The Nine Clans and Eighteen Kingdoms were overthrown?
The One Hundred and Eight Ancient God Clans?
"Why do you say that?" Ye Chen asked solemnly.
Xia Mu'er gave Ye Chen and the others a surprised glance, puzzled that they were unaware of such a momentous event that had shaken the entire Ten Heavens Realm in recent years. But then, remembering they had just been released for their training journey, her face flushed slightly. She shyly stuck out her pink tongue, looking exceptionally tender and adorable.
At that moment, another youth from the tribe spoke up. Though somewhat nervous and shy in the presence of a peerless beauty like A Beinu, he seemed to want to show his courage. He lifted his head and said loudly, "Because in recent years, the heavens have opened wide! Descendants of the gods have descended from the Nine Heavens one after another, completely changing the situation of the Ten Heavens Realm from a century ago. The Nine Clans and Eighteen Kingdoms have evolved into the current One Hundred and Eight Ancient God Clans!"
The so-called One Hundred and Eight Ancient God Clans were the now-famous Thirty-Six Emperor and Seventy-Two Royal clans of the Ten Heavens Realm.
The original overlord races and powers like the Nine Clans and Eighteen Kingdoms were also founded by descendants of the gods. However, in recent years, the most magnificent change since time immemorial occurred in the Ten Heavens Realm. The Heavenly Dao transformed, the myriad Daos flourished, ushering in the most glorious golden age in history.
Simultaneously, foreign supreme geniuses broke through the barriers of the Ten Heavens Realm one after another, entering from the outside world. Each was young yet incredibly powerful, unimaginably so. They were hailed as Emperor Sons and Daughters, descendants of the gods who created the Ten Heavens Realm, possessing the strongest divine bloodlines. They brought their respective Ancient God Clans with them, truly descending upon the Ten Heavens Realm.
Naturally, the arrival of these so-called descendants of the gods and their Ancient God Clans initially provoked rejection from the myriad races of the Ten Heavens Realm. In the long-held view of the myriad races, the only true Ancient God Clans were the Nine Clans and Eighteen Kingdoms. They were the true Ancient God Clans who guided the myriad races out of the dark, bloody era they wished not to recall, achieving the current glorious and prosperous state of the myriad races.
However, these descendants of the gods and Ancient God Clans entering from the outside were indeed excessively powerful. Any one of them could sweep through a host of ancient clans. Even the formidable Eight Hundred Royal Clans located deep within the Ten Heavens Realm were far from their match.
Moreover, even when the immortal godly powers left behind by the gods, like the Nine Clans and Eighteen Kingdoms, personally intervened, they could hardly gain much advantage against these foreign Ancient God Clans.
Because among the foreign Ancient God Clans, there also existed the most top-tier, peerless existences, making even the Nine Clans and Eighteen Kingdoms extremely wary.
Most importantly, these foreign Ancient God Clans were not just one or two, nor even just a dozen, but dozens of them descended one after another. Even the Nine Clans and Eighteen Kingdoms and the Eight Hundred Royal Clans faced severe threats.
Over time, under the intimidation of the numerous foreign Ancient God Clans, even powers as mighty as the Nine Clans and Eighteen Kingdoms had no choice but to concede. They tacitly allowed these foreign Ancient God Clans to exist within this Ten Heavens Realm.
Furthermore, the Nine Clans and Eighteen Kingdoms seemed to realize that these foreign Ancient God Clans were also descendant godly races of the gods, equally terrifying and powerful.
Thus, the former overlords of the Ten Heavens Realm, the Nine Clans and Eighteen Kingdoms, evolved into the current One Hundred and Eight Ancient God Clans.
And the original Eight Hundred Royal Clans, with the successive arrival of other immortal ancient clans second only to the Ancient God Clans, also evolved into the current Three Thousand Royal Clans.
The One Hundred and Eight Ancient God Clans and the Three Thousand Royal Clans were now the overlord ancient clans at the pinnacle of the pyramid within the vast Nine Great Heavenly Realms inside the Ancestral God Pass.
Ye Chen and the others naturally understood that the foreign descendants of the gods were the Emperor Sons and Daughters, and the so-called Ancient God Clans were their respective imperial clans.
The One Hundred and Eight Ancient God Clans—didn't that represent one hundred and eight imperial clans?
After understanding this, Ye Chen and his companions were all inwardly shaken.
What an astonishing number of imperial clans this was! Looking across the entire Chaos Sea, even if one combined the imperial clans and immortal clans of the alien race's Ancient Universe and the Primordial Immortal World Ancient Universe—the two strongest Ancient Universes—they probably wouldn't amount to this many.
Only by gathering the entire Chaos Sea, its numerous Chaos Ancient Universes, and within this special great era, could one hundred and eight imperial clans appear at once.
After all, the Chaos Sea's existence spanned an immeasurable age, with one epoch after another sinking into oblivion. Over the vast, endless years, combining all the Chaos Ancient Universes could naturally give birth to one hundred and eight Emperors or supreme immortals, perhaps even more.
Among them, many imperial clans and immortal clans remained reclusive, known only by name in the world, their clans unseen, still developing and flourishing in secret. Only in this special great era did the various heavenly imperial clans and immortal clans emerge from seclusion.
Because these imperial clans and immortal clans knew, as deduced by their ancestral Emperors or supreme immortals, that the near future held the most terrifying blood-soaked future in history, one that would spread throughout the entire Chaos Sea. Even those reclusive Emperors or supreme immortals might all be forced out, unable to truly avoid it, let alone their clans.
Only by sending their clans' Emperor Sons and Daughters or immortal descendants onto the Supreme Ancient Path to compete for the final "Supreme" immortal fate left by the various Emperors, and become powerful, could their entire imperial clan or immortal clan survive that dreadful blood-soaked future.
However, the most surprising point for Ye Chen and the others was this: the Supreme Ancient Path, like the Ultimate Ancient Path, should logically only allow the younger generation to enter. But it sounded more complicated than that, as if even the imperial clans behind those Emperor Sons and Daughters could enter.
If that were truly the case, how did the imperial clans behind these Emperor Sons and Daughters step into the Ten Heavens Realm? Could it also be a contingency plan left by the various Emperors?
But clearly, neither Xia Mu'er nor the other tribal youths were likely to know these secrets. Even the tribe's helmsman, Elder Xia, was probably the same. Ultimately, they were just from a small tribe within the vast human race, far from the level where they could know such secrets.
This made Ye Chen sigh slightly. These secrets would have to wait until he entered the Ancestral God Pass, set foot in the Ten Heavens Realm, and investigated personally.
Ye Chen suddenly asked, "What level does the human race occupy among the myriad races? Does it belong among the One Hundred and Eight Ancient God Clans?"
Xia Mu'er shook her head, saying the human race was a vague racial concept because humans could also be divided into many races, such as pure humans, ape-men, fish-men, heavenly humans, the Xuanyuan Clan... It was essentially a unified racial designation formed by gathering numerous branch races.
Within the Ten Heavens, there were actually twelve colossal super-races, such as the human race, demon race, alien race, heavenly race, sea race, and so on.
Even the One Hundred and Eight Ancient God Clans and Three Thousand Royal Clans that dominated the Ten Heavens Realm—almost all races originated from these twelve colossal super-races.
One could say the Ten Heavens Realm was vast and immense, yet also very complex, with many divisions.
Ye Chen understood. For example, within the alien race, many of the One Hundred and Eight Ancient God Clans must belong to the alien race's imperial clans, and even among the Three Thousand Royal Clans, many were also part of the vast alien race.
Just like in the Sealed Universe, the Tai Sheng Imperial Clan, the Ye Family imperial clan, the Angel Clan, etc., weren't they all part of the human race in a broad sense, even if the terminology differed slightly?
Ye Chen asked again, "Among the One Hundred and Eight Ancient God Clans and the Three Thousand Royal Clans, aren't there any powerful clans belonging to the human race?"
Xia Mu'er said, "There are!"
"In that case, why do you say our human race is weak and declining?" Ye Chen didn't understand. If there were imperial clans and royal clans belonging to the human race among them, the human race should be flourishing. Why was it said to be the opposite—weak and declining?
This seemed contradictory no matter how one looked at it.
Hearing this, Xia Mu'er and the others shook their heads. They were, after all, just young juniors from a small tribe, not qualified to know too many things. But they had heard that the human race, now called one of the twelve colossal super-races, was weak and declining. Its status in the Ten Heavens Realm was quite ordinary. Sometimes, human cultivators like them would even be bullied by other ancient clans.
Suddenly, Xia Mu'er looked at Ye Chen and the others somewhat hesitantly, cautiously saying, "Brother Ye Chen, I'll tell you some rumors I heard from Grandpa. Please don't spread them around, or Grandpa will definitely punish me with wall-facing meditation if he finds out."
"Mu'er!"
The other youths grew anxious, wanting to stop Xia Mu'er, but she gently shook her head at them. "Don't worry, I believe Brother Ye Chen and the others won't tell. Besides, it's not a very important secret."
Hearing this, the youths had no choice but to reluctantly agree, though they remained vigilant towards Ye Chen and the others.
Ye Chen didn't mind much, speaking gently, "Miss Mu'er, please go ahead. I, Ye Chen, can swear to the heavens I won't utter half a word of it to anyone."
Hearing this, Xia Mu'er and the others relaxed a little. They still believed in such oaths. Xia Mu'er cautiously glanced outside the room, then whispered, "Brother Ye Chen, I overheard this from Grandpa too. It seems to be a rumor, I don't know if it's true. I heard that deep within the Ten Heavens Realm, although there are clans belonging to our human race among the One Hundred and Eight Ancient God Clans and the Three Thousand Royal Clans, their numbers aren't large—not even one-tenth. Moreover, I heard the alien race is very powerful and has an ancient enmity with our human race. And because among the Ancient God Clans entering from the outside this time, many belong to that alien race, they've joined forces with several other Ancient God Clans to suppress our human race's Ancient God Clans and Royal Clans. Although our human race also has powerful God Sons, their numbers can't match the alien race's God Sons. So, while our human race is currently said to be flourishing, it also appears weak and declining."
So that was it. It was the work of that detestable alien race again. Who would have thought these alien races were like lingering ghosts, appearing everywhere?
A flash of icy killing intent appeared in Ye Chen's eyes.
Boom—
Suddenly, the entire ship, which had been sailing smoothly, shook violently, suffering a massive impact.
Everyone in the room was startled, quickly rushing out to find out what had happened.
Then they saw the people on deck in a panic, faintly hearing shouts: "It's bad! The Yellow Sea Seven Devils pirates have caught up!"