Chapter 3657: Ashes to Nothing

The biggest difference between Ye Chen and Wu Bolin is that he has no yearning for longevity and ascension at all.

Ascension is like advancing in school, and it's like going from kindergarten to a combined elementary, middle, and high school—once you were the bully in kindergarten, but when you get to the new school, even dogs can catch up and bite you twice—what's so obsessive about such a life?

He also doesn't want longevity, always feeling that the price to pay for it is too great, too great—almost all of an endless lifespan is spent in repeated cultivation, so when is there any time to truly feel the sense of existence of life?

Wu Bolin was also pondering the meaning of Ye Chen's words at this moment, and he sighed weakly with some dejection: "I originally thought that ascension was a selection, and passing the tribulation was an exam, and those legendary tribulation thunderbolts were the exam questions—everything was, after one's ability reached the passing standard for selection by the upper realm, an opportunity given by the upper realm; passing the exam would get you selected into another world by them—but now thinking about it, ascension really has no meaning; I don't even understand the world I was born into, nor do I understand this current world—I've lived over a hundred years, and I haven't figured out either world..."

Ye Chen sneered: "If you haven't figured this life out, then strive to figure it out a bit more in the next life!"

After saying that, he raised the Thunderbolt Command and shouted loudly: "Thunder, come!"

In the polar night of Antarctica, dark clouds suddenly covered the sky, and rolling thunderbolts tumbled in the clouds—Wu Bolin couldn't escape, nor did he want to anymore; he knew Ye Chen didn't intend to give him a chance to survive, so he gave up struggling from the bottom of his heart.

He raised his head in a sorry state, gazing at the lightning and thunder in the sky, slowly closed his eyes, and then loudly said: "Little brother, you take my life today—if there is a next life, I will surely come to find you for revenge! Remember my name—I am Wu Bolin, the chief of the Three Great Elders of the Breaking Qing Society!"

The next moment, that bowl-thick bolt of lightning shot down from the sky at extreme speed, leaving a golden afterimage like a dragon in the air.

Boom!

Wu Bolin's body was struck by this bolt of lightning—he had long since given up resistance, using not a trace of spiritual energy to resist, his body was carbonized at the instant the lightning touched it, and immediately turned into a charred corpse; with the tremendous force of the lightning explosion, his carbonized corpse instantly turned into fine ash scattered across the sky, blown by the Antarctic cold wind toward the distance, falling over the entire ice cap.

As Wu Bolin vanished into smoke and mist, Ye Chen also relaxed in an instant, sitting panting on the ice cap.

He hadn't expected this battle to turn out so dramatically—he had prepared himself to be teleported away by the ring, but he hadn't expected that this mysterious force, appearing out of nowhere, would not only help him resist Wu Bolin's fatal blow, but even destroy his flying sword, completely reversing the situation in an instant.

Even so, Ye Chen still didn't understand where this mysterious force came from.

Let him be clear about one thing: this thing understands human nature—it not only understands human nature, but can even read and write; that phrase "seek wealth in danger" is the best proof.

If he hadn't already become a cultivator, Ye Chen would even suspect this thing was an AI built into his own body.

But he is very clear: no matter what this thing is, it definitely couldn't have been created by technology—it must be related to cultivation.

So Ye Chen tried to communicate with it—he didn't know what better method there was, so he simply opened his mouth and said: "You saved my life—why not just show your true form and meet me face to face?"

In his sea of consciousness, the Four Directions Treasure Pagoda, which had been hovering above it and was almost fully repaired, now gained several more deep cracks.

The Four Directions Treasure Pagoda didn't respond to Ye Chen's words, but instead used up its remaining strength to once again form an arrowhead out of aurora in the air, pointing directly at the ice tunnel over a thousand meters deep that Wu Bolin had dug himself.

Ye Chen watched the particles forming the aurora in the sky, as if drawn by a magnet, gather at the cave mouth into an arrowhead, and couldn't help but exclaim: "You mean you want me to go check out the Ascension Gate?"

This time Ye Chen didn't wait for a reply from the other side, because after the arrowhead flickered a few times, it vanished like burnt paper scraps, gradually dissolving into countless points of light in the air.

Ye Chen sensed that the arrowhead seemed to carry a sense of listlessness and helplessness, and couldn't help but sigh: "I imagine you just helped me block that blow, consuming a lot of your spiritual energy—don't worry, I, Ye Chen, am a person who repays kindness, you saved my life—I definitely won't stand by and do nothing!"

So Ye Chen didn't bother to go into that ice cave to investigate, but immediately began sitting cross-legged on the spot, activating the earliest set of the Great Sun Tathagata Hand Seal.

This set of the Great Sun Tathagata Hand Seal is precisely the one that would draw out Ye Chen's spiritual energy—after he ran it once, his internal spiritual energy immediately began to surge out wildly like a reservoir with its gates opened; the originally mottled and cracked Four Directions Treasure Pagoda was instantly wrapped in radiant, colorful spiritual energy, and those cracks quickly began to heal—though not yet fully restored to pristine condition, the tear marks were indeed noticeably smaller than before.

At this moment Ye Chen had no more elixirs to use—by rights, the best way to handle these spiritual energies would be to retain them close to his body, wait until he left Antarctica and returned to continue refining elixirs before speaking—but he no longer considered these things at all; repaying kindness with kindness, repaying favors with gratitude—even if he might need these spiritual energies more than the other party, he was willing to share them.

However, this time the Four Directions Treasure Pagoda seemed to also understand Ye Chen's situation—it didn't, as before, greedily suck dry all the spiritual energy in his body, but only took forty percent; after taking forty percent of the spiritual energy, even if Ye Chen continued to run that hand seal nonstop, the Four Directions Treasure Pagoda didn't absorb any more spiritual energy from his body.

This surprised Ye Chen even more.

Only then did he understand: the other party was not only conscious, but also acted with measure and timing—previously, when he wasn't in much danger, it would always rudely drain his spiritual energy almost completely each time; now perhaps it knew he had no more elixirs, so it didn't dare to be reckless as before.

At this moment, although he still didn't know what this mysterious thing actually was, he suddenly felt a sense of mutual understanding and sympathy.

The other party was like a thoughtful and righteous close friend—mutually supporting and helping each other achieve.

After the Four Directions Treasure Pagoda regained a bit of spirit, it once again gathered in the air to form an arrowhead, which still stubbornly pointed toward the ice cave entrance.

Seeing this, Ye Chen couldn't help but sigh: "It seems your obsession is just to get me to go down and take a look—good! My life is yours saved—I believe you definitely won't harm me, since you insist I go, then I'll go in and have a look!"

Saying this, he also laughed and sighed: "Just don't get your hopes too high, okay? That so-called Ascension Gate—even Wu Bolin just now couldn't find its entrance—I'm afraid I have even less chance."

After saying that, Ye Chen didn't delay—he stepped forward to the ice cave entrance and leapt in with a bound!