Immortality Starts With Investment

Feeling Ye Chen's burning gaze, Fan Qinghe sighed deeply within her heart. The three of them had reaped unearned benefits, yet now lay utterly spent, unable to move a muscle. Ye Chen, however, appeared brimming with vigor, showing no sign of depletion. His foundation was truly astonishing. She felt profoundly fortunate to have found such a Protector.

Languid and immobile, Fan Qinghe could only meet his eyes with a dazed, apologetic look.

"I am truly exhausted. Let my master and grandmaster tend to you."

Ye Chen's lips twitched at her words. Was that what he had meant?

Fan Qinghe's master, after all, was not his official divine maiden. This time, she had hitched a ride, soaring through realms in a single flight—crossing three heavens outright—and savored that bliss. She needed to perform properly in return. Yet exhaustion pinned her down completely.

The grandmaster, who had stubbornly endured until consciousness fled, now regained her senses and managed to stand—though her legs still trembled. She fussed attentively before and behind Ye Chen, expressing her gratitude...

Joy filled the grandmaster's heart. Her previous Protector had been a genius, yet ultimately limited. She had never tasted the fulfillment of a perfect transformation. Now, finally feeling that profound satiety and satisfaction, she could not shake the sense that her prior three millennia had been wasted.

Human greed ran deep. She had once thought breaking through to Half-Saint would leave her content, with no regrets in death. Yet now, she already anticipated Ye Chen reaching the peak of the Sixth Heaven. Might she join the feast once more?

Thus, the grandmaster labored tirelessly, attending to every detail.

Half a day later, Fan Qinghe's master recovered as well and joined in proactively. Fan Qinghe came last. But Ye Chen remained resolute. Until all her transformations completed, he would not take that final step. She could only assist from the side, offering what meager aid her tongue provided...

...

Ye Chen felt a touch helpless. He had merely meant to praise the divine maiden's kind heart. He had not anticipated this turn. Truth be told, he disliked it. Yet their gratitude burned so fiercely that outright refusal would only wound them. Sigh... he had no choice.

A week passed like this.

Ye Chen's expression shifted abruptly.

The grandmaster arched a brow. Why had he peaked so suddenly this time?

Before she could speak, Ye Chen gently laid them down one by one. Aura boiled from him, surging wildly. He resembled an unstoppable volcano, flames roaring ceaselessly.

Ye Chen addressed the three women solemnly.

"My cultivation can no longer be suppressed. I am about to break through. I will seclude myself here in this cave abode. Those who need to condense your cave heavens, do so. Those ready to advance, break through."

The Nirvana Scripture proved wondrous indeed. Fan Qinghe and her master now possessed realms in name only. They had reached the peak of the Third Heaven, yet had not opened their cave heavens. Attaining the peak of the Third Heaven without a cave heaven was absurd. A first in the cultivation world. But with the chance to board first and buy the ticket later, it highlighted the sutra's sheer audacity. Whoever created this technique had been a supreme expert.

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With that, Ye Chen bestowed numerous treasures upon Fan Qinghe for condensing her cave heaven. He gave plenty to her master as well—and the grandmaster received her share. Spatial divine stones and the like, he handed out in heaps. The stronger their cave heaven foundations, the more they could accommodate in the future—and the more he could bestow. This was an investment in tomorrow.

Ye Chen never skimped. His generosity made the three women's eyes shine brighter. Ye Chen truly loved Qinghe too much. Gifting her supreme treasures came as no surprise. After all, the Heavenly Emperor's heir had lavished a Sacred Spiritual Root upon his woman. But to include them both in gifts meant for Qinghe? Clearly, for her sake alone. The Heavenly Emperor's heir was so generous!

His words stunned them further. After days of such intense drawing, any other divine maiden's protector would have crumbled to dust. Yet Ye Chen brimmed over, on the verge of a breakthrough?

Absurd. Truly absurd. Did the Heavenly Emperor's heir possess an innate talent for automatic cultivation? Did his realm simply climb without effort?

Upon hearing that Ye Chen was about to break through, all three women took the matter with utmost seriousness. Without another word, they withdrew immediately. They stationed themselves outside the cave abode to stand guard. They even activated the sect's grand formation, barring any outsider from entering the Heavenly Desire Sect. The grandmaster even asked whether they should awaken the ancestral master to assist in protection!

Their caution was hardly surprising. Even setting aside their profound gratitude for Ye Chen renewing their immortal paths, the mere prospect that he would return once more at the peak of the Sixth Heaven made it worth devoting everything to him.

After long hesitation, however, the grandmaster chose not to awaken the ancestral master. The reason was simple: the ancestral master's lifespan was truly nearing its end. It would be better to save her awakening for a genuine crisis. Wasting her remaining years now would deprive the sect of a vital trump card.

…

Meanwhile, within the cave abode, Ye Chen's Immortal Spiritual Root finally completed its full transformation that very day. The change swept through his body in a violent surge, his aura exploding outward. Combined with the ten-thousand-fold feedback from before, and the Heart of the World Tree, which had spent the past week converting all his law power into pure law origin force, the sheer volume was impossible to contain any longer. There was no time to return to his own holy land. He could only settle it here and now.

After sending the three women out, Ye Chen tossed down an array disk. He immediately summoned the projection of the Nine Transformations Heaven-Piercing Furnace from within his cave heaven. Its radiant light enveloped him as he began the breakthrough…

A faint intuition stirred within Ye Chen. After this breakthrough, his cultivation might not stop at the early stage of the Fourth Heaven—it could climb even higher. The accumulation he had gathered this time was simply too vast.

At the same time, he looked forward to this breakthrough with genuine anticipation. Because this time, a heavenly tribulation would descend. With his current strength, he was bound to face the Heavenly Emperor once more.

In the past, various circumstances had always prevented a true, decisive battle. This time, surely nothing would interfere. At last, he would claim the achievement of defeating the Heavenly Emperor at the same realm. As for losing? Impossible.

The current Ye Chen felt terrifyingly powerful. Forget the Heavenly Emperor at the same realm—even one a full major realm above him posed no real threat.

…

In a hidden corner far outside the Heavenly Desire Sect, a mighty figure who had once appeared beside the Alkaid Holy Son gazed coldly toward the sect gates from afar. Around him gathered a group of powerful experts, all cloaking their auras. They had assembled here for one purpose alone. To assassinate the Heavenly Emperor's heir.

Even after he had gifted the Nirvana Sacred Liquid to Lan Nuo, the threat he posed remained far too great. A mere King realm cultivator who could casually suppress two Saints and hand them to Lan Nuo as stepping stones for her battle record.

The Heavenly Emperor's heir's dominance had already exceeded all reason. Many had come to a chilling realization: If he were not cut down in his youth, the Immortal Path in this generation might truly be without suspense. Each of them had their own favored juniors, clansmen, or disciples. The existence of the Heavenly Emperor's heir threatened to render all of it meaningless. Therefore, the man who blocked too many paths—the Heavenly Emperor's heir—had to die…