The man in black armor slowly began peeling away the solidified second skin. After some time spent carefully removing the fake layer, the true face behind the mask was revealed.

It was a young man in his late teens, around eighteen to twenty. The face was clearly Lian Cheng. His eyes were filled with hatred and resentment as he glared at both Wei Chen and Jian Heng.

"Here’s our man," Wei Chen said, then turned toward Jian Heng, who was sitting in the gazebo with a smile, as if enjoying the show. There was not a trace of surprise on his face.

"You don’t seem surprised at all," Wei Chen said.

"Why would I be surprised? Brother Wei, it was within my expectations," Jian Heng replied nonchalantly as he sipped the tea in front of him.

Jian Heng set down his cup and looked around at the group of men in black armor. They were the same people from the Underworld Palace he had seen at Wei Chen’s engagement ceremony.

He stood up unhurriedly. His demeanor was casual, yet it still carried the sharp edge of a sword cultivator.

"I suppose it is time for the Underworld Palace’s internal matters after this. I will take my leave first, Brother Wei," Jian Heng said as he walked out of the gazebo toward the garden exit.

"Thanks, I owe you one, Brother Jian Heng," Wei Chen said sincerely.

"Think nothing of it. It is just a small matter," Jian Heng replied with a wave of his hand as he continued toward the exit.

"Wait, Brother Jian Heng!" Wei Chen called, stopping him just before he stepped out of the garden.

"Hm?" Jian Heng looked back.

Wei Chen’s signature punchable smirk returned to his face. "So, when are you going to produce a little Jian Heng? If your sword is not strong enough, I can introduce you to our product. I guarantee it will enhance your sword, along with your qi and endurance. Satisfaction guaranteed."

Seeing his good brother’s punchable face, Jian Heng began to feel annoyed. He did not respond and only gave a smile that did not reach his eyes.

Then he raised his hand and flashed a middle finger at that annoying face before walking out of the garden, leaving before he lost control and decided to beat that jerk.

"What? Where did that guy learn that?" Wei Chen was stunned, other than himself, no one should have known that gesture... or so he thought.

He was stunned for a moment, but quickly regained his composure as he had urgent business to take care of.

He walked back to the gazebo, where the Underworld Guards were waiting for him. Two of them took out a set of artifacts and began assembling them in the middle of the garden clearing.

After a few minutes, the assembly was complete. The artifact was a circular disk placed on the ground, with a powerful teleportation array carved into it.

Lian Cheng, who was sitting on the ground with his bleeding already stopped, stared at the artifact as if he had just witnessed a miracle.

In his memory, the memory of the Heaven Forging Lord, this was one of the artifacts he had once set as a goal to surpass. Even until the end of his life, he had failed to achieve it. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

This artifact... this artifact was the All-Heaven Shuttle. He had seen it once in the Hall of Wonders, one of the collections of the Immortal Emperor who sat upon the Heavenly Throne. At that time, he had already gained significant renown in the Immortal Realm.

He had been ordered by the Immortal Emperor to try to replicate it and mass-produce it, or at least to understand it and repair the original, restoring its full function.

Yes, the one he saw in his previous life had been a damaged version. More precisely, it had been partially functional. It could only transport armies within the same realm, regardless of conditions such as spatial lockdowns or unstable space.

Back then, he had thought it would be easy to study and replicate. Who would have expected that the artifact was not just a masterpiece... it was the work of someone at the absolute pinnacle of artificing.

He had tried his best, but the most he managed was an incomplete prototype. At most, he could only repair the original slightly and reduce its spiritual energy consumption by five percent during teleportation.

After being humbled by its perfection, he set it as a lifelong goal to surpass. In truth, he had even thought that his other ambition, forging heaven itself, might be more achievable than replicating this artifact.

That was because heaven was something he and others already understood to some degree. Its functions and features were known. The control of fate was something he had studied for a long time, and altering the course of destiny was within the capabilities of array masters and cultivators who followed the dao of fate in the Immortal Realm.

One of them was his nemesis, the Fate Weaving Sovereign. That man could manipulate fate and alter the trajectory of attacks as if he were controlling puppets.

An attack that should have been fatal could be reduced to a mere scratch, while a harmless strike could be twisted into something nearly lethal.

That was how terrifying the Fate Weaving Sovereign was. And that man... shared the same goal as him, to control heaven and earth.

"What? How could that be? How do you have that thing?" Lian Cheng stuttered in disbelief as he saw the artifact he had once aimed to surpass assembled.

"Assembly complete. Please provide the energy for it," one of the Underworld Guards said.

Wei Chen nodded. "Yeah, yeah. Leave it to me."

He walked toward the artifact, then placed his hand on the orb-like part of the contraption and injected a massive amount of his spiritual qi into it.

A bright light shone as power was siphoned from the orb and flowed into the artifact, feeding its function and activating it.

"Hahaha! Did a donkey kick your head or what? It’s impossible for one person to supply the All-Heaven Shuttle. Even a powerful Pseudo Immortal would not be able to do that without getting drained half to death!" Lian Cheng burst out laughing.

"A fool who doesn’t understand the immensity of heaven and earth will only drain himself to death and..." Before Lian Cheng could finish, Wei Chen stepped back as the artifact began to hum.

In the next moment, a beautiful and heroic woman appeared on the platform in a burst of bright azure light. She wore the armor of an underworld general, red and black with gold trim decorating her voluptuous figure.

Lian Cheng’s breath caught in his throat, both from the shocking sight of Wei Chen supplying the All-Heaven Shuttle alone and from recognizing the identity of the woman before him.

"Ahh, it’s so convenient having you around!" the heroic woman said in her usual casual tone as she patted Wei Chen on the back.

"Haa... with all due respect, Lady Yan, do I look like a walking power bank to you?" Wei Chen complained. Even though he could supply that thing with his spiritual qi, it did not mean he did not feel the sting.

Right now, he felt like he had just returned from a ten-minute jog in his previous life.

"Power... bank?" Yan Rongjun slowly thought about the words Wei Chen had just spoken.

Power: the ability or capacity to do something, influence others, or control events and resources.

Bank: a financial institution that accepts deposits, storing wealth and valuables, provides loans, and offers services like savings, payments, and currency exchange.

Power... bank? The thing that is used to store power and withdraw it as needed?

After a bit of processing, Yan Rongjun’s usual casual smile bloomed once again. This time, she repeatedly patted Wei Chen’s back with a bit more force.

"Hahaha! That’s right, you are a walking power bank!"

Wei Chen: ...

After she teased Wei Chen, her husband’s employee, she looked around as if trying to find something.

"So, where is our guy? The regressor," she asked.

"He’s over there, in the gazebo, Lady Yan." Wei Chen pointed toward Lian Cheng, who was frozen in shock and disbelief, his eyes wide and his mouth gaping open wide enough to fit an egg.

"You! Impossible! Heaven General Yan, the Butcher of the Immortal Great War!" Lian Cheng blurted out the title of the woman in front of him, one he knew from his previous life.

"Huh?" Yan Rongjun looked confused.

"Yeah, I fought with those hypocrites from the Immortal Realm, but I was never a Heaven General. I can’t stand their hypocrisy. I would rather die in the Underworld than become one of them. Also, I did kill in the war, but I don’t think it is enough to warrant a title like ’the Butcher,’" she explained as she tried to recall the past.

"Lady Yan," Wei Chen called out. "I think what this guy means is the you from his timeline. Who knows, maybe in his timeline you decided to become a Heaven General and were ruthless enough to earn that kind of title."

"Impossible, Chenchen... I would never serve those hypocrites," Yan Rongjun said firmly.

"Thing is.... the multiverse is one of the messiest and headache inducing things out there, Lady Yan. The you in his timeline might have a different personality. Different experiences can lead you down a completely different path."

"For example, me... if my family had not been financially stable in my previous life, I might have chosen to volunteer and become a marine just to support myself," Wei Chen explained.

"I see..." Yan Rongjun nodded in understanding.