"Little Chen!"
The Flame Emperor cried out urgently. He could see Ye Chen's situation was extremely critical; it could be described as a brush with death, a narrow escape.
"Don't come. I can handle this alone."
Ye Chen stopped everyone from coming to his aid.
He alone struggled fiercely against the three alien Half-Step Overlords. The battle was evenly matched, a desperate struggle as they fought their way along the River of Time. Blood-colored lightning struck down, various strange phenomena appeared one after another, and even fragments of time from all eras flew out and swirled around them.
What was even more terrifying was that a battle of this level had caused the infinite living beings of the present Chaos Sea to become mere phantoms, as if the past, present, and future were undergoing astonishing changes.
"If this continues, it's highly likely to alter the already established past, giving rise to a past that never existed, changing the ancient, modern, and future eras, triggering the most dreadful karma," a Primordial Giant said with a grave expression. Altering the fixed past was tantamount to negating everything and would incur the most terrifying karmic backlash. Even someone as powerful as a colossus from antiquity would undoubtedly perish.
"Yue..."
Within the Chaos Heavenly Mansion, Zhao Jingruo, Yi Wu, and the others were all filled with anxiety. The situation Ye Chen faced before their eyes was far too dangerous, a true brush with death.
However, even though they were Great Emperor Supreme Ones, and some even possessed quasi-Giant level combat power, they were utterly incapable of intervening in a battle of that tier. They could only watch helplessly.
If they truly charged forward, they wouldn't be able to help Ye Chen in the slightest. On the contrary, they would become unnecessary burdens, adding to Ye Chen's troubles and distracting him.
Woo——
Suddenly, the vast sound of a ship's horn rang out.
Visible to the naked eye, on the broad, endless River of Time, at its unknown distant end, a dilapidated ancient ship slowly appeared. It was broken and tattered, its main mast snapped, stained with blood. It carried a corner of a shattered universe as it slowly sailed forward.
"The Ship That Slays Immortals!"
All sides exclaimed in shock. That was precisely the Ship That Slays Immortals from the Eight Desolations Ancient Universe. In the past, it had carried an entire Chaos Ancient Universe to attack the Primordial Immortal Realm. It was shattered in that single battle, ultimately burying the entire Chaos Ancient Universe.
In one part of the Chaos Sea, a burly, muscular man was in deep sorrow. Watching the Ship That Slays Immortals on the River of Time, even though he had long since attained the Dao and become an Emperor, thick streams of bloody tears still rolled down his rough face.
Galen, the sole surviving being from the Eight Desolations Ancient Universe, saw the Ship That Slays Immortals that had once carried his homeland on its distant voyage. In the accompanying corner of the universe were silent star domains, shattered stars, a sky full of remains, fallen True Dragons... He thought of the scenes of past prosperity and glory.
"Ah——"
He couldn't help but roar, wanting to charge over, but he was powerless. As powerful as he was, a Great Perfection Emperor Realm Supreme One, he could not enter the River of Time in its true form.
The Ship That Slays Immortals had last appeared in the deepest part of the Origin Ancient Path before vanishing. No one expected it had entered the true River of Time, seemingly wandering there for tens of thousands of years.
Now, the Ship That Slays Immortals arrived, riding the currents of time, charging towards Ye Chen's location.
"The Ship That Slays Immortals? That ancient ship from that weak Eight Desolations Ancient Universe that attacked the Primordial Immortal Realm?" an alien Half-Step Overlord spoke, dismissive.
Suddenly, everyone's gazes sharpened because they saw a figure appear on the Ship That Slays Immortals.
Looking closely, it was none other than the Flame Emperor.
Ye Chen also frowned. The Flame Emperor was clearly at Pangu Pass. But recalling the past, he had also seen the Flame Emperor's figure on the Ship That Slays Immortals. The current situation was somewhat eerie.
At Pangu Pass, the Flame Emperor laughed heartily. "It seems my efforts over the years are about to bear fruit."
The others looked at the Flame Emperor, somewhat confused.
The Flame Emperor, however, smiled mysteriously. "Just watch. This is the best gift for the alien race."
Silently, the Flame Emperor on the Ship That Slays Immortals transformed into a ball of light and merged into the ship. Immediately after, another figure silently appeared on the Ship That Slays Immortals. He was emaciated, his hair withered and yellow like straw.
He looked like a walking corpse, a desiccated mummy. Yet, at this moment, when this figure looked towards the alien race's direction, his originally hollow eyes shot out two dazzling beams of light. A voice filled with shock and fury exploded across the Chaos Sea: "Alien race!"
The desiccated corpse roared, his voice transmitting from the River of Time, even shaking the entire Chaos Sea.
From his body erupted a terrifying aura that caused the Chaos Sea to tremble violently, even shaking the River of Time.
"It's him! He's not dead!"
A colossus from antiquity exclaimed in surprise, recognizing the identity of the desiccated corpse.
"The peerless Great Emperor Hantian of yore!"
Other colossi from antiquity also recognized him one after another. Great Emperor Hantian, the strongest Emperor of the past, also a supreme Giant who once ruled the Eight Desolations Ancient Universe.
In the past, during the campaign against the Primordial Immortal Realm, the Eight Desolations Ancient Universe was buried, and Great Emperor Hantian fell in that single battle.
Who could have imagined that Great Emperor Hantian was still alive, standing on the wreckage of the Ship That Slays Immortals, carrying a corner of his shattered ancient universe.
"To think Great Emperor Hantian is still alive. In his time, he was not inferior to the Divine Emperor or the Battle Saint Ancestor by much," an extremely ancient Immortal Venerable within the Primordial Immortal Realm sighed softly.
Great Emperor Hantian, a supreme Giant of his generation, possessed profound and miraculous cultivation. He even surpassed many Giants, approaching a level beyond that of Primordial Giants. He was a titan of the Chaos Sea, a king among Giants.
With him presiding over it, the Eight Desolations Ancient Universe should have been stable. Even though the Eight Desolations Ancient Universe only had Great Emperor Hantian as its sole Giant, no one dared to invade.
However, at the peak of its prosperity, Great Emperor Hantian suddenly expended endless immortal materials to forge the Ship That Slays Immortals and led his host of Emperor Supreme Ones to attack the Primordial Immortal Realm.
"To think that in the great war of attacking the Immortal Realm, even with eleven supreme Immortal Kings taking action, Great Emperor Hantian still did not perish," a Primordial Giant of the alien race frowned, revealing part of the truth from that era.
Similarly, because of Great Emperor Hantian's absolute strength, he was the master of the Eight Desolations Ancient Universe.
In the past, Great Emperor Hantian was powerful to the extreme. Leading the Eight Desolations Ancient Universe to attack the Primordial Immortal Realm caused a great upheaval in the Chaos Sea.
At that time, to deal with Great Emperor Hantian, the Primordial Immortal Realm mobilized a full eleven supreme Immortal Kings to launch a world-shaking assault against him.
This shows just how powerful Great Emperor Hantian was back then. He was definitely no ordinary colossus from antiquity, but one who surpassed even many Primordial Giants.
In the present era, the only ones capable of such a feat are ultimate existences at the Half-Step Overlord level, like the Chaos Heavenly Emperor.
Great Emperor Hantian of that era was undoubtedly such an existence.
He was truly a peerless heroic sovereign, with few throughout history who could compare to him.
The alien Giants also frowned. The true reason behind pushing Great Emperor Hantian to lead the Eight Desolations Ancient Universe to attack the Primordial Immortal Realm back then actually had the Alien Ancient Universe pulling the strings behind the scenes.
It must be known that, ultimately, the root cause was the Primordial Generation.
Now, with Great Emperor Hantian still alive, it was very unfavorable for the Alien Ancient Universe.
Boom——
Great Emperor Hantian was filled with shock and fury. Though his hair was withered and his body emaciated, he still possessed a sky-piercing might. He steered the broken Ship That Slays Immortals, carrying the shattered Eight Desolations Ancient Universe, charging down the River of Time, directly towards the alien Half-Step Overlords.