Without a doubt, even at the Half-Step Overlord level, there were still great secrets in the world that Ye Chen did not understand.
He had even come to realize some truths.
Throughout the ages, there had only been five Invincible Overlords, and all five were related to Pangu. The Heavenly Emperor, Shidai, and the Immortal Ancestor had each obtained one of Pangu's three split soul fragments. The progenitor of the Origin Saint Clan had obtained Pangu's Heart. The Universe Great Emperor was the sentient entity born from Pangu's Axe, gaining control over an Ancient Chaos Universe.
They were all connected to Pangu. Moreover, Ye Chen even suspected that wanting to become an Invincible Overlord was impossible merely by becoming the controller of an Ancient Chaos Universe. Otherwise, in the present age, with the capabilities of Half-Step Overlords like the Divine Emperor and the Desolate Heaven Demon Lord, becoming the controller of an Ancient Chaos Universe shouldn't be difficult—especially for the Divine Emperor, who was a being born from an Ancient Chaos Universe and innately close to it; control shouldn't be hard. Why were they still only Half-Step Overlords?
In the past, his strength was insufficient, and his understanding was lacking, so he hadn't considered this point. But now, having learned the origins of the five Invincible Overlords, he had thought of many things.
Becoming an Invincible Overlord was probably not as easy as imagined.
He speculated that since the Chaos Great Dao in the Chaos Sea was missing half, then all Great Daos in the Chaos Sea should also be missing their other half.
Living beings in the Chaos Sea who comprehended a Great Dao only obtained half of it. Unless they comprehended the other half and cultivated it to its ultimate extreme, they could not become Invincible Overlords.
The five Invincible Overlords were all related to Pangu—either through the three soul fragments, Pangu's Heart, or Pangu's Axe—innately completing everything, thus enabling them to become the most invincible overlords.
However, Ye Chen inexplicably recalled the Divine King realm. Logically speaking, even a Great Perfection Supreme Genius could at most become a Nine-Calamity Divine King. The Heavenly Emperor and Shidai were Ten-Calamity Divine Kings in their youth because they were born with the other half of their Great Daos completed.
Probably the Immortal Ancestor and the Universe Great Emperor were the same, though they were more mysterious, and no one understood them.
As for the progenitor of the Origin Saint Clan, he should have risen completely within the Origin Land, not starting from a weak period and rising again like the other four.
But one point puzzled Ye Chen: why was he able to cultivate to the Ten-Calamity level in the Divine King realm as well? The maximum wasn't supposed to be Nine-Calamities.
Yet, judging from the fact that his Chaos Great Dao had been cultivated to 9,999/10,000, he had not completed the other half of the Great Dao. Why could he still become a Ten-Calamity Divine King? It was truly bizarre.
Ye Chen was somewhat confused.
He also thought: what was the true cause of the Blood-Stained Future?
Was it really just because of the Origin Burial Master's head?
That shouldn't be the case.
Why was the Origin Burial Master trapped within that Dark Ancient Universe?
Was there perhaps another reason?
Furthermore, his future self, who dominated the world alone, seemed to have a most terrifying great enemy. When he glimpsed a corner of the Blood-Stained Future, he could not see through who that person was, nor did he know why his future self later disappeared.
Through some events, such as the Hunyuan Imperial Venerable incident, he learned that his future self seemed to have returned to the past.
Yet, his invincible future offspring, wielding the Chaos Emperor Sword, had traveled upstream from the Blood-Stained Future to find him, even nearly reversing time to battle Shidai. All of this seemed to point toward Shidai.
But during his last journey to the Blood-Stained Future, he discovered that even this invincible son, a giant of chaos, had disappeared, leaving only his little daughter, Ye Jing.
All of this was shrouded in layers of mist.
Ye Chen always felt that the entire Chaos Sea was enveloped beneath a vast layer of mist.
Or perhaps it could be said, it was shrouded beneath a colossal conspiracy.
Who was it that presided over this conspiracy?
Shidai?
Ye Chen pondered deeply. However, contemplating all this did not hinder him from absorbing those dark rays of light. Since absorbing these dark rays could help his Chaos Great Dao become more complete, he naturally welcomed it.
He simply released his Universe phantom, allowing these dark rays to continuously pour into his body.
Because he possessed the Universe Chaos Body, his physique was identical to a complete Chaos Great Dao. Once these dark rays entered his body, they autonomously transformed into streams of pure, other-half Chaos power, gradually completing the missing half of his Chaos Great Dao and constructing the other half of the Chaos rules.
Under these circumstances, Ye Chen actually felt himself growing stronger.
Although the degree of this strengthening wasn't great—even very slight, imperceptible to anyone but himself—after all, he was already immensely powerful, already at the Half-Step Overlord level. To become even a tiny bit stronger would normally require an unknown length of time.
But if this continued, he could keep growing stronger.
Moreover, Ye Chen had a feeling: directly devouring the origin will of the Eternal Night Domain might not be impossible to completely restore the other half of his Chaos Great Dao.
At this moment, the origin will of the Eternal Night Domain, which had personally trapped Ye Chen, naturally sensed everything happening. It couldn't help but change expression slightly. It had never expected that the dark rays, originally filled with killing intent, not only failed to harm Ye Chen but were instead continuously absorbed by him. It even faintly sensed that Ye Chen seemed to have grown a trace stronger.
"Damnable human, you're actually devouring my power to evolve!"
The origin will of the Eternal Night Domain acted decisively, releasing Ye Chen by dispelling the 'Boundless Eternal Night'.
Donghuang and the Desolate Heaven Demon Lord, who detected this, stared at the scene in astonishment, somewhat baffled.
Originally, they had been frantically attacking, trying to force the origin will of the Eternal Night Domain to release Ye Chen. They never expected it to voluntarily let go.
"What a pity."
The first thing Ye Chen said upon flying out was a sigh of regret. If he could have continued devouring those dark rays, the help would have been immense, but now it was no longer possible.
"However, this Dark Upper Realm, condensed from infinite dark power, might be of great assistance to me."
As he spoke, he gazed covetously at the Dark Upper Realm. This Dark Upper Realm, condensed from infinite Chaos dark elements, naturally possessed power not inferior to the dark rays, and in quantity, it was even greater.
The Dark Upper Realm had become his prey.
The origin will of the Eternal Night Domain, detecting this, hurriedly attempted to relocate the Dark Upper Realm.
However, even though it was powerful, directly moving the Dark Upper Realm to another location couldn't be accomplished instantly.
At this time, Ye Chen, who also noticed the origin will's actions, frowned. He naturally wouldn't allow this tempting prize before him to vanish. He immediately charged forward to seize the Dark Upper Realm.
A phantom of a Chaos Universe directly projected out, landing above the Dark Upper Realm, emanating an unprecedented devouring force. It began pulling on one side of the Dark Upper Realm against the origin will of the Eternal Night Domain, which was pulling on the other.