That long river stretched endlessly, obscuring the future and originating from the future, flowing towards the past, shrouding the Milky Way and encompassing the entire starry sky.

One could clearly sense an immeasurable and unknowable power emanating from it.

Instilling a sense of awe.

Making one subconsciously feel a sense of tranquility, urging them to close their eyes and fall into complete slumber.

The river surged, growing ever larger.

The River of Time!

A celestial river that runs through the world, difficult for those with insufficient cultivation to cross.

Chen Yuan attempted to escape, stepping into the void.

But the River of Time enveloped everything around him, making it impossible to leave.

He roared, and countless laws surged forth like chains piercing the starry sky, attempting to block the River of Time's approach. However, the moment the power of rules made contact with the River of Time,

They dissipated without a trace.

The two were simply not forces of the same dimension!

This was the most despairing truth.

With a single wave, the River of Time engulfed Chen Yuan, and the power of laws surrounding him continued to erode until... it completely collapsed.

....

"Hehe..."

The Demon Lord, observing this scene through the River of Time, chuckled continuously in the starry sky, as if celebrating his wise choice.

Chen Yuan was strong.

There was absolutely no doubt about that.

His previous battle with the Netherworld Emperor of Luo Tian proved that.

His earlier actions, along with the Destiny Treasure residing within his inner world, revealed his combat power. In comparison, he was undoubtedly far superior to Martial Emperors of thousands of years past.

He also posed a significant threat to the Demon Lord.

In an ordinary battle, the Demon Lord could win, but Chen Yuan also had a good chance, especially considering the severe injuries the Yu Emperor had inflicted upon him.

Moreover, Chen Yuan possessed the Destiny Altar, a congenital spiritual treasure.

It was difficult to be completely certain of victory.

Furthermore, the Demon Lord might have to pay an even greater price.

Therefore,

The Demon Lord chose to send Chen Yuan on his way in this manner, allowing him to sink into the River of Time, minimizing his losses to the lowest acceptable level.

Admittedly, forcefully summoning the River of Time with his heavily injured body would exert immense pressure on him. If Chen Yuan persisted for too long, he would find it difficult to bear.

However, everything is relative.

At least this method was more suitable for now.

He did not believe Chen Yuan could hold on for long.

After all, it was the River of Time.

A river that runs through the entire starry sky, a true Great Dao Law. Not to mention the Imperishable existences of the Seventh Realm, even Immortal Emperors and Dao Ancestors of higher realms would not dare to say they could control the River of Time.

Such strong individuals simply did not exist; they were almost at the level of Creator Gods.

To break through to the Seventh Realm from the Sixth, one must be cleansed by the River of Time, condense their true self, jump out of the river, and merge with the Dao to achieve Imperishability.

Decades ago, Chen Yuan had not even reached the Heavenly Immortal Realm. Now, his cultivation had soared, surely through some other method, his foundation unstable. Letting him enter the River of Time now,

He would surely die!

Of course, he had also considered the possibility that instead of killing Chen Yuan, he might inadvertently assist him, allowing him to break through.

However, this possibility was extremely low.

In the River of Time, the Destiny Altar was suppressed, making it impossible to draw upon its power.

A mere human, relying solely on himself, had almost no hope of surviving this tribulation!

.....

Silence reigned in the starry sky.

After Chen Yuan and the Demon Lord were both shrouded in black mist, the human and demon races fell into an eerie stalemate, clearly separated and mutually hostile.

For the Heavenly Court, this was the best option at the moment.

Because the Heavenly Court's strength was far inferior to that of the extraterrestrial demons.

Now, their only hope was that Chen Yuan could win.

If Chen Yuan won, the human realm would be stabilized.

If Chen Yuan lost, the realm would perish.

Similarly, the extraterrestrial demons did not regard these remnants as a threat. Once the Demon Lord had killed Chen Yuan, a single charge would be enough to secure a complete victory.

There was no need for it now.

"I wonder how His Majesty is..." Lu Chengfeng frowned, revealing his anxiety.

Mo Luo and the others also had varying degrees of worry, which were practically written all over their faces.

After all, Chen Yuan was now fighting an existence that surpassed the Sixth Realm.

Hopefully, Chen Yuan could continue his legendary streak this time.

......

Ensnared within the River of Time, Chen Yuan's power seemed to have lost all its use, like an ordinary mortal drowning.

The power of laws on his body was completely suppressed.

Even with the vibration of rules and continuous explosions, it was still useless.

Silence reigned within a radius of countless miles, and the black River of Time, like a sky, obscured everything.

Laws manifested like the veins of the starry sky.

Chen Yuan closed his eyes, stretched out his arms, and clenched his fists.

Gradually, Chen Yuan's power weakened, and he could not even manage to resist.

Finally, there was a complete collapse.

The power of laws completely dissipated.

Chen Yuan was completely enveloped by the River of Time.

Emptiness....

Silence....

After completely sinking, the heavens and the starry sky became even more silent, unable to stir up even the slightest ripple.

Time passed quickly.

No one knew how long it had been, perhaps only a moment, or perhaps... countless years.

The boundless black torrent began to expand.

Everything in the starry sky was swallowed.

Chen Yuan's body was eroded by the years, and his inner world gradually collapsed at this moment. Even with the Jianmu tree supporting it, it could only delay and not completely dispel the power of time's erosion.

The Law of Time....

The Great Dao at its Utmost!

Collapse, contraction, breakdown...

Once the collapse of the inner world began, it could not be reversed. Chen Yuan was like a helpless person, only able to watch his life gradually slip away.

Helplessness and despair were Chen Yuan's greatest feelings at this moment.

The Destiny Altar, which he relied on, remained silent. No matter how Chen Yuan called, there was not even a trace of a response, and he quickly realized that the Demon Lord had chosen this method perhaps because he had foreseen that the Destiny Altar could not be used by him.

He had calculated everything.

After that, he could only rely on himself.

Chen Yuan was filled with unwillingness.

He had come all the way, experiencing many hardships and encountering countless opportunities. With the help of the Destiny Altar, he had seized the opportunities of others, like a chosen one.

Although there were many difficulties, he had gritted his teeth and endured them.

He executed the tyrant, murdered his father, destroyed the dynasty, and stabilized the four directions.

He ushered in an era of lasting peace and created a prosperity unprecedented in ancient and modern times.

He completely solved the demon scourge and defied the heavens to attack the immortals.

He established the Heavenly Court to protect the human realm.

He fought against the demons...

He had done too many things, and he had long condensed an invincible will. But now, at this moment, in the face of the River of Time, he seemed so insignificant.

In the vast starry sky, there were countless legendary figures. He, a mere person from a small realm, perhaps... really did not amount to much.

But he was still unwilling to give up.

This was not his character.

His martial heart was firm, his will to kill was resolute, and his belief was always consistent. Was he going to fall here?

No,

Absolutely not.

Thoughts flowed quickly, fleeting in an instant.

In a short moment, Chen Yuan made all the preparations. He abandoned his physical body, abandoned everything. Since the River of Time enveloped everything, then... he would sink into it.

It was said that the Imperishable were invincible.

What was Imperishability?

Perhaps, by jumping out of the River of Time, one could become invincible and achieve Imperishability.

After Chen Yuan made this decision, he had nothing left. His relatives, friends, physical body, altar, everything was passively abandoned by him.

Only a glimmer of light remained... drifting with the current.

Within the River of Time, Chen Yuan became an observer. His active consciousness was dissolving, leaving only his passive consciousness, watching everything within the River of Time.

He saw Jiang He, saw his birth and his subsequent journey.

He saw Mo Luo, who had betrayed Buddhism, being suppressed by the Buddha, his body and spirit separated, and suppressed in the Great Jin Kingdom. He saw himself rescuing Mo Luo, transforming into the Asura Demon Lord.

He saw Lu Chengfeng, spiritedly competing with Emperor Taizu of Chu, and finally failing in the decisive battle, willingly assisting him, being named the Martial Emperor, and feigning death to escape the world after Emperor Taizu of Chu died.

Until thousands of years later.

He also saw Emperor Taizu of Chu, that legendary man who had risen from humble beginnings thousands of years ago and ended the chaos. But he wanted more, perhaps because he did not want anyone above him.

Perhaps he wanted true dominance.

And he was incredibly confident in his own power.

So, he charged into the Immortal Realm.

He slaughtered immortals like dogs, destroyed Immortal Sovereigns, and met Taihao.

As a result, he died in Taihao's hands, completely dissolving.

He saw Xiang Qianqiu, saw his youthful playboy behavior, saw him witness the destruction of Great Chu, strive to become stronger, and even transform his mentality, destroying everything, just to restore his country.

His wife, clansmen, and children were all him.

He thought he had calculated everything, but he smiled bitterly before his death.

He also saw the Martial Emperor.

Another legendary figure, even more legendary than Emperor Taizu of Chu, almost a protagonist template.

The human race was weak, and the demon race was strong. The human and demon races were irreconcilable.

Against this backdrop, he rose against the odds, obtained ancient inheritance, defeated all the people in the world, and finally drove away the demon race, establishing the Central Plains, creating the first unified dynasty in the recorded history of the human race.

When his cultivation could no longer advance, he traveled far into the starry sky, attacked the demons, and ultimately sacrificed himself, winning thousands of years for the human race, a paragon.

He even saw Immortal Sovereign Taihao, saw the various changes in that realm of the human world over thousands of years.

There were familiar figures, but more were strangers.

He saw so many figures, but... in Chen Yuan's view, their epitome was just an inconspicuous drop of water in the River of Time, overturned by a single wave.

The more people he saw, the more he seemed to have gone through thousands of sails, washed away his past, and become increasingly indifferent, increasingly ruthless, like the scene when he first saw Immortal Sovereign Taihao.

Seeing through everything.

Within the River of Time, there were countless commendable existences, countless existences that could be called legendary. They existed in various realms under this starry sky.

Powerful immortal sects, exclusively occupying several realms.

Ruthless demons, sacrificing billions of lives.

Compassionate Buddhas, preaching to the heavens and myriad realms, leaving behind the name 'Amitabha'.

Sword Immortals who斩尽一切(zhǎn jìn yī qiē - slaughter everything), with a single sword shining for billions of miles.

And....

A very strange man, that figure was the first existence whose appearance he could not see clearly, shrouded in mist from head to toe, elusive, and inscrutable.

But his experiences clearly appeared before his eyes.

Similarly rising from humble beginnings, similarly conquering the world, similarly ruthless, even more ruthless than him, and similarly creating a dynasty, resisting powerful enemies from beyond the realm.

Pacifying the realms, conquering the more distant starry sky.

Finally, that person stood above the starry sky, looking back, staring directly at him, as if seeing through the endless starry sky and the River of Time, and as if he had foreseen this scene in advance.

He whispered:

"Kill that old thing, and we'll meet in the Immortal Realm. Then... I'll give you a gift."

"Who are you?"

Chen Yuan asked in a deep voice.

"My surname is Zhang."

The man said.

"Did you foresee this scene long ago?"

"The world is impermanent. It's just a casual move. That old thing is very slippery. It's a pity that I had already left some methods when I severely injured him. Without you,

there would be others."

"How to kill him?"

"Jump out of the River of Time, condense your true self, and step into Imperishability. You can suppress and kill him with a flip of your hand."

"What is your purpose?"

"I am in the depths of the Immortal Realm, and I know the past and the future, but I can't see through you... If you believe me, come to the Immortal Realm. If you don't believe me... just pretend that what I said earlier was never spoken."

"The Immortal Realm..."

"You and I are the same kind of people. The realm is not the end for you and me, and even... the Immortal Realm is not... The Great Calamity of Destruction is coming soon, and your time is running out."

"You..."

"This remnant of divine thought can no longer withstand the erosion of the River of Time... I'll be waiting for you in the Immortal Realm."

As soon as the voice fell, silence.

Chen Yuan looked around blankly, only to suddenly discover that countless golden lights were leaping from the River of Time, shrouding him.

He saw many scenes, his own past and the experiences of others, but those people gave him a strange sense of familiarity.

The golden light spots grew stronger and stronger. Under the scouring of the River of Time, they became even more resilient, bringing Chen Yuan power again. He was silent for a long time.

When the power accumulated to its peak.

Immediately, he leaped with all his might and jumped out of the River of Time.

Above the black river, a figure slowly condensed. It was the previous physical body, whose current body was eroded, but the previous one was not.

There was no anomaly, nor was there any particularly great movement. He stood above the rolling river, like an outsider, and his whole person became more independent.

Heaven and earth were born naturally, forming a realm on their own.

He stepped into... Imperishability!

Raising his head and looking at the dark and endless sky, a trace of killing intent flashed in Chen Yuan's eyes. Then, he took a step and shattered everything.

......

In the starry sky, the Demon Lord was quietly waiting for Chen Yuan's complete demise. Since he was enveloped by the River of Time, he could no longer see the other party's existence.

And at this time, a long time had passed, and he was almost at the limit of what he could bear.

"It's almost time. Chen Yuan must have fallen. The Destiny Altar... should return. It's over... Hehehe..." The Demon Lord muttered to himself.

"You're right, it's time to end it."