The boundless darkness was the gaping maw of a Star Beast, now transformed into an abyss that sought to devour Ye Chen's group along with the trial ancient city.
However, Ye Chen and his companions were no ordinary individuals, let alone ordinary Great Powers. They erupted into action.
This Star Beast was also extraordinary—a mature one. Generally, mature Star Beasts were at the Great Power realm, but this one was a king among Star Beasts, comparable to a super Great Power of the eighth heaven. It also possessed a terrifying Star God Body, far more fearsome than imagined.
Ye Chen did not make a move. Even though this was a Star Beast King, he did not care overly much. Having refined three Nine Heavens Profound Crystals and successfully stepping into the mid-stage of the sixth heaven, his combat power could even be said to rival the ninth heaven. This Star Beast King was not worth his attention.
His subordinate, Abenue, took action. Over the past few months, she had digested a small portion of the Seven Peerless Talents' bodies, causing her strength to climb significantly, reaching the late-stage of the seventh heaven. Moreover, she was an initial-level young supreme, making her overall power comparable to a late-stage eighth heaven existence.
With a long roar, she directly transformed into her true form—a ten-thousand-li-long golden True Dragon, majestic and immense. Upon her golden body, the densely packed dragon scales now bore many mysterious patterns, as if they were innate Dao patterns, releasing an Emperor-like, supreme and lofty majesty that made it difficult for others to face her directly.
This was because the Emperor Bloodline Power within the Seven Peerless Talents had been devoured and assimilated. Although it was not particularly intense yet, given time, that level of Bloodline Power would likely not be much inferior to the Emperor Bloodline Power of an Emperor's son or daughter.
Boom—
Abenue engaged in a fearsome, intense battle with this Star Beast King. Although the Star Beast King's body was incomparably massive, even far larger than Abenue's ten-thousand-li-long golden True Dragon-form insect mother queen body, it was incredibly agile, dodging and weaving with extreme speed, completely unaffected. Moreover, its immense Star God Body was even more terrifying, not something ordinary stars could compare to.
This Star Beast King had grown by continuously devouring stars, accumulating within its body the true essences of numerous stars. This made the Star Beast King's entire body hard and indestructible, capable of withstanding fearsome attacks without perishing.
It fought fiercely with Abenue's true form in the Star Sky, spanning several star domains and shattering countless stars in an extremely intense battle.
However, Abenue was ultimately stronger. Her golden True Dragon-form true body, forged by devouring various Emperor Bloodline Powers, was countless times stronger than an ordinary Great Power's divine body. Within the Great Power realm, it could almost be called one of the strongest divine bodies. Even the Star Beast King's Star God Body, refined from the essences of myriad heavens' stars, could not compare.
During the fierce battle, Abenue forcefully inflicted numerous cracks upon it, causing it to continuously shed copious amounts of blood. With a single strike of the True Dragon Soaring Heaven Technique, she even pierced through the Star Beast King's Star God Body, running it through from front to back, dyeing the star domain with blood—a truly miserable sight.
"Roar—"
The Star Beast King let out a miserable roar that shook the Star Sky, reverberating for who knows how many tens of thousands of li.
Just as Abenue was about to press her advantage and slay this Star Beast King, an aura of great terror suddenly surged forth from the depths of the Star Sky, sweeping across the vast interstellar space and spreading at an astonishing speed.
Immediately, Ye Chen and the others saw that in the deepest part of the Star Sky, a terrifyingly enormous black shadow had appeared, so vast it was indescribable, far larger than the Star Beast King currently engaged in battle.
Moreover, the aura released from its body trembled the Star Sky, shattering the myriad stars. Even Ye Chen felt a sense of terrifying crisis.
Above the Great Power realm—the Nine Tribulations Realm!
A trace of emotion finally appeared on Ye Chen's face, which had always been calm and unperturbed. Moreover, that was also a fearsome Star Beast. If the one currently battling could be called a Star Beast King, then the one approaching was enough to be called a King Among Kings.
Escape!
Almost without hesitation, Ye Chen directly waved his hand and summoned the Chaos Great Cauldron, swiftly drawing Abenue, Mo Haishen, and Luo Guyun—the three supreme heavenly prides—inside. Then, with lightning speed, he executed the Realm-Treading Secret Technique, pushing his speed to the limit, condensing into a streak of Chaos immortal light that traversed the Star Sky, instantly crossing boundless distances as star domains rapidly receded before his eyes.
Awoo—
That Nine Tribulations existence, worthy of being called a King Among Kings among Star Beasts, quickly appeared. Its divine might was boundless. Wherever it passed, the stars of the heavens trembled. Those slightly closer could not withstand its vast pressure and directly exploded, becoming brilliant fireworks.
A bloody light surged from the body of that King Among Kings, then engulfed the Star Beast King. It contained vast life essence, allowing the Star Beast King's injuries to heal rapidly.
The Star Beast King let out a low roar towards the King Among Kings, appearing quite docile yet also filled with grievance. Divine sense spread out: "My King, those humans are audacious, wanting to kill me. You must seek justice for me."
"Rest assured. Mere human juniors dare to harm this king's Dao companion? They are destined for annihilation!"
So, this Star Beast King was the Dao companion of the King Among Kings.
Boom—
The King Among Kings' speed instantly increased manyfold. Its boundless black shadow moved rapidly through the Star Sky, practically equivalent to a star domain moving. Along its path, the stars could not hinder its movement and quickly exploded.
The entire Star Sky violently shook, giving rise to numerous thick spatial chasms.
Regarding the Star Beast King being the Dao companion of the King Among Kings, Ye Chen had never considered this. At this moment, he was moving as fast as possible, executing the Realm-Treading Secret Technique of the Formless Monarch to its utmost.
It wasn't that he didn't want to summon the Chaos Great Cauldron to escape, but he dared not be the slightest bit negligent. The opponent was an existence at the Nine Tribulations Realm, capable of shaking heaven and earth and sealing the myriad heavens with a single thought. He feared that the moment he summoned the Chaos Great Cauldron, the opponent would influence the space-time of heaven and earth, preventing his success.
Only after putting enough distance between them would he dare summon the Chaos Great Cauldron.
However, Ye Chen's speed could also be called peerless, basically ranking first among the Great Power realm. Yet once one ascended to the Nine Tribulations Realm and grasped threads of monarch power, such an existence received immense improvements in every aspect, including speed, which was also terrifyingly fast, not the slightest bit inferior to Ye Chen.
Under such circumstances, even though Ye Chen possessed the heaven-defying movement technique of the Realm-Treading Secret Technique, he could not easily shake off an opponent a whole major realm higher like he could back in the semi-god realm against a god-transformation realm expert.
The higher the cultivation, the greater the gap between each realm.
For example, the gap between a single heaven within the Great Power realm was even greater than the gap between semi-god and god-transformation.
Ye Chen fled like lightning. Facing a Nine Tribulations Realm existence, he could not yet clash head-on. Although he was not truly afraid and had sufficient trump cards to deal with it, he was unwilling to use them at this time.
Those trump cards of his—he was unwilling to truly use them unless it was a critical moment.
Otherwise, it would be difficult to achieve any real training effect.