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

In the void, the pale golden light that Su Wanniang had transformed into was still slowly dissipating.

The specks of light drifted over Jiang Chen's shoulder, over his fingers tucked in his pocket, and over his calm, almost indifferent profile.

The feeling of not seeing each other for a thousand years was still somewhat special for Jiang Chen.

Those emotions from back then seem to be surging in my chest again.

The chat room exploded with excitement at that moment.

"Who was that woman just now??? Was her name Jiang Chen 'A-Chen'???"

"Ah Chen??? That's way too intimate!!!"

"She came from Brother Chen's memories! Brother Chen knows her! And she seems to be a very important person!"

"Wait, wait, wait, my brain can't process this. Isn't Brother Chen only seventeen this year? How long has it been since Awakening Day? That woman looks at least twenty, right? How could she possibly be someone Brother Chen knows?"

"Didn't you hear what the Twelfth Apostle said? Brother Chen has lived in the cultivation world for a thousand years! A thousand years! That woman is from a thousand years ago! She's someone Brother Chen knew in the cultivation world!"

"The world of cultivation? There really is cultivation? Has the web novels of our Dragon Country become reality???"

"So Brother Chen's power isn't an awakened talent, it's from cultivation? He came back from the cultivation world???"

"Calm down, everyone. What did that apostle just say? She said that Brother Chen killed countless people in the cultivation world, lived for over a thousand years, and became some kind of Immortal Emperor. If what she said is true, then Brother Chen isn't some powerless being at all; his power comes from another world!"

"My mind is about to explode. A month ago, he was the world's first person without any abilities, and a month later he's become a Celestial Emperor who has returned from cultivating immortality? Even novels wouldn't dare to write a plot like this!"

"I knew his sword domain didn't look like an Awakened's ability at all! Awakened beings don't have something like that!"

"So why did Brother Chen return to this world? He lived in the cultivation world for a thousand years, why didn't he stay there? Why did he come back to face these apostles?"

The scrolling of comments was so fast that it was impossible to see with the naked eye, with billions of people simultaneously typing out their questions on the screen. Meanwhile, in the command center of the Dragon Kingdom's Awakened Administration Bureau, Ye Wuhen, Zhou Tianze, Luo Qinghe, and Chu Tianxiong stood silently in front of the holographic projection screen, like four statues.

Zhou Tianze spoke first. His left eye, restored to sight by Jiang Chen's treatment, was now fixed intently on the young man standing in the void on the screen. "The cultivation world. One thousand years. Immortal Emperor." He pronounced each word slowly and deliberately, his voice hoarse. "Old Ye, can you understand?"

Ye Wuhen did not answer. He gripped the longsword, now only the hilt remained, his thumb repeatedly rubbing the thirty-year-old wear mark on the guard. He looked at Jiang Chen's profile on the screen, at the boy's calm expression after shattering the illusion of his first love, and suddenly remembered a month ago on the hundredth floor of the Apostle Hall, when Jiang Chen had glanced down at his right palm before unleashing his sword domain.

At that time, he didn't understand the meaning of that action. Now he does. Jiang Chen looked at his hand, confirming that it could still grip a sword. Confirming that it could still kill. Confirming that it could still bear more loss.

Luo Qinghe stood behind Ye Wuhen, her right arm fully regained. Looking at the figure in the school uniform on the screen, she whispered, "He just said there's a difference between immortals and mortals." Her voice was soft, yet it made everyone in the command hall turn their heads.

Chu Tianxiong's Adam's apple bobbed. He recalled the file: on the day of awakening, Jiang Chen was deemed powerless. That afternoon, he was hit by an out-of-control car, sustaining minor injuries and hospitalized. He was completely different after being discharged the next day. It wasn't that the impact damaged his brain; it sent him to another world. He lived there for a thousand years, cultivated to become an Immortal Emperor, and then returned. Here, only one night had passed.

"Keep watching," Ye Wuhen finally spoke, his voice low and hoarse. "She's not finished yet."

In the void, Morghana stood before the purple-black throne, her long black hair flowing silently behind her. She watched Jiang Chen shatter Su Wanniang's illusion, and the sickly smile on her lips not only didn't fade, but deepened.

"There's a difference between immortals and mortals." She repeated Jiang Chen's words, her voice as soft as a needle gliding across glass. "Is this your excuse? Because you became an immortal, and she's just a mortal, so you can comfortably make her wait for you for a lifetime?"

Jiang Chen withdrew his right hand and put it back in his pocket. He looked up at Morgana, his eyes devoid of any emotion. "Your soul's scream read my memories and materialized my past. You want to break me with guilt."

His voice was flat, as if he were stating a fact unrelated to himself. "But I wore away all guilt a thousand years ago."

Morgana's black void contracted slightly. She sensed it; the boy before her was indeed completely unmoved. The Su Wanniang she had just summoned, his first love hidden deep within his consciousness, had indeed stirred him for a moment, but only for a moment. After that moment, he transformed back into the serene Immortal Emperor standing amidst thousands of swords.

But her smile didn't fade. Because Su Wanniang was just the first course. She raised her hands, fingers spread, and two purplish-black orbs of light simultaneously appeared in her palms. The soul-piercing power within the orbs was more than ten times stronger than before, and the entire void emitted a low, painful hum the moment the orbs appeared. The distorted faces suspended in the mist began to scream madly, as if terrified of something about to be summoned.

"The first one was the one you hid the deepest," Morgana's voice remained clear amidst the screams, "but this one is the one you've hidden the most painfully."

Two orbs of light exploded simultaneously. The purplish-black light surged in all directions like a tide, then abruptly receded at its peak. At the center of the receding light, a figure was coalescing. It was a middle-aged man. He wore a long blue robe, a dark jade belt around his waist, and his long, gray hair was tied back with a jade hairpin. His face was lean and sharp, but his eyes shone with a gentle, jade-like light. He stood in the void, his hands behind his back, his posture as composed as if he were admiring the moon in his own courtyard.

Jiang Chen's pupils contracted sharply at that moment. A thousand years. He thought his Dao heart was as firm as a rock, that nothing could make it tremble again. But when that azure figure appeared in the void, his heart still skipped a beat in his chest. That was the most important person on his thousand-year path of cultivation, and also the person who caused him the most pain on his thousand-year path of cultivation.

"Master," he spoke, his voice softer than ever before.

The middle-aged man tilted his head slightly and looked at him. His gentle, jade-like eyes reflected the purplish-black light in the void, and the boy in the school uniform.

"Ah Chen." He spoke, his voice calm and gentle, just like a thousand years ago in the back mountains of the Qingyun Sect when he first called this newly initiated disciple, "Your sword, is it still there?"