Ye Chen's figure transformed into a streak of light, plunging into the cockpit of the Heavenly Dao Mecha... Rapidly securing himself and initiating the mental system link, moments later, he was prepared. Engaging the Mecha’s engines with a roar, he charged toward the Red-Haired Fierce Wolf.
Noticing the commotion, Fu Xi F, locked in fierce combat with the Red-Haired Fierce Wolf, glimpsed the Heavenly Dao Mecha in passing. He froze momentarily, then his expression shifted to one of immense delight. Puff!
A flash of crimson light erupted; Fu Xi felt a searing pain in his shoulder, immediately followed by the sight of his right arm floating before him, snatched by the Red-Haired Fierce Wolf, which bit down, shredded it, and swallowed it whole.
When he turned his head to look back, he realized his arm was severed. Shock coursed through him, yet he remained composed. Instead, he swiftly retreated several thousand wen, wielding the Eight Trigrams Mirror as a shield before him, all while urgently stimulating the life force within his body to regenerate the severed limb. Flesh and blood rapidly reassembled; his missing right arm grew back anew. The Red-Haired Fierce Wolf’s aberrant eyes held a trace of cruelty as its form blurred forward, moving so fast that the retina could barely capture it. Even utilizing the Universe Domain to sense it was futile; evasion relied solely on instinctual recognition of danger.
"You are behind me," a chillingly calm voice echoed. A cold sweat broke out on Fu Xi’s brow. Without turning his head, he commanded the Eight Trigrams Mirror to defend his rear. He felt the mirror shudder violently, sending his own body flying backward. Without needing to check, he knew the force of that strike must have been terrifying!
The Red-Haired Fierce Wolf flickered, preparing for another pursuit, but the Heavenly Dao Mecha roared past, intercepting Fu Xi. Inside the cockpit, Ye Chen surveyed the various readings on the holographic display, clearly grasping the Red-Haired Fierce Wolf’s every move. Before the Mecha’s sensory system, the beast’s speed was utterly exposed!
Despite this advantage, Ye Chen was shaken. The Red-Haired Fierce Wolf’s speed had reached an utterly terrifying extreme, entirely beyond what a human physique should possess, surpassing it by far. Ye Chen had no doubt that the Red-Haired Fierce Wolf, relying solely on physical might, could push Fu Xi onto the defensive. If given a Peak Dao Artifact, it could likely snap it in half!
Ye Chen swiftly activated the Heavenly Dao Mecha’s core systems, pushing the engine to maximum power and entering C-level combat mode, immediately locking onto the Red-Haired Fierce Wolf.
"World-Shattering Cannon, fire!"
Ye Chen pressed a red button, his eyes cold and merciless.
Whoosh!
A barrel protruded from the Mecha’s chest, its muzzle an immense, pitch-black opening—approximately ten meters in diameter. A beam of white energy, like a volcanic eruption, suddenly burst forth from within!
It pierced the void!
It carved a graceful white arc across the black sky, illuminating the dark world!
The impact zone was a stretch of empty space, yet just as the shell was about to land, the Red-Haired Fierce Wolf manifested there. Its pupils were wide, filled with disbelief and horror as it felt the intense, destructive aura radiating from this highly concentrated energy shell.
"Aoooo!"
A piercing, sorrowful howl echoed just as the white light engulfed its body.
BOOM!!!
The entire void violently erupted in a massive explosion, akin to a newborn sun. The white beam, which had seemed modest in volume, now caused the surrounding space to collapse. A powerful sweeping force emanated from the explosion’s core, dragging surrounding matter toward it, where it was instantly pulverized!
Fu Xi stood before the Eight Trigrams Mirror, gazing transfixed, an indescribable shock settling in his heart. Although he knew the Heavenly Dao Mecha was a fearsome weapon of slaughter, he never anticipated its destructive power to be this terrifying!
With this level of might, who would dare provoke it? A single shot fired directly at an enemy civilization's headquarters could reduce an area as vast as the Shura Sea to nothingness!
It was horrifying!
As his expression shifted, the shockwave gradually receded and finally vanished, though intense residual radiation lingered in the atmosphere.
Swish!
The Heavenly Dao Mecha flashed, plunging into the lingering energy. Ye Chen narrowed his eyes slightly, controlling the Mecha’s hand to scoop through the void, retrieving a single piece of golden bone and an ordinary, paper-like talisman!
Ye Chen did not examine them immediately. With a flash, he retreated a thousand zhang, deactivated the Heavenly Dao Mecha, and approached Fu Xi. "Ancestor, are you unharmed?"
Fu Xi offered a wry smile and shook his head. "I am fine. Let us depart. This battle here may attract other Lords of the Abyss."
"Understood!" Ye Chen nodded. Their figures vanished, reappearing inside the Eight Trigrams spacecraft. The others aboard breathed sighs of relief, their gazes fixed on Ye Chen with a mixture of gratitude and awe. They had heard many rumors about the Heavenly Dao Mecha, but witnessing its power firsthand generated an incomparably intense feeling!
"Let us proceed," Fu Xi said no more, merely giving Little Na a deep look before issuing a calm command. The Eight Trigrams spacecraft slowly traversed the black expanse of space.
For the remainder of their journey, they encountered various savage beasts: a Divine Dragon spanning over a thousand kilometers in size, a hedgehog curled up the size of a planet, and countless other strangely shaped, terrifying monsters. However, the strength of these creatures was only at the level of Elementary Divine Emperors, some even Peak Divine Spirit tiers. They were annihilated outright by unleashing the Eight Trigrams’ various secondary cannons, hacking a bloody path through the darkness!
They arrived at the next checkpoint: the Heavenly Gate!
The passage to the Heavenly Gate was a massive white pillar, upon which rested a transmission array. No monsters lingered near this structure, seemingly intimidated by the white transmission column.
The Eight Trigrams sailed through effortlessly, entering the third trial: the Heavenly Gate Pass!
Ye Chen had expected the Heavenly Gate Pass to also be a realm of pitch-black cosmos. To his surprise, upon emerging, the Eight Trigrams found themselves facing a long, winding road paved with debris resembling meteors, constructed from fragmented stones laid out across the void, stretching toward an unknown destination.
"This is the Celestial Road," Fu Xi explained softly to the assembled group. "On this road, the corpses of once-mighty experts who perished will appear, serving as obstacles to obstruct our path."
"Perished experts?" The others murmured inwardly, unable to help but consider whether their own bodies might become the 'perished experts' for those who followed, should they fall here.
In the ensuing silence, the Eight Trigrams slowly navigated the Celestial Road.
Shao Hao approached Ye Chen, his expression relaxed. He chuckled. "The third trial, the Heavenly Gate Pass, is relatively easier. A certain Primal expert once wrote a secret manual while traversing this stage."
"A secret manual?" Ye Chen felt a surge of curiosity. "Indeed?"
Shao Hao smiled. "It is possessed by all major high-end factions on the mainland; it is called the Ode to Treading the Heavens! Legend has it that countless Primal experts perished on this Celestial Road, their dead bodies becoming formidable fighting forces. Later, an unparalleled expert arose, walking upon the heavens, sword in hand, singing this very Ode to Treading the Heavens."
Ye Chen’s heart was deeply stirred. He had never imagined the Ode to Treading the Heavens held such profound origins. Bai Yijun had previously taught him the initial sections of this manual, and he already knew it was an exceptional text. Later study revealed it to be a Peak Divine Emperor level manual!
It was important to remember that even an expert like Fu Xi, a Peak Divine Emperor, might spend an entire lifetime striving to create a manual befitting his own power; many Peak Divine Emperors resorted to using High-Tier Divine Emperor manuals. Yet, hearing Shao Hao now, it sounded as if that ancient powerhouse had merely composed this manual casually, extemporaneously, while walking the heavens!
To produce a manual of this caliber so easily—what manner of terrifying cultivation did that imply?!
Ye Chen sighed inwardly. He had previously believed himself to be at the apex of the Ancient Continent, confident that, supported by the Heavenly Dao Mecha, he could face any opponent in a one-on-one duel!
But looking at the current reality, he suspected that even the Heavenly Dao Rebirth might not compare to the legendary figure Shao Hao described.
Shao Hao noticed Ye Chen’s look of shock and suddenly chuckled, his voice conspiratorial. "Do you know what this expert was called?"
Ye Chen paused. "Called what?"
"The Fourth Emperor!" Shao Hao puffed out his chest, his voice brimming with inexpressible pride. "He was one of the earliest leaders of our Spiritual Civilization. For countless epochs, our Spiritual Civilization was defined by the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors, occasionally seeing a Sixth Emperor, but it usually stabilized at the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors. In the earliest days, this man was the Fourth Emperor of our Spiritual Civilization!"
Ye Chen’s mouth fell open. To think such a legendary figure was one of his own kin! By that measure, did that not imply that, countless ages ago, the Spiritual Civilization once ruled the entire Ancient Continent?
He believed without reservation that if that person were to reappear, even the combined might of the Ten Palaces and Ten Kingdoms would be no match for him!
"Then you…" Ye Chen started to speak.
Shao Hao knew what Ye Chen intended to ask and let out a long sigh. "…He vanished later. Rumors say he perished; others claim he journeyed to the Ancient Realm. In any case, he disappeared, and after all these years, he has never been found. Since his disappearance, the standing of our clan in the Ancient World declined rapidly, persisting only as a besieged civilization to this day!"
He recounted the ancient history in a low voice, sighing again. "Our clan’s enemies exist within these Ten Palaces and Ten Kingdoms. Major powers seek to exterminate us to prevent another prodigy as brilliant as him from ever emerging. However, because they are unsure if the Fourth Emperor is truly dead, they have never dared to strike decisively…"
Ye Chen listened quietly.
"There were several major conflicts during the intervening period. Fortunately, the presence of Great God Pangu provided support for our clan, preventing catastrophic collapse. Moreover, our clan has made extensive allies; individuals from the Immortal Realm Civilization and the Demonic Realm Civilization have reincarnated into our lineage."
Shao Hao glanced at Ye Chen and smiled. "You must have noticed that on Earth, there are Buddhism, Taoism, Dragon Beasts, demons and monsters, gods and devils, and so forth. In truth, these are all groups from other civilizations who, through mutual agreement, sent their kin to reincarnate within our people, to develop and grow on the Origin God Star, hoping they might acquire the same abilities and talents as our clan."
Ye Chen was left speechless. He had long suspected that the Buddhist Civilization and Immortal Civilization of the Ancient World were strange. Logically, experts like Confucius and Laozi should reside within the Spiritual Civilization, yet they were actually found in the Immortal Civilization and the Ritual Dao Civilization. Now, it seemed there was such a deep secret behind it all!