Chapter 621: The Chen Family's Monster (Two in One)

Chen Nian had actually met Chen Qiuran and Chen Xing later than the rest of the family.

As cultivation maniacs, the two rarely appeared in public.

"This is your younger brother."

Chen Nian still remembered the first time he saw them.

That man had taken his hand—a rare gesture—and led him to the two siblings, who were in the middle of an argument.

The man and woman simultaneously looked down at him.

A trace of disdain flickered in their eyes.

It was disdain, not disgust.

Chen Nian knew the difference very well.

"I'm Chen Qiuran. Just call me eldest brother."

Chen Qiuran looked down at Chen Nian.

"Chen Xing. Don't call him eldest brother, call me eldest sister."

Chen Xing also looked down at him.

Both wore foul expressions, but they genuinely bore no disgust.

Chen Nian looked up at the two of them.

"Hello, eldest brother. Hello, eldest sister."

He bowed to them.

The disdain on their faces didn't lessen one bit.

"Since our younger brother is here, my treat today," Chen Qiuran said.

"Do we need you to? You think I don't have money?" Chen Xing asked coldly.

"The problem isn't whether you have money. The problem is... you aren't as rich as me."

Chen Qiuran spoke softly.

Chen Xing took offense at that, and the two started arguing again.

Then Chen Nian understood.

He realized why they didn't despise him for the usual myriad reasons like everyone else did.

They already had someone to despise.

Chen Nian blinked.

He actually liked the two people in front of him.

He genuinely liked them.

They were among the rare few who looked at him like he was a normal person.

Even if their default attitude toward normal people was disdain.

But they still treated him as a normal human being.

At the very least...

They didn't treat him like some monster.

So in the days that followed, he constantly sought out Chen Qiuran and Chen Xing to discuss cultivation.

He didn't actually like cultivation, but just to spend time with them, he would intentionally find controversial topics and ask them separately.

Then...

He would tell them that the other's answer was slightly different from theirs.

That way, the two would start arguing.

He liked watching them bicker.

When they got tired of arguing, they would take him out to eat and fight over the bill.

If only those days could have lasted forever.

But... the tragic thing about bloodlines was that they defied all logic and reason.

You couldn't choose to possess one, nor could you choose to reject it.

Chen Nian grew stronger every single day.

Yes, every day.

As the Chen Family's most dazzling genius in centuries, one whose bloodline purity had reached an unimaginable level, he couldn't halt his own growth. Simply by eating, sleeping, and breathing, he continuously grew stronger.

Until one day, Chen Nian noticed that the way Chen Qiuran and Chen Xing looked at him had changed.

Their disdain had shifted into wariness.

He sensed the shift and tried to salvage the situation, but it was useless.

When the very foundation of a relationship changed, all perceptions and views subtly grew strange.

His unspoken little trick to deepen their familial bond gradually turned into...

...a special kind of provocation.

The two siblings began to suspect that Chen Nian was doing it on purpose, just to make a fool of them.

Under those circumstances, Chen Nian's inarticulateness proved to be a fatal flaw.

He couldn't explain himself clearly and could only watch as the situation plunged into the abyss.

Until...

One day, that wariness turned into the familiar disgust.

Chen Nian looked at the two of them calmly, opening his mouth to say something.

But they had already walked away without even looking at him.

It was the first time since he met them that he didn't see them arguing.

When they first met, they hadn't hated him because they hated each other. Now, they didn't hate each other because they hated him even more. From then on, the three of them drifted apart.

Everyone said they didn't know why Chen Qiuran and Chen Xing's relationship had gradually improved.

But Chen Nian was the only one who knew the reason.

Later on, that incident erupted.

When he was locked in the dark room, Chen Qiuran and Chen Xing came to see him together.

They looked at him, now missing an arm, and the disgust in their eyes...

...seemed to have reverted back to disdain.

He begged them to take him up to the roof, and they got into an argument right in front of him.

Over whether or not they should take him to the roof.

Looking at the bickering siblings, Chen Nian knew his guess had been right.

If he had distanced himself from that bloodline sooner, he would have found happiness.

Although...

It was already too late.

He huddled in the corner, quietly watching them argue from start to finish, just as if they had returned to their childhood.

He really should have done it sooner.

That was the only thought in his mind at the time.

And later.

Time marched on to the present.

Chen Nian looked at the two of them.

Just a moment ago in the bakery, their attitude toward him had merely been disdain.

When he had won the match, their reaction had only been anger.

But when the second giant mechanical arm appeared, fear had already surfaced on their faces.

Going by his past experience.

Any further, and it would turn into disgust.

He understood.

Whether it was Chen Lan, Chen Hong, or Chen Mingkai... it was always the same process.

No one could help but despise a monster.

"But I can't be afraid."

Chen Nian sat upon the Mechanical Throne and spoke softly to himself.

He seemed to be talking to himself, yet also making a promise to an unseen person.

In the next instant, the two giant mechanical arms slammed down ruthlessly.

One smashed into the dreamlike haze of the starry river, scattering the nebula that had merged with all things. The sky and clouds were sundered as ripples spread out, and all sound fell dead.

The other crashed into the giant figure burning in blood-colored flames, colliding with the giant's thrown fist. It shattered the thin spatial barrier as flames rolled backward; the temperature skyrocketed, and crimson clouds manifested.

Boom!

An invisible screen of light materialized once more, firmly anchoring all of Old Sin City and keeping the fragile old city from being outright annihilated under such a terrifying impact.

Yet the spectacle had already unfolded, witnessed by everyone standing on the ground.

What kind of sight was this?

A white-haired youth sat upon the Mechanical Throne, looking more like a Mechanical Emperor than the so-called Mechanical Emperors themselves. As he waved his hands, the will of steel swung with him, slaughtering the ancient existences blocking his path and scattering the stars and mist obstructing his way. This was a romance belonging solely to machinery and steel; rust and blood were the footnotes to this scene.

Everyone's pupils were locked onto this moment, as if trying to firmly brand it into their minds.

In the next instant, the giant—taller than the heavens—staggered back several steps, violently coughing up blood. The gray sea of stars was blasted with a massive hole, allowing sunlight to spill through. Chen Qiuran and Chen Xing were sent flying simultaneously like two kites with broken strings. Swept up by the gale, they smashed into a distant pile of rubble, the blood they sprayed tracing swaying kite strings in the air.

Crack.

Several cracks surfaced on Chen Nian's silver-white face.

Fine electrical arcs sparked along the exposed circuitry.

He stood up but made no declaration of victory. Instead, he turned his head and abruptly threw a punch.

Boom!

A massive, near-transparent mech materialized in midair, violently colliding with the giant mechanical arm.

A terrifying roar echoed across the world once again.

The crowd stared in shock at the sudden turn of events, unable to comprehend where such a mech had come from.

"It's the Ninth Mechanical Emperor of the Mechanical Heavenly Kingdom."

Someone spoke, the shock in their eyes lingering long after.

As power constantly surged, the transparent mech completely revealed its true form.

Two pillar-like legs strode across the sky above Old Sin City. Its massive tail stabilizers directly covered the empty expanse of the city, and a random edge of its chassis was indistinguishable from a skyscraper. It was terrifyingly huge. It turned out everyone had been moving beneath such a colossal mech all this time without realizing it! Chen Nian's face began to tremble as more cracks spiderwebbed across it.

His body was rapidly approaching its absolute limit.

Under the mutation of Old Sin City, this mech had reached the Tenth Tier, but his own tier was far too weak.

He was burning his origin, but his origin was ultimately finite.

Should he step in?

One-Eye looked at Mao Si. As far as he was concerned, as long as Yan Jing's prior terrifying aura hadn't been an illusion, resolving this dispute would be a breeze. Furthermore, Yan Jing had only promised not to interfere in the battle between Chen Nian and the two siblings, but now...

An outsider had intervened.

So stepping in wouldn't be crossing the line.

But Yan Jing didn't move.

This was Chen Nian's moment.

He had drawn Chen Nian's past and understood that bitter secret.

Thus, he knew that Chen Nian had waited a very long time for a day exactly like this.

The former monster yearned for a victory to declare his success and return to everyone.

The things he had once cared about the least had finally become precious after the monster plummeted into the mud.

He could no longer salvage the people and things that had passed, but for the things that still remained, he wanted to conclude them more beautifully.

Therefore, Yan Jing couldn't interfere and usurp Chen Nian's role.

Such a scene truly shouldn't end like this.

But Yan Jing also couldn't do nothing.

Chen Nian was still a hair short, lacking just a spark of momentum.

He hopped onto One-Eye's shoulder, stood up on his hind legs, and raised his front paws high.

"Do you believe in miracles?"

"Miracles?"

One-Eye remembered what had happened in the Sun-Swallowing Tower and nodded.

"Of course, sir."

"Good. Then... the miracle begins."

Yan Jing waved his paws. The next second, the melodious sound of a piano suddenly rang out in the air.

The hauntingly beautiful notes were like shattered rose petals stained with blood, echoing through the broken, empty sky. They flowed between the ruined stars and clouds, ultimately turning into a part of the pale blue sunlight.

The suspended sky and rising earth both gained an air of mystery from the score, eventually serving as a backdrop for the collision of the two massive mechanical bodies.

And then...

Under the shocked gazes of the crowd, the entire sky abruptly moved.

It actually moved.

The transparent mech flew backward, exactly as if the original "sky" had retreated, revealing the true heavens.

Even though the two skies looked exactly the same.

Chen Nian had won.

The crowd stared at the white-haired man standing on the Mechanical Throne. His clothes were torn everywhere except around his neck, exposing the pitch-black metal beneath as he stood rooted to the spot.

The wind blew through those rags and bandages, lifting them up until they looked like battle flags.

This former monster of the Chen Family had returned.

In an entirely different way.

Advent Day was approaching.

This thought inexplicably surfaced in everyone's minds.

The Xue Family Heir.

The Chen Family's monster.

Who would be next?

Who else would reveal their prowess before this great upheaval of the world, announcing their emergence and return?

The crowd couldn't guess.

But one thing before their eyes was certain.

Chen Nian was bound to occupy a place in the coming Advent Day.

Swish.

The next instant, Chen Nian's figure vanished from atop the mechanical arm.

"Mr. Eye. Mr. Cat."

Chen Nian stumbled toward One-Eye and Yan Jing.

"Please take me to find my friend."

"His name is Yi Ji."

The next second, Chen Nian collapsed in front of them.

"I know Mr. Yi Ji. He's my boss."

One-Eye answered.

"Is that so?" Yan Jing stood on One-Eye's shoulder and grabbed the back of Chen Nian's collar with his paw.

"I don't know Yi Ji. Please lead the way."

"That monster from the Chen Family is back."

Xue Shi looked at Xue Mo beside her and asked, "Do you feel a sense of crisis?"

Yan Jing's expression was cold.

"If I weren't bringing you along, Second Sister, I probably wouldn't."

"What are you..."

Xue Shi took a few seconds to process that before punching Yan Jing on the shoulder.

"If you don't know how to speak, just shut up."

"Where are we going now?"

Xue Shi looked around.

The two of them had already passed by many game stations, but Yan Jing hadn't stopped, as if he had a target from the very beginning.

"Originally, I wanted to find the people from the Mechanical Heavenly Kingdom."

Yan Jing spoke slowly.

"But he got punched away, so now we have to find someone else."

"Someone else..."

Xue Shi paused, then saw Yan Jing walking in a specific direction.

There was a somewhat shy-looking boy over there, wearing a uniform that didn't quite match his youthful face, with a stall set up in front of him. On the stall sat three sets of dice.

"Do you still need people?"

Yan Jing asked coldly.

Hearing that icy tone, An Ze instinctively shuddered, thinking Lu Miao had arrived.

He looked up at Yan Jing in front of him. Upon seeing it wasn't Lu Miao, he let out a long sigh of relief.

"The game starts with three people. We are currently short two."

"Only this gentleman has signed up."

An Ze looked at the man beside the stall.

The man wore a leather jacket and had long hair, his face bearing traces of weathering.

It was the Sea Saint, who had clashed with Mao Si outside earlier.

Seeing Yan Jing looking at him, the man sneered.

"Xue Family Heir... You were pretty arrogant outside earlier."

"What do you say? Want to play against me?"

Yan Jing withdrew his gaze and looked at An Ze.

"She and I are signing up. Let's begin."

An Ze looked at Yan Jing and Xue Shi, then nodded.

"Alright."

"But I must remind you first: you and this lady appear to be relatives."

"It's best if relatives don't participate in this game together."

"It's fine."

Yan Jing's expression remained calm.

He naturally knew how this game was played.

"Good. Then I will now explain the rules to the three of you."

"The game is called Dice Beatdown."

"The rules are simple. The three of you will roll the dice in turn. Your first roll determines who you attack, and your second roll determines the number of times you can strike."

"For example, if you roll a three, you can strike three times. When you attack, the opponent can only defend and cannot fight back."

"The game ends when everyone loses the ability to act."