Chapter 542: Even Ants Dare to Defy the Heavens

Zhou Chen snapped his eyes open, his right hand's fingers forming a sword gesture as he slashed down at the oncoming ripple of time!

"Origin Life Slash!"

Boom!!!

The Dao of "Severing" and the Dao of "Time" collided head-on once more without any pretense.

This time, there was no black hole, no nothingness.

Only a blinding white light that even a Divine Soul could not look at directly instantly swallowed everything.

After the white light faded, the Void Realm returned to tranquility.

The figures of Zhou Chen and Han Li stood ten thousand feet apart, facing each other from a distance.

Both were covered in blood, their auras weakened to the extreme.

Zhou Chen's Immortal Celestial Body was covered in cracks, as if it would shatter in the next moment.

The emerald green Daoist robe on Han Li's body had also become dim and lusterless.

Both were wounded.

They were evenly matched.

The two looked at each other, remaining silent for a moment.

Suddenly, Zhou Chen grinned, revealing a set of white teeth.

Immediately afterward, Han Li also laughed, laughing with great joy.

"Hahahaha!"

"Hahahaha!"

Their laughter echoed in the deathly silent Void Realm, filled with the heroic spirit of mutual respect.

"You are very good," Han Li panted, praising him sincerely.

"You too," Zhou Chen wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, his eyes bright.

This battle was the most satisfying and hearty fight he had experienced since his Transmigration.

He regarded Han Li as his only rival in this life.

However, a cloud of doubt still lingered in Zhou Chen's heart.

That World-Destroying Giant Hand ten thousand years later… could it be the Han Li before him, who was both friend and foe?

Was everything he did—cultivating opponents, pursuing Breakthroughs—ultimately for the purpose of destroying this world?

But this didn't seem to make sense.

If Han Li had this capability, Zhou Chen wouldn't have lasted even the time it takes for an incense stick to burn.

Just as thoughts were racing through Zhou Chen's mind, their laughter came to a sudden halt.

An indescribable, terrifying pressure descended from the highest point of nothingness.

This pressure surpassed Immortality and reigned supreme over the Great Dao.

Before this pressure, Zhou Chen and Han Li, who had just fought until the heavens collapsed and the earth split, were as insignificant as dust.

Both of them looked up simultaneously.

At the end of the Void Realm, an unimaginably massive eye slowly opened.

What kind of eye was that?

No pupil, no white, only an indifferent, cold, absolute deathly silence that viewed all things as straw dogs.

Merely being gazed at by that eye, Zhou Chen and Han Li felt as if their Divine Souls were being frozen, their Dao Fruits were wailing, and they would crumble in the next moment.

It was like falling into an ice cellar!

An unprecedented gravity appeared in both of their eyes at the same time.

Then, beneath that giant eye, a figure slowly stepped out from the nothingness.

The moment he saw that person's face clearly, Zhou Chen's head buzzed, and his mind went blank.

He was all too familiar with that face.

Although the temperament had become incredibly majestic and cold, the facial features were clearly those of the first Child of Destiny he had encountered after his Transmigration.

The one whose Opportunities he had repeatedly intercepted, who regarded him as a lifelong enemy, and who had ultimately vanished… Holy crap?!

Ye Chen?!

"How could this be…"

Zhou Chen muttered to himself, unable to believe his eyes.

On the other side, the moment Han Li saw Ye Chen, he was first stunned, and then a complex expression mixed with absurdity, unwillingness, and realization appeared on his face.

He gave a bitter laugh, his voice hoarse.

"Hahahaha! So that's how it is… so that's it…"

"No wonder I have cultivated bitterly for millions of years and yet could never take that final step to unite with the Dao and become an Ancestor."

"It turns out… the position of 'Dao Ancestor' in this world was already taken long ago."

Han Li looked at Zhou Chen with a hint of pity and a sense of liberation in his eyes.

"Zhou Chen, we were both wrong. To produce another Dao Ancestor, one must condense a second Immortal Dao and fuse with it to break the only fixed destiny… But how is that possible?"

"It is the time, it is fate…"

Zhou Chen ignored Han Li's lamentation and stared fixedly at the figure, asking word by word, "Are you… Ye Chen?!"

Ye Chen's cold eyes finally landed on Zhou Chen.

He merely gave a faint glance, his gaze like that of a divine Dragon looking down at an ant on the ground, without the slightest ripple of emotion.

"Though you are an ant, you do have some strength."

His voice was equally cold, devoid of any emotion.

"To actually be able to destroy a wisp of a Clone I left in the Lower Realm."

A Clone?!

These two words exploded in Zhou Chen's mind like a clap of thunder.

He understood instantly.

It turned out that the "Child of Destiny" Ye Chen he had once painstakingly dealt with was, from beginning to end, just a Dharma Body, an Incarnation playing in the mortal world, casually placed by this terrifying existence!

His self-satisfied victory was, in the other's eyes, nothing more than stepping on a slightly stronger ant.

An unprecedented chill rose from the depths of Zhou Chen's heart.

Just then, Ye Chen's gaze turned toward Han Li.

"As for you…"

For the first time, a hint of fluctuation appeared in Ye Chen's tone—a satisfaction like looking at a ripe fruit.

"You are also nothing more than my nourishment."

"An ant dares to dream of defying the heavens?"

As his voice fell, Ye Chen slowly raised his right hand.

In an instant, the winds and clouds changed color, and the Great Dao wailed.

A giant hand that blotted out the sun slowly took shape in the Void Realm.

That hand was exactly the same as the World-Destroying Giant Hand Zhou Chen had seen in the System's deduction!

It turned out that the ultimate catastrophe ten thousand years later was not a natural disaster, but a man-made one!

It was a script of world destruction orchestrated by the existence before him who called himself "Ye Chen"!

"So… this is the truth…"

Han Li looked at the giant hand slowly pressing down, the bitterness on his face completely fading, replaced by a calm that saw through everything.

His Divine Sense became clearer than ever at this moment.

He saw the invisible thread on Ye Chen's body that pierced through the heavens and enveloped all living beings.

That was… the Thread of Fate!

"I understand…"

Han Li muttered to himself, his voice trembling slightly.

"Your Dao is the Great Dao of 'Fate'!"

"Merging with the Dao, becoming the Incarnation of the Heavenly Dao, controlling the destiny of all living beings, and viewing all things as straw dogs!"

"Through one world destruction after another, you harvest the Luck and Origin of the entire era's living beings to strengthen yourself!"

Every word from Han Li was like a heavy hammer, striking hard against Zhou Chen's heart.

This was the most despairing truth.

The world they lived in was merely a captive pasture.

All living beings, all Prodigies, all struggles and efforts, were only to make the "fruit" grow plumper for the "rancher" to harvest.

The moment Han Li revealed the secret of heaven, he keenly sensed that the Dao charm of the Great Dao of "Severing" on Zhou Chen's body was actually producing an original confrontation with Ye Chen's Great Dao of "Fate."

Although weak, it truly existed.

"Severing"… severing Karma, severing Laws, severing… Fate!

A brilliant light suddenly erupted in Han Li's eyes.

He understood everything in an instant.