The mysterious magnetic field surrounding Ye Chen vanished, causing the burly man's eyes to flash with a cruel grin. "Breaking through is futile. Even at the Pseudo-God Realm, I can still slaughter you like a dog!" With that, he reached out, his skin trembling slightly, muscles bulging, and a devastating aura radiating outward.

"Savage Beast Secret Codex!"

His eyes turned a dark gold, like those of a predatory fish, gleaming with icy light. His bones rattled like popping beans, tendrils of blood energy swirling around his skin. The surrounding aura surged wildly, jumping instantaneously from a 100,000-fold amplification to a massive 10,000-fold increase on top of that, reaching the staggering level of a Ten Billion Times Secret Codex!

For a God Emperor powerhouse like him, who wasn't particularly wealthy, achieving a ten billion amplification was already extraordinary. Ordinary God Emperors usually ranged from an 80 million to a one-hundred-million-fold amplification, unless they pledged allegiance to a major power capable of bestowing rare Secret Codices.

Members of genius academies, like those in the Blazing God Empire, were bound by life contracts, forcing them to complete trial missions to accumulate Divine Points, which they could then exchange for precious Secret Codices. Lone cultivators rarely enjoyed such fortune.

Now, employing this ten billion-fold amplification, the burly man completely reversed the power dynamic with Ye Chen. Previously, when Ye Chen used his full strength, he could surpass the man in sheer power by a million times, but now he was entirely suppressed.

The burly man's expression was cold, but he suddenly flinched, looking toward the southeast, his face turning ugly. He stared fixedly at Ye Chen, bloodshot veins visible in his eyes, roaring, "Die for me!!!" He threw everything he had into one strike, causing the void to tremble slightly and cleaving the entire sky in two.

Ye Chen's expression remained detached. He clenched his palm, activating the Blazing Mystic Canon, layering a 100-fold power boost upon himself. He then initiated the Nine Palaces Secret Codex, compressing the explosive, chaotic energy left from the previous confrontation into the Blazing God Hammer. Clenching his fist, the colossal life force within his body began to churn wildly.

"Burn, One Trillion!" Ye Chen's eyes turned icy. One percent of his lifespan was incinerated instantly, transforming into towering energy that flooded every limb and bone, resulting in an immediate power amplification of one hundred trillion!

Layered atop the Heavenly Dao Scripture and numerous other Secret Codices within him, the numerical amplification factor of Ye Chen’s internal techniques reached an unprecedented level in that instant. The space around him automatically peeled away, shattering as if unable to bear the immense pressure.

A trillion years of life, burned away in the span of a single second!

Boom~

Ye Chen's white hair instantly turned blood-red, whipping wildly against the wind. His eyes, cold as blood, fixed on the burly man. With a sudden surge, he hurtled forward, bringing the ancient Blazing God Hammer down in a devastating smash directly towards the man's head!

BOOM!!!

The entire void roared deafeningly. The burly man's pupils contracted in sheer terror. "How is this possible!! You only broke through to the Pseudo-God Realm, raising your power by a mere hundredfold—how could it increase this much!!!" He tried to retreat in horror, but it was too late; his surroundings were already enveloped by the Blazing God Hammer's aura, offering no escape.

At this knife-edge moment, he gritted his teeth fiercely, his hand spinning out a sphere of chaotic energy that rotated rapidly, thrusting it toward the ancient Blazing God Hammer.

CRASH!!

The entire sphere of chaos detonated, violently flinging the burly man backward. Blood sprayed from his mouth, his consciousness blurring. Under the terrifying shockwave, his internal bones exploded one after another, bursting into a cloud of bloody mist.

Ye Chen moved, recalling his hammer and standing still. He reached out and seized the corpse of the burly man. The Devouring Vortex in his palm acted like a miniature black hole, ravenously consuming the blood energy from the body. Through the conversion mechanism of the Ancestral Dragon Secret Codex, this energy was not assimilated into his physique but transformed directly into vigorous life force.

His previously depleted lifespan instantly began to replenish at a rapid pace.

At this moment, Ye Chen seemed to sense something. He glanced toward the void not far away, where a faint whistling sound was rising. Beginning as a nearly imperceptible whisper, it swelled until it became as massive as waves crashing onto a shore, sweeping over everything with tremendous momentum, echoing across heaven and earth!

A man in white, with cold hair fluttering behind him, approached with a stern expression, hands clasped behind his back. His body cut through the air, leaving behind waves of turbulent energy rippling outwards.

Ye Chen's eyes flickered slightly, a cold smile touching his lips. He ignored the approaching figure, turning instead toward the eighteen Peak Spirit Realm powerhouses below. With a sweep of his hand, his Law Domain World pressed down, instantly enveloping the eighteen experts. The sheer intensity of his Origin Realm brainwaves made the Law Domain unbreakable, pinning the eighteen Peak Spirits so they could not move an inch.

These eighteen Peak Spirit Realm experts, male and female alike, were utterly horrified. They never imagined that Ye Chen, without even using a Secret Codex, could capture them so easily. Even more shocking was the fact that upon breaking through to the Pseudo-God Realm, he had instantly slaughtered a God Emperor.

Now trapped helplessly by the mighty Law Domain, the eighteen Peak Spirits trembled, their facial muscles twitching involuntarily as they stared at Ye Chen as if they had seen a ghost, their expressions filled with ineffable dread.

Ye Chen’s expression turned cruel, and he tightened his grip!

Bang bang bang...

The bodies of the eighteen Peak Spirit Realm experts self-detonated sequentially, like sacks of explosives, turning into misty clouds of blood rich with potent energy. These were merely ordinary guards, lacking rare Secret Codices; their Secret Codex amplifications ranged only from one million to ten million times. Before Ye Chen’s Origin Heart Realm comprehension, they lacked even the strength to resist.

"Devour!" Ye Chen seized the air, and the vast cloud of blood energy drifted toward him, merging into his body. One percent of this blood energy was diverted to his flesh, circulating through the Ancestral Dragon Secret Codex like a powerful elixir injected into the flesh's genes, causing every gene and cell in his body to undergo frantic metamorphosis!

In a few breaths, his physique jumped from a level one million rating to over six million. The remaining blood energy was integrated into his being, transforming into robust life force, suddenly adding several hundred million years to his previous lifespan of one hundred trillion.

Just then, the man in white arrived with a sound like collapsing mountains and shattering earth, but he suddenly halted, his body freezing mid-motion as if he had been standing there all along. He stared coldly at Ye Chen, radiating chilling murderous intent. Upon seeing the corpse of the burly man held in Ye Chen's hand, the man's pupils contracted slightly, quickly followed by a greedy glint.

"Are you the inheritor of the Heavenly Dao?" the man in white asked coldly, his voice carrying an undeniable tone of command, as if a venerable emperor were questioning a beggar.

"Who the hell are you?" Ye Chen retorted dismissively. "Announce yourself. I don't kill nameless people." The man in white choked slightly, then burst into an angry laugh. "Indeed, the inheritor of that damned Heavenly Dao. That arrogant tone is exactly like his! Don't think killing that piece of trash allows you to challenge a God Emperor. Even among God Emperors, there is a distinction between garbage and geniuses."

A cold light flashed in Ye Chen's eyes, his fist clenching slightly. "You consider yourself a genius?"

The man in white sneered. "Ninety billion years ago, this venerable being was the number one genius in the Genius Wars across the Ten Halls and Ten Nations. I have reincarnated several times since, and each time, I was the top spot in the Genius Wars! Back when I killed Peak Spirits using only Half-God power, I was no less formidable than you!" As he spoke, his brow suddenly furrowed as he glanced into the distance, then returned his cold gaze to Ye Chen. "Enough nonsense. Die!" He raised his hand and delivered a crushing palm strike. His hand channeled violent energy, condensing into a sky-obscuring giant palm that slammed down toward Ye Chen.

Before Ye Chen could react, a slow, ancient voice sounded: "Great Emperor White Demon, hold a moment!" The voice resonated directly over the summit of the Genius Peak. As it sounded, the sky-obscuring palm trembled slightly before exploding into nothingness. Immediately after, a figure pierced through the void from afar—an old man with white hair, seated atop a wine gourd, looking tipsily at the man in white, his gaze radiating a detached, chilling light.

"Drunken Weng, what are you doing!" This man in white was none other than the renowned Great Emperor White Demon, whose prestige was equal to the Five Great Emperors of the Spiritual Civilization. He stared coldly at the white-haired elder, ready to strike if the elder failed to provide a satisfactory answer.

The white-haired elder looked indifferent. "Great Emperor White Demon, you are too hasty. If you kill this child, the Heavenly Dao Scripture will be lost forever. If others arrive here and only find a corpse, your own outcome won't be pleasant, will it?"

Great Emperor White Demon narrowed his eyes. "Are you threatening me?"

"Hmph!" The white-haired elder threw his head back and took a gulp of fine wine, wiping a drop from his beard. He chuckled lightly, "Yes, I am threatening you. What can you do about it?" Coldness intensified in the Great Emperor White Demon's eyes as he clenched his fists, his voice chilling. "Others fear your Poison God Wine, but I do not!"

"Then let's try it," the white-haired elder replied with a playful smile, his words showing no sign of yielding.

Just as the two seemed poised to clash, a cold voice cut through the sky: "Both of you, get lost. This boy is mine!" The white-haired elder and the Great Emperor White Demon both froze, looking up. Ripples disturbed the space above them, and from within stepped out a disheveled figure wearing coarse, ragged clothes, gripping a bamboo sword. He appeared utterly wretched and slovenly, yet occasionally, between the strands of black hair obscuring most of his face, two cold, red lights would flash.

"Demon of Nothingness!" The figures of both Great Emperor White Demon and the elder showed alarm, their expressions shifting rapidly.

Ye Chen, standing nearby, heard clearly and couldn't help but show a trace of surprise. He glanced sideways at the newcomer. He had previously researched the continent's top powerhouse rankings; this Demon of Nothingness was an unparalleled expert from the Hellish Civilization, possessing terrifying strength. He hadn't expected this man to be roused.

"If you don't leave immediately, you’ll leave your corpses behind!" The disheveled Demon of Nothingness’s voice was icy, like the wail of a ghost, sending shivers down the spine.

(To be continued.)