Chapter 2179: Chapter 2147: New Beginnings
"Quick, call Master," Ye Tu hurriedly pulled Ye Xin beside him when he saw Li Chen approaching.
Although he always casually called Li Chen ’boss,’ in his heart, Li Chen absolutely counted as both a mentor and a father figure to him.
When he was young, if Li Chen hadn’t found him, he might have been just another starving little beggar on the street.
It was Li Chen who taught him so many things, imparted survival skills to him, and it was also Li Chen who gave him the life he has now.
"Move aside." Li Chen glared at Ye Tu, then looked at Ye Xin and smiled, "Call me uncle."
"Uncle," Ye Xin obediently called out, while also staring curiously at this legendary uncle.
Because of Ye Tu, she had interacted with some people from the Palace of the Nether King, and when she was young, Ye Xin spent some time growing up at the Nether Army Base, often hearing stories of the ’King of the Netherworld’ from the elders of the palace.
In her heart, Li Chen is a true legend.
When she followed Ye Tu back to the Nether Army Base, she once glanced at Li Chen from afar, but quickly everything went dark and the world transformed. Only now is she having her first real contact with this uncle.
"Your name is Ye Xin, right? How old are you?" Li Chen asked with a smile.
"Uncle, I’m nineteen." It seemed to her that Li Chen was not as unreal as the legends spoke, but rather seemed easy to get along with, easing the tension in Ye Xin’s heart, and she replied with a smile.
"Nineteen," Li Chen nodded.
When he left initially, Ye Xin hadn’t been born yet.
So from the time he ascended and left Earth, twenty years have passed...
"Twenty years." Li Chen inexplicably let out a sigh of relief, "Thankfully, twenty years isn’t too long."
In those previous years, Li Chen had been truly worried.
Afraid that one day when he returned, his old acquaintances would be aged, or even deceased. For a long time, Li Chen didn’t dare to enter closed-door cultivation.
Afraid that the moment he closed himself off, the world outside would already have changed completely.
Thankfully, everything was still in time.
Beside him, Yu Yueying looked at Li Chen, her eyes filled with complexity.
Because if she were to speak honestly, her initial entanglement was with Li Chen.
However, due to later reasons, she and Li Chen ultimately missed each other.
Due to some special circumstances leading to her encounter with Ye Tu, she ended up with him.
Originally before Li Chen arrived, Yu Yueying had many things to say, and even harbored some complaints towards Li Chen, but now that he is here, she suddenly doesn’t know what to say.
"Everything is still in time." Li Chen said with a smile, looking at the group. "Actually, I know that among you, many are anxious, uneasy, and dissatisfied with me suddenly bringing you into such an unfamiliar world."
"But I firmly believe that what I did was right." Li Chen said, "Even though some of you might just want to lead an ordinary life, ask yourselves: how many twenty years does an ordinary person get in their lifetime? But here in the Heaven Realm, as martial artists and cultivators, you have plenty of time to spend, plenty of opportunities to experience the excitement you couldn’t before."
Li Chen’s eyes shone with a different brilliance, "Furthermore, if one day you feel your cultivation is sufficient and want to venture out, I won’t stop you. If you find the Heaven Realm too traditional and miss what was before, you can explore the Lower Realm and experience life in those worlds. Eventually, you will discover that your decision was right."
"It doesn’t matter to me what others do, but what matters to me is that you trust me." Li Chen said earnestly.
"We trust you," a few more people came over at this moment.
Li Chen turned his head to look, and among the crowd were Zi Zhao, Bai Feihu, and the husband and wife duo Yao Chou and Jiang Bingyu, as well as the experts who chose to join the Palace of the Nether King when the world changed.
The three elders were among them as well.
Looking at everyone, Li Chen smiled.
"Everyone’s here, that’s great," Li Chen genuinely said softly.
"With you all here, I feel my years have been worth it," Li Chen kept this sentiment to himself.
He didn’t like speaking emotional words, nor was he used to expressing his feelings, but the presence of these people made him feel he was not alone.
Though with their current strength, they couldn’t aid Li Chen much.
Still, these people are his spiritual support.
Their existence allows Li Chen to feel he is not lonely.
Perhaps in countless years these old friends will also pass away one by one, but now, there’s still a long time until then.
And he won’t become cold-hearted and indifferent like those in high positions.
Because now, he feels warm.
"By the way, weren’t you just talking about transportation?" Li Chen looked towards Ye Tu’s family, and then he took out an item from his ring.
After taking it out from the ring, this object quickly enlarged and soon transformed into a gigantic warship, spanning across the sky.
"Uncle... what is this?" Ye Xin widened her eyes, staring somewhat dazed at the colossal warship in the sky.
Although flying cars exist in the Lower Realm, she had never seen anything this large, let alone a warship that could fly.
"Transportation, of course." Li Chen laughed while patting Ye Xin’s head: "But in the Heaven Realm, everyone calls it a flying spirit artifact. After all, things flying in the sky are faster than those running on the ground, right?"
Ye Xin nodded dumbly, unable to speak for a while.
"Hmm, according to your aesthetics." Li Chen pondered for a moment, then waved his hand.
As the power of the law was catalyzed, flames surged, and soon, the warship gradually transformed into a... sports car.
Of course, this was a sports car fast enough to be terrifying and capable of flying at high speeds.
"It’s yours." Li Chen looked at Ye Xin and smiled: "Consider it as my gift to you; how do you like it?"
"Thank you, Uncle!" Ye Xin shouted happily.
"Xin Xin!" Yu Yueying frowned.
"No worries." At this time, Ye Tu held Yu Yueying back; he knew the boss’s personality all too well, and since the boss said it’s for Xin Xin, then it’s definitely a gift, taking it back wouldn’t be easy.
Yu Yueying rolled her eyes at Ye Tu but ultimately said nothing.
"I’ve refined this flying spirit artifact a bit; that’s why it’s maintaining this form for now. As long as you catalyze it with divine sense, you can change its shape directly. Not to mention seating a few people, a hundred should be no problem." Li Chen explained.
"Hmm, divine sense requires your cultivation to reach the heavenly level to be refined, but with the Heaven Realm’s spiritual energy density, reaching the heavenly level shouldn’t be difficult—at least simpler than in the Lower Realm." Li Chen smiled, looking at Ye Xin and Yu Yueying nearby: "How about now, motivated to cultivate?"
"Uncle, I want to cultivate, I want to become a heaven-level expert, I want to drive the sports car and travel the world!" Ye Xin called out cheerfully.
Li Chen nodded with a smile: "Then you’ll have to work hard; compared to those born in the Heaven Realm, your starting point is much slower. If you drive a flying spirit artifact out there, and encounter someone stronger, they might just snatch it away."
"I’ll work hard, thank you, Uncle!" Ye Xin said with a cheeky grin.
Speaking of being snatched away, Li Chen recalled a rather amusing incident from many years ago.
It happened when he first encountered the people of Heisha Ridge; recalling how he pretended to be deaf and dumb before knocking out a hapless sect disciple with a brick and looted him thoroughly made Li Chen want to laugh.
Those days, though tough, were filled with many moments of fun.
And now, for some reason, the higher his cultivation, the more tedious he feels.
"Rest assured, I still have some flying spirit artifacts here, and will distribute some when the time comes." Li Chen turned his head, looking at the others as he spoke.
In the following days, Li Chen stayed at the residence, taking out the things piled in the ring that he had never used.
Needless to say, people with intentions on Li Chen have never disappeared.
Although most of them ended up falling in his hands, these years Li Chen, although living a wandering life, never forgot about the people of the Palace of the Nether King, even the items from some low-level cultivators were seen as ’trash’ by others with a cultivation similar to Li Chen, Li Chen would collect them.
This indirectly led to Li Chen having more of nothing else in his ring... but space rings.
Upon inventory inspection, Li Chen realized his assets were far richer than he had imagined.
Occasionally, even in rings he couldn’t remember where he picked them up from, he’d find good stuff.
And now, these items would become the foundation for the Palace of the Nether King to get started in the Heaven Realm.
No shortage of cultivation techniques, no shortage of pills, even cultivation resources, for now, aren’t a concern at all.
After all, currently, the Palace of the Nether King’s overall strength is below the heavenly level, requiring not too many resources.
As for operations in the future, it’d be a test of Catherine’s abilities to get this fledgling force going.
With a new goal, Catherine seemed full of fighting spirit, which was the part Li Chen was most pleased with.
However, regarding cultivation, Li Chen couldn’t possibly teach them one by one; besides, he himself was a rogue cultivator of sorts, what suits him might not suit everyone.
Cang Ku has fully recovered and is preparing to break through to the seventh-rank celestial lord, needing long-term closed-door cultivation, unable to offer assistance.
As for Xiao Chihan... he himself has yet to be fully trained, let alone teaching others.
Just when Li Chen was contemplating finding cultivation mentors for the Palace of the Nether King, finally, someone arrived.
"Is the Red Dust Taoist Brother here, little brother Konggu, here to visit!"
Upon hearing the outside voice, Li Chen’s eyes lit up involuntarily, then he chuckled a couple of times oddly, thick-skinned, he shouted outside.
"Don’t rush, Brother Konggu, I’m coming."
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