A room in a certain city, in a certain province of China.
A young man was reading the final chapter of a novel on his phone. The more he read, the angrier he became, and he couldn't help but curse, "This author is truly ridiculous, claiming he was arrested for endangering national security and couldn't update! He couldn't even find a better excuse for this rushed ending. I still want to know if Ye Ling escaped from that damned Heavenly Dao Divine Envoy and entered reality!"
As the young man was cursing, the screen of his phone suddenly distorted, and a beam of light shot out from the screen. Then, a living person appeared before him.
Seeing the ancient-clad youth who appeared before him, the young man was instantly stunned. He looked at the novel he was reading, then at Ye Ling emerging from his phone, his jaw dropped.
The novel... was real?
"N-no way?"
Bang!
The phone slipped from the young man's hand, and he was scared unconscious!
Meanwhile, Ye Ling, who had emerged from the phone, was still immersed in the powerful force he had just experienced, murmuring, "Just now, it seems it was my master's life essence that saved my life."
Ye Ling then remembered that when he entered reality from the Pure White, Shan had given him a portion of his life essence for protection.
"I thought I was dead, but I didn't expect my master to be so strong, able to repel even the phantom image of the异神 (Yi Shen - Alien God). I should be in the real world now, temporarily safe?"
Ye Ling realized he had been saved by Shan again and couldn't help but smile. He quickly scanned the room's layout, his gaze finally falling on the young man who had fainted.
"This kid must have been scared unconscious, but then again... who would have thought that the novel they were reading was actually happening, and that the characters from the novel had come to reality?"
"Even I still feel a bit unreal."
Ye Ling shook his head and smiled. He carried the unconscious young man to the bed and murmured, "I was able to escape death this time, and it's also a fated encounter with you... I'll give you a cultivation technique."
With that, Ye Ling wrote down a copy of the "Da Hua Yan Tian Jue" (Great Transformation Heaven Evolution Art) and placed it by the young man's bedside, while also using his spiritual power to cleanse and strengthen the young man's bones.
"The foundation has been laid for you. What achievements you make in the future will depend on yourself."
After saying this to the unconscious young man, Ye Ling prepared to leave. He first needed to rescue the Chosen One from prison and then find a way to summon Shan and E (Shan E - Good and Evil) to the real world.
But just as Ye Ling was about to move, the young man's phone lit up again, and then a bloody hand reached out from the phone screen!
An incredibly terrifying and evil aura instantly filled the entire room!
"Heavenly Dao Divine Envoy? He actually managed to track me here?"
Ye Ling's expression changed drastically as he saw the bloody hand reaching out from the phone screen. He instinctively wanted to activate Absolute Divine Movement, but as he was about to teleport away, he remembered the young man lying on the bed.
"Damn it! I can't let the Heavenly Dao Divine Envoy descend here!"
Ye Ling gritted his teeth, directly grabbed the young man's phone, and prepared to leave with it.
But as Ye Ling picked up the phone, the bloody hand reaching out from the screen immediately grabbed his arm.
"I've got you!"
The Heavenly Dao Divine Envoy emerged from the phone, staring at Ye Ling maniacally and shouting, "Lord Heavenly Dao, I've found him!"
Buzz—!
As the Heavenly Dao Divine Envoy spoke, that exceptionally powerful oppressive force appeared again. Everything around them froze once more, and the 异神 (Yi Shen - Alien God) appeared before Ye Ling.
However, this time, the descending 异神 (Yi Shen - Alien God) was no longer a phantom image but a solid entity!
"How... how can this be?"
Ye Ling stared intently at the 异神 (Yi Shen - Alien God) standing in front of him, struggling with all his might, but he couldn't move an inch!
He thought that by escaping the network space and entering reality, he could temporarily evade the 异神 (Yi Shen - Alien God) and the Heavenly Dao Divine Envoy, giving him enough time to bring Shan E to the real world...
But the current developments had completely exceeded his expectations!
"This is it!"
The 异神 (Yi Shen - Alien God) stared at the immobilized Ye Ling and sneered, "A mere two-dimensional being from a fantasy space, wanting to save the world? How laughable!"
"Earth's Heavenly Dao, the so-called Chosen Ones of the Heavenly Dao, the fantasy world... and all your actions in the fantasy world, I have seen it all."
"From beginning to end, your struggles have been a clumsy performance to me, interesting, but meaningless."
"I am the ultimate victor, now and forevermore."
The 异神 (Yi Shen - Alien God) smiled faintly, and its pale hand directly pressed onto Ye Ling's chest. Then, it took out a broken key containing the power of the Heavenly Dao from Ye Ling.
"I have gathered the authority of the Heavenly Dao and can begin the sacrifice. This Earth... will help me ascend to another realm!"
After speaking, the 异神 (Yi Shen - Alien God) swallowed the broken key, and its aura surged wildly once more.
The voice of the Heavenly Dao that had previously helped Ye Ling reappeared in his mind.
However, this time, only the pained cries of the Heavenly Dao remained.
From the Heavenly Dao's cries, Ye Ling heard endless despair, and at this moment, Ye Ling could only watch the 异神 (Yi Shen - Alien God) in despair, unable to do anything.
But once again, as Ye Ling's hope was extinguished, a powerful force erupted from his body.
The profound runes manifested, and the space around Ye Ling began to twist rapidly. The frozen time started to move again.
The Heavenly Dao Divine Envoy that had grabbed Ye Ling instantly turned into dust, while the 异神 (Yi Shen - Alien God) that had absorbed the power of the Heavenly Dao seemed to have suffered a severe blow, retreating repeatedly and spitting out a complete key!
"Is this the 异神 (Yi Shen - Alien God) in the real world that has encroached upon the Heavenly Dao? It feels like its strength is just so-so... We've been hiding our strength and pretending to know nothing, acting every moment. Have we been overly cautious?"
E's voice echoed in the room, and the immense pressure Ye Ling was enduring instantly dissipated. Ye Ling regained his freedom.
"Master? E?"
Ye Ling stared at Shan E, who emerged from the distorted space, his mind blank.
What was going on?
Shan E had directly entered reality?
Not only Ye Ling, but the 异神 (Yi Shen - Alien God) was also shocked. It looked at Shan E with disbelief and exclaimed, "Impossible! Every move you make is within my sight, you couldn't possibly be this strong!"
E chuckled, "Before meeting you, we didn't know we were this strong either. After all, ever since that kid who called himself the Chosen One summoned us from the book into the real world, he kept saying how powerful you, the Heavenly Dao, are, and that we would face utter destruction if we revealed ourselves, so we had to be extremely careful."
"Therefore, after entering reality, we have been secretly planning and continuously strengthening ourselves... Every reincarnation we had in the fantasy world was not to screen for the Emperor Ancestor, but to have enough time to convert our power from the fantasy world into real-world power."
"This is impossible!" the 异神 (Yi Shen - Alien God) roared, "Every move you make, every thought you have, is within my sight. You couldn't have hidden it from me!"
Shan chuckled lightly, "The fantasy world and the real world are not in the same dimension. If you want to observe us, you can only do so through the novel published by the Chosen One... And as long as we know this, what we want you to see and what we don't want you to see is entirely within our control."
Hearing Shan's words, the 异神 (Yi Shen - Alien God) seemed to realize something. It retreated repeatedly and trembled, "So... the story of screening the Emperor Ancestor, giving Ye Ling the power to purify pollution, and ultimately having Ye Ling recognized by the real-world Heavenly Dao... this was all your illusion?"
E: "Something like that... But we didn't expect you to be so impatient and directly send the Heavenly Dao Divine Envoy. I thought you wanted to play for a while longer."
The 异神 (Yi Shen - Alien God): "N-impossible... How could I be deceived by mere low-dimensional beings? This is impossible! I don't accept this!"
"Haha... You can only blame yourself for only looking at that book in the Void. If you had read the book from the Nine Heavens Realm in the Pure White, it might not have been so easy for us to play the weak and deceive the strong," E said playfully, looking at the 异神 (Yi Shen - Alien God) and slightly raising his arm, opening his five fingers.
"You, what are you going to do?"
Seeing E's action, the 异神 (Yi Shen - Alien God) was filled with a sense of foreboding and asked with a trembling voice.
"We've said enough. It's time for you, the undeserving one, to wrap up your performance."
As E's words fell, numerous runes appeared on the surface of the 异神's (Yi Shen - Alien God's) body.
The next moment, the runes suddenly contracted. The 异神 (Yi Shen - Alien God) didn't even have time to scream before it instantly turned into dust!
The uncomfortable power in the room vanished instantly.
Ye Ling watched, dumbfounded.
That terrifying 异神 (Yi Shen - Alien God) was dead just like that?
At this moment, Shan patted Ye Ling's shoulder and said, "Sorry... for not telling you this and making you act in this play without knowing."
"Master, I..." Ye Ling stared blankly at Shan, unable to react for a long time.
After a long while, Ye Ling finally asked Shan, "So... you knew about the existence of the 异神 (Yi Shen - Alien God) from the beginning, and everything you did was to accumulate strength to kill the 异神 (Yi Shen - Alien God), and the identity of the Emperor Ancestor... actually had no meaning?"
Shan said, "You can't say that. Your existence genuinely helped us attract the attention of the 异神 (Yi Shen - Alien God), which gave us enough time to strengthen ourselves. Moreover... no matter how strong we become, to enter reality from the fantasy world, we need the authority of the real-world Heavenly Dao."
"Half of that authority was with the 异神 (Yi Shen - Alien God), and half was with the original Heavenly Dao. If you hadn't performed well in the Void and gained the recognition of the Heavenly Dao and the 异神 (Yi Shen - Alien God), drawing their focus onto you, it wouldn't have been so easy for us to obtain the Heavenly Dao authority and gain the ability to travel freely between fantasy and reality."
"In short, thanks to you, we are all able to come to reality."
Hearing Shan's words, Ye Ling couldn't help but smack his lips, his heart filled with shock.
Before, he thought he understood the terrifying nature of Shan E enough, but from this point of view... what he knew about Shan E probably didn't even count as the tip of the iceberg!
What pawn or player... his perspective was too narrow!
Compared to the players on the chessboard, Shan E was more like the behind-the-scenes financier of a chess match!
After marveling at the terrifying power of Shan E for a moment, Ye Ling seemed to remember something and immediately asked Shan, "Master... if we take away the Heavenly Dao authority, what will happen to the real-world Heavenly Dao?"
"What's there to worry about? I'll return it to her."
Shan smiled, glanced at the Heavenly Dao authority, and then directly used his creation power to create three new Heavenly Dao authorities. He threw one each to E and Ye Ling, and then returned the remaining Heavenly Dao authority.
Seeing Shan create three Heavenly Dao authorities in minutes, Ye Ling was somewhat numb.
Now, no matter what Shan E did, he would no longer be shocked.
Honestly being Shan's disciple, and then returning to the Primordial Chaos to enjoy life, would be enough.
As for strength, it didn't matter anymore.
As long as Shan E was there, Ye Ling no longer hoped to surpass them.
At this moment, the young man who had fainted upon seeing Ye Ling slowly woke up. But when he saw two more people in the room, he almost cried out in fright and asked in terror, "You, who are you?"
E looked at the panicked young man, as if he had thought of something interesting. A slight smile curved his lips, and he asked the young man, "Young man... do you want to be the protagonist?"
"Protagonist?"
The young man stared blankly at the three people in the room, his expression somewhat bewildered.
(End)