Ye Chen was unaware of the emergence of the Second Emperor Envoy. In truth, even if he had known, he wouldn't have been particularly afraid.
His arrival at the Ninety-Ninth Pass, his rampage into an old lair, his shattering of the Emperor Monarch's Great World, and his suppression and killing of the Eighth Emperor Envoy, Yang Shen—these events spread throughout the starry sky, causing a great upheaval.
In this ancient great universe, among the myriad races of the starry sky, who did not know, who was not aware of the Nine Emperor Envoys of yesteryear? Each was an absolute hegemon, ruling the Boundless Universe on behalf of that supreme Ancient Great Emperor.
It was only after the Heavenly Soul Great Emperor's sudden death that the Nine Emperor Envoys retreated into seclusion, choosing to slumber. No one expected them to emerge in this era as well.
But unfortunately, the Eighth Emperor Envoy, Yang Shen, had not yet fully displayed his might and fame in this era before he was suppressed and killed by the Battle Saint King. Even the Emperor Monarch's Great World was violently shattered—a display of utterly ferocious power.
"Battle Saint King, you dare to kill our Soul-Restraining Hall's Eighth Emperor Envoy! The other eight Emperor Envoys will not let you off!"
The Soul-Restraining Hall issued a death hunt against Ye Chen throughout the Boundless Universe.
"Not let me off? When did I ever say I would let you off?"
Ye Chen sneered, paying no heed. After bidding farewell to Sovereigns of the Ultimate Ancient Path like Sovereign Qingyang and Sovereign Xuyang, he arrived at a relatively safe star region with the three Star Sky Overlords.
He laid down layer upon layer of grand formations, had the three Star Sky Overlords stand guard, and even had the Sovereign puppets from the Tenfold Heaven Sealing Gate wield the Immortal King Feather Sword to suppress and guard the Ten Swords Absolute Formation.
Silently and without a trace, the Great Emperor Reincarnation Body also appeared, hidden in the shadows, holding the Emperor Star, existing like an inanimate object. Even the three Star Sky Overlords failed to detect its presence.
With a wave of his hand, numerous massive corpses appeared before him, each one emanating overwhelming blood energy and the faint, thread-like Sovereign Heavenly Might capable of collapsing the starry sky.
Without a doubt, these corpses were all Ancient Monarchs slain in the past, from the Eighth Emperor Envoy Yang Shen at the top to ordinary Ancient Monarchs at the bottom. Their corpses had essentially been collected and were now laid out before him.
"It's time for the Chaos Saint Body to advance further," Ye Chen murmured softly. "Although the Chaos Saint Body has now reached the pinnacle level among Sovereigns, in terms of physical body level, few among even the most peak-level Tenth Heaven Ancient Monarchs can compare. But it still falls somewhat short. Moreover, due to the Dao Injury, it can at most allow me to exert power comparable to the Eighth Heaven Sovereign level. The enemies I face now grow increasingly stronger; I too need to become stronger."
Ye Chen's gaze was intense. Before him lay several dozen Ancient Monarch corpses, including those of Seventh and Eighth Heaven Sovereigns, and even the remains of an Eighth Emperor Envoy like Yang Shen. They had not been dead for very long and contained vast amounts of Blood Essence.
Today, he intended to use these Sovereign corpses to further elevate his Chaos Saint Body.
Up to this point, the power of the Chaos Saint Body had reached the absolute peak state for a Sovereign's physique. Yet, even with the reinforcement of the mysterious dawn light from the Origin Universe, it had not improved much, clearly having hit a bottleneck.
To advance further, the only way was to refine a massive amount of Blood Essence and force a breakthrough.
Naturally, ordinary Blood Essence would be utterly ineffective for the Chaos Saint Body's breakthrough. At the very least, Ancient Monarch-level Blood Essence was required, and not from ordinary Ancient Monarchs at that.
"The number of Sovereign remains before me isn't vast, but the advantage lies in having several Seventh and Eighth Heaven Sovereigns, plus the corpse of a Star Sky Overlord like Yang Shen. Moreover, my Chaos Saint Body has already reached a shackle. Perhaps I can use this to advance further, break the limitations of the Dao Injury, and reach the peak Sovereign level."
His eyes blazed with fervor. This was a great opportunity not to be missed.
Swish—
Immediately, Ye Chen entered the Chaos Great Cauldron with the numerous Sovereign remains. In an instant, endless Chaos Origin Fire descended like a blanket, wantonly refining the many Sovereign corpses.
At this level, Chaos Origin Fire could even melt Chaos Immortal Gold into liquid, let alone these Sovereign remains.
As the Chaos Origin Fire slowly descended, covering everything, all the Sovereign remains gradually began to burn and refine one by one.
Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle—
Accompanied by the burning of the Chaos Origin Fire, these Sovereign remains gradually showed signs of distortion. However, Ye Chen dared not let the Chaos Origin Fire become too fierce. Otherwise, if it became even slightly too strong, it risked burning the Sovereign remains completely to ash.
What he needed to do was burn the Sovereign remains, incinerate the excess impurities, and slowly leave behind the true essence.
This refining process was destined to be slow. Without at least several months, success would be difficult.
"Hunyuan Long River!"
Ye Chen uttered a light cry. The Hunyuan Long River flew out from between his brows, only a hundred thousand miles long and ten thousand miles wide, coiling into a circle that formed a special space-time within this area, where time flowed hundreds to thousands of times faster than the outside world.
"With my current cultivation, I can command this Hunyuan Long River to envelop this region, making the flow of time here 365 times faster than the outside world. That is to say, one year here equals one day outside. This greatly increases my refining speed and also avoids sudden changes in the external situation."
The Hunyuan Long River belonged to the Hunyuan Imperial Venerable and contained the power of time. By driving it, Ye Chen could also achieve the wonderful effect of accelerated time flow, which was quite beneficial for him at present.
With the Hunyuan Long River accelerating time, Ye Chen found refining these Sovereign remains even more effortless.
Clusters of Chaos Origin Fire enveloped the Sovereign remains. As they were slowly refined, it was visible to the naked eye that much black ash rose steaming from the corpses.
These were impurities, although such impurities would be absolute treasure-grade materials for those below the Sovereign level...
Thus, after a full several months passed, several Sovereign remains were the first to have their flesh, blood, and bones completely refined, eventually becoming clusters of liquid-like flesh and blood. The hardest bones melted into bone liquid, merging with the blood and flesh liquid to form a special dark red liquid, less than half its original size, yet containing unparalleled blood energy capable of drowning the starry sky.
This was the most essential part of an Ancient Monarch's flesh, blood, and bones. Once devoured, it could instantly elevate a Quasi-Sovereign's physical body to the Ancient Monarch level.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!—
Simultaneously, the other Sovereign remains were also refined one after another, transforming into clusters of the most essential existence.
Three years later, even the remains of the Eighth Emperor Envoy, Yang Shen, turned into a liquid-like existence, radiating immensely majestic blood light.
The several dozen clusters of essence before him represented the essence of all the Sovereign remains.
"Burn the essence, incinerate the true body!"
Ye Chen uttered another light cry. Immediately, the numerous clusters of Sovereign flesh and blood essence were devoured into his body, where they actually began to burn, giving rise to wisps of extremely terrifying flames, even more fearsome and domineering than Chaos Origin Fire.
Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle—
Even Ye Chen, with his powerful Chaos Saint Body, turned crimson all over at this moment, like a piece of red-hot iron, constantly emitting a fiery red glow.
Naturally, what accompanied this was endless agony.