Chapter 1142: The Heavenly Emperor Imprint!
"There's a conspiracy. It must be a conspiracy—a massive one…"
On Punishment Main Peak of the Jade Pool Immortal Sect, Punishment Elder Huo Linglong gazed toward the bustling Transcendence Peak with eyes like lightning. She struggled to maintain her composure.
When Ye Chen was still at the True Immortal realm, he had handed out top-grade True Origin Return One Pills as if they cost nothing. Many female disciples in the sect at the True Immortal stage had benefited enormously and advanced by leaps and bounds. Since he joined the sect, at least sixty or seventy female disciples had broken through from True Immortal to Celestial Immortal. In previous years, such breakthroughs might not have occurred even once in one or two years. The scale was simply outrageous.
Now that Ye Chen had broken through to the Celestial Immortal realm, he distributed True Origin Return One Pills even more generously. That was understandable, since he no longer needed them himself. But in addition to those pills, he had begun giving out top-grade Impermanence Pills as well.
The Impermanence Pill was the highest-tier immortal medicine for Celestial Immortal cultivators, providing unimaginable improvements to their cultivation speed. The only drawback was that the main ingredient had disappeared, making further refinement impossible. Existing stocks had been driven up to astronomical prices with almost no cost-effectiveness.
Yet Ye Chen gave them out freely. Any Celestial Immortal female disciple who came to pay respects received a bottle. If he encountered one on the road, she received a bottle. Even when he saw a female disciple cultivating in the pool, he would send her a bottle—sometimes two or three at once. And every single one was top-grade.
It was truly absurd. Ye Chen seemed determined to single-handedly crash the price of Impermanence Pills across the entire Immortal Realm.
As a result, Transcendence Peak had become livelier than ever. Ye Chen, the Fourth Ancestor, was surrounded by admirers wherever he went. Whenever he stepped out, beautiful female disciples with graceful figures and colorful robes flocked around him, chattering and creating a dazzling scene.
This only made Huo Linglong more vigilant toward Ye Chen. Even Immortal Monarchs could not possibly obtain so many Impermanence Pills, yet Ye Chen seemed to have an endless supply. She knew some secrets—Ye Chen had once told her master Yue Yao that he came from the lower realms—but she did not believe it for a second. The connection between the lower realms and the Immortal Realm had been severed long ago; those realms should be barren. How could they have given Ye Chen such abundant resources?
His background was definitely not simple. The way he won people's hearts so aggressively meant he must have grand ambitions. All of this made Huo Linglong increasingly wary and attentive toward him.
…
"Alright, alright. This old ancestor doesn't drink. My tolerance is poor, and I might make mistakes…"
"Jade Pool Immortal Dance? You're testing me with this?"
"Your outfits are far too revealing. Are you even treating me as a man?"
"What? Cultivate together in the spirit pool on Hundred Flowers Peak? Do you really think that's what you're after? I won't even bother exposing your true intentions…"
Ye Chen waved his hand, rejecting the enthusiastic invitations from the female disciples, and returned to Transcendence Peak at a leisurely pace. Thinking of their fervor, he could not help but shake his head.
These female disciples were truly repaying kindness with betrayal. As their ancestor, he acted purely for the greater good. When he saw a poorly dressed female disciple on the road, he pitied her and gave her some pills. When he noticed one cultivating in the water with soaked clothes, he could not resist offering her pills as well. Yet every one of them tried to ruin his reputation. It truly chilled his heart.
Back in his cave residence, the disheartened Ye Chen did not rush into cultivation. Instead, he began refining a lightning-flashing imprint.
Refining an avatar imprint was no simple task. It required bathing a strand of divine sense in continuous lightning baptism, then using various treasure techniques to temper it and infuse it with spirit before it could succeed. Today marked the final step.
When Ye Chen completed the last procedure, all the lightning radiance on the imprint converged, leaving it simple and unadorned.
A smile appeared on his face. It was done!
This was an imprint fragment at the mid-Celestial Immortal realm. He was very curious what kind of imprint it would critically strike and return when given as a gift.
He did not have to wait long to find out.
As the cave residence door opened, a pair of long, slender legs stepped inside. The short skirt with flowing tassels swayed with each step, revealing an endless beautiful view.
"Fourth Ancestor…"
Nangong Wan's greeting was soft and clingy. Ever since their relationship had deepened, her attachment to him had clearly grown even stronger.
"Wait a moment!"
Ye Chen stopped Nangong Wan, who had grown increasingly skilled and was already taking the initiative. He brought out the imprint. "The previous imprint has been used up. I've refined a new one. Let me imprint it into your forehead first. It will protect you in the future."
Upon hearing this, the love in Nangong Wan's beautiful eyes surged even stronger. The Fourth Ancestor's imprint possessed combat power comparable to his main body. Even at the early Celestial Immortal realm, it could slay a peak Profound Immortal. It was clearly extraordinary.
Refining such an imprint must have been extremely difficult and costly. Yet in just half a year, the Fourth Ancestor had already condensed a new one. This showed just how much he cared about her safety.
The Fourth Ancestor truly loved her so much…
Nangong Wan said nothing. She simply closed her eyes, tilted her head back, and trusted Ye Chen completely, allowing him to do as he wished.
Ye Chen smiled and pointed a finger at her forehead. A moment later, Nangong Wan let out a soft hum, while Ye Chen's finger trembled slightly before he withdrew it.
Nangong Wan opened her eyes, filled with infatuation as she gazed at Ye Chen's handsome face. She spoke earnestly, "The Fourth Ancestor treats me so well. I have no way to repay you. I can only work like an ox and a horse to serve the Fourth Ancestor…"
Ye Chen: ?
He paused for a brief moment, but the next instant, he understood exactly what "work like an ox and a horse" meant. He smiled and savored Nangong Wan's profound gratitude.
At the same time, the system notification finally sounded in his mind.
"Congratulations, Host. Gift successfully given…"
"Gift presented: Personal Avatar Imprint!"
"200,000 times feedback in progress…"
"Detected that the gift is extremely important to the recipient…"
"Top-tier critical hit feedback triggered!"
"Heart strike feedback triggered!"
"Nangong Wan is the Host's dao companion and receives double feedback…"
"Feedback received: Heavenly Emperor Saint Immortal Peak Realm Avatar Imprint!"
"This imprint was condensed by the Heavenly Emperor at the peak of the Saint Immortal realm before he was forced to venture into the Other Domain. Using a top-tier divine technique, he sealed a strand of his divine sense into an ancient divine jade and gifted it to a close friend…"
"After his close friend perished, the jade was never activated and was lost…"
"Crushing this jade will activate the Heavenly Emperor Imprint, summoning a divine sense avatar with one percent of the Heavenly Emperor's combat power at his peak Saint Immortal realm…"
Ye Chen raised an eyebrow as he read the description, sighing at the vast gap between immortal realms.
Twenty thousand times feedback, plus top-tier critical hit, heart strike, and double feedback from the dao companion multiplier—the combined multiplier was beyond imagination. Yet it only produced a Saint Immortal peak Heavenly Emperor divine sense imprint.
Ye Chen had never expected an Immortal King imprint; the gap was simply too large. He had hoped for at least an Immortal Monarch imprint, but the result was only a peak Saint Immortal Heavenly Emperor imprint.
Honestly, it still left him feeling somewhat insecure.
Chapter 1143: Senior An Becomes an Immortal!
Ye Chen sighed inwardly at the vast gap between realms. Still, recalling the Heavenly Emperor's legendary feats—especially the tales of him single-handedly guarding the Emperor Pass and even pushing back into enemy territory—one percent of his peak Saint Immortal combat power was not bad at all. If any powerful being targeted him in the future, releasing the imprint should prove useful. At the very least, the Heavenly Emperor's face alone might intimidate his foes.
Even so, Ye Chen knew that his own strength remained the foundation of everything. Once he reached the Profound Immortal realm and refined another imprint, he might obtain one at the Immortal Monarch level. Only then would he finally feel some real sense of security, and his fear of insufficient firepower could be eased.
He stored the ancient jade in his inner universe, then looked down at Nangong Wan's exaggerated floating split and smiled. As an ancestor, he supposed this was the kind of trial he ought to endure.
Setting aside all thoughts of the imprint, Ye Chen reached out and gently pulled Nangong Wan closer.
…
A few days later, Ye Chen sent away a much more languid yet fully satisfied Nangong Wan and began closed-door cultivation.
Although refining the imprint had taken considerable time, in the past half year, his own diligent cultivation had still progressed rapidly. He was now on the verge of breaking through to the late Celestial Immortal realm. After that, the peak Celestial Immortal stage would not be far away. At most, another year and he would break through, at which point he could prepare to elevate his inner universe into a true cosmos and formally advance to the Profound Immortal realm.
…
While Ye Chen progressed at astonishing speed, the dao companions who had ascended with him also began achieving immortality one after another.
The first to succeed were the Five-Member Group of Heavenly Desire. However, after becoming immortals, they could no longer advance while lying back as before. They now had to cultivate normally, which left all five somewhat disappointed. Having grown used to reaping without sowing and being fed every step of the way, none of them felt eager to work hard themselves.
They hoped to find Heavenly Desire Ancestor to see if there were follow-up cultivation methods.
Ye Chen had already tasked the sect with inquiring about her and searching through records. The female disciples of the Jade Pool Immortal Sect were very willing to handle matters for him. After all, the Fourth Ancestor was generous with his rewards, so serving him always brought substantial benefits.
Even so, the results were limited. The Immortal Realm spanned three thousand Continents, vast beyond measure, with countless sects and innumerable experts. Only supreme sects like the Supreme Hall or the Jade Pool Immortal Sect, which had once produced Immortal Kings, were renowned throughout the entire realm. Smaller sects rarely had names that spread far. Even reaching beyond their own Continent was considered impressive.
Under these conditions, searching for a sect connected to the ancestor of Heavenly Desire Sect was like finding a needle in a haystack. Not knowing the sect's name made it even harder. They could only gather information slowly.
More importantly, the female disciples had somewhat misunderstood Ye Chen's request. Huo Linglong, upon learning of it, was especially displeased.
The female cultivators of the Jade Pool Immortal Sect were pure and beautiful. Yet while living among them, Ye Chen still asked them to search for sects specializing in charming and seducing male cultivators—preferably those whose techniques required dual cultivation partners. Was he saying they were not alluring enough? Did he plan to switch sects once he found what he wanted?
Although Huo Linglong wanted to drive Ye Chen away, she refused to let him leave in such a manner. The disciples were equally unwilling to let their generous ancestor be stolen by some seductive outsider.
Thus, under Huo Linglong's secret orders and the disciples' deliberate foot-dragging, the search progressed at a glacial pace. If Ye Chen relied solely on the Jade Pool Immortal Sect's intelligence network, he feared he might not find Heavenly Desire Ancestor even after becoming an Immortal King himself.
Apart from the Five-Member Group of Heavenly Desire, Yi Qingwu advanced the fastest. After absorbing the origin, her cultivation soared. Combined with Ye Chen's unlimited supply of pills for his own people and her increasingly powerful physique, she had already reached the mid-True Immortal realm. The others mostly lingered around the False Immortal stage.
Not long after Ye Chen broke through to the late Celestial Immortal realm, Senior An finally became an immortal.
Her progress in the lower realm had actually been quite slow. But ever since she obtained the Seven Extremes Immortal Physique, her cultivation speed had skyrocketed. In addition, Ye Chen frequently provided all kinds of heavenly treasures for the child in her womb, which also nourished her. The motherly Senior An benefited immensely and finally caught up.
When the tribulation lightning ended, Senior An placed one hand on her abdomen, breathed a sigh of relief, and smiled. Her joy was not for her own ascension, but for the safety of the child within her.
Before the tribulation, she had been filled with anxiety, constantly worrying that the lightning would harm the baby. Had Ye Chen not persuaded her several times, and had it not been true that a [False Immortal] could hardly survive tens of thousands of years until the child's birth, she might have followed the example of the Eight-Crowned King and delayed her ascension until after the child was born.
Now that everything had passed without incident, Senior An felt pure joy.
Ye Chen flew over and looked at her as she gently stroked her abdomen, already beginning to emit a faint milky fragrance. He felt somewhat helpless. Judging by the child's development, it had not even fully formed yet, but Senior An had already fully embraced her role as a mother. She clearly looked forward to this child with all her heart.
Ye Chen embraced her and said with a light smile, "See? I told you it would be fine. With the origin power of the Primordial Chaos Myriad Worlds Tree protecting her, even an Immortal King would struggle to harm the child. A mere True Immortal tribulation could never injure her."
Senior An smiled as well. She nodded toward Yi Qingwu, who was watching her belly from the cave entrance in the distance, then turned back to Ye Chen. "Besides the child, I was also worried about the matter of the Seven Extremes Heavenly Maiden…I feared that after I became an immortal, she would sense me and turn me into someone else with a single thought. But now it seems I was overthinking things."
Ye Chen smiled. He had already learned most of what there was to know about the Seven Extremes Heavenly Maiden. Only one of her incarnations had appeared so far, reaching the Immortal Monarch realm. The others were probably not much stronger. She was still far from full recovery. By the time she regained her strength, he would likely already be an Immortal King. There was truly no need to worry too much. He refused to believe any of her incarnations would dare come knocking on his door.
An Miaoli smiled gently as well. With both the child and the Seven Extremes Heavenly Maiden situation resolved, she finally relaxed. Still, she remained cautious and said seriously, "Fellow Doaist, a tribulation's destructive power is terrifying after all. Could I trouble you to take some time and thoroughly check the child's condition?"
Ye Chen accepted the request gladly. "Senior An is Yuyi's aunt. Of course I will help in any way I can. There's no need to be so polite!"
An Miaoli blushed faintly when she heard him mention Yuyi, but she quickly composed herself and nodded gently. "You're right. Both of us have clear consciences. I shouldn't be so formal. It was my mistake…"