Chapter 354 — Emperor Ye Tian, the Statue of the Goddess, the Xing Character Secret

Ye Fan reached out to grab, but his hand closed on nothing.

Yet a figure, almost illusory, appeared before him.

The man wore a robe of dark gold that shimmered with radiance, and atop his head sat a supreme purple-gold crown. His eyes blazed with light, mysterious inscriptions glimmered within his skin, and nine small cauldrons swirled ceaselessly around him as though guarding his flanks.

The intense divine light made it impossible for Ye Fan to make out the man's features.

But when Ye Fan's gaze fell upon those unfathomable little cauldrons, strange words abruptly surfaced in his mind.

Immortal Tears Green Gold, Eternal Blue Gold, Phoenix Blood Crimson Gold, Dragon-Patterned Black Gold, Divine Scar Purple Gold, Dao Calamity Yellow Gold...

He knew these were the materials used to forge the Nine Cauldrons.

Each one was earth-shaking and awe-inspiring, and any single one of them alone would be enough to transform the current technological tree of Earth.

As Shuang Linxi grew accustomed to the light, Ye Fan gradually began to make out the other's features.

"..."

Ye Fan was startled inwardly, yet on the surface he strove to maintain a calm demeanor.

It turned out that this person opposite him, judging by appearance alone and setting aside bearing, was actually...

Identical to himself!

Who on earth was this man?

His own ancestor, or a twin brother of whom he knew nothing?

Ye Fan wanted to speak and question him, but his eyes shifted, and his peripheral vision caught the visitors beside him. He suppressed the stirring in his heart.

At that moment, a voice both familiar and strange suddenly sounded in Ye Fan's ear.

The magnificent being opposite him, radiant with divine splendor and looking down upon all creation, did not open his mouth.

He merely regarded Ye Fan indifferently, and his voice arose in the latter's mind.

"I am the Lord of the Heavenly Court, come from countless years hence. You may address me as... Emperor Ye Tian."

That single sentence, laden with so much information, plunged Ye Fan into deep thought.

He thought of the various time paradoxes and grew secretly wary.

Seeing his reaction, the man who called himself Emperor Ye Tian suddenly chuckled softly.

"It seems Senior Wang Xu was right."

"On Earth in this era, spiritual energy does not exist and the transcendent does not manifest. To make you cooperate, I must ultimately display some means..."

With that, his figure gradually shifted from illusory to substantial, until even the soldiers beside Ye Fan, who had been utterly bewildered, began to see his presence.

The light around the mysterious man—whose origins were unknown yet whose face was identical to Ye Fan's—rose steadily, prompting the surrounding soldiers to instinctively level their dark gun muzzles at him.

When ordinary humans faced so many firearms, they would likely be so frightened that their hands and feet went weak; the more timid ones might even wet themselves on the spot.

The mysterious man who called himself Emperor Ye Tian showed no alarm. Instead, a trace of nostalgia flickered across his eyes.

He smiled faintly and shook his head slightly. "These toys are of no use against me."

As he spoke, the man's figure seemed to flicker.

The world before their eyes...

Seemed to shift out of place in an instant.

The air surged.

A violent burst of sound erupted in everyone's ears.

Bang!

Bang!

Dust sprayed everywhere!

"Cough, cough, cough..."

Caught off guard, Ye Fan inhaled a great quantity of dust and broke into violent coughing.

The soldiers, though confronted by the sudden turn of events, did not fire of their own accord. Instead, they gathered around Ye Fan, as though they had received orders to protect him before coming.

As the dust gradually cleared, everyone finally noticed...

Beside the man who called himself "Emperor Ye Tian," a statue stood towering.

The statue wore clothing in the ancient Greek style and a radiant crown upon its head. Its right hand raised high a torch symbolizing liberty, while its left hand held a tablet inscribed with "JulyIVMDCCLXXVI." Its appearance was unmistakably female.

At "her" feet lay shattered handcuffs, shackles, and chains, seemingly symbolizing a breaking free from the constraints of tyranny and a yearning for liberty.

"This is..."

Ye Fan recognized the statue's origin. His breath abruptly caught, and his pupils constricted slightly. "The Statue of Liberty!"

He fetched a laptop, drew a deep breath, and barely managed to calm himself before entering "his own" livestream room.

At that very moment, netizens across the globe were plunged into an inexplicable mixture of terror and excitement.

"The Statue of Liberty... is this real or fake?"

"Any friends in New York who can check whether this Statue of Liberty is genuine or a replica?"

"It's real! They've gone mad! Everyone's gone mad! I live at the mouth of the Hudson River on Liberty Island, and I just saw the statue vanish with my own eyes!"

"Is this some big magic show? The second David Copperfield?"

"Turn off the comments to preserve your IQ. If this is magic, I'll livestream myself eating shit."

"America and China are thousands of kilometers apart... Have the Chinese developed teleportation technology?!!"

"No! Look carefully, everyone—those soldiers are just as shocked as we are! They had no idea this would happen!"

"God... carrying the Statue of Liberty back and forth between China and America within a second... Is this cameraman Superman?"

"This is a serious international diplomatic incident! We strongly demand that the Chinese immediately return the Statue of Liberty!"

Ye Fan felt his lips grow a little dry.

He climbed over the firewall and logged into Twitter (the foreign equivalent of Weibo), once again confirming the authenticity of the news.

The Statue of the Goddess was the symbol and representative of the American spirit. For the people of America, its symbolic significance was more valuable than its physical existence.

And now...

Before the eyes of netizens worldwide, the Statue of Liberty had been livestreamed being transported to China.

This was no longer merely a matter of having one's face slapped swollen...

The entire spiritual backbone of America had been hammered broken!

In the online livestream room, netizens from around the world, after confirming the matter, expressed their schadenfreude one after another. Only a very few were discussing the "supernatural power" displayed by the cameraman.

At that moment, a voice suddenly came from the cameraman's perspective.

"This is the 'Xing' Character Secret, one of the Nine Secrets. It grants the user supreme speed."

"I haven't used it in years. I'm a bit rusty."

The cameraman who called himself Emperor Ye Tian laughed heartily, yet his figure gradually faded.

Apart from Ye Fan, no one else could capture this person's existence with the naked eye.

Within a mere five minutes, the upper echelons of governments around the world had all made their decisions and begun jointly pressuring China, demanding the surrender of the Statue of Liberty and Ye Fan.

Ye Fan waited quietly, without acting rashly.

With the help of professionals, he participated in a secret online meeting through encrypted channels, while silently calling out in his heart to "Emperor Ye Tian."

Unfortunately, that Jia Mingyuan—even more outrageous than Superman—did not reappear no matter how he called.

In the secret online conference hall, many people bearing exceedingly lofty titles, people one would normally only see on the evening news, were now arguing red-faced over the issue of Ye Fan.

Some thought it best to simply hand Ye Fan over.

After all, China was in a stage of development and needed to quietly amass wealth. It could not afford to withstand joint suppression from various nations.

For one thing, an economic and trade blockade alone would be enough to obstruct the development speed of China, a major exporter of goods.