『Status: Updated to: Chapter 1278: Space Cage』
『Content Summary:
The most monstrous genius alchemist in history, Ye Han, was cruelly thrown into the Burning Heaven Cauldron by his master, Great Emperor Danwu, to be refined. His supreme pill body, the Chaotic Pill Body, was seized, and he ultimately fell with eternal regret. Five hundred years later, his lingering soul was reborn in the body of a seventeen-year-old youth of the Ye Family in the Eight Desolates Ancient Domain. By a stroke of fortune, he awakened the Vault of Heaven Pill Body—the undisputed head of the legendary three great pill bodies! In this lifetime, he vows to reclaim everything he has lost, bring closure to the karma of five hundred years ago, and ascend the path to become a generation of Pill God!
』
Chapter 1: Ye Han
The Eight Desolates Ancient Domain, Flame City, the Ye Family.
"Master, why? What on earth did I do wrong? Why must you so cruelly seal me inside the pill cauldron to kill me?"
Within an overgrown, secluded, and desolate courtyard, a ragged youth with disheveled hair and a filthy face curled up in a corner. His body trembled with terror like an autumn leaf, beads of sweat rolled down continuously, and he muttered in a delirious fever dream.
Around his emaciated neck, a thick and heavy dark iron chain was firmly locked.
Suddenly, Ye Han drew a sharp breath, jolting awake as if from a nightmare.
He abruptly opened his eyes as memory fragments that seemed to come from ancient times flashed continuously in his mind and merged together.
As the memories integrated, his expression shifted constantly—at times shocked, at times furiously angry, and at times bewildered.
"So this wasn't a nightmare? I've actually been reborn?"
After a long moment, Ye Han finally recovered his wits and said in disbelief:
Ye Han.
Once the youngest and most dazzling genius alchemist of the Vault of Heaven Continent!
Blessed with the Chaotic Pill Body, at merely eighteen years of age, he earned the title of the head of the three great pill saints of the Vault of Heaven Continent, causing a tremendous sensation.
Later on, he was even taken in as a closed-door disciple by Great Emperor Danwu, the premier alchemist whose name shook the Vault of Heaven Continent, and learned his complete mastery of alchemy.
His master, Great Emperor Danwu, ranked among the Nine Great Emperors of the Vault of Heaven Continent, possessed a resounding and formidable reputation!
However, Ye Han's attainments in alchemy were even more monstrous than those of his master, Great Emperor Danwu.
Given his natural talent and aptitude, surpassing his master, Great Emperor Danwu, was only a matter of time.
Yet, Ye Han never imagined that the master he respected most would one day throw him into the Burning Heaven Cauldron to be refined alive!
He was sealed within the Burning Heaven Cauldron, ruthlessly burned by the Burning Heaven Divine Fire for a full hundred years!
"Master, how could you be so ruthless!"
At the mere thought of that agonizing experience of being burned by the divine fire for a century, a worse-than-death torment, Ye Han still felt a suffocating shudder.
He had begged bitterly inside the pill cauldron, but the only response he received was the cold, resolute indifference of Great Emperor Danwu!
He could not understand why that benevolent master would suddenly kill him with such cruelty!
Yet at this moment, another wave of memories surged into his mind.
"Xianwu Year 9954!"
Ye Han's pupils suddenly contracted.
As it turned out, after his rebirth, five hundred years had already passed.
"Chaotic Pill Emperor!"
Ye Han's body trembled, his eyes splitting apart with fury as a familiar name flashed through his mind.
The Great Emperor Danwu of five hundred years ago had now renamed himself the universally revered Chaotic Pill Emperor!
"Master, so the reason you cruelly sealed me in the fire furnace to burn and torment me for a century was actually to seize my pill body and consume my flesh and blood!"
Ye Han's eyes turned crimson, his voice suddenly growing as cold as a blade.
His Chaotic Pill Body was one of the three great pill bodies that had long since vanished from the Vault of Heaven Continent!
His flesh and blood were prime materials for refining the legendary divine-grade pills.
Possessing such a pill body also gave him a formidable chance in the future to step into the Pill God Realm, a realm no one had ever reached before.
Never did he expect that Great Emperor Danwu taking him on as a disciple was a calculated plot all along just to seize his pill body!
That benevolent facade of his had been completely faked!
"Old dog Danwu, from the moment you cast me into the pill cauldron, you were no longer my master. Fortunately, the heavens have eyes, allowing my lingering soul to live another life. In this lifetime, should I rise again, I will surely make you taste the agony of being burned by a pill cauldron and having your soul utterly destroyed!"
A cold gleam flickered in Ye Han's eyes as he clenched his fists tightly and made a silent vow.
In his past life, as a genius alchemist whose talent surpassed Great Emperor Danwu's, even when knocked back to the starting line, Ye Han possessed the confidence to return to the pinnacle.
And even surpass Great Emperor Danwu!
Having accepted the reality of living a second life, Ye Han let out a breath and lowered his gaze to inspect his own ragged attire.
"How did I end up in such a wretched state?"
He touched the chain locked around his neck and could not help frowning.
By searching his memories, he learned that the owner of this physical body was also named Ye Han.
Although incomparable to his past life, the original owner of this body was also extraordinary: he had been the foremost prodigy of the Ye Family in the Eight Desolates Ancient Domain. Born with superior spiritual veins, he had already stepped into the Sixth Layer of Spirit Spring Realm at the tender age of sixteen, enough to look down upon all the prodigies of Flame City.
Later on, Ye Han even caught the eye of an elder from the Sea of Clouds Sect—a top-tier sect in Qingzhou of the Eight Desolates Ancient Domain—and almost gained exceptional admission as a disciple.
Yet a year ago, Ye Han fell gravely ill, and the spiritual power within his dantian suddenly became unusable.
Naturally, the Sea of Clouds Sect rescinded the offer.
From then on, Ye Han's status within the Ye Family plummeted to rock bottom. Those who once flattered him now looked upon him with cold eyes, mocking and ridiculing him.
For the past year, he had been locked up like a dog with iron chains in this secluded, dilapidated courtyard, underfed and unclothed.
"To think he was just as pitiful as me. This Ye Family goes truly too far!"
Ye Han took a deep breath, anger surging in his heart.
He grabbed the iron chain with both hands, intending to snap it apart, only to find his limbs weak and devoid of strength.
Worse still, his dantian felt parched, unable to draw even a shred of spiritual power!
"What is going on... Wait... No!"
Ye Han hurriedly channeled his spiritual consciousness to probe his dantian, and his expression changed drastically at once.
For he discovered that his dantian had actually been frozen by an aura of chilling yin!
"This is... Profound Yin Poison!"
As a pill saint in his past life, Ye Han was naturally well-traveled and knowledgeable.
What he had been afflicted with was a poison of extreme yin—Profound Yin Frigid Poison!
Because the dark, freezing coldness had completely sealed his dantian, he had been unable to use his spiritual power.
"How vicious, using Profound Yin Poison to cripple my dantian. Just who could be so cruel as to commit such a ruthless act?"
Ye Han frowned secretly, his chilling voice sounding as though it came from the nethermost depths of the underworld.
With that thought, he immersed himself in his sea of consciousness to continue searching through the chaotic memories...
Soon, a sinister face surfaced in his mind!
Ye Tiange!
The person who had secretly inflicted such malicious poison on him was none other than the current top prodigy of the Ye Family!
Originally, Ye Tiange had also been surrounded by adulation and hailed by all, even regarded by the family for a time as the heir apparent.
However, the innate talent Ye Han gradually displayed in cultivation was simply too monstrous, replacing Ye Tiange's position entirely.
Yet Ye Tiange and his father were ambitious and ruthless, hell-bent on seizing and controlling the family's supreme authority, and ultimately resorted to such despicable and foul means to harm him.
"This father and son are cut from the same cloth as that old dog Danwu!"
Recalling all of this, Ye Han's gaze turned frosty, carrying an intense and formidable intent to kill.
After probing his body, he sneered in disdain:
"Such Profound Yin Frigid Poison is practically an insoluble poison to this tiny Ye Family. But to me, it's really nothing at all."
Swish—
Closing his eyes slightly, he circulated his cultivation technique.
A wave of scorching heat surged into his dantian, and in an instant, tendrils of frigid poison were forced out of his body, transforming into white smoke rising from the crown of his head.
Immediately following this, the cultivation suppressed within his body for so long surged explosively in that very moment!
Boom!
Seventh Layer of Spirit Spring Realm!
Boom!
Eighth Layer of Spirit Spring Realm!
Boom!
Ninth Layer of Spirit Spring Realm!
...
A vast and surging torrent of spiritual power poured once more into his limbs and bones, nourishing his weakened physical body. Ye Han gripped the iron chains with both hands again and gave a fierce pull, spiritual power bursting wildly from within him. With a loud explosion, the thick iron chains suddenly snapped, clattering as they scattered all over the ground.
"Ninth Layer of Spirit Spring Realm, I suppose that will barely suffice."
Ye Han loosened his joints, his entire body popping and cracking like roasted beans.
If these words were to spread outside, who knows how many prodigies across Flame City would be angered to the point of vomiting blood.
On the path of cultivation, one must first open the spiritual springs, followed by the Spirit Sea Realm, Inscription Realm, Nirvana Realm, Dao Palace Realm... Normal martial artists only begin opening their spiritual springs around sixteen or seventeen, whereas Ye Han at this age had already stepped into the Ninth Layer of Spirit Spring Realm, coming close indeed to the Spirit Sea Realm!
Reaching the Ninth Layer of Spirit Spring Realm at such an age would cause even the sects across the entire Eight Desolates Ancient Domain to fight madly to recruit him.
"If I remember correctly, today happens to be the Ye Family's grand family assembly. With the ambitious and treacherous nature of Ye Tiange and his father, they will definitely have the family elders strip away my position as Young Patriarch. However, I'd like to see whether they have the capability and qualifications to do so!"
Ye Han took a deep breath, his gaze as deep and dark as a black hole capable of devouring everything.
Now that he had become the master of this physical body, those who had bullied him in the Ye Family would naturally have to pay the price!
...
Chapter 2: Family Assembly
In the ancient and prosperous Flame City, aristocratic families and sects stood in great numbers.
The Ye Family was one of the four major families of Flame City, holding a position of considerable weight.
Situated in the northwest quarter of Flame City was an imposing and magnificent estate—the Ye Residence.
At this moment, high above in the nine heavens, thunder clouds rolled, shrouding the skies over the estate.
Every so often, a blinding flash of lightning tore through the vast expanse, accompanied by deafening thunder.
Today was the grand assembly of the Ye Family.
Countless disciples were converging toward the wide and magnificent jade plaza located at the very center of the estate. Before long, this sprawling jade plaza was packed with a full several thousand disciples of the Ye Family, presenting a truly spectacular sight.
These disciples chattered amongst themselves, seemingly discussing something.
Standing quietly within the crowd, Ye Han had changed into a clean yet plain blue robe, making him exceptionally eye-catching.
With his tall, straight build and finely chiseled, well-defined facial features, he stood out from the crowd with an extraordinary bearing. Especially his deep and brilliant eyes, resembling the starry night sky, carried a maturity that defied his young age.
Even knowing that the youth before them had been reduced to a cripple, many young maidens in the clan still cast looks of hidden admiration his way.
Naturally, this also drew the jealousy and animosity of some young male disciples in the clan.
"What use is good looks when he's just a cripple? After this family assembly, this fellow is bound to be cast out, right?"
A youth sneered with a look of disdain.
"Hey, a year ago, Ye Han was still the foremost prodigy of all Flame City, favored by an elder of the Sea of Clouds Sect. The difference now is truly like heaven and earth."
Another grey-robed youth chimed in with a sarcastic tone and a mocking expression.
"Who told him to be so arrogant before? Now he's fallen straight from the clouds into the mud—he totally deserves it!"
"Just trash discarded by the Sea of Clouds Sect, completely shaming our Ye Family!"
"What kind of damned prodigy is he? Bah!"
The surrounding disciples chattered noisily, all staring at Ye Han with schadenfreude written across their faces.
Ye Han's expression remained indifferent, having long since seen through the fickleness of human nature. He had grown accustomed to these cold jeers and taunts.
Yet back then, when he was on the verge of being accepted as a disciple by an elder of the Sea of Clouds Sect, not a single disciple in the clan failed to treat him with utmost respect and flattery.
Look at things now—how utterly ironic it was!
"Quick look, Ye Tiange is here!"
Suddenly, an exclamation rang out from somewhere unknown. The gazes of the crowd instantly shifted away from Ye Han and looked toward the opposite direction.
A path opened amidst the crowd as a jade-faced youth clad in blue robes walked forward with spirited steps, moving as if surrounded by a constellation of stars. Amidst the collective gaze of all, he slowly approached, instantly causing an uproar.
Swish—
"I heard Ye Tiange broke through to the Spirit Sea Realm last month. Looking across the entire Flame City, his peers who can compare to him can be counted on one hand!"
"With Ye Tiange's cultivation talent, he will definitely be recruited by the Sea of Clouds Sect in the future. Destined to be a true dragon soaring the nine heavens, Ye Han is nothing more than a crawling snake in the muddy earth by comparison—one in the heavens, the other in the dirt."
Throughout the entire Ye clan, almost everyone's gaze was filled with adoration and reverence.
Simply because Ye Tiange was far too dazzling!
At that moment, Ye Han's hands also clenched tightly in secret, a hint of murderous intent flashing in his eyes!
Everything that originally belonged to him had been seized by Ye Tiange using the most despicable means!
"So what if you possess superior spiritual veins? Weren't you still trampled savagely beneath my feet?"
Ye Tiange spotted Ye Han's figure in the crowd with a single glance, but his eyes were now filled with utter contempt, looking down upon him as if he were nothing more than an insignificant ant beneath his feet, unworthy of even a glance.
A piece of trash—did he even qualify to compare with him?
Before long, a white-haired elder followed by three other elders ascended one after another onto the high stone platform at the highest point of the plaza, overlooking the gathering below.
Standing at the very front was an elderly man with white hair, holding a scepter, exuding an air of natural authority without even showing anger. He was none other than the First Elder of the Ye clan—Ye Baili, a powerful expert who had stepped into the Inscription Realm!
Aside from these elders, there was also a stalwart, grim-faced middle-aged man standing rigidly to one side like an iron tower.
He emanated a powerful wave of spiritual power, his strength second only to the First Elder.
This man was named Ye Tianba.
He was none other than Ye Tiange's father!
"Silence!"
Ye Baili swept his dignified gaze across the crowd, his voice carrying the weight and pressure of thunder.
Instantly, the area below fell into a pin-drop silence.
"Today's family assembly is convened to announce two major matters."
Ye Baili's murky gaze suddenly locked onto Ye Han in the crowd.
His eyes were filled with boundless indifference!
"First matter, starting from today, Ye Han's position as Young Patriarch is officially revoked! After consultation among myself and several elders, it has been decided that our Ye Family's new Young Patriarch will be none other than Ye Tiange."
The tone was majestic and merciless.
There was no great ripple below, as many disciples had already guessed as much.
Ye Han remained expressionless, showing no emotional fluctuation whatsoever over being stripped of the title.
As a dignified Pill Saint, would he ever covet this damned position of Young Patriarch? Simply laughable!
However, Ye Baili's stern gaze suddenly returned to Ye Han as he spoke in an icy tone:
"Ye Han, you have been reduced to a cripple, and the spiritual veins in your body are of no further use. For the future of the Ye Family, after deliberation among myself and several elders, we have decided to extract the superior spiritual veins from your body and graft them onto Ye Tiange. What do you think?"
Hearing these words, Ye Han finally could not help but laugh.
He had still underestimated the shamelessness of the Ye Family!
"Want my spiritual veins? On what grounds?"
Ye Han sneered, never expecting that the family would not only strip him of his young master's position, but also attempt to rob him of his spiritual veins!
Once his spiritual veins were stripped, there was a high probability it would cost him his life!
Yet for the so-called future of the family, the Ye Family cared nothing for his safety and survival!
Ye Han felt a bone-chilling sense of disappointment!
At this moment, Ye Tianba glared angrily and scolded:
"On what grounds? On the grounds that my Ye Family has painstakingly cultivated you for over a decade, wasting a decade of family resources! Ye Han, even a stray dog knows how to show gratitude; this is your only chance to make amends to the family!"
Before Ye Han could retort, the Second Elder also slowly stepped forward and said earnestly:
"Ye Han, if you are willing to hand over your spiritual veins, the family naturally won't treat you unfairly. We will grant you an estate so you can live out the rest of your days in peace..."
Before the Second Elder could finish speaking, Ye Han's eyes turned crimson, and he roared like a ferocious beast:
"Shut your mouth!"
"Second Elder, do you remember when you were trapped in the Flame Ruins, it was my father who risked sustaining heavy injuries just to rescue you. And now, you too are actually colluding with them to seize my spiritual veins!"
Every single word of Ye Han's statement dripped with blood!
The Second Elder shook his head and fell into immediate silence.
However, several elders exchanged covert glances; they had already made up their minds.
Even if Ye Han did not agree, they would forcefully make a move and strip him of his spiritual veins!
Because once Ye Tiange possessed those spiritual veins, his future achievements would undoubtedly be limitless. Who knows, he might even be directly and exceptionally admitted by the Sea of Clouds Sect!
This concerned the interests of the entire Ye Family!
"Ye Han, the interests of the family surpass all else. I hope you can understand."
The First Elder still wore an expression of cold indifference.
"Hahahaha! Disregarding my life and safety just to seize my spiritual veins—what a mercenary and heartless Ye Family!"
Ye Han could not help bursting into wild laughter, his gaze freezing into an icy void. He pointed toward the distant, smirking Ye Tiange and shouted:
"Ye Tiange, get your ass down here! Aren't you craving the spiritual veins inside my body? Then I'll give you the chance! If you can defeat me, I will cripple these spiritual veins myself and even hand them to you with my own hands!"
Gasp—
"Ye Han wants to challenge Ye Tiange?!"
"Is he out of his mind?!"
At this instant, the thousands of disciples across the entire plaza widened their eyes, erupting into a clamor.
...
Chapter 3: Shocking the Entire Clan
"Did I hear that right..."
"This cripple wants to challenge Ye Tiange?!"
"And he actually told Tiange to get lost down here? Such audacity!"
In this moment, the entire plaza exploded like a boiling pot, and countless clan members were filled with shock.
Yet their gazes were largely filled with mockery and ridicule!
Ye Tiange was now the true dragon of the Ye Family!
As for Ye Han? He was nothing more than a cripple, a mere clown!
Even the several elders were startled upon hearing this, wondering if Ye Han had lost his mind from the shock.
"Heh, does he really think he's still the prodigy of the past?"
A clan disciple could not help sneering aloud.
The current Ye Tiange had already stepped into the Spirit Sea Realm; defeating Ye Han would be no different from stepping on an ant!
It was common knowledge among the clan members that Ye Han could no longer use spiritual power.
Yet he still dared to foolishly challenge Ye Tiange?
Was he courting death on the edge of a cliff?
Thus, everyone raised their heads to look at the youth standing high above, shining like the bright moon. They wanted to see whether Ye Tiange would choose to accept the challenge.
However, at this moment, although Ye Tiange's face bore little expression, deep within his eyes flickered amusement and disdain.
Right now, he was like the bright moon hanging high in the nine heavens.