Su Chen's lips curled into a faintly mocking smile.
"Do you think these worldly powers hold any appeal for me?"
At those words, Emperor Xue Ye and Bibi Dong both stiffened, their smiles freezing on their faces.
"In your eyes, Titled Douluo are the peak, and the empire is the whole world."
Su Chen gazed at them with distant eyes, his tone carrying the indifference of one who had seen through the ages.
"But to me, they're no more than dust, gone with a snap of my fingers."
"Put away those laughable schemes of yours."
"I'm just a storyteller. I have no interest in your childish struggle for power."
His merciless rejection left the two powerful leaders out in the cold.
Emperor Xue Ye was so anxious that sweat beaded on his forehead. He was just about to speak again and try to persuade Su Chen.
"Shopkeeper."
Just then, from behind the door of Listening Rain Pavilion, a young attendant in green cautiously poked half his head out.
He looked at the terrifying scene outside, swallowed, and quietly reminded Su Chen:
"Shopkeeper, it's time."
"The guests in the main hall are getting impatient. They're urging you to hurry up."
At the attendant's reminder, Su Chen nodded slightly.
"I know."
With that, Su Chen paid no further attention to Emperor Xue Ye and Bibi Dong, who were still gazing up at him expectantly from below the steps.
He simply turned around, gave his folding fan a wave, and strolled back into Listening Rain Pavilion at an unhurried pace.
Watching Su Chen's carefree figure disappear inside,
Emperor Xue Ye and Bibi Dong exchanged a glance, both seeing the frustration and urgency in the other's eyes.
"Let's go! We're going in to listen!"
Emperor Xue Ye gritted his teeth, hitched up the hem of his imperial robe, and strode into Listening Rain Pavilion with none of a ruler's dignity.
"Father, slow down!" Xue Qinghe hurried after him.
Bibi Dong was naturally unwilling to be left behind.
"Golden Crocodile, stay outside and keep an eye on these useless fools. Without my orders, no one is to act rashly."
Bibi Dong coldly glanced at Tang Xiao and the others, still kneeling in the crater, then quickly mounted the steps and walked straight through the doors of Listening Rain Pavilion.
As for Tang Xiao and the others, both their knees were shattered, and their Soul Power was sealed.
All they could do was watch helplessly as the leaders of the two powers, who had been at each other's throats just moments ago, now squeezed into a teahouse like apprentices fighting for seats.
The contrast was so bizarre that Tang Xiao nearly spat blood and died of rage on the spot.
Inside Listening Rain Pavilion.
The first-floor hall was already packed so tightly that not even water could get through.
The Spirit Masters who had spent a fortune on standing-room tickets were holding their breath. They could have heard a pin drop.
The moment Su Chen emerged from backstage and slowly stepped onto the high platform,
a wave of excited whispers instantly swept through the entire hall!
Emperor Xue Ye, Bibi Dong, and the others had also tactfully found seats in the very front row. They didn't dare make the slightest sound, afraid of angering the man onstage.
Su Chen walked to the storyteller's table, picked up the hot tea that had been prepared for him, and took a small sip.
Then—
Smack!
He slammed the Gavel in his hand onto the tabletop!
"Yesterday, I told you how the Seven Gods descended upon the Lower Realm, leaving devastation in their wake."
Su Chen's unhurried voice instantly drew everyone's thoughts back to that vast and magnificent world of Perfect World.
"Little One protected Stone Village and the family he cherished."
"With a mortal's body, he fought against the gods!"
"He even dug out a second Samsara Bone with his own hands."
"In the end, however, he was struck by that bizarre Bronze Rust Immortal Curse."
Su Chen's voice turned hoarse as he stirred the crowd's emotions.
"That once-renowned Young Demon King, who had lorded over the Great Wilderness,"
"slowly closed his eyes amid his parents' and brothers' cries of grief, and was buried in the deep yellow soil of the Great Wilderness."
The vivid recap brought tears to the eyes of those in the hall once more. Their pent-up frustration and indignation surged back to the surface.
"But."
Su Chen suddenly changed tack, his voice rising sharply.
"Would one born a Supreme really be buried beneath mere yellow earth?"
"Do you truly think death was the end for Shi Hao?"
At those words, Emperor Xue Ye clenched both fists, his breathing suddenly growing ragged.
Bibi Dong also stared at Su Chen, afraid to miss even the smallest detail.
Rebirth!
Resurrection!
For people like them, who yearned for immortality and sought to break free from fate, it was the most irresistible prospect of all.
"In the grave that held the boy's remains,"
Su Chen suddenly swept his folding fan through the air. A scene seemed to burst open above them!
"The Five-Colored Sparrow's beakful of spirit grass finally unleashed boundless vitality, capable of reversing yin and yang, at the very crossroads of life and death!"
"Somewhere beyond the mortal world, it forcibly reconnected the broken Great Dao within his ruined, withered body!"
In the scene, the solitary grave began to tremble as yellow earth cascaded down its mound.
"From death, he emerged reborn; amid destruction, he found new life!"
As Su Chen's voice rang out,
a crack suddenly appeared in the illusory scene above them, splitting open the grave where Little One lay buried.
As the earth churned, a bloodless yet jade-like hand suddenly reached out from the deep yellow soil and seized the edge of the mound.
Then—
Boom!
A boundless surge of pure vitality burst from the ruined grave, soaring straight into the heavens!
With the supreme Soul-Returning Grass brought by the Five-Colored Sparrow merging with the drop of Thunder Emperor True Blood inside his body,
the boy who should have been dead for a long time truly reversed yin and yang and sat up from his coffin!
His originally withered white hair turned into a cascade of black, flowing locks at a speed visible to the naked eye.
His shriveled flesh filled out once more. The meridians and bones corroded by the Bronze Rust Immortal Curse were washed clean by the Thunder Emperor True Blood's domineering powers of destruction and creation, leaving them crystal-clear.
"He's alive..."
"He really came back to life!"
In the front row, Emperor Xue Ye gripped the armrests of his chair so tightly that even his beard trembled with excitement.
He had been struck by an immortal curse, his life force completely extinguished—an utterly hopeless death!
And yet, with just one plant and a single drop of blood, he had crawled back out of the earth after lying buried for so long!
Bibi Dong also drew in a deep breath, her noble eyes filled with irrepressible shock.
As the Pope who controlled Spirit Hall, she had witnessed countless healing Soul Skills.
But even the Nine Heart Begonia, hailed as the continent's greatest support, could never bring back someone who was truly dead.
This was no healing. It was snatching a soul from Yama himself, defying the will of heaven!
"Like a butterfly breaking free of its cocoon, reborn from the flames."
On the high platform, Su Chen slowly lowered his folding fan and swept his gaze over the countless stunned faces below.
"After passing through this true trial of life and death, Little One not only completely dispelled the curse within his body."
"Even his ruined flesh had undergone an Ultimate Sublimation beneath the yellow earth."
"He broke through the shackles of the Eight Regions of the Lower Realm and finally saw the road ahead clearly."
Su Chen's voice carried a profound, indescribable weight.
"Next comes the far vaster, yet even more brutal, Three Thousand Provinces of the Upper Realm!"
"Carrying all the rage of the Lower Realm, he'll charge into the Upper Realm and settle the blood debts of the past with those lofty giants, one by one!"
At his words, thunderous cheers erupted throughout the hall of Listening Rain Pavilion.
"Good! Charge into the Upper Realm and settle those blood debts!"
"Exactly! Those lofty false gods deserve to know what it feels like to fall from their pedestals!"
Everyone felt the long-suppressed anger in their hearts finally ebb away.
Amid the heated atmosphere,
Xue Qinghe, in a private room on the second floor, raised his brows as though struck by a thought.
He walked to the railing and cupped his hands toward Su Chen on the high platform.
"Mr. Su."
Xue Qinghe's voice wasn't loud, but the hall gradually fell quiet.
"There's something I don't understand."
"If Little One could form a second Supreme Bone at the brink of life and death—and even come back from the dead—"
"then what about his older brother, Shi Yi, the Double-Pupiled One?"
Xue Qinghe paused, a flicker of confusion in his eyes.
"You once said that the Double Pupil was the path to invincibility. So between the Double Pupil and the Supreme Bone, which is stronger?"
At the question,
Yu Yuanzhen, Ning Fengzhi, and the others below also pricked up their ears.
That was right.
One was born with a Double Pupil, the other with a Supreme Bone.
These two heaven-defying gifts had clashed in the Battle of the Two Stones. Little One had won, but that was because he possessed terrifying combat instincts.
Judging solely by the two talents, which one was superior?
On the high platform, Su Chen lifted his teacup and lightly nudged its lid.
"Which is stronger?"
Su Chen took a sip of tea, then smiled faintly.
"The Double-Pupiled One is born a Saint. With every opening and closing of his eyes, he can see through illusions and command destruction and creation."
"One born with the Supreme Bone is a Supreme, accompanied by an unparalleled divine art that can mete out heaven's punishment and suppress every enemy beneath the heavens."
"Both are among the greatest and most extraordinary gifts in the world. In terms of rank alone, neither is above the other."
At this point, Su Chen set down his teacup and looked calmly at Xue Qinghe.
"So there has never been an invincible bone, nor an invincible eye."
"The only one who can truly be invincible is the person who wields such a gift."
Hearing this, everyone in the hall nodded thoughtfully.
That was right.
Little One had carved a path through the world even after his bone was stolen. That alone proved that the person was what truly mattered.
Yet as the crowd was still mulling over Su Chen's words,
Yue Guan, who had been too afraid to speak from his seat in the corner, suddenly seemed to realize something terrifying.
He swallowed, a look of horror flashing across his powder-covered face.
"M-Mr. Su..."
Yue Guan finally dared to speak, his voice trembling.
"You just said the Double Pupil commands destruction and creation."
"If even Little One could come back to life after being buried in the ground..."
Yue Guan's throat bobbed with difficulty as he stared fixedly at the high platform.
"Then his older brother, Shi Yi, whose head was cut off..."
"Could it be...?"
Yue Guan hadn't even finished speaking.
The breathing of everyone in the hall stopped completely!
The smile on Emperor Xue Ye's face froze, while Bibi Dong's pupils contracted sharply.
Everyone stared at Su Chen on the high platform as if they had seen a ghost.
No way.
Shi Yi had been beheaded by Little One with a single sword strike on the Sky Battlefield in the Void God Realm. Even his soul had been obliterated!
In the eyes of people from Douluo Continent, once your head was severed, even the gods couldn't save you!
Could he have survived that, too?
Facing the crowd's incredulous stares, Su Chen curled his lips into an exceptionally playful smile.
"Who told you"
"Shi Yi was dead?"
That simple question once again plunged the entire hall into utter silence.
He wasn't dead?
His head had been severed, his soul obliterated, and he still wasn't dead?
"Th-this is impossible!"
Yu Yuanzhen sprang to his feet, completely losing his composure, disbelief written all over his face.
"He doesn't even have a head! How could he possibly still be alive?"
Su Chen flicked open the folding fan in his hand with a snap, then continued:
"I said earlier that the Double Pupil held the ultimate power of Fortune."
"When the Battle of the Two Stones came to an end, everyone believed that Shi Yi had been separated from his head and body, and had perished for good."
Su Chen swept his fan, and the scene that had vanished from midair appeared once more.
It showed the Lower Realm of old. Countless Venerables were fighting over Shi Yi's body.
Then, a woman dressed in ancient robes appeared.
When everyone in the hall got a clear look at her eyes, they couldn't help drawing in a sharp breath.
Double Pupils!
This mysterious woman had a pair of Double Pupils too!
"The Double Pupil Woman!"
Su Chen's voice rang slowly through the hall.
"She was one of the mightiest experts of the ancient era, an unparalleled being born with Double Pupils."
"Without anyone noticing, she had spirited away Shi Yi's broken body, leaving no trace."
In the scene, the Double Pupil Woman merely waved a hand, and a gentle glow enveloped Shi Yi's body.
Then she stepped straight into the void with Shi Yi and disappeared.
"The Double-Pupiled lineage has always possessed an incredible inheritance and a deep foundation."
Su Chen's gaze swept over the Douluo crowd below, who were all staring in utter shock.
"With the heaven-defying methods of this Ancient Double-Pupil Woman, and the restorative power of Fortune contained within the Double Pupil itself..."
"Not only did Shi Yi survive."
"He emerged reborn, his flaws made whole."
Su Chen's words began to quicken, tightening the pace once more.
"When Little One underwent rebirth in that yellow earth, preparing to charge into the Upper Realm..."
"His fated enemy, Shi Yi, the Double-Pupiled One born a Saint..."
"Had already entered the Upper Realm long ago!"
By now, every Spirit Master in the hall felt their minds were about to short-circuit.
The younger brother had his bones ripped out, survived, fought like a live wire and won the decisive battle—and even after dying and being buried in the earth, he could still claw his way back out.
The older brother had his head chopped off in front of everyone, and still didn't die. An ancient Double Pupil expert had taken him to the Upper Realm, where she brought him back to life and made him stronger.
Were these two monsters even human?
Were lives in Perfect World really more tenacious than weeds by the roadside?
"Mr. Su..."
Emperor Xue Ye swallowed, feeling a dull ache in his heart.
"Is this kind of outrageous return from the dead common in the Upper Realm?"
If it was, wouldn't the path to immortality be everywhere?
Su Chen glanced at Emperor Xue Ye and saw right through the little scheme in his heart.
Before you continue