"That's right. I did save your lives." Qin Feng smiled faintly as he looked at the two young girls.
"I am Yueling, Senior. Thank you for saving my life."
"I am Jiang Huang, Senior. Thank you for saving my life," the two girls said in unison.
"No need to thank me. You two little girls were lucky. You still had a breath left when I arrived, so I saved you while taking prisoners.
"It wasn't convenient to wake you earlier, so I left you asleep. Now that we're somewhere safe, I've finally awakened you," Qin Feng said.
"Senior, when you reached the battlefield, was there anyone else besides us?
"Where are you a Supreme from? We... we don't think we've seen you before," Jiang Huang asked cautiously.
Although he had saved her, one must never harbor the intent to harm others, nor ever let down one's guard against them!
As an Immortal Phoenix and a genius whom the Primeval Ancient Realm intended to nurture as a priority in the future, she knew something of the realm's foremost Extreme Dao Supremes. Yet she had never heard of the man before her.
She was still afraid that Qin Feng was someone from the Foreign Realm in disguise, or perhaps even a Supreme from the Ancient Realm who had defected to the Foreign Realm and wanted to pry information out of them.
Though the possibility was slim, caution came first!
Qin Feng saw through the little phoenix's suspicions at a glance. He smiled and offered an explanation.
"When I reached the battlefield, you two were the only ones still alive. As for who I am...
"I'm also a Supreme from the Primeval Ancient Realm. My name is Qin Feng. Back then, shortly after becoming a Supreme, I decided on a whim to travel through the Immortal Domain. That journey lasted over a hundred thousand years.
"I attained the rank of Extreme Dao Supreme in the Immortal Domain. I had intended to become a True Immortal before returning to the Ancient Realm to pass down my teachings. But then an Immortal King's decree arrived, announcing that calamity had struck the Primeval Ancient Realm, so I returned with the Immortal Domain's army.
"Don't worry. The Primeval Ancient Realm is no longer fighting this war alone. The kings of the Immortal Domain have also mobilized."
Once they heard that Qin Feng had originally come from the Primeval Ancient Realm, the two girls relaxed completely. They had heard his name before, and his departure from the Primeval Ancient Realm had been recorded. After all, he had been a Young Supreme.
"I know! I know, Senior Qin Feng! I read about you in the Scripture Pavilion: a prodigy of Qingwei Heaven from a hundred and seventy thousand years ago, a born supreme.
"You became a Supreme at just fifteen hundred years old and practically crushed everyone in your generation.
"Many Immortal King-level experts took an interest in you, but in the end, you went to cultivate in the Immortal Domain. I never imagined you'd come back! This is wonderful!" the Lunar Jade Rabbit said, bouncing with excitement.
Qin Feng smiled calmly at her words and waved a hand, indicating that she need not make such a fuss.
Born supreme-what an impressive title. Those old fellows who hunted me down back then certainly didn't call me that.
During his thousand-odd years of cultivation in the Primeval Ancient Realm, Qin Feng had spent a long time as a rat crossing the street, hounded by everyone.
Many prodigies had regarded his status as a First Generation as a stepping stone, only to become Qin Feng's stepping stones instead.
He had never expected stories about him to still be circulating after an absence of over a hundred thousand years. He simply did not know whether those stories now painted him in a good or bad light.
He had done no shortage of bad things back then. To be on the safe side, he had not even joined a suitable lineage to cultivate, relying entirely on himself as he fought his way forward-a first-rate lone roamer.
But every Supreme rose by stepping over the corpses of their peers. No matter how one had slaughtered across the world in those days, once one became a Supreme, no one would remember any of it.
"Senior, has the Immortal Domain's army really come?" Jiang Huang asked excitedly.
This was the last hope in their hearts, the hope that had kept the Ancient Realm resisting until now.
Their elders-the Immortal King-level experts, the True Immortal-level experts, and the Supreme-level experts-had constantly encouraged them to hold on a little longer, just a little longer.
Reinforcements were almost here. They were coming. At last, they had lived to see their arrival!
But at that thought, she grew sorrowful again. If the Immortal Domain's army had come a decade or so earlier, so many of their companions would not have died. Even the Six Paths Reincarnation Immortal King, Immortal King Wuzhong, True Dragon Immortal King, Thunder Emperor, and Immortal Monk King would still have been alive.
"Senior, you have no idea. We thought we were doomed. So many senior and junior brothers who cultivated alongside us, and so many fellow cultivators, have fallen.
"It's such a pity. None of us had grown into our strength. We so-called Young Supremes were of no use at all in this battle," the Lunar Jade Rabbit said with a helpless sigh, her two ears drooping.
"If we could have grown up and become Supremes, we could at least have contributed something to this war."
"Don't be too upset. I can see that both of you have excellent aptitudes, and you've fused with the finest Immortal Seeds. You've also cultivated for less than a hundred years, perhaps even far less.
"Your future achievements are limitless. Focus on staying alive in this war. That is what you ought to do most," Qin Feng said, offering them some comfort.
"Sister, now that we've survived, do you think we'll ever have another chance to see that boy named Huang?"
"I don't know either. Back then, he was only a phantom. Although he looked real and even sparred with us...
"We weren't people of the same era. Though we could see and sense one another, it still wasn't truly real.
"If we survive this time, perhaps we'll have a chance to meet him in the future," Jiang Huang said.
"Huang? You've met him?" Qin Feng asked, his brow furrowing.
He took a closer look at the Immortal Phoenix Woman and the Lunar Jade Rabbit before him. Could these two be among the Young Supremes whom the protagonist, Shi Hao, had met when he dreamed his way back to the Immortal Ancient era?
"Senior, let me tell you, something incredible happened to us-we met someone who existed in both the past and the future.
"The Six Paths Reincarnation Immortal King said he existed in the past as well as the future, and that someone had seen him in the distant era of Emperor Fall," the Lunar Jade Rabbit said.
"Senior, have you met him too?" Jiang Huang asked.
"No, but I've heard the legends about him. He's cultivating an exceptionally powerful art.
"He carries immense karma. You'd best forget his name, or even forget his existence entirely," Qin Feng said.
He transforms into freedom, he transforms into all eternity!
The Desolate Heaven Emperor had been cleaved into a rain of blood by a single sword strike from the Corpse Immortal Emperor and entered the river of time to cultivate. Though none of those incarnations knew who they truly were, traces could still be found.
The moment the Desolate Heaven Emperor became an Immortal Emperor, he had become eternal, existing in the past, the future, and the present!
Even when he first entered The Heavens, the Desolate Heaven Emperor had seen the paper boats left behind by the Ruthless Empress of later ages.
The two girls nodded with only a hazy understanding. The Six Paths Reincarnation Immortal King had said the same thing.