Lifting the Hem of History

Elder Cui Changsheng had once cautioned Chen Yi about the taboos of walking along the banks of the River of Time. The third rule was:

If you encounter an unknown attack while traversing the riverbanks, ignore it—it’s all just intimidation. The moment you retaliate, you’ll trigger a backlash of karma, playing right into the hands of those malevolent beings lurking in ancient history!

Chen Yi kept this warning close to his heart.

So, when a shadowy figure leaped out from the River of Time and struck at his knee, he suppressed his combat instincts and stood firm, refusing to retaliate.

Just as expected!

The moment the shadow was about to land a hit on Chen Yi’s knee, seeing his utter indifference, it dissipated like a bubble, never making contact with his body.

Shortly after, an ethereal figure emerged from the River of Time, its gaze icy as it glared at Chen Yi. "Outsider, trespassing into the River of Time—you shall perish!"

This was a male merman, his lower half a fish tail, his upper body powerfully built, wielding a golden trident. His body was covered in dark patterns, exuding an eerie and ominous aura.

He raised his trident and thrust it violently toward Chen Yi!

Yet Chen Yi paid him no mind. With his hands clasped behind his back, he continued walking upstream.

Elder Cui was right—it was all just a bluff. The creature was trying to provoke him into attacking so it could drag him into its corresponding era, where the crushing weight of time would obliterate him.

What madness!

He hadn’t even provoked it!

If it weren’t for the restraint of his four-star clone, his true self would have fished this thing out and taught it a lesson!

Soon, realizing that none of its tricks could rouse the man’s interest—and that he was only getting farther away—the merman grew desperate.

"Don’t you dare run! You coward! I , come fight me! I’ll even give you one hand..."

It tried to chase after him, but once it crossed a certain boundary, it was repelled by the dense temporal barrier along the riverbank and sent crashing back into the water. Helpless, it could only watch as the man’s figure grew fainter until it vanished entirely.

"What in the heavens... He looks like a rookie stepping into the River of Time for the first time, so how is he so composed?"

"And his strength is only at the Taiyi stage—how is he traversing the temporal barrier so effortlessly? That area ahead is the Great Upheaval Era. Even I, a Great Luo, can’t pass through. How is he doing it?"

"Freak. A total freak..."

The merman’s gaze deepened before its illusory form shuddered and dispersed, returning to its corresponding era.

Meanwhile, Chen Yi continued upstream for several hundred steps until he finally arrived at the era ten thousand years ago—when the Great Upheaval of the Immortal Realm’s main timeline had rippled through all its tributaries.

He paused on the riverbank, where the ground trembled incessantly, and the main current of the River of Time churned violently, sending massive waves crashing.

Colossal figures reflected across the heavens, disrupting the tributaries of time in countless realms, sealing away this fragment of history and locking away all its secrets.

Now, Chen Yi, having snuck into the River of Time unnoticed, quietly lifted a corner of history’s veil.

The river surged with time’s unending flow, each wave crystallizing the rise and fall of countless epochs.

Two incomparably mighty figures shattered the shackles of time, their mere ripples pulverizing millions of years into dust!

"After eons of preparation, all for this moment to prove my path to the Immortal Emperor’s throne! Ling Xiao, it’s time for you to step down!"

The golden-robed figure’s eyes burned with a resolve surpassing eternity. Above him hovered a colossal cauldron of chaos, its descending energies warping space-time. In his palm, a golden vortex swirled, within which a hundred azure Dao Traces of Origin rampaged wildly.

Behind him, a million warriors clad in crimson immortal-metal armor stood arrayed, their Godslayer Spears radiating bloody light. At the forefront, twenty-four celestial generals exuded overwhelming might, shaking the entire stretch of the River of Time into turmoil!

"Wuji, you dare?!"

The green-robed figure’s roar shattered the heavens. Behind him bloomed thirty-six chaotic lotuses, each petal reflecting a different dimension of time and space. In one hand, he held the Primordial Creation Disk, its needle shifting the cosmos at will. Beneath his feet rested a massive bronze coffin, its aura of primordial chaos sweeping through all realms!

Below him, millions of immortal soldiers had gathered, yet the ranks of his celestial generals were incomplete—out of thirty-three positions, only eighteen were filled, leaving fifteen glaringly empty!

The disparity was clear.

One side brimmed with unstoppable momentum; the other was scattered and disorganized.

With a final roar from the golden-robed figure, a cataclysmic explosion of energy swallowed everything.

From this point onward, history fractured. Not even the River of Time in the Divine Realm could reveal what happened—even entering the main timeline of the Immortal Realm’s River of Time yielded no answers.

Only those who lived through that great war knew the truth.

Chen Yi stood silently on the Divine Realm’s riverbank, his eyes filled with awe.

Though the River of Time only preserved the moment before the battle began, it showcased the peerless dominance of Ling Xiao and Wuji in full glory.

Chen Yi couldn’t help but wonder—if he were caught in that war, what were his chances of escaping alive from the hands of those two emperors?

The answer: less than 98%!

It was far too dangerous. A single misstep would mean eternal damnation—no different from suicide.

Say what you will about Ling Xiao—his foolish decisions were many—but at his peak, he was no weakling. Even diminished, a dying camel is still larger than a horse!

As for the treacherous Wuji, he didn’t just topple Ling Xiao’s throne—the golden vortex in his palm seemed to contain Dao Traces of Origin stolen from Ling Xiao?

According to Elder Cui Changsheng, these traces were the foundation of the Dao’s Primal Realm. Gathering forty-nine would make one a Dao Ancestor, and the Immortal Emperor was the strongest among them, possessing the most Dao Traces.

Somehow, Wuji had extracted a hundred of Ling Xiao’s Dao Traces, destabilizing his throne and stripping him of his invincibility, leaving him at Wuji’s mercy.

Wuji was terrifyingly strong—and terrifyingly cunning.

"Haah..."

Chen Yi took a deep breath and murmured softly, "At the end of the immortal path, who stands supreme? Behold Wuji, and all paths crumble to nothing!"

"Pity. I don’t walk the immortal path. But if I ever find a way around that peak, I’ll have to test myself against him!"