Over the next few days, monitoring by the Research Department showed no unusual activity from the Bu Lu civilization. Ye Chen spent some time cultivating in the side hall where he resided, solidifying the gui qi within his body. Through his previous frantic devouring, he had now reached the peak of the Ghost God level, though his physical body remained at the 10,000-level constitution!
"Slaughtering more powerhouses only increases gui qi; I must obtain miraculous elixirs to temper the body!"
A faint light flickered in Ye Chen's eyes. "In that unnamed cave dwelling, there was an elixir repository. In my past life, I fortunately acquired a single 'Sky-Tempering Pill' within, which caused my 3,000-level physique to surge to over ten thousand!"
"That was just one minor pill from inside; what sort of elixirs lie within the central medicine furnace?"
The thought made Ye Chen's heart burn with fervor. What he lacked now was only an improvement in physical constitution... Once his body reached the 100,000-level, he could immediately break through to the Demigod Realm!
However, Ye Chen was not rushed. Once he became a Demigod, the gui qi in his body would convert into Divine Power, rendering the Ghost Art useless thereafter; no amount of killing would yield more Divine Power!
Divine Power was far rarer than Ghost Power!
And in this ancient world, the air was saturated with gui qi, which could be absorbed simply by meditating and cultivating; there was no need to slaughter to refine the soul.
"Accumulate deeply before bursting forth—keep accumulating! Only at the critical moment will I step into the Demigod Realm. Though with my current strength, while I am nearly invincible against Ghost God powerhouses, even slaughtering peak Ghost God experts is effortless with the Nine Palaces manual! Facing a Demigod, however, I still possess zero resistance!"
"In the face of Divine Power, gui qi is like a mouse encountering a cat—before even engaging, it is instantly incinerated!"
Ye Chen sighed inwardly. This was the leap across realms, something even a heaven-defying Super Mode couldn't bypass. "Super Mode... with my current physique, I am capable of fusing with a third Super Gene!" Ye Chen’s eyes shone. With three Super Modes, his strength would become even greater.
Yet, this third chance for gene fusion was exceedingly rare, and Ye Chen was reluctant to decide hastily.
"I already possess strength and speed; initiating another would merely be stacking, not offering much utility. The weakness of the Ant Super Mode is insufficient speed; the Lightning Super Mode’s weakness is that it loses all its power when encountering narrow spaces where speed cannot be unleashed."
Ye Chen’s spirit slowly settled. He decided to visit Azure Water City as soon as possible and check the shops there for the Divine Beast Codex to see if there were any suitable monsters.
Monsters in the ancient world were even more formidable!
The Lightning Beast here was merely a slightly rare monster, not the absolute top tier.
This place consolidated countless civilizations, and in many respects, technology was shared. Everyone could enter the Super God Temples built in the major cities to awaken Super Modes, though the cost was rather steep.
Nevertheless, awakening a Super Mode was equivalent to gaining a permanent lifeline; no matter how expensive, people were willing to pay.
Consequently, monsters with superior genes became the focus of everyone's attention. For the same Super Mode initiation, the resulting power varied based on the genes—some Super Modes initially only amplified strength twofold to fivefold, while others could multiply it by tens of times!
As such, specimens of these monsters were collected and categorized into levels: Demon Beast level, Spirit Beast level, and Divine Beast level! Beyond these, there were a few unique, singular life forms termed Super Divine Beasts!
According to this grading, Ye Chen’s Ant Super Mode could barely be considered high-tier Demon Beast level! And the Lightning Mode was only mid-tier Spirit Beast!
A Divine Beast gene that amplified speed could increase it a hundredfold, or even more, at the first tier!
As the battle concluded, the entire Thunder Plaza returned to tranquility. In the blink of an eye, a month passed.
On this day, Ye Chen was still sitting cross-legged in the side hall, cultivating. Relying on his Devouring Power, the speed at which he tempered the gui qi in the air was astonishing. In just one month, he had tempered a full 5,000 points!
In the later stages, the advantage of Devouring Power gradually became apparent. With his current level of innate talent awakening, Ye Chen's speed in tempering gui qi was four times that of others!
For anyone else, a month would only yield about 250 points of gui qi.
Even so, this pace was considered exceptionally fast. Spending ten years in the ancient world here would equate to reaching the ninth tier of the Ghost God realm; since the time flow here was 100 times that of Earth, ten years here was equivalent to just one month on Earth!
Boom~~~
Suddenly... a majestic and authoritative aura swept past, like a rising comet, rushing over from a great distance, causing the very air around heaven and earth to recede like water waves.
This aura finally settled over the entirety of the Thunder Plaza. Any expert in the Ghost God realm could feel this immense presence.
Ye Chen opened his eyes, a trace of confusion appearing... "This aura seems similar to that of the Guide. It should be a Pseudo-God Realm expert. Why would they suddenly release such a massive wave of pressure?"
"Come!" Suddenly, a cold, authoritative voice rang out abruptly in Ye Chen's mind, carrying a soul-shaking power.
Ye Chen's eyes instantly glazed over in confusion, and his body rose automatically, rushing towards the door. After taking exactly nine steps, as he was about to take the tenth, a sudden shock jolted him, and he instantly awoke.
"What terrifying intent!" Ye Chen was inwardly stunned. "Just one sentence carried an will of absolute obedience, irresistible. If my state of mind hadn't reached the fifth layer of the Sage level, if he had told me to 'commit suicide'... I would have immediately obeyed!"
Too terrifying!
A single sentence was enough to cause the downfall of a peak Ghost God expert!
Ye Chen frowned, gazing intently toward the sky. He immediately saw a figure ten thousand zhang tall standing in the center of the entire Thunder Plaza, monumental like a towering pillar. Its mountain-like, majestic form exuded an overbearing aura, clad in a pale crimson robe that radiated waves of terrifying presence.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Suddenly, five figures shot out from the other three buildings—they were the Vietnamese Chairman and others. To Ye Chen's surprise, besides the beautiful woman and a Ghost God expert from the Heavenly God Alliance, there were two other Ghost God experts. Observing their bearing, they appeared to be the Chairman of the American Base City and the Chairman of Russia!
Ye Chen's gaze flashed. He took one step, traversing the void, arriving in mid-air, and looked toward where the massive aura originated. He immediately saw countless figures rushing out from all directions, densely packed, resembling countless tiny ants converging toward that tall figure, as if this person were a magnet.
"What's going on?" Ye Chen wondered, noticing that Ghost God experts from other surrounding factions were also moving toward the central figure. He frowned, pondering for a moment before his eyes suddenly lit up. "Could the Red Meteor Sect be recruiting?"
In his past life, when Ye Chen entered the ancient world with the army, he only possessed a 3,000-level physique. Only after inheriting knowledge in that unnamed cave dwelling for 200 years did he reach the Ghost God realm!
He recalled that in that life, even Yun Shaojing, who had obtained divine blood, and many other powerhouses, only reached the peak of the Ghost God realm. During the short 300 years spent in this Thunder Plaza, they suffered immense abuse from the surrounding civilizations. Especially the Bu Lu civilization, which would come demanding people from the Spiritual Civilization whenever they were hungry!
If they lacked slaves, they demanded people!
If they refused, they slaughtered!
At that time, the Spiritual Civilization lived in utter misery, their status akin to livestock—fattened up only to be butchered, and when nearly dead, nurtured again.
Back then, the Spiritual Civilization had hundreds of millions of people. Encouraged by the higher-ups, the lower ranks reproduced heavily. An average of 100,000 infants were born every day, and the status of women was even more humble. For every child a woman bore, she received a substantial reward. Some women might give birth to over a hundred children!
One every year!
One after another, ceaselessly giving birth!
Like a machine producing flesh and blood!
With the technology of that era, childbirth could be made entirely painless for women, and fertilization success was 100%. They were given massive nutrients, treated like sows!
In addition, vast numbers of nutrient pods and gene pods were constructed to manufacture test-tube babies.
These creations were not for anything else, but to be transported to the other civilizations here as cuisine to be consumed!
This situation continued for some time until Yun Shaojing secured the status of a direct disciple of an Elder in the Red Meteor Sect, marking a change.
Ye Chen remembered this sect extremely clearly. It was a super-major power in Azure Water City, rumored to have a Divine Spirit level expert as its leader!
"That day was just like this—countless Ghost God experts rushing toward a tall figure. Back then, I thought they were responding to a summons, but I realize now they were being passively called over," Ye Chen’s eyes flashed, and his figure moved, following the others toward the towering individual.
If he could join the Red Meteor Sect, he would gain immense resources, such as Ghost Stones!
"If I were alone, I could completely rely on my own efforts, hunting 'Soul-Lost Ones' in the wilderness and excavating the 'Soul Crystals' from their brains for cultivation."
"But now..."
"Behind me is the entire Spiritual Civilization: little sister, White Dragon, Xu Tianguo, Yue Heng..."
These were all things Ye Chen could not abandon. Having experienced one rebirth, he viewed fame, power, and strength with extreme clarity. If he could return Earth to an era of peace, where the apocalypse never dawned, he would gladly sacrifice all his current strength for it!
He only wished he could live quietly and peacefully for a few decades...
Ye Chen took a deep breath, suppressing the turbulent thoughts in his mind. Tenderness only led to weakness, so he charged toward the towering figure with a cold expression. A moment later, he arrived before the figure and looked up, seeing that this man radiated an extremely terrifying fluctuation, as if a slight movement from him could crush Ye Chen with a flip of his hand!
Before this man, life was entirely not one's own!
"This is the strength of the Pseudo-God Realm..." Ye Chen noted silently.
This man had two arms and two legs, like a normal person, but there was a dark spot between his eyebrows, emitting rolling malevolent energy, appearing to harbor a bleak, resentful sea of blood. Especially his eyes—the edges of his pupils glowed with a red light, bizarre and sinister.
As Ye Chen stared, the man seemed to subtly shift his gaze, giving Ye Chen a fleeting look.