At that moment!
Chen Haotian, Lin Yue Ru, even the Blood Sea Ancestor... all wore the same dumbfounded expression.
One disbelieving gaze after another fell on Xue Wuyou.
This guy was actually reborn?
Surely that was impossible?
How could anything so bizarre happen in this world?
Yet on second thought, Xue Wuyou's actions suddenly seemed to make sense.
The Blood Sea Ancestor, in particular, looked as though everything had clicked into place.
"No wonder you could accurately predict certain things before, yet when you hunted down Lin Yue Ru this time, you never expected to fail!"
"So you're reborn!!"
Chen Haotian heard this and asked no further questions. He simply swept out his hand.
A vast surge of Quasi-Emperor Realm power enveloped and sealed Xue Wuyou, the Blood Sea Ancestor, and the others. Even someone in the Great Emperor Realm would struggle to sense this stretch of space.
Someone reborn!
This was an earth-shattering secret. He could not take it lightly!
"Tell us what you know," Chen Changqing said, his tone as casual as if they were chatting about everyday matters.
Xue Wuyou clenched his teeth and said nothing.
He knew he had fallen today, and fallen utterly.
But he could not accept it.
He had been reborn. He knew where the tides of the future would turn and where heaven-defying opportunities lay.
Given time, he could rise again.
But once he gave up those secrets, he would truly have nothing left.
"You won't talk?"
Chen Changqing showed no anger. He merely watched him.
"That's fine."
"We can always search your soul..."
At those words, Xue Wuyou shook violently. He jerked his head up, his eyes filled with terror.
The agony of a soul search was no ordinary pain.
Xue Wuyou's lips trembled uncontrollably.
Looking into Chen Changqing's eyes, which seemed able to pierce every illusion in the world, he felt his last line of defense collapse with a thunderous crash.
At last.
He spoke.
"Yes."
"I was reborn!"
The moment Xue Wuyou said it, all the strength seemed to drain from him. His shoulders slumped, and even his back bent.
"In my previous life, I was betrothed to someone from the Lin Family, but I never thought much of them. They were just a tool to me."
"Later, fortune smiled on me. I joined the Blood God Palace and met a proud daughter of heaven!"
"So I wanted to break off that engagement!"
"Later, I went to their door to annul it and humiliated the Lin Family. I never expected Lin Yue Ru to bear a grudge and challenge me to a match in three years..."
Xue Wuyou's eyes went vacant, as though he had sunk into a deep memory.
"In my previous life, I hadn't intended to wipe out the Lin Family at first. I thought they weren't worth it. There was no need to lower myself."
"But the proud daughter of heaven I loved was too jealous. She insisted on destroying the Lin Family and toying with Lin Yue Ru, so I secretly sent people to do it."
At this point,
His voice wavered, laden with bitter resentment that had carved itself into his bones.
"But that woman seemed blessed by heaven itself."
"No matter what danger she faced, she always turned peril into safety."
"No matter how powerful her opponent was, she always found a way to turn the tables."
"From the orphan of a fallen family, she cut down every enemy in her path and single-handedly destroyed my entire Blood God Palace, including the proud daughter of heaven I loved—a prodigy with the potential to become a Great Emperor."
"Of the Blood God Palace's tens of thousands of disciples, not one survived."
"Even the Blood Sea Ancestor, wielding an Emperor Weapon, died beneath her sword."
"And I—"
Xue Wuyou's voice trembled. Terror rose unmistakably in his eyes, as though he had returned to that nightmare.
"She killed me with her own hands."
"She cut me to death, one slice after another..."
"She's a madwoman! A madwoman!"
Silence settled over the group for a moment.
Surprise flashed through Chen Haotian's eyes. He looked at Lin Yue Ru and asked, "You're of the Lin Family bloodline?"
"Yes, Senior. I am indeed a descendant of the Lin Family!"
Lin Yue Ru answered respectfully, while a complicated look crossed her eyes as she gazed at Xue Wuyou.
She had never imagined he was reborn, or that the two of them had already shared a blood feud in his previous life.
Chen Changqing's expression did not change. He merely watched him calmly.
"So after you were reborn, the first thing you did was try to kill Lin Yue Ru before she could grow strong and destroy the Lin Family?"
"Yes."
Xue Wuyou admitted it readily.
"I thought that if I erased her before she could rise, I could change my fate."
"But I never, ever expected..."
He lifted his head and looked at Chen Changqing with a complicated expression.
"I accounted for everything except you."
"In my previous life, I heard of you. I knew you had made a resounding name for yourself in the Great Desolate Realm and set foot on the path to immortality. But as for the details about you..."
He paused, bitterness filling his voice.
"I never truly knew them."
"In my previous life, all I could think about was that bitch Lin Yue Ru."
"By the time I finally had a chance to catch my breath and wanted to learn about the prodigies of the major powers, you had gone too far ahead—so far that I couldn't even catch sight of your shadow."
As Chen Changqing listened, his brow twitched slightly.
"Then have you heard the names Chen Yuanba, Chen Musen, and Chen Qingshuang?"
It was a question that had long troubled him.
According to Xue Wuyou, the Chen Family had emerged in his previous life too, and Chen Changqing had also broken free of his seal.
But if that was true, what had become of Chen Yuanba and the other two?
Xue Wuyou frowned and searched his old memories for the three names.
After a moment, he slowly shook his head.
"Chen Yuanba... I've heard a little about him. In my previous life, he seemed to appear at an Ancient Ruin and fought someone there. After that, there wasn't much news of him."
"As for Chen Musen and Chen Qingshuang..."
"I'm sorry."
"In my previous life, I never heard either name."
At those words,
Chen Changqing and Chen Haotian froze at the same time.
He had only heard a little about Chen Yuanba, with no news of him afterward?
And he had never even heard of Chen Musen or Chen Qingshuang?
How could that be?
Chen Changqing had witnessed the talents of those three youngsters with his own eyes.
The Azure Heaven Tyrant Body, the Seven-Aperture Exquisite Heart, and the Innate Sword Bone.
Each was a prodigy capable of overshadowing an entire era, and each had comprehended a Greater Divine Ability after hearing him preach.
In any power, talents like them would be groomed as its most important heirs, destined to shine on the road to becoming an emperor.
Yet in Xue Wuyou's timeline, Chen Musen and Chen Qingshuang had not even left their names behind?
Chen Changqing frowned.
Something felt wrong.
"Tell me everything you know about the Chen Family."
"Leave nothing out, no matter how small."
Xue Wuyou did not dare hide anything. He hurriedly laid out all he knew.
"In my previous life, Senior Chen Haotian announced to the Great Desolate Realm that the Chen Family had returned to the world. It caused a tremendous stir at the time."
"But... that was all."
"The Chen Family's emergence made a great spectacle, but few Chen Family Members were truly active in the Great Desolate Realm afterward."
"Apart from you, my lord, hardly any Chen Family prodigies appeared in the Great Wilderness."
"As I recall, the Chen Family kept a very low profile for a long time—so low that it didn't match the fanfare of its emergence at all."
"Many powers tried to test the Chen Family's true strength, but every time, you personally stepped in and crushed them all."
"As for Yuan Ba... I only know he appeared at an immortal-era Ancient Ruin in the Eastern Wilderness and fought Cangwu Ditian. After that, there was no more news of him."
When Xue Wuyou finished, he cast a cautious glance at Chen Changqing.
Chen Changqing remained silent.
Sitting to one side, Chen Haotian's expression had also turned grave.
Their gazes met, and each saw the same thought in the other's eyes—
Something was wrong.
This was completely wrong.
If Xue Wuyou was telling the truth, then in that previous life, Chen Changqing had clearly been the only one holding up the Chen Family's reputation in the outside world.
Before you continue