"Father!"
"Mother!"
Chen Changqing stood before the Divine Source, staring at those two familiar yet distant faces.
Memories sealed away for a million years surged over him like floodwaters bursting through a dam.
When he was five, his mother had held his little hand and taught him, stroke by stroke, to write his first rune.
When he was eight, his father had taken him into the wilderness for the first time and taught him how to fight savage beasts.
When he was eleven, he had returned from the Savage Forbidden Land drenched in blood. His mother had dressed his wounds with reddened eyes, scolding him for being so reckless.
When he was sixteen, on the night before he was sealed inside the Divine Source, his parents had smiled to comfort him despite the reluctance written across their faces.
"Go. Don't worry about us."
"By the time you wake, everything will be all right."
"The Chen Family needs you. This era needs you."
"You will always be our pride!"
Chen Changqing had thought he would never see his parents again. He had not expected the Lineage to use precious Divine Source on them.
He had prepared himself for that long ago.
But now—
His parents sat there, quiet and still.
Chen Changqing's eyes reddened.
Slowly, he raised a hand and touched his fingertips to the surface of the Divine Source.
It felt faintly cold.
Yet to him, this was the warmest moment in a million years.
"Ancestor..."
"Thank you!"
Chen Changqing's voice was hoarse, threaded with emotion he could scarcely name.
The elder ancestor, Chen Haotian, stood behind him with his hands clasped behind his back. A gentle smile appeared on his face.
"After we sealed you away, I thought about it for a long time."
Chen Haotian spoke softly, almost as if to himself.
"You've cared deeply about people since you were little. If you woke to find your parents gone, even if you'd prepared yourself..."
"With your temperament, I was afraid that would be a hurdle your heart couldn't cross."
"So I took it upon myself to pry two pieces of Divine Source out of the Lineage's hands."
"And now—"
He patted Chen Changqing's shoulder and grinned.
"I'd say it was worth every bit!"
Chen Changqing drew a deep breath and pressed down the emotions churning within him.
He raised his hand and pointed through the air at the surface of one piece of Divine Source.
"Break the seal."
At once!
Humm—
An invisible power of law descended from the void.
It was the Greater Divine Ability—Words Become Law!
Chen Haotian's pupils contracted sharply. Chen Yuanba and the other two shook from head to toe.
Before their eyes—
The layers of sealing formations covering the Divine Source silently dissolved, as though they had met their natural enemy.
There was no surge of spiritual energy, nor did Chen Changqing use any method to undo the seals. The Divine Source simply opened.
Its enclosing surface vanished as though it had never existed!
A million-year seal had gone up in smoke at two casually spoken words.
"This... this is..."
Chen Musen's eyes widened, and even his voice trembled.
He knew better than anyone what he had just seen.
Words Become Law!
It was the Greater Divine Ability he had comprehended through enlightenment!
Ancestor Changqing had mastered it too?
"Just how extraordinary is the Ancestor's talent and comprehension?"
Chen Qingshuang murmured, unable to keep the shock from her voice.
Chen Yuanba's eyes gleamed. He wondered whether his own "Ancestor's Blessing" could produce the Greater Divine Ability Words Become Law.
Whatever the answer—
The three exchanged glances and saw the same thought in one another's eyes. Choosing to follow Ancestor Changqing was, without question, the best decision they had ever made.
Chen Changqing paid no attention to their astonishment.
His gaze remained fixed on the Divine Source.
The instant it opened completely, the two figures within slowly opened their eyes.
The man had handsome, refined features, and his brow bore a striking resemblance to Chen Changqing's.
The woman was gentle and dignified. Even after a million years of sleep, her familiar grace remained in every line of her face.
Chen Zhian.
Qin Mengyao.
They were Chen Changqing's parents.
The two had only just awakened from a million-year slumber, and their minds were still clouded.
They looked around blankly. Then their eyes fell on Chen Changqing.
Qin Mengyao froze.
Chen Zhian froze too.
"Chang... Changqing?"
Qin Mengyao's voice trembled. She immediately rose, wanting to embrace Chen Changqing.
But her body was too weak.
The moment she stood, her legs gave way and she pitched forward.
Chen Zhian was little better off. He instinctively reached to catch his wife, only to stumble himself.
Neither of them had the foundation of Chen Changqing's Chaos Body.
Though the Divine Source had slowed the loss of vitality as much as possible, a million years was still long enough to drain their blood and energy almost completely.
"Father, Mother."
Chen Changqing reacted in an instant. With a thought, he summoned an invisible force.
It caught them both and held them steady.
He looked at their faces, pale and bloodless, at the white hair newly visible at their temples, and sensed how depleted their blood and energy had become...
Chen Changqing frowned slightly.
Then—
He spoke.
"Restore their blood and energy completely. Grant them a million years of life!"
Rumble—
Every word rang like the voice of the Great Dao from the ninth heaven, bearing a will above the laws of heaven and earth.
Two streams of green light appeared out of the void.
They were Chen Changqing's Longevity Dao Resonance.
The instant the green light entered Chen Zhian and Qin Mengyao—
Humm—
An unimaginably vast aura of life erupted from each of them.
With just one sentence!
Two people whose blood and energy had been so depleted they could barely stand had returned to their peak.
Chen Haotian stood nearby, his eyes—eyes that had witnessed countless storms—wide as bronze bells.
He could clearly sense that Chen Zhian and Qin Mengyao's blood and energy had not merely recovered. Their vitality had reached an inconceivable level!
A million years!
A full million years of life!
Even the Destiny Emperor, who had lived through several lifetimes, could only look upon that number from afar!
"This... this is fucking monstrous!"
Chen Haotian, a mighty expert of the Quasi-Emperor Realm, could not help shivering. Every hair on his back stood on end.
Restoring someone's vitality and letting them live another lifetime was one thing. He had experienced that himself, and it had defied heaven.
But adding a million years to their lives... "heaven-defying" was no longer enough to describe it.
This was a miracle!
A miracle that should not exist in this world.
One sentence, and someone gained a million years of life out of thin air?
If word got out, the entire Great Desolate Realm would go mad.
Those old monsters nearing the end of their lives, those ancient supreme beings sealed within Forbidden Zones and clinging to their last breaths, those sources of dark turmoil who had slaughtered billions of living beings just to survive a few thousand years longer...
The longevity they had sought so desperately, the years of life they would pay any price to extend—
Before Chen Changqing, all it took was a single sentence?
Chen Haotian swallowed hard.
"Just how absurdly good was my judgment back then..."
Before you continue