Dawn started to break over the Ye Clan.

Half an hour has passed after the incident at the Spirit Crystal mine.

Ye Chenfeng ran back to Ye Bai's yard sweating profusely. The guards at the door were shocked but didn't dare to stop the Second Young Master.

Ye Chenfeng started knocking the door of Ye Bai's room heavily, almost breaking it apart.

Ye Bai opened the door with a face full of murderous intent, almost making the already scared Ye Chenfeng's soul fly away!

"Are you trying to break my door or wake the whole clan up? Why in such a hurry?" Then he saw Ye Chenfeng's tired figure and smelt the stench of alcohol. "Are you drunk? If you are drunk then go back to your room, why are you here to irritate me early in the morning?"

"El-El-Elder Brother... that... that..." Ye Chenfeng started to get out of breath and couldn't speak at all, he started huffing and puffing while holding his knees.

Ye Bai felt frustrated, he rubbed his own temples and scolded Ye Chenfeng. "You stupid pig, either speak clearly or get out of here. Don't ruin my mood early in the morning."

"Just what crime did I commit to witness your stupid face first thing in the morning. My whole day is ruined!" Ye Bai sighed.

"El-El-Elder Brother you have to hear this... that... that..." Ye Chenfeng tried to explain.

"Stop!" Ye Bai raised one hand and gestured. "Look at yourself snorting like a dog. Calm down first will you. Are to trying to choke yourself to death and frame me for murder or what?"

"You really have shit in your brain. I don't understand how I got a brother like you." Ye Bai seems dejected.

Ye Chenfeng did as his brother said but scolded Ye Bai in his mind while at it.

After calming himself down he started speaking. "Elder Brother, he died."

Ye Bai felt confused and blankly asked. "Who died?"

Ye Chenfeng answered. "Elder Brother, he... he... died." 

Slap!! Ye Bai slapped Ye Chenfeng hard on his left cheek, almost making him fly off the ground. He then grabbed his collar and asked with anger. "He? He? Who is he? Does 'he' have a name or what? You rascal! You idiot! You son of a..."

Ye Chenfeng is already drenched in cold sweat but now he started sweating even more, he almost peed himself too.

As he had told Ye Furong; no one knows the true face of Ye Bai better than Ye Chenfeng.

Ye Chenfeng is really scared witless now and went limp in Ye Bai's hold.

Ye Bai realized Ye Chenfeng's sorry state and let him go. Ye Chenfeng fell on his butt almost splitting it into pieces.

"Sorry." Ye Bai blankly apologized. "Now speak clearly and in a straightforward manner. You better take your time to sort out your thoughts so as not to irritate me any further. Next time you do it, I am gonna break your neck!" Ye Bai threatened.

"Gulp!" Ye Chenfeng swallowed his saliva then took a few deep breaths. 

He then thought for a while and described everything that happened after Ye Bai and Jiu Weici left the Spirit Crystal mine.

"I see. So he knew we were going to get rid of him so he traded whatever days left of his life for some useless information. Humph!" Ye Bai sneered.

"No! It may be useless information to us but for him it was worth more than his life. Well, it's not like he can do anything with that information anyways." Ye Bai smiled. Then he thought of something and suddenly looked at Ye Chenfeng's face. "You didn't tell him about 'that' right?"

"Aa-umm, no." Ye Chenfeng shook his head. "I didn't tell him anything about 'that'."

Ye Bai gazed into Ye Chenfeng's eyes for a moment then nodded his head. "Good! It seems you are not totally negligent." "Always keep in mind, even the 'walls have ears'."

"Now get up and go back to your room, I will take care of the rest." Ye Bai ordered.

"Yes Elder Brother." Ye Chenfeng got up, bowed and turned to leave.

"Stop." Ye Bai stopped Ye Chenfeng, he got closer to him and whispered into his ears. "You better keep what happened in the Spirit Crystal mine a secret from your sister-in-law Weici. If I find out you spill even a single word to her... You understand, right? Now get lost!" He threatened.

After this Ye Chenfeng fled as fast as he could and got back to his room. He shut the door tight and went back to sleep. He didn't get out till the next day!

Ye Bai took care of everything as he said. He also made sure Jiu Weici stayed negligent to this incident.

Well, there isn't much to take care of anyway. The clan just needed some excuse to cover up the reason for the explosion that occurred in the Spirit Crystal mine, and take care of the manpower lost in that incident by allocating more personnel to fill in the vacancy.

That's all! There isn't even a single mention of Ye Furong in this whole ordeal. It's as if he never existed. Things just went back to normal in a few days of time.

Years passed by...

...

Somewhere in the void filled with darkness...

A tiny red flame about the size of an almond is floating in the air amidst the gentle Space-Time currents.

Except for this one tiny red flame which somehow spread light to a few metres of it's circumference, there seems to be no other light source.

Some rocky structures, things that look like bones? or some broken artifacts could be observed when the tiny red flame slowly drifted past them. This truly is a bizarre place.

"Has it still not woken up?" A gentlemanly voice asked.

"Nope. But there seem to be some slight fluctuations coming out of the flame. Maybe it's about to wake up. How weird..." A male voice filled with vigor spoke.

"Humph! I don't understand what you two are expecting from this tiny red flame. It would be much better if I just devoured it." A kid's voice sounded.

"I dare you to try!" The vigorous voice threatened.

"Humph!" The kid's voice went silent.

"Ah! The flame seems to be moving." Suddenly the gentlemanly voice shouted.

After this the place fell silent...

"Uggh!! It damn hurts! What the fuck!" Suddenly a young male voice yelled from inside the flame. "Ah wait, it doesn't hurt, but what is this weird feeling... "

"Seems like it's a boy. Hmm... From the sound it feels like a young man in his twenties." The gentlemanly voice concluded.

"Hmm... Looks like that." The vigorous voice agreed.

"Tch!" The kid's voice clicked its tongue.

"Umm... Where am I? And why am I surrounded by flames? It doesn't feel hot somehow. This is weird... " The young man's voice sounded confused.

"That's what we want to know. What the heck are you doing here in this place? We have been stranded here for a billion years but never saw a single speck of dust enter this place but just about 500 years ago a tiny red flame the size of an almond appeared out of nowhere!" The vigorous voice placed his doubts.

"500 years... almond sized... I don't understand what you are talking about. That aside, who are you people? Why are you hiding from me? This is really weird." The young man's voice asked.

"Humph! Don't you think it's good manners to introduce yourself before asking for other's names?" The vigorous voice condemned.

"Urgh!... Umm... I am sorry. My name is- ." The young man's voice abruptly stopped.

"What? Don't wanna tell your name? Is your name so great that we are not worthy of hearing it?" The vigorous voice mocked.

"Ah no no no, it's not like that, it's just... " The young man's voice seems to grieve..

"What is it? Don't worry we won't make fun of your name hehe." The kid's voice spoke.

The young man's voice took a deep breath. "It's just that before I died I took a Blood Oath to the Heavens that I won't exist under the Heavens or so... But what is this? I definitely remember that I committed suicide but why am I still alive and what is this weird flame? It's too confusing. Did I fail? But how is it possible? Tch! Just what is going on? Who is playing jokes on me? What the hell!" The young man's voice just blabbered.

"Well you are definitely dead. Or more like your Physical Body is no longer here. You are just a Spiritual Body right now and the flame engulfing you is none other than the Nirvana Flame of a Phoenix!" The gentlemanly voice spoke.

"Spiritual Body? Nirvana Flame? You mean the flames of the legendary Phoenix? But how did I get engulfed in the flame of such a legendary bird?" The young man's voice is shocked!

"That's what you should know, how the hell will we know about that? Are you stupid or are we stupid? You are not trying to play some fool right?" The vigorous voice sounded frustrated.

"Why would I know? How would I know? What the heck do I have to do with a Phoenix? I have only ever seen them in pictures." The young man's voice retorted.

"Bullshit! This is definitely the Nirvana Flame. And from its colour it's from a fire Phoenix none the less. You can't fool my eyes young lad. Don't you dare!" The vigorous voice sounded threatening.

"What are you doing? You are scaring the young man like this. What if he really doesn't know?" The gentlemanly voice scolded the vigorous voice.

"There's no way-" The vigorous voice wanted to reason but was cut in by the gentlemanly voice.

"There are a myriad of things in the universe and there are a myriad of possibilities. You should know this too. Have you gone senile after all these years? How stupid of you to bully a young man with your stature." The gentlemanly voice mocked.

"You..." The vigorous voice seemed angry but didn't say anything. "Ok, you go ahead and speak with this young man, I'm out!" He grunted.

"That's better." The gentlemanly voice gently said.

"Young man, let's talk. But before that try to see past the flames. Focus your eyes on a single point and you may be able to do it." The gentlemanly voice advised.

"Uh... Ok." The young man replied.

"Hmm... I can see some weird stuff like huge bones, some broken metals... but I can't see much further as it's all pitch black after a certain distance." The young man said doubtfully.

"Ah it's as you see, don't worry it's just this place is in the void so you only see darkness everywhere the light from your flame doesn't reach." The gentlemanly voice cleared the doubts.

"Now try to rotate your body while you focus your vision, you may be able to see us." The gentlemanly voice guided.

After a while the flame seemed to rotate little by little till it stopped.

"Ah, I can see you! Let's see... Hmm... A smart young man- " The young man's voice froze for a second, he suddenly recalled someone saying something like a billion years or something. He wanted to confirm his doubts but decided to just go with the flow for the moment. His doubts will be cleared later for sure.

"A smart young man who looks like a scholar and... Ehem... A-A young man's ghost?!... It looks like a ghost and behind is a black wall which seems to be engraved with some shiny translucent runes... Hmm... Yes! That's what I see." The young man described his observation.

"Ghost? Your father is a ghost, your whole family is a ghost, you son of a... " The ghost figure suddenly pointed his finger at the red flame and roared.

"Pfft...Hahaha..." The scholar looking man started laughing.

"Er..." The young man sounded embarrassed.

The ghost-like figure threw some more abuses at the red flames before calming down.

The scholarly man also laughed out for a while holding his stomach and convulsing.

Moments later the ghost-like figure stood straight with his left hand behind his back, he slightly coughed with his right hand in front of his mouth and then spoke. "Ahem! I am not a ghost, I am a Spiritual Body just like you... You understand?" 

The ghost; ah I mean the Spiritual Body put both of his hands behind his back and crooked his eyebrows in inquiry. His facial expression is hardly discernible as his whole figure is kinda distorted.

"Urgh! Ah I understand I understand. I apologize I didn't know that you... Ah." The young man tried to explain.

"Humph! Don't worry, I am a kind-hearted man. I forgive your negligence." The ghost figure said while waiving his right hand.

The atmosphere became awkward for a moment. Everyone else present here thought...

'You cussed the young man so hard and now you claim to be a kind-hearted man? Ptui! Kind-hearted my ass!'

"I am not some wall, I am a Behemoth. Humph!" Suddenly the kid's voice condemned.

"Baha... What?" The young man sounded confused.

"Behemoth! It's a mythical or so-called divine creature. It's kinda similar to Dragons and Phoenixes but is far more powerful." The scholarly man explained.

"Siii... Far more powerful than Dragons and Phoenixes... Such a creature exists? And it looks like a wall?" The young man sucked in cold air in awe.

"Ah no, the wall you are looking at is just a part of its Egg shell. It's not hatched yet... Or more like the conditions are not fulfilled for it to hatch." The scholarly man smiled.

"Egg... And only a part of it... Just how humongous and huge this so-called Behemoth is if only its egg is this huge. Awesome! " The young man admired.

"Well, the universe is full of wonders. There's nothing to be so surprised about. Leaving these things aside I think we should talk about you. What do you say?" The scholarly man advised.

"Ah before that we should introduce ourselves, let's start from our side, you can introduce yourself later when you feel comfortable, no one is leaving here anyway."

"Yes Please." The young man replied politely.

"Then I should go first." The scholarly man took the lead.

"My name is Bian Chao(to surpass), I was also known as the Spirit God... Let's see..." He seems to be counting something. "...about 1.7 billion years ago."

"As you may have guessed from my title of 'Spirit God', I am from the Spirit Race which excels in the art of Spiritual Bodies and practice with Spiritual Qi." The scholarly man or now as we know his name, Bian Chao said with a warm smile.

"I am Hei Hai(ocean), also used to be known as the Demon God in the past." A proud vigorous voice sounded. It was the ghost-... Ahem! The Spiritual Body that spoke.

Hei Hai continued in a proud tone. "You may not be able to tell from my current look but I am a snow demon." Then he paused for a second and raised his nose and asked. "Ain't I handsome? Ah of course I am... Hehe... No need to tell, no need to tell." 

Ptui!... Bian Chao spat on the side. "Handsome my ass! I can't find even a slight glimpse of your so-called handsomeness on this ghost-like face of yours. Fucking narcissist!"

"And what do you mean by handsome in the first place? You men from the Snow Demon species are all beautiful like women, not handsome like men!" Bian Chao sneered.

"Fuck your mother's arse! You Bian Chao is just jealous of my good looks. Still holding a grudge because the woman you liked in the past chose me over you? Hehe..." Hei Hai mocked.

Bian Chao suddenly raged and pointed a finger at Hei Hai's nose. "Hei Hai you bastard! You immoral piece of shit! Do you think I don't know what you did behind the scenes to get her approval? You have no self respect! Ptui!... If we both hadn't died back then, I would have killed you sooner or later with my own hands!"

"What are you two arguing for and also in front of the young man, don't you two feel ashamed? Don't you so-called gods have any pride? Moreover, how many times you guys have abused each other over these 1.7 billion years? How the hell did you guys still not get sick of it? At least I am sick of hearing it. My ears have suffered heavy trauma. Sigh! Just what kind of sin did I commit in my past life to be locked with these two brutes for over a billion years in this void." The kid's voice sounded agonized.

"Er... Cough! Cough!... We will continue our battle later. Let's focus on the newcomer for now." Bian Chao said in a heavy tone.

"Humph! What do you mean by 'battle'? Like we can fight in our current condition, it's only verbal." Hei Hai mocked in a low voice.

Bian Chao humphed back and then ignoring Hei Hai, he conversed with the red flame or to say the young man's Spiritual Body inside the flame. "Young man, you can call us however you prefer, by name or by title. For now, let's hear your story first. You can tell us about whatever you are comfortable with. Also no need to worry if it's a long story, time is something we are not short of... Kinda."

He then warmly smiled. "I prefer if you share as much knowledge as possible, as you know we have been stranded in this void for over a billion years, so we would love to hear about the outside world. Please grant this selfish wish of ours." Bian Chao bowed.

"Yes... Please." Hei Hai fervently added from the side.