At this point, the Dan Emperor Clan was filled with nothing but endless regret.
Because of this matter, they had pushed the previously amicable Battle Saint King out the door.
That was a figure with limitless potential, one who possessed the means to slay an Ancient Monarch at such a tender age. Who could guess just how far he would ultimately go?
Even if he ultimately failed to achieve the Great Perfection of the Chaos Great Dao and prove his Dao to become a Supreme One, so what?
He was still very young, with ample time to prove his Dao and become an Emperor through other Great Daos. Wasn't that how the Primordial Chaos Imperial Sovereign of old had done it?
"Ancestor, what should we do now?"
An Elder of the imperial clan spoke up, his voice hesitant.
"No, we must apologize. This connection with the Battle Saint King cannot be severed by my hand," the Old Monarch gritted his teeth and decisively gave chase.
However, by the time he rushed out into the starry sky, the figures of Ye Chen and the Ice Flame Monarch had long since vanished without a trace. Even with his status as an Ancient Monarch, he could not discern where they had gone, his heart filled with thick regret.
Meanwhile, Ye Chen and the Ice Flame Monarch traversed the starry sky. Both were supreme powerhouses among Monarchs, their every step spanning entire starfields, their speed unimaginable.
Upon reaching the Ancient Monarch realm, one could easily traverse the vastness of a great universe's starry sky. The boundless cosmos held few secrets for them; there was virtually nowhere in the great universe they could not go if they wished.
During their journey, the Ice Flame Monarch once asked if Ye Chen truly felt no regret. After all, that was a World Stone and an Immortal Emperor Medicine seedling, treasures difficult to find across all ages, items even ancient Great Emperors might not obtain.
Ye Chen sneered, "There's nothing to regret. The Dan Emperor Clan played their hand well. If I had married into their clan, the World Stone and Immortal Emperor Medicine seedling would have ultimately remained theirs, merely passing through my hands for a turn. Instead, I would have been branded with the Dan Emperor Clan's mark, forced to exert effort and serve them."
"What is the Dan Emperor Clan worth? If not for them being the descendants left behind by Senior Alchemy Emperor, any ordinary imperial clan daring to act like this would face my direct assault. Even their complete annihilation wouldn't be out of the question."
"Heh, as for Supreme Emperor Weapons, it's not like I don't have any."
He possessed this confidence. His true self rivaled an Eighth Heaven peerless Sovereign, and he had his Great Emperor Reincarnation Body, along with the Five Elements Emperor Star. Furthermore, he had a portion of the Chaos Heavenly Mansion's experts following him. His overall strength was so formidable that annihilating an imperial clan was not impossible.
Back in the day, the ruler of a forbidden zone in the Primordial Heaven Realm, wielding a Supreme Emperor Weapon, had managed to annihilate an imperial clan. How much more so could he?
Moreover, he had true ancient giants like the Battle Saint Ancestor, the Flame Emperor, and the Tai Sheng Huang backing him. What gave the Dan Emperor Clan the courage to demand he marry into their clan and have his wives and children respect their Imperial Daughters?
The more he thought about it, the colder and angrier Ye Chen became. To scheme against him like this—even if it was the Dan Emperor Clan—he held them in no regard whatsoever.
The Ice Flame Monarch remained silent, understanding the resentment in Ye Chen's heart. He shook his head, feeling pity for the Dan Emperor Clan. This time, they had truly suffered a double loss: failing to recruit the Battle Saint King through marriage and instead pushing him even further away.
And so, the two seemed to traverse the starry sky aimlessly, neither hurried nor slow. The Ice Flame Monarch did not ask Ye Chen where they were headed; he knew Ye Chen must have a destination in mind.
A short while later, the two appeared before a majestic Imperial Star. The star was immensely vast, faintly emanating an aura of Emperor's Supreme Might.
The higher one's cultivation, the more one could sense this Supreme Emperor's Aura.
"An Imperial Star? This star seems familiar. It appears to be the Imperial Star of the Jiuyan Imperial Clan," the Ice Flame Monarch said with surprise. In his prime, when he dominated the starry sky, he had traversed countless territories. After a brief recollection, he remembered the origin of this Imperial Star.
"Correct, it is precisely the Nine Colors Emperor Star. In the past, I had some enmity with the Jiuyan Imperial Clan," Ye Chen chuckled, but his laughter made the Ice Flame Monarch feel pity for the Jiuyan Imperial Clan. Being remembered by such a peerlessly powerful and invincible figure was not a good thing.
He also sensed that a faint aura of Sovereign's Heavenly Might was emanating from the Nine Colors Emperor Star, though it was confined to the area outside the star and not overly dense. It served more as a warning to outsiders that this Imperial Star had an imperial clan Sovereign stationed there.
"As expected of an imperial clan. Although the former Nine Gods Sovereign perished, there are still Ancient Monarchs emerging from seclusion to take their place and guard the clan."
The Jiuyan Imperial Clan was, after all, an imperial clan with unfathomably deepheritage / foundation. Naturally, they could not have only one Ancient Monarch. There were others who had been sealed away. After the fall of the Nine Gods Sovereign, they were awakened and emerged to take his place guarding the clan.
Of course, Ye Chen's greater enmity with the Jiuyan Imperial Clan stemmed from the former Nine Gods Sovereign. With the latter's demise, Ye Chen was unwilling to pursue the matter further. His return this time was to visit his disciple, Yan Wushuang, who had remained here for many years.
"Back then, I left Yan Wushuang within the Nine Colors Emperor Star, allowing him to attempt the path of proving his Dao through faith. Many years have passed; I wonder how far he has progressed now."
Towards Yan Wushuang, Ye Chen felt a sense of guilt. Back then, he had only bestowed upon him some of the Jiuyan Imperial Clan's Emperor's bloodline power and other secret treasures, offering no further assistance, not even proper guidance.
After all, at that time, his own understanding of the path of faith was shallow; he could not illuminate the way for Yan Wushuang. Moreover, being pursued by the Jiuyan Imperial Clan, he had only stayed for a very short time.
Thus, this return served a dual purpose: to visit Yan Wushuang, investigate his progress on the path of faith, and also, if necessary, offer some assistance.
The two entered the Nine Colors Emperor Star. With their cultivation levels, even though the Jiuyan Imperial Clan had a Sovereign awakened, they would find it difficult to detect them.
The Nine Colors Emperor Star was divided into the Myriad Nations of All Worlds, the Thirty-Six Imperial Kingdoms, and the Seven Great Empires.
The Xi Kingdom where Yan Wushuang resided was merely one small kingdom among the Myriad Nations.
Of course, with Ye Chen's divine sense, he could silently invade the consciousness of ordinary cultivators without being detected, thereby gleaning important information. He sifted through this, combined it with his own understanding, and learned of Yan Wushuang's circumstances over the years.
In the past, after Yan Wushuang received Ye Chen's bestowed Emperor's bloodline power, his own innate talent and aptitude underwent a shocking transformation, breaking through his previousaptitude limits. His path of the Great Dao became smooth and unobstructed from then on.
Especially since he also mastered the various Great Dao inheritances bestowed by Ye Chen, as well as body-refining profound techniques like the Heaven-Defying Body Refinement Art, his cultivation progress could be described as astonishing.
Over the past several hundred years, Yan Wushuang had not only replaced the former king of the Xi Kingdom, becoming its new ruler, but also, with astonishing skill, took control of the Xi Kingdom, developing it, conscripting soldiers from other nations, annexing a hundred kingdoms, and rapidly expanding its territory outward.
Countless wars, large and small, had occurred, and he had never suffered a single defeat, winning every battle. The world hailed him as the God of War.
As a result, the Xi Kingdom had now become the foremost empire on the Nine Colors Emperor Star, ruling over billions upon billions of living beings across the vast Imperial Star.
The former Seven Great Empires, Thirty-Six Imperial Kingdoms, and Myriad Nations of All Worlds had long been annexed by the Xi Kingdom, becoming vassal states.
On the surface, the Xi Kingdom had become the ruler of the Nine Colors Emperor Star.
And Yan Wushuang was, naturally, the surface ruler of the Nine Colors Emperor Star.
Due to such astonishing capability, coupled with an Emperor's bloodline power nearly rivaling that of an Imperial Son and his shocking cultivation speed, he had garnered the focused attention of the Jiuyan Imperial Clan. Many years ago, he was taken into the clan and granted the surname "Yan" as a reward. His current name was now Yan Wushuang.
His heaven-defying Emperor's bloodline power led no one to suspect it was originally bestowed by Ye Chen after extracting it from the high-ranking members of the Jiuyan Imperial Clan. TheSource of All Daoscharacteristic of the Chaos Dao concealed it perfectly, leading the Jiuyan Imperial Clan to believe that among the billions upon billions of descendants scattered across the Nine Colors Emperor Star, an individual with diluted bloodline had experienced a mutation and reverted to their ancestry, thus giving birth to aReturn to Ancestry bloodlineindividual like Yan Wushuang.
Over the years, Yan Wushuang's progress could be described as divinely swift. Back then, he hadn't even reached the Saint realm, yet now he had preliminarily stepped into the Divine King level.
A Divine King, no matter where in the cosmic starry sky, could absolutely be considered a top-tier powerhouse.
Moreover, he was only a few hundred years old, still very young with astonishing potential.
Achieving Divine King in a few hundred years was not difficult fordefying heaven / heaven-defying's Great Perfection Supreme Genius like Qian Xun, Ye Junlin, Chenxi, and Yaya. Someone like Ye Junlin had even stepped into the Quasi-Sovereign level.
But for an ordinary person, it was indeed very fast.
It must be noted that the Everlasting Sword God of the Jiuyan Imperial Clan back in the day had achieved Divine King status only after tens of thousands of years—a hundred times Yan Wushuang's age.
It could be said that achieving the status of a Divine King at such a young age, rising from a small kingdom to make the Xi Kingdom the foremost empire on the Nine Colors Emperor Star—such potential, such skill—had led the Jiuyan Imperial Clan to focus on cultivating him, subtly hinting at grooming him to become the next clan leader.
He was even regarded as the most important figure to cultivate aside from Supreme Sons.
Now, divine statues of Yan Wushuang stood everywhere across the entire Nine Colors Emperor Star.
On the path of faith, Yan Wushuang had walked very far indeed. Even in many starfields ruled by the Jiuyan Imperial Clan, related divine statues were erected.
This was tacitly approved by the Jiuyan Imperial Clan, as they all knew the path Yan Wushuang wished to tread.
Although they considered this path difficult, it was worth attempting. Perhaps one day, a Faith Emperor could be born!
Thus, with terrifying skill, Yan Wushuang had become the master of one lineage within the contemporary Jiuyan Imperial Clan, holding significant authority within the clan.
During his tenure managing this lineage, he used forceful methods to thoroughly sweep clean, eliminating many opposing voices. Those old antiques had long lost their desire for power, often going into seclusion tobreak through to / charge towardshigherlevel's realm, and also due to their appreciation for Yan Wushuang.
This led to Yan Wushuang essentially controlling nearly half of the Jiuyan Imperial Clan's authority, possessing the qualification to compete for the position of next clan leader.
Upon learning this information, Ye Chen, as his master, felt quite pleased. This disciple had more perseverance and skill than he had imagined.
The promise made back then was gradually being realized, and by now, it was basically fulfilled.
A vast, formless divine sense enveloped the entire Nine Colors Emperor Star, yet even the contemporary awakened Sovereign of the Jiuyan Imperial Clan failed to sense it.
Soon, Yan Wushuang's location was discovered.
With a whoosh, Ye Chen vanished.