ISWI Chapter 711-712

Chapter 711: Ambush at the Fourth Realm!

The Celestial Prince's tone was flat, yet carried the weight of a deity's decree.

The man bowed low at once. "Yes! This generation's Heir of the Heavenly Emperor has decent talent and astonishing combat strength, but to our Undying Celestial Phoenix Clan, he is nothing. I will personally act later, slay both the Heir and that woman, and offer their heads at the sacred peak!"

The Celestial Prince merely waved a dismissive hand. They were ants. He had no interest in their lives or deaths. Having lived through the Heavenly Emperor's era—grand waves and tides, myriad races contending, immortals falling one after another—now that he had awakened, these petty squabbles held no appeal. It was like a second-generation tycoon from a big city visiting a small town. His sights were set on the Immortal Realm!

At that thought, the image of an unparalleled beauty surfaced in his mind—her tear-filled eyes gazing back at him with reluctance as she stepped through the heavenly gate.

"That year, the Heavenly Emperor severed the Jianmu tree. This world changed; it could no longer tolerate true immortals. She was taken into the Immortal Realm by a true immortal! A million years have passed. With her talent, she must stand at the very peak of the Immortal Realm by now. Though I lost a million years of cultivation, the wound that even immortal roots could not heal has fully recovered. My spiritual roots, talent, constitution, Qi, divine soul—everything has reached another plane. So even after losing a million years, I am confident I can return to the pinnacle. Wait for me!"

The Heavenly Emperor in his memories, and the silhouette of that woman, made the Prince's ancient eyes lift toward the firmament. His gaze pierced deep, as though it could see through the entire world and into the Immortal Realm. Then he swept a glance over the sacred peak, frowning slightly at the halfway point up the mountain.

"Why are there only two divine source blocks left on the mountainside?"

Back then, after being grievously wounded by the Heavenly Emperor—even immortal roots had failed to heal him—he had sealed himself. The Undying Celestial Emperor had still been alive. He had ordered one son and three other clan prodigies to seal themselves as well, to aid his son in reclaiming the immortal path and protect his ascension in the future. There should have been four divine source blocks beside him. Now only two remained.

"Those two ancestors awakened thirty thousand and seventy thousand years ago respectively when their divine sources shattered. One waited for the Immortal Path, suppressed all prodigies of his era, seized that strand of immortal qi, became a true immortal, and opened the heavenly gate to the Immortal Realm! The other also waited for the Path, but by the time it opened he had already aged. In the end, he was slain by enemies on the Path and turned to dust!"

The man respectfully reported their fates.

Hearing this, the Celestial Prince sighed. Divine source could seal life and defy time, but accidents could still occur, forcing premature awakening. Once awakened once, they could never seal themselves again. So they could not wait for him.

After a moment, the Prince regained his composure. He spoke indifferently, "Handle the Heir of the Heavenly Emperor yourself. Unless something important arises, do not disturb me again. What stands here now is only a wisp of divine sense—I have not truly awakened. Withdraw."

The Prince's voice was faint. Then the phantom dissipated. The sacred peak returned to silence. Only the divine flames within the divine source continued burning eternally, as though they would never extinguish.

…

The man descended the mountain and informed the clan that a wisp of the Celestial Prince's divine sense had awakened. In that instant, the entire Undying Celestial Phoenix Clan trembled with excitement. As one of the absolute peak races of the cultivation world, even after the Heavenly Emperor's purge, their foundation had never weakened. They had always remained the most terrifying force among the myriad races. They had only been worried: the Immortal Path had already opened—why had the Prince not awakened? They had even considered forcibly cutting open the divine source to wake him!

Yet feared disturbing his cultivation. They had been deeply conflicted. Now the Prince was finally awakening. It meant the outcome of this generation's Immortal Path was no longer in doubt. After all, the four guardians who had sealed themselves alongside the Prince all possessed immortal potential. One had only failed because of bad luck—waiting until old age for the Path. Even in death, he had dragged several top geniuses down with his broken body. Let alone the Prince himself?

And when they learned the Prince had ordered the deaths of both this generation's Heir of the Heavenly Emperor and Yao Yuezhi, they showed no reaction. Not out of ignorance or arrogance. On the contrary, they knew every detail of Ye Chen's battle record. Humiliating the Holy Prince, two-shotting Lu Ya, one-punching Ba Wang... They had every shadow stone, every scrap of his history. Yet they still did not treat it as a serious problem.

"The Heir's flesh is monstrous. It feels far beyond a mere Sacred Body."

"His Qi is incredibly dense. The Nine Secrets he has used, the Ten Vicious Treasure Techniques—all are nearly perfected."

"Comprehension, Qi depth, physique… all terrifying."

"I suspect his true constitution is the Innate Sacred Body Dao Embryo!"

"He wields five of the Nine Secrets—Battle, Multiplier, Armament, Movement, Healing—and has also obtained the Stasis Secret fragment!"

"True Dragon, Kun Peng, Thunder Emperor, Sword Grass…"

"Heavy Pupils, Supreme Heart…"

"Two supreme Extreme Dao Weapons in hand."

"This generation's Heir may actually rival the Heavenly Emperor at the same realm. Unless the Prince acts personally, no one at equal realm can kill him!"

"Heavenly Evolution Holy Land values him highly and has many experts protecting him."

"Killing him outside is difficult. He must be lured into the Immortal Path—and specifically the Fourth Realm, where only Semi-Saints and below may enter."

"You three are our clan's recent top geniuses, all Semi-Saints. Act together. If his flesh is hard to destroy, use the Phoenix Fire Divine Array to grind him down."

"Yao Yuezhi is currently in the Fourth Realm. The Heavenly Demon Clan occupies a secret realm there—perfect bait."

"The Heir is a notorious womanizer and overconfident in his strength. Once the news spreads, he will surely go to the Fourth Realm to rescue her."

"Excellent! Both will fall together. That will fulfill the Prince's command."

The Undying Celestial Phoenix Clan was proud, but they did not underestimate Ye Chen. On the contrary, they prepared meticulously. They would lure Ye Chen into the Fourth Realm of the Immortal Path. Only Semi-Saints and below could enter the Fourth Realm. Saints and above could only enter the Fifth. With three top Semi-Saints acting together, no matter how heaven-defying the Heir was, he would surely fall this time.

Soon, three terrifying figures departed, heading for the Immortal Path.

Meanwhile, in Heavenly Evolution Holy Land, two and a half years had passed since Ye Chen entered seclusion.

Luo Bingling grew more and more anxious with every day. Her heart was anxious, and her body was anxious. She was genuinely starting to worry—was something wrong with Ye Chen while forging his cave-heaven? And just as she was lost in thought, the doors to Ye Chen's long-sealed cave abode slowly swung open…

Chapter 712: The Cave-Heaven Is Only This Big!

Ye Chen was finally coming out? But why was there no movement of absorbing heaven-and-earth origin qi? Forming a cave-heaven always required drawing in massive amounts of primal qi as energy support. Could Ye Chen really have failed?

The thought left Luo Bingling with complicated feelings. In the Mahayana stage, failure during breakthrough caused severe damage. Most would lose all hope of the next realm forever. If Ye Chen failed, the Dao Cauldron would become useless to him. The chance of him gifting it to her would skyrocket.

But thinking of Ye Chen's overwhelming dominance since the day they met, even Luo Bingling had to admit he truly possessed the makings of an immortal. To be stuck forever at the Second Heaven would be far too great a pity. Moreover, he had given her so many Treasure Techniques. And he was… useful in bed. If she successfully reeled him in, she could keep him by her side—both as a tool and as a fighter. So if Ye Chen truly failed, she wouldn't be able to feel happy about it. Deep down, she actually hoped he wouldn't fail.

With these thoughts swirling, Luo Bingling waited for the cave abode doors to fully open. A tall, handsome figure stepped out, clad in a robe embroidered with golden yin-yang fish.

Luo Bingling sensed Ye Chen's aura and slowly raised a brow. Contrary to her fears, his presence had grown far, far stronger than before seclusion. The unique power of a King-realm cave-heaven flowed around him. Clearly, Ye Chen had not failed. He had officially broken through to the Third Heaven and become a true King.

This made Luo Bingling exhale in relief. But why had there been no sign of absorbing heaven-and-earth qi? Could his cave-heaven really be that small—so small it didn't need any? But with Ye Chen's foundation and talent, plus the Minor Space Technique, his cave-heaven should be enormous. At the very least, it should rival hers.

Unable to suppress her curiosity, she asked, "Congratulations, Fellow Daoist Ye, on breaking through to the Third Heaven of Mahayana and achieving King realm! May I ask… how large is your cave-heaven?"

The first thing Ye Chen saw upon emerging was Luo Bingling. His gaze fell on that slender yet powerful waist, its graceful, defined lines. Hearing her question, Ye Chen couldn't help but laugh. He waved a hand casually.

"Just a tiny bit big. Nothing worth mentioning."

Luo Bingling was skeptical. It couldn't really be "a tiny bit," could it? But it probably wasn't huge—definitely hadn't reached the ten-thousand-li scale. Otherwise, the commotion wouldn't have been this small.

Ye Chen wasn't lying. His cave-heaven's length and width had both reached one hundred million kilometers. That was exactly why it had taken him a full two years to complete the formation. It all came down to his foundation being too deep. Spatial divine stones like they grew on trees.

The amplification of the Minor Space Technique. Plus, swallowing an entire world fragment. And the Primordial Chaos Supreme Body had played an extremely special role in the process. All of this had pushed his cave-heaven scale past the hundred-million-kilometer mark.

Truth be told, even he felt it was a bit much. Other people's cave-heavens were at best secret-realm sized; the absolute top ones were Earth-sized. But his? One hundred million kilometers in both directions. The sun's diameter was only 1.39 million kilometers. The comparison made the terror of his spatial scale even clearer. In the future, he might even be able to house an entire universe inside.

For cultivators, the larger the cave-heaven, the better. A cave-heaven connected to heaven and earth could automatically absorb and expel primal qi. This made a cultivator's spiritual force recovery virtually endless; in prolonged battles, they would almost never run dry. The bigger the cave-heaven, the greater the absorption capacity, and the more benefits the cultivator gained.

Secondly, cave-heavens accumulated spiritual charm. Planting spiritual herbs or raising spiritual beasts inside increased that charm. Spiritual charm strengthened the cave-heaven's foundation and accelerated the owner's cultivation speed.

Third, cave-heaven power itself was formidable—capable of trapping, sealing, and killing enemies. The larger the scale, the stronger the cave-heaven power. The greater the combat boost. And finally, cave-heaven size was directly tied to the upper limits of later realms.

At the Seventh Heaven of Mahayana—the Great Saint realm—the cave-heaven began transforming into an inner world. The larger the inner world, the richer its laws, making rule comprehension far easier. The inner world would function like a true cosmos—generating resources, accelerating cultivation, amplifying power. Its wonders were beyond imagination.

So Ye Chen was not yet satisfied with his "tiny" billion-kilometer cave-heaven. He hoped it could grow even larger. That way, when it eventually became his inner world, it might directly encompass an entire star system.

…