It was only through Liang Xiaoke's explanation that Ye Jingyu finally understood what had happened that day.

That day, the three Demon Lords joined forces to unleash the World-Ending Demonic Light, and that Celestial Dragon Venerable countered it by using his own power to launch the Creation Divine Light. Although this Divine Light could not truly create a world, the force it carried possessed a sliver of creative power—the power of life itself. This generative force merged with the power of destruction, unexpectedly giving rise to the Chaotic Force...

This power swept across the Immortal Realm, the Demon Realm, and the Underworld. To safeguard the Immortal Realm, the Five Great Immortal Sages exerted their full strength, preventing its complete annihilation. However, this Chaotic Force later centered around the Nine Provinces and slowly expanded, actually forming a new world. It even merged all the former territories of the Demon Realm, Immortal Realm, and Underworld into this singular new Celestial Realm.

Perhaps due to this primordial genesis, akin to the creation of heaven and earth, the spiritual energy in this Celestial Realm was so abundant that even the remaining vestiges of the highest echelon of the Immortal Realm could not compare.

Moreover, this world was immensely vast, stretching out limitlessly. Even with Liang Xiaoke's current cultivation, decades of flight would not reveal its borders.

With the emergence of this newborn world, the surviving inhabitants of the Nine Provinces naturally thrived on this new land. The demons, having suffered devastating losses in that great battle—especially the three Demon Lords, who were severely wounded—had no inclination left to invade the Demon Realm. They retreated only to the region that was once their domain. Currently, this territory lay in the extreme west of the Celestial Realm, where the three Demon Lords established an Earth Pact.

Besides the demons, there were many other demons who originally lived in the Demon Realm; now, they were collectively called the Mo (Demons) and were all subject to the Earth Pact.

The three Demon Lords, gravely injured, remained in deep seclusion, largely ignoring the affairs of the Earth Pact. As for the Zeus-level generals, the majority had been slain by the Old Dragon’s desperate final counterattack. Those few who survived were also heavily wounded and entered seclusion alongside their Lords.

After all, for beings at their level, ordinary injuries would heal in mere breaths. However, the wounds they sustained were nearly fatal, striking even the most fundamental level of their divine consciousness. This was not something that could be repaired in a short time.

It must be understood that the path of cultivation becomes increasingly difficult at higher levels. Not everyone, after all, possesses the myriad fortunes that Ye Jingyu and his companions encountered.

The cultivation of divine consciousness, in particular, cannot be achieved merely by absorbing power; it requires personal enlightenment. It could be said that reaching each new realm demands the comprehension of a different state of mind, and sometimes, centuries might pass without any true breakthrough.

They had accumulated tens of thousands of years to cultivate the Origin of their divine consciousness to the Yu-level realm. Now that the Old Dragon had destroyed a significant portion of it, repairing it would not be a swift process.

If this fundamental divine consciousness could not be restored, their cultivation would stagnate forever. It is precisely because of this reality that the stronger a cultivator becomes, the more reluctant they are to engage in battle, and even if they fight, they will not fight to the death. After all, reaching such a realm is incredibly rare; even damaging a tiny fragment of their divine consciousness origin is too costly.

Back then, had the Old Dragon not been so overwhelmingly powerful, and with victory seemingly within reach, the Seven Lords would never have risked everything. As for why the Old Dragon fought with such desperation, perhaps it was because he had grasped some profound realization.

Thus, the de facto leader of the Earth Pact is not the three Demon Lords, but the son of the Destruction Lord, Yuan...

Yuan, in those days, already possessed the Hong-level cultivation. His power had diminished by more than half when he descended to the mortal world, reducing him to the Desolate-level. Later, his father elevated him back to Hong-level. Through several millennia of diligent effort, he has now reached the Zeus-level, effectively becoming the foremost expert in the Earth Pact today.

Besides the Earth Pact, the other major power in the Celestial Realm is the Heavenly Pact. Its strongest members are naturally the Five Great Immortal Sages, but they too suffered severe injuries defending the Immortal Realm. Although not as dire as the Demon Lords' wounds, their recovery was far from easy.

Moreover, following that catastrophe, these Sages were unwilling to engage in a fight to the death with the Demon Lords. These supreme figures reached an agreement: experts at the Yu-level must not act rashly, and absolutely not interfere with those below them. Because of this pact, the strongest combat power in the current Celestial Realm effectively rests with the Zeus-level experts.

However, after that catastrophe, how many individuals actually managed to reach the Zeus-level?

The Earth Pact, apart from Yuan, officially claims only six other members, collectively known as the Seven Fiends of the Earth Pact. The Heavenly Pact, however, has more—including Liang Xiaoke, there are ten publicly recognized members, known as the Ten Heavenly Sovereigns of the Heavenly Pact...

It is precisely because of these Ten Heavenly Sovereigns that the Heavenly Pact's influence solidly surpasses that of the Earth Pact, though only by a margin. Completely eradicating the Earth Pact remains virtually impossible.

But these are the officially recognized experts. There are still other Zeus-level masters operating in the shadows; at the very least, Bing Ming, who was not officially included, is one such individual. A large part of the reason Ye Jingyu was able to smoothly ascend to the Zeus-level was due to the Yellow Spring Stalk that Bing Ming procured for him; it was the immense corpse energy from that stalk that allowed him to break through to Zeus.

"Where is Bing Ming now?" Upon hearing Liang Xiaoke mention Bing Ming, Ye Jingyu immediately pressed.

"How should I know about that brat? That fellow is always appearing and disappearing unpredictably. The last time he sought me out was over a century ago. But I suspect that kid is currently causing trouble for 'Guijianchou' (Ghost-Fearer) somewhere!" Liang Xiaoke casually draped an arm over Ye Jingyu’s shoulder, swaggering down the snowy streets of Snowfield City, his gaze constantly drifting over the women passing by—it was clear his nature hadn't changed in all these years.

"Guijianchou?" The mention of Guijianchou instantly brought scenes glimpsed through the Eye of Reincarnation to the forefront of Ye Jingyu's mind...

"That’s right. Bing Ming mentioned that the Ten Underworld Kings—that is, the ten Yama Kings of the Underworld—you know about the Yama Kings, right?" Seeing Ye Jingyu nod, Liang Xiaoke continued, "Those Ten Yama Kings were killed by Guijianchou. They showed Bing Ming great kindness, so Bing Ming is relentlessly hunting down Guijianchou. But I estimate that fellow Guijianchou has always been lucky, and he might have even reached the Zeus-level..." Liang Xiaoke remarked nonchalantly.

"Then what about Feng'er and the others?" The thought that even Guijianchou might have reached the Zeus-level sent a jolt of anxiety through Ye Jingyu...

"Uh..." When Jiufeng was mentioned, Liang Xiaoke fell momentarily silent. Seeing this, Ye Jingyu's heart skipped a beat. He grabbed Liang Xiaoke’s arm tightly and asked with palpable tension...

"What happened to her and Xixi?"