On the other side, Qingtian Great Venerable felt the energy of the Pseudo-Heavenly Venerable Sun rapidly draining away.
Though furious and alarmed, he was utterly helpless.
He could only continue his assault while simultaneously ramming the Sealing Gates with all his might, trying to blast open a gap to escape, to call upon his master to emerge and rescue him.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!—
The heavens crumbled and the earth split.
All the shockwaves from the battle were completely isolated by the ten Sealing Gates.
After an unknowable length of time, Qingtian Great Venerable was covered in blood. He glared at Ye Chen with unwillingness and roared, "You forced me into this!"
With a great shout, his entire body ignited, erupting with a power unprecedented, shaking this absolutely sealed space. Then, he slammed viciously into the Sealing Gates.
He was resolute, intending to use self-detonation to blast open the Sealing Gates.
The self-detonation of an Ancient Great Venerable was something even a Supreme Heavenly Venerate would find difficult to stop.
Seeing this, Ye Chen understood Qingtian Great Venerable's decision and was startled by his decisiveness.
Because self-detonation, compared to being destroyed by an attack, was not only far more powerful but also consumed far more of one's origin. Even performing it once caused near-irreversible damage to oneself, requiring at least a Chaos Era or more to slowly recover—the price was undeniably immense.
An ordinary Ancient Great Venerable would never be willing to do such a thing.
But to reverse the absolute disadvantage he faced, Qingtian Great Venerable had no other choice.
This was the only way to break the deadlock.
Boom!—
The most terrifying explosion rippled out.
Ye Chen also grew solemn. The self-detonation of an Ancient Great Venerable—even a Supreme Heavenly Venerate at their peak could not emerge unscathed, let alone him in his current state.
He immediately placed the Chaos Great Cauldron before him as a shield.
Moreover, he employed the heaven-defying methods of a Supreme Heavenly Venerate, drawing upon the vast might of the Pseudo-Heavenly Venerable Sun and conjuring endless Eternal Heavenly Patterns, forming layer upon layer of barriers.
In the blink of an eye, Ye Chen erected countless barriers, all to withstand Qingtian Great Venerable's self-detonation.
Rumble!—
By now, Qingtian Great Venerable had been utterly pulverized, exploding into nothingness.
The terrifying power of a Great Venerable's self-detonation, that destructive energy, instantly annihilated countless barriers into dust and slammed into the Chaos Great Cauldron.
Crack!—
The Chaos Great Cauldron was struck, covered in countless fissures. The next moment, it directly shattered into infinite fragments, scattering in all directions.
The ten Sealing Gates were blasted open by the overwhelmingly terrifying explosive force. One after another, those grand and towering Heavenly Gates were blasted out of the Pseudo-Heavenly Venerable Sun, covered in cracks, sent flying to various parts of the heavens, smashing through endless star domains one after another.
The Pseudo-Heavenly Venerable Sun itself was blasted with massive holes, connecting to the outside world.
An unfathomably vast expanse of starry sky was directly annihilated by the self-detonation energy spreading outward, ultimately transforming into a spectacular region of re-opened chaos, also piercing through the endless void of the outer realms.
At the very least, the sky above the Thirty-Three Heavenly Domains, located at the very core of the Origin Land, was completely enveloped by endless, all-consuming flames of destruction.
This was the might of an Ancient Great Venerable's self-detonation.
Ancient Great Venerables were called flawed Heavenly Venerates, and that was no mere saying. Such a self-detonation fully displayed their infinite destructive power.
And this was under the blockade of the ten Sealing Gates, which had blocked over half of its force.
The Origin Land, protected by the layered Eternal Heavenly Patterns left by Supreme Heavenly Venerates throughout the ages, managed to withstand it.
The people of the world only saw endless flames of destruction flare up beyond the heavens, crashing against the Eternal Heavenly Patterns and stirring up a dazzling array of colorful lights.
Yet, residual force remained. Even after passing through the layers of Eternal Heavenly Patterns, it remained unbelievably powerful, crashing onto the earth. Countless lands collapsed, and innumerable living beings perished.
Among them, even Heaven-Connecting Realm Supremes were swept up. Powerful as such Supreme-level existences were, they were pulverized into dust in the shortest time, utterly annihilated in body and soul.
Of course, the first to act were the countless forces led by the various Eternal Heavenly Clans within the Thirty-Three Heavenly Domains, blocking wave after wave of the terrifying residual force.
As for the Thirteen Life Forbidden Zones, each had a majestic, sky-piercing pillar of light standing tall. The residual force couldn't even get close before naturally dissipating completely.
Over ninety-nine percent of the residual force was completely blocked.
This shocked the world. Even with the isolation of the Eternal Heavenly Patterns, the aftermath was still so horrifying.
It was hard to imagine how terrifying the power must have been at the very center of the Ancient Great Venerable's self-detonation beyond the heavens.
"If an Ancient Great Venerable self-detonated within an Eternal Heavenly Clan, it could probably level the entire clan, right?" someone muttered in awe, swallowing hard.
The various Eternal Heavenly Clans fell silent, for they all knew that if an Ancient Great Venerable truly self-detonated within a clan, aside from the strongest clans with a Supreme Heavenly Venerate presiding, other Eternal Heavenly Clans—even with Supreme Heavenly Arrays, Heavenly Venerate Ancient Weapons, or Ancient Great Venerables of their own—would likely be unable to escape being leveled, even exterminated.
The world's fear of Ancient Great Venerables rose another notch.
"At such close range, even if another Ancient Great Venerable wasn't blown to pieces, they'd likely be severely wounded," someone else sighed softly.
"Hahaha! Our clan's Great Venerable has acted! No matter how strong that newly ascended Great Venerable is, he's now been forced to self-detonate in an attempt to reverse thedisadvantage!"
In Heaven-Mending City, the Wanxuan Heavenly Clan was ecstatic.
They firmly believed it was Ye Chen who had self-detonated.
The experts of the Heaven-Mending Clan looked grim. They, too, subconsciously believed it was Ye Chen's self-detonation.
Had the situation really deteriorated to the point where a Great Venerable needed to self-detonate to turn it around?
But once self-detonated, could the situation still be reversed?
The Purple Extreme Heavenly Clan, the Heaven-Burial Abyss, and other Eternal Heavenly Clans or Life Forbidden Zones—all their Ancient Great Venerables stared intently, their expressions unprecedentedly grave.
For they all knew an Ancient Great Venerable had self-detonated.
Only they could truly comprehend the magnitude of that power.
"To actually resort to self-detonation... Qingtian is too ruthless, driving that newly ascended Great Venerable to the brink of despair," an Ancient Great Venerable exclaimed in shock.
"Qingtian is, after all, an Ancient Great Venerable with unfathomable cultivation. He's also a disciple of a Supreme Heavenly Venerate and wields one of the Five Heavenly Seals of the Thirty-Three Celestial Palaces. Now that he's determined to kill, that newly ascended Great Venerable is truly unlucky. He probably never expected Qingtian to be so ruthless."
"Now that he's chosen self-detonation to reverse thedisadvantage, one can imagine just how perilous the situation was for that newly ascended Great Venerable."
However, the Ancient Great Venerable from the Heaven-Burial Abyss narrowed his eyes and said, "Was it really that newly ascended Great Venerable who chose to self-detonate? But why do I feel that the power of that self-detonation carried the aura of faith and Eternal Heavenly Pattern fluctuations similar to Wanxuan Heavenly Venerate's?"