In the Vast Immortal World
As the old man descended into the void, it shook. The old man held a crimson halberd that oozed an icy chill that threatened to freeze the very essence of spatiality!
He had storm-tossed white hair that flowed like running water and crackled with latent energy. His dual eyes burned with a divine wrath indicating an aura of supreme authority.
Even the void seemed to yield to him, as if the weight of his existence bent the very fabric of reality.
"Chen Yuan... submit to me!"
His voice was not really a voice and the sound registered as an order, a divine unimaginable energy that rippled in the void.
The very fabric of space and time twisted under each word and every sound of his voice threatened to unravel the limitations of existence.
Stars blinked in the ether and went out like dying embers in the wake of his direct command.
However, the boy in front of him could only laugh, an unrefined laugh, rebellious in a way that shattered the silent atmosphere of nestled shadows like split air. Blood dripped from the side of his lips, yet he did not break eye contact.
"Submit? To you?" Chen Yuan spat out a mouthful of red blood, shaking that was not fear, but with the pain of resisting the insignificantly small weight of the very universe of shoulders collapsing in on him.
His bones creaked and moaned. His muscles howled, but he lifted himself.
Slowly.
At an order and a mind numbing method that was deliberate... "...In my entire time… I submit before no man."
His voice was akin to a cutting blade, sharp as a knife.
"Not before heaven, not before fate, and certainly not to a dried up relic such as yourself."
The void itself seemed to pause, just enough for it to draw breath again.
The old man's eyes narrowed. His patience wishes to evaporate like mist.
"Then die."
"Uh…if have given me another million year, you old man I have killed you several times." Chen Yuan replied to old man.
"There's is no need to live for long, Rebellious Chen Yuan....!"
With a single movement, he lifted the halberd, and the universe shuddered.
The stars dimmed, their illumination drawn away to the blade that coalesced into a destruction powerful enough to wipe beings from existence.
The downward swing was inevitable, as certain as death.
But in that action….
"Even If Die, I will kill myself, I will die in your hands!"
BOOM!
From the depths of Chen Yuan's soul, a golden lotus broke out, its petals opening like a newborn sun.
Behind him, an illusion existed, a powerful sovereign gowned in dragon robes on a mound of a million corpses, his mere presence immovable.
Purple bolts of lighting danced in Chen Yuan's eyes, and as he spoke, his voice echoed from the depth of eternity.
"If I collapse today, I will never submit.
His words a promise, a declaration stitched into time and fate.
"I collapse as an Emperor."
And then…darkness.
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His spirit floated through the vast darkness, unconnected to time, to flesh, and the limitations of being, while stars passed by like little candles flickering in an unbearable distance, shining into an infinity that rendered it meaningless.
The perplexing universe continued to stretch on and on, indifferent to his entering a state of dissolution.
An incomprehensible and transcendent presence that is wholly beyond the surface of the duality of life and death, being and nothingness, light and dark, sound and silence, but rather the very breath of creation itself.
From the darkness of the unknown, A shape emerged before him that habitually morphed, taking the shape of the birth and death of galaxies with a breath.
Beautiful. Infinite. Real.
It offered an extension of its hand, not of matter, but of cosmic will, as it gathered Chen Yuan's intensely splintered soul with the tender caress of celestial ocean waves washing to the shore.
There was not a word uttered, none were needed.
There was only ... will perhaps ...
And then...….
Rebirth ....
---
After an unknown Amount of Time later.
Tianxuan Continent
Eleven Years Later …..
Fengling City, Southern Region Of the eastern Domain.
The gentle wind blew through the bamboo thickets, bringing the scent of spring rain above the many rooftops of the famous Chen family.
In the middle of the courtyard, a boy stood alone in the yard dressed in dark blue robes, embroidered with silver threads that sparkled like the captured light of stars.
To a casual eye, he might have seemed unremarkable, a noble's son passing time with a boy's simple curiosity.
But then you'd meet his gaze. His eyes, old, endless, and heavy with the weight of fallen stars…said it all.
Chen Yuan.
Eleven years old.
The Young Master of the Chen Clan.
The second son of the main branch.
On the outside, he was a boy.
On the inside, he was a warring tempest.
His youthful body housed a monstrous will of determination; his soul had been reincarnated, a new through harrowing destruction and rebirth.
How long had it been since he awoke in this world, two years or so?
The jagged memories, glances of his past life, when he stood head-to-head with god-tier beings, and defied the heavens and immortality.
They called it a second chance, for Chen Yuan?
This was no new beginning.
This was his ongoing war that he never surrendered in.
"Young Master, the patriarch requests to meet you."
The words belonged to Old Wu, a Spiritual Sea cultivator who proved his loyalty to the Chen family unquestioningly.
He spoke respectfully, and he hid the attention as he wondered to himself what secrets were hiding behind those eyes.
Chen Yuan turned lightly, giving a serene and youthful countenance.
But keeping a straight face was only a thin cloak that disguised the affection in his heart, igniting the war cry that was once a memory of his ancestors.
"Let's go."
Before Chen Yuan stood the grand hall of the Chen Clan, its enormous pillars engraved with archaic symbols that glimmered slightly with dormant energy.
The air carried the fragrance of sandalwood, along with the residue of numerous past practitioners who practiced in the course of generations.
And there in the arena sat the man whose mere presence commanded deference, Chen Xin, the present Patriarch of the Chen Clan.
Dressed in deep azure robes that glittered with silver threads as though they were stars scattered across the night sky, Chen Xin gave off an aura of contained power.
His sharp, hawk, shaped eyes fell on Chen Yuan as he approached with each step measured and purposeful.
"Father." Chen Yuan bowed his head using polite, respectful tones, with something far more ancient bubbling just inside.
Chen Xin examined his son a long moment before saying.
"Hmm…Yuan'er. You're here. Sit." His tone was neither warm nor cold; he was simply assessing.
The boy followed orders and sat in the chair beside his father, separating them with silence and great expectations.
"Father, did you call me?" Chen Yuan finally shattered the silence, his eyes met Chen Xin's without wavering.
The Patriarch took a slow breath, his fingers tapping against the armrest of his chair.
"Yuan'er... what is the status of your cultivation? Any progress?"
A quick flicker in Chen Xin's eyes, disappointment? Concern?
Chen Yuan's face remained flat but his fingers curled slightly against his knee.
"I'm sorry to disappoint you, Father."
His voice firm. "But I am still at the fifth stage of Qi Gathering."
Pause for silence. No one noticed but Chen Xin's jaw tightened slightly.
"I see."
The heaviness of those two words was enough to bury him.