"The rules should be clear to everyone, so I won't waste words. Enter and begin the quota battle."
With a wave of his sleeve, the Elder caused ripples to appear in the void, opening a passageway leading into the other-dimensional space.
All the prodigies swiftly entered the other-dimensional space, including Ye Chen.
The other-dimensional space was quite vast, no smaller than a medium-sized town, capable of accommodating millions of people.
There were many participants in the qualification battle, around three thousand, and there were no rules. Even killing was not considered a violation here. The only requirement was that the last one hundred and fifty people standing would qualify.
Just after entering the other-dimensional space, all the young prodigies were already on edge, each one warily scanning their surroundings.
Here, everyone could be an enemy, so caution was necessary.
Boom—
Finally, at a certain moment, everyone erupted into action. It was a chaotic melee from the start. Each person was surrounded on all sides, with no friends to speak of, only enemies. Everyone had only a one-in-twenty chance of being among the last standing, so they fought relentlessly.
One divine ability after another manifested, divine radiance shimmered brilliantly, and laws dazzled as they were unleashed wantonly within the other-dimensional space, without restraint.
The entire other-dimensional space was flooded and covered by surging, violent divine power. If not for the intervention of a Sacred Land Elder at the Saint Treasury Realm, the space would have long been blasted apart and disintegrated by the young powerhouses.
Even so, it trembled incessantly, on the verge of collapse.
Seeing this, the Sacred Land Elder outside changed expression and infused vast heavenly might to reinforce the other-dimensional space, lest it truly disintegrate.
During this process, many young powerhouses were blasted to death, suffering complete annihilation of both body and spirit, turning into clouds of blood mist.
The quota battle was brutal. Out of three thousand, only one hundred and fifty could truly emerge victorious. The winners were all genuine prodigies.
But as members of the same generation, no one truly acknowledged the superiority of others. A true fierce battle unfolded, with divine radiance surging and Dao principles emerging.
"Kill him!"
With a furious roar, a group of young powerhouses attacked, targeting a young genius who had stepped into the Divine Transformation Realm.
It was lamentable. That young genius, having entered the Divine Transformation Realm at a tender age, was far stronger than the others, capable of looking down upon his peers. He was qualified to secure a final quota and could be counted among the few strongest here.
Unfortunately, he became the target of too many. Surrounded and attacked by the young powerhouses, he was directly blasted to death, letting out only a roar of unwillingness.
Ye Chen shook his head and sighed softly. Here, even a Young King had to be extremely cautious. Otherwise, if dozens or hundreds of young geniuses attacked together, even a King would have to flee in disarray.
And even a young True King like Ye Chen could not single-handedly withstand three thousand young prodigies.
Of course, if Ye Chen so desired, he alone would be enough to slaughter everyone here, leaving none alive.
But from beginning to end, Ye Chen never made a move. Ripples of void fluctuation emanated from his body, completely merging him with the void. His aura vanished, and no one could detect his presence.
He had been quietly waiting for the great battle to conclude.
"Hmm?"
Ye Chen was slightly surprised because he discovered a fearsome super powerhouse among the young powerhouses. It was a cold, stern man in blue robes, holding a battle sword. He did not emit a powerful aura, but silently and effortlessly pierced through the brows of one young powerhouse after another, extinguishing their Primordial Spirits and leaving only their fleshly shells behind.
Even when facing the few top young prodigies who had stepped into the Divine Transformation Realm, it was the same—slain by a single sword strike, their vitality extinguished.
This person was terrifying!
Ye Chen had an intuition, but the other party possessed a secret treasure that concealed his aura, making it impossible to probe his true strength.
Ye Chen smiled, yet felt no fear. At his level, he feared no one of his generation. Even if all the Kings came at him together, he could sweep them aside. He merely found this person somewhat interesting.
"Hmm?"
The cold, stern man in blue robes holding the battle sword suddenly frowned, because he felt a gaze fall upon him, but it vanished in an instant. Even someone as strong as him could not trace it, causing him slight surprise.
However, he also understood that there might be other hidden masters here, a place where tigers crouch and dragons hide.
"Quite interesting indeed, to actually be able to sense my presence. This person's spiritual perception is extraordinary. Could there be a King hiding among them?"
Ye Chen chuckled lightly. Although Kings were proud and might disdain such actions, this possibility was not impossible. After all, even he, a young True King, was hiding here.
Ye Chen's gaze shifted, landing on another figure. Compared to the cold, stern man in blue, this one appeared shorter, or rather petite, because it was a woman. Although she was shrouded in a black robe that concealed her figure, it was impossible to completely hide from Ye Chen's eyes.
This mysterious woman was also very powerful. Her steps were light and agile, her posture ethereal. Facing attacks from young powerhouses from all directions, whether direct or indirect, she often needed only to sidestep slightly to evade them with exquisite precision.
Moreover, she had no intention to kill. She swiftly weaved through the crowd of young powerhouses, relying on her extraordinary movement technique to dodge everyone one by one, like a ghost, impossible to hit.
In this way, she continuously avoided one young powerhouse after another, never making a move, only evading. Others also paid her no mind, allowing her to seemingly transcend the battle.
"Her movement technique is good, harmonizing with the void. It lacks the speed of the Reverse Void Eight Steps, but is more ethereal and agile," Ye Chen evaluated. However, it was still inferior to his own, because he was completely merged with the void. Even if a young powerhouse came right before him, they would not discover him, and all attacks would be distorted by the void, not touching a single corner of Ye Chen's robe.
Three hours later, the battle was completely over. The other-dimensional space was thoroughly stained red with blood. Countless young geniuses lay on the ground; just three hours ago, many of them had been high-spirited and vigorous.
But three hours later, most had become cold corpses strewn across the ground.
Corpses littered the wilderness!
This was the cruelty of the Purple Mansion Sacred Land's quota competition, but it was also a microcosm of the brutality of the Human Sovereign competition.
Myriad Domains' geniuses, competing for the Human Sovereign title—in the end, only one could ascend to that supreme throne of the Myriad Domains.
All others, including the other young True Kings, would merely become one of the piles of bones in the mountain of corpses and sea of blood on the path of that final person ascending to the throne. None could escape this fate.
Ye Chen sighed softly. He thought of the bloody cruelty of this Sovereign's path. If his strength was not powerful enough, not invincible, unless he chose not to compete, he too would ultimately become a pile of bones on that final person's path.
Then, his gaze grew firm. Even back then, when numerous Great Powers joined forces to scheme against him, they could not make him perish and lose his Dao. Now, reborn in this life, how could he die so easily?
He still had too many things left undone. He could not die.
Similarly, he also felt a burning passion for the position of Human Sovereign. Ancient legends said that the hope of becoming an Emperor in this era lay with the Human Sovereign. How could he give up?
Regarding the Mythical Era, too many historical mysteries remained. Throughout the myriad realms, even ancient Great Sages might not fully understand the truth of that epoch that suffered a great cataclysm.
Only the Human Sovereign, the undisputed ruler of the myriad realms, would have the qualification to learn all these secrets.
In the other-dimensional space, the number of people who could finally stand up was exactly one hundred and fifty, no more, no less. This included that cold, stern youth in blue holding the battle sword. Each of them had obtained a quota and no longer needed to fight. Moreover, basically all the victors were covered in blood, panting heavily, adhering with injuries so deep the bones were visible—very severe.
Only a few mysterious super powerhouses remained relatively unscathed, but they too were covered in blood.
Only Ye Chen, in his black robe, remained spotless, as calm and composed as ever.
But he did not want to attract too much attention, so he deliberately splattered some blood on himself, tore his black robe, and made his face appear somewhat pale.
Without surprise, Ye Chen obtained a qualification quota, earning the right to enter the Purple Mansion Sacred Land alongside the young prodigies from various major forces.
The next day, all the young prodigies who had fought for and obtained quota qualifications were gathered. They would first be teleported to Heavenly Saint City to meet up with other young prodigies before heading to the Divine Fall Mountain Range, where they would enter the Purple Mansion Sacred Land together.
Heavenly Saint City was the Domain Lord's Divine City of the Heavenly Saint Domain, long renowned, located at the center of the great domain, massive and magnificent.
Looking at this enormous city from afar, its tall, thick black city walls were covered with the mottled marks of battle and time, emanating a vast, heavy, primal aura, like an ancient ferocious beast in deep slumber. The intangible aura it emitted could make many cultivators feel a sense of oppression.
This divine city was long renowned. It was said to be a divine city left behind from the Mythical Era, with many legends. During the Mythical Era, it suffered unimaginable destructive damage and was already in a half-ruined state.
Later, through generations of continuous repairs, and even ancient Great Sages inscribing Dao patterns and heavenly marks to empower the city, it eventually became the magnificent divine city it was today.
The divine city bore the traces of time from the Mythical Era. Many peerless powerhouses renowned throughout the world had once stayed in this city for a time, contemplating the traces of the previous epoch, seeking to understand the Dao and laws of that era.
Although too much had been lost under the long river of time, many people had still gained something from it.
After Ye Chen emerged from the spatial teleportation gate and first set foot in this ancient divine city, he felt an arcane and profound Dao Rhyme. It carried the vicissitudes of countless ages, the aura of the long river of time, having endured too many, too many years, difficult to calculate.
One could sense that this Heavenly Saint City spanned this epoch, even connecting two epochs.
Unfortunately, time was the greatest weapon in the world, erasing too much. The traces of the Mythical Era in the divine city were few, making contemplation difficult.
In his mind, it seemed as if Old Yan let out a melancholic sigh, containing many meanings.
Ye Chen felt puzzled: "Old Yan, did you come to this Heavenly Saint City in the past?"
"One could say yes, and one could say no. The ancient city is not the city of yesteryear, and the people are not the people of the past," Old Yan sighed softly.