Within the grand hall of the Heavenly Palace, Ye Chen sat upon the main seat, his expression unchanged.
He naturally understood Qian Xun's strength. Even before becoming an Eternal Sovereign, Qian Xun's physical body had already reached the Monarch level. Therefore, after becoming an Eternal Sovereign, he was naturally more powerful than ordinary Monarchs, so it was only right that he shone brilliantly.
The first elimination round would likely conclude soon. With Qian Xun leading them, the entire Pangu Universe contingent advancing was not a major problem.
Seven days later, the elimination round ended.
Over eighty percent of the strongest Heaven's Prides were eliminated.
Of course, thanks to Qian Xun, Yaya, and others, all thirty of the Pangu Universe's strongest Heaven's Prides advanced!
Garen and the strongest Heaven's Pride from the Pan Dao Immortal King Domain also advanced.
Pan Dao Immortal King's descendant, Pan Jiuji, walked over to Qian Xun. After seven days of fighting side by side, the two had become friends. Pan Jiuji smiled bitterly and said, "As expected, I only advanced because of you."
As the descendant of an Immortal King, his accumulation was sufficiently profound, and he would soon be able to attain the Dao and become an immortal. Unfortunately, it would only be a Supreme Immortal, not a Quasi-Immortal King, let alone an Immortal King.
As for Qian Xun, being an Eternal Sovereign, given his potential, once he proved his Dao and became an Emperor, unless his accumulation was insufficient, his hope of becoming an ancient titan was quite significant.
He sighed inwardly. Although his realm was higher than Qian Xun's, in terms of true potential or current combat power, he could not compare to Qian Xun.
Qian Xun laughed heartily. "Don't say that, Jiuji. You yourself are very strong."
Pan Jiuji smiled bitterly. No matter how strong a Monarch was, they could not reach the level of an Eternal Monarch.
Beside them, Yan Shen, Garen, Yaya, Chenxi, Ye Jing, the Ancient Demon God, and others were covered in blood. Although they had successfully advanced through the elimination round, it was impossible to emerge unscathed from such a fierce competition.
Especially Ye Jing. If not for her elder brother Qian Xun, who was still at the Sovereign level and could lend some assistance, given her own realm, it would have been difficult for her to deal with so many Ancient Monarchs attacking her simultaneously.
Of course, that battle also earned Ye Jing a formidable reputation. In the elimination round, relying on her own strength, she slew seven enemy Ancient Monarch-level strongest Heaven's Prides—some from alien races, some from the Violet Firmament Immortal King Clan. She was covered in blood, but the results of her tempering were equally astonishing.
After that battle, she seemed on the verge of a breakthrough.
The second round was the arena battles.
One-on-one duels, Sovereign against Sovereign, Monarch against Monarch, randomly matched.
This meant that within the same realm, anyone could face anyone.
Regarding this, Ye Chen was not worried. While watching the arena battles, he also immersed his mind deep within his body.
His Immortal Dao origin had transformed into a Chaos Quasi-Immortal King within him, identical in appearance to himself, brimming with powerful Immortal Dao aura.
This was a gift from the 'Forty-Nine Immortal Passes' secret realm.
To this day, he still did not understand why the 'Forty-Nine Immortal Passes' secret realm bestowed divine power upon others, but bestowed upon him something containing Supreme Immortal Laws. It all seemed rather unusual.
Of course, this Quasi-Immortal King-level Dao body was not very strong, having a gap compared to Ye Chen's true self, but it still counted as possessing Quasi-Immortal King-level strength.
Moreover, it was ultimately an external bestowal, not something cultivated through his own efforts. He was always somewhat worried that he could not make it his own, and that it might even ultimately spy on his ultimate secrets.
With a thought, the Chaos Thunder Pearl and the Chaos Water Pearl shot out strands of innate Chaos source power. Under Ye Chen's control, they flooded this Chaos Immortal King Dao body—or more accurately, began refining its Immortal Dao origin.
He wanted to make this Chaos Immortal King Dao body completely his own!
This refinement, accelerated by the time flow within his internal origin micro-universe—one day outside equaling one year inside—took seven years.
From beginning to end, Ye Chen found no abnormalities within the Chaos Quasi-Immortal King Dao body. After this, it was completely assimilated. A fragment of his Chaos Saint Soul entered it, formally making this Chaos Quasi-Immortal King body his own.
He had a feeling that one day, this Chaos Quasi-Immortal King Dao body would be of great use.
Seven days passed in the outside world, and the arena battles also concluded.
Twelve people from the Pangu Universe were eliminated, leaving eighteen who advanced.
The alien races had been attacked by Qian Xun from the first elimination round, directly eliminating eighteen. In the second arena battle, eight more were eliminated, leaving only four, all alien Monarchs.
As for the third round, it was the originstruggle for / contest overstruggle for. A sufficient quantity of Great Dao origins would be released into the Supreme Realm, similar to the first round, divided into Monarch and Sovereign levels. The strongest Heaven's Pride from each of the two major realms would be selected, with victory going to the one holding the most Great Dao origins.
Of course, those at the Sovereign level could still cross realms to deal with those at the Monarch level.
However, those who made it this far were truly geniuses among geniuses.
By the final round, the hidden strongest forces of each Chaos Ancient Universe were revealed, with no further concealment.
At this moment, five supremely powerful beams of light instantly pierced the heavens, shaking the entire Supreme Realm. It was as if supreme rulers had descended to the mortal world, with infinite phenomena that oppressed the hearts of Monarchs from all sides, making them tremble!
Eternal Monarchs!
Eternal Monarchs who had been hiding finally revealed themselves.
And more than five Eternal Monarchs appeared in this originstruggle for / contest overstruggle for at once, directly startling the entire Immortal King Martial Arena, including the seven Immortal Kings seated high upon their Immortal King thrones, who could not maintain absolute calm.
It must be known that every Eternal Monarch was a seed for an ancient titan. Once they proved their Dao, it was often not simply proving the Dao to become an Emperor or attaining the Dao to become an immortal, but directly evolving toward the strongest Emperors, Immortal Kings, and other ancient titans.
No one expected that five Eternal Monarchs would appear this time.
"Good, good, good! Five Eternal Monarchs have appeared. This session of the Chaos Sea Heaven's Pride Assembly Grand Competition pleasantly surprises me!"
An Immortal King's eyes shone brilliantly, within them scenes as if Chaos Ancient Universes were being created and destroyed, instantly evolving the magnificent spectacle of myriad worlds opening and perishing.
Tai'a Immortal King also could not help but exclaim in admiration. "I never imagined that this session of the Chaos Sea Heaven's Pride Assembly Grand Competition would not only produce an Eternal Sovereign like Qian Xun but also five Eternal Monarchs. It truly astonishes us."
Not many Eternal Monarchs were born in an epoch, often countable on one's fingers. And even fewer among them ultimately succeeded in proving their Dao to become ancient titans.
It was not to say that all Eternal Monarchs could achieve ancient titan status; that was only a minority. For example, Cang Xiong had accumulated for an entire epoch, ultimately with his life force dried up, on the brink of death, his future hopeless. It was only the appearance of the Soul Forbidden Emperor that gave him hope to successfully prove his Dao and transform into a Supreme Great Heavenly Venerable.
Nevertheless, the hope of an Eternal Monarch becoming an ancient titan was still considerably higher than that of a Supreme One.
"This time, perhaps we can each select an Eternal Monarch to become a personal disciple. As long as we transform the aura of their Dao into Immortal Dao aura, there is hope for them to attain the Dao and become immortals within the Primordial Immortal Realm, or even contend for the Immortal King fruit," another Immortal King said, also quite pleased. Being able to take an Eternal Monarch as a personal disciple was something they desired.
After all, the Primordial Immortal Realm could only give birth to three or four Eternal Immortal Lords per epoch. Either they already had Immortal King-level masters early on, or they did not need one, mostly being within the 'Forty-Nine Immortal Passes' secret realm. Immortal Kings like them would not casually force such Eternal Immortal Lords to become their disciples.
Any who could become an Eternal Immortal Lord possessed potential surpassing Supreme Immortals and had their own pride, which could not be forced.
But these Eternal Monarchs generally had no guidance from ancient titans, let alone becoming personal disciples of ancient titans, so the hope was greatly enhanced.
Violet Firmament Immortal King's gaze fell upon one of the Eternal Monarchs. The divine light upon that Eternal Monarch was unimaginable, like a Divine Lord, resembling a Divine Dao Emperor, astonishing people. He said, "The aura of the Great Dao on this youth is very familiar, and so is his origin aura. Could he be the Divine Emperor's son?"
The other Immortal Kings also looked over and immediately nodded. "This origin aura is indeed that of the Divine Emperor's son. I never thought the Divine Emperor would be willing to let his son participate in the Chaos Sea Heaven's Pride Assembly Grand Competition."
The Divine Emperor was a supreme colossus of the Chaos Sea, belonging to the first generation of colossi. The depth of his Dao attainment was unfathomable. Even within the realm of ancient titans, his strength ranked among the foremost.
Countless eons ago, he was an invincible existence capable of contending with the Heaven-Defying Battle Lord.
After the Heaven-Defying Battle Lord perished later, the Divine Emperor went into seclusion and had not appeared since.
Although, in later ages, the Battle Saint Ancestor rose, hailed as number one in combat power within the Chaos Sea, the world believed this was under the circumstance of the Divine Emperor not appearing.
Who could have expected that after the Divine Emperor's seclusion for endless eons, whether his Dao attainment had advanced further?
Now, the Divine Emperor's son had appeared out of nowhere as an Eternal Monarch, shining brilliantly in the Chaos Sea Heaven's Pride Assembly Grand Competition.
Of course, the other Eternal Monarchs were also quite formidable, but the Divine Emperor's Son, bearing the name of the Divine Emperor's descendant, seemed to have a slight edge.
In the past, when the Divine Emperor roamed the Chaos Sea, he found few worthy opponents. Other ancient titans did not dare provoke him lightly, and he was also exceedingly overbearing.
Termination Immortal Venerable One nodded slightly. "The Divine Emperor has a good son. If fortunate, perhaps it will be a father-son pair of colossi, achieving a tale praised throughout the ages."
The other Immortal Kings fell silent.
Father-son pairs of Supreme Ones, throughout history, were already few and far between, let alone father-son pairs of colossi, which had never occurred.
At the very least, there were no accurate records in the history of the Chaos Sea.
Becoming an ancient titan was too difficult. Especially for the descendants of Supreme Ones, while obtaining a sufficiently high starting point, they were also subjected to immense limitations.
For example, Yuanchu Emperor Ancestor's son, Wanyan Emperor, could also be called astonishingly talented, inheriting a colossus-level strongest bloodline, and ultimately succeeding in proving his Dao to become an Emperor. With his father's help, he also managed to become a Quasi-Colossus across three epoch eras.
However, that was all.
While said to have hope of becoming an ancient titan, in reality, taking that final step would become very difficult.
When a Supreme One's descendant proved their Dao, the Supreme bloodline within their body would become shackles.
Similarly, when a colossus's descendant advanced to become an ancient titan, the colossus bloodline within their body would inevitably become shackles, restricting advancement and greatly increasing the difficulty.
Therefore, throughout history, no recorded father-son pairs of colossi had ever appeared.