Time turned its wheel, and another three hundred years passed.
This year marked the three thousand six hundredth year since Ye Chen's return to the Pangu Universe.
He was now nearly six thousand years old, yet his black hair cascaded like a waterfall, his physique crystalline, forever youthful in appearance like a young man just past twenty, growing ever more complete and perfect, unmatched by anyone in the world.
He seemed to be the most perfect existence in all creation.
Over these past centuries, his divine power had continued to grow without pause for a single moment, his divine majesty growing ever more intense.
But his true combat strength remained unknown to all. Others had only glimpsed a part of it from his battle three hundred years prior when he hunted an alien Great Emperor, yet that was not a display of his full power.
From that battle, the world had concluded that his true combat level had already reached the Quasi-Giant tier.
Over the years, many Supreme Ones had personally visited, ascending to sit and discuss the Dao with Ye Chen.
Now, Ye Chen's comprehension of the Great Dao surpassed that of many Supreme Ones.
Especially since he primarily cultivated the Chaos Great Dao. The Chaos Great Dao was the foundation of all Daos. Through it, Ye Chen's comprehension of any Dao was exceptionally profound.
Of course, as the saying goes, each has their own specialty. These Supreme Ones had each cultivated one Dao to its extreme, condensing it into a peerless Emperor Dao. Before their exclusive Emperor Daos, even Ye Chen acknowledged his inferiority.
"Have the Sovereign of Formlessness and Senior Brother Tai Sheng not yet proven their Dao and become Emperors?"
Ye Chen sighed. Three thousand six hundred years had passed, yet neither the Sovereign of Formlessness nor Tai Sheng Huang had proven their Dao to become Supreme Ones; they were still accumulating.
The War Emperor said, "Refining Great Emperors is not a matter to be taken lightly. They are undergoing deep accumulation. Every single bit needs to be sufficiently solid; otherwise, it's easy to create an unstable Dao foundation. In the future, achieving the realm of an ancient titan would be even more out of the question."
"I understand." Ye Chen nodded, then added, "War Emperor, when will you also attempt to impact the ancient titan realm? If your accumulation is insufficient, why not refine the remaining alien Great Emperors and Ancient Sovereigns of the Burial Grounds? Not to mention, there's still the Quasi-Giant, Great Emperor Wanyan."
The War Emperor shook his head. "For me to achieve the ancient titan realm would be far more difficult than for them. The few remaining Ancient Sovereigns and Great Emperors, even a Quasi-Giant like Great Emperor Wanyan, are insufficient for my accumulation."
It wasn't that the remaining Ancient Sovereigns and Great Emperors were insufficient in general, but they were insufficient relative to the War Emperor.
On the surface, it might seem that the Sovereign of Formlessness and Tai Sheng Huang each only needed three Great Emperors to complete their accumulation, so the War Emperor should be the same.
But this involved extremely deep-seated reasons.
Proving one's Dao to become an Emperor could be said to be a direct leap in life level, a leap akin to jumping from the ground to the heavens. Once successful, one could directly achieve the ultimate leap in life level. Even if it cost a certain amount of universe origin, the Chaos Ancient Universe would spare no effort to help them firmly establish themselves at the Emperor Dao level.
This was why the Sovereign of Formlessness and Tai Sheng Huang only needed to refine three Ancient Great Emperors. Once they successfully proved their Dao, the Chaos Ancient Universe would make up the remaining deficiency with its origin.
But it was different for a Quasi-Giant. They were already at the Emperor Dao level. Achieving the ancient titan realm involved little leap in life level; it was more about genuine accumulation.
As long as the accumulation was sufficient, one could naturally become an ancient titan.
Unfortunately, this kind of accumulation took far more time than the life-level leap of proving one's Dao.
Therefore, even with a Quasi-Giant like Great Emperor Wanyan, who far surpassed ordinary Ancient Great Emperors, and other Ancient Sovereigns and Great Emperors, the War Emperor could not achieve it.
Unless several more Quasi-Giants were refined.
Ye Chen fell silent. As expected, the best way to become an ancient titan was through proving one's Dao and ascending.
Unfortunately, that path was too arduous, requiring one to tread the Path of Eternity to have a certain chance of success.
Otherwise, the vast majority of ancient titans were Supreme Ones who had slowly tempered themselves step by step.
His gaze then turned towards the center of the Myriad Domains, to the lofty, unreachable Human Sovereign Palace. Ye Chen sighed. When would the Human Sovereign awaken?
This slumber had already lasted nearly four thousand years, a considerable length of time.
But the Human Sovereign was awakening the reincarnated body of a Great Emperor, further fusing the Dao fruit of an ancient titan with the Dao fruit of ten lifetimes as Human Sovereign. It was destined that he could not awaken immediately in a short time; perhaps many tens of thousands of years were needed for him to truly awaken and return.
Fortunately, the current Pangu Universe did not require the Human Sovereign's presence to guard it. With the existence of many Supreme Ones and the personal guardianship of the Great Heavenly Venerate Cang Xiong, and the restrictions of the Giant Alliance Treaty, neither the alien races nor the Chaos Burial Grounds could currently invade the Pangu Universe.
Of course, if the Human Sovereign could fully awaken, fusing his past and present lives into one, he would inevitably create an even more powerful ancient titan, which would naturally be even better for the Pangu Universe.
Boom—
The starry sky trembled violently as a great tribulation descended. But it was not someone proving their Dao to become a Supreme One, nor someone becoming a Monarch, not even someone achieving the rank of Ancient Sovereign. It was merely someone stepping into the Quasi-Monarch rank.
Yet this Quasi-Monarch tribulation was exceptionally fierce, surpassing ordinary Quasi-Monarch tribulations by who knew how many times, inundating multiple star domains, with tribulations belonging to legend continuously descending.
The heavens cracked and the earth split; countless great stars in the starry sky turned to cosmic dust.
Observing the one undergoing the tribulation, it was a peerless divine maiden of unparalleled elegance, with matchless beauty that outshone the world. Every gesture and movement carried a charm and transcendent aura that could topple the mortal realm.
She was undergoing the tribulation—a Quasi-Monarch tribulation that surpassed the ordinary. Yet, for her, it was clearly no major issue; she faced it with composure and calm.
She was so powerful, her physique crystalline and flawless, with autumn waters as her spirit and crystal jade as her bones. The sky-shattering tribulation capable of slaying Divine Kings fell upon her body yet could not even pierce her skin.
"Such a powerful Quasi-Monarch tribulation, beyond imagination! I fear even the Quasi-Monarch tribulations of Imperial Sons and Daughters are no more than this!" many exclaimed in awe.
The one undergoing the tribulation was none other than Ye Jing.
Having cultivated for six hundred years, she was finally about to become a Quasi-Monarch, now undergoing her tribulation.
It must be said, such cultivation speed was astonishing; even Ye Chen in his time was no more than this.
Of course, if Ye Jing had the intention to surpass, she could completely break the record. But she had done so deliberately, remaining in the Divine King realm for four hundred years, constantly cultivating in seclusion and suppressing herself.
Especially since she had only spent about a hundred years to reach the peak of the Nine Tribulations Great Perfection Divine King level.
The remaining three hundred years were spent tempering herself, suppressing herself to the limit.
It must be noted that Ye Jing, from her weak beginnings to the peak of the Nine Tribulations Great Perfection Divine King level, had only taken three hundred years in total.
Now, she had spent three hundred years forcefully suppressing herself. One could imagine how severely she had suppressed herself.
Because she also had a great goal: she hoped that one day, like her father, she could, as a Great Perfection Supreme Genius, undergo ten layers of Divine King tribulation before achieving Quasi-Monarch.
Otherwise, with her potential, she could have become a Quasi-Monarch long ago.
It was just a pity, and also quite obvious, that this could not be done.