Chapter 695: Behind Everything

The indifferent voice continued to resound.

Chen Yan's body had already turned into a phantom; every time he arrived, it was like a fist carrying the power of the world.

Boom, boom, boom!!!

Fist imprints intertwined, continuously slamming into Chen Changyuan's body, flesh and blood splattering, bone fragments scattering wildly.

Chen Changyuan gritted his teeth tightly, looking at Chen Yan with extreme ferocity.

His inner self let out a roar.

The power of will was influencing his perception!

The power of will was interfering with the speed of his counterattack!

He slashed out with his sword, but before the blade could arrive, Chen Yan's fist had already struck, directly piercing through his abdomen and his neck.

His body smashed through mountains and gouged through the earth's veins, yet he had absolutely no chance to resist.

"Chen Yan, you think...!"

Chen Changyuan suddenly hissed, all the malice within his body erupting like boiling water at this moment.

But he was unable to utter his next sentence.

Slap!

Chen Yan's hand had already firmly gripped Chen Changyuan's neck, and while flying, he pressed him down onto the ground.

Like two streaks of light passing by, the ground was plowed into a massive trench a hundred miles long, within which magma churned, like a fire beast released after hibernating for ten thousand years, hissing and boiling toward the vault of heaven.

"Invincible One, where is your invincibility?"

A grand voice rang out.

Countless fist shadows pressed down, bombarding Chen Changyuan's body.

Chen Changyuan's torso and legs all began to explode, all his internal organs, bones, and blood vessels were forcibly beaten into blood foam and powder.

"Chen Yan, you are the..."

Chen Changyuan's entire head was beaten into a depression, his eyes burst open, brains overflowing, but his voice was filled with endless madness and morbidity.

"Strongest enemy!!!"

Boom!

Chen Yan smashed down with a punch, and Chen Changyuan's brain was completely shattered.

"Chen Changyuan!!!"

In a distant direction, an Ascender screamed shrilly, unable to believe it.

Everyone watched this scene in extreme shock.

No one could have imagined that Chen Changyuan would be suppressed by Chen Yan in such a short time, until finally, his body was blown apart.

Those Creation Realm experts of the Five Clans who had joined Chen Changyuan now wore expressions of extreme terror on their faces.

"Brother..."

Lu Jianxia stood on the high heavens, covered in blood, tears appearing in her eyes.

Chen Mi stood stunned on the spot, countless streams of electricity seemingly stimulating his brain at this moment.

Chen Changyuan had actually lost.

Had actually died?

Chen Yan had already become strong to such a degree.

An indescribable horror coiled around his heart, but an even stronger desire to survive made his body tremble.

"Chen Yan...!" Chen Mi growled, looking toward Lu Jianxia at his side, only to see her staring at him with extreme coldness.

"Everything is a misunderstanding!" Chen Mi growled.

"Yes, everything is a misunderstanding!" some Creation Realm experts of the Five Clans screamed.

"We had no choice, we were forced into it!"

"Our hearts are with the human race, everything was just to compromise for the greater good!"

"Heavenly God General, I was wrong!"

Some were so frightened they lost their nerve, beginning to shout Chen Yan's name, hoping to secure a path to survival.

They opened their eyes wide, looking around, dropping the weapons in their hands, and begging in all directions.

They had been greedy for life and afraid of death once; now they would only be even more so.

"Lu Jianxia!" Chen Mi gritted his teeth:

"Lu Wuyi, he self-destructed on his own!"

He hurriedly looked toward Chen Yan in the distance.

Only to see that the young man was just standing in the vault of heaven, his back to the crowd, but the invisible pressure radiating from him made him unable to catch his breath.

No matter how arrogant Chen Mi was.

But now, he also knew that he was simply no match for Chen Yan.

He could run, but he could not run forever.

"Chen Yan..."

He growled, but gradually his expression changed, as if he had sensed that something was not right.

"Life Seal..." someone roared:

"We all signed the Life Seal; if Chen Changyuan dies, we will die too!!!"

This voice rang out abruptly, instantly causing everything around to fall silent.

Xia Long, Shen Yiwei, Yin Qingshuang, and others were now on extreme alert, looking around.

Only Chen Yan, standing silently, had a pair of eyes that seemed to see through everything in this world, as if he had already perceived the rhythmic movement of the deepest rules.

Chen Changyuan is not dead.

This is something Chen Yan can already confirm.

But Chen Yan vaguely feels that something is wrong.

His aura of life and death has reached seventy-three strands, and his perception of the rules has become increasingly clear.

He suddenly discovers that he seems to have forgotten something.

Why forget?

He suddenly thinks of a question.

When he first entered the hospital to steal the potion, there were a total of twelve hospital beds in the ward.

But there were only ten patients; two were empty spots.

The two beds at the very back were empty.

There should have been twelve patients.

Because there were a total of thirteen ascenders in the Pure True Yang Realm, and the eleventh ascender sacrificed himself.

That means there were twelve ascenders who chose to defect completely to the Shi Meng Mo.

These twelve ascenders are the twelve patients in the hospital.

The two empty beds at the very back should belong to the first two ascenders.

What are their names?

Wu Song once said.

One is called Yu, and one is called Wu.

They did not appear in the outside world, nor did they fight a great battle with Lu Xunyang.

Then that means they have been inside the Pure True Yang Realm all along.

Why would they leave early?

It is definitely not to deal with Chen Yan, but to deal with Chen Changyuan.

The other party even secretly helped Chen Yan, wanting Chen Yan to rise up and contend with Chen Changyuan.

The moment the Shi Meng Mo pulled Chen Changyuan into its body, the Shi Meng Mo was already plotting some of Chen Changyuan's secrets.

But the ancient god aura within Chen Changyuan made it, and even the rest of the ascenders, unable to make a move against Chen Changyuan.

Therefore, Wu and Yu awakened from the very beginning.

These two have been plotting in the shadows, and even secretly caused everything that is happening right now.

Chen Yan narrows his eyes.

At this moment, all the clues are sorted out by him.

Immediately, he frowns.

He should have sorted this out long ago; why is he only realizing it now?

Could it be that his cognition was influenced by someone?

Chen Yan's eyes become profound.

He indeed feels that he seems to have been interfered with by some inexplicable force, causing a certain memory of his to disappear.

Who is it that caused him to be like this?

Who is so powerful?

Chen Yan quietly looks around, and the power of will within his body flows once more.

【Royal Decay - Holy Will Confusion】, activate!

The formless power of will begins to search for Chen Changyuan's location and begins to subtly influence the other party.

Since the battle began, Chen Changyuan's emotional changes have become more and more intense, reaching a level sufficient to be influenced.

Chen Yan narrows his eyes, and the killing intent in the depths of his eyes can no longer be hidden the next instant.

At the same time.

Within a corner of a world extremely far away.

Two children, a boy and a girl, stand quietly in the firmament.

The boy has a red mole between his eyebrows, and the girl has two very short, thick eyebrows.

They perceive everything happening in a distant place with indifferent expressions.

"This Chen Yan has too many peculiarities; I actually feel that he is even stranger than Chen Changyuan."

The girl murmurs, her eyes flashing with a depth and vicissitudes that do not belong to her physical form.

"I don't like him; just perceiving him from afar makes me feel disgusted." The girl says with loathing:

"Do you want to look again? I keep feeling that this Chen Yan is the real great disaster."

The boy smiles contemptuously:

"No matter how great the disaster, it is not as great as Chen Changyuan; he is, after all..." As the boy speaks, an undisguised look of awe appears in his eyes.

He sighs slightly:

"Even though you have erased the awe of the ancient gods within both of us for a short time, the sense of submission remaining within the malice still cannot be dispelled."

The girl nods:

"This was the most difficult time I have ever exerted the aura of life and death; opposing the will of an ancient god is simply dancing on the edge of a cliff."

She shakes her head slightly, never wanting to experience it a second time.

The boy smiles:

"Things have always been happening according to my design; from the moment I interfered with the principal finding Chen Yan, the future changed.

But another singularity suddenly appeared; fortunately, I have restored everything to normal."

"When all is said and done, this Chen Yan is merely a chess piece in my eyes."

His eyes were deep and profound.

His name was Yu, and the girl's name was Wu.

Wu's ability was the conceptual power to make something temporarily disappear, or even vanish completely.

This disappearance manifested in two concepts: one was physical disappearance, and the other was cognitive disappearance.

And he, Yu, had the ability to predict the occurrence of certain events.

The two—no, the two Ancient Divine Beasts—possessed extremely powerful abilities.

But the Breath of Life and Death always had a limitation: when dealing with existences that also possessed the Breath of Life and Death, one had to be extremely cautious, otherwise, it would be countered.

From the moment Chen Changyuan arrived.

Yu saw the future timeline.

It was extremely blurry, but he saw the submission of the Shi Meng Mo and saw them being devoured one by one by Chen Changyuan.

Thus, Yu began to attempt to change the timeline.

Once he changed the timeline, things often happened according to what he had foreseen.

The first thing he wanted to change was Chen Changyuan himself, but it was impossible to change, because the Ancient God aura within Chen Changyuan caused the Ancient Divine Beasts' strength to be greatly diminished when dealing with him.

Afterwards, among countless possibilities, Yu sought out the only opportunity.

That was Chen Yan.

This was the only existence that could deal with Chen Changyuan and force Chen Changyuan into a desperate situation.

Therefore, he began to tell Wu to erase the rules within the two nurses at the hospital, so that when they were about to discover Chen Yan, they would forget their purpose.

This caused Chen Yan to escape, and the scene where the Principal would have discovered him, followed by a great battle between the Principal and his group and Wu Song, did not occur.

Everything was proceeding steadily.

But an accident occurred, which was a singularity.

It led to a future where Chen Yan ultimately killed Chen Changyuan directly and also led the others to join forces with Lu Xunyang to kill the Shi Meng Mo.

Because Chen Yan himself also possessed the Breath of Life and Death, it caused flaws to appear in his perfect interference.

That is, Chen Yan somehow sensed that Chen Mi was spying on him.

Therefore, Chen Yan put on a show, intending to lure Chen Mi over and completely control him.

If this matter were to happen, in the boy's prediction.

Chen Yan would use Chen Mi to continuously dig up Chen Changyuan's secrets and hide away means sufficient to kill Chen Changyuan.

Then, in the final battle—the very battle happening today—Chen Yan would completely kill Chen Changyuan and obtain more secrets regarding the Ancient Gods.

And even beyond that, to completely annihilate everything.

Chen Yan's rise was simply unstoppable.

Fortunately, he had intercepted Chen Mi at that time.

The moment Chen Mi developed killing intent toward Chen Yan, Yu intervened, directly eliminating Chen Mi's killing intent, which caused Chen Mi to inexplicably sense a terrifying feeling.

This directly ruined Chen Yan's plan.

It caused Chen Yan to lose his greatest asset for plotting against Chen Changyuan.

This suddenly appearing singularity had just vanished like that.

Then, the timeline proceeded smoothly.

"I saw with my own eyes that Chen Yan will die; at the moment of his death, he will erupt with powerful strength, directly devouring all the malice within Chen Changyuan's body."

The boy laughed:

"Chen Yan will die, Chen Changyuan will be on the verge of death, and that moment will be our time to strike."

His eyes widened, revealing an expression of extreme excitement:

"Steal everything that belongs within Chen Changyuan's body!"

The girl also revealed a smile, but she still spoke up:

"Can you look further ahead? I am worried that other things might still happen."

A trace of worry appeared in the eyes of the girl named Wu.

Although Yu's methods had never failed in the Pure True Yang Realm, this time, the ones they were dealing with were a group of humans from the outside world.

The boy shook his head:

"I cannot see any further than that; all of our power originates from the Great One.

My methods are also restricted to within the Pure True Yang Realm.

And the Great One currently does not have much energy to spare for us."

He raised his head and laughed:

"Don't you see that everything is exactly as I said?"

He stretched out his arms, revealing a contemptuous smile:

"Everyone is walking toward death according to the chess game I have laid out.

That Chen Yan hasn't shown the slightest bit of abnormality in any of his actions.

Everything he does, everything he thinks, and everyone and everything he arranges are all under my gaze."

He suddenly began to laugh.

Gradually, the laughter grew louder and louder.

Until a certain moment, when he revealed an endless look of covetousness.

"Fanni!"