Ye Chen’s expression remained unchanged as his figure suddenly darted to the left, moving with lightning speed. He glanced at the Demigod Stones in the rune space, noting that after this brief bout of fighting, only forty to fifty thousand remained. The use of the Dragon God Rune alone had consumed a staggering one hundred thousand!

Ye Chen frowned slightly, his gaze sweeping over the spiritual civilization below. On the streets and in the cities, everyone was retreating at a frantic pace. After half a day, the thoroughfares were nearly empty; most people had already entered their spatial folding bags or the relic spaces.

For a massive space like the Fire Civilization, hundreds, if not more, of Lesser World-Suppressing Stones would be required. However, for a spiritual civilization with a population of only about one hundred million, those many spaces were more than sufficient.

The reason the Huaxia Civilization had failed to evacuate into the Atlantis Ruins in time when the monster army attacked previously was due to the single entrance, causing everyone to crowd toward one spot, naturally resulting in extremely slow transit. Now, however, one to two thousand spatial entrances had opened across various locations, boosting the migration speed by a thousand or two times!

Whoosh!

That chilling blade energy seemed capable of turning corners. Seeing Ye Chen evade, it inexplicably curved along, relentlessly pursuing him.

Ye Chen knitted his brows, quickly accelerating and taking a wide detour before charging toward Kaba, who was flying up to meet him. Kaba had brought two other Quasi-God Realm puppets. He intercepted the icy blade energy. Kaba’s expression was furious as he stared intently at the majestic man, clutching a dark black scepter that had appeared from nowhere—it bore a strong resemblance to the magical staves of the Babylonian and Magic Civilizations.

His scepter was forged entirely of metal, topped with a crystal-colored gem that shot out a beam of blue laser light, which collided head-on with the incoming blade energy.

Boom!

The two forces met, shuddered briefly, and then dissipated.

“Get lost!” The majestic man roared, his expression enraged, and charged forward with long, powerful strides. He brought his war blade down, splitting the air with a rainbow-like arc of light that hammered onto Kaba’s scepter, etching a shallow mark onto the metal artifact.

Under that immense force, Kaba was thrown back a thousand zhang before slowly coming to a halt. Without turning his head, he yelled back to Ye Chen, “Go quickly! I’ll hold him off!”

Swish!

Suddenly, a dazzling golden light whistled past Kaba’s side, carrying a sacred and immense aura—it seemed like the purest energy in the entire universe, tearing through myriad planar spaces as it charged toward the majestic man.

The majestic man’s face shifted, and he quickly raised his blade to block. The golden light struck the war blade, vibrated slightly, and then vanished. The sheer force behind it pushed the majestic man’s entire body back seven or eight feet.

“Together!” A low, cold voice sounded slowly near Kaba’s ear. He turned his head to see that Ye Chen had, at some unknown time, arrived at his side. Ye Chen’s expression was icy as he stared at the majestic man opposite them, killing intent faintly flickering in his eyes.

Kaba instinctively asked, “Can you handle it?”

Ye Chen said nothing, slowly raising his hand and pointing his finger. A thick strand of golden light condensed at his fingertip, carrying a vast, mighty aura, and shot toward the majestic man.

Facing this brilliant golden light, the majestic man’s expression grew solemn; he felt an ineffable sense of danger and dared not be careless, immediately swinging his blade to parry.

Kaba sensed the immense aura contained within the strand of golden light and couldn’t help being startled. “What kind of attack is this? Can you sustain it?”

With his eyesight, he recognized instantly that the aura contained within this sliver of golden light was enough to severely wound a Lesser Quasi-God expert! If he could use it continuously, it would be terrifying!

Ye Chen’s expression was detached; his eyes flickered slightly, as if lost in thought. “One use costs 1,000 years of lifespan!”

One thousand years—enough time to witness the rise and fall of an empire! One thousand years—enough time to witness countless loves, hates, partings, and sorrows! One thousand years… To Ye Chen, 1,000 years passed in the blink of an eye!

Kaba stared at him in shock. “Are you insane? If you use this too many times, you’ll die eventually! You only just broke through to the Demigod Realm, your physique is level 100,000, meaning your lifespan is at most twenty thousand years. If you use it 20 times at most, you’ll be dead!”

What was the path of cultivation all about? Nothing more than longevity, eternal life!

Ye Chen seemed not to hear Kaba’s shock. He gazed at the majestic man, the power of his Divine Blood shimmering on his fingertip with dazzling golden light, illuminating his face and reflecting in his eyes like two bizarre and scorching flames.

“I’m not mad,” Ye Chen murmured. “I’m just doing what’s worth doing.”

“But doing this will kill you! Your lifespan needs to increase. Unless you consume some miraculous elixir, it will only extend upon breaking through to the Quasi-God Realm!” Kaba said anxiously. “The Demigod Realm is just a transition. The Ghost God Realm grants 9,000 years of life, the Demigod Realm has twenty thousand years, and only upon breaking through to the Quasi-God Realm can one reach a lifespan of 100,000 years!”

“Many perish in the Demigod Realm due to insufficient lifespan, and you’re still wasting it like this!!”

A faint, gentle golden radiance shone on Ye Chen’s face. A subtle light glowed in his eyes as he smiled slightly, “For me, ten years of lifespan is enough.”

Kaba was momentarily stunned. “Damn it!” Kaba cried out. “Who do you think you are? You think you can break through to the Quasi-God Realm in just ten years? Let me tell you, the transition from Demigod to Quasi-God is an extremely difficult process. Forget ten years; if you were given ten thousand years, it would be a good achievement just to break through!”

Ye Chen smiled without replying, saying no more. It seemed as if a certain figure rooted deep in his heart had been stirred. The murderous intent in his eyes receded like a tide, and a slight smile touched his cold face.

“Ten years…” In some distant, unknown place, there seemed to be a woman, with only ten years of life remaining…

Seeing Ye Chen condense that brilliant golden light on his fingertip but refrain from attacking, the majestic man’s expression turned gloomy, and his fists clenched with audible snaps… “A mere little thing in the Demigod Realm dares to threaten me!”

“Die!” he roared, suddenly charging forward with great force.

“I’ll take him!” Kaba feared Ye Chen would use that strange attack again and stepped out first, rushing forward.

Ye Chen stood to the side, waiting until Kaba was clearly at a disadvantage before utilizing the power of his Divine Blood for support. After several probes, he realized that with this 0.35% Divine Blood power, killing the majestic man was utterly impossible. Even if the opponent stood still, this small amount of Divine Blood power could, at most, injure him, but not kill him.

Not long after, whoosh! whoosh! whoosh!

In the azure sky, two dark black spots suddenly appeared, piercing the atmosphere and clouds, hovering over the spatial lane in the void.

Seeing these two warships, Ye Chen’s pupils contracted. “Quasi-God level!” Both warships shared a similar design to the majestic man’s vessel, differing only in color: one was blue and the other red. The Quasi-God level ship Ye Chen had plundered from the majestic man was obsidian black.

“Reinforcements have arrived!” Kaba’s expression turned somewhat grim.

Just as the two ships docked, a black dot suddenly materialized outside the atmosphere—it was a Quasi-God level flying vessel, extremely stylish, with cannons like steel spikes, giving it a grand and imposing appearance.

“Chiyun Gate!” Ye Chen frowned; the flag on this ship was the exclusive insignia of the Chiyun Gate.

“Hahahaha… that majestic man realized the presence of these ships and couldn’t help but laugh loudly. “Now, you’re both dead for sure! I don’t believe you can withstand the combined assault of four Quasi-God Realm experts!” He looked at Ye Chen and sneered, “You can die proud, a small figure in the Demigod Realm managing to draw out four Quasi-God experts to capture you. After you die, your name will certainly be remembered by many.”

Ye Chen glanced at him, then looked down toward the spiritual civilization. He immediately noticed that the figures on the streets had vanished, and large sections of buildings had been stored in the relic space. The previously noisy and lively camp was suddenly quiet and deserted.

The majestic man and Kaba were locked in fierce combat and hadn’t noticed the unusual situation in the spiritual civilization. Even if they had noticed, they wouldn’t have cared, assuming Ye Chen would have fled long ago if he intended to. The fact that he remained meant he knew there was an ambush outside and dared not leave.

“Retreat!” Ye Chen suddenly commanded.

Kaba froze for a moment, then also noticed the strangeness in the spiritual civilization. A flicker of joy crossed his heart. He swiftly reached out a hand, scooping the remaining two Quasi-God experts into his personal puppet space, and dove downward at high speed.

“Trying to run?” The majestic man sneered, gathering Quasi-God power at the soles of his feet like thrusters, propelling himself to pursue the two of them.

Kaba’s body shifted rapidly, transforming from a humanoid shape into a large blue bird with sharp talons, strikingly resembling a swift—an animal renowned as the fastest flyer on the planet.

“Grab hold!” Kaba’s speed skyrocketed. In a few breaths, he was in front of Ye Chen, whispering.

Ye Chen didn’t hesitate, reaching out and gripping the claw beneath Kaba’s belly.

“Hold tight,” a sharp gleam flashed in Kaba’s eyes.

Whoosh!

His wings vibrated, and his entire body shot away like a hurricane, increasing his speed seven or eight times, instantly leaving the majestic man far behind.

“This puppet of mine can transform into 9,999 forms, hehe, impressive, right!” Kaba laughed proudly.

Ye Chen muttered, “When it turns into scrap metal, I wonder what form it’ll be in…”

Kaba rolled his eyes irritably. “You jinx!”

Ye Chen glanced at him. “Fly well.”

“Believe it or not, I’ll drop you!”

“Sealing Ghost…”

“Your sister!”

Kaba brought Ye Chen to the spiritual civilization camp, landing in a gliding descent. Ye Chen narrowed his eyes, reaching out to collect the numerous tokens for the relic spaces that had been left scattered on the plaza. He swept his gaze around, feeling that nothing had been missed, then grabbed Kaba’s claw. “Escape!”

“Yoshi!” Kaba beat his wings, carrying Ye Chen like a hurricane, surging toward the distance.

Just then, Rumble Rumble—

Several dazzling shockwaves tracked them from behind, carrying an aura of destruction as they raced toward Kaba and Ye Chen.