Sweeping across the heavens, starting with the first emperor of the ancient times.

Recalling the last words of those two strange Immortal Emperors, Jiang Hao felt that the enemy side might not be as simple as just having more people.

There might be an even more terrifying trump card up their sleeve.

Otherwise, given that even the Primordial Ancestor was no match for the Chaotic Ancient Emperor and that being, it's impossible that they all perished.

If you can't beat them, running away shouldn't be a problem, right?

If someone at this level wants to leave, you basically can't stop them.

"And what about myself? How much have I grown in the future? Did I participate in that great war? If so, what role did I play? Why wasn't I mentioned?"

It's impossible for the Empress, a junior of the celestial emperor, to become a Celestial Emperor while I haven't.

This is not to say that Jiang Hao is blindly confident, but rather that he genuinely has that confidence.

Jiang Hao may not be the strongest or most powerful, but he's certainly not weaker than anyone else.

Throughout his life, Jiang Hao was second to none.

As the Heavenly Emperor, one must have this confidence, and needs this confidence. Without confidence, how can one become an emperor, and how dare one call oneself the Heavenly Emperor?

As the Heavenly Emperor, one must have the confidence to suppress all enemies in the world!

The Chaotic Ancient Heavenly Emperor was like this, and so was Jiang Hao.

"If he's not here, where did he go? What was he doing?"

Jiang Hao recalled his state when he last saw the White-Clad Empress.

The empress was in a terrible state at that time; she was tragic, lonely, and filled with despair.

It was as if everyone had abandoned her, as if everyone else had died and only she remained alive.

"Could it be that I really met with misfortune in the future?" Jiang Hao frowned, feeling somewhat depressed.

But Jiang Hao quickly came to a change of heart.

The future in the long river of time is not necessarily predetermined.

What Jiang Hao saw was only one possibility.

"My fate is in my own hands, not in the hands of heaven!"

"If the future is bad, then change the future!"

Jiang Hao has cultivated for many years, and his mind is already very strong. Even if the enemy is very powerful, he cannot be subdued!

What doesn't kill me makes me stronger!

Then there's the bronze bell, the MVP of this exploration of the River of Time, who saved Jiang Hao.

He looked at the bronze bell inside his body. At this moment, the bronze bell was the same as before, only emitting a faint golden light.

"Fortunately, the main body gave me this thing before going into seclusion. It was just in case, but I didn't expect it to actually work."

Jiang Hao usually considers multiple aspects when doing things, and he is thorough in his thinking. This time was no exception.

Unexpectedly, it actually saved his life and the lives of the Three Realms.

"It's always better to be careful. Luckily we had this, or we would have been doomed."

Jiang Hao never expected that his first exploration of the River of Time would lead to such an encounter, directly bumping into the other party's big boss.

It was incredibly unlucky; the trip started poorly.

"What is the origin of this thing?"

This thing has been with Jiang Hao for so many years, and he still hasn't figured out where it came from.

All I know is that it's very mysterious and powerful.

This time, he displayed incredible power, even managing to deceive a Celestial Emperor-level expert. How terrifying!

"So this thing is above the Celestial Emperor level? What's a Celestial Emperor? How could an ordinary person like me, who transmigrated, obtain something like this?"

Jiang Hao was also seeing the red light emitted by the bronze bell for the first time today.

Previously, the light emitted by bronze bells was mostly golden, but this time it has changed.

Jiang Hao felt the same way he did when that red light appeared—warm, sacred, and with the power to sweep away everything.

He could sense that the red light was more powerful and more advanced than the golden light.

"What exactly are you? What secrets do you have that I don't know about?" Jiang Hao probed into his mind.

But the bronze bell did not react at all and fell silent.

"Never mind, you're always like this, always avoiding difficult questions." Jiang Hao shook his head, then looked at the little girl under the tree.

"That's a miracle."

After the girl finished eating the steamed bun, she lay down on the boy's lap and closed her eyes.

The little boy gently patted her back, humming some tune that was hard to decipher.

Sunlight filtered through the branches and leaves of the old locust tree, falling on the two little ones, creating dappled patterns.

The little girl was sleeping soundly, a smile still lingering on her lips.

Little did she know that in the future she would become a Celestial Emperor, a supreme being who looked down upon the ages.

They would never have known that they would be alone and helpless for countless ages to come.

"What a pity."

Unfortunately, Jiang Hao never figured out what the relationship was between the girl and him until the very end.

Although the two are not related by blood, there is a strange connection between them that is real.

"The more you cultivate, the more unknowns you discover!" Jiang Hao shook his head.

The next morning, sunlight filtered through the branches and leaves of the old locust tree, casting dappled patterns of light on the ground.

The brother and sister's dilapidated courtyard was not far away, left by their parents.

The little girl was already awake, squatting on the doorstep, braiding her hair with tattered strips of cloth.

The boy was chopping wood in the yard. The sound of the axe falling and the wood splitting was crisp and loud.

It's no wonder he has the Divine Body; he's naturally strong, and he can do wood chopping at such a young age.

Jiang Hao had specially changed into a blue outfit today, carrying a bamboo basket, looking like a passing merchant.

He walked to the front of the courtyard, stopped, and peered inside.

"Young man, can I ask for directions?"

The boy put down his axe, wiped the sweat from his brow, and ran over. "Hello, sir, may I ask what's wrong?"

"I heard there's an ancient path in the mountains that leads to the next town? I've been walking for ages and can't find it. Could you give me directions?"

The boy scratched his head and pointed to the mountain behind the village: "Follow that stream uphill, cross two mountains and you'll get there. At the fork in the road, turn left, not right, because there's a cliff on the right."

Jiang Hao nodded, then looked at the little girl in the yard.

The little girl had finished braiding her hair and timidly hid behind the door frame, peeking half her head out to look at him.

"Thank you, young man." Jiang Hao took two oil-paper packets from the bamboo basket. The oil paper was still warm and fragrant.

"This is what I brought from town: braised pork and sesame seed cakes. I bought an extra portion because you all helped me a lot. I don't know how to thank you enough, so please have this."

The little boy quickly waved his hand: "Sir, no need, no need. We were just asking for directions. We didn't really help at all."

The little girl swallowed hard, clearly wanting to eat it, but she shook her head and refused.

Clearly, both siblings are very polite and principled people.

Jiang Hao smiled and stuffed the oil paper package into the boy's hand: "I can't finish it all by myself, and it'll just go bad if I leave it. If you guys don't want it, I'll just throw it away."

The boy held the oil paper package, at a loss for what to do.

The oil seeped out of the paper package and got all over his hand.

He smelled the aroma of braised meat and swallowed hard.

"Well... thank you," the boy said shyly.

The little girl came out from behind the door frame, stood next to her brother, stared at the oil paper package, and then quickly looked away.

Jiang Hao sat down on a stone stool in the courtyard and gestured for them to sit as well.

The boy hesitated for a moment, then pulled his sister down to sit.

He opened the oil paper package; the braised pork was thinly sliced, a deep reddish-brown color, and glistening with oil.

The sesame seed cake was still hot, with a golden-brown crust and sprinkled with sesame seeds.

The little girl looked at the braised meat, swallowed, and didn't reach out.

"Eat up," Jiang Hao said with a smile.

The girl looked at her brother, and the boy nodded.

She reached out, pinched a piece of braised meat, put it in her mouth, chewed it a couple of times, and her eyes lit up immediately.

"Is it tasty?"

Jiang Hao watched all of this with a smile.

"Delicious!" The two nodded vigorously.

"This is the best sesame seed cake I've ever eaten!" the little girl replied while eating. "Thank you, grandpa."

"You're welcome. Eat more if you like it, little girl."

Jiang Hao smiled and patted the little girl's head.

After this time travel, Jiang Hao has made a decision on how to deal with the brother and sister in front of him.