In this era, not even a Great Emperor had appeared, and the traces of immortals had long since vanished into the river of time.
Immortal artifacts existed only in ancient texts.
Although he had never seen one, judging by the descriptions in those ancient texts, this was undoubtedly an immortal artifact.
The most powerful weapons currently known on the Heavenly Profound Continent were merely emperor artifacts.
And only the top-tier powers that had produced Great Emperors possessed them.
After the great war a hundred thousand years ago, all the human Great Emperors had perished, and no new emperor artifacts had appeared.
Every emperor artifact was the most precious possession of a sect or lineage, its most important foundation.
Yet now, that tiny ring was actually an immortal artifact.
An immortal artifact countless times more precious than an emperor artifact.
In a sense, immortal artifacts were even more precious than immortal pills.
Moreover, he could sense that after a month of nurturing within this ring, his divine sense would recover completely.
Before this, however, he had slept in his original ring for three hundred years without being able to awaken.
What Ye Chen had brought out was simply too astonishing.
Inwardly, Xuan Danzi cried that he could not take it, because he felt his long-standing heart condition was about to flare up.
He had never imagined this young man would casually pull out an immortal artifact, looking utterly unconcerned about it.
Towering waves surged through Xuan Danzi's heart, and his gaze gradually grew fervent as he looked at Ye Chen.
This mysterious young man harbored great secrets. Following him, reconstructing his body would be a trivial matter, and he might even have a chance to advance further.
"This works much better than your old one. Consider it compensation!"
Ye Chen tossed it over casually.
He had plenty more trash immortal artifacts like this. They took up too much space, so clearing some out was even better.
Xuan Danzi caught it with tremendous excitement, his expression utterly reverent as he examined it gingerly, as though gazing at a beautiful woman stripped of all her clothes.
"All right, stop staring. There's no need to explain its value. You seem barely adequate to me, so you'll be responsible for his cultivation from now on!"
Ye Chen pointed at Ye Yan and spoke calmly.
Hearing this, Xuan Danzi felt somewhat embarrassed and indignant.
What did he mean, "barely adequate"?
I am a sage, after all!
But he only dared grumble inwardly. An ingratiating smile still appeared on his face. "No problem! I see that young friend has an extraordinary bone structure, just right to inherit my mantle!"
What a joke. If he had a problem with it, not only would the immortal artifact already in his hands be gone, but the man would probably slap him to death too. Besides, following this person definitely offered a bright future.
Just like that, Ye Yan muddled his way into accepting a master.
Clearwater Town, the Ye Lineage's reception hall.
"Uncle Ye, is Ye Yan not here?"
At the lower end of the hall sat a young woman of eighteen, with delicate features and snow-white skin. She raised her head and spoke haughtily.
The young lady was Wang Shuiyan, the daughter of Clearwater Town's Wang Lineage.
Beside the young lady sat a hale and hearty old man, an outer sect elder of the Breeze Sect, the true power ruling the Clear Wind Kingdom.
The old man looked full of vigor, and sharp gleams flashed from time to time in his narrow eyes.
Seated at the head of the hall were a middle-aged man and three old men.
The middle-aged man was Ye Xuan, the current patriarch of the Ye Lineage and Ye Yan's father.
The other three were the Ye Lineage's three elders, whose standing equaled that of the patriarch.
Having learned that a Breeze Sect elder was visiting today, they had made a point of coming out to receive him.
Ye Xuan had originally been all smiles, but upon seeing Wang Shuiyan behave so rudely, his smile faded somewhat. "Yan'er went out on business. He isn't home!"
"Since he isn't here, I won't wait for him, then. I'll speak to you directly."
The young lady got straight to the point, unwilling to waste any more time.
Ye Xuan frowned without speaking and stared at Wang Shuiyan, waiting to see what she would say.
Today, he had suddenly learned that someone from the Breeze Sect had come to visit, leaving him rather puzzled.
The Ye Lineage had no connection whatsoever to the Breeze Sect. Why would one of its elders suddenly visit?
When he later saw Wang Shuiyan beside this elder, he grew even more curious.
"Uncle Ye, you should know about my engagement to Ye Yan, shouldn't you?"
Wang Shuiyan spoke indifferently.
"I do. Back then, Ye Yan's grandfather and your grandfather were the closest of friends, so the two arranged this childhood betrothal."
Ye Xuan had no idea what medicine she was selling in her gourd.
"Good, then." Wang Shuiyan smiled faintly, though his smile was somewhat cold. "Your nephew has come today to break off the engagement!"
These words shocked everyone in the hall.
The Ye Lineage disciples outside the doors erupted into an uproar.
Ye Xuan flew into a towering rage. He shot to his feet and bellowed, "What did you say?"
Practically everyone in Clearwater Town knew about their engagement.
Now she had come to their door to break it off without cause. This was not merely humiliating Ye Yan, but slapping the Ye Lineage in the face.
How could he not be furious?
Wang Shuiyan cast a discreet glance at Ye Xuan, his eyes filled with contempt. "Uncle Ye, that engagement was arranged by my grandfather, not by my own wishes. Now that I've successfully joined the Breeze Sect and become the sect master's disciple, I cannot possibly stay in a little place like this with Ye Yan!"
Hearing this, fury welled up within Ye Xuan. He had never expected Wang Shuiyan to truly have come to break off the engagement. The Spiritual Qi throughout his body began surging uncontrollably, and the powerful pressure of the Fifth Heaven of the Qi Sea Realm spread through the hall.
"Hmph!"
The Breeze Sect elder seated to one side snorted coldly, instantly dispersing that pressure into nothing.
"Patriarch Ye, Shuiyan is the sect master's disciple. If he loses so much as a single hair, there will be no need for the Ye Lineage to exist any longer."
The old man spoke sinisterly.
"You..."
"Father, I'm back!"
Before Ye Xuan could speak, a resolute voice came from the doorway.
Ye Chen and Ye Yan had returned together.
Someone had already told Ye Yan what had happened in the hall.
He looked angrily at Wang Shuiyan and said coldly, "You want to break off the engagement?"
"Yes. Your cultivation has regressed instead of advancing all these years. You're undoubtedly trash, while I've already become the Breeze Sect master's disciple. In the future, I will certainly enter the Xiantian Realm, and may even become an Origin Core Realm expert."
"We stopped belonging to the same world long ago!"
Wang Shuiyan's face was full of mockery.
Her words thoroughly enraged everyone in the Ye Lineage.
"Insolence!"
"Insolence!"
"You ignorant little girl, you dare spout such outrageous nonsense in our Ye Lineage!"
The lineage elders rebuked her one after another.
Ye Xuan's face was livid. If not for his concern for the lineage, he would have struck long ago.
The watching Ye Lineage disciples began cursing outright.
"Brother Ye Yan is Clearwater Town's number one genius! If he's trash, you're even bigger trash!"
"You're the trash!"
"Brother Ye Yan treated you so well before, yet you treat him like this! You really are a woman with the heart of a snake and a scorpion!"
"Ungrateful wolf!"
"..."
Ye Yan was utterly furious. He had never imagined Wang Shuiyan could say such things.
Back when he had still been Clearwater Town's number one genius, Wang Shuiyan had run around on his heels every day.
Whenever he had anything good, he would share it with her. He had even given her the spirit stones and pills the lineage distributed each month.
Only later, when something went wrong with his cultivation, had he felt too embarrassed to continue collecting the cultivation resources the lineage distributed every month.
From then on, Wang Shuiyan had begun treating him coldly.
At the time, he had puzzled over it endlessly without understanding. Now, he finally understood.
He looked at Wang Shuiyan, his gaze utterly frigid. "Defeat me, and this matter is settled!"