The young generation's supremacy battle on the Ancient Divine Continent had concluded.
The result was unexpected. It was not the various Heaven's Pride talents who had been competing for years, nor the Crown Princes of the imperial dynasties—the strongest of the geniuses. Nor was it Gu Changsheng, who had suddenly emerged from nowhere, representing the Ancient Divine Palace, the continent's strongest orthodoxy, as its most monstrous genius. Instead, it was the Battle Saint King, a Heaven's Pride talent from beyond the Ancient Emperor Realm, from the Myriad Domains.
The final, decisive battle had been surprising from start to finish.
Yet, no one could deny the sheer substance of the Battle Saint King's victory.
The inheritor representing the strongest orthodoxy, the Ancient Divine Palace's Gu Changsheng, had ultimately been defeated.
This monstrous genius, who should have made a forceful debut to reign invincible under the heavens, should have displayed his incomparably brilliant potential and peerless cultivation in the final battle, establishing an image of invincibility before the world. He should have then, in the years to come, rightfully inherited the Ancient Divine Palace, commanded the Ancient Divine Continent, and presided over the rise and fall of the world.
Unfortunately, at the wrong time and in the wrong place, he had encountered the wrong person. His life, which should have been glorious, was cast into the abyss, losing its bright prospects.
The world sighed lightly. An invincible, monstrous genius had been defeated so desolately, evoking a sense of sorrow and an indescribable complexity of emotions.
Although Gu Changsheng was indeed incomparably arrogant, forceful, and domineering, looking down on everyone, no matter how one put it, he was ultimately a young genius of the Ancient Divine Continent, representing it. Everyone wished for their own continent's genius to be brilliant and invincible. Yet, he had lost to a young Heaven's Pride talent from the myriad realms, inevitably causing a psychological letdown.
Gu Changsheng's figure was desolate. However, the figure of the Battle Saint King, standing alone on the Heaven and Earth Battle Stage, towered loftily, commanding the world's attention.
Clad in snow-white robes, with black hair cascading like a waterfall over his shoulders, his eyes shone like celestial stars, profound as black holes, possessing a unique charm. He paid no heed to the world's gaze and attention, his eyes fixed solely on that special Emperor character.
One character contained the myriad Daos, one character concealed the realms, one character opened heaven and earth, one character extinguished the Great Era... A simple character, yet infinitely complex. It was the supreme embodiment of the mythical Emperors and Sovereigns, profound and unfathomable, enough for a Heavenly King to contemplate for a lifetime and benefit endlessly.
Ye Chen stood there quietly, motionless, continuously gazing at the Emperor character, studying the ultimate transformations within—there was heaven, earth, yin, yang, chaos...
He saw Order Divine Chains appearing—chains representing the Dao of Fire, the Dao of Metal, the Dao of Yin and Yang... Countless Order Divine Chains, representing the myriad Daos, then constructed this single Emperor character.
After a long time, Ye Chen finally moved. He directly extended a golden finger, carving in the void, using his own Dao to trace, writing the Emperor character stroke by stroke. The strokes were vigorous and powerful, emanating a mysterious aura that seemed to suppress the myriad realms.
Boom—
Suddenly, wind and thunder roared violently. Everything between heaven and earth turned pitch black, with streaks of lightning rampaging, the winds and clouds changing color, the Great Era shifting.
Myriad thunders rampaged, lightning crisscrossed, but then endless flames soared skyward, and a bloody rain began to fall.
In the sky above, massive stars descended, burning the heavens, threatening to destroy the continent, terrifying beyond measure.
The entire city was shocked and horrified. What was this? Was it the end of the world? Countless people panicked, fearing the heavens were descending a great calamity to destroy the Divine City.
Only those super-powerful experts above the Saint Realm truly understood. It was not a heavenly calamity to end the world, but the astonishing phenomenon manifested by the Battle Saint King's enlightenment of the Dao.
A single Emperor character shook the world. He had comprehended an extraordinary Dao from it, and the heavens had descended with a phenomenon.
Ye Chen's entire body trembled, and all the terrifying phenomena dissipated. Everything returned to normal.
This was an illusion, but also the embodiment of the Emperor and Sovereign Dao contained within the Emperor character. He needed to comprehend it, understand it, digest it all, and make it his own Dao.
He saw Ye Chen reach out and make a grasping motion in the void. A continuous clanging sound rang out as all the fragments of the pitch-black battle armor that had been worn by Gu Changsheng were drawn over, reassembling in the air.
Unfortunately, some fragments had turned to dust, and only most of it was reassembled.
Ye Chen paid it no mind. He looked at the Emperor character, then at this pitch-black armor. After a moment of contemplation, understanding dawned on him. He realized that although the armor was extraordinary, forged from divine materials, its true indestructibility lay in this Emperor character.
Now that the Emperor character had been taken into his hand, the armor lost its indestructibility and thus shattered.
However, why would the Emperor character be imprinted on this dormant pitch-black armor? This puzzled him, but he did not ask Gu Changsheng, nor did he ask Li Xuan. All this would naturally be explained once he reached the Ancient Divine Palace.
The Emperor character was peerless. Not even Ye Chen could fully comprehend it. Not even a Heavenly King could. Even an ancient Great Sage would need to contemplate it for a lifetime. Until one day he reached the realm of Emperor and Sovereign, he could not fully comprehend it.
Finally, he withdrew the Emperor character into his glabella. Everything returned to normal.
This Emperor character would surely be of great use in the future.
Just as everyone thought the Battle Saint King was about to leave, the next moment, he actually began to manifest the Dao right before everyone's eyes.
Boom—
A heavenly stele appeared, countless pitch-black runes intertwining, causing heaven-shaking tremors that startled everyone.
Wasn't this the Heavenly Stele Palm that Gu Changsheng had just used?
It had actually been enacted. Not only were others shocked, not only was Gu Changsheng shocked, even Li Xuan was utterly astonished. This was one of the Ancient Divine Palace's supreme divine abilities. Without grasping its true core essence, how could it be performed?
Yet this was not the end. Because the next moment, everything changed. Ye Chen was throwing a punch, grand and majestic. But what was even more shocking was that on that golden Saint Fist, a vast phantom of a celestial palace appeared, towering above the myriad realms, like a mythical imperial court.
That was the phantom of the Ancient Divine Palace, and he had manifested it as well.
The imposing aura was exactly the same. He had enacted it again. How was this possible?
But the Battle Saint King's astonishing feats happened one after another.
Because immediately after, he changed once more. His back trembled, and crimson light suddenly shot into the sky. Visible to the naked eye, a pair of Immortal Phoenix Divine Wings that blotted out the sky and sun appeared, as if woven from immortal fire runes, capable of severing the nine heavens and incinerating the myriad realms, making countless people gasp in shock.
He had even constructed the Immortal Phoenix Divine Wings, a Xiantian-born peerless divine form. It was too astonishing.
Boom—
The myriad realms seemed to split apart, divine light shot into the sky, and peerless might surged in waves, unceasing to the eye.
The Battle Saint King had successively enacted the Heavenly Stele Palm, the Ancient Divine Palace phantom, and the Immortal Phoenix Divine Wings, and that was not all. Various astonishing divine abilities and secret techniques were gradually being manifested.
What Kunpeng spreading its wings to strike the heavens, what Celestial Mountain Divine Peak crushing the myriad realms, what Celestial Halberd severing past and present, and so on. One after another was enacted. The entire Heaven and Earth Battle Stage trembled violently; the array runes and patterns that surfaced were on the verge of being worn away and pierced. Thick cracks even appeared on the originally solid and indestructible battle stage.
However, weren't these divine abilities exactly the various ones Gu Changsheng had just used? Now they had all appeared one by one in the Battle Saint King's hands, their power undiminished, even surpassing before.
Everyone was dumbfounded. Even Li Xuan was stunned. All these divine abilities had actually been enacted by the Battle Saint King alone.
The world finally understood. Li Xuan felt especially bitter.
No wonder the Battle Saint King hadn't unleashed his full power earlier. He had actually been stealing techniques, pilfering all the divine abilities Gu Changsheng used and making them his own.
Leaving aside the fact that he stole them, the mere fact that he could take these stolen divine abilities and make them his own forced one to marvel at his extraordinariness.
Because how could an ordinary person steal techniques?
Could these divine abilities be stolen without grasping their core essence?
But Ye Chen was exceedingly intelligent. The Battle Saint Art was the ultimate combat method created by the first-generation Battle Saint Ancestor, a supreme profound art that developed personal combat power to its extreme. It had a special effect: it could steal others' divine abilities and transform them for one's own use. Otherwise, why would it be forbidden, why would it be invincible throughout the ages?
In his battle with Gu Changsheng, Ye Chen had used the Battle Saint Art to continuously comprehend his opponent's divine abilities and spells. Moreover, with the ocean of faith power bolstering him, his perception was elevated to its limit, naturally allowing him to steal them almost completely.
And with his intelligence, even if he stole most of it, he could still enact it, even unleashing its full, ten-out-of-ten might.
"Ah..."
Gu Changsheng let out a great cry. His already-repaired body shot into the sky and fled into the distance.
He could not bear such a blow. Staying here a moment longer was as fearsome as the eighteen layers of hell.
This place was simply his land of disgrace. Instead of achieving peerless glory, he had instead paved the way for the Battle Saint King's success, while he himself became a tragedy.
What competition? What strongest monstrous genius? What inheritor of the Ancient Divine Palace? The other party had never taken him seriously from the very beginning. His goal was merely to steal his divine abilities.
How laughable that he thought he could suppress and kill the other, also never taking him seriously.
In the end, the biggest joke was himself.
All of it was unbearable.
Ancient Divine Palace Elder Li Xuan watched Gu Changsheng fly far away into the sky, not stopping him, appearing indifferent. "So what if he was defeated in battle? Throughout the ages, who has ever been truly invincible? Not even the strongest mythical Emperors and Sovereigns. They all encountered insurmountable hardships, faced life-and-death tribulations, yet they never gave up, persevering relentlessly, courageously scaling the peaks. Didn't they eventually reach the pinnacle of the Great Dao? If one can't even accept such a minor setback, how can one talk about climbing to the pinnacle of the Great Dao, presiding over the world, surpassing predecessors, and reaching new realms? If he doesn't awaken to this one day, he is not qualified to become the inheritor of my Ancient Divine Palace."
His words were ruthless, but for the transcendent Ancient Divine Palace that ruled over all, they did not need a coward as an inheritor. Mere combat prowess representing supremacy meant nothing. What was needed was an invincible Dao heart. Only then was one truly qualified to become the master of the Ancient Divine Palace.
"That's right. He is not qualified to become the inheritor of the Ancient Divine Palace. From now on, I am the inheritor of the Ancient Divine Palace."
At this moment, a voice suddenly interjected. It was Ye Chen.
He had dissolved all the divine abilities and Daos, returning to calm, standing alone. He looked calmly at Li Xuan. "Since I emerged victorious in the end, then I should now be the inheritor of the Ancient Divine Palace, and also the next-generation Palace Master of the Ancient Divine Palace."
"..."
Li Xuan was momentarily speechless.
Because initially, all this had merely been a charade. What inheritor of the Ancient Divine Palace, what mythical crown—everything had been prepared for Gu Changsheng.
It was to forge him into the invincible inheritor of the Ancient Divine Palace under the gaze of all.
But they hadn't expected Ye Chen to suddenly emerge out of nowhere, forcefully and crushingly defeat Gu Changsheng, seize the identity of the final victor, causing the Ancient Divine Palace's plans to fall apart.
This made Li Xuan's expression somewhat unpleasant. "Battle Saint King, do you truly wish to become the inheritor of my Ancient Divine Palace?"
"Why wouldn't I?"
Ye Chen's words were firm and resounding. Naturally, he didn't care about the so-called inheritor status. But what kind of power was the Ancient Divine Palace? It had existed as long as the Ancient Divine Continent itself. It was an ancient major power that contained the most secrets of the entire Ancient Divine Continent, knew the most secrets of the Ancient Emperor Realm, possessed endless hidden treasures, and countless experts.
If he could take it as his own force, why wouldn't he?
If the entire Ancient Divine Continent could be used for his own purposes, not to mention anything else, just the power of the nine great imperial dynasties alone would make the supreme holy lands of the myriad realms wary to the extreme. If not for the presence of ancient Great Sages, even the number of Heavenly Kings couldn't compare.
The Ancient Divine Palace could transcend and tower above the nine ancient imperial dynasties, making them submit without resistance. Its power was certainly even greater.
Why not grasp such a foundational force?
The future was cruel. He had seen it on the River of Time. The myriad realms were almost repeating the mistakes of the Mythical Era, perhaps even more severely. In the end, only he, the sole supreme one, remained, with everyone by his side gone.
The enemies he would have to face then would undoubtedly be the most terrifying throughout the ages. Naturally, he needed to cultivate an invincible force to resist them.
Li Xuan's expression now could be described as quite ugly, but these were precisely the words he had spoken himself, leaving no room for refutation. He was now in a situation where he was stuck between a rock and a hard place.
If it were anyone else, even the Crown Princes of the imperial dynasties, he would use threats and inducements. But facing the Battle Saint King, who had one foot in the realm of Heavenly Kings, he lacked that capability.
Such a figure was far more fearsome than imagined.
Moreover, no one knew what he had discussed with the Heavenly Kings of the nine imperial dynasties back then. This point always made him suspicious and extremely wary.
"What? Do you have objections?" Ye Chen said, looking at him calmly, speaking in a tone of complete equality.
Li Xuan shook his head somewhat bitterly. "My apologies. The matter of the inheritor is not for me to decide alone. It requires discussion with the Supreme Elders and the Palace Master before a decision can be given."
Ye Chen's expression darkened. "What? Does the Ancient Divine Palace intend to go back on its word, taking back the promises made before the eyes of the world?"
His voice was not loud, but when it reached beyond the Heaven and Earth Battle Stage, it transformed into rolling thunder, echoing over the entire Divine City's sky, resounding for tens of thousands of miles, widely spreading to inform the world.
Instantly, countless people throughout the city heard it clearly and distinctly.
The entire city erupted in an uproar!