Whoosh!

Ye Chen moved in an instant, unleashing the Nine Palaces Secret Manual. The entire earth shuddered violently as a majestic palace soared from the ground, ascending through the clouds. Four ferocious and imposing Nine Palaces Guardians floated out from within the palace, standing sentinel on the peak of the mountain stage.

“Kill!” Ye Chen raised his hand and pointed forward.

The four Nine Palaces Guardians roared as their bodies charged toward the youth of the Ula God Clan from the God Realm civilization. Wherever they passed, the earth was scorched black.

The Uka God Clan youth’s expression was cold. Facing the violently rushing Nine Palaces Guardians, he sneered. A brilliant white crystal light suddenly appeared on his brow, dazzling and piercing, like a single cold star. This light possessed an intoxicating radiance, as if countless folded spaces flickered within it, causing viewers to become dizzy and disoriented.

“Mind Judgment!”

The Uka God Clan youth spoke with cold detachment, carrying the lofty authority of a heavenly deity, viewing all beings as ants, judging everything.

An invisible energy, like a blade of white light, coalesced above Ye Chen’s head and cleaved down with a booming crash!

This was a spiritual tempest!

Ye Chen felt a wave of vertigo sweep through his mind, as if countless drowsiness were assaulting him; his eyelids grew heavy as mountains. A voice of immense enticement incessantly whispered, “Sleep now, sleep…” Just as the blade of Mind Judgment descended from above, Ye Chen suddenly bit down on his lip. The sharp pain and the welling of crimson blood served as a jolt that cleared his mind slightly. Facing the dazzling Sword of Judgment, he threw his head back and let out a furious roar!

This roar contained the entirety of his spiritual power, like a base, insignificant ant defying the heavens, scorning heavenly might and ignoring everything in the world. It carried a touch of madness and arrogant self-importance, yet was imbued with profound loneliness and solitude.

Roar!

The clouds and mists across the entire sky trembled, as if awed by the force of that single cry.

Most people in the leisure zone felt a painful vibration in their eardrums, sensing the soul-shaking roar, as if someone were whispering right beside their ears: “You dare to judge me?!”

Boom!

The Sword of Mind Judgment trembled slightly before finally shattering apart. Ye Chen knew this was a fleeting opportunity and instantly ignited the surging blood within his body, detonating the Nine Palaces Guardians!

A violent explosion echoed across the entire mountain stage, akin to a magnitude twelve earthquake. The earth shook and swayed violently, and the clouds in the sky boiled and dispersed.

Ye Chen focused his gaze, noticing that he hadn't heard the system prompt sound, causing his heart to sink slightly. Just then, as the clouds scattered, what was revealed before Ye Chen was a scene of utter devastation—the ground was scorched black, crisscrossed with spiderweb cracks, marred by countless wounds that were shocking to behold.

And in this open space, the figure of the Uka God Clan youth was nowhere to be seen.

“Hmm?” Ye Chen frowned, scanning his surroundings carefully.

At that moment, a small cluster of flesh suddenly materialized from thin air in the void. This cluster grew larger and larger until it slowly formed a massive lump of flesh. From within it, limbs, a nose, and eyes extended, coalescing into a complete human form—it was undeniably the Uka God Clan youth!

Ye Chen paused momentarily, staring at the resurrected youth. His pupils contracted slightly, filled with shock. He was almost certain that the shockwave from the previous explosion, which possessed an amplitude of at least 8 million, should have pulverized his opponent down to nothingness!

Not even a single cellular fragment should remain!

A powerful demigod, given enough time, could potentially regenerate from a single remaining cell, but the memory matrix within that remnant cell would be pitifully small. If even the cells were utterly pulverized, then that person was essentially beyond resurrection.

“Didn't expect that, did you?” A slight curve played on the Uka God Clan youth’s lips. “We, the divine beings of the Uka God Clan, are born with the ability to resurrect. As long as the soul remains intact, the body can regenerate from it. This is an innate talent beyond your comprehension! That is why those from our God Realm civilization focus only on cultivating the divine and never the physical body!”

Ye Chen finally understood.

To deal with people from the God Realm civilization, one had to strike down their very soul to damage their core; otherwise, no matter how many times the physical body was destroyed, they could be reborn! If one encountered someone unskilled in soul attacks, even if that person possessed immense physical strength, they would only be able to smile sadly toward the Nine Springs when facing a member of the God Realm civilization.

“Die!” the Uka God Clan youth roared, lunging forward with his entire body.

When the four Nine Palaces Guardians had all detonated, all the demigod power within Ye Chen had been depleted, leaving only his physical strength equivalent to nearly one million in magnitude. If this strength were pitted against an ordinary peak demigod, there might be a sliver of hope for victory. But against the Uka God Clan youth before him, whose amplitude of power was at least two million times greater, it was completely insufficient.

Bang!

A flash of light erupted, and Ye Chen’s body was pulverized.

“Challenge failed!”

The system prompt sounded by Ye Chen’s ear. His vision faded to white, and when he opened his eyes again, he was back in his residential room.

“Uka God Clan…” Ye Chen frowned. He wasn't regretting the loss of three God Points, but was instead pondering the mistakes in that battle. He should never have unleashed the full power of the four Nine Palaces Guardians from the start. Doing so meant that if the opponent wasn't killed instantly, he would be left utterly defenseless!

Moreover, his own spiritual power was still insufficient—a major flaw. Most crucially, his knowledge of the various civilizations was far too limited.

The entire Ancient Continent was home to a staggering three thousand civilizations, each possessing different races, adding up to tens of thousands of distinct races! Every race had its own innate talents and different physiologies. Although Ye Chen possessed rich experience from his previous life, it was all rooted in the lower echelons. His current lack of exposure to these great civilizations had become a disadvantage—his experience was too shallow!

“I was so focused on crazily cultivating the Yan Shen Mystery Canon that I neglected this crucial aspect. Once this challenge competition ends, I absolutely must dive deep into these 3,000 civilizations and the characteristics of their myriad races!”

Ye Gui’s mind cleared instantly, and he soon dismissed the previous failure, focusing his attention on the next match. Life was full of setbacks; to linger in failure and be unable to move on was the true defeat!

As Ye Chen failed, the entire leisure zone erupted in chatter.

“I didn’t expect the Uka God Clan to be that formidable!”

“I need to be cautious next time I encounter one. I should get a weapon specifically for soul attacks in a few days; then I won’t have to hold back if I meet them in reality.”

“That newcomer failed, hehe, it’s good his arrogance has been tempered a bit! Too cocky!”

Everyone viewed the battle with the attitude of spectators. There were 2,802 individuals in the Genius Hall. Over 300 had challenged Ye Chen, while nearly 2,500 were observing. At that moment, in the various bars, hotels, restaurants, and entertainment halls across the leisure grounds, large screens were broadcasting this very fight!

Time flowed onward. An hour later, Ye Chen commenced his next round of battles.

“Challenge successful!” “Challenge successful!” “Challenge failed!”

In one battle after another, he encountered individuals from numerous civilizations. The fighting styles of people from different civilizations varied greatly. For instance, the Mechanical Civilization employed close-combat and ranged robots, as well as all-rounders, and their battles were primarily based on calculation. It felt as though the opponent could predict every move in advance, making the fight extremely frustrating. However, against absolute power, all calculations were mere dross.

This challenge competition lasted for five days. Ye Chen fought relentlessly, participating in a total of 117 battles, ultimately achieving a record of 109 wins and 8 losses! The primary reasons for his defeats were a lack of knowledge regarding other civilizations, which led him into unexpected ambushes, and his insufficiently powerful spiritual cultivation.

Thanks to the prior cultivation of the Yan Shen Mystery Canon, Ye Chen’s state of mind was also slowly advancing, reaching the late peak of the seventh stage of the Sage Realm, nearing the threshold of the eighth stage! In the Genius Hall, an eighth-stage Sage Realm cultivation was quite common. Most of the geniuses here had cultivated for hundreds or even thousands of years; for a demigod, cultivating for a few millennia was considered quite young. Ye Chen’s master, Venerable White Fang, might take 300 years for a single game of Go! Therefore, Ye Chen lagged significantly in terms of mental cultivation. When facing opponents with superior mental states, he could, at best, barely defend himself, certainly not counterattack, let alone deploy the Reincarnation illusion technique.

As the challenge competition concluded, everyone in the Second-Grade Genius Hall felt a sense of unsatisfied anticipation. While they usually trained in isolation, witnessing so many battles between peers had been highly beneficial, leading to a clearer understanding of themselves. Furthermore, Ye Chen's name had now thoroughly resonated throughout the Genius Hall. Everyone knew that a fiercely talented newcomer had entered, one who had accrued numerous enemies and was surrounded by hostility. Under such circumstances, even Huangpu Tian, who had a slight prior connection to Ye Chen, gradually stopped contacting him.

Ye Chen didn't pay much heed to this. He understood that this was not simply due to the battles, but seemed to stem from having provoked some influential figure above, leading to so many challenges. For him, however, this was not necessarily a bad thing. He recalled the words spoken to him by the stone gate when he left Heavenly Dao Mountain: ‘In the old days, the Master single-handedly challenged the entire world!’ That heroic spirit was inherited in Ye Chen’s heart. As the successor of the Heavenly Dao, why should he fear the masses?

On the other hand, this intense challenge competition had allowed him to earn a massive amount of God Points! From the initial battles, many people doubted Ye Chen’s true strength, but later realized that while this newcomer’s mental cultivation was relatively low, his physical power was terrifyingly immense! Those with weaker mental fortitude were almost instantaneously defeated by him!

“This time, the gains are enormous!” Ye Chen sighed as he returned to his residence. He had not only witnessed the innate abilities of various civilizations and recognized many of his own shortcomings but had also banked a considerable sum of God Points!