A desolate ancient hall spanned the endless void. It was an extremely ancient hall, bearing archaic patterns and carvings, their lines worn and weathered. An aura of desolation assailed them, as if they had returned to prehistoric times.
Without a doubt, this ancient hall was a product of the prehistoric era.
Several Supreme Divine Spirits were already waiting here. They could not possibly be their true forms; at this time, they needed to guard the Tian Du Continent to prevent sudden invasions by the alien race. These were merely illusory projections manifested here.
Seeing the Academy Head arrive with Ye Chen and other outstanding talents of the younger generation, they nodded to each other and said, "The timing is about right. Let's open the King's Ancient Path."
"Good, open it!"
Several Supreme Divine Spirits each infused a strand of Divine Spirit power, causing the desolate ancient hall to fully awaken, radiating an ancient Dao Rhyme. The ancient patterns carved on the two massive doors shimmered with flowing light, as if coming to life.
The aura was ancient, yet also vast and magnificent, allowing one to sense a unique Dao Rhyme flowing here.
Boom—
After a tremendous roar, the two stone doors of the ancient hall swung completely open, leading to the mysterious and ancient King's Ancient Path.
"Enter. There isn't much time," Great Sage Hong Tian said.
No one hesitated. After nodding, they filed in one after another, truly stepping onto the King's Ancient Path.
The King's Ancient Path, a legendary road said to lead to the mysterious King's Throne.
It had existed since the dawn of this era, and perhaps even earlier in the prehistoric times. It was incredibly mysterious, only discovered by chance later.
Legend said that by completing the various trials of this King's Ancient Path, one could become an invincible king—hence the name.
There were far too many secrets about this King's Ancient Path. To this day, no one had been able to fully explore it, as it was also a path with age restrictions, only allowing the younger generation to enter.
The various trials on the Tian Du Continent that were only for the younger generation made Ye Chen think of many things. It all seemed to point to the ancient ancestor who created this vast world—the September Great Power!
He suspected that the September Great Power, who had perished while suppressing the great demon of the alien race, might have truly intended to select a successor on the Tian Du Continent, hence arranging these various trials.
As early as six years ago, Ye Chen had once walked this ancient path. It could be said that the ancient path contained a world of its own. While not comparable to the Tian Du Continent, it was certainly no worse than the Trial Path. The ancient path was the only route, traversing the entire world, guiding everyone to the final destination.
Inside were forests, deserts, swamps, vast oceans, and many fearsome creatures. But based on the dangers Ye Chen encountered before reaching halfway, at most he had encountered some Xiantian realm monsters. Naturally, for him at that time, it was already terrifying, as he had not yet awakened and was only at the Xiantian realm.
Stepping in again, many dangers that would have been fatal in the past no longer existed.
When the King's Ancient Path was first discovered, the dangers present were far greater than imagined. However, later, batches of young talents were sent in, constantly training and clearing the dangers on the path, leading to the current King's Ancient Path being safer, yet also more desolate.
This entry could almost be considered the last, as the previous retreat was due to encountering a truly dangerous situation—the presence of a fearsome creature that no one could match at the time. If not for the protective jade talismans jointly crafted by several super forces, the losses could have been severe.
Among them were several people, including Huang Tianqin, who had reached the furthest point. Ye Chen directly inquired about the situation and learned the truth.
Immediately, Ye Chen had a general understanding in his mind. With him leading, he guided everyone directly toward the end of the ancient path.
By now, the obstacles on the King's Ancient Path had basically been eliminated. Even if some remained, they wouldn't be too powerful. Only the final section would be the most terrifying. But with Ye Chen's current strength, he could basically bulldoze through everything.
The King's Ancient Path was long, not much shorter than the Trial Path. It passed by the ruins of ancient cities, endless forests, swamps, deserts, and various perilous lands. One could even see massive skeletons on various ancient grounds, some as huge as mountain ranges, stretching for several or even dozens of li, extremely terrifying.
But these were not slain by the young talents entering the King's Ancient Path. Such creatures were too powerful; even from their residual aura after death, one could sense they were beings of the Divine Spirit realm, having perished and vanished in the river of time.
Time was always the most terrifying force in the world. Even the greatest existence, the Human Sovereign, if they did not take the final step and transcend themselves, would ultimately not be eternal and immortal, but would fade away.
The young powerhouses charged forward, traversing vast perilous lands. Ye Chen was at the forefront, his brow radiating vast Dao light, scouting ahead and neutralizing dangers.
The journey could be described as thrilling but ultimately safe. Because of Ye Chen's presence, everyone felt reassured, fearless of anything.
Three days later, they finally crossed a distance of over a hundred thousand li, traversing endless mountains, rivers, and oceans, finally arriving at the very end of the King's Ancient Path. This was where the previous batch of young talents had been blocked last time—a vast, turbulent river.
The river was incredibly wide, a full ten li across. The water was tumultuous with terrifying waves, occasionally splashing up waves dozens to hundreds of zhang high, a shocking sight.
On the riverbank stood a massive stone stele with three ancient characters—Soul-Snatching River!
These three words were sufficient to prove the river's fearsomeness—it could snatch people's souls.
Naturally, these people were the strongest group of talents in the history of the Tian Du Continent, especially Ye Chen, a Young King capable of slaying Heavenly God realm existences, his might shaking all directions, unmatched.
Huang Tianqin said, "Last time, I, along with Li Hua, Liu Tianxia, and a few others, were blocked before the Soul-Snatching River, unable to cross. On this Soul-Snatching River, one cannot fly across; one can only cross by boat."
The Soul-Snatching River had mysterious Dao rules that suppressed anyone trying to fly across, preventing aerial passage and increasing the difficulty.
But that wasn't the biggest problem. Even more terrifying was that fearsome river demons lurked in the Soul-Snatching River. Last time, Huang Tianqin and the others left because one person rushed to cross the river first, wanting to be the first. Little did they know, a fearsome great demon appeared in the Soul-Snatching River and swallowed that person whole in one bite. That person was a young super powerhouse not inferior to them, naturally making them all quite wary.
Everyone was naturally well-prepared. The several Supreme Divine Spirits also knew about the matters on the King's Ancient Path and had long prepared an extraordinary divine ship, a hundred zhang long. Placed on the Soul-Snatching River, everyone flew onto the divine ship.
The divine ship set sail, preparing to cross the Soul-Snatching River. Suddenly, the heavens and earth changed color, wind and clouds churned, a violent storm arose, stirring up layer upon layer of terrifying waves thousands of zhang high, crashing against the divine ship.
Each terrifying wave was hundreds to thousands of zhang high, capable of submerging the ninth heaven and smashing even ancient mountain ranges to dust.
But the divine ship was extraordinary, specially refined, possessing remarkable divine energy. It radiated a circle of light for defense, carrying the young powerhouses as they swiftly rode the wind and waves, crossing the Soul-Snatching River.
Roar—
Suddenly, a terrifying roar sounded. Amidst the surging terrifying waves, an extremely fearsome demonic snake appeared. Its massive body was no smaller than the divine ship, its scales shimmering with dark light, demonic aura soaring to the heavens. It actually had a single dragon horn on its head, a fearsome great demon showing signs of transforming into a dragon.
"A snake demon with True Dragon bloodline, and a Heavenly God realm peerless great demon at that. No wonder no one has ever truly crossed the Soul-Snatching River throughout the ages."
Seeing this, the young powerhouses' hearts trembled. That fearsome snake demon clearly showed signs of transforming into a dragon. Naturally, it couldn't immediately metamorphose into a True Dragon, but it could transform into a fearsome flood dragon, countless times more terrifying than a demonic flood dragon.
Normally, this dragon-transforming snake demon lay dormant in the Soul-Snatching River. Once someone appeared and tried to cross the river, it would emerge, devouring everything.
The snake demon roared, its incredibly thick snake body directly smashing against the divine ship, trying to shatter it. But the divine ship was enveloped in a hazy radiance, completely unshakable.
This was a divine ship refined by a Divine Spirit, extraordinary and unparalleled, not something a Heavenly God realm being could destroy.
Boom—
Suddenly, vast dark clouds gathered in the sky, forming a vortex spanning dozens of li in radius, radiating a terrifying thunder might, rumbling loudly. Even more terrifyingly, terrifying crimson lightning bolts continuously descended, each as thick as a zhang, dancing and flashing, a mix of blood-red thunder, striking the divine ship.
Boom—
The massive Soul-Snatching River exploded with thousands of waves. Even the sturdy divine ship, with its protective light curtain inscribed by a Divine Spirit, flickered and trembled at this moment, as if about to shatter.
This caused almost everyone to pale. Such terrifying crimson lightning clearly intended to kill, making crossing impossible.
Only Ye Chen remained unchanged. He understood clearly—this was not the crimson lightning trying to kill everyone, but a targeted rule force, preventing the divine ship from operating, sealing it and rendering it immobile.
The purpose of the King's Ancient Path was to train the young powerhouses. Power exceeding the corresponding realm would be restricted by the world.
This was also the rule force left by the creator of the King's Ancient Path. Unless one surpassed the creator, it could not be broken.
"Put away the divine ship. Everyone, prepare to cross the river by treading water. I'll deal with the snake demon," Ye Chen said, flipping his hand to store the divine ship, explaining to the others.
Sure enough, after the divine ship was stored, the crimson lightning no longer appeared.
Roar—
The Heavenly God realm dragon-transforming snake demon surged up from the turbulent waves of the great river, opening its bloody maw as if to devour everything.
This made many people pale. This was absolutely the most fearsome snake demon, its aura astonishing, an extremely terrifying great demon even within the Heavenly God realm.
But at this moment, Ye Chen snorted coldly, strode forward to the front, and merely threw a punch, displaying his king-level world-shaking combat power.
Boom—
Infinite kingly divine might erupted, sweeping across all directions. The ten-li-wide river surface completely exploded.
After three years apart, Ye Chen's strength was displayed before so many young powerhouses for the first time.
The most terrifying force exploded the surging river surface, sending up layer upon layer of terrifying waves thousands of zhang high, churning and rolling, stacking upon each other, shaking the ninth heaven.
That fearsome Heavenly God snake demon bore the brunt, taking Ye Chen's punch. It roared in pain as its massive demonic body was blasted open, revealing a hideous and fearsome wound, deep enough to see bone, pierced through from front to back. A torrent of blood gushed forth, completely dyeing vast stretches of the river red, a shocking sight.
The young supreme powerhouses sighed repeatedly. After three years apart, the strength of this number one of the younger generation was many times greater than before. Even a fearsome Heavenly God realm dragon-transforming great demon was no match, severely injured by a single punch, blood flowing freely, dyeing the great river red.
This was the embodiment of Ye Chen's strength, making all of the younger generation revere him, able to look up to but not surpass.
Ye Chen's expression remained unchanged. He then threw another punch. The supreme power of a Young King fully erupted, completely blasting apart this great river.
The Soul-Snatching River was a thousand zhang deep, but this punch blasted it to the bottom, countless river demons were slain, revealing a riverbed full of skeletons. The river water couldn't even approach, directly severed by this terrifying force.
The Heavenly God realm snake demon was completely crippled. Just two punches nearly killed this great demon showing signs of transforming into a dragon. Although it was known to possess True Dragon bloodline and was very powerful, before Ye Chen, it was nothing.
Pity, Ye Chen wouldn't even fear a True Dragon, let alone a descendant with only a trace of diluted bloodline. He directly blasted forward.
Against creatures not at the high Heavenly God realm, the current Ye Chen had absolute confidence to bulldoze through everything.
Finally, his right fist shot out, blasting apart heaven and earth, shattering the firmament. The Heavenly God realm snake demon was directly slain, its snake body severed into several sections.
A rain of blood fell, dyeing the mountains, rivers, and heavens red.
Three punches to slay a fearsome Heavenly God realm great demon—this was the embodiment of Ye Chen's current terrifying combat power.
Naturally, this snake demon had only newly stepped into the Heavenly God realm. Otherwise, Ye Chen wouldn't have found it so easy to kill. But it was sufficient to prove Ye Chen's peerless fearsomeness.
Whoosh—
A fierce wind arose. Ye Chen flicked his sleeve, directly collecting the scattered demonic snake remains and that Heavenly God demonic core into his hand.
But the Soul-Snatching River was not just that; there were other fearsome river demons lying in wait. But clearly, not many could compare to the snake demon. Ye Chen directly, forcefully and domineeringly, bulldozed his way across. The entire great river was severed by him, all river demons slain by him, blood dyeing the entire Canglan Great River.
Finally, the young powerhouses successfully crossed the Soul-Snatching River, appearing at the final point of the King's Ancient Path. There stood an ancient hall with a stone door. Beside the stone door stood a stone stele, engraved with several ancient large characters—
King's Ancient Gate!