"Oh?" As the Bronze Supreme appeared, he surveyed the scene, a flicker of profound interest crossing his face. "I didn't expect such a large gathering; it seems everyone has been drawn in by this new Dao."
"I didn't think you lot would all emerge together," the handsome youth on the couch swept his indifferent gaze over the three World Supremes of the Chaos Realm. "In a moment, I suspect others from the remaining realms will arrive too. It looks like things are about to get lively..."
The Bronze Supreme smiled lightly, though his gaze tracked toward a mysterious spatial interlayer in the sky. From it, he could sense a strange Dao realm surging and growing, emitting a distinctly different aura.
"Is that the one who forged the new Dao...?" His eyes flickered.
The arrival of the three Supremes from the Chaos Realm plunged the area into silence. Whether it was the three Supremes from the Sky Realm, the black-robed woman, or the two Supremes from the Time Realm, they all understood that engaging in battle now would only benefit those who came later.
Thus, the assembled group waited in quiet anticipation.
Not long after, louder roars echoed from the heavens. Massive rents began to twist and tear open in the sky, through which torrents of powerful world force permeated, instantly covering nearly half of the Ancient World. Every human and animal within that range felt a majestic, god-like pressure that nearly forced them to their knees in prostration.
Swish! Swish!
World Supremes emerged one by one from the celestial ruptures, hovering above the land. Each was enveloped in an ancient aura, their figures blurred, seeming to flicker between illusion and reality as countless spaces materialized and dissolved around them.
"Ghost Realm: Yama Supreme, Asura Supreme, Evil Spirit Supreme."
"Demigod Realm: Demon God Supreme, Dragon God Supreme."
"Spirit Realm: Absolute God Supreme, Purple God Supreme, Blood God Supreme."
...
Figures straight out of legend emerged sequentially from the holes torn in the sky. The world force surrounding each one was so immense it could instantly obliterate a super-empire or cause half of the entire Ancient World to collapse and fracture.
This was the might of the World Supremes.
Worlds like the Sky Realm had sent their entire contingent. The Demigod Realm only sent two Supremes, while the Heart Realm was represented by one figure who arrived later—a refined and handsome young man.
"I didn't expect everyone to show up," a cold laugh issued from within the silver-white coffin. The speaker then fixed his gaze on the spatial fissure. With their mastery over world force, they could sense the precise spatial crack Ye Chen had created in an instant. "This new Dao is here. Are you all planning to fight to the death over it?"
No one replied.
Everyone stood still, but their minds raced with private calculations. Deciding ownership through open conflict was a crude method, utterly passé for these ancient entities who had survived for countless millennia.
"I suggest we first examine what this Dao is. If it's merely an ordinary Dao, the Ghost Realm will abstain from this contest," Yama Supreme declared. He was a burly, rugged man whose bronze skin seemed to radiate a cold sheen.
Daos were myriad; some were Great Daos, others were minor ones.
See the goods before deciding how to divide the spoils. While this logic held merit, everyone present was a spirit who had lived ages, and inwardly they dismissed it. The sheer intensity of the fluctuation released when this [Dao] formed, strong enough to draw them all here, was proof enough that it was an extraordinarily potent Great Dao!
Seeing no immediate objection, Yama Supreme clenched his hand. A surging power exploded from him, as if the entire world convulsed. An invisible wave of world force swept toward the spatial interlayer where Ye Chen was concealed.
...
Within the pitch-black spatial interlayer.
Ye Chen sat cross-legged, dark, swirling currents shooting out from every pore of his skin. They danced like dragons, winding around his body and exuding a bizarre, cold energy.
The Blood Crystal before Ye Chen rapidly shrank, gradually becoming the size of a bean. Strands of blood-red power, fine as silk threads, connected to and threaded through Ye Chen's form.
Although Ye Chen was currently refining the Blood Crystal, he simultaneously perceived the sudden arrival of powerful auras outside in the sky. The might of each aura was something he had never encountered, and merely sensing them sent a chill down his spine.
"Faster! Faster!"
Ye Chen's internal command was sharp and cold. He frantically melted the Blood Crystal, channeling torrents of energy into his meridians, filling them completely, thread by thread.
It wasn't until all eight Blood Crystals had completely vanished.
The entire inky-black space seemed to fall silent; even time appeared to halt, holding its breath.
BOOM—
A vast, booming resonance suddenly erupted from within Ye Chen's body, radiating outward like a wild hurricane. His flesh, bones, and soul were rapidly transforming at a cataclysmic rate—millions of times per second, pushing the very limits of biological vibration frequency.
A mysterious gate between heaven and earth seemed to swing open before him, and a power reaching the firmament poured into his body.
The Heaven-Defying Realm!
Ye Chen's body reared up toward the sky, emitting a soaring presence. All his Dark Dao and residual power were undergoing metamorphosis. Furthermore, something seemed to be injected into his very thoughts, as if the world before him had turned a new page, revealing something entirely novel—the special nature and origin within previously mundane things.
If the Void Heaven Realm was about creating one's own Dao, becoming a small heaven and earth unto oneself, then the Heaven-Defying Realm was about forcing one's Dao to completely transform, enabling it to contend with Heaven and Earth, to compete against established worlds!
"The Dao of Darkness..." Ye Chen's gaze pierced outward with a cold and desolate brilliance, as if looking through the cosmos. His entire being radiated soaring battle intent and an incomparable blade Qi, sharp as an ultimate edge.
As his body transformed, Ye Chen found his memories awakening further. Glimpses of scenes flashed through his mind. At first, he paid little heed to the changes occurring in his body, but when he focused, he saw only a blur: countless figures roaring and shouting within a desolate, murky expanse, cleaved by a single, sharp, brilliant streak of light—a blade flash that tore through all chaos, piercing the fabric of heaven and earth!
"The Blade..." A thoughtful expression crossed Ye Chen's face.
By this time, his body had fully accepted the infusion from the Heart Realm's Inheritance Platform. Infinite energy flooded in, and the Heavenly Dao Scripture within him spun rapidly, compressing and refining all the energy, turning it into a power compressed to its absolute limit.
Almost simultaneously, the entire pitch-black space shuddered violently. A rent tore open from the east, and a tearing radiance burst forth, instantly enveloping the entire dark space.
Ye Chen looked down, his eyes gleaming with cold sharpness. The power within him surged madly, converting the dark space into a raging inferno, fiercely eroding the encroaching world force. At the same time, he waved his hand, launching a jet of black energy.
"Darkness..."
This black light obeyed Ye Chen's will, smashing into the wave of world force. It immediately engaged in ferocious consumption, annihilation, rebirth, and time reversal—all powers contained within this Dark Dao.
"All Daos under Heaven originate from nothingness, from the One that spawns worlds; Darkness is that One!" Ye Chen's gaze was icy. The Dao Realm power drawn from the Heart Realm's Inheritance Platform poured madly into his Dark Dao, making the pressure of this force unprecedentedly strong. It actually managed to erode the encroaching world force until they cancelled each other out.
Logically, world force should absolutely suppress all other powers.
No matter how mighty a Dao was, it should be rendered useless before the might of world force. This was because a single world contained thousands upon thousands of Daos woven together, which no single Dao could match.
Yet, at this moment, Ye Chen's Dark Dao had managed to neutralize the world force unleashed by Yama Supreme.
This caused the other World Supremes, who were closely watching, to inwardly startle, their faces etched with shock. Though they had existed for countless eons, they had never witnessed anything so heaven-defying.
After the neutralization, Ye Chen felt a hollowness within, as if all his power had been drained. Fortunately, he was still deep in the process of receiving the inheritance. He quickly calmed his mind, turning all the power inside him into a vortex, frantically devouring the energy from the Inheritance Platform.
The Inheritance Platform was like a massive reservoir, and his body was the pump, drawing inexhaustible energy into himself.
"What Dao is this? That evil aura is exactly like the Dark Dao of the Dark God, yet it is even more bizarre," Asura Supreme's pupils contracted slightly. He stared at Ye Chen in the flame space, profoundly shaken, completely captivated by the Dark Dao Ye Chen was manifesting. Although he noticed the Flame Dao Ye Chen used bore the shadow of the Fire-Blood Phoenix, he had no leisure to ponder it further.
All the World Supremes exchanged glances, then their eyes flared with burning avarice. Ye Chen's Dao was unique, nonexistent in this world. Regardless of the outcome, they were prepared for a contest, but they had not anticipated it being this powerful!
Everyone stared at Ye Chen, their gazes akin to those of great—[end of transcribed text]
All the world forces within their bodies churned, filled with the desperate urge to snatch Ye Chen, stuff him into their own inner worlds, and flee. However, in the current standoff, every eye was fixed on the others. If anyone moved first, they risked being pulverized into dust before they could even capture Ye Chen.
"Now that we've seen the person, how do we plan to divide the spoils?" A charming girl asked with interest, her slender, white fingers tracing her full, crimson lips.
The atmosphere in the clearing instantly ignited into a scorching heat.
"Why don't we let him choose which of us he wishes to follow?" The Bronze Supreme suddenly proposed. His gaze had deepened sharply when he first saw Ye Chen, but he quickly masked it, looking coldly at the rest of the assembly.