Chapter 560: Gazing

Sss, sss, sss...

Golden-red flowing light overflowed from Chen Yan's body, and the strands of malice radiating from the wounds on his physical form began to be devoured and extinguished by Chen Yan.

Now that the contract was thoroughly signed and the struggle of the Five Clans had become a foregone conclusion, Chen Yan no longer needed to feign anything.

As the flowing light of the Immortal Will became increasingly brilliant and eye-catching, Chen Yan's entire aura grew stronger and stronger, and his true strength began to recover.

Beneath his empty right sleeve, a new right arm began to be born.

Yet, there was not a hint of joy on Chen Yan's face.

He had long since anticipated the death of Xia Qi.

This Sovereign of the State, from the moment of birth, had been walking step by step toward the ending of death that everyone had determined for him.

Yet, before dying, the other party had entrusted such a massive burden to Chen Yan in front of all the people under heaven.

Chen Yan was not made of stone; at this moment, his heart was also incomparably complex.

Inside the cultivation chamber, the golden-red flowing light seemed to possess a spirit, leisurely overflowing and diffusing, wrapping around Chen Yan like a layer of exquisite gauze, resembling a small crimson sun.

Just as the final wisp of malice within his body slowly dissipated.

Ahhhhhhh...!

Countless overlapping whispers suddenly resounded beside Chen Yan's ears.

Familiar yet strange illusions once again surfaced in the depths of Chen Yan's heart.

An incomparably massive red sun seemed to strike from a turbid, endless land of darkness.

Time, space, and all rules of everything could no longer be defined.

Just like that, rudely and directly, it appeared before Chen Yan.

Above the Blood Sun, thin, long blue veins were still writhing; Chen Yan looked through the blood-colored membrane into its interior.

At the very center of the Blood Sun, countless pitch-black, hair-like blood vessels converged at a single point, delivering nutrients to the infant at the very core.

The curled-up infant slowly turned its head and looked at Chen Yan.

Those eyes were just like two bloody deep pools with red willow catkins drifting within.

Just staring like this.

As the infant slowly opened its mouth.

Woo!

A low sob, as if transmitted from the primordial past, broke this suffocating dead silence.

A language that could not be defined poured into the depths of Chen Yan's mind.

The next moment, sss...

The last wisp of malice on Chen Yan's body dissipated.

Thump, thump, thump...

The sound of Chen Yan's heartbeat echoed throughout the entire cultivation chamber.

It was not violent, but it was clearly several beats faster than usual.

Chen Yan slowly closed his eyes, and an emotion that had not appeared for a long time submerged him.

As time slowly passed.

Chen Yan slowly opened his eyes and stood up.

"Even for me, I can feel that pressure like a flood."

Chen Yan sighed softly.

The Five Clans were still in talks at this moment.

There had appeared many people in the world who studied him day and night, wishing to annihilate him.

Who knew how many pairs of eyes were staring at him.

They would spare no effort to use a magnifying glass magnified a billion times to observe Chen Yan, until Chen Yan revealed a seemingly imperceptible flaw.

Then, endless enemies would be about to strike.

They would exhaust everything to tear Chen Yan into ten thousand pieces, exhaust everything to bring a thing called despair to Chen Yan.

Including the Human Clan, and not just the Human Clan.

Chen Yan looked toward his own Origin Space, within the Origin Space of the Hardened Body path.

The brand-new Yunmeng City, high-rise buildings, green mountains like dragons—everything was so brand new.

The Ten Thousand Prison Nether Thunder wandered slowly within it.

What a good world.

A world without malice.

Perhaps, this was what the Master of Hardened Body sought his whole life.

An Origin Space without malice, one that could contain all living beings.

"Does such a world truly exist in the world?"

Chen Yan murmured.

Click...

Chen Yan pushed open the door of the cultivation chamber.

A sliver of moonlight passed through the doorway and landed on Chen Yan's face, grazing the tip of his nose.

Click...

The doors of the great hall slowly opened, and the light from within spilled out, outlining a slender, bright trail on the steps before the hall, intertwining with the moonlight.

Lu Jianxia, dressed in golden attire, walked slowly toward the interior of the great hall.

Behind her, in the ink-blue night sky, the moon quietly poked its head out, draping a thin veil of silver-white over all things in the world.

The great hall was filled with people.

Lu Jianxia arrived at the head of the hall and sat beside her elder brother, Lu Wuyi.

At the very front of the great hall, Chen Qi sat calmly.

Following this, an invisible restriction enveloped the entire great hall.

As Chen Qi waved one hand, a Heart-Questioning Stele appeared, hanging above everyone's heads.

"Tomorrow is the Five Clans Struggle, but for the matters of today's meeting, everyone must accept the Heart-Questioning Stele."

Chen Qi spoke indifferently, looking at Chi Xun to the side: "Including you, Chi Xun, and Ji Yanqing; everyone must accept the Heart-Questioning Stele."

Chi Xun's expression changed slightly, and he nodded.

The next moment.

Chen Qi suddenly reached out with one hand, his rolling Qi and blood transforming into endless pressure, instantly enveloping a middle-aged man wearing silver battle armor.

The middle-aged man's expression changed, and the next moment he flew out instantly, heading toward the great hall's massive doors.

Whoosh!

Chen Qi's Qi and blood transformed into cyan chains, binding him to the floor.

Chi Xun's expression changed instantly:

"Chen Qi, what are you doing?"

Chen Qi's expression turned stern:

"Chi Zhou, Chi Wangxian, seventy-fifth on the Creation Realm Ranking; you are quite loyal, having passed intelligence to the Great Xia at least thirty-five times!"

Chi Xun narrowed his eyes, then looked at the man wearing the silver armor.

"Hahaha!"

The man named Chi Wangxian laughed out loud at this moment:

"There is nothing to defend; if you could catch my flaw, then you are skilled.

Chen Qi, you idiot!"

Chi Wangxian looked at Chen Qi viciously:

"Having lost Chen Yan, you are the greatest calamity of the Five Clans. You still have the face to kill me? You should just end your own life!"

Chen Qi's expression became ugly to the extreme.

It was also at this moment.

Chen Mi, with his red hair, arrived in front of Chi Wangxian and reached out with one hand.

"Chen Mi, you are destined to..."

Chi Wangxian roared.

With a boom.

Chen Mi crushed Chi Wangxian's head with his bare hand.

A blood mist dispersed, and Chi Wangxian's headless corpse fell onto the floor.

Everyone's expression changed, and their eyes were filled with wariness as they looked at Chen Mi.

Chi Xun's expression was ugly to the extreme as he looked at Chen Mi:

"If he was to be killed, it should have been by my hand. What kind of thing are you!

When you reach the Eighth Rank, come and have a life-or-death battle with me."

Chen Mi frowned slightly, said nothing, and returned to his seat.

"You have all seen it!" Chen Qi stood up, his majesty overflowing:

"Never has a heaven-gifted talent been so highly valued by the Great Xia; even for Lu Xunyang, his treatment back then was not even half of Chen Yan's!"

Everyone in the great hall had a slightly solemn expression, listening quietly.

A trace of complexity appeared in Chen Qi's eyes:

"Facts have proven that Chen Yan is worthy of such treatment from the Great Xia. Although this child is from a collateral branch of the Chen Clan, there is absolutely no possibility of him returning to the Chen Clan.

Within the Five Clans Struggle, he is the greatest threat from the Great Xia's side. If he grows up, even you, Chen Mi, will not be able to defeat him."

Red-haired Chen Mi narrowed his eyes:

"I will personally destroy him."

Bang!

Chen Qi slammed one hand heavily onto the table:

"Put away your arrogance. If you can advance to the Eighth Rank in a short time, destroy Chen Yan.

You will change the future!

But until you have advanced, keep your mouth shut!"

Chen Mi's eyes were calm, showing no anger, and he just nodded quietly.

Advancing to the Eighth Rank to destroy a Sixth Rank is not shameful.

What is shameful is being a Seventh Rank and being destroyed by a Sixth Rank.

"Killing Chen Yan is your primary mission after entering the Five Clans Struggle!"

Chen Qi spoke in an icy voice:

"Negligence toward Chen Yan is cruelty toward yourselves!"

"This is the first matter of the meeting."

Chen Qi took a deep breath and continued:

"Everything above is based on the condition that Chen Yan can enter the Five Clans Struggle."

As Chen Qi's voice fell, everyone's expression shifted slightly.

In the second row, Chen Changyuan, clutching his sword, had an icy expression.

"What do you mean?" Ji Yanqing asked.

Lu Jianxia also frowned as she looked at Chen Qi.

"It means that tomorrow, the difficulty for Chen Yan to enter the Five Clans Struggle will be immense!"

Chen Qi sighed inwardly, then said:

"The guardian puppets of the Five Clans Struggle have a timer, and the switch will be activated tomorrow.

When facing those of the Chen bloodline, the combat power of these puppets will increase forty-fold!"

As Chen Qi's voice fell, the entire hall became so quiet that a pin drop could be heard.

"Great Elder, if you do this, we won't be able to enter either!"

A Chen Clan Creation Realm cultivator spoke with an expression that had turned extremely ugly:

"I have waited four hundred years for the Five Clans Struggle, only to get a result like this?"

In an instant.

The people of the Chi, Lu, Yu, and Ji clans all had their expressions change.

But the Creation Realm cultivators of Chen Province roared out one after another, unable to accept it.

In order to stop Chen Yan, the Chen Clan had also blocked them, their own bloodline.

"Chen Qi, what kind of thing are you!"

A Chen Clan Creation Realm cultivator cursed loudly:

"My father invested so many resources for the Five Clans Struggle, and in the end, I can't enter? How ridiculous!"

His eyes were red.

The Five Clans Struggle was a massive zone for resource consumption.

For hundreds of years, every clan and every family would periodically pour resources into it.

Countless people were waiting for the Five Clans Struggle to propel themselves to the peak.

But now, to stop Chen Yan, many Chen Clan Creation Realm cultivators were going to suffer.

One must know that behind every Creation Realm cultivator stood a massive interest group.

How many people had been played?

Chen Qi's expression was ugly; he raised a palm, and the next instant, that Creation Realm cultivator was directly suppressed.

"This is the resolution of the Chen Lord; go find him!"

In an instant, the entire hall fell into an uproar.

The blonde Lu Wuyi, however, sat sideways in his chair with a faint smile.

"Interesting," Lu Wuyi laughed:

"Great Xia took out the Soul of the Life Chapter, made such a huge display, and wasted so much effort, only for Chen Yan to be unable to enter the Five Clans Struggle at all in the end."

At this moment, it was not just Lu Wuyi who was laughing.

The Creation Realm cultivators of Chi Province, Yu Province, and Ji Province all revealed smiles.

"The Chen Clan actually made such a huge sacrifice; they are worthy of the Chen Lord."

A Chi Province eighth-rank seed named Chi Xue smiled with a strange expression.

The Chen Lord was ruthless to his enemies, and even more ruthless to his own people.

He truly had guts.

"Great Xia is probably going to cry themselves to death; after all, that little State Protector just died, and before dying, he even bestowed upon Chen Yan the title of Heavenly God General."

A woman who looked seventy percent similar to Ji Yanqing sneered:

"If he knew that the God General he chose couldn't even enter the Five Clans Struggle, he would probably crawl right out of his coffin."

Someone corrected her:

"Senior Ji Yanbing is mistaken, Xia Qiyue is going to become the Province Bright, there is no coffin at all."

Ji Yanbing raised her eyebrows slightly and covered her mouth as she laughed, "That was my mistake then."

Except for the angry voices of the Chen Province Creation Realm cultivators, the Creation Realm cultivators of the other four clans all revealed smiles.

For them, there were no restrictions on the Five Clans Struggle.

Only Great Xia and Chen Province were suffering losses.

But compared to Chen Province, Great Xia had simply become a joke.

After all, anyone could see exactly why Great Xia had taken out the Soul of the Life Chapter.

Chi Xun's expression was calm, but at this moment, rolling coldness welled up in his heart.

He wanted to rush out of the hall immediately to tell Xia Hanzhou the news.

But immediately after, his heart sank.

Great Xia had already signed an agreement with the five clans, and the Soul of the Life Chapter had already been taken out by Xia Hanzhou and thrown into the Five Clans Struggle.

Everything was too late.

This was the Five Clans: shameless and dark.

Once Chen Yan could not enter the Five Clans Struggle tomorrow, it would be a massive tragedy for the Great Xia Creation Realm cultivators who had entered.

Without Chen Yan, the five clans would have one less massive obstacle.

The five clans' Creation Realm cultivators only needed to surround and kill the Great Xia Creation Realm cultivators within the Five Clans Struggle.

By then, Great Xia's strength would be further weakened.

And outside the Five Clans Struggle, Great Xia's military morale would rapidly collapse, and even the common people of Great Xia would be greatly affected.

The entire Great Xia has lost its momentum.

Xia Qi's death is a tremendous sorrow for Great Xia.

But that young Sovereign was clever and fearless; the moment news of his own death emerged, Chen Yan became the Heavenly God General.

This is a method of passing on the hearts of the people.

Xia Qi had considered this level.

The living beings of Great Xia will quickly forget his death and then shift their attention to that Heavenly God General.

This is the art of the emperor, calculating even his own death into the plan!

But now, Chen Yan cannot enter the Five Clans Conflict.

All the schemes Xia Qi laid out while alive will fall short of success.

Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!

A murderous intent surged deep within Chi Xun's heart.

This strategy of the Chen Clan is truly vicious.

Chi Xun's heart was trembling, yet he leaned against his chair with a calm expression, a trace of a smile appearing at the corners of his mouth.

"Chen Sheng is formidable, truly formidable!"

He laughed out loud, his gaze shifting as he suddenly looked at Lu Jianxia below.

Lu Jianxia had been sitting in his chair calmly the entire time, his expression extremely serene.

It was as if he were indifferent to the matters at hand.

"Quiet!"

Chen Qi tapped the table and spoke indifferently:

"If the second proposal could definitely be realized, why would I bother telling you the first proposal first?"

His expression was stern:

"Do you really think he definitely cannot enter the Five Clans Conflict?!"

As his voice fell, the great hall instantly went quiet.

"With forty times the difficulty, and him being corroded by the malice of an Eighth-Rank Malice Crystal, how could he pass?" the woman named Ji Yanbing said with a faint smile.

"Stupid!" Chen Qi shouted in a low voice.

Ji Yanbing's expression instantly turned cold.

"Back in Qinzhou, who would have thought he would become a God General? A while ago, who would have thought he could take on the entire Five Clans Ranking by himself?"

Chen Qi's expression was unsightly:

"Use your brain and think, why would the Chen Master adopt such a method of harming the enemy by eight hundred while damaging himself by one thousand just to restrain Chen Yan?!"

Bang!

"He is Chen Yan, the Heavenly God General of Great Xia, an eighteen-year-old Heavenly God General!

Which Sovereign would bestow the title of 'Heavenly' upon a God General?

Was that Xia Qi a fool?!!!"

Chen Qi's roaring voice resounded.