With a puff, the black-clad Hall Guardian was utterly annihilated.
No one saw how Ye Chen made his move; everything was so bizarre. Only the radiant light rain from the exploding Hall Guardian illuminated this void space, and a lustrous pearl fell, swirling with extraordinary Dao charm—it was the Enlightenment Pearl.
Ye Chen casually beckoned, and the Enlightenment Pearl fell into his hand.
In a battle of the same realm, Ye Chen was invincible. A mere Heavenly King third-level Hall Guardian was naturally no match for his absolute supremacy.
At the same time, he sensed the various wondrous functions of the Enlightenment Pearl. With a mere thought, not only would the spiritual energy of heaven and earth converge, but more importantly, it could make the laws of the Great Dao feel intimate, making cultivation seem easier. This was the marvel of the Enlightenment Pearl, something that would stir even an ancient Great Sage's heart.
After storing the Enlightenment Pearl within his body, Ye Chen left the Enlightenment Hall and proceeded to the second Divine Island Ancient Temple.
It wasn't that Ye Chen didn't want to head directly to the central floating Divine City to seize the possibly existing most precious treasure of the Ancient Monarch. It was just that upon obtaining the Enlightenment Pearl, Ye Chen also received a piece of information: unless the treasures of all eight hundred Divine Island Ancient Temples were obtained by someone, the Immortal Divine City would not open, and no one could break the Great Dao rules of the Ancient Monarch unless another Ancient Monarch intervened.
Since that was the case, Ye Chen had to speed up his efforts to seize the treasures of the other Divine Island Ancient Temples. After all, for him, these could all be considered relatively rare Great Dao treasures.
Without a doubt, given Ye Chen's combat power, he could absolutely sweep through all opponents of the same realm, remaining invincible. He charged into one Divine Island Ancient Temple after another. The space within each ancient temple was different: some held Primordial starry skies, some endless deserts, some boundless oceans, some ancient battlefields, some millions of mountains, some primordial magma lands where heaven and earth were first separated...
He battled one Hall Guardian after another. The guardians of each Divine Island Ancient Temple were different—some humanoid, some starry sky ancient beasts, some demonic races, some alien races, some innate holy spirits... But without a doubt, each Hall Guardian was at least of the Strongest Prodigy level, a True King Heaven's Pride, and some were even infinitely close to being a young generation's supreme, truly terrifying.
Yet Ye Chen still swept through them all with ease. Unless it was an Emperor's Child-level Supreme Heaven's Pride, even ordinary young generation's supremes were no match for him; at most, they would just require a bit more effort, and that was all.
Yes, he was just that invincible.
In this manner, Ye Chen battled through a full thirty-seven Divine Island Ancient Temples, obtaining thirty-seven Great Dao treasures, all truly first-class treasures. Among them were high-grade divine pills, Great Power-level divine forging materials, extraordinary secret treasures, and some powerful, exceptional ancient scriptures and techniques.
Any treasure collected by an Ancient Monarch was absolutely extraordinary; each one was enough to stir an ancient Great Sage's heart.
This series of forays had given Ye Chen a remarkably rich harvest!
However, as Ye Chen prepared to challenge the next Divine Island Ancient Temple, he discovered that many more powerhouses had appeared in the Emperor's Treasure Secret Realm. Among them were Ancient Path trial-takers and divine kingdom powerhouses; they had actually all fought their way in.
Clearly, there weren't just the initial ten Qualification Light Masses; those were merely the first batch. Some time after Ye Chen and the others entered, another batch of Qualification Light Masses appeared, and this batch was far larger than the first—far more than ten, as the number of people Ye Chen saw alone was no less than fifty.
It was likely that in the later stages, even more people would be able to enter the Emperor's Treasure Secret Realm.
But Ye Chen paid no heed. He continued charging into one Divine Island Ancient Temple after another to seize treasures, soon reaching as many as forty-nine.
Without a doubt, Ye Chen was the strongest of his generation, capable of effortlessly sweeping through all opponents of the same realm. Slaying Hall Guardians was like a wolf entering a flock of sheep; he simply swept through them all.
Yet all of this was beyond the imagination of others. However, quite a few people witnessed this astonishing scene: Ye Chen would just enter a Divine Island Ancient Temple and emerge moments later, entering another one. His speed was so fast it was somewhat world-shaking.
Yet they all shook their heads, thinking it impossible. No matter how powerful Ye Chen was, he couldn't possibly pass through the Divine Island Ancient Temples so easily.
But some observant individuals entered the Divine Island Ancient Temples Ye Chen had challenged and were shocked to find them completely empty, with not even a Hall Guardian present. Only then did they truly turn pale with fright.
So it wasn't false; it was real. This mysterious Ye Chen was truly this powerful, having single-handedly challenged so many Divine Island Ancient Temples in succession. How many treasures left by the Monarch must he have obtained?
Just thinking about it was staggering.
Without a doubt, this was a truly fearsome master, not to be overlooked, likely no weaker than powerhouses like the Blood Desolation Eight Riders or the Bloody Robe Tower Master.
As time passed, more and more powerhouses entered the Emperor's Treasure Secret Realm one after another, constantly challenging the Divine Island Ancient Temples. Many of the Divine Island Ancient Temples had already fallen.
Ye Chen smoothly passed through the forty-ninth Divine Island Ancient Temple. Upon entering the fiftieth, just as he was about to forcefully resolve it as usual, he suddenly realized that the Hall Guardian in this temple was many times more terrifying, far stronger than the other Hall Guardians.
It was a majestic, towering, hazy figure, its true appearance unclear. Its Dharma body was close to the Dao, appearing quite intimate with the Great Dao of heaven and earth, even faintly exuding wisps of ancient Great Power-level majesty.
Only now did Ye Chen's expression truly change. The person before him was not only at the Heavenly King fifth-level, but his aura was far stronger than that of Strongest Prodigies of the same level like Pang Shan or the Blood Desolation Eight Riders. His majestic aura made Ye Chen feel as if he were facing a young generation's supreme.
The Great Dao has fifty aspects, forty-nine are manifest, one remains hidden.
Was it because of this that the fiftieth Divine Island Ancient Temple was exceptionally unique?
This was the first time Ye Chen's expression was so grave, for the fiftieth Hall Guardian was uniquely powerful, to the point where even he felt somewhat wary.
But that was all. Who was he? The invincible Battle Saint King, the Chaos Saint Body. How could he be afraid? He strode forward, releasing his chaotic aura, instantly becoming far more terrifying.
At the same time, the Hall Guardian's eyes seemed to carry a special spiritual light, which made Ye Chen quite suspicious. He always felt that this Hall Guardian was exceptionally different—not only powerful but also seemingly possessing its own intelligence. This made him frown, somewhat astonished and with a deep sense of wariness, not daring to underestimate it.