"Little brother, come with us."
The Goddess extended her snow-white, delicate hand, gently taking Ye Chen's palm and leading him away.
On the other side, Chen'er also giggled as she took his other hand, while Yi Wu followed with a serene smile in her bright eyes. Together, they headed towards a certain area.
It wasn't too far. Soon, the group arrived at their destination, which turned out to be the final, eighty-first checkpoint.
There, several fragments of an ancient continent floated, now utterly shattered. This was a secret realm world once opened by a peerless overlord of the Divine Era. It had once been glorious and immensely powerful, but now only blood, white bones, and the broken secret realm remained, faintly recording the earth-shattering, fierce battle that had occurred here long ago.
"Why bring me here?" Ye Chen asked.
The Goddess said, "Try sensing it for yourself."
"Hmm?" Ye Chen uttered in surprise, sensing something extraordinary about this eighty-first checkpoint secret realm. There was something peculiar about it that greatly caught his attention.
He opened his Heaven's Eye, seriously scanning this broken secret realm for the first time. From some of the already shattered fragments of the ancient continent, he captured some Dao marks and began to comprehend them, ultimately uncovering some startling truths.
"What a secret realm. Although ruined and shattered, it actually has such a function," Ye Chen remarked.
The Three Immortal Maidens nodded towards him. "It's related to the chess game!"
"This is a secret realm we discovered by chance. It should be an important move within the Heaven and Earth Chess Game," the Goddess spoke, her peerlessly beautiful face grave.
The Three Immortal Maidens had naturally also discovered the anomalies of the Ancient Emperor Continent, and their conclusions were not far from Ye Chen's suspicions. They too believed that the waters of the Ancient Emperor Continent were far more complicated than imagined, that a vast chess game had been secretly laid out here, involving immense stakes, with the game spanning from the Primordial Era to this generation.
Ye Chen also nodded. This broken secret realm was of great use, far from being as simple as it appeared. It contained some astonishing secrets.
He silently spent half a day in deduction. His spiritual platform shone brilliantly, piercing through many layers of mist. He caught a glimpse and understood many unknown secrets.
Although Ye Chen could have forced the deduction further to learn more truths, he held back, fearing he might disturb the person behind it all—the possible master of the Heaven and Earth Chess Game.
During this process, the Goddess mentioned a plan of hers regarding this broken secret realm and informed Ye Chen about it.
After learning the plan, Ye Chen remained silent for a long moment before saying, "Let me complete it."
Finally, Ye Chen employed astonishing methods to reconnect the shattered fragments of the ancient continent, restoring its original map.
He also infused many spirit stones into the ancient continent, along with over a dozen drops of golden saintly blood. Everything was done in a concealed manner, even using methods to steal the heavens and replace the earth to mask all auras. Then, he left the eighty-first checkpoint with the Three Immortal Maidens.
This battle yielded great gains. Not only were all enemies eradicated, but the nine Heavenly Kings of the imperial dynasties had also been rescued by him. Moreover, due to Ye Chen's display of peerless, matchless strength, they were now willingly following him.
Other powerhouses from the Ancient God Continent also followed Ye Chen, forming a formidable force that could not be ignored and could currently influence the three great races of the entire Ancient Emperor Continent.
The damaged Great Power-level divine ship was also retrieved. Ye Chen repaired it. With his profound mastery of formations, it didn't take him too long to complete the repairs.
Naturally, it couldn't compare to the Great Power-level divine ship of the past, as that one had contained Great Power-level divine marks, while this one did not. However, it wasn't much inferior.
Roar—
A flash of purple light appeared—it was the Purple Qilin, traversing the starry sky to arrive by Ye Chen's side, affectionately nudging his body.
Then, before Ye Chen could react, it let out a mournful cry, unable to hold on any longer. Its entire body transformed into a misty purple light.
Within it, a cluster of blood, crimson red like a diamond, floated before Ye Chen. It contained powerful Great Dao fragments, some of which were unimaginably profound, radiating vast blood energy fluctuations like an ocean.
This was the imperial bloodline of Shen Rong, which Ye Chen had once refined into the Purple Qilin's body. However, in the end, the Purple Qilin, at the cost of its own premature demise, reversed the refinement and expelled it. After all, it was merely an unextinguished remnant of divine will in the starry sky. Having endured for so long, it could no longer hold on and dissipated.
Ye Chen silently collected this cluster of imperial blood. Then, he cradled the misty purple light and entered the depths of the starry sky. He personally buried it there, using some meteorites as companions in the burial. He stood silently for a while before finally turning to leave.
Afterwards, Ye Chen questioned the nine Heavenly Kings of the imperial dynasties about the whereabouts of some Immortal True Kings like the Sun God, the Primordial Demon God, and the Yuan Yao Divine King, as he hadn't detected their traces during his tribulation.
He was finally told that shortly after Ye Chen was pursued by the four Heavenly King Xuan Elders, all the True King geniuses had left one by one. The three Heavenly King Xuan Elders of the Ancient God Palace had not stopped them. Their current whereabouts were unknown.
Ye Chen nodded, asking no further. He believed that when the final moment arrived, everyone would appear.
"Let's go."
Ye Chen spoke, bringing the Three Immortal Maidens, the Peacock King, Xia Miao'er, the nine Heavenly Kings of the imperial dynasties, and others back from the starry sky to the central Imperial City.
He thoroughly awed the Imperial City and, indeed, the entire Ancient Emperor Continent. His invincible brilliance illuminated the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths, influencing the vast Ancient Emperor Continent, forcing the three great races to bow their heads in submission.
This also caused many forces and powerhouses to live in fear and trepidation. For the current Qian possessed a truly invincible might. Not to mention Samsara-level supreme powerhouses, even Heavenly Kings were no match for him. Moreover, with the nine Heavenly Kings of the imperial dynasties as his followers, he possessed enough power to sweep across the entire Ancient Emperor Continent.
If Qian had the intention, he could absolutely dominate the entire Ancient Emperor Continent, becoming an invincible Sovereign upon it, with the three great races forced to submit.
In fact, he was already the uncrowned Sovereign!
Deep down, many forces were unwilling. They did not wish to submit beneath another's feet, nor become puppets controlled by others.
Fortunately, Ye Chen had no such plans. From then on, he remained in the Imperial City, stationed in the Central Heavenly Palace, taking no further action. Everything returned to normal, which allowed many to breathe a sigh of relief.
However, half a month later, Ye Chen issued a grand proclamation from within the Imperial City. He sought to borrow the strength of the world's various major forces to search for some people.
Especially the thirty-six empires and seventy-two ancient kingdoms within the human race's territory, as well as powerful forces like the Demon God Hall of the demon race and the royal cities of the beast race. He wanted to use these forces to search for the traces and whereabouts of Ruoxi, Yaya, Yiyi, the Golden Little Divine Dragon, the Corpse-Devouring Insect Emperor, Weier, and other Immortal True Kings.
His tone was polite, not domineering. Yet, implicitly, he held the title of the Ancient Emperor Continent's number one powerhouse. Combined with his previous invincible record of sweeping through everything, naturally, no major force in the world dared to refuse. They all mobilized their power to search.
While this was underway, three days later, Ye Chen's true body sat in meditation within the Imperial City. An incarnation walked out from the Imperial City, manifesting in the world. Its every move attracted the attention of everyone under heaven. It brought Xia Miao'er to Lan Country.