The supreme land of the Heaven Martial Continent—the Martial Domain.
Black gales roared madly, tearing open massive, hideous, and terrifying wounds in the sky. Black spatial rifts flashed in and out, spewing and swallowing, like a primeval beast that never tired, capable of devouring and swallowing everything.
This was one of the seven great forbidden lands of the Heaven Martial Continent, located in the Death Canyon of the Martial Domain.
Inside the Death Canyon, terrifying spatial storms raged year-round, never ceasing. Over tens of thousands of years, they had devoured the lives of countless experts, like a meat grinder, consuming every life that entered.
People rarely came here; even the most confident experts would not set foot in this place. The vast and surging spatial storms were enough to easily tear a Nine Heavens Martial Emperor expert into pieces.
"Why? Shangguan Xi'er, Feng Shaoyu, why did you betray me?"
Qin Chen, covered in blood, stood on the cliff face before the Death Canyon, his expression furious as he looked at the man and woman in front of him. His eyes were filled with endless resentment and rage, and his heart ached as if cut by a knife.
Qin Chen.
A great legend of the Heaven Martial Continent, a ninth-grade Emperor-level Alchemist, an eighth-stage King-level Bloodline Master, and an eighth-stage Martial King.
He was an orphan from a young age, with crippled meridians, unable to cultivate.
Yet he forcefully broke through these shackles. Starting as a Bloodline Master, he defied fate and changed his destiny, relying on the power of his crippled bloodline to climb to the peak, forging a path never before seen, becoming the foremost person throughout history.
At twenty-six years old, Qin Chen challenged Heaven Array Mountain. In forty-nine days, he passed through all eighty-one ninth-grade grand arrays, becoming the only array master to pass through Heaven Array Mountain in a thousand years.
At twenty-eight years old, he broke through to become a ninth-grade Emperor Alchemist and assumed the position of honorary elder of the continent's Alchemist Guild.
At thirty years old, with his eighth-stage King-level Bloodline Master attainments, he defeated all ten of the Bloodline Tower's top King-level Bloodline Masters without a single loss, his fame shaking the continent.
He became the supreme legend of the continent!
He had a beloved woman named Shangguan Xi'er, praised as the continent's number one beauty.
For ten years, they shared life and death. Qin Chen gave his all, causing Shangguan Xi'er's cultivation to rapidly advance, making her a Nine Heavens Martial Emperor and achieving a legendary tale on the continent.
He had a brother named Feng Shaoyu.
For ten years, they treated each other with sincerity. Qin Chen gave his all, helping him build such a vast empire and establish the Xuanyuan Empire, whose fame shook the continent.
Yet, just as he helped his beloved woman and trusted brother stand at the peak of the continent, those two actually betrayed him together.
One day.
While he was asleep, Shangguan Xi'er suddenly struck with a killing blow, using the Emperor Armament he had personally refined to stab Qin Chen's body.
At the same time, Feng Shaoyu, who had long been lying in ambush nearby, directly stormed into his palace and powerfully attacked.
Two great Nine Heavens Martial Emperor experts launched a killing blow against him, an eighth-stage Martial King. Qin Chen was caught off guard and suffered severe injuries. He fought his way out of the palace and fled for his life for three days and three nights.
But in the end, he was still hunted down by the two to the Death Canyon.
By this time.
Qin Chen was already exhausted and depleted of strength, all his meridians shattered, on the verge of death, with no strength left to fight.
But he couldn't understand why these two people, whom he considered his closest, would conspire to betray him.
"Why?"
Shangguan Xi'er, whose peerless beauty was like a fairy from a painting, giggled sweetly and nestled into Feng Shaoyu's arms, directly facing Qin Chen's indignant question. Feng Shaoyu's hand, meanwhile, stroked Shangguan Xi'er's waist.
Qin Chen's eyes widened in disbelief, his face etched with incredulity. His mind reeling from the shock, he suddenly spat out a mouthful of fresh blood and hoarsely choked out, "You two actually..."
Shangguan Xi'er scoffed, looking at Qin Chen with pitiful amusement, and sneered, "Before I met you, Shaoyu and I were already deeply in love. My reason for being with you was merely to use you."
"Did you really think I genuinely liked you? Hahahaha, wrong..." Shangguan Xi'er glared at Qin Chen with venomous hatred. "Every time I was with you, I felt disgusted. If it weren't for the benefits you could bring Shaoyu and me, I wouldn't have bothered to pretend with you."
"For these ten years, your every move was part of Shaoyu's and my plan."
"These past few years, your obsession with cultivation and alchemy, and your frequent secluded training, gave Shaoyu and me ample opportunities to be together."
"We had long ago agreed that the day we became Nine Heavens Martial Emperors would be the day you met your end."
"Finally, with your help, I became a Nine Heavens Martial Emperor, and Shaoyu established the Xuanyuan Empire."
"We can finally be together openly and honorably."
"This is why!"
Shangguan Xi'er burst into laughter, her laughter filled with reckless abandon, venomous malice, and cold indifference. She was utterly different from the gentle and virtuous Shangguan Xi'er Qin Chen had known.
Qin Chen's face was ashen.
For ten years, this woman had schemed in every conceivable way, all just to get close to him.
How laughable that he, completely oblivious, had only offered his sincere heart.
He had never imagined that these ten years of intimate companionship were merely a conspiracy.
Qin Chen's heart felt as if it had been pierced by ten thousand arrows.
More than that, there was hatred!
The familiar face was now so strange; even that peerless beauty had become unbearably ugly.
"Good brother, now you know why, don't you?" Feng Shaoyu's lips curled into a treacherous smile. "To achieve this, I endured for ten years, even willingly handing my woman over to you. Every time I saw you entangled with her, I swore that when the time was ripe, I would surely eradicate you, make you lose everything, and all your wealth, status, and women would be mine."
"Fortunately, all of that is over now."
Feng Shaoyu's eyes were filled with undisguised, naked killing intent. He stared at the storage bracelet on Qin Chen's right wrist, a greedy expression on his face, and sneered triumphantly, "Don't worry, after you die, I will take everything of yours. Especially those things you obtained in the Divine Forbidden Zone, and your woman!"
Feng Shaoyu let out a sinister chuckle. His slender hand directly stroked Shangguan Xi'er's shapely buttocks. This pair, right in front of Qin Chen, giggled together.
Qin Chen's gaze was icy, and he let out a desolate laugh.
The two people he had revered as his closest had actually been deceiving him all along, using his secluded cultivation time to swallow everything he had. How laughable that he had remained completely oblivious.
Only now had it come to this.
Qin Chen smiled.
He laughed at the vile, shameless couple.
He also laughed at himself, foolish and ignorant.
As he laughed, two streams of blood tears flowed down from the corners of his eyes.
He slowly stood up, his eyes brimming with hatred, and glared fiercely at the two people in front of him.
His heart died of sorrow.
He swore that if he had the chance, he would surely kill them.
But.
There was no longer any chance.
Qin Chen looked at the raging spatial rift behind him, and in the terrified eyes of that vile couple, he leaped, instantly swallowed by the endless spatial rift.
Before his death, Qin Chen's eyes were icy cold, a faint smile playing on the corner of his mouth.
Want my things? In your next life!
Fierce winds howled, the void shattered.
On the precipice, only Feng Shaoyu and Shangguan Xi'er's terrified screams echoed for a long time.
Tianwu Continent, Great Qi Kingdom, Dingwu Prince's Estate.
“Shangguan Xi'er, Feng Shaoyu, you vile couple, I truly hate you!”
A young man startled awake on a gilded narrow bed, sitting up furiously. His eyes were wide, his pupils like cold stars, from which burst forth a light of bone-deep, heart-engraved hatred, his entire body drenched in cold sweat.
On the narrow bed, the young man clenched his hands, letting his fingernails dig deep into his palms, causing excruciating pain, yet he felt nothing.
After a long while, he finally regained his senses, staring blankly at the antique bed and eaves in front of him, too stunned to speak.
What happened? Wasn't I dead?
A surge of intense pain suddenly came from Qin Chen's mind, causing him to cry out in agony.
Along with the pain came a flood of completely new memories.
“I… I was actually reborn?”
Suddenly, Qin Chen's eyes snapped open. After understanding what had happened, even he, the continent's strongest expert, wore a look of disbelief.
In his memories.
Today was the 2516th year of the Martial God era, three hundred years had passed since his fall in his previous life.
Three hundred years had passed, and the world had undergone drastic, unexpected changes.
The former Xuanyuan Empire, under Feng Shaoyu's expansion of its borders, had become the continent's foremost imperial dynasty, its might shaking the world, and he was conferred the title of Emperor Xuanyuan.
As for the former Shangguan Xi'er, she had founded the Misty Palace, known as the Lingbo Empress, enjoying the reverence of billions.
Relying on the divine weapons and elixirs Qin Chen had left behind, the two had become supreme existences on the continent, ruling the world with their might. With a single stomp of their foot, the entire continent would tremble.
But Qin Chen was reborn in a remote, small country on this continent.
“Heaven has granted me another life! Shangguan Xi'er, Feng Shaoyu, just you wait! I, Qin Chen, have returned, and your nightmare is about to begin! One day, I, Qin Chen, will personally step onto the Martial Domain and reclaim everything!”
Qin Chen clenched his fists and swore to the heavens in the opulent, antique room!
A thick killing intent transformed into an invisible vortex in the room, lingering for a long time.
“Chen'er!”
Suddenly, with a creak, the room door opened. A beautiful woman, dressed in a clean long robe and wearing a jade hairpin, anxiously walked in. Seeing Qin Chen awake on the narrow bed, a hint of joy suddenly appeared in her anxious eyes.
“This is great, Chen'er, you’re finally awake! Mother was worried sick.”
The beautiful woman, tears glistening on her long eyelashes, hugged Qin Chen's neck and sobbed uncontrollably. Yet, amidst her tears, there was an underlying joy. Her warm embrace enveloped Qin Chen, and for him, who had awakened with a heart originally brimming with hatred, an inexplicable warmth began to bloom.
The beautiful woman's name was Qin Yuechi. She was the daughter of the Dingwu King of the Great Qi Kingdom, and also Qin Chen's mother.
The original owner of this body was coincidentally also named Qin Chen. He had fought with someone at the Heavenly Star Academy in the royal capital, fallen off the martial arts arena, and cracked his head. After three days and three nights in a coma, he passed away.
In the end, his body was unexpectedly taken over by the soul of a Qin Chen from three hundred years ago, thus beginning his second life.
"Chen'er, you were in a coma for three days and three nights, you scared your mother half to death! From now on, your mother will never allow you to act so recklessly again, do you hear me? If you weren't here, how would your mother live alone?"
The beautiful woman stroked Qin Chen's thin face, her beautiful eyes shining with profound concern.
Qin Chen looked at the beautiful woman, and a feeling of emotion he had never experienced before arose within his soul.
In his previous life, Qin Chen had been an orphan. He never expected that fate would allow him to live a second life, and even give him a mother.
In the original memories of this body, his mother, Qin Yuechi, had been extremely good to him, one could even say doting. The relationship between mother and son was very harmonious.
After Qin Chen's rebirth, his soul had merged with the soul of the original body, and naturally, he also possessed all the original emotions of this body.
Looking at the beautiful woman crying anxiously before him, Qin Chen's heart stirred, and he blurted out, "Mother, your child will not act recklessly again and make you worry."
As these words left his lips, Qin Chen felt as if a great weight had been lifted from his heart. His soul felt a sudden ease, and the lingering sense of restraint he had originally felt completely vanished.
Qin Chen knew this was the consciousness of the original Qin Chen, which, upon understanding his intentions, had completely dissipated.
From now on, this body would only have one consciousness: his, Qin Chen's.