Have you tried contacting the Great Ancient Ancestor?"

"We cannot contact him. Communication with the Land of Expedition was cut off long ago."

The atmosphere became oppressive.

Just then.

Hum.

A communication jade talisman suddenly exploded, turning into a cluster of chaotic light and shadow, projecting into the center of the council hall.

The information was extremely fragmented, intermittent, and mixed with a large amount of interference and noise.

But a few key words within it made the expressions of everyone present change drastically.

"...Eastern Heavenly Court...Western Heavenly Court...ambushed..."

"...transportation channels...modified...trap..."

"...not methods from the Land of Expedition...it is from within the Three Thousand Dao Provinces..."

"...traitor...extremely high level..."

The light and shadow dissipated.

The hall fell into silence.

The Desolate Heaven Great Emperor slowly stood up.

His expression was one Ye Yun had never seen on anyone's face.

It was a true gravity.

It was not anger, nor fear.

It was the extreme calmness and gravity displayed by a Great Emperor who had fought through countless eras, upon realizing that the situation had spiraled out of control.

"If both the Eastern and Western Heavenly Emperors are trapped in the Land of Expedition," the Desolate Heaven Great Emperor's voice was very low, "the only Heavenly Emperor-level combat powers still active in the Three Thousand Dao Provinces are the Heavenly Emperor of the Central Heavenly Court, the Heavenly Emperor of the Southern Heavenly Court, and the North Sea Heavenly Emperor."

"And that person from the Central Heavenly Court is, by nature, the biggest suspect."

The Fourth Ancient Ancestor stood out.

"We must pass the news to the two major Heavenly Courts, North and South. Unite all forces to deal with this together."

"I will arrange it."

The Ye family's secret agent System was fully activated once again.

The most elite messengers, carrying encrypted intelligence, split into seven routes and sped toward the two major Heavenly Courts of the North and South.

...

Three days later.

Ye Yun stood on the stargazing platform of the ancestral grounds, waiting for news to be transmitted back by the secret agents.

What came back was not news.

It was silence.

All seven routes of secret agents had lost contact.

They were not killed.

The entire communication route had been severed.

The Ye family's communication Formations and teleportation nodes were paralyzed simultaneously by a mysterious force.

The Ye family had been isolated.

The Desolate Heaven Great Emperor's expression finally changed.

From gravity, it turned into true vigilance.

"Everyone, go to the highest alert."

His voice spread throughout the entire ancestral grounds.

"The whole clan prepares for battle."

...

That night.

Ye Yun did not go to rest.

He stood at the highest point of the ancestral grounds, looking at the seemingly calm starry sky above.

Midnight.

The firmament shattered.

It was not because someone was attacking the Restrictions.

It was space itself being corroded.

Eerie auras poured in like a tide from the shattered firmament.

Then, figures appeared.

One.

Two.

Ten.

Dozens.

They were all Emperor-level fallen creatures.

Ye Yun's Heavenly Eye operated frantically, scanning every aura thoroughly.

His heart sank.

Forty-seven fallen Emperors.

Eleven fallen giants.

Three fallen Peak Great Emperors.

This force was enough to crush any Emperor clan in the Three Thousand Dao Provinces.

The Ye family's alarm Formation sounded simultaneously.

The nine ancestral Dragon veins let out sky-shaking Dragon roars.

The Ancient Ancestors' Divine Thoughts awakened.

The Empress drew her sword.

The Desolate Heaven Great Emperor forced himself to stand up, his tattered imperial robes draped over his shoulders once again.

The Fifth, Fourth, and Fifth Ancient Ancestors appeared at the same time.

All of the Ye family's hidden heritage was exposed at this moment.

Ye Yun clenched his fists.

He felt that overwhelming, eerie aura, and the Bloodline of his Desolate Ancient Sacred Body was screaming warnings.

Then he felt something else.

Deep within the auras of those fallen creatures, a faint fluctuation was hidden.

It did not belong to them.

It belonged to an existence of a higher level.

That fluctuation was like a pair of eyes.

Very, very far away.

Watching all of this.

Ye Yun raised his head, looking at the shattered firmament, looking into the deepest part of that eerie green Void Realm.

The wind blew from the Void Realm, fluttering the hem of his white robes.

The eerie black tide had already begun to erode the Ye family's clan-protecting Formation.