Now, this was the Origin Land that had been reopened after the destruction of heaven and earth. The Heavenly Dao was incomplete. No one had expected that under such difficult circumstances, someone could still become a Supreme Heavenly Venerate in that seemingly impossible situation. The hardship involved was unimaginable, far surpassing the difficulty of attaining the Supreme Heavenly position in the Origin Land by who knows how many times. Even compared to the Origin Land during the era when the Great God Pangu rose to prominence, it was countless times more arduous.
To become a Supreme Heavenly Venerate from a place where the Eternal Heavenly Dao was incomplete, one could imagine how heaven-defying that person was.
If he lived on smoothly, he might even become a true King of Heavenly Venerates.
The Great God Pangu was the best example.
However, he was jointly attacked and killed by his master, Wanxuan Heavenly Venerate, Taiyuan Heavenly Venerate, and the other three Supreme Heavenly Venerates, becoming the shortest-lived Supreme Heavenly Venerate in history.
Yet, no one had expected that the Heavenly Venerate of the Origin Land had not truly fallen. He was right before their eyes.
Qingtian Great Venerable desperately wanted to transmit this extremely important information to the outside world, to let his master know, so that his master could strike with thunderous force while the other had not yet fully returned to his peak and directly suppress and kill him.
But he also knew there was no longer any opportunity.
The other party would never allow him to successfully transmit the message.
"I lost without grievance," Qingtian Great Venerable sighed softly. His Great Venerable body and his Great Venerable soul gradually disintegrated before Ye Chen.
The Yang of the Flawed Heavenly Venerate also crumbled away bit by bit.
The Heavenly Seal surged with infinite Faith Power, something that could make even Ancient Great Venerables wary and fearful, yet before Ye Chen, it was utterly useless, capable only of trembling.
"Although I know I am not your match, for this final battle before death, I wish to fight at my absolute peak. I wish to question the Heavenly Dao!"
Before death, Qingtian Great Venerable's eyes blazed with the most fervent light. He forcibly elevated his own condition to its absolute peak, surpassing his past self, infinitely approaching a true Supreme Heavenly Venerate.
His greatest wish had always been to become a Supreme Heavenly Venerate. Ever since the Multiverse Dusk War, after the Heavenly Covenant was established and the Thirty-Three Celestial Palaces were founded, he had actively taken charge, becoming one of the Five Great Palace Lords. He had hoped to use the infinite Faith Power of the Thirty-Three Celestial Palaces to give him hope of taking that final step he had once been unable to take, to become a true Supreme Heavenly Venerate.
But all of this was now too late.
Now, facing his final death, he did not hesitate to burn himself, elevating his condition to its utmost limit, surpassing his past self, achieving the strongest state of his entire life.
The Qingtian Axe also hummed and buzzed, beginning to burn as well, approaching the level of an Ancient Heavenly Venerate Weapon, wanting to become a true Ancient Heavenly Venerate Weapon and follow its master in erupting in the final battle of his life.
Qingtian Great Venerable wielded the Qingtian Axe. Both master and weapon were burning as they charged at Ye Chen.
"Good, I shall grant your wish!" Ye Chen said. The chaotic radiance flowing from his body also blazed billions of times brighter in an instant, shaking the mortal world.
...
No one knew how much time had passed. With a terrifying roar that shook all ages, the realm beyond the heavens fell completely silent.
Beyond the heavens, only an endless expanse of chaotic nothingness remained. Terrifying Great Venerable-level residual fluctuations rippled there, and Eternal Heavenly Scripts flickered, becoming a brand new forbidden land within the Origin Land.
Let alone others, even a Taishang Realm Overlord approaching would face the risk of falling.
Throughout heaven and earth, the Twenty-Seven Eternal Heavenly Clans, the Thirteen Life Forbidden Zones, and countless other forces closely monitored the events beyond the heavens.
The great battle had its final outcome.
Who lived, and who died?
The Ancient Great Venerables also wished to know.
But no one could perceive it.
Pangu Heavenly Domain, Heavenly Venerate Mountain.
Zhao Jingruo was extremely tense, and Qian Xun was the same.
They were both worried that the Ancient Great Venerable suspected to be Ye Chen might meet with disaster.
At the highest point of Heavenly Venerate Mountain, that Supreme Heavenly Venerate remained silent, only a pair of eyes constantly gazing beyond the heavens.
In the Origin Land, several other places also had terrifying gazes shooting forth.
Those were the gazes of Supreme Heavenly Venerates. Similarly, other Supreme Heavenly Venerates had been alerted and also wished to know the outcome of that battle.
Because the impact of this battle was too great.
Boom—
From the land of primordial chaos, an ancient great seal soared into the sky. Its entire body was suffused with endless phantoms, as if myriad ancient worlds revolved around it, or as if trillions upon trillions of infinite living beings were prostrating in worship, chanting their faith.
This ancient seal returned to the ruins that originally belonged to Qingtian Palace within the Thirty-Three Celestial Palaces. Instantly, billions of layers of Faith Power flooded the area, rising and falling.
"Qingtian's Heavenly Seal has returned. As expected, he was the victor!"
The gazes of the Ancient Great Venerables were the first to witness this. That was the Qingtian Seal, one of the Five Great Heavenly Seals. Its return now was already an omen of everything.
"The Heavenly Seal's return signifies it was not needed. A pity for a generation's new Great Venerable!"
Some Ancient Great Venerables sighed with regret, also feeling some disappointment.
Originally, they had hoped to use the influence of that new Great Venerable to allow the Great Venerables of the All Heavens to re-enter the world.
But now, with the Heavenly Seal's return, everything was already clear. The new Great Venerable had been defeated. The Heavenly Covenant still endured, and the Thirty-Three Celestial Palaces continued to restrain the Great Venerables of the All Heavens, preventing them from entering the world.
They had all hoped that new Great Venerable would emerge victorious, but it was always a vain hope, now even more impossible.
The Ancient Great Venerables of the Heaven-Burying Abyss, Kunxu, and the Purple Extreme Heavenly Clan also withdrew their gazes, a trace of disappointment within.
Indeed, they had been wrong.
Qingtian Great Venerable was so powerful. How could defeating him be so simple?
Although the Ancient Great Venerables had shaken the Origin Land during this period, becoming known to the world,
they could not truly emerge into the world. As time passed, they would eventually fall silent once again.
When that time came, who in the world would remember?
In the hearts of the people, there would be no memory of Ancient Great Venerables like them.
The Ancient Great Venerables of the All Heavens all knew that, in truth, this was a method of grinding down and killing them employed by the Supreme Heavenly Venerates.
In the world, the most fearsome killing was not execution, but making the world forget.
Reaching the level of Ancient Great Venerable was akin to being an alternative Heavenly Venerate. Killing them was very difficult.
Even the Ancient Great Venerables who fell in the past might not have truly fallen at the time, more or less leaving behind some soul fragments, true spirit imprints, and so on.
However, generally speaking, reaching that state was equivalent to being as good as dead, because they could not recover to their peak. It was even difficult to reach the Heaven-Mending level of Quasi-Giant, and reaching the Heaven-Connecting level of Supreme was already the absolute limit. Moreover, cultivating to become a Supreme was destined to be incredibly arduous.
For an Ancient Great Venerable, this was not much different from being dead.
Furthermore, such re-cultivation was destined to encounter countless tribulations.
But even so, as long as the world remembered, with the heaven-reaching methods of an Ancient Great Venerable, there were still ways to survive, not truly falling.
However, when the world completely forgot their existence, it was equivalent to erasing all imprints. If the world did not remember or commemorate them, one day, if they were slain, no one would know, and they would not survive in the world's memory. Even the last sliver of hope for revival would vanish.
Therefore, the world's forgetting was the most terrifying death.
Silent and soundless, remembered by none.
This was also a method of grinding down and killing the Ancient Great Venerates employed by the Supreme Heavenly Venerates who had actively established the Heavenly Covenant back then—to make them be completely forgotten by the world, utterly vanish from the mortal realm, leaving no hope of revival.
"The Qingtian Seal's return proves everything. The Ancient Great Venerable won, the new Great Venerable lost, and is most likely missing."
All factions knew this.
As for missing?
That most likely meant he had already fallen.