Reborn After 3,000 Years, I Adopted the Future Empress - Chapter 2:

Chapter 2: The Empress Wants to Take Me as Her Master?

Looking closely, the man had thick brows, a fish-like mouth, and a pair of slanted eyes that locked fiercely onto Ye Chen.

Qing’er’s body trembled as she quickly stepped in front of Ye Chen with her small frame, shielding him. “Big brother, his name is Zhao Hen. A month ago, he arrived at Qingshi Town with severe injuries. My parents took pity on him and brought him home, even spending a lot of money to heal him. But after he recovered, he drove us out of our own house. When my parents argued with him, he killed them…”

She turned to Zhao Hen, her reddened eyes glaring as she questioned him, “My parents were kind to you, yet you repaid them by killing them. Don’t you feel any guilt?”

Zhao Hen sneered, “Kindness? What a joke. Your parents saved me when I was on the verge of death, and didn’t I already say thank you? I owe them nothing!”

“In fact, your parents nursed me back to health but abandoned me once I was fully recovered. Such cold and heartless people—I took over their home and killed them with a flurry of blades. What’s wrong with that?”

Then Zhao Hen looked toward Ye Chen. “And you, do you even know how to write the word ‘death’?”

With that, Zhao Hen drew his blade and charged at Ye Chen.

“Big brother, Zhao Hen is too strong! I’ll hold him off, you run!” Qing’er rushed forward, trying to grab Zhao Hen’s leg to buy Ye Chen time to escape.

But Ye Chen pulled her back with one swift motion.

On the Profound Sky Continent, the cultivation realms from lowest to highest were: Mortal Martial Realm, Earth Martial Realm, Heaven Martial Realm, King Martial Realm, and Emperor Martial Realm…

Each realm was divided into ten levels.

From what Ye Chen saw, Zhao Hen was only at the 5th stage Mortal Martial Realm.

Ye Chen, however, had already broken through to the 2nd stage Earth Martial Realm.

And with his royal-grade martial meridians, he could fight above his level. Below the 5th stage Earth Martial Realm, he was virtually invincible.

“Qing’er, watch carefully. Big brother is going to avenge you now!”

Meeting her shocked and doubtful gaze, Ye Chen took off his outer robe and draped it over her thin frame.

Then he strode forward and grabbed Zhao Hen’s neck, slamming his head hard onto the ground.

Zhao Hen’s head split open instantly, blood streaming out. He instinctively tried to resist, but to his horror, Ye Chen’s hand around his throat felt like an iron vice—completely immovable.

Ye Chen then pressed Zhao Hen’s bleeding head to the ground and used it to write the word “death” in blood.

“This young master, I spoke too loudly just now, I—” Zhao Hen tried to speak.

But Ye Chen twisted his head off and tossed it to the ground, stomping it to pieces.

Whether in his past life or this one, Ye Chen despised those who repaid kindness with betrayal.

Besides, having decided to take Qing’er in, he naturally had to settle her mortal grievances…

Thud!

Seeing Zhao Hen so thoroughly dead, Qing’er suddenly knelt. “Mother always told me, even a drop of kindness must be repaid a hundredfold. Big brother, you helped me take revenge. From now on, I’ll serve you even if it means becoming your servant or beast of burden!”

Ye Chen quickly pulled her up. “That’s too serious. Since we met in this remote place, it must be fate.”

He wiped some sweat away and said, “If you don’t mind, from now on, I’ll be your big brother!”

Becoming the big brother of the future number one Empress—no one on the Profound Sky Continent in his past life would have even dared to dream of such a thing.

Qing’er nodded like a pecking chick. Ye Chen didn’t despise her lowly origin, how could she possibly look down on him? She was beyond happy.

Ye Chen smiled brightly. “Good little sister, come on, I’ll take you home!”

He suddenly remembered—before coming to Qingshi Town, Xiu’er had said his father had something very important to discuss.

And judging by the timeline, the catastrophe that would destroy the Ye family was fast approaching…

“Big brother, can I take you as my master and cultivate with you?”

On the way home, as Ye Chen flew with her across rivers and mountains, Qing’er was both shocked and completely won over by his strength. If she had this kind of power, her parents wouldn’t have been cruelly killed by that bully Zhao Hen.

Ye Chen’s body stiffened, and he nearly plummeted from the air.

In his past life, when the Empress Qingshang rose to the peak, countless people prostrated themselves before her. The number of heaven-defying geniuses begging to be her disciple could circle the Sword Empire eight times.

Even Ye Chen himself, already an Emperor at that time, had thought about taking her as a master just to make progress.

But he waited three days and never even got to see her.

Now, she was the one asking to take him as her master?

Seeing his expression change, Qing’er’s eyes dimmed. “It must be because I have poor aptitude, so brother doesn’t want to take me as his disciple.”

Ye Chen’s expression turned even stiffer.

The Empress—renowned for her lightning-speed cultivation, who had crushed the pride of countless geniuses—was saying she had poor aptitude?

If anyone in his past life heard that, at least half of the three thousand Emperors would faint from rage, and the rest might die from anger on the spot!

“But my mother always said, hard work makes up for lack of talent. If brother accepts me as a disciple, I’ll train twice as hard and try to catch up to even one ten-thousandth of your level!” Qing’er raised her frostbitten finger to the sky, swearing firmly.

Ye Chen couldn’t help rubbing her little head. “Alright. Brother will take you as a disciple and teach you how to cultivate. Besides, your talent is quite good—maybe you’ll even surpass me one day!”

Qing’er beamed with joy. Being able to cultivate with Ye Chen was enough for her. As for her talent, she assumed Ye Chen was just comforting her.

They soon returned to the imperial capital.

“Father!”

Outside the War King Manor, Ye Chen saw his father waiting anxiously. He ran forward and gave Ye Wuyá a big hug.

In his past life, when disaster struck, his distant and cold father burned all his martial meridians and shed the last drop of his blood just to protect Ye Chen. Only then did Ye Chen realize how deep his father’s love truly ran.

His father’s early death became Ye Chen’s greatest inner demon.

Now, seeing him again, feeling his broad shoulders, Ye Chen’s eyes grew moist.

Being suddenly hugged, Ye Wuyá was momentarily stunned. His son, who always avoided him and kept their relationship strained, had never acted so sentimental before.

“Alright, what trouble have you caused now?” After a moment, Ye Wuyá asked.

Over the years, Ye Chen only ever called him father when he was in trouble.

And now, not only did he call him father, he even hugged him—clearly, it was no small disaster this time!

Thinking of this, Ye Wuyá’s brows furrowed. The old master had yet to return from searching for medicine, his own martial meridians were heavily damaged, and the War King Manor was no longer at its peak. Many were just waiting to step on them.

And Ye Chen was a trouble magnet—if he wasn’t causing trouble, he was on his way to cause it.

If not for Ye Wuyá constantly cleaning up after him, Ye Chen’s grave would’ve had weeds as tall as a person by now.

A gust of wind swept past, brushing the carved wrinkles on Ye Wuyá’s face and lifting his graying hair.

Ye Chen’s heart clenched. “Father, I didn’t cause any trouble this time.”

Facing his father’s doubtful gaze, Ye Chen quickly changed the subject. “Right, I heard from Xiu’er that you had something important to tell me?”

Ye Wuyá nodded and handed him a golden, spirit-filled pill. “You’re dueling Lin Tian tomorrow. Take this Gold Spirit Pill tonight and try to break through a bit more before then.”

Tomorrow was the duel with Lin Tian?

Ye Chen’s expression darkened instantly.

He would never forget—in his past life, the duel with Lin Tian over Ninth Princess’s favor was the turning point of his fate. It was also the beginning of the catastrophe that destroyed the War King Manor.

Before the duel, everyone in the capital believed that the adopted, nameless Lin Tian wouldn’t last a single round against Ye Chen.

But the truth was, Lin Tian had been hiding his strength. He was a sword cultivator of the rarest kind and carried a powerful remnant soul within him.

In the duel, he defeated Ye Chen in one move, stunning the capital.

After winning, Lin Tian not only gained the favor of Ninth Princess, but also tried to kill Ye Chen to eliminate future threats, claiming that weeds must be uprooted or they’d grow back.

It was only thanks to Ye Wuyá’s sacrifice and the War King Manor’s loyal protectors that Ye Chen barely escaped.

But his father died, and the War King Manor was wiped out… It became Ye Chen’s greatest torment. Even after centuries of bitter cultivation and finally killing Lin Tian, the pain never faded.

“What are you waiting for? Hurry up and take it. Though Lin Tian is far weaker than you, it’s better to be safe than sorry!” Ye Wuyá shoved the Gold Spirit Pill into his hand.

Ye Chen didn’t refuse. With his past life’s memories, he knew just how terrifying Lin Tian truly was.

But there was still one night left. Everything could still be changed. Ye Chen would never allow the tragedies of the past to repeat.

He left his father and returned to his residence to begin seclusion.

In his previous life, Ye Chen had looked down on Lin Tian. He didn’t even bother taking the Gold Spirit Pill, planning to defeat him in one move and then give the pill to Ninth Princess as a token of affection.

The result was predictable—defeated in a single move, and even the pill and his space ring became Lin Tian’s spoils.

Now, Ye Chen swallowed the Gold Spirit Pill without hesitation and activated a god-tier absorption technique to draw out every drop of spiritual energy from it.

Under the nourishment of the pill, Ye Chen’s cultivation surged:

2nd stage Earth Martial Realm!

3rd stage Earth Martial Realm!

4th stage Earth Martial Realm!

In just a few breaths, he advanced three stages.

Even his martial meridians began to stir, showing signs of an imminent breakthrough.

“Wait a minute, the Gold Spirit Pill is only a tier-3 pill. It shouldn’t cause this much progress. And in my past life, my meridians didn’t break through until ten years later. Why has it happened so early this time?”

Ye Chen was stunned, and then noticed something even stranger—the surrounding spiritual energy was converging unnaturally, and more precisely, it was all gathering behind him.

With such dense spiritual energy, no wonder his cultivation soared and his meridians stirred…

“But behind me, there’s no Spirit Gathering Array that could attract this much energy!”

Ye Chen was shocked and quickly turned around—only to see Qing’er quietly standing behind him.