Chapter 1003: Three Futures

Chen Yan looked toward Xia Hanzhou.

At a single glance, countless pieces of information entered the deep recesses of the minds of Xia Hanzhou and the others.

Information regarding Chen Yan himself, and information regarding the fact that Bai E was dead.

And...

Most crucially, information about the Mother God.

"Father... has already reached this stage?"

Xia Zhiyang's voice trembled, and he clenched his fists tightly.

He practiced the Martial Dao not only to eradicate malice, but also out of his own selfish motives.

That was to completely negate the Xia Lord.

That was why he had his avatar, Lu Xunyang, walk the path of Hard Tempering.

He wanted to cut off the Xia Lord's path using the very path the Xia Lord was most confident in.

But at this moment, Xia Zhiyang felt somewhat dejected.

He had not expected it to be like this.

Everything he could see after a lifetime of cultivation was still only the back of the Xia Lord.

But such an emotion only flashed for an instant.

Xia Zhiyang realized in an instant that the true enemy of the human race still existed.

The mastermind behind the scenes who created Bai E and Fanni.

"If everything is the Mother God's scheme, even Bai E and Fanni are merely the Mother God's pawns."

The Yu Lord's voice was somewhat hoarse:

"Then when will my human race have a way out?"

Xia Hanzhou's face turned deathly pale.

At this moment, he finally understood what the human race actually was to the Mother God.

Pigs in a pigsty?

Or poor creatures inside a petri dish.

The Elemental Lord opened their mouth, unable to speak.

Could it be that in the end, the only one who was right was the Chen Lord, whom they had tried so hard to oppose?

Could it be that the greatest sinner in the human world was actually the human race's greatest hero?

And that they were the foolish leaders who led the human race into the Abyss of Demons?

At this moment, they were silent.

It was as if something had shattered inside their hearts.

Even though they were the most brilliant individuals of the human race's ten thousand years of Martial Dao, at this moment they still felt like the most ridiculous clowns.

Chen Yan took in the expressions of everyone one by one.

Even Lu Xunyang, who was always forging ahead, was silent at this moment.

"Everyone."

Chen Yan's voice was calm:

"Why not leave it entirely to me."

His voice was indifferent, carrying a strange power that was convincing.

"Chen Yan, how much have you prepared?"

Lu Xunyang spoke, but immediately waved his hand:

"No need to tell me."

He already understood that what Chen Yan had to face now was a level he could not participate in.

It was a struggle between the number one person of the human race in ten thousand years and the Mother God.

If Chen Yan wins, the human race prospers.

If Chen Yan loses, the human race falls.

Xia Hanzhou looked at Chen Yan with a complex expression.

He had always thought he was advancing side-by-side with Chen Yan.

Little did he know, he, like the others, had long since been left far, far behind by Chen Yan.

Even the current Ninth-Rankers of the human race were not worth looking at in front of Chen Yan.

Chen Yan waved one hand.

In the void, a scroll of ancient Martial Dao charts floated quietly, without strings or hooks, surrounded by chaotic Qi currents.

The patterns on it flowed like living things, containing all things in the world; just one look at it, and Lu Xunyang felt as if he were being struck by a torrent of ten thousand Martial Daos.

"This..."

Xia Hanzhou opened his mouth wide, looking at the Martial Dao charts in disbelief.

"So beautiful..."

The Elemental Lord was dazzled for a moment.

It was as if they were seeing the most beautiful thing in the world.

That was the accumulation of everything in the human world, the deepest foundation of ten thousand years of Martial Dao.

The mere existence of those charts negated every Martial Dao rule they had created.

Those charts were the Supreme.

"Now that the Xia Lord is gone, the Hard Tempering rules were already lacking; Master Lu's arrival can instead complete the Hard Tempering Martial Dao rules."

Chen Yan laughed softly.

Within the Martial Dao Atlas, what is contained are the most true and pure rules between heaven and earth.

If Xia Zhiyang, Lu Xunyang, the Master of Elements, and the Master of the Universe could all offer up every Martial Dao rule they have mastered.

Then this atlas would be completely perfected.

"Everyone, are you willing to enter this atlas and engrave your own Martial Dao?"

Chen Yan smiled and said.

Xia Zhiyang looked at Chen Yan, feeling incredibly conflicted for a moment:

"I am willing."

"I am willing!"

"I am willing!"

The Master of the Universe and the others spoke, bowing to Chen Yan.

This bow was more like completely entrusting the human race to Chen Yan.

A look of indifference appeared in Chen Yan's eyes, and he slowly returned the bow.

The next moment, Xia Zhiyang and the others entered the Martial Dao Atlas like streaks of light.

Within that world of rules containing boundless grandeur.

The group first saw a familiar figure.

Chen Yuan.

Chen Yuan was writing down his own path of techniques; his gaze turned cold as he looked at Xia Zhiyang and the others.

The two sides looked at each other, but there was no conversation.

The next moment, Xia Zhiyang and the others saw the Master of Formations and Shadow again.

Both sides nodded in acknowledgment, and then no more words were spoken.

Above the Saint-Breaking Tree of the Evil Realm.

Chen Yan stood with his hands behind his back.

With a wave of one hand, the Martial Dao Atlas behind him vanished.

Within his body, the energy of fifty Emperor Fruits had been completely absorbed.

The remaining fifty Emperor Fruits' energy was enough for Chen Yan to completely absorb all the Martial Dao rules within the Martial Dao Atlas.

And then, achieve the unification of all Martial Dao.

But Chen Yan's true self could never achieve true unification.

Because one Martial Dao was incomplete.

The path of Will!

This true self of Chen Yan had no Will domain, so the unified Martial Dao composed of the incomplete Will Martial Dao was destined to be incomplete.

Wanting to make the final unified Martial Dao completely perfect.

It was also very simple.

That would be to let the three newborn bodies merge with Chen Yan.

But Chen Yan would not do that.

Chaos flames appeared in his eyes, as if he had seen through the essence of the human world and seen through the shackles of time and space.

He knew the cause and effect of everything and also understood what he should do.

Rather than saying the Retrospective Mirror saw the changes in future causality.

It was better to say that all parties wanted to make that causality a reality.

The Thousand-Day Ancient God appears.

Three Saints slaughter the demons.

This was the future displayed within the Retrospective Mirror.

But how could the future be so easily determined?

Causality is wondrous and also infinitely changing.

Even if the future of the Three Saints slaughtering the demons had been set.

The causal changes in between would still result in multiple outcomes.

In reality.

The future of the Thousand-Day Ancient God appearing had many variations along the way.

At the very beginning.

The Master of Martial Dao who became the Ancient God was Xuan Yi.

Xuan Yi absorbed all the memories of the Master of True Intent, so he became the new Master of Martial Dao.

In the Master of Formations' plan.

Xuan Yi would become the strongest Dao Child and then devour the Ancient God's status to realize that artificial Thousand-Day Ancient God appearance.

And the Master of Formations had long ago set up a Three-Formation Unification within Xuan Yi's body, which would kill Xuan Yi the moment he became an Ancient God.

Then, the Master of Formations would fail.

And the Three Saints outside, Zhao Zhugui and the others, would take action to suppress Xuan Yi.

According to the Master of Formations' plan.

The human race would avoid future disasters by artificially realizing the prophecy of the Thousand-Day Ancient God appearing.

Therefore, the causal line had always been moving toward Xuan Yi from the beginning.

But at this moment.

A variable has appeared.

Someone holding the Retrospective Mirror led the Seventh Dao Child, Ying, to kill the Fourth Dao Child, Mo.

That day, the Fourth Dao Child, Mo, the Fifth Dao Child, Mu Yun Hai, and the Sixth Dao Child, Ruan Qingwu, fought a great battle.

If Ji Chen did not participate, then it would have been the Fourth Dao Child, Mo, killing Mu Yun Hai and Ruan Qingwu.

Mo would have devoured the causal laws within Mu Yun Hai that were of the same origin as his own, and would not have become the fifteenth strongest of the human race like Mu Yun Hai.

Instead, he would have directly become the tenth.

Following that causal thread.

Mo would have killed Wuhen Jun, and Xuan Yi would have then struck to kill Mo and Ying.

Becoming the strongest Dao Child.

The Master of Formations would have suppressed Chen Yan.

If this causal thread were followed, it would eventually realize the scheme of the Master of Formations.

It would also realize the future where the Master of Formations fails, followed by the Three Sages Slaughtering the Demon.

But the problem is.

The timing for this plan is the one-thousandth day of the Thousand-Day Ancient God Manifestation.

At that time, not only had Xuan Yi become an Ancient God.

The Mother God had also arrived in the human world.

Therefore.

Ji Chen led Ying to kill Mo.

This caused the causal thread to change.

Because of his innate fear, Mu Yun Hai became a slave to Chen Yan and could not kill Wuhen Jun.

Therefore.

The true reason for the failure of the Master of Formations' plan does not lie in the swap between Wuhen Jun and the Chen Lord.

But in Ji Chen.

After the causal thread changed.

Another, more likely future was born.

That is, the one who becomes the Ancient God of Martial Dao is the Chen Lord.

Afterwards, Zhao Zhugui strikes, forming the situation of the Three Sages Slaughtering the Demon together with Li Zhiyi and Zhang Huizhi.

The Chen Lord dies a miserable death.

The problem with this causal thread.

Is that once the Chen Lord becomes that demon.

Zhao Zhugui's identity would be exposed, causing Chen Yan's final trump card to be revealed, and he would no longer be able to find any means to deal with the Mother God.

The person who changed this cause and effect is still Ji Chen, and still Ying.

In the original causality.

After Wuhen Jun, who was disguised as Chen Yuan, escaped, he was captured alive by Zhang Huizhi.

At the same time, the Chen Lord killed the Master of Formations, Ying, and Xuan Yi.

After arriving in the outside world to rescue Wuhen Jun, he fled the human world.

When he returned once more.

It was already the end of the Thousand-Day Ancient God Manifestation.

At that time, the Chen Lord was schemed against by the Mother God and became an Ancient God.

And then, the Three Sages Slaughtered the Demon.

But the problem is, at that time.

The Mother God's true form had also arrived in the human world.

The Three Sages Slaughtering the Demon was merely a facade; the Mother God killing Chen Yan's true form was what truly brought despair to the human world.

Therefore.

Ji Chen had Ying assassinate Wuhen Jun, who was disguised as the Chen Lord, allowing the Chen Lord's plan to be realized one step early.

Making the future of the Three Sages Slaughtering the Demon change once again.

From this point on, a third future was produced...

"That would be me, Chen Yan, becoming that demon!"

Chen Yan whispered.

Ji Chen's own strength is not powerful.

Even entering the Evil Realm requires cooperation with the Primordial Chaos.

But this person is actually the mastermind behind the changes in the human race's future.

Holding the Retrospective Mirror, he appears to be the Xia Lord's world-walker.

In reality, even the Xia Lord has been schemed into Ji Chen's plans.

Because the birth of the third future.

Let the Xia Lord see that besides himself, others also have the possibility of defeating the Mother God.

Therefore, the Xia Lord entered the universe to intercept the Mother God.

Allowing the third future to be realized completely.

Chen Yan looked toward a certain place in the Evil Realm.

There, the Sea of Malice was gradually receding, and the pitch-black malice was gradually dissipating.

Deep within a certain part of the seabed.

Ji Chen's physical body was shattered, his eyes broken, sinking into the seabed like a piece of withered wood.

He had long since died.

A trace of complexity flashed through Chen Yan's heart.

Chi Lao of the Heaven Flail Boxing Tournament had once exhausted his efforts to help and support Chen Yan.

The other party's final request was also very simple: it was to have Chen Yan treat Chi Prefecture well after becoming strong in the future.

But Chen Yan did not do it.

The Universe Master let Zhang Huizhi become the new Universe Master, yet Zhang Huizhi chose the human world battlefield to be in Universe Prefecture.

A single battle emptied out the thousand-year foundation of Universe Prefecture.

The entire Ji Prefecture entered a decline because of Chen Yan.

But Ji Chen had insisted on it being this way.

As for Lu Prefecture...

Chen Yan slowly shook his head.

Sometimes, many things cannot be reconciled.

Because his path of Dao conflicted with that of the Chen Master, it led to one dismal event after another.

It was just that, at this moment.

Chen Yan suddenly realized that he had failed too many people.