The Birth Of The Unrivaled Ruler

7.

Storing Shi Yin’s slumbering soul spirit inside his body, Yao Chen split a portion of his own Divine Soul to wrap around it, ensuring the soul spirit would not dissipate. He then stared up at the sky, where a heavy silence had begun to settle.

"Why must my fate be like this? This cursed fate will eventually bend its knees beneath my power!" His tone grew colder by the second. Without wasting another moment, Yao Chen set off, leaving the ruined Bei City far behind.

After flying aimlessly for a short while, his gaze was suddenly drawn to a specific direction—an ancient forest that was always a hot topic among the cultivators of Bei City.

"The Blood Rain Forest... I’ve heard this forest harbors some great, unrevealed secrets. With my current cultivation state, if Huang Li’s father recovers and comes after me with his true body... my life will likely be in the palm of his hand. I must become stronger."

Swoosh!

Yao Chen dove into the Blood Rain Forest, but suddenly—

Wooooosh! Crackle!

An ancient barrier manifested, accompanied by a sudden surge of lightning strikes that blasted his body, sending him hurtling violently backward.

"Pfft! D-damn it... this formation..." Yao Chen chose to retreat, his eyes narrowing slightly as he sensed that this killing formation was definitely not something set up by anyone at the Dao cultivation stage.

Forced to heal his body, he spent the next hour in recovery.

"No wonder they say it is impenetrable to anyone... This formation is incredibly powerful and complex. But while that holds true for others, it won't work on me." Yao Chen materialized two swords from his own Qi energy.

Swoosh!

With a casual wave of his hand, the two swords shot forward like lightning toward the now-calm barrier, instantly triggering a massive explosion of energy fluctuations.

BOOM!

"Interesting..." Having deciphered the weak point of the killing formation before him, Yao Chen swiftly pulled at a single, thin thread of energy that connected directly to the formation's core eye.

Crack! BOOM!

Suddenly, the golden mist shrouding the formation eye shattered completely. Along with its destruction, Yao Chen’s eyes widened in astonishment. The forest, which initially appeared to be nothing more than dense trees, now revealed a starkly different reality.

Abundant rare medicinal herbs grew everywhere, and the dense aura of countless demonic beasts began to wash over his body.

"I think I know why a powerful cultivator went to the trouble of sealing this forest," Yao Chen muttered to himself.

He hesitated for a moment before entering, but the die was cast. Moreover, he knew all too well that dangerous places always harbored massive windfalls for anyone willing to explore them.

In the midst of harvesting the lushly growing medicinal herbs, a thunderous roar echoing from a different direction piqued his curiosity.

Roar! Roar!

"The aura of these battling demonic beasts is actually on par with a Five-Star Grand Dao practitioner. They must be fighting over something."

Swoosh!

His body moved like a blurred, flickering shadow. As he neared the battlefield, Yao Chen’s eyes widened once more.

"Thousands of demonic beast soul pearls scattered everywhere... What kind of place is this exactly?" he thought, looking in grim fascination at the piles of skeletal remains littered across the ground.

Bang! Bang!

Two tigers, each sporting a pair of black wings, were locked in a ferocious, non-stop battle with one another. Watching their clash, Yao Chen had absolutely no intention of intervening.

Ten minutes later...

Thud! Thud!

The two warring beasts suddenly collapsed. Their eyes snapped shut, signaling their death.

"So that's how it is... I don't know what this forest truly is, but one thing is certain—these thousands of scattered demonic beast soul pearls are mine!"

Swoosh! Swoosh!

Moving like a flash, he swept up and stored every single scattered demonic beast soul pearl. Yao Chen left absolutely nothing behind.

With a radiant, pleased expression on his face, he left that bizarre area and ventured even deeper into the heart of the forest.

"Soul-Nourishing Lotus?!" Yao Chen was completely taken aback. He blinked and shook his head to ensure that what he was seeing was indeed the exact resource he desperately needed.

"It really is..."

Unwilling to let such an opportunity slip away, Yao Chen stomped his foot and flew gracefully over the tranquil waters of the lake. However, the exact moment his hand brushed against the petals of the Soul-Nourishing Lotus, his vision instantly plunged into darkness.

Bzzzzt! Splash!

The author has no idea what Yao Chen experienced at that moment. What was certain was that his body began to sink deep into the depths of the calm lake, as aquatic roots crept forward and bound his limbs tightly.

"Where am I? And this lotus..." He felt a wave of confusion, but a smirk soon played on his lips when he realized the Soul-Nourishing Lotus was firmly in his grasp.

"My boy, why are you just standing there? And that lotus, why did you take it? Who is it that you wish to bring back to life?" a deeply familiar voice echoed in his ears.

Yao Chen whipped around, staring in absolute shock at Yao Huan. Bizarrely, a part of him implicitly believed that the man standing before him was indeed his father.

"Father?"

Yao Huan gave a warm smile and waved his hand, causing the Soul-Nourishing Lotus in Yao Chen's grasp to disintegrate on its own.

"W-what are you doing, Father? Why did you destroy the lotus?"

The man who bore his father's face merely shrugged his shoulders.

"Gege... Your father is right. Who is it that you want to bring back to life?" Shi Yin’s voice suddenly chimed in.

"Yin'er..." Yao Chen’s mind instantly descended into chaos. He desperately tried to recall the events etched in his memory.

Strangely, he couldn't remember anything. Yao Chen found himself completely immersed in a peaceful play of life—a reality that, in truth, had never existed for him.

A full day passed, and Yao Chen remained submerged deep within the silent depths of the lake. However, news of the Blood Rain Forest's broken seal had already spread like wildfire across various major power sectors. At this very moment, thousands of cultivators were swarming into the forest, seeking their own fortunes.

Inside the endless illusion...

Yao Chen felt as though he had lived through the most beautiful days of his life. Together with his father and Shi Yin, they enjoyed a perpetual peace that completely blinded him to a grim reality—that his life was in mortal danger!

"Gege... don't you see how peaceful the universe is?"

Yao Chen nodded. Looking out, he saw nothing but absolute tranquility. There were no hardships, no struggles; this entire illusion felt like heaven to him.

Until he suddenly noticed a discrepancy.

"Why does it feel like my soul is being absorbed by the air and Qi energy of this place? My reflection is fading too... Arghhh!"

"Gege? What's wrong?"

Yao Chen looked toward Shi Yin's body. Then, he glanced at his father, who was busy preparing food. But when he looked closely at his father's chest, he saw his father's life jade pendant resting there perfectly intact—the very pendant that had been crushed to pieces. That single detail snapped him awake to his grave mistake.

"An illusion..."

Swoosh! Splat! Splat!

Moving with blinding speed, Yao Chen drove a sword conjured from his Qi energy straight through Shi Yin’s body. He turned and did the exact same to his father, shattering the endless illusion into oblivion.

Blub! Blub!

Yao Chen snapped his eyes open, only to find his body severely restricted by the tightening grip of underwater roots.

"D-damn it, how did it turn out like this..." Scanning his surroundings, he saw thousands of skeletal remains of past cultivators. He could also see several other living cultivators trapped in the exact same predicament, deeply asleep and lost to the endless illusion.

"I..." His voice caught in his throat. The Qi energy inside his body felt entirely depleted. Even his soul spirit was being slowly and steadily drained into the roots slithering up from the lake bed.