"Consider this your punishment. Don't think you're invincible. If you anger me, I dare to kill even an Ancient Monarch!"
Ye Chen issued the most terrifying declaration, shaking the Star Sky and echoing through the Emperor Realm, causing many powerful experts to suck in cold breaths of air. Even the other two Ancient Monarchs fell into deep silence.
This Battle Saint King was simply too overbearing. Moreover, he possessed the capital to look down on everything—currently, he absolutely possessed the overlord-level combat power that dominated the Ancient Path. With the Primordial Great Halberd, a Supreme Emperor-level weapon, he had no need to fear even an Ancient Monarch; he could fight them.
Taiyi roared in fury, his voice shaking the Star Sky. The myriad stars trembled violently, nearly shaking loose. Many cultivators felt their blood and qi churn and their bones resonate from this great roar, all terrified beyond measure.
However, Taiyi stood in the distance, blood light flowing back as his precious body rapidly reassembled. He stared sinisterly in this direction, filled with killing intent, desperately wanting to return and continue the battle to wash away the humiliation.
He was an Overlord of the Ancient Path, naturally possessing sufficiently heaven-defying, world-shaking trump cards. Even if Ye Chen possessed a Supreme Emperor weapon, he was not afraid; he was confident he could preserve his life, or even severely injure the Battle Saint King alongside himself.
But he was unwilling to expose that trump card too early—it was a reserve for competing for the final checkpoint, the "Ultimate," in the future. Therefore, he could only cast a sinister glance from afar and snort coldly: "Battle Saint King, this time you were formidable enough. But don't think you're truly invincible. If we meet deep within the Ultimate Ancient Path in the future, I'll let you witness my true strength. What you saw before is nothing in comparison."
With these words, Taiyi turned and charged into the Star Sky, rushing toward its deepest reaches.
The whole world was in an uproar. Everyone was shocked. Could it be that what Taiyi had displayed earlier wasn't his full strength?
"Overlord Taiyi is rumored to cultivate the legendary Samsara Supreme Art, dividing himself into three World Bodies: past, present, and future. The one who came now was likely just one of those World Bodies, not the complete Three World Bodies," the Flame Monarch spoke, even he carrying a tone of gravity.
The myriad experts all sucked in cold breaths. And from the subsequent explanation by Sovereign Xuelan, they learned that the Samsara Three World Bodies technique divides oneself into three entities. Once merged, they would display truly heaven-defying power.
What Overlord Taiyi displayed now could not possibly be the complete Three World Bodies, only one of them. The other two World Bodies were still in the deepest parts of the Ultimate Ancient Path.
In other words, even the strength displayed earlier was not Taiyi's full power, only a part of it. It was hard to imagine how heaven-defying the true merger of the Three World Bodies would be.
"Every Ultimate Ancient Path Overlord is supremely powerful and heaven-defying. Even a true Ancient Monarch would find it difficult to kill them. Perhaps to some extent, they all possess strength comparable to an Ancient Monarch in battle. They cannot be underestimated."
Among them, Sovereign Xuelan spoke with such emotion, an affirmation of the Ultimate Ancient Path Overlords that also made everyone's hearts sink.
Were the Ultimate Ancient Path Overlords truly this terrifying, able to battle Ancient Monarchs?
They then looked toward the Goddess, with an indescribable gravity.
This made countless Ancient Path Trial-takers' hearts sink, even the young Supreme Ones were no exception, as if pressed down by a million mountains, finding it hard to breathe.
These Ultimate Ancient Path Overlords were all so supremely powerful and peerless. If they encountered them in the future, how could they possibly compete?
Yet Ye Chen, holding the Primordial Great Halberd, a brilliant golden divine light pillar erupting from the crown of his head, shooting into the deepest reaches of the Star Sky, vast and mighty in all directions, smiled lightly: "So what if they are Ancient Path Overlords? If we meet in the future as enemies, where I stand, none shall be my match!"
Boom—
Divine might like a prison, willpower that overshadowed the world!
This was the Battle Saint King, making everyone turn their heads, the future Ancient Path Overlord whom countless Ancient Path Trial-takers would look up to.
After the battle ended, the clash between the two Ultimate Ancient Path Overlords was destined to shake the great world, for this was one of the open clashes between Ancient Path Overlords, letting people know their true formidable aspects.
Naturally, the Battle Saint King's prestige would be the same, sweeping through the entire Ultimate Ancient Path in a short time, letting everyone know of his heaven-defying return.
Moreover, he had smashed Overlord Taiyi. Even if this was only one of Taiyi's World Bodies, once word spread, his prestige was destined to become many times more glorious, placed by countless Ancient Path Trial-takers among the powerful and formidable competitors for the final checkpoint, the "Ultimate."
Hum—
The Primordial Great Halberd quickly dimmed. At the same time, Ye Chen's aura rapidly receded, returning to the peak Heavenly King realm, and then continued to fall, plummeting all the way down to the seventh heaven, continuing to drop to the fifth heaven, but still not stopping, finally stabilizing at the third heaven of the Heavenly King realm.
Facing this, Ye Chen couldn't help but smile bitterly. This was the price of temporarily boosting his cultivation.
His previous supreme power was actually due to Ye Chen establishing a special contract with the deity within the Primordial Great Halberd. But not everyone could do this; even a Battle Saint might not be able to. Only someone like Ye Chen, who had once inherited the Battle Saint Soul of the Formless Monarch, could do it—forming a contract with the weapon deity of the Formless Monarch's battle weapon, exchanging it for supreme power.
Naturally, corresponding karma existed in this world. Even Ye Chen couldn't obtain infinite power for free; he needed to pay a sufficient price. The brief moment of extreme enhancement had drained the vast majority of divine energy from within Ye Chen's body. It would take at least three months to recover—no small cost.
Thus, by exchanging with the Primordial Great Halberd, he obtained a brief extreme enhancement, reaching a supreme domain comparable to the Goddess and Taiyi.
In fact, if Ye Chen wished, he could even completely inherit all the power of the Primordial deity through the contract, reaching at least a domain comparable to an Emperor Lord, invincible throughout the myriad heavens.
However, the price would be his life—an equivalent exchange, and only for a brief moment.
Only by paying a price could there be gain. The Primordial deity could not completely help Ye Chen either.
Although he had now fallen to the third heaven of the Heavenly King realm, Ye Chen felt not a trace of nervousness. On the contrary, he turned to look at the Goddess in the distant sky, smiling gently at her and opening his arms: "Jingruo—"
Whoosh—
Under the gaze of countless eyes, the Goddess descended from the heavens. Even disregarding the countless shocked gazes, her peerlessly graceful figure directly plunged into Ye Chen's embrace. Her jade-like arms tightly encircled his robust waist, her stunningly beautiful face buried in his broad chest, listening to the heartbeat of her beloved.
Faintly, it seemed a somewhat complaining yet excited voice could be heard: "Yue, you've finally returned. I've waited for you so long."
"I'm back!"
Ye Chen also tightly embraced the Goddess's slender, supple waist, then gently lifted that stunningly beautiful face streaked with tears. Looking at the usually overbearing Goddess, whose eyes now brimmed with tears, myriad emotions surged forth—excitement, joy, disbelief, cautiousness... very complex, yet joy outweighed everything.
"I'm sorry for making you suffer."
Unable to restrain himself, Ye Chen wrapped one arm around that soft waist, the other hand lifting the maiden's snow-white chin. Under the gaze of countless eyes, he directly lowered his head and kissed those delicate, alluring red lips.
This kiss seemed to truly last an eternity.
"Yue, don't leave again, okay?"
"I will never leave!"
Ye Chen said softly, his words ringing in each other's ears. A single gentle sentence conveyed myriad emotions.