Finally back in reality, Ye Chen let out a soft sigh. Looking at the flow of time and space that had resumed, everything on the River of Time felt as illusory as a dream, seeming unreal.
But he knew it was all real, because his perception wouldn't lie. The tenth divine halo within him also appeared much clearer now, faintly emerging as if he could take the final half-step at any moment to reach the Supreme One realm of the Tenth Heaven.
Now, he could feel that he had become stronger. Although he hadn't completely transformed into the Tenth Heaven, he still felt significantly more powerful.
With just a slight movement, all the bones and sinews throughout his body began to resonate, as deafening as morning bells and evening drums. Moreover, sparkling crimson-gold blood energy rumbled, repeatedly washing through his meridians, constantly invigorating and strengthening them, shaking heaven and earth, causing the very ground to tremble in response.
Beside him, Zhao Tianyi's face revealed shock. He could sense Ye Chen's current power. Clearly just a youth, yet he gave off a terrifying oppressive pressure akin to a primordial ferocious beast from the ancient era breaking free from its cage. The deafening rumbles emanating from within his body were so intense they nearly made Zhao Tianyi vomit blood from the suppression.
The two demonic creatures restrained in the void were even worse off, their bodies cracking all over. Countless pitch-black scales shattered, and dark blood splattered everywhere as if it cost nothing.
"This is..."
Zhao Tianyi was astonished. Just how powerful was Ye Chen? He felt even stronger than a King.
A moment later, the deafening rumbles within Ye Chen's body gradually subsided. His eyes were calm, yet appeared incredibly profound, like abysses that could snatch away others' souls.
"Old Yan, did you notice anything just now?" Ye Chen suddenly asked.
"Notice what?" Old Yan inquired curiously.
Ye Chen was slightly taken aback, then shook his head and offered no further explanation.
*Puff! Puff!*
With two light flicks of his finger, two beams of finger light pierced through their foreheads, extinguishing their Primordial Spirits. Their blood-red eyes completely dimmed as they fell dead.
Only then did Zhao Tianyi snap back to his senses, looking bewildered. "Brother Ye, did you manage to glean any useful information?"
Ye Chen nodded, but his expression was grave because the information was too important, a secret not to be spoken.
Moreover, he had sensed the bleak sorrow of a blood-soaked future, the collapse of a great era, like the great destruction of the Mythical Epoch, perhaps even more terrifying.
He had also seen a future where he stood supreme and peerless, yet the world was utterly silent. Nothing remained by his side—no wife, no daughter, no friends. All his old acquaintances were gone, buried beneath the earth with tombstones standing over them. Only he remained, alone accompanying the divine path. His mood felt heavy, desolate.
His heart hardened with resolve. He swore to change this situation, to prevent the tragic events of that future from occurring.
Zhao Tianyi sensed the heaviness in Ye Chen's mood. Although curious about what had happened, he didn't ask.
At the same time, his expression suddenly changed because he sensed numerous sinister, evil auras rapidly approaching. The sounds of breaking through the air were incessant. From within the misty area, over thirty demonic creatures suddenly flashed forth, charging toward them. Each one was equally ferocious and malevolent as they pounced.
It must be known that each of these demonic creatures was at the Demigod level. Moreover, they could merge with the mist, their figures disappearing. Working together, even many young prodigies could be killed caught off guard.
Now, with over thirty of them attacking together, it was absolutely terrifying.
Even if a King were standing beside him, Zhao Tianyi felt a lethal danger emerging.
With a long roar, he spat out a stream of innate milky-white Xiantian energy, unleashing the divine abilities of a Divine Transformation Realm expert. Instantly, it transformed into countless sword beams that shot forth, piercing through the mist and slashing toward the demonic creatures. The clanging sounds were endless.
However, those demonic creatures were each clad in pitch-black, hard scales as if wearing a layer of battle armor. Zhao Tianyi's attacks could hinder them but couldn't truly kill them. They still charged forward.
*Swish!*
A massive, sinister figure flashed forward with lightning speed. A ferocious pitch-black scaled claw grasped a trident. This creature appeared even stronger and more sinister than the other demonic creatures, with four wings on its back. It was clearly a great demon at the Divine Transformation Realm, standing one zhang tall.
Zhao Tianyi faced a formidable enemy, his entire demeanor becoming much more serious. With another long roar, he unleashed a powerful divine ability. A divine mirror appeared, its surface dark and mysterious, its entire body inscribed with faint yet powerful dao patterns.
The divine mirror hummed, its entire body blazing with brilliant light. All the dao patterns became clearly visible as it hovered above Zhao Tianyi's head, resembling an immortal ancient weapon. With a *boom*, it shot forth a blazing divine radiance that instantly pierced through large swathes of mist, clearing the area, and slashed toward the Divine Transformation Realm great demon, engaging it in fierce battle.
It must be said that Zhao Tianyi himself was also very powerful. He had managed to stand out among many young powerhouses to secure one of the thousand spots. Moreover, he had long since achieved the Divine Transformation Realm and was originally very strong. It was only in front of a peerless figure like Ye Chen that he seemed less powerful.
In fact, he hailed from an Immortal Empire like the Zhao Kingdom. Although he had been stripped of his prince status, he was still a former member of the royal family and likewise mastered powerful immortal heritage divine techniques. In a single encounter, eighteen great mountains were conjured out of thin air, each towering into the clouds, crushing through the sky as they pressed forward, even slaughtering many demonic creatures along the way, staining the ancient city district with blood.
The Divine Transformation Realm great demon roared and shrieked, corrosive demonic mist churning as it engaged Zhao Tianyi in a great battle. Divine radiance and demonic light constantly erupted, shaking the ancient city district, even attracting the attention of many people for a time.
*Swish!*
The divine mirror traversed the sky, shining forth a blazing divine radiance that cleaved through the air, piercing through the abdomen of this fearsome great demon. Even the black scales couldn't defend against it. The flesh around the wound was charred, and no dark blood flowed out.
Other Demigod-level demons wanted to assist, but Ye Chen made his move. At this moment, he charged forward. Clearly just one person, yet a vast wave of energy emanated from him, rolling out and directly sending those demonic creatures flying one after another.
"Brother Zhao, focus on dealing with this demonic alien race. I'll handle the others," Ye Chen said.
"Alright." Zhao Tianyi was in the heat of battle. Although he wasn't yet at the King level, he was definitely a sufficiently powerful young prodigy. Forming hand seals, the divine mirror floated above his head, while two divine wheels—one black, one white—manifested beneath his feet. This was the Zhao Kingdom's Black-White Divine Wheel Technique, a heritage from the ancient era and one of the kingdom's powerful divine abilities.
The appearance of the black-white divine wheels further evolved dark power and light power. They rotated together, mutually transforming into yin and yang, as if about to evolve into a black-white Taiji diagram. They crashed into the Divine Transformation Realm great demon, instantly exploding and shattering all its black scales, rending its flesh and causing blood to spurt.
Finally, the divine mirror shone brilliantly, dao patterns manifesting as it shone forth beams of dazzling, extreme divine radiance that continuously slashed down upon the great demon, ultimately killing it completely. Blood splashed across the sky, corroding and piercing through many stones.
*Swish! Swish! Swish!*
At the same time, Ye Chen flicked out one beam of finger light after another, piercing through the void with extreme speed, easily piercing through the foreheads of demonic creatures and killing them outright.
In a short while, over thirty demonic creatures lay dead on the ground, unable to move.
All of this seemed incredibly effortless.
"Let's go," Ye Chen said.
Actually, the demonic creatures weren't hard to kill. It was just because of the mist, which concealed their figures, making them hard to lock onto and thus difficult to slay. Once the mist thinned, it became many times simpler.
Proceeding along their path, although the two were constantly attacked by demonic creatures, they remained unharmed. Moreover, Zhao Tianyi finally adapted to the environment of the misty area. No longer relying solely on Ye Chen, he could also take action to kill demonic creatures.
The deeper they went into the ancient city district, the heavier the drifting mist became. Even with powerful spiritual sense, it was useless; they couldn't see beyond ten zhang. Everything was shrouded and concealed.
*Swish! Swish! Swish!*
Within the mist, faint glimpses of pitch-black shadows could be seen flashing and leaping with lightning speed, traversing the sky. Those were fearsome demonic creatures, now appearing, and from their senses, the numbers were quite considerable.
*Boom!*
Suddenly, Ye Chen's entire body erupted with endless radiant light. Boundless holy light surged and billowed, endless like a vast ocean flooding in all directions, dispersing layers of mist and covering all the demonic creatures in this area.
Visible to the naked eye, these demonic creatures were clearly powerful, their speed like lightning. But the next moment, they all began to shriek. Black mist rapidly evaporated from their bodies, and then their entire forms quickly dissolved and vanished within the holy light.
*Puff! Puff! Puff!*
Charred, corpse-like remains fell from the sky. In an instant, all the alien demonic creatures perished, their dao extinguished.
Zhao Tianyi was dumbfounded. He already knew Ye Chen was powerful enough, but he hadn't expected him to be this outrageously strong, killing over a hundred demonic creatures in an instant. Wasn't that just too absurdly powerful?
Ye Chen said, "These demonic creatures have inherently sinister, cold natures. The best way to deal with them is with righteous, divine abilities and dao techniques like the Holy Light Art, using them to counteract and thus achieve remarkable results."
Zhao Tianyi smiled wryly. The principle was simple, but in reality, it was very difficult.
Everyone knew light and darkness countered each other. But whichever side wanted to suppress the other needed to be sufficiently powerful; otherwise, neither could overcome the other. As for Ye Chen, it was purely a matter of overwhelming, all-around superiority, leaving Zhao Tianyi speechless.
However, precisely because of this, Ye Chen's actions also alerted other young powerhouses. They all rushed over one after another. When they saw the charred black corpses on the ground, they were stunned, finding it hard to believe.
Regarding Ye Chen, they all showed much more reverence, deeply aware that this was a fearsome figure at the King level.