If Life Were Only Like Our First Meeting

If Life Were Only Like Our First Meeting

In the boundless void, the Empress slowly closed her eyes.

"Ultimately, I still have to leave..."

As the only existence to attain the Emperor's Dao in this era, many matters awaited her.

Whether it was those undying old monsters lurking within the life forbidden zones, or the dark existences barely clinging to life, she needed to slaughter them once more.

Even if she could not suppress and destroy every life forbidden zone, she had to leave them with an everlasting fear!

When she opened her eyes again, the Empress's aura abruptly changed, her gaze revealing an overbearing dominance that looked down upon the world.

At that moment, she was no longer the little girl mourning her elder brother, filled with sorrow. She was the Ruthless Great Emperor, peerless throughout all ages and unparalleled in talent!

Yet just as she prepared to cross the void, an aura that reversed the Long River of Time swept over her. Amid the vast heavens and universes, a diamond-like Milky Way cascaded down like a great river. It was the Long River of Time that neither the stars of the heavens, the myriad worlds, nor countless living beings could truly ignore.

"Sever!"

A sharp cry resounded through the stars. The laws of heaven and earth, time, years, and space all froze abruptly beneath that cry.

"What happened?!"

Chen Qiye's figure suddenly froze amid the boundless starry sky. Radiance formed a shield around him, protecting him within the void. His pure white robe fluttered slightly as he slowly opened his eyes, and the sight before him shook him to his core.

"Ding! Notice: The rules of heaven and earth have severed the Long River of Time. Would you like to break the rules?"

"Ding! Notice: Breaking the rules of this world will destroy an entire world."

"Ding! Notice: The host is covered by chaotic radiance and faces no danger to life."

"Wait!"

With a thought from Chen Qiye, he opened his mouth only to discover that he could not breathe. Fortunately, the chaotic radiance spanning heaven and earth had frozen time, preventing him from suffocating.

"Who is it?"

"Who dares reverse the Long River of Time and disrupt the order of heaven and earth?!"

A peerless figure crossed the stars, her vast and unmatched aura sweeping outward. In that instant, billions of stars dimmed, and the nine heavens and ten lands trembled!

Hearing the voice, Chen Qiye's heart trembled as well. He turned to look into the endless void.

A figure crossed over. To her, a galaxy spanning billions of light-years was no more than a few inches of ground.

"A white gown, a ghost-face mask..."

Chen Qiye focused on the peerlessly graceful woman crossing the stars toward him.

She had actually used the rules of heaven and earth to sever the Long River of Time and stop Chen Qiye's transmigration.

She stood in the void before him. Even with the ghost-face mask concealing her appearance, it could not hide her otherworldly and transcendent bearing. She was clearly right before his eyes, yet seemed to exist within an illusion, so unreal.

This was the Ruthless Great Emperor!

True peerless grace. She looked so beautiful, her bearing unmatched, but once she turned fierce, this world would be destroyed. Since ancient times, no one had been able to stop her.

Chen Qiye had never imagined that the first person he would meet upon arriving in the world of Shrouding the Heavens would be this legendary woman, the most gifted talent of all ages.

And they were meeting at such close range.

She stood there, her deep and mysterious eyes fixed upon the chaotic radiance spanning heaven and earth. Within that radiance, shrouded by chaotic mist, stood a tall, silent figure.

The Empress likewise could not see Chen Qiye clearly. All she could make out was a white robe fluttering in the wind. Who is this? He can reverse the Long River of Time with his physical body? Could he be a worldly immortal?

At this time, the Ruthless Great Emperor was still in her first life. She had attained the Emperor's Dao through the Swallowing Heaven Demon Art and had yet to enter the realm of worldly immortals.

"Why did the Empress sever my path?"

Chen Qiye's voice was ethereal and illusory as it passed through the chaotic radiance and fell upon the starry sky.

The Empress lightly furrowed her brows, her aura mystical and vast.

Having become the Emperor of this era, she bore the mission of all living beings. Her eyes flickered slightly. "Your Excellency has reversed the Long River of Time and disturbed the peace of this world. Please return."

The majesty of an Emperor, along with all her past experiences battling heaven and earth, meant she would never look up to anyone.

Even if the person beyond the chaotic radiance was a worldly immortal, the Empress would still act without hesitation to protect the peace of all living beings.

She feared nothing!

Chen Qiye fell silent. The system could directly break through the rules of heaven and earth and cross over, but the consequence would be the destruction of an entire world. Endless slaughter was not what he wished for.

Facing the Ruthless Great Emperor, who had severed time itself, he was in no danger, but neither could he stop her.

"Empress, I have my reasons for going there. I have no intention of becoming your enemy, nor do I wish for the living beings of this world to suffer devastation." Chen Qiye steadied his mind, stood in the void, and spoke calmly.

Hearing this, the Empress was slightly moved.

If she and this worldly immortal truly went to war, the nine heavens and ten lands would face destruction. It would be no less catastrophic than the descent of darkness, perhaps even worse.

"Since you used the rules of heaven and earth to sever my path, and I can reverse the Long River of Time, then naturally I can also break the rules of heaven and earth!" Chen Qiye's voice resounded again. "I have not acted because I do not wish to, cannot bear to, and will not! Do you understand, Empress?"

The Ruthless Great Emperor was slightly stirred. As Chen Qiye had said, if he could cross the Long River of Time with his physical body, breaking the rules of heaven and earth would be no difficult matter. If that truly happened, this world would likely face an unparalleled catastrophe!

"In that case, I was too rash."

As thoughts flashed through the Ruthless Great Emperor's mind, she came to a decision. "May I know how to address you, Fellow Daoist, and why you are going there?"

Seeing that the Ruthless Great Emperor had relented, Chen Qiye inwardly sighed in relief. After thinking for a moment, he said:

"My surname is Chen, and my name is Qiye. I am going to the future only because of an obsession in my heart, to find someone within reincarnation."

Buzz!

The Ruthless Great Emperor's heart trembled slightly upon hearing this. Could it be that he, too, is searching for someone in his heart...

Thinking of this, the Empress could not help falling into a daze. Only after a moment did she compose herself. "I never expected Fellow Daoist Chen to be such a persistent person as well..."

Chen Qiye secretly laughed. I'm going there to complete missions, but I know who you're looking for.

"One flower, one life. Reincarnation shifts and changes—who can know what will happen after hundreds of thousands of years..."

Chen Qiye let out a long sigh. This sigh truly came from his feelings for the Ruthless Great Emperor and her brother's fate. "Perhaps they are merely two similar flowers."

The Empress's eyes flickered. In only an instant, her aura swept outward and rose without end.

With a single thought, flowers bloomed; she ruled beneath heaven!

The chaotic radiance spanning heaven and earth condensed and turned once more, and Chen Qiye's figure vanished into the Long River of Time.

"You are..." At the instant the radiance turned, the Empress's heart violently trembled. That figure in white had already disappeared without a trace. Even with her supreme divine sense, capable of severing the Long River of Time, she could no longer locate him. The silent, icy starry sky suddenly began to tremble.

In an instant, the radiance spanning heaven and earth sank into a desolate mountain range. The white-robed figure suddenly appeared at the entrance of a small village beneath the mountains.

"Ding! Notice: The Empress severed the Long River of Time, causing a transmission deviation."

"What?"

Chen Qiye had only just steadied himself when he heard the system notification and froze in surprise. He hurriedly sent his consciousness into the system.

Host: Chen Qiye

Realm: First-Order Martial Spirit (Life Spring)

Experience: 135000/150000

Cultivation Art: Dragon Subduing Eighteen Palms

Master Points: 180

Master Level: Two Stars

Current Plane: Shrouding the Heavens Plane

Plane Disciple: None

Current Item: Soul-Calming Card

Current Mission: Master Advancement

"Isn't this the Shrouding the Heavens Plane?" Chen Qiye asked inwardly in confusion.

"Ding! Notice: Host, this is the Shrouding the Heavens Plane, but this point in time is not the era of Ye the Heavenly Emperor. It is more than two hundred thousand years earlier..."

Buzz!

Chen Qiye froze on the spot. "Could this be... the era when the Ruthless Great Emperor attained the Emperor's Dao?"

(End of Chapter)