The pounce was like a hawk ambushing its prey, possessing the fierce power of a dragon and tiger, so terrifying it chilled the bone. It seemed as if the boundless energy of the surrounding cosmos had been channeled into the brawny man, striking with the might of an entire world pressing down.

Ye Chen’s expression remained placid. In the instant the brawny man was about to strike, his body flickered slightly, appearing to the brute's left. Before the man could react, he sneered and threw a punch toward that exact spot, apparently anticipating Ye Chen’s movement with uncanny foresight.

Thud!

The punch struck where Ye Chen had been, passing through empty air. Simultaneously, a sound of impact and splintering bone echoed, and the brawny man shot backward like a cannonball, slamming into the wall high above the hall. The sheer force caused the alloy plating to visibly dent inward.

Everyone present gasped, staring at the brawny man whose lips now leaked blood. They were utterly shaken. The mesmerizingly beautiful woman and the other youth in purple turned toward Ye Chen, their gazes heavy with apprehension. They knew that Ye Chen had not deployed a single spark of energy in that exchange; it had been a purely physical assault. Yet, this body was terrifyingly formidable!

Ye Chen turned his head toward the others, his expression cold, offering no further words. His silhouette flashed instantly, materializing beside the purple-clad youth. He seized the youth’s collar, hurled him aloft, and followed with a heavy swing of his leg. The limb hissed through the air, etching scorch marks that seemed to tear the very space around it.

Too fast!

The purple-clad youth was deeply alarmed, watching the massive thigh bearing down on him. Being a Master of Civilization, he reacted instantly, frantically activating the major secret manuals within his body and concentrating all his energy into his arms—Boom!

The youth shuddered, feeling as if a massive iron bar had struck his arms, rendering them numb. The energy flowing through them was instantly scattered and broken apart by that single kick.

Having blasted the purple-clad youth away, Ye Chen vanished, dissolving into thin air. The stunningly beautiful woman below the platform started, a prickle of alarm running down her spine as she instinctively lunged toward the exit. In this critical moment, she recognized the profound, unusual nature of this junior standing before them.

However, before she could take more than a single step, Ye Chen appeared behind her, delivering a merciless kick directly onto the soft, smooth skin of her back.

Click!!

The peerlessly gorgeous woman cried out in pain. Her previously elegant posture immediately became awkward, and she was sent flying sprawling out toward the exit, narrowly scraping past the wall beside the alloy door.

Ye Chen did not stop. He flashed again, reappearing before a gaunt old man standing below the platform. Though startled, the old man remained calm, extending his hand with the flexibility of a swimming dragon, bypassing Ye Chen to grasp at his collar—a display of extremely advanced close-quarters combat technique.

Ye Chen snorted coldly. His arm moved with lightning speed, oscillating between yielding softness and rigid hardness, blending flexibility with power. His double palms surged outward like overlapping, turbulent rivers, preventing the old man from redirecting his momentum against him. The elder could only meet the blow head-on.

CRASH!

The withered old man staggered back several steps, nearly falling. His hand felt numb, and his index finger and thumb were snapped by the force of the palm strike.

He made an immediate, decisive turn and bolted.

Swish!

Ye Chen surged forward, delivering a fierce kick to the old man's rear, sending his entire body flying out.

Just as Ye Chen completed the kick, a sharp dagger materialized silently behind his head, stabbing viciously toward his nape. A fierce killing intent shimmered at the blade’s tip, piercing straight through Ye Chen’s head.

But there was no blood.

The fair-faced youth holding the dagger, who had been resting quietly beside them, paused momentarily. Ye Chen’s phantom-like figure appeared behind him in a flash, his white hair streaming as his eyes burned with icy coldness. He unleashed a punch that slammed into the youth’s left shoulder, accompanied by a sickening crack of sharp bone shattering that made one's scalp crawl.

With one blow, Ye Chen inflicted comminuted fractures on the youth. He spun around and followed with a kick to the midsection, shattering the spinal cord and sending the entire body soaring outward. With his navel jutting out, his head and legs nearly met, flying out the main door in a posture chilling to behold.

Ye Chen turned back to face the brawny man suspended against the alloy wall. His icy gaze pierced like a cold blade. The brute’s body trembled. Gazing at Ye Chen, who had defeated six Masters of Civilization in the blink of an eye, the brute felt every vestige of fighting spirit drain away. His body shook as he flickered and sprinted wildly toward the exit.

The elegant man who had been knocked back earlier, before he could utter any harsh words to reclaim his honor, saw his companions already blasted away. He froze in sheer astonishment and immediately spun around to flee.

Fu Xi, Nuwa, and the others were stunned as the six Masters of Civilization vanished in an instant. Their minds struggled to process the shift. They recalled that when Ye Chen fought peak Divine Emperors previously, he needed to activate numerous secret arts just to win. Now, he had effortlessly flung these powerful figures away with casual movements. If he had intended to kill, those six would surely not have escaped!

What an unimaginable strength!

Ye Chen turned back to Nuwa, saying, "Ancestor, they are all gone."

Gone? Nuwa let out a wry, helpless sigh, looking at Ye Chen’s composed face. "To have a descendant like you in my lineage; I have no regrets in this life."

Fu Xi laughed heartily and slapped Ye Chen on the shoulder. "Good lad, you’ve improved again since we last parted. Your physical strength alone surpasses theirs by leagues. Though they possessed great power, their retinas couldn't capture your speed, so they could only take the hits!"

Ye Chen smiled and nodded. He was beginning to realize the true importance of physical might. Since reaching the Ghost God Realm, the Demigod Realm, and even the Divine Spirit Realm, the importance of the physical body had always been considered negligible.

In the Ghost God Realm, no matter how strong the body, once an enemy entered the 'Ghostly Transcendence Style,' they could not be harmed in the slightest. The same held true for the Demigod Realm.

Later on, conflicts became contests of secret manuals; overwhelming energy could easily shatter the physical form. Consequently, the body was often overlooked by the strong, who instead focused diligently on mastering techniques. A single advance in a manual could surpass the physical body a thousandfold!

"At the truly supreme level, supreme physical might still reigns supreme. In the minds of many, the body seemed useless only because most people's genetic augmentation levels were too low to truly showcase its function," Ye Chen mused internally. "However, having only the body is insufficient too. If that were the case, these experts could activate their Cosmic Domains, and no matter how fast I moved, I could never escape their detection; everything I did would be transparent to them. But in terms of mindset, I am in no way inferior to them, which is enough to bridge the gap between my Divine Spirit Domain and their Cosmic Domain."

"We should leave quickly," the Yellow Emperor said after a moment of deep thought. "When those few report back, the Dragon Fang Alliance certainly won't rest and will send more experts to conquer. We should find a hiding place outside the Ancient Realm Peak Grand Path to temporarily lie low."

"There is no other way," Nuwa sighed.

"Ancestor," Ye Chen suddenly called out.

"Hmm?" Nuwa looked at him and smiled sweetly. "Do you have a suggestion?"

Ye Chen shook his head slightly. "I was actually forced to return this time."

"Forced to return?" Nuwa and the others started in alarm, looking at Ye Chen with surprise and suspicion.

"Outside the Ancient Realm Peak Grand Path, near the Ink Cloud Mountain, a headless ancient corpse appeared. Its power was extremely terrifying. Even with the Heavenly Dao Divine Ship, I barely managed to escape back to the Nine Fangs area. If I encountered it again, I'm not certain I could return. I feel like something terrible is about to happen soon; it might be better not to stray too far from the Ancient Realm Peak Grand Path."

Nuwa and the others exchanged glances, their hearts filled with shock. Just how supreme a treasure was the Heavenly Dao Divine Ship? Even Void Heaven Artifacts couldn't inflict the slightest damage on it, and they had witnessed the might of the Heavenly Dao Mecha themselves. For a monster to exist that even the Heavenly Dao Mecha couldn't handle—how horrifying must it be?

They knew that the Heavenly Dao had used the Mecha to fight every supreme being in the ancient era, becoming the enemy of the entire world. In their minds, the only entity the Heavenly Dao Mecha couldn't harm was perhaps that one being from the Dark Great World.

"Is that headless corpse truly that powerful?" Shao Hao couldn't help but ask.

Ye Chen nodded. "Just from its aura, before even exchanging blows, I knew I absolutely couldn't defeat it; I could only flee for my life."

Everyone fell silent.

"What should we do then?" Emperor Yao frowned. "There are all sorts of fierce beasts within the Ancient Realm Peak, yet never in history have we heard of such a terrifying monster, and it’s just a corpse? Then, how tremendous must the strength of this person have been when alive? Most frighteningly, how could such a figure have been decapitated?"

Nuwa’s expression grew somber. After a moment, she spoke, "As far as I know, there are three supreme beings in the cosmos. The first is the Four Sovereigns, invincible in the world, though they later disappeared without a trace. Otherwise, the mere fact that they could carve out such a Grand Path in a dangerous location like the Ancient Realm Peak, and that for countless eons no beast dared cross that boundary, speaks volumes of their terrifying might!"

Fu Xi and the others nodded slightly.

"The second is that person from the Dark World. This individual cultivated such a terrifying expert as the Heavenly Dao. As the saying goes, a master usually keeps their ultimate techniques secret and doesn't pass them on lightly. If this person were to appear, the supreme beings of the ancient world would all be inferior," Nuwa murmured softly.

Ye Chen silently thought: Is that the Heavenly Dao's master? My own master.

Nuwa continued, "The third person is the creator of the Origin Spirit Creation Platform. Everyone knows that our ancestor Pangu was birthed from the Origin Spirit Creation Lotus Platform. This platform is a Void Heaven Artifact that surpasses the Nine Great Void Heaven Artifacts controlled by the Nine Great Empires. Its power is comparable to, or perhaps even greater than, the Heavenly Dao Divine Ship. Imagine how terrifying the creator of such a treasure must be, yet this person seems absent from the heavens and earth; no one knows them, not even Pangu the Great." (To be continued)