The Heavenly Crown World.
Pillars of forbidden flight, suspended within the mountain valleys.
The pillars floated in the air, suppressing the entire grand formation with the power of flight prohibition. The world within was vast, yet compressed to a small size.
Buzz.
Chen Fan directly took out the Heavenly Crown.
The world, sharing the same origin, was instantly attracted by the Heavenly Crown's aura.
The Heavenly Pillars began to tremble, and the grand formation itself began to disintegrate.
"This..."
Chen Fan himself had not anticipated this turn of events.
He knew that the appearance of the Heavenly Crown would cause something to happen... but his greatest expectation was merely to gain some convenience, to more easily enter the grand formation and let the Heavenly Crown devour this world.
Yet, he had truly not expected the grand formation to collapse so rapidly upon the Heavenly Crown's appearance.
The ninth-tier great world, suppressed by the grand formation, instantly turned into world power like flowing water, beginning to merge into the Heavenly Crown.
"What's going on?"
All of this was too simple.
It was almost unimaginable.
Boom.
Suddenly, something Chen Fan had not anticipated at all occurred.
A familiar aura, one that made him feel incredibly familiar, suddenly entered his mind.
It was too sudden, so sudden that he had no time to react.
His thoughts instantly became sluggish.
His soul plunged into a state of darkness.
After an unknown amount of time, his thoughts slowly returned, and Chen Fan opened his eyes.
...
"Kill!"
What met his eyes were sounds of endless slaughter.
Chen Fan froze, looking confusedly at the scene unfolding before him.
Battle, a brutal battle.
This battle was between Chaos Beasts and humans.
Great worlds lined up in the chaos, and powerful figures were frantically slaughtering Chaos Beasts.
"Help me, spare me..."
Humans were begging for mercy.
Crack.
The pleas for mercy abruptly ceased as a massive Chaos Beast directly swallowed them whole.
"Kill."
The Chaos Beasts had the upper hand.
The humans here were being slaughtered.
Worlds were destroyed, their energy and inhabitants becoming the blood offerings for the Chaos Beasts.
In this war, humanity was retreating steadily.
"Alas."
At this moment, a sigh echoed.
A ray of dawn illuminating heaven and earth bloomed in the chaos.
A figure descended from the sky, holding a long sword, cleaving through the chaos with a single stroke.
Innumerable Chaos Beasts perished under his sword.
"It's him."
Chen Fan's pupils widened.
Looking at the approaching figure, he felt a tremor for the first time.
"Roar."
Simultaneously, a giant ball of flesh, tumbling through the chaos, rushed madly towards Chen Fan.
"Meatball."
Chen Fan exclaimed in surprise.
He was too familiar with Meatball's aura.
The last time, he had traversed the past of the chaos, taken a disciple, and adopted a Chaos Beast.
The sword-wielding youth followed closely behind Meatball, walking swiftly.
The youth's eyes were no longer pure, but filled with a deep weariness.
"Bang."
Meatball, upon reaching Chen Fan, transformed into a normal-sized ball and leaped into his arms.
"Squeak squeak squeak."
Meatball chirped happily.
Although it could not speak, Chen Fan felt Meatball's joy.
"Meatball."
Chen Fan was also very happy.
He had never expected to meet again.
This was his second journey into the past of the chaos. Although it wasn't voluntary, he was still very happy to see Meatball.
"Master."
Chen Qi, now middle-aged, walked before the young Chen Fan and knelt on one knee.
Looking at his disciple, who appeared more weathered than himself, Chen Fan was speechless for a long time.
In the end, it only turned into a sigh.
Gently placing his hand on his disciple's head, he whispered, "These years have been difficult, haven't they?"
"Master..."
As Chen Qi looked up, tears streamed down his face.
His life had been a constant battle in the chaos.
He had tried his best to achieve peace between humanity and Chaos Beasts.
Unfortunately, the end result was this mutually destructive battle.
"Master."
Chen Qi wiped the tears from his eyes.
Looking at his master's face, which had hardly changed, he couldn't help but sigh, "Ten thousand years. Master has been gone for ten thousand years, yet I... am no longer the same."
Ten thousand years.
His master had left for ten thousand years.
Chen Qi had only Meatball for companionship, supporting each other through these ten thousand years.
It had been too long.
Although Chen Fan had anticipated that a long time had passed, he hadn't expected a single separation to last ten thousand years.
"Alas."
Thinking of this, he also felt a sense of emotion.
Only a few years had passed in his current timeline, yet in the past... ten thousand years had gone by. It was too long.
"What is happening?" Chen Fan asked, pointing towards the temporarily halted battlefield in the distance.
The battle had temporarily ceased due to Chen Qi's arrival.
Countless corpses and fragments of worlds floated in the chaos.
It was too tragic.
Seeing his master inquire, Chen Qi quickly explained, "Chaos Beasts consider humans as food. Humans resisted, leading to this battle, but unfortunately... with my abilities, I could not stop it all."
"The battlefield is not the only one. The chaos is too vast. I had just calmed one battle and rushed here.
"Who would have thought I'd see Master here."
Chen Qi was very happy.
Wandering the chaos alone, Meatball was his only companion.
And Master... was his last emotional anchor.
Chen Fan nodded, saying nothing.
Such conflicts had been ongoing for far too long.
He himself had suffered greatly from them.
"What are your thoughts on this?" Chen Fan asked again.
"... Master, I don't know."
Chen Qi was deeply troubled. "I don't have the ability to quell this war. I can only try my best to protect more humans, but... there are too many humans. Ultimately, I cannot care for them all."
"You've already done wonderfully..."
"Squeak squeak squeak."
Meatball nudged Chen Fan's hand with dissatisfaction, chattering its displeasure.
"Haha."
Chen Fan laughed heartily. "Alright, alright, I'll talk to you, and not pay attention to Chen Qi, haha..."
The little fellow was actually getting jealous.
Chen Qi smiled wryly.
Even after ten thousand years, Meatball retained its original innocence.
The two humans and one beast conversed as if no one else was around.
Buzz.
Behind them, a vast horde of Chaos Beasts began to stir restlessly again.
Clang.
Chen Qi quickly drew his sword.
He did not attack, but merely pointed towards the pack of Chaos Beasts, his voice tinged with a chilling killing intent, "Leave immediately, or... I will slaughter you all today."
Boom.
The vast pack of Chaos Beasts immediately scattered like birds and beasts.
In this chaos, no one dared to provoke Chen Qi's authority.
After all, he had already killed several Beast Kings.
"Master, let's find a place to rest," Chen Qi said, a hint of urgency in his eyes.
Chen Fan saw it and nodded with a smile, "Is there anything you wish to show Master?"
Chen Qi's face flushed.
His little secret had been seen through by his master.
"Haha."
Chen Fan was very pleased. "Let's go, take Master to see."
"Yes."
Chen Qi immediately nodded.
Behind them, a group of human powerhouses bowed their clasped hands from a distance, expressing their gratitude: "Thank you, Human King."
Human King.
This title was the highest respect humanity bestowed upon Chen Qi.