96: Chapter 96 Desolate Emperor: I'll be waiting for you in the future

It wasn't just them.

The entire shattered starry sky began to reorganize. The broken stars transformed into new celestial bodies; the annihilated Great Dao re-intertwined; the collapsed cosmic barriers slowly healed.

The Mortals who had died instantly when the Ancestors appeared, the living beings destroyed by the aftershocks of the battle, everything that had perished in this calamity—

All were resurrected.

They opened their eyes, looking around blankly as if they had just woken from a nightmare. They didn't remember what had happened; they only recalled seeing something terrifying before their vision went dark, and when they woke again, everything was back to normal.

Reflecting the Heavens.

This was the power above the Immortal Emperor Realm—making everything return to its origin, letting everything begin anew.

In Chu Tianjiao's palm, those three faint rays of light finally stabilized and slowly merged into their respective bodies.

Xiao Nannan's eyelashes fluttered.

Xiao Shitou's fingers twitched.

Willow Deity's eyes slowly opened.

They had come back to life.

Watching this scene, tears finally streamed down Chu Tianjiao's face. He wanted to rush forward, to hug them, and to tell them how much he had missed them—

But as soon as he took a step, his body suddenly stiffened.

He looked down at himself.

That Sacrificial Dao aura, as vast as the All Heavens and Myriad Worlds, was rapidly receding.

Immortal Emperor—Quasi-Immortal Emperor—Immortal King—True Immortal.

His Sacrificial Dao Realm cultivation ebbed away like a tide, falling Realm by Realm.

True Immortal Peak, True Immortal Late Stage, True Immortal Middle Stage, True Immortal Early Stage—

It was still falling.

Great Emperor—Quasi-Emperor, Saint—Dao Severing—

Finally, when everything settled, Chu Tianjiao's aura froze at—

Wheel Sea Realm.

He stared blankly at his hands, feeling the pathetically weak cultivation within his body, momentarily not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

"Forcibly fusing with your future self to reach the Sacrificial Dao Realm... to only drop back to the Wheel Sea Realm is actually quite good."

Shi Hao's voice rang out, tinged with emotion. He walked to Chu Tianjiao's side and patted his shoulder.

"With your current Realm, surviving at all is a miracle. That future you gave you all of his Dao Fruit to help you break through to the Sacrificial Dao, and then Reflected the Heavens to resurrect all living beings... back then, my own exhaustion was only slightly better than yours."

Chu Tianjiao looked up at him.

"Senior Shi Hao..."

Shi Hao waved his hand, interrupting him.

"I must return."

His gaze pierced through the shattered starry sky, looking toward the distant Ancient Chaotic Battlefield.

"We will meet again in the future. At that time, we will deal with those Ominous Ancestors together."

He paused, his tone becoming a bit more solemn.

"You slew them, but remember—they are not so easy to kill. As long as the Loess Plateau exists, they can be continuously resurrected. We need a way to break the deadlock."

"The fact that they were so eager to return and strangle you in the cradle means you must have found a way to deal with them in the future."

Shi Hao looked at Chu Tianjiao, his eyes full of expectation.

"So, I will wait for you all."

As his voice fell, his figure began to fade, slowly dissipating into the Void Realm.

Only one sentence remained, echoing in Chu Tianjiao's ears:

"Take care, Tianjiao."

Chu Tianjiao stood in place, staring in the direction where Shi Hao had vanished for a long time in silence.

After a long while, he took a deep breath and turned around.

Three pairs of eyes were looking at him blankly.

Xiao Nannan stood not far away, looking down at her hands with her brow furrowed. She could feel that she seemed to have died just now, yet also seemed to be alive. But as for what exactly happened, she couldn't remember no matter how she tried.

Only some images vaguely flashed in her mind—a giant hand that blotted out the sky, herself rushing toward that hand, and... her teacher calling her name.

"Teacher..." She looked up at Chu Tianjiao, her eyes full of confusion, "Just now... was I..."

Xiao Shitou also scratched his head, looking bewildered. His memory was fragmented; he only remembered fighting desperately against something terrifying, and then... then there was nothing.

"Teacher, I think I had a nightmare, dreaming that I died..."

Willow Deity stood quietly in place, her gaze falling on Chu Tianjiao. Her memory was much clearer than Xiao Nannan's and Xiao Shitou's.

She was an Immortal King Titan with a powerful Divine Soul. Although the power of Reflecting the Heavens had erased the memories of most people, it could not completely erase hers.

She remembered that giant hand.

Remembered herself rushing toward that giant hand.

Remembered being crushed to pieces.

Remembered—

Chu Tianjiao's despairing roar.

A flicker of complex light flashed in her eyes. She wanted to speak and ask, to clarify exactly what had happened just now.

But Chu Tianjiao only glanced at her and gave a soft nod.

That one look blocked all her questions.

Willow Deity fell silent.

And at this moment, the others on the battlefield also gradually came to their senses from their daze.

Those Supremes—the ones who were still slaughtering each other before the Ancestors appeared—now stood blankly in the Void Realm, looking at one another with eyes full of confusion.

They didn't remember what had happened.

Didn't remember those four terrifying figures.

Didn't remember that they had once died.

But in their hearts, there was an indescribable sense of strangeness. It was as if... as if something important had been forgotten, and they couldn't recall it no matter what.

"Just now... what happened?" a Supreme murmured.

"I don't know... I only remember us fighting, and then... then everything went blank," another Supreme shook his head.

"Do you all feel... like you died once?" a third Supreme asked cautiously.

As soon as these words were spoken, all the Supremes shuddered.

They couldn't explain why, but that feeling of "having died once" was terrifyingly real.

Just then, the gaze of one Supreme inadvertently swept across the direction where Chu Tianjiao was.

He froze.

There, besides Chu Tianjiao, Xiao Nannan, and Xiao Shitou, another person had appeared.

A woman wearing a long green dress.

The woman had an exquisite face and a cold, elegant temperament. She stood there quietly, yet gave off an indescribable sense of pressure. That pressure was different from the aura of a Great Emperor; it was a more ancient, vaster, and more inexplicable presence.

"Who is that?"

That Supreme asked subconsciously.

The other Supremes turned to look one after another.

When their gazes fell upon Willow Deity, everyone involuntarily took a step back.

They couldn't say why.

But that aura made them feel fear from the bottom of their hearts.

The Supremes who were originally still fighting, confronting each other, and thinking about how to deal with Chu Tianjiao, all stopped their movements now.

They paused their attacks.

They wanted to figure out—where this suddenly appearing woman in the green dress came from, and what her strength was.

But they didn't dare to act rashly.