Geng Yan let out a delicate snort, her seductive eyes rippling like spring water as she cast a highly flirtatious glance at Zhong Sheng.

Yet in the very next instant, burning rage birthed an intense killing intent.

Geng Yan clenched her jade-like hand, causing the vast river of stars to tremble violently.

Boom!!

The following moment, Zhong Sheng let out a miserable shriek, violently coughing up a mouthful of blood.

Immediately after, his entire body was swallowed by the vast river of stars, subjected to absolute refinement.

"Brat, within ten breaths, this old fossil is dead without a doubt!"

Geng Yan sneered coldly, looking down at Chu Chen before the Empress's Palace with a gaze full of pity.

"Leave this brat to me!"

"To dare defile the Empress, I, Bai Yu, will definitely execute him!!"

Yet, just as Geng Yan was about to strike, Bai Yu, standing beside her with a dark expression, casually waved his hand toward Chu Chen below.

Swish!!

Using his finger as a sword.

A fiercely sharp burst of sword qi was born from the void, swelling wildly against the wind, threatening to sever all creation.

It was the absolute pinnacle of sharpness.

Before Chu Chen could even react, this sword qi, imbued with the spiritual pressure of the Saint King Realm, instantly reached his throat.

Even before the sword qi struck, the sheer pressure it carried forced a trickle of blood from the corner of Chu Chen's mouth.

"Master, if you don't come out right now, your disciple is really going to die!!"

In this moment of life and death, Chu Chen violently crushed the jade pendant in his grasp and roared at the heavens.

Thud!!

Accompanying the heavy thud of a walking stick striking the ground, the Spatial Cage and the razor-sharp sword qi shattered in unison.

An old man, aged to the point of decay and radiating a dense aura of death, slowly walked out from the Boundless Void.

At the exact same time, deep within the Divine Flame Emperor Palace, where the Elder Council resided.

A hunched old woman let out a faint sigh, waved her hand to shatter the void, and vanished in an instant.

Simultaneously, deep inside the Empress's Palace.

Empress Lin Shuwang, completely enveloped by massive swaths of scarlet flames, slowly opened her eyes after several days of Secluded Cultivation.

Empress Lin Shuwang gently raised her pale hand, her fingers brushing against her own bright red lips.

She then brought her fingers to her nose and gave a light sniff, her delicate brows knitting together.

"Hmm?! Why does my mouth taste somewhat fishy? Could it be..."

"While I was unconscious... did someone do something weird to me??"

......

The jade pendant Chu Chen had crushed was precisely the life-saving artifact gifted to him by his cheap master, Qi Lao'er. It was a heaven-defying treasure forged through immense effort by a Saint King Realm expert, containing terrifying spatial power.

The moment the jade shattered, spatial power swept the surroundings, freezing time and space.

No matter where Qi Lao'er was on the Desolate Ancient Continent, as long as Chu Chen crushed this jade pendant, he could immediately sense it, construct a spatial passage, and employ Teleportation to arrive directly at his side.

Chu Chen had only used this jade pendant twice. The previous time was when Zhao Kongyang led over three hundred disciples to besiege Chaos Peak. The moment the jade shattered, Qi Lao'er forced his way in, slaughtering over three hundred disciples in a single breath and terrifying Zhao Kongyang into a Dao Heart collapse.

And this time...

The instant the pendant shattered, even before its internal spatial power could fully erupt, Qi Lao'er had already materialized in front of Chu Chen.

With a gentle tap of his walking stick, he firmly shielded Chu Chen behind him.

Because this time, the enemies they faced were no longer ant-like True Disciples, Inner Sect Disciples, or Outer Sect Disciples, but Branch Palace Masters who were also in the Saint King Realm.

Bai Yu's finger-sword, seemingly swung at random, actually contained the ultimate sharpness of the Sword Dao and an all-pervasive spatial power. The spatial power housed within the jade pendant was woefully insufficient to stop it.

If Qi Lao'er hadn't appeared in person, or had arrived even a breath later, Chu Chen's head would have long been severed by that strike.

Only a fellow Saint King Realm powerhouse like Qi Lao'er truly understood just how terrifying figures like Bai Yu, Geng Yan, Chou Rang, and Tuoba Kuang were!

"Master! Master..."

Watching Qi Lao'er suddenly appear to block that utterly terrifying burst of sword qi, Chu Chen stealthily suppressed the Extreme Dao Imperial Weapon, the Heaven-Swallowing Magic Jar, which had just begun to awaken within his body, forcing it back into dormancy.

When Chu Chen claimed he had backing, that backer wasn't Dao Protector Zhong Sheng, nor was it his master, Qi Lao'er.

Having lived a second life, he only ever entrusted his life to his own hands.

The Extreme Dao Imperial Weapon, the Heaven-Swallowing Magic Jar, was Chu Chen's truest, greatest trump card!!

Truthfully, Chu Chen knew that facing the combined siege of four Saint King Realm experts, even with the Extreme Dao Imperial Weapon, his chances of survival were nine deaths and one life.

But there was no alternative. Empress Lin Shuwang was in peril, and he had to bite the bullet and step up.

This time, he, Chu Chen, had to make a gamble!

According to his memories from before his rebirth, after Empress Lin Shuwang learned of his miserable plight in the Ye Clan, she had forced her way into the Ye Clan while on her deathbed.

To exact bloody vengeance for him, the Empress did not hesitate to burn her very life force, using a secret technique to forcefully awaken the Imperial Weapon and ignite a terrifying Imperial War against the Ye Clan Ancestor.

From this alone, it was evident that under the original timeline, Empress Lin Shuwang could have easily handled these five Branch Palace Masters by herself, smoothly refined the Extreme Dao Imperial Weapon, unified the entire Divine Flame Emperor Palace, and become a true, absolute sovereign Empress.

However, in this life, due to his interference, the Empress had forcefully stripped away her God Phoenix Feather to mend Chu Chen's cultivation path. This caused her cultivation to plummet, forcing her into emergency Secluded Cultivation.

And exactly because of this, the four Branch Palace Masters seized the opportunity to launch their coup ahead of schedule.

If Chu Chen didn't step forward now, the Empress would be in mortal peril!

Furthermore, breaking through realms in Secluded Cultivation was extremely treacherous. If Geng Yan and the others interrupted her, forcibly breaking her seclusion, not only would she suffer massive backlash, but she would also risk shattering her Dao Heart and suffering Qi Deviation.

Having lived two lives, Chu Chen had long seen through the grand scheme of things.

In this life, while he was no upright gentleman, he absolutely refused to owe another debt to Empress Lin Shuwang, a woman who had entrusted him with her very life.

"Master, how did you get injured?!"

Snapping back to reality, Chu Chen squeezed hard to force two tears from the corners of his eyes as he looked at the disheveled, bloodied, and heavily wounded Qi Lao'er, asking with profound concern:

"You are a mighty Saint King Realm expert! In this era where Great Emperors do not appear and Quasi-Emperors remain hidden from the world, who could possibly injure you?"

The moment these words fell, the four Branch Palace Masters treading the void above also cast suspicious glances downward.

Being fellow Saint King Realm experts, though there were slight variances in their strength, they were broadly on the same level.

In other words, anyone capable of injuring Qi Lao'er was equally capable of injuring the four of them.

Qi Lao'er's sudden arrival added a new layer of uncertainty to the battlefield. Both Geng Yan and Bai Yu merely shot vicious glares at Chu Chen but refrained from launching another attack.

In this world, raw strength was the only thing that dictated the rules.

"Cough, cough! Cough, cough!!"

Qi Lao'er coughed violently a few times. He completely ignored Chu Chen's fake concern and the suspicious gazes of the four Palace Masters. Instead, he turned around, extended his walking stick, and lightly tapped toward Zhong Sheng, who was currently being refined by the vast river of stars and was moments away from turning to ash.

Whoosh!

A flash of spiritual light darted from the base of his stick, instantly transforming into an illusory giant hand that aggressively plunged into the violent river of stars. It scooped up the half-dead Zhong Sheng and pulled him to safety.

Seeing this, Geng Yan furrowed her willow brows. She gripped her Zhou Tian Star River Hairpin tightly, tempted to strike several times, but ultimately restrained herself.

"M-many thanks to the Palace Master for this life-saving grace. Zhong Sheng... Zhong Sheng will never forget this!"

Barely clinging to half his life, the rescued Zhong Sheng collapsed to his knees with a heavy thud. Tears and snot streamed down his face; he felt incredibly wronged.

"As a Dao Protector, you did not neglect your duty!"

Qi Lao'er casually waved his hand, sending an exceedingly overbearing surge of spiritual power into Zhong Sheng's body to help heal his wounds:

"In that critical moment of danger, if you hadn't pushed Chu Chen away, there would be no need for Palace Master Geng to act. I would have beheaded you myself!"

At these words, Zhong Sheng's body jerked. His face pale with terror, he hastily bowed deeply to Qi Lao'er, and then bowed again toward Chu Chen.

"Master, please, say no more. You are heavily injured yourself."

The corners of Chu Chen's eyes were slightly red. Whether it was from genuine emotion or just the wind, they were red regardless:

"Master, your disciple has healing Pills here. Please take them first..."

Qi Lao'er smiled amiably, waving his hand at Chu Chen with a face brimming with grandfatherly affection:

"It is of no consequence. I merely had a scuffle with a few Demon Emperors at the Heavenly Demon Gorge. It's nothing! Merely a scratch!"

Hearing this, not only Chu Chen, but even Geng Yan, Bai Yu, and the others experienced a drastic change in expression.

The Heavenly Demon Gorge was the absolute domain of Demon Beasts.

And a Demon Emperor was an entity equal to a human Saint King Realm cultivator!

This... this Qi Lao'er hadn't lost his damn mind, had he? Running off to the Heavenly Demon Gorge out of the blue to throw his life away? Did he think he had lived too long and just wanted some lethal excitement???

"My good disciple, you didn't deceive me!"

Despite being riddled with wounds, Qi Lao'er was in remarkably high spirits. Stroking his messy beard, he looked at Chu Chen with a beaming smile and said:

"On this trip to the Heavenly Demon Gorge, this old man actually discovered traces of the Immortal Medicine..."