My surname is Ye too

"You're a surviving remnant of the Ye Lineage?!"

The inner sect elder was somewhat astonished.

No one should have survived his strike back then.

Presumably, this boy had not been in the village at the time, and he himself had been careless and had not searched with his divine sense.

"That's right. My surname is Ye-the Ye that means leaf!"

"Before my mother died, she told me to change my surname, to stop using Ye!"

"I didn't understand why back then, but to fulfill my mother's wishes, I changed it to Ye-the Ye that means night!"

At this point, his expression grew increasingly frenzied. "Later, my master told me that you could hardly find anyone surnamed Ye in all of Heavenly Origin Province."

"That was when I understood. It wasn't that they couldn't be found. It was because they'd all been killed!"

Ye Tian's eyes were bloodshot as he roared like a wild beast, "Why? Why? Is having the surname Ye an original sin?"

As his words fell, the inner sect elder looked uncertain and suspicious, strange gleams flashing through his eyes from time to time.

This Ye boy... they say the person backing him can casually slap even Saint Realm beings to death. Could he really be someone from the Ye Lineage of a hundred thousand years ago?

Under orders, I've secretly tracked down traces of the Ye Lineage. Whenever I found a clan surnamed Ye, I would investigate them, then kill them all.

All this time, I've found nothing and collected only a small amount of flesh and blood!

To think that everyone surnamed Ye in Heavenly Origin Province has been slaughtered, leaving only this one fish that slipped through the net!

More importantly, this fish that slipped through the net actually has an incomparably powerful being behind him!

But that doesn't make sense either...

The inner sect elder could not puzzle it out, but now was not the time to ponder these things.

He looked up at Ye Tian, his voice filled with mockery and disdain. "That's right. Having the surname Ye is an original sin!"

"Because a hundred thousand years ago, a pack of homeless curs surnamed Ye took away something that never belonged to them!"

"That... is your original sin!"

His voice rang like a great bell, deafening to the ears.

Suddenly, rain poured down in torrents, thunder rumbled, and fierce winds howled.

Ye Tian let the violent raindrops strike him, his body instantly drenched.

The rain streamed down in pillars, running down his thin clothes.

Cultivators had already transcended mortals.

They had long since ceased to feel the heat and cold of nature.

But today, he felt only that this rain was colder than anything else in the world.

He stared blankly at the imposing figure on the raised platform and the expressions of indifference and disdain all around him, and for no apparent reason, he felt that the whole world was utterly absurd.

How similar the scene before him was to that time.

The same torrential rain, the same person-only now, the one standing here had become him.

He felt only an aching pain in his heart, as though countless sharp knives were plunging into it and being pulled out, plunging in and being pulled out again.

Now, he could not even cry. His throat seemed to have turned into the hardest profound iron in the world, impossible to open no matter what he did.

He felt himself about to faint, but through the haze, he seemed to see that white-clad figure again.

Elsewhere, in the forbidden grounds of the rear mountain, the atmosphere was somewhat stagnant.

"What... what's going on with this Ye Lineage?"

Elder Wan asked in bewildered suspicion.

It was not difficult for him to guess that the Ye Lineage referred to the one from a hundred thousand years ago.

But the other matters left him at a loss.

Then, as though something had occurred to him, he asked, "Could you have been secretly searching for traces of the Ye Lineage too?"

He shook his head in anguish. "Foolish! Utterly foolish! How could the likes of us afford to get involved in matters concerning the Ye Lineage?"

Tian Yuanzi ignored him and instead turned his gaze toward Ye Chen in the stone mirror, his eyes flickering, his thoughts unknown.

"Brother Wan, don't you have any designs on the Ye Lineage?"

Elder Wan faltered at those words.

To say he had no designs on the Ye Lineage's legendary treasury would have been impossible.

He had been stuck in the Great Saint Realm for countless years. Without some great opportunity, he might remain there for the rest of his life.

"Alas, what does it matter if I do? The affairs of the Ye Lineage have far too many implications. Once we're caught up in them, not only might you and I risk death, even the forces behind us would be implicated!"

"Brother Wan, there's an opportunity right now, a golden opportunity that comes once in a thousand years!"

Tian Yuanzi looked at Elder Wan, his eyes frighteningly bright.

His stare made Elder Wan's skin crawl. Somewhat uncertainly, he said, "You mean..."

"No. Even if that senior belongs to the Ye Lineage, he's a Quasi-Emperor. Even if we used every trump card we had, we wouldn't be his match!"

At those words, Tian Yuanzi smiled mysteriously. "I'm completely confident, so long as you're willing to help me!"

Elder Wan grew interested and looked curiously at Tian Yuanzi.

"Do you remember when we ventured into the Blood Refining Devil Emperor's tomb together? There was a method for becoming an emperor inside."

Upon hearing this, Elder Wan abruptly stood up, his eyes wide. "You cultivated it?"

"I had no choice. Our lifespans are nearing their end. Without some opportunity, we may go no further in this lifetime!"

"I refuse to accept that. If I'm going to cultivate, I'll cultivate the path of eternal life. Even becoming a Great Emperor isn't what I want. I want to become an immortal, undying and indestructible, forever living under the admiring gaze of the world!"

Elder Wan looked at Tian Yuanzi in anguish. "The Blood Refining Devil Emperor's method requires refining the blood of all living beings!"

"Back then, who knows how much slaughter the Devil Emperor committed to cultivate? And now you intend to imitate him!"

"This is a path that heaven's justice cannot tolerate! If this is exposed, the entire human race of the Eastern Domain will spurn you!"

"Brother Wan, for cultivators like us, it all comes down to one word: contention. Those people can't contend with me, so they have to die. Since they'll die either way, why can't they become stepping stones for my advancement?"

"The Heavenly Dao is merciless. Cultivation itself is an act of defying heaven, so why should we remain bound by all these rules and restrictions?"

Tian Yuanzi paused, then fixed Elder Wan with a piercing gaze, his tone allowing no delay. "I'll ask you just one thing. Are you willing to help me?"

Originally, he had planned to refine Elder Wan and enter the Saint King Realm.

He had never expected a Quasi-Emperor to appear.

This made him change his mind.

However, taking down a Quasi-Emperor with his strength alone would still be somewhat troublesome at present.

With another Great Saint Realm expert helping him, success would be all but assured.

If Elder Wan refused, he would have no choice but to refine Elder Wan first. That way, he could still take down Ye Chen.

Elder Wan looked at him and paced endlessly around the pavilion, his face filled with conflict.

A moment later, he stopped and looked solemnly at Tian Yuanzi. "Are you truly completely certain?"

At those words, a smile appeared on Tian Yuanzi's face. "I am!"

"Alas! Fine, fine! I'll take one last gamble with you!"

Elsewhere, in the outer sect plaza.

A white-clad figure stood motionless in the air.

Holding Ye Tian in one arm, he gently laid him on the ground.

Then he abruptly raised his head, and an overwhelmingly domineering presence that could destroy heaven and earth instantly bore down upon the entire plaza.

Across the outer sect plaza, the paving tiles made of profound stone shattered inch by inch, with Ye Chen at their center.

Then, under everyone's utterly horrified gazes, all the surrounding peaks and buildings collapsed. Terrifying crashes thundered on without end, deafening to the ears.

It was as though the end of the world had come.

The inner sect elder felt as though countless blades, the sharpest in the world, were slicing every part of his body, the pain making his heart tremble.

His hair stood on end as a chill shot from the soles of his feet straight to the crown of his head, freezing even his blood.

"You... you..."

Ye Chen rose to his feet, his icy eyes sweeping over everyone. "My surname... is Ye too!"