Gates of the Myriad Realms Chapter 426

“Catch!”

A voice echoed from the cellar.

Immediately after.

A giant turtle flew out of the cellar.

The person waiting outside saw it and exclaimed with joy:

“This turtle is huge, it must have a lot of meat!”

He put down his knife and reached out with both hands to grab the turtle.

Puff.

Sharp bone spurs emerged from the turtle’s body, piercing through the man’s skull in an instant.

Thump.

The body fell.

The little skeleton hurriedly pulled Shen Ye out from under the stove.

The two of them pushed the body into the cellar together, then covered it with a wooden board, finally letting out a sigh of relief.

“Thank you for your hard work,” Shen Ye said.

“The main problem is that we’re only three years old, our stats are too low, we can’t even cast a single spell. Otherwise, why would we need to go through so much trouble?” The little skeleton sighed.

“They just said they’d gather at noon. So once noon arrives, if these people find two missing, they’ll immediately search the entire village,” Shen Ye said.

“It’s still two or three hours until noon, no rush,” the little skeleton said.

“No rush my ass, we need to escape immediately,” Shen Ye said.

“Why? I’m exhausted, I want to rest a bit longer,” the little skeleton couldn’t help but say.

“You also said, with just a few moves, the enemy made me lose my memory and become a three-year-old—”

“If the enemy makes another move while this place is full of bandits, how will we deal with it?”

“What if the enemy can turn the bandits into cultivators with extremely powerful abilities?”

“Wouldn’t that be the end of us?”

Shen Ye finished speaking in one breath.

The little skeleton was stunned for a moment, then spread his hands and said, “But we’re only three years old right now, we’ve already used up all our strength.”

“I remember I can summon you,” Shen Ye said.

“Yes,” the little skeleton said.

“I have a plan,” Shen Ye said.

“…Is it difficult?” the little skeleton asked.

“It’s very simple—oh, you said you can revive, is that true?”

“It’s true.”

“Then it’s OK. Huh? Why did I say OK? What does OK mean?”

A few minutes later.

A scream suddenly echoed in the blazing village.

“A ghost!”

The commotion gradually grew.

On the bare dirt road, a skeletal cat bit off a bandit’s hand, agilely dodged several attacks, and climbed onto the wall.

“My hand! My hand!” The bandit let out a shrill scream, one after another, alarming the bandit leader who was ransacking the village.

“What’s going on!”

He rode his horse over and shivered when he saw the skeletal cat on the wall.

The cat still held a human hand in its mouth, staring at the bandits from afar.

“Go!”

“It’s just a ghost cat, what are we afraid of with so many of us!”

The bandit leader shouted.

“Yes!” The bandits responded in unison.

The skeletal cat listened to their conversation, trying to sense the presence of living people.

Suddenly.

It changed direction and climbed towards a courtyard diagonally opposite.

“Quick! Go after it, kill it!”

The bandits rushed into the courtyard.

There were a few bandits hiding in this courtyard, eavesdropping.

—They hadn’t followed orders!

The bandit leader was furious, grabbed his bow and arrows, and shot down his subordinates who couldn’t hide, one after another.

“—Everyone come and kill that ghost cat! Anyone who dares to disobey, I’ll kill them!”

The leader roared.

Taking advantage of this, the ghost cat dodged attacks repeatedly and ran towards another courtyard.

All the bandits followed.

On the other side of the village.

In the completely opposite direction of the ghost cat.

A three-year-old boy hid in the shadow of a wall, slowly walking out of the village.

All the shouts, fires, and black smoke were left behind him.

Ahead was a stone bridge.

Behind the bridge was a forest.

As long as he crossed this bridge and entered the forest, it wouldn’t be so easy for the bandits to find him again.

The little boy was a bit tired, so he leaned against the wall to rest for a moment.

For him, at three years old—

Walking continuously through the entire village was very draining.

But he couldn’t rest for too long.

Feeling a little strength return to his body, the little boy took another step and walked out of the village.

A gust of wind blew.

A faint sound reached his ears.

It was crying.

The little boy slowly shifted his gaze towards a house diagonally opposite.

Who was crying there?

No.

The crying stopped.

The little boy waited for a few breaths.

Silence.

No more sounds.

The little boy walked forward step by step, quickly glancing inside the door.

Actually, he didn’t even need to look to imagine.

The bodies of men with their hands, feet, and heads cut off, naked women’s bodies, and children nailed to the ground, just having taken their last breath.

And the murderer.

Perhaps this place was too far from the center of the village, perhaps he didn’t want to follow the leader’s orders, perhaps—

He enjoyed the slaughter and torment here.

The wind blew again, carrying the salty sea breeze.

This was originally a small village by the sea.

The sunlight poured down from the azure sky, brightly illuminating the slaughter and ugliness on the ground.

The man with the knife grinned and looked out.

Shen Ye sighed, then—

Turned and ran.

Under the stone bridge.

The water flowed silently.

On the stone bridge, the three-year-old child looked back, the burning village reflected in his eyes.

Anxious, dazed, and sad emotions surged up.

The murderous bandit, with dark muscles and a face full of insane pleasure and brutality, chased after him towards the stone bridge.

—He couldn’t escape.

He would definitely be caught.

The wind blew, and a voice whispered in his ear:

“You humans always treat your own kind like this, don’t you? If humans were so capable, why haven’t I found an heir for so many years?”

The little boy pursed his lips, then suddenly smiled, and said:

“Actually, no.”

“—What you see here are beasts.”

He didn’t care who was speaking, after all, he had forgotten too many things.

Right now, he only had one thing on his mind.

To work hard.

That female voice told him to work hard.

“You have to do better than others.”

—Winning once earned him the ability to summon a skeleton.

Then—

What about winning again?

The little boy remembered something, quickly walked to the bridge, and looked down below the stone bridge along the railing.

The river under the stone bridge was not deep, and the current was not fast.

It led to the distant sea, forming an estuary.

Every summer.

The village children would soak in this shallow river.

Everyone would dive to the bottom, seeing how far they could be carried by the current.

Can I swim? I think so…

Never mind.

He rushed forward a few steps, jumped out from the gap below the railing, and fell into the water with a “plop.”

The river water was cold.

The little boy held his breath, swimming forward with all his might.

The bandit stood on the stone bridge, looking down at the river below, a hesitant expression on his face.

—Should he chase?

Going into the river was troublesome, wet clothes were uncomfortable.

Compared to that, what was a life worth?

But he hadn’t seen clearly just now.

Perhaps it was a little girl?

Then it would be worth chasing.

Plop!

The bandit hesitated for a while, finally took off his shirt, put his shoes away, placed his knife on the stone bridge, and then jumped into the river.

A child.

Couldn’t swim far.

However, in front of the current, Shen Ye was still swimming underwater with all his might.

All the previous tumultuous emotions disappeared.

He swam with all his strength underwater, occasionally dodging rocks by turning sideways.

He kept swimming.

Until all his strength was exhausted.

There was no way.

He was too small, completely incomparable to those seven or eight-year-old kids.

If he wanted to win—

He had to keep swimming, and absolutely not surface.

Time slowly passed.

Until even his consciousness began to blur—

The surrounding current suddenly became even more rapid.

He had entered the sea!

Shen Ye showed no sign of stopping.

Until the very end—

As a little boy, he exhaled all his breath, his body lost all strength, and his thoughts gradually stagnated.

A line of faint glowing words appeared before his eyes:

“You worked hard and won!”

“Among all the children, you are the one who swam the furthest underwater in one breath!”

“You are only three years old, and only have the stats of a three-year-old, but you have recovered your memory.”

Memory…

What good is recovering memory?

I’m almost dead.

The little boy thought dazedly.

Behind him, an adult man’s figure appeared.

The bandit had caught up.

He reached out to grab the little boy.

The little boy suddenly shivered.

He remembered.

I am—

Emperor Species.

Faint light appeared as two lines of text:

“You are an Emperor Species, and at three years old, your overall attributes far exceed those of an ordinary human child.”

“You have activated the latent bloodline within you, all attributes +200.”

Boom—

The water surface broke.

Two afterimages skimmed over the waves, instantly passing through the long river and returning to the stone bridge.

“Is killing fun?”

The little boy asked.

The bandit stared at him blankly, momentarily not knowing what had happened.

The little boy pressed his hand against the bandit’s chest and pushed with force.

The bandit let out a high-pitched scream.

—He was directly pressed into the ground!

The little boy picked him up again and threw him forcefully towards the village.

The bandit instantly disappeared from sight.

In the village.

The bandit leader, on horseback, was shouting loudly, directing everyone to surround and kill the ghost cat.

A black shadow streaked from afar, instantly hitting seven or eight bandits, sending them all flying.

A series of crashing sounds echoed.

The walls were splattered with blood, shattered bodies, severed limbs, and heads.

The force of that strike was too powerful!

The bandit leader, quick-witted, quickly shouted:

“Who is this expert? We are merely begging for food here and dare not offend you. Please show mercy!”

The three-year-old boy landed lightly on the wall.

“You truly were just passing by?” he asked.

“Yes, Your Excellency,” the bandit leader said respectfully, “We absolutely have no intention of opposing you, and we have nothing to do with what happened here.”

The little boy squatted down, plucked a brick from the wall, and threw it with force.

Bang.

A dull thud echoed in everyone’s ears.

Turning to look, they saw a bandit’s head explode from the impact of the stone brick, leaving only a headless corpse twitching on the ground before falling still.

—No one had even seen the brick’s flight path!

And to smash a head with just one brick—

What immense power!

“Now you have something to do with it,” the little boy said.

“Your Excellency, we truly respect you. There must be some misunderstanding. Please be magnanimous and don’t stoop to our level,” the bandit leader bowed repeatedly.

Sweat was even beading on his forehead.

The other bandits all hung their heads, not daring to speak.

While addressing a three-year-old child as “Your Excellency” was somewhat absurd, after what had just happened, everyone showed reverence.

“Tell me, why did you kill everyone in this village?”

The three-year-old child asked.

The bandit leader opened his mouth, unsure what to say.

Isn’t it obvious?

We’re bandits!

“Your Excellency, actually some of our brothers were killed by people from this village, so we came for revenge.”

The bandit leader fabricated.

The child nodded and said, “I am from this village.”

“You must be joking.”

“I am, indeed.”

“—Every wrong has its perpetrator, and we have been looking for that murderer. This matter actually has nothing to do with you,” the bandit leader quickly said.

“However, the one who killed your brothers was me—I admit it,” the child said.

A moment of dead silence.

“It’s better to resolve enmity than to keep it. As for the past, we no longer wish to pursue it. We came here specifically to pay our respects to you today, hoping you won’t trouble yourself over past matters,” the bandit leader said cautiously.

“Are you really letting it go?” Shen Ye asked.

“Really,” the bandit leader nodded.

“Absolutely no further investigation?”

“No further investigation.”

“Good, then we’ll let this matter rest.”

“—Your Excellency is truly wise and mighty!”

The bandit leader had just breathed a sigh of relief when he heard the child say again:

“Our business is settled, but what about the fact that you killed everyone in this village?”

“This village…” The bandit leader hesitated, somewhat afraid to ask further.

“I’m in charge of it,” the child nodded.

He was only three years old.

But at this moment, who would dare treat him as three?

No one spoke.

The bandit leader’s face turned pale.

“Actually, this matter is easy to resolve. I have a method,” the child said.

“Please speak.”

“One who kills will be killed.”

The child stomped his foot, and the entire wall instantly crumbled.

He dropped down, still in mid-air, his feet like afterimages kicking out stone bricks one by one.

By the time he landed.

The bandits had all been impaled by stone bricks and died on the spot.

The child landed on the ground, withdrew all his bloodline power, and transformed back into a normal three-year-old child.

“Failun,” he called out.

The ghost cat darted out.

“You’ve recovered your memory?” It was delighted at first, then shook its head repeatedly, saying, “I don’t eat these corpses, I only eat high-level demon beasts.”

“Who told you to eat them—go collect the money from them, we’ll need it when we travel the jianghu,” the child said.

“That’s true,” the ghost cat said happily.

A quarter of an hour later.

The child, having collected the ghost cat and the money bag, was pondering his next move when lines of faint glowing text appeared before his eyes:

“In this supreme Saintly Venerable’s Chess Game of Shifting Forms and Souls, the chess piece placed by the Lord of Penglai Mountain has taken effect for you.”

The corners of the child’s mouth twitched.

Damn it, the fighting is over and the police are only arriving now?

Never mind.

Let’s see what good she did for him.

More faint glowing text appeared:

“The current chess piece is a destiny-pulling gem:”

“A disciple of the Haoyang Heavenly Palace is about to pass by this place. The Haoyang Heavenly Palace is the foremost orthodox sect in the world, and its disciple will surely take you away given your tragic circumstances.”

“Note: Children with a clean background who join the Haoyang Heavenly Palace from a young age will be valued and well-cultivated by the sect. Be sure to seize this opportunity.”

Shen Ye quickly read it and couldn’t help but nod slightly.

The Mountain Lord’s strategy was correct.

Since he couldn’t keep up with the opponent’s chess-playing speed, he wouldn’t try to.

The piece she placed was directly aimed at the core of the event—

To get him into the Haoyang Heavenly Palace!

A stream of light flew from the sky.

The stream of light circled a few times over the village and slowly landed in front of Shen Ye.

It was a young man with a firm face.

“Only you are left? How pitiful.”

The youth observed him, then sighed.

Shen Ye’s eyes flashed.

Since he was a righteous person, this would be easy. If I just get along well with him, why wouldn’t he take me to the Haoyang Heavenly Palace?

Shen Ye’s eyes reddened, and he was about to speak.

But then, everything around him suddenly became still, and then a line of faint glowing text appeared:

“Your enemy sensed all this and began to make another move.”

“Currently, there are three types of gems: time, destiny, and character, totaling three pieces:”

“Destiny Gem: You are too young to enter the mountain and are entrusted to the care of a benevolent hall affiliated with the sect;”

“Time Gem: Ten years have passed.”

“Character Gem: Negative karma has increased, and wicked people frequently gather around you.”

Shen Ye couldn’t even bother to feign grievance; he was completely stunned.

What? Is it that powerful?

Ten years have passed. How can I still achieve the feat of “joining the sect from a young age”?

Placing three consecutive moves in time, destiny, and character.

How could he possibly win?

Shen Ye sighed, and in an instant, his fighting spirit returned.

Actually, there were good things too…

At least he learned something very important.

—In this past era, the opponent seemed unable to directly kill him.

These three consecutive gem pieces were only barely able to parry that single piece from the Lord of Penglai Mountain.

—He hadn’t been able to enter the Haoyang Heavenly Palace.

The surrounding light and shadows whizzed past.

The body of the three-year-old child grew continuously.

Ordinary memories of the past ten years flooded back into his mind.

In these ten years, he lived like the most inconspicuous weed, quietly existing in the benevolent hall of the Haoyang Heavenly Palace.

Until this day.

The thirteen-year-old boy opened his eyes, finding himself bruised and battered, lying on a wooden bed.

This was the communal sleeping area of the benevolent hall.

Normally, seven or eight boys of similar age slept there.

But now, everyone had gone to the martial arts hall to study.

He was lying here because of some trivial matters.

A line of faint glowing text appeared:

“This time, the opponent cast three powerful chess pieces, and cannot cast any more for a short period.”

That’s good news.

Let’s hurry.

Right now, he needed to find a way to quickly join the Haoyang Heavenly Palace and become a formal disciple.

—Only then would he have a chance to access the Heaven-Shaking Art.

Shen Ye’s mind stirred.

A skeletal youth jumped out of the void, squatted at the head of the bed, and asked:

“Your wound—”

Before it finished speaking, a sharp spell suddenly emerged in the room, striking the skeleton directly.

The skeleton shattered with a clang.

Shen Ye quickly activated “Will Meet by the Yao Terrace Moonlight,” and retrieved the skeleton.

In the form.

The tombstone immediately emitted a strong aura of undead, beginning to prepare for resurrection.

Shen Ye, seeing that it could revive, no longer paid attention to it, and instead struggled to sit up from the bed, looking around the walls.

After all, he was a descendant of Penglai Mountain, influenced by cultivation sects for no short period of time.

With this glance, he saw something insightful.

“Even such humble living quarters can be arranged with such advanced exorcism runes…”

“Perhaps this era truly is, as the Lord of Penglai Mountain said, the highest civilization remaining from the Fourth Epoch?”

Shen Ye reached into his spatial ring from his form and took out a calming pill, which he swallowed.

His injuries gradually healed.

He sat up from the bed, put on his shoes, and got up to walk.

By this time, class was over.

Children of the same age came in, paying him no mind, playing and roughhousing amongst themselves.

Shen Ye walked out alone, casually observing his surroundings.

A voice suddenly called out to him.

“Qingfeng Gege.”

Right, I’m now Xu Qingfeng.

Shen Ye turned to look.

He saw a girl of similar age running towards him, tears streaming down her face.

“I’m so sorry for getting you beaten up.”

“It’s fine,” Shen Ye said.

“Then—will you still help me next time?” Hope shone in the girl’s eyes.

“You’re talking about the Body Sculpting Pills from the benevolent hall? All my Body Sculpting Pills have gone to you these past years. Not only did I gain nothing good, I also got beaten up by jealous people. I think it’s better to just forget about it.”

Shen Ye said indifferently.

The girl was stunned for a moment, her surprise almost impossible to hide.

—How was this different from before?

“Wan’er knows she was wrong… Gege, please don’t mind it.”

She started crying.

Shen Ye also sighed, and said gently, “You are indeed wrong. You took so many of my pills, yet when they beat me, you just watched—even feeding a dog would make it bark a couple of times.”

The girl was stunned again.

But this time, she was a bit flustered.

“I’m sorry, I was just a little scared…”

“Don’t come looking for me anymore,” Shen Ye said before leaving.

Just now, he had noticed a series of spell fluctuations coming from the main hall not far away.

Several spell runes flickered from afar.

Those were spiritual lights from spell runes he had never seen before!

That this world could survive the world-ending cataclysm naturally meant it had achievements surpassing all civilizations.

Even if it wasn’t for the Heaven-Shaking Art, it was still worth drawing lessons from and learning well!

Through the corridor.

Ahead stood several tall youths.

The one leading them saw Shen Ye and suddenly smiled:

“Healed? What, are you still thinking about that toad eating swan meat next time?”

“Are you talking about Zhao Wan’er?” Shen Ye asked.

“Of course,” the young man said.

“She and I have nothing to do with each other. She extorted my pills, and after you found out, you didn’t help me, not to mention you even beat me up.”

“—So, do you want me to give her pills? Or not?”

The youths were also stunned.

“Your pills… did she take them all?” the leading youth asked.

“Didn’t you just say I was trying to please her, and that’s why you acted?” Shen Ye retorted.

“Don’t you dare go near her again.”

“Alright, it’s a deal—what about the pills then?”

“It’s just a Body Sculpting Pill, she doesn’t need it.”

“Understood.” Shen Ye walked through the crowd, continuing forward.

But then, Zhao Wan’er chased him down the corridor, winking at the leading youth.

The youth understood and shouted:

“Stop!”

Shen Ye stopped and looked back.

“The pills… just keep giving them to Wan’er,” the youth said.

Shen Ye spread his hands and said, “You beat me because I gave her pills. Now that I’m not giving them, you want me to. Doesn’t that mean I got beaten for nothing?”

A few youths were speechless.

“Stop the nonsense, just give them if I tell you to, or I’ll beat you up again,” the youth said, frustrated.

Shen Ye thought for a moment.

He needed to focus on learning now. How could he waste time with these “bad karma” people?

He flexed his wrist.

—Since he didn’t know how many defensive measures the benevolent hall had, he hadn’t transformed into an Emperor Species.

But his inherent combat skills were enough.

Shen Ye moved, lunging forward.

Several youths shouted, brandishing their fists and kicks, but he knocked them all to the ground one by one.

Shen Ye still hadn’t fully warmed up, and the fight was already over.

He continued to walk towards Zhao Wan’er.

“Don’t touch her, fight me if you dare!”

The youth lying on the ground roared.

“Coming.”

Shen Ye walked up and kicked him flying, pinning him against the wall.

The youth immediately fainted.

Shen Ye walked in front of Zhao Wan’er again.

After a while.

“No one else is stepping up?” he asked.

No one spoke.

“Alright, Zhao Wan’er, let’s be direct. You actually caused this whole thing. Perhaps you just found it amusing, but I genuinely took a beating.”

Shen Ye said.

“Qingfeng Gege, you did it out of your own will. Besides, you wouldn’t have learned those skills and dao techniques anyway,” the girl said timidly.

Slap.

A slap landed on the girl’s delicate face.

“Thirty years in Henan, thirty years in Hebei, don’t bully a young man for being poor.”

Shen Ye said angrily.