"By the way, what’s your name, brother? I’m Luo Zhan, from the Tianlang System. You’re quite dim-witted, aren't you? If I hadn't pushed you aside just now, you’d already be dead," Luo Zhan said.
In some imperial dynasties and immortal sects, genius disciples could kill passersby without anyone daring to interfere. That was doubly true for the eldest princess of the Great Jin Immortal Dynasty.
"My name is Chen Mu, from the Tiannan Star Province," Chen Fan replied indifferently.
"The Tiannan Star Province? Things have been rather restless over there lately. With all the sects gathering, hundreds of Nascent Soul stage cultivators were wiped out by Divine Lord Chen with a single sword stroke. Even the 'Treading Heaven Divine Lord' is dead. Does that 'Divine Lord Chen' really possess the power to slaughter gods?"
If only Luo Zhan knew that the man standing before him was Divine Lord Chen himself, he might have been frightened to death.
*Slaughter gods?* Chen Fan thought to himself. *I could kill a Mid-stage Deity Transformation cultivator just to show you.*
"Right, brother, have you heard? The 'Haotian Secret Realm' has appeared in the 'Beiming Region'! They say Sword Saint Qin Shang and Guangming Zi are both there. Should we go together?" Luo Zhan asked. He figured that Chen Fan, being at the Peak Nascent Soul stage, was at least a formidable expert.
"Brother, you are at the Peak Nascent Soul stage, so why is your name not on the Cangming Rankings? And by the way, your surname is Chen, and you’re from the Tiannan Star Province—what is your relationship to the thirty-sixth ranked Chen Hao on the Cangming Rankings?" Luo Zhan asked, sounding puzzled.
Given Chen Fan’s Peak Nascent Soul cultivation, he should certainly have had a spot in the top fifty of the Cangming Rankings. As for the top thirty? Those were all successors of great traditions, candidate god-children, and heirs of ancient families. Even the weakest among them, at the Mid-stage Nascent Soul, could battle Peak Nascent Soul cultivators, and if they unleashed their trump cards, it was even possible for them to win.
"The Cangming Rankings? It’s true I’m not on them. Even the person ranked first on the Cangming Rankings wouldn't be worth a glance from me," Chen Fan said.
"Damn! Brother, that’s quite the boast. Careful someone doesn't hear you; don't let the wind twist your tongue," Luo Zhan mocked. To him, the Cangming Rankings were something far out of reach.
Seeing that Luo Zhan didn't believe him, Chen Fan didn't bother explaining further, though he mused to himself: *Hmm? Chen Hao has been to the Cangming Realm too? Is Chen Hao really born of my parents?* he wondered. Still, one thing was certain: Chen Hao was a member of the Chen family.
*The Cangming Rankings, is it? What a strange yet familiar list,* Chen Fan thought, closing his eyes. Back when he was only at the Peak Nascent Soul stage, Immortal Cangqing had brought him here to the Cangming Rankings for training. He had been fearless, vying with major powers for artifacts and secret techniques, offending Guangming Zi, and clashing with the geniuses of every great sect. He had been hunted by countless sects and forces, enduring hardships and overcoming endless trials. Finally, in the cave dwelling of the "Cangming King," he had battled various geniuses while still at the Nascent Soul stage. At that time, Qin Shang, Guangming Zi, Yang Jian, and others were only Half-Step Great Powers. Chen Fan, at the Peak Nascent Soul stage, had swept through all the geniuses of the great sects and the god-children of the imperial dynasties.
"The Cangming King is rumored to be an elder of the True Martial Immortal Sect, an Ancient Sage—a true Ancient Sage who could slaughter Peak Deity Transformation cultivators like dogs. Every first-ranked winner of the Cangming Rankings would be sent into the Immortal Sect by him, funneling the strongest geniuses into the True Martial Immortal Sect."
Beiming and Haotian were both half-disciples of his, and the Cangming Realm itself had been named after him by Immortal Cangqing.
After obtaining the inheritance, Chen Fan had broken through to the Early-stage Deity Transformation in one leap. He slaughtered the god-children of the major sects one after another, cutting the number of Cangming Rankings geniuses in half until no one in the world dared to call themselves a prodigy. The name Chen Beixuan spread throughout the entire Cangming Realm, and no one could suppress him.
The five major powers and several other great families had been forced to join forces to destroy him. Although this was a place for genius cultivation, Chen Beixuan was simply too invincible, nipping countless geniuses in the bud; they had no choice but to act.
But who was Chen Beixuan? A disciple of an Immortal. Their every move was under the gaze of Immortal Cangqing; in his eyes, their fighting was no different from toddlers scuffling.
As if falling into a memory, Chen Fan recalled that he couldn't have defeated the five powers at his Early-stage Deity Transformation level at that time. He hadn't yet mastered the "Power of Unity" and could only summon the protective token his master had given him. Within five breaths of crushing the token, Immortal Cangqing had stood outside the Cangming Realm.
What was the concept of five breaths?
It meant that even if Immortal Cangqing was traversing the void in another universe, he could arrive in this one the next instant.
This universe could not even bear his physical form, causing it to break past the boundaries of the cosmos. He stepped on the heavens and earth, held the galaxy in his hands, and even the sun and moon were shorter than him. Surrounded by the halo of a True Immortal and dwelling within the chaos, the Cangming Realm was like an ant in his hand. With a gentle squeeze, the Cangming Realm—220,000 light-years in diameter—was crushed into slag, falling like dust.
He had no idea how many such realms his True Martial Immortal Sect had, all funneling geniuses into it just like the Cangming Realm.
The scene from his previous life where those living beings were reduced to nothingness still flickered in his mind.
However, the level he had reached in his previous life, the "Tribulation Crossing Immortal Venerable," the pinnacle of cultivation, had been even more terrifying.
A Tribulation Crossing Immortal Venerable walked the river of time, peering into the ancient past and the future. With a single thought, they could manifest in multiple dimensions, projecting Dharma-bodies across billions of universes—excluding other realms—and destroying a universe was as simple as eating or drinking.
Thus, even in ancient times, the probability of a "Tribulation Crossing Immortal Venerable" appearing was only one in ten thousand.
Although a "Tribulation Crossing Immortal Venerable" could walk the river of time, they could not interfere; he had not yet grown strong enough to ignore karma. Only the legendary, karma-defying, free-spirited Hunyuan Daluo Dao Ancestors could do that. Even though Chen Fan had been a noble "Immortal Venerable" in his previous life, he still yearned for that realm.
"Let’s go. I want to see how impressive this so-called Cangming Rankings really is," Chen Fan said, his face expressionless, but a flash of sharpness flickered in his eyes. *Enemies from my past life, are you ready to meet your nightmare?*