Heaven-Defying Comprehension, Peering into the Secrets of Chaos Against the River of Time!

"The ancestor's talent... truly defied the heavens!"

One of the Chen Family's hidden powerhouses swallowed involuntarily, his face filled with shock. "Before him, I feel like nothing more than an ant. It seems that if he wished, he could crush all of us with a casual wave of his hand."

Another of the Chen Family's hidden powerhouses likewise drew a deep breath and said in a trembling voice, "A Chaos Body... a Chaos Body unseen throughout all ages—so it is such a terrifying existence!"

Without a doubt.

The instant Chen Changqing opened his eyes, he had completely stunned these Chen Family powerhouses, leaving them utterly convinced!

Chen Lingfeng, the current head of the Chen Family, gazed at the young figure within the Divine Source and those bright eyes that seemed capable of swallowing everything in the world. A realization beyond words suddenly rose within his heart.

At this moment, he finally truly understood why their ancestor had chosen to seal himself inside the Divine Source all those years ago.

It was not because he feared the brilliance of the Great Emperor of that era.

It was simply because—

Such a peerless monster, one unseen throughout all ages, should never have been born in that withered age.

That would have been a waste of his talent, an insult to that one-of-a-kind Chaos Body!

Only the arrival of a truly great age of immortality was worthy of bearing his vast destiny!

"A million years..."

Chen Lingfeng murmured to himself, his voice filled with unprecedented reverence and emotion.

Truthfully, he deeply admired the decision made by their old ancestor, Chen Haotian—to place the Chen Family's entire future upon Chen Changqing alone.

One had to know that over the past million years, the Chen Family had strictly followed their ancestral teachings and remained hidden from the world, merely gathering all kinds of precious medicinal herbs and wondrous pills in secret...

Yet none of those resources had been used by any member of the Chen Family's current generation. They had all been reserved for their ancestor, Chen Changqing.

Sacrificing the finest resources of generation after generation of clansmen for one person alone—this was nothing less than an enormous gamble for a Longevity family!

"Fortunately!"

"Time did not betray us!"

"My Chen Family has finally waited!"

"And it was all worth it."

Looking at that young figure, Chen Lingfeng silently sighed within his heart.

At this moment, Chen Changqing—

felt that heaven and earth were no longer the same as before.

Everything before his eyes seemed to hold no secrets at all.

The paths along which spiritual energy flowed through the void, the rune patterns of the Chen Family Guardian Formation, and all kinds of laws beyond the reach of ordinary people... all of them were now laid bare before him with perfect clarity.

At the same time!

Every cultivation art he had ever practiced surged into his mind like a tidal wave.

The Purple Tenuity True Interpretation, the Green Lotus Sword Art, the Azure Wood Cloud-Wandering Step, the Purple Radiance Great Dao Scripture... these secret classics passed down by the Chen Family through countless years had once required repeated contemplation before he gained anything from them.

Yet now, with only a single thought, all those obscure and incomprehensible barriers cleared themselves away, as though he had long since mastered them by heart.

And that was not all!

Within mere seconds of opening his eyes, he had already understood every possible path for improving those cultivation arts.

The Purple Tenuity True Interpretation had clearly possessed only nine layers, yet he instantly deduced it all the way to the thirty-sixth layer!

The Green Lotus Sword Art had originally contained one hundred and eight forms, but within his sea of consciousness it automatically evolved into three thousand six hundred forms. Its sword intent advanced layer upon layer, until its ultimate killing move could actually cleave heaven and earth with a sword strike.

The Azure Wood Cloud-Wandering Step had already been an incomparably exquisite movement technique, but after its enhancement in that instant, it could transform between substance and illusion, crossing stars in a single step!

Most importantly—

these improvements to the cultivation arts were merely subconscious actions after his awakening.

It was like someone who had slept for a long time opening his eyes and instinctively giving something a bit of thought.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. So this is what a million years of accumulated comprehension feels like?"

Feeling such a world-shaking rise in comprehension, Chen Changqing was overjoyed.

Before being sealed within the Divine Source, he had already possessed peerless comprehension for his era due to his Chaos Body.

But now, after a full million years had passed, his comprehension had accumulated to a degree beyond all pursuit. Even he himself had no idea just how terrifyingly powerful it had become.

"As expected of the Dao Ancestor's blessing!"

"It is truly beyond imagination!"

Chen Changqing drew a deep breath and slowly suppressed his excitement.

After that brief lapse of concentration, he gradually restrained the aura around his body.

The terrifying pressure that silenced heaven and earth and forced Saint Kings to retreat finally vanished.

Within the Chen Clan Ancestral Land, the stagnant spiritual energy began flowing once more. Fallen leaves suspended in midair swayed as they drifted back to the ground, and everything returned to normal.

Only then did the Chen Family members feel the immense boulder weighing upon their hearts being lifted away, and they all began gasping for breath.

"Without realizing it, a million years have already passed..."

Chen Changqing sighed softly, then slowly rose to his feet.

His gaze gradually swept across the unfamiliar faces gathered around the Divine Source.

He did not recognize a single one of them.

For him, it was as though he had merely closed his eyes and opened them again, like waking from a nap.

Yet upon waking, seas had turned to mulberry fields, and all things and people had changed.

Then, his gaze settled upon the aged figure directly before the Divine Source.

Chen Haotian.

The old ancestor who had personally sealed him within the Divine Source back then, the Chen Family's strongest guardian, a peerless expert of the Quasi-Emperor Realm.

He was also the only person present whom Chen Changqing recognized.

However—

the moment Chen Changqing noticed him, his pupils suddenly contracted, and a trace of alarm appeared on his face.

Chen Haotian stood there at that moment, still dressed in violet robes, still carrying that calm and composed bearing.

Yet in Chen Changqing's eyes, his physical body had long since decayed beyond repair, while the vitality and blood within him had withered to the extreme. Like a candle flame in the wind, that faint glimmer could be extinguished at any moment.

Chen Changqing saw at a glance—

that their ancestor had very little lifespan left.

It was neither an injury nor the result of any outside force. It was the merciless erosion of time itself.

Though the Quasi-Emperor Realm granted a long lifespan, it still had an end.

Chen Haotian had long surpassed the natural limit of a Quasi-Emperor's lifespan. He had merely preserved one final breath by sealing himself within the Divine Source, all so he could wait for the great age to arrive and awaken Chen Changqing.

"Ancestor..."

Chen Changqing's feelings were complicated. His lips moved as he said, "Your body..."

Yet Chen Haotian merely shook his head indifferently. Then he looked warmly at Chen Changqing and smiled. "Good lad, when you opened your eyes just now, even this old ancestor of yours felt his heart race!"

"Remarkable!"

"Truly remarkable!"

"Though this old ancestor will not live to see the day you prove the Dao and ascend to immortality, I am satisfied now!"

"Hahaha..."

Chen Haotian threw back his head and laughed. His laughter echoed through the ancestral land, startling a flock of birds from the forest.

There was not the slightest trace of sorrow in that laughter. Instead, it was full of boldness and delight.

It was as though, at this moment, he was still that high-spirited Chen Family Quasi-Emperor from a million years ago.

Seeing this ancestor of the Quasi-Emperor Realm, once possessed of divine might, reduced now to a decayed body with his lifespan nearly exhausted, Chen Changqing's nose stung faintly.

Time!

How merciless it was.

Even one as strong as a Quasi-Emperor could end up like this. What of everyone else?

"A million years have passed, and even Ancestor has only a single breath left..."

Chen Changqing sighed inwardly. His gaze lowered slightly, and an unconcealable sadness flickered in the depths of his eyes.

"Father, Mother... and Wan'er... I'm afraid..."

He did not continue.

The Divine Source was incomparably precious and would only be used for the most important clansmen. Those who had left their marks upon his life had likely long since become a handful of yellow earth.

Even though he had already prepared himself mentally before the sealing—

when he truly faced this moment, an indescribable bitterness still welled up in his heart.

Cultivators cultivated power that defied heaven and pursued eternal Longevity.

But how many could truly walk to the end of Longevity?

The overwhelming majority were merely a single wave within the River of Time, surging for an instant before vanishing soundlessly.

"Longevity..."

Chen Changqing murmured, his voice so low that only he could nearly hear it.

"What a thing all living beings yearn for."

However!

At the very instant that emotion rose within his heart—

Buzz.

An unprecedented stirring suddenly surged from the depths of his soul and sea of consciousness. It came without warning, yet with overwhelming force.

Chen Changqing froze on the spot, his pupils widening slightly.

The next moment!

His soul and thoughts began racing wildly with an unimaginable efficiency.

Countless ideas erupted in his sea of consciousness like hundreds of millions of stars exploding at once. Every star bore an answer he had once sought in vain, only for that answer to be replaced in the same instant by an even deeper insight.

Fast.

Too fast.

So fast that time itself seemed to lose all meaning.

In that state, his thoughts actually witnessed everything that had happened in the Great Wilderness World over the past million years.

The rise and decline of star domains, the ascension and fall of Great Emperors, the Vermilion Bird Empress's grandeur when she feigned death nine times, and the struggles and cries of countless living beings within the River of Time...

All of it was comprehended by him in an instant.

But it was far from over.

Chen Changqing's thoughts continued leaping, so quickly that even he himself could not grasp them.

They transcended time.

They crossed space.

They broke free from the restraints of heaven and earth's laws.

Like a fish swimming upstream, they climbed continuously along the veins of the river of time, passing through endless years, passing through heaven and earth from countless eras ago...

Until at last—

they arrived at the chaos before heaven and earth had opened.

At that instant, his consciousness merged with chaos itself, entering a state beyond description.

"Changqing... is he having an epiphany?!"

Old Ancestor Chen Haotian was the first to react. His clouded old eyes suddenly widened, filled with shock and delight.

The moment his words fell—

Heaven and earth changed abruptly!