Past Life

The Emperor’s Shadow looked to be only in his twenties. His features were nearly identical to Ye Chuan’s, yet his bearing was that of someone who had lived through countless ages.

He merely stood there in silence, and the nearby Three Thousand Great Daos parted on their own, not daring to approach the area covered by his imperial robes.

Ye Chuan sensed no hostility from him either, but the Chaos Imperishable Body within him continued to operate, as though it had encountered another source of power.

Huli looked at Ye Chuan, then at the distant Emperor’s Shadow. Her fluffy tail gradually came to a stop in midair.

She had been with Ye Chuan for so long, yet this was the first time she had seen someone who looked exactly like her boss. Even their soul auras bore a certain resemblance.

If Ye Chuan had not been standing right beside her, she probably would not have been able to tell the two apart immediately.

Lan Xiaoke, however, was not afraid in the slightest. Instead, she wore the expression of someone who had just discovered the juiciest gossip.

She circled Ye Chuan once, then rose onto her tiptoes to look at the Emperor’s Shadow. Finally, she placed Blue Eggy on the ground and seriously compared the two faces.

“Oh my gosh, Ye Chuan, you’ve found your long-lost brother.”

Ye Chuan glanced at the Emperor’s Shadow. “Heh.”

“You even sound the same when you speak.”

The Emperor’s Shadow fell silent for a moment, seemingly not expecting that after waiting for countless years, their reunion would unfold like this.

“I am neither the Primordial Chaos Heavenly Emperor himself nor the enemy you need to defeat. I am merely a fragment of his lucid memory left behind here.”

“This fragment possesses no complete power and cannot leave the Ancient Hall of Myriad Daos. Once it fulfills its final wait, it will disappear on its own.”

Upon hearing that he was not an enemy, the chaos power gathering within Ye Chuan finally calmed down somewhat.

“So the statues outside turned their heads because of you?”

“They are not waiting for me.”

The Emperor’s Shadow shook his head. “They are waiting for the person who can bring back all four ancient seals and walk through this door.”

As his voice fell, a ruined divine court appeared in the starry sky, along with countless indistinct figures kneeling beneath the imperial throne.

The divine court stretched across countless star fields. Every palace was far larger than an ordinary immortal sect, while innumerable worlds revolved around its outskirts.

The imperial throne stood at the center of all those worlds. Anyone seated there could look down upon every change taking place throughout the heavens.

Although the scene was merely a fragment of memory, it still radiated a terrifying pressure that even Immortal Kings could not withstand without lowering their heads.

Ye Chuan saw the divine court, but felt little sense of belonging.

No matter how he looked at it, it did not seem like a suitable place to live.

Still, Ye Chuan more or less understood what was going on. Whether it was the dream he had experienced before or everything Luo Xi and Qian Shuang had told him—

“So I really am his reincarnation?”

“To be more precise, you inherited the true spirit he severed and sent into reincarnation, but you have already developed a life of your own.”

“The true spirit determined your original essence, but it could not determine what kind of person you would become after reincarnation.”

The Emperor’s Shadow looked at Ye Chuan. “Therefore, you are connected to the Primordial Chaos Heavenly Emperor, but you cannot simply be treated as the same person.”

“Shirou and Red A?”

The Emperor’s Shadow said, “I don’t understand.”

Lan Xiaoke chimed in from the side. “I understand what you mean.”

The Emperor’s Shadow raised a hand. At the same time, four scenes appeared in the starry sky: the Ancient Wilderness, the Myriad Laws, the Heavenly Beasts, and the Burial Sword Valley.

The Ancient Wilderness region tempered the physical body. The Myriad Laws region completed the Great Daos. The Heavenly Beasts region was responsible for bloodlines and true words, while the Burial Sword Valley preserved a sword edge capable of severing the Imperial Dao.

These four seemingly unrelated regions had been established around the same goal from the very beginning.

“The Ancient Realm of Myriad Daos has always been waiting for someone who could gain the recognition of all four regions. Only such a person would be qualified to face what was left behind by the old era.”

“Over the countless years, some people obtained two or even three ancient seals in succession, yet no one ever completed the final step.”

“Until you appeared. For the first time, the guardian wills of all four regions granted their recognition simultaneously.”

“What is it?”

“You are not meant to know yet.”

The Emperor’s Shadow glanced at the black-gold chaos within Ye Chuan’s body, which had yet to fully solidify. “Your cultivation level is still insufficient. Seeing the complete memories too soon would only allow your past-life identity to influence who you are now.”

“Once you enter the true sealed land and possess the qualifications to withstand the power of your past life, you will naturally receive all the answers.”

Ye Chuan did not press further.

The Emperor’s Shadow offered no additional explanation. He merely gazed at Ye Chuan and said, “Accept everything the Primordial Chaos Heavenly Emperor left behind, and you will regain the divine court and the imperial throne.”

“Your cultivation from your past life, your complete memories, the Primordial Chaos Imperial Dao, and the authority to command the heavens—all of it can be handed to you now.”

The Emperor’s Shadow raised his hand. The ruined divine court swiftly returned to its original state, and countless Immortal Kings and Immortal Emperors reappeared on either side of the long steps.

All of them lowered their heads at once. Their voices passed through the starry sky as they shouted the same ancient title in perfect unison.

This temptation was more than a mere illusion.

So long as Ye Chuan nodded, the Emperor’s Shadow could indeed unlock the sealed memories ahead of time, allowing him to return to the path of his previous life as quickly as possible.

The black starry sky began to tremble. Countless memories from his past life surged toward him like a tide, attempting to enter his soul.

He saw himself seated above the imperial throne. He also saw countless living beings whose fates were changed by a single word from him. He could even clearly sense how powerful that force was.

Before such power, an Immortal King was merely a slightly stronger life-form, while even an Immortal Emperor had to lower his head.

Any cultivator would have found it difficult to remain calm in the face of such an inheritance.

The chaos power within Ye Chuan began operating on its own, blocking all those memories outside.

The scenes from his past life crashed against the black-gold barrier and shattered into countless fragments, drifting around his soul. Not a single one could truly enter his sea of consciousness.

The Emperor’s Shadow did not force his way through. He merely waited for Ye Chuan to make his own choice.

“Memories of my past life… They do sound pretty good.”

“But I refuse.”

His answer was decisive, given without much thought at all.

For the first time, the Emperor’s Shadow furrowed his brow. “You do not want to know who you are?”

“Once you accept the memories, you will know everything about the past and immediately possess a realm far beyond your current level.”

“Everything you once lost may have a chance to be reclaimed.”

“I know.”

Ye Chuan’s tone remained calm. “My name is Ye Chuan. I have two beautiful fiancées, Luo Xi and Bai Qianshuang. At home, I have pets named Lan Xiaoke, Dahei, and Ahong. I have a disciple named Huli and a younger sister named Ye Yue…”

“And…”

Ye Chuan began listing the names of his tenants one after another.

“As for what someone who is already dead once did, I can look into it later. There’s no need for him to decide who I am now.”

His past life might have been powerful, and it had indeed left many things behind, but all of that belonged to the past—things that had already happened.

Ye Chuan could accept the power and learn the truth, but he would not allow himself to become someone else simply because of a divine court.

Lan Xiaoke nodded along. “Besides, you couldn’t even protect a divine court that huge back then. You don’t sound all that impressive.”

The Emperor’s Shadow: “…”

The Emperor’s Shadow remained silent for a long while. Then, the tightly furrowed lines between his brows slowly relaxed.

The divine court, the imperial throne, and the kneeling figures all grew indistinct before finally dissolving into black starlight.

The memories of his past life, which had been drawing ever closer, also retreated of their own accord, leaving no trace in Ye Chuan’s soul.

The test he had left behind was not meant to find someone willing to become his past self.

If Ye Chuan had readily accepted the throne and the memories, it would only prove that he was still unworthy of wielding that power.

Someone who could not even protect the present would only walk the same path to ruin again, even after obtaining all the power of his previous life.

Only by refusing a throne that was within easy reach could it be proven that the Ye Chuan of today had truly established a foundation independent of his previous life.

“Very good.”

The Emperor’s Shadow raised his hand, and a black-gold ancient seal containing the Three Thousand Great Daos slowly condensed in his palm.

The instant the ancient seal appeared, the entire Myriad Dao Ancient Hall responded. Every Great Dao in the side halls cast a strand of its origin into it as well.

Three thousand completely different powers entered the ancient seal without clashing. Instead, they formed a ring of ever-changing patterns across its surface.

“This is the answer I was truly waiting for.”

The fifth core sigil crossed the starry sky and quietly floated before Ye Chuan.

Ye Chuan raised his hand and grasped the ancient seal. The other four sigils within his body appeared at the same time, slowly revolving around the Myriad Dao Ancient Seal.

Once the five origins connected, a map covering the entire Myriad Dao Ancient Realm briefly appeared in his soul.

However, his authority had not yet been fully unlocked, and most of the deeper regions remained shrouded in darkness.

[Obtained the Myriad Dao Ancient Seal]

The instant the five seals converged, the entire black starry sky split open at its center, and a vast divine pool slowly rose into view.

The water in the pool was no ordinary liquid. It was condensed from the origins of the Three Thousand Great Daos, and every ripple caused the surrounding stars to brighten and dim in unison.

The Emperor’s Shadow’s body also began to turn transparent.

He took one last look at Ye Chuan. Without leaving behind any further demands, he transformed into a stream of black-gold light and merged back into the Myriad Dao Ancient Seal.