Gaze and you will become stronger: starting from Doupo

"Is this the power of the Great Emperor?" Ye Fan muttered to himself, and suddenly noticed the ripples in the eyes of the Empress. The next moment, a shocking scene appeared - the image reflected in the Empress's eyes appeared on the sky like a projection, and every cultivator could see it clearly:

It was a barren plain 50,000 years ago. A little girl in patched clothes squatted beside a campfire, drawing crooked human figures on the ground with a branch. The boy stood behind her, polishing a ring with a bronze sheet. Sparks splashed on his tattered Taoist robe, but he smiled and put the finished ring on the little girl's hand: "When I become a Taoist, I will take you to see the real starry sky." The little girl raised her hand, the ring shone faintly in the moonlight, her face was covered with ashes, but she smiled with dimples.

The scene suddenly changed. In front of the five-colored altar, the boy was pinned to the ground by a group of monks in black armor, and the ghost mask around his neck was torn off. The little girl chased after him barefoot, her skirt was torn by thorns, but she held on to the edge of the altar tightly: "Brother, don't go!" The black-armored monk sneered and kicked her away, and the blood stained the ring on her chest red. The moment the altar started, the boy looked back, his eyes were full of reluctance and unwillingness, and the little girl lay on the ground, looking in the direction where the altar disappeared, her nails deeply embedded in the mud.

Time is like a knife. The little girl in the picture gradually grows up, but she is still wearing patched clothes and holding a worn-out mask in her arms. She stands in a sea of ​​blood and corpses, her hair is stained red with blood, but she uses her broken nails to carve on the stone wall: "Who is the peak at the end of the immortal road? Once you see the beginningless path, it becomes empty." Every stroke is dripping with blood, but it makes the laws of heaven and earth tremble. When she finally becomes an emperor, the gods and Buddhas in the sky send down fire, but she smiles and opens her arms, letting the fire burn her body - because she knows that only in this way can she find the boy who will never come back in the reincarnation.

The scene freezes on the little girl holding the mask and curling up beside the altar, which perfectly overlaps with the figure of Xiao Nannan at the moment. Ye Fan suddenly remembered that three days ago in the mass grave, Xiao Nannan also held the mask and curled up beside a rotting corpse, and the corpse was wearing an almost identical bronze ring on his hand.

"So, you are that little girl..." Ye Fan's voice choked, and he finally understood why the empress always wore a ghost mask, and why unbloomed "no disaster trees" could be seen everywhere in the ancient forbidden land. Little Nannan suddenly broke free from his arms, stumbled towards the empress, and stretched out her little hand: "Sister, it hurts..."

A trace of panic flashed in the empress's eyes. This was the first time she showed a flaw since she became an empress. She looked at the scar on Xiao Nannan's palm - it was scratched by a stray bullet on the battlefield in Zhongzhou. At this moment, it was exactly the same as the wound she remembered 50,000 years ago. Inexplicably, she squatted down and gently stroked Xiao Nannan's wound with her fingertips. The law of immortality was like a spring breeze, and the scar healed instantly. Xiao Nannan giggled and stuffed the ghost face mask into the empress's hand: "Here, sister, my brother said that if you wear a mask, you won't be afraid of the dark."

The Empress's hand holding the mask trembled slightly, and the cracks on the mask suddenly emitted golden light - that was her Dao wound that had never healed in a million years, but now began to heal amidst the laughter of the little girl. She looked up at Jiang Han, who was watching all this quietly, with a look of compassion that saw through the years. It was not until this moment that she understood why he had come to the ancient forbidden land after the war, and why he had brought this girl who was so similar to her childhood.

"They are the future." Jiang Han said softly, looking at Ye Fan with expectation in his eyes, "and you are the past."

The empress stood up, her white clothes fluttering without wind, and she put the mask back on her face, but it couldn't cover the soft light in her eyes. She raised her hand and waved, and three jade boxes flew out from the depths of the holy mountain: "For that child." The jade boxes opened, and inside were the "Ancient Placenta" that could bring back the dead, the "Undisaster Petals" that contained the laws of time and space, and the jade slips engraved with the complete "Ruthless Sword Art". Ye Fan was about to refuse, but he saw Jiang Han nodded slightly, knowing that this was the empress's farewell to the past and her expectations for the future.

When Jiang Han led the two away, the empress stood alone on the top of the holy mountain, looking at the ghost face mask and bronze ring in her hands, and suddenly laughed softly. The corners of her lips under the mask raised, an arc that had not been seen in a million years. She looked into the distance, where new stars were rising, and the laughter of the little girl seemed to still echo in her ears - it turned out that even if she became an empress against the will of heaven, the most unforgettable thing was still the boy who polished the ring for her, and herself who drew stars by the campfire.

The cultivators of the Big Dipper star field looked at the gradually fading scene, and many of them were already in tears. They finally understood why the ruthless emperor was always alone, and why her imperial power always carried a hint of tenderness. The significance of Jiang Han's trip was also revealed at this moment - he was not only collecting natural treasures, but also repairing the scars of the entire human race, allowing those once lonely strong men to find resonance in the long river of time.

At the foot of the Holy Mountain, Duan De was secretly collecting the immortal laws that the empress had just spilled, but he was staggered by Gai Jiuyou's cold snort: "Old Duan, you dare to steal even the emperor's tears?" Duan De scratched his head, and suddenly saw little Nannan skipping towards him holding the mask given by the empress. He was suddenly stunned - that mask was exactly the same as the "Face of Obsession" he had seen in the tomb of Emperor Wu Shi.

As night fell, Jiang Han stood on the top of Zhongzhou City, looking at the little girl sleeping in his arms, and remembered the last words of the empress: "It turns out that on the road to immortality, the most precious thing is not eternal life, but someone remembers what you looked like." He raised his hand and looked at the starry sky, where two streams of light flashed, one was the emperor's blood when the Stone Emperor fell, and the other was the petals of the undisaster-free petals left by the empress. Eventually, they converged into a new constellation - that was the "twin stars" belonging to the human race, symbolizing the inheritance of the past and the future.

In the distance, Ye Fan was telling Xiao Nannan the story of the Empress. The campfire reflected the two figures, warm and firm. Jiang Han knew that the legend of this era had just begun. And he, as a Taoist who had witnessed countless years, would eventually retreat behind time and watch these younger generations who carried obsession and hope walk out an unprecedented immortal road.

The foggy sea of ​​the ancient forbidden land gradually calmed down. The empress took off her ghost mask and looked at her reflection in the mirror. It was the face of an ordinary woman with a faint smile in the corners of her eyes. She gently stroked the bronze ring, as if she had returned to that night by the campfire. The boy smiled and said to her, "When I come back, I will take you to see the stars."

This time, she finally believed that the stars would come, and the brilliant starry sky belonging to the human race was rising slowly on this barren land. The empress's eyes were like a nine-color glass cup, slowly sweeping over Ye Fan. The eyes were as clear as the water of Tianchi Lake at first, and as soon as they touched Ye Fan's eyebrows, they turned into flowing clouds all over the sky, blooming with red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, purple, gold, and silver nine-color fairy light like a peacock spreading its tail. The fairy light did not float on the surface of the body, but drilled into his seven orifices like a living thing, wandering along the meridians, and even the thunder fruit dormant in the sea of ​​consciousness was plated with a layer of gold. Ye Fan only felt that the pores all over his body were open, as if he was placed in the furnace of heaven and earth, and his internal organs were clearly visible under the reflection of the fairy light, and even the residual shadow of the bronze ring hidden in the depths of the secret realm of the wheel sea was looming in the dim light.

The empress's eyelashes trembled slightly, and tiny spots of light appeared in the depths of her eyes, as if countless fragments of memory were being reassembled. She saw Ye Fan's past: under the neon lights of the Earth city, the boy held his mobile phone and read a fantasy novel, the screen fluorescence flickering in his eyes; when the Nine Dragons pulled the coffin across the starry sky, the cold sweat seeped out of his palms tightly holding the golden hoop; on the battlefield in Zhongzhou, he was swept by the claws of the ancient beast to protect the little girl - these scenes overlapped with the boy in her memory, but they had a completely different aura. When the fairy light swept across Ye Fan's heart, her fingertips trembled slightly, and there was actually the same star track mark as the boy back then, but there was an additional light golden line shaped like a tea tree.

The moment the nine-color fairy light converged, Ye Fan staggered back half a step, sweat oozing from his forehead. He looked at the empress's calm eyebrows and eyes, and suddenly remembered the scene he saw in the ancient forbidden land: the little girl was crying in front of the altar holding the ghost mask, and the ring left by the boy was shining in her palm. The depth in the empress's eyes at this moment made him feel inexplicably palpitating, as if he was really the reincarnation of the boy who was taken away 50,000 years ago.

"Master, the relationship between her and little girl..." Ye Fan whispered, the little girl in his arms was lying on his shoulder, and the ghost mask in his hand suddenly trembled as if in resonance. Jiang Han looked at the ancient forbidden pattern on the hem of the empress's clothes fluttering in the wind, and remembered what she said on the top of the holy mountain, "Wait, wait until he comes back", and suddenly felt that these four words were as heavy as a thousand pounds. Under the starry sky 50,000 years ago, the boy put the mask on the little girl's face and said, "Put on this, brother won't be afraid of not being able to find you"; at this moment 50,000 years later, the empress pointed at Ye Fan, and her eyes reflected the obsession that transcended time and space.

"A life like this is really a pity." Jiang Han's voice was mixed with the mountain breeze. "How long will it take for this life after life?"

The empress's fingertips slid across the bronze ring on her chest, which was the only ornament she had after becoming an empress: "Wait, wait until he comes back." For the first time, her gaze towards Ye Fan had a warm feeling, as if she was looking through his eyes at the boy who would always stay in front of the altar. Ye Fan felt his scalp tingling. As an earthling, he had ridiculed the plot of "reincarnation" countless times, but at this moment, he felt the weight of fate in the empress's eyes - was he really the reincarnation of that boy? Or, in the long wait, the empress had already condensed her obsession into a cause and effect that spanned time and space?

"Do you think he can reflect the same flower soul when he is at his most brilliant?" Jiang Han suddenly chuckled, and his knuckles crossed the void, revealing the Chaos Green Lotus in Ye Fan's body. The three lotus leaves were flowing with the three laws of thunder, source, and chaos, which were the foundation he had planted for his disciples with the origin of the enlightenment tea tree. The empress stared at the green lotus and remembered the Wujie flower that bloomed when she became a Taoist against the will of heaven. It also had three petals, but was stained with blood and tears.

"Then wait." The empress turned around, her white clothes fluttering in the misty wind, and the corners of her lips under the mask twitched slightly, "Until he picks the flower with his own hands." Before she finished speaking, her figure had turned into thousands of light points and merged into the depths of the holy mountain. Only the lingering fragrance of the Nine Wonderful Immortal Medicine still lingered on Ye Fan's fingertips.

Jiang Han looked at the collapsing clouds of the Holy Mountain, and suddenly remembered the scene he saw in the fairyland: the empress sat alone by the Samsara River, carved the word "An" on the river lantern with the emperor's blood, and went with the flow. For 50,000 years, she killed all the supreme beings in the heavens, but she couldn't cut off the obsession in her heart; she refined the ancient placenta, but she couldn't refine the bronze ring in her memory. At this moment, the little girl in Ye Fan's arms suddenly pointed in the direction of the Holy Mountain, and called "Sister, Xingxing" in a baby voice, which softened his heart - perhaps, this child who was similar to the empress's childhood was a trace of tenderness left to her by the way of heaven.

"You will know everything later." Jiang Han patted Ye Fan on the shoulder. The latter was still in a daze, and countless plots of past and present lives had already been imagined in his mind. At this moment, the Great Saint Body bound by the divine chain suddenly nodded in their direction. The chain made a harsh friction sound, as if telling the vicissitudes of the ancient times. When Jiang Han led his disciples away, a sigh came from the depths of the forbidden land. It was the sound of the empress putting away her famous mask, mixed with a hundred thousand years of wind and sand, scattered in the folds of history.

Three days later, the streets of Zhongzhou City were deserted. The storyteller knocked on the gavel, spitting as he recounted the feat of "Ancestor Hongjun's battle against the Stone Emperor", but he didn't know that what really shocked the world was the picture cast from the dome of the ancient forbidden land - the empress was holding her little girl, her eyebrows curved into crescents under the mask, and her fingertips scratched the scars on the child's palm. This scene was painted on silk by the monks and circulated in the Big Dipper Star Region, allowing the ruthless emperor, who had been cold and inhuman for thousands of years, to feel the touch of human life for the first time.

On the seventh day, the Purple Sky Palace of the Ancient Jiang Family was reflected in a jasper color by the green lotus vision. Ye Fan was suspended in the void, and the three-petal green lotus slowly rotated in his dantian, and every stretch brought ripples in the space. Jiang Taixu looked at the chaotic energy lingering around his disciple, and remembered the scene he saw in Kunlun Ruins a hundred years ago: Jiang Han stood beside the enlightenment tea tree, picked a golden leaf casually, and said, "This child's physique, only the chaotic seed can break the curse of the ancient holy body." At this moment, Ye Fan's vertical eye between his eyebrows quietly opened, reflecting the shocked face of the head of the Jiang Family - the Four Extreme Realms, the shackles of the ancient holy body that had not been broken for ten thousand years, were broken by him in seven days.

"Four Extremes! He really broke through!" The young disciples of the Jiang family lay on the roof of the hall, looking at the Zhoutian Star Map condensed under Ye Fan's feet. Each star corresponds to the Dao Palace in his body. Even more amazing is the shadow of the bronze ancient bell that appeared behind him. The bell is engraved with nine divine source patterns that Jiang Han got from the Taichu Ancient Mine. Each of them is absorbing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth and transforming into majestic true essence.

When Ye Fan arrived at the Thunder Tribulation Mountain Range a hundred kilometers away, the sky was already filled with leaden clouds. The Nine-Five Thunder Tribulation came first, and eighty-one lightning pillars as thick as buckets hit his crown, but when they touched the Green Lotus Vision, they turned into strands of electricity and flowed into the Wheel Sea along the meridians. The Five Elements Heavenly Tribulation followed closely behind, and the five visions of Golden Spear, Green Wood, Flood, Fiery Fire, and Thick Earth attacked at the same time, but Ye Fan opened his arms and let the Gengjin chop his shoulders and the green wood wrap around his arms - he was deliberately tempering his body to prepare for the upcoming Dragon Transformation Realm. (End of this chapter)