503: Chapter 503 The Heavenly Emperor (68)

Ye Yun floated in this void. The Qi and blood of his Desolate Ancient Sacred Body instinctively circulated, forming a thin, golden film of light on his skin, isolating him from the omnipresent corrosive force of the outside world.

He did not know where he was.

His communication jade talisman had long since shattered. When he sent out his Divine Thought, it was like a stone sinking into the ocean, receiving no response whatsoever.

He tried to activate his Heavenly Eye.

A golden divine light shone for a brief moment, only to be forcibly extinguished by some invisible force.

Ye Yun withdrew his Heavenly Eye and switched to using his Heart Heavy Pupils.

The heterochromatic light of the Heart Heavy Pupils swirled in the depths of his eyes, piercing through the thick darkness.

He saw something.

Spatial fragments.

Countless spatial fragments, like shards of a broken mirror, drifted slowly through the void.

Each fragment reflected a different scene; some were mountains and rivers, some were stars, and others were nothing but Chaos.

But not a single fragment belonged to the Three Thousand Dao Provinces.

Ye Yun closed his eyes and sank his consciousness into his body.

The Foundation of his Major Achievement Desolate Ancient Sacred Body remained undamaged.

The only problem was that he did not know which way to go.

Ye Yun stood in place for a long time.

Then, he took a step forward.

Forward.

No reason.

Just intuition.

...

He did not know how long he had been walking.

In this land of exile, there was no sun or moon, no cycle of day and night; time had lost all meaning here.

It could have been a day, or it could have been a year.

Ye Yun simply kept walking.

Occasionally, he would encounter danger.

Spatial turbulence would erupt from the darkness without warning, sharp enough to slice through the Physical Body of a Saint-realm powerhouse.

Ye Yun switched to his Buzhou form to withstand it head-on; his mountain-pattern Dao marks shattered and were repaired, only to shatter again.

Occasionally, he would encounter some strange "things."

It was unclear whether they were living beings or remnants of Laws. They had no fixed form, merely writhing masses of shadow that exuded a heart-palpitating aura.

Ye Yun used Heavenly Illumination to burn them to ashes.

Most of the time, there was nothing.

Only walking.

And silence.

...

Meanwhile.

In a deeper layer of the exile space.

The Ye Family was enveloped by a golden Seal, suspended in a grayish-white void.

Inside the Seal, the light of the nine Ancestral Dragon veins had dimmed to the extreme, like a few dying candles about to be extinguished.

Emperor Desolate Heaven leaned against a broken stone pillar, his imperial robe more than half shredded, and his wounds were still oozing blood.

His right hand, starting from the fingertips, had already turned into grayish-white stone.

Petrification.

It was spreading toward his wrist.

The speed was not fast, but it was certainly not slow.

The Empress sat beside him, one hand holding Emperor Desolate Heaven's left hand, which had not yet turned to stone.

Her feet had already turned into stone statues.

She did not look at her feet.

She was looking at him.

"Does it hurt?"

The Empress's voice was very soft.

Emperor Desolate Heaven looked at his grayish-white right hand and moved the fingers that could still function.

"It doesn't hurt. It's just a bit itchy."

The Empress did not smile.

On the other side of the square, the Fifth Ancestor sat cross-legged, his legs completely petrified, with the stone spreading to his waist and abdomen.

His long spear was thrust into the ground in front of him, and petrified patterns were also beginning to appear on the shaft of the spear.

The condition of the Fourth Ancient Ancestor was slightly better; the petrification had only spread to his left foot.

He was the one with the highest cultivation present, apart from Emperor Desolate Heaven, and the Origin of his Peak Third Heavenly Layer Emperor cultivation was desperately resisting that petrifying force.

But it could not hold out for much longer.

His expression was very grim.

Further away, the situation for the ordinary members of the Ye Family was far worse.

Some young Disciples had completely turned into grayish-white stone statues, maintaining the posture of their final moments before death; some were running, some were shouting, and some were embracing each other.

There were no signs of life.

The Empress averted her gaze from those stone statues, her voice hoarse.

"Yun'er is not here."

This was the countless time she had said this sentence.

Emperor Desolate Heaven nodded.

"He is not here."

This meant that Ye Yun was the only person who could change the situation.

"He will come back."

...

Three Thousand Dao Provinces.

The news of the Ye Family's disappearance spread throughout the Three Thousand Dao Provinces in less than three days.

It was not that the Ye Family had been destroyed.

It was a disappearance.

The entire province where the Ye Family resided had evaporated from the map of the Three Thousand Dao Provinces out of thin air.

Nothing was left.

Not even ruins remained.

Major powers employed their most advanced investigative methods.

All of them were like stones sinking into the ocean.

Hegemon Palace.

Hegemon Ancestor stood in the Void Realm, looking at the blank Star Domain in the distance, saying nothing.

Eastern Heavenly Court.

The Eastern Emperor stood in the main hall, silver light swirling in his left Heaven-Chasing Saint Eye, frantically deducing all traces of the Ye Family before and after their disappearance.

He deduced for seven full days and seven nights.

The result was only four words.

No traces to be found.

The Eastern Emperor withdrew his Saint Eye and remained silent for a long time.

"Pass on my order."

"All forces of the Eastern Heavenly Court, be on full alert."

"At the same time, keep a close watch on all movements of the Central Heavenly Court."

...

After the Ye Family disappeared, some indescribable changes occurred throughout the Three Thousand Dao Provinces.

Friction between major powers began to increase, and wars sparked by resources and territories became more frequent.

No one linked the escalation of these conflicts directly to the disappearance of the Ye Family, dismissing it only as a sign that chaotic times were approaching.

But the sharp-witted old monsters had already caught the scent of the coming storm.

...

Ye Yun did not know how many years he had been walking.

His hair had grown, hanging down to his waist.

There was a bit more world-weariness on his face, and a bit less youthful spirit.

But those eyes had not changed.

Still calm.

Still firm.

In this void, he honed every one of his abilities.

Heart Sword.

He practiced comprehending it every day.

With no opponents, he slashed at the spatial turbulence, slashed at those strange shadows, and even slashed at the void itself.

But he still had not found the way back.

His Heavenly Eye was severely suppressed here, able to function at less than thirty percent of its usual capacity.

The Heart Heavy Pupils were unaffected, but they could only see through the illusions before him and could not guide him in the right direction.

Sometimes, Ye Yun would stop.

Sitting on a floating spatial fragment, he would stare blankly at the scenes reflected within those fragments.

Some fragments reflected mountains and rivers, very much like some corner of the Three Thousand Dao Provinces.

He would stand up.

And continue walking.

...

A long time passed again.

One day, he passed through a particularly dense belt of spatial fragments.

His Heart Heavy Pupils caught a trace of something unusual.

In the darkness ahead, there was a faint speck of light.

It was not the reflection of a spatial fragment.

It was real light.

Ye Yun quickened his pace.

The speck of light grew closer and brighter.

He passed through the final layer of darkness.

Then he saw it.

He stopped.

Before him lay a boundless "sea."

Gray-blue, with no end in sight.

Countless Law fragments surged on the surface of the sea, with golden, silver, and crimson lights flickering beneath it.

A familiar aura rushed towards him.

Ye Yun's body stiffened.

He recognized this place.

Boundary Sea.

He had returned to the shores of the Boundary Sea.

...

Ye Yun stood at the edge of the Boundary Sea, watching the surging gray-blue surface, his heart unable to calm down.

He was back.

Not back to the hinterlands of the Three Thousand Dao Provinces, but back to the chasm between the Three Thousand Dao Provinces and the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths—the Boundary Sea.

What did this mean?

It meant that although he had not yet returned to the core area of the Three Thousand Dao Provinces, he had escaped that void of exile.

There were coordinates at the shores of the Boundary Sea.

Starting from the shores of the Boundary Sea, he could find the way back.

Ye Yun took a deep breath, suppressing the excitement in his heart.

He activated his Heavenly Eye.

A golden divine light shone, and this time, it was not extinguished.

Although the Laws here were chaotic, it was not complete void; his Heavenly Eye could function.

He then activated his Heart Heavy Pupils.

The power of both pupils overlapped, and the heterochromatic and golden lights intertwined in his eyes.

Ye Yun cast his gaze toward the distant Boundary Sea.

When he had crossed the Boundary Sea in the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths, he had only considered it a natural barrier separating the two worlds.

But now, with his current cultivation and vision, looking at this "sea" again—he was shocked.

"This is not a sea."

Under the scrutiny of his dual divine pupils, the truth of the Boundary Sea was revealed.

It was not a sea.

It was a sword mark.

A massive sword mark that pierced through the heavens and earth, severing the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths from the Three Thousand Dao Provinces.

The endless "seawater" was merely the result of residual Sword Intent and Law fragments within the sword mark, accumulated over countless eras.

The Sword Intent was too strong.

So strong that after countless epochs, it had still not dissipated.

Strong enough to transform into a "sea," spanning between the two worlds.

What kind of sword strike could sever two worlds?

What kind of existence could leave behind such a terrifying sword mark?

His Heavenly Eye and Heart Heavy Pupils operated at full power, following the texture of the sword mark, probing deeper.

Law fragments were peeled away layer by layer in his vision, and the Origin of the sword mark gradually appeared.

Ye Yun saw the core strand of residual Sword Intent within the sword mark.

That Sword Intent.

He was too familiar with it.

That was the aura of the Heart Sword.