After a thousand years of cultivation, he returns at the pinnacle!

In the void, the thirteenth apostle hovered in place.

His posture remained unchanged.

Her long, silvery-white hair swayed gently behind her, and her black robe gleamed coldly in the dark golden light. Her pure golden pupils remained as bright as stars. But if someone were to look closely, they would notice that the pupils in her eyes had slightly contracted.

The sudden appearance of this boy certainly surprised him.

Because he didn't know where this guy came from or when he appeared.

Not only did it appear out of nowhere, but it also easily crushed their own attack.

He watched the boy in the school uniform, watched him casually crush his attack, watched him use two fingers to turn the power that was enough to annihilate an S-class Awakened into nothingness.

His divine sense surged forth like a tide, rushing towards Jiang Chen.

This was his instinct. For three hundred years, he had done this to every human who appeared before him: to sense their spiritual energy fluctuations, their strength level, their weaknesses, their limits, everything. He had done it countless times and had never failed.

But this time, his divine sense surged out and did not return.

His divine sense passed through Jiang Chen's location, continuing forward, forward, stretching to the edge of the void, yet it never touched anything. It was as if the boy didn't exist at all, as if his eyes were deceiving him, as if what stood there was just air, a phantom, a non-existent illusion.

But his eyes wouldn't deceive him.

He was the thirteenth apostle; his vision could penetrate space, see through disguises, and distinguish truth from falsehood. He clearly saw the boy standing there, wearing a school uniform, his right hand still in the posture of crushing the sphere, his fingertips still gleaming with a dark golden light.

But his consciousness told him: there was nothing there.

This sense of disconnect caused an extremely brief delay in his brain's information processing. His brain had never experienced such a delay in three hundred years.

"interesting."

He uttered those three words. His voice was still soft, his tone still even, but if you listened carefully, you would notice that the intervals between the three words were slightly longer than usual. He was using the time it took to speak to reorganize his perception.

He lowered his eyes and glanced at his right palm. The faint light that had remained after crushing the sphere had completely dissipated. His palm was clean and spotless.

"What's your name?"

He asked. This was the first time in three hundred years that he had proactively asked a human's name.

It wasn't because he wanted to know. It was because he was stalling for time. His brain was working at an unprecedented speed, analyzing, calculating, and deducing—who was this boy, where did he come from, what was that power, why his divine sense couldn't detect it, and why space was distorted around him.

He needs time.

Jiang Chen gave him time.

"Jiang Chen".

The boy answered in a flat tone, as if he had been called on by the teacher in class.

Jiang Chen looked calmly at the thirteenth apostle in front of him, and he could naturally feel the shock in the apostle's eyes.

The thirteenth apostle rolled the syllable twice on the tip of his tongue.

He raised his head and looked at Jiang Chen again.

This time, his gaze was different. For the first time in three hundred years, he looked at a human being with eyes level.

"There is no spiritual energy fluctuation on your body."

Jiang Chen did not deny it.

"Yes, I am a powerless person."

As he spoke, the corners of his mouth turned up slightly. The smile was so faint it was almost imperceptible, but the thirteenth apostle noticed it.

Those who lack ability.

He had heard those three words in the Hall of Apostles. He knew about every awakening of humanity, every birth of a genius, and every so-called "breakthrough" over the past three hundred years. Of course, he knew about the news of the "world's first person without spiritual power," but at the time he just found it laughable—what kind of "first" was a human without even spiritual power? Was an ant, weaker than any other ant, even worth paying attention to?

Now, he can't laugh anymore.

Because this "powerless person" just crushed his attack with two fingers.

"What you're using isn't spiritual power."

He spoke again, his voice lower than before.

Jiang Chen looked at him without saying anything, which was taken as tacit agreement.

"What is that?"

The Thirteenth Apostle asked. This was the first time in three hundred years that he had asked a human, "What is that?" He never asked, because he never needed to. He could analyze, understand, and master it with a single glance. He took three seconds to learn Ye Wuhen's swordsmanship; two seconds to learn Luo Qinghe's ice magic; and only one second to learn Zhou Tiance's lightning magic.

But he looked at the boy in front of him, analyzed him, and gained nothing.

Jiang Chen's power system was outside his comprehension. It wasn't ice, fire, lightning, wind, light, or darkness; it wasn't any mutated attribute; it wasn't any energy form he had seen or hadn't seen before. It was something else entirely—something completely unfamiliar, something that had never appeared in this world before, something that didn't belong to any known dimension.

Jiang Chen did not answer his question.

He simply stood there, his right hand hanging at his side, his left hand in his school uniform pocket, his posture as casual as if he were taking a stroll in his own neighborhood. He looked at the Thirteenth Apostle, his gaze calm and still, devoid of hostility, tension, or even interest.

That gaze evoked in the thirteenth apostle an emotion he had never felt before.

It is unfamiliar.

For three hundred years, he has faced countless people. Some feared him, some hated him, some worshipped him, and some challenged him. But no one has ever looked at him with this gaze—as if he were an ordinary person, as if he were a stone, as if he did not exist.

He didn't know why he cared about that kind of look.

But he did care.

In the live stream, the chat was completely out of control.

"Resolved!!! Jiang Chen mentioned resolving the issue so casually, he doesn't seem to be under much pressure?!"

"Yes, and could you sense that the thirteenth apostle seemed nervous just now?"

"Not only that, didn't the Thirteenth Apostle just say, 'There's no spiritual energy fluctuation on your body'?"

"He said it! He said it! He said it himself!"

"Jiang Chen really doesn't have spiritual power? Then what did he use to crush that sphere just now?"

"I don't know, but he crushed it. That's enough."

"Did you notice the Thirteenth Apostle's expression? He's stopped smiling! He really isn't smiling anymore!"

"I took a screenshot! I zoomed in and looked at it ten times! His pupils contracted!"

"An apostle who has lived for three hundred years, his pupils shrank when he saw Jiang Chen???"

"What does this mean? It means he's scared!"

"Not necessarily afraid, but at least surprised. The first time in three hundred years that I've been surprised."

"Calm down, he only crushed one attack, it doesn't mean he can defeat the Thirteenth Apostle."

"Then explain why the Thirteenth Apostle asked, 'What's your name?' He never asks people by name!"

"Yeah, he didn't ask any questions when Ye Wuhen and the others came in, he just started fighting. Why did he have to ask Jiang Chen?"

"Because he can't see through Jiang Chen. He just can't."

"That's the scariest part. Someone who can crush an Apostle's attack stands there like a stone, and you don't feel any threat at all. That's the most terrifying thing."

"Me too. When Zhou Tianze was about to be killed, I thought it was all over, but now I think there's still hope."

"Stop milking, stop milking, the injection isn't finished yet."

"He's testing him. He's testing Jiang Chen."

"An apostle who has lived for three hundred years is testing a seventeen-year-old high school student."

"This scene is too surreal, I can't accept it."

"You have to accept it, even if you can't. That's reality."

"I want to see how Jiang Chen deals with him!"

In an instant, countless people excitedly anticipated what would happen next, as if all the hope they had just lost had returned.

Jiangzhou, Jiang Chen's home.

Jiang Xueqin sat on the sofa, her hands gripping the remote control tightly, her knuckles white. Her eyes were fixed on the television screen, her eyes red-rimmed, but she didn't cry. She dared not cry, afraid that if she did, she wouldn't be able to stop, afraid of missing every detail on the screen.

Jiang Tianyi sat next to her, the cigarette in his hand already burned down to the filter, so hot he didn't even feel it on his fingers. He had just been burned and instinctively shook his hand, the cigarette butt falling onto the coffee table, leaving a small black dot. He glanced at the black dot but didn't wipe it away, his gaze immediately returning to the screen.

"He just said... he's a powerless person?"

Jiang Xueqin's voice was very soft, as if she were asking herself.

Jiang Tianyi didn't speak. He just stared at his son's back on the screen, at the boy standing in the void, at his calm, almost indifferent expression as he faced the legendary thirteenth apostle.

He remembered when Jiang Chen was six years old, he was bullied by other children for the first time. He came home crying and said, "They said my dad is a security guard and has no future." He squatted down, wiped away his son's tears, and said, "Then you should study hard and become successful in the future, so Dad won't have to be a security guard anymore."

Jiang Chen stopped crying. He nodded and said, "Okay."

He never saw his son cry again after that.

Eleven years have passed.

He looked at Jiang Chen on the screen, his lips moved, but in the end he only said one sentence.

"He is Jiang Chen. My son."

The capital city, the Shen family.

Shen Qingxue stood in the center of the living room, surrounded by members of the Shen family, guards, and servants. Dozens of people huddled together, staring at the huge projection screen on the wall. Some were whispering, some were gasping, and some were praying with their hands clasped together.

But Shen Qingxue couldn't hear anything.

All she could hear was Jiang Chen's last words—"I am a powerless person."

When she was in Jiangzhou, she had heard countless people say this. Some mocked, some sympathized, and some told it as a joke. But she had never heard Jiang Chen say it himself. This was the first time.

He was smiling as he said this.

She had seen that smile before, in the desolate wasteland north of the city. It was the smile Jiang Chen wore when facing ten thousand apostles.

Just like someone saying I am human, it requires no proof, no explanation, and no one needs to believe it.

She is the truth.

Shen Qingxue clenched her fists so tightly that her nails dug into her palms, drawing fine beads of blood. She felt no pain because her entire attention was focused on the boy on the screen.

"Qingxue," Shen Wanshan's voice came from the side, deep and serious, "You knew all along that he... had no spiritual power?"

Shen Qingxue did not turn her head; her gaze remained fixed on the screen.

"I don't know," she said. "All I know is that he's amazing. More amazing than anyone can imagine."

Shen Wanshan remained silent for a moment.

Is that enough?

Shen Qingxue finally turned her head and looked at her father.

"Dad," she said, her voice soft but firm, "he just crushed the Thirteenth Apostle's attack with two fingers. And the Thirteenth Apostle is standing there now, too afraid to move."

She turned back and looked at the screen again.

"Do you think that's enough?"

Shen Wanshan didn't say anything more. At this stage, it seemed that the only person they could trust was that boy.

The capital city, the General Administration of Foreign Affairs, the command center.

Chu Tianxiong stood motionless in front of the holographic projection screen.

He had been standing for a long time. Long enough that his legs were numb, his neck was stiff, and three cups of coffee his assistant brought him had gone cold without him drinking them. His eyes were fixed on the boy in the school uniform on the screen, his pupils reflecting the dark golden light in the void.

"Deputy Director," a technician's voice came cautiously from behind, "the data analysis is complete."

"explain."

"We performed a spatial retracing of Jiang Chen's location. The results show that he didn't enter through a teleportation array, nor through any known spatial jump technology. He... appeared directly."

What does "appear directly" mean?

"It means exactly what it says. One second there was nothing there, and the next second he was standing there. There were no spatial fluctuations, no energy release, no warning whatsoever. It was like... like he had always been there, we just hadn't seen him before."

There was a moment of silence in the command center.

Chu Tianxiong closed his eyes.

He recalled a report Su Ze had sent from Jiangzhou three days prior. The report contained only one sentence: "Jiang Chen's abilities may not belong to this world."

At the time, he thought it was a metaphor.

Now he knows that this is true.

He opened his eyes and looked at the screen again.

"Continue monitoring," he said, his voice hoarse. "Report any changes immediately."

"Yes."

...

The Hall of Apostles, above the hundredth floor.

Ye Wuhen was stunned for a moment, staring at the back of the boy in front of him. He wanted to ask something, but at this moment, a faint green glow appeared around Ye Wuhen and the other two.

The light was warm, and even more terrifyingly, their injuries were completely healed. In fact, Luo Qinghe's hands, which had lost all feeling for many years, regained their senses once again, and Zhou Tianze's lost eyesight was restored at this moment.

"What...what is this?"

"What kind of healing ability is this? My hand can move again?"

"My eyes can see again?!"

Luo Qinghe and Zhou Tianze's words shocked Ye Wuhen like never before. The injury that even the world's top healing-type awakened one couldn't heal had inexplicably been cured in just a few seconds?!

Jiang Chen didn't explain. He took a step forward, and in a flash, he disappeared from their sight. By the time they realized what was happening, he was already standing in front of the thirteenth apostle!