"Boom!"
Underneath the dark clouds, a streak of thunder tore through the void, illuminating a ten-mile radius like daylight. The large raindrops fell suddenly, pounding down with a crackling sound.
Cyan Cloud City, Chaotic Burial Mound.
A young man, his clothes in tatters, with blood flowing from his wounds, forming a pool of blood. Only his faint breathing proved he was still alive. Beside him, a team of guards was digging a pit.
"Damn it, this damn weather, still have to bury him!"
The leader, with a look of disgust.
"Forget it, because he is our Ye Family Young Master?" A man with a slightly gentle face at the back sneered and said, "But from today onwards, he is no longer!"
"Am I going to die?"
Listening to the voices beside him, Ye Qingchen felt as if his consciousness was sinking into an endless darkness, gradually losing itself.
"I'm not willing!"
"I can't just die like this!"
…
Ye Qingchen!
Cyan Cloud City, Young Master of the Ye Family!
Ten years ago, his father Ye Tiannan went missing unexpectedly, leaving only him and his sister Ye Qing depending on each other. After all, Ye Tiannan was the family's greatest power, holding the family together. At the initial disappearance, the family remained stable.
But as time went on, undercurrents surged, unable to suppress people's hearts anymore.
Outside, other forces in Cyan Cloud City retaliated, pressing on every side, encroaching on the family's power. Inside, the Great Elder Ye Cangliu watched like a tiger, coveting the position of head patriarch, bullying him because of his youth, intending to usurp power.
Ye Qingchen did not want his father's efforts to fall into others' hands, stood up at the family's most critical moment, and, as just a young man, held up the crumbling Ye Family!
But.
Ye Cangliu's ambition still persisted!
"The Hong Family fancies your sister, it's a great blessing, yet you are unwilling?"
"Today, it doesn't matter whether you are willing or not! You have no say!"
"Just now, you drank the wine, I've poisoned you. Outside, I have ambushed eight hundred axemen! Ye Qingchen, let's see how you die!"
He hated!
Hate that tore his heart and lungs!
He had given almost everything for the family.
But.
The family was always scheming against the two siblings, tricking him into drinking poisoned wine, marrying his sister to the Hong Family. That Hong Ren was promiscuous, who knows how many women he had ruined.
Marrying Ye Qing to him, wasn't it like pushing her into a pit of fire?
"Ye Cangliu, you dare to treat us siblings this way, if I overcome this calamity, I will certainly flatten the Ye Family!"
Ye Qingchen clenched his fists.
But just this insignificant action exhausted his last bit of strength.
Ye Qingchen felt his soul completely sinking, falling into boundless darkness, his very last shred of consciousness seemingly about to vanish entirely.
"Is this my fate?"
"I'm not willing!"
"This isn't the life I want! Although I, Ye Qingchen, am just an ordinary man, I do not believe in fate! I control my own destiny, not the heavens!"
Ye Qingchen's eyes burned red, full of unwillingness!
The boy's rage seemed to ignite the heavens and earth.
Boom!
In an instant.
A lightning bolt streaked across the sky.
The heavens above transformed into daylight, tearing apart the surrounding darkness.
"Rumble!"
In that split second, Ye Qingchen's soul was shaken violently, as if swallowed into his body. When he opened his eyes again, the Chaotic Burial Mound was gone without a trace, he unexpectedly found himself in a vast world!
The world was divided by nine grand palaces, like the Nine Heavens Palace!
Stars surrounded, the sun and moon overhead, incredibly mysterious!
Under this palace, Ye Qingchen was as small as dust.
"What is this?"
"Inside my body, there's such a huge palace?"
Faced with this palace, Ye Qingchen's heart was filled with a vast and magnificent feeling, this palace was beyond human creation, its existence surpassed all his knowledge—
This might be an opportunity.
Or it might be a crisis!
But now, he had no other choice.
Taking a deep breath, Ye Qingchen stepped forward, placing his hands on the massive gate that stretched for ten thousand feet.
"Creak!"
The ancient, enormous Bronze Gate seemed to weigh millions of pounds.
Initially, Ye Qingchen believed that with his strength, he could never open this palace door. Yet, surprisingly, with a mere gentle touch, the Bronze Gate slowly opened, allowing him to walk inside.
The grand hall was majestic and vast.
Only on both sides stood massive fire altars, their angry flames rolling, illuminating the entire hall as if it were broad daylight.
"What is that?"
Ye Qingchen's gaze roamed, constantly observing the surroundings.
Suddenly he noticed, on one wall, countless mysterious runes shining with an unusual luster, moving like tadpoles under his gaze, ultimately forming five large characters—
"Nine Revolutions Star Technique!"
As Ye Qingchen looked at these five characters, he felt as if his mind was being drawn inside, seeing endless stars, witnessing an infinite starry sky.
It was as though, within these five characters, there lay an expansive universe.
Ye Qingchen's heart raced wildly.
In his entire life, he had never seen such strange and wondrous characters or runes; he feared that within this 'Nine Revolutions Star Technique' lay secrets none could imagine. With this thought, he quickly looked further down.
Indeed.
He discovered that beneath the words 'Nine Revolutions Star Technique', there were additional annotations.
Just seeing the sparse opening sentences of the annotations made Ye Qingchen's heart tremble with shock.
"Ancient shattering, cosmic calamity. Without transcending Hengyu, even Immortal Demons cannot escape decay. Sorrowful indeed! Regretful indeed!"
Ye Qingchen was stunned: "Immortal Demons cannot escape decay? Could it mean that the owner of this palace was an Immortal Demon..."
Ye Qingchen's mind was shaken.
In Cyan Cloud City, there had always been legends about Immortals. It was rumored that these beings could control rain and clouds, shift suns and moons. They could ride great beasts soaring through the Nine Heavens, see through life and death, live eternally!
Yet now, these annotations state that even Immortal Demons cannot escape decay.
How could he not be shocked by this?
Suppressing the upheaval in his heart, Ye Qingchen continued to look down:
"The 'Nine Revolutions Star Technique' is a mysterious cultivation technique I obtained during my travels through the infinite starry sky. Its intricacy is unparalleled in my life, simulating the starry sky, evolving a universe within the body..."
What followed was an account of how exquisite the 'Nine Revolutions Star Technique' truly was.
"Since this cultivation technique is so exquisite, why didn't the predecessor cultivate it himself?"
Ye Qingchen was full of doubt.
The annotations continued, making him finally understand the reason:
"Moreover, the most crucial point in cultivating this technique is to shatter one's own meridians, evolving the starry sky within the body. However, by the time I obtained it, the cosmic calamity had already arrived; even if I were to recommence the 'Nine Revolutions Star Technique,' it was too late.
"...The end was approaching, making transcendence impossible. Therefore, I cast the Nine Heavens Palace down to the lower realm, waiting for a destined person!"
Written at the end.
Almost every word was like blood, a sense of regret emanating.
Even Ye Qingchen fell silent because of it.
"If this predecessor had obtained the Nine Heavens Palace earlier and cultivated the 'Nine Revolutions Star Technique,' perhaps he could have withstood the cosmic calamity."
Ye Qingchen let out a long sigh, and at this moment, his heart was incredibly complex.
There was shock, fear, regret, and an irrepressible excitement.
After a long time, his emotions slowly calmed down as if he had made a firm decision.
"This cultivation technique is so powerful that, when cultivated to the utmost, it might even resist the cosmic calamity that even Divine Demons cannot withstand. Besides, I have no other choice, I can only cultivate this 'Nine Revolutions Star Technique'!"
Ye Qingchen's gaze became resolute once more.
He looked towards the wall.
The annotations stated that the 'Nine Revolutions Star Technique' was divided into nine chapters, each within a layer of the Nine Heavens Palace.
Only by cultivating each chapter to the utmost can one advance to the next chapter, unlocking a new chapter of the 'Nine Revolutions Star Technique'!
The first chapter is the 'Star Chapter'!
Boom!
In an instant, countless characters scattered like a field, but in a flash, they arranged themselves, forming a spell that dove into Ye Qingchen's mind like swimming fish!
...
"Alright!" Zhao Youjing, at the lead, looked at the half-zhang deep pit beneath his feet, a slight cold smile appearing at the corner of his mouth, "Next, we can send this little bastard on his way!"
"Indeed, after causing us brothers to freeze here half the night, everything should end!" the gentle man said smugly: "Once today is over, after Ye Qing marries into the Hong Family, the Ye Family can enjoy the shelter of a great tree, and we brothers will eat and drink well!"
Everyone laughed triumphantly.
As long as Ye Qingchen dies, the Ye Family, without a leader, will naturally be taken over by Ye Cangliu. Those following Ye Cangliu will surely rise smoothly within the family!
However.
Just at that moment, a voice suddenly came from the side:
"Is that so?"