Chapter 2690: Ascending to the Ninth Heaven

Boom! Bang! Boom!

The area around Tianlao was already chaotic, but the eastern celestial sky was even more tumultuous.

The rumbling sounds echoed endlessly.

The Heavenly Court was home to many immortal palaces, but now, they looked utterly devastated. Every time Yin Ming fled into one, Ye Chen followed right behind.

Inevitably, the palace would collapse.

This scene played out repeatedly: majestic immortal palaces were shattered by Ye Chen, with ancient bricks, stone tiles, and copper pillars scattering everywhere, along with the hall plaques, all falling like meteors to the earth.

"Block him! Stop him for me!"

From atop the jade carriage, Yin Ming screamed hysterically.

"Anyone who blocks me dies!"

Ye Chen roared fiercely, his eyes growing redder with each kill, and this battle cry came more smoothly with every shout. Many tried to intercept him, but none could halt his advance.

"Impressive!"

Inside the pagoda, Taiyi cheered excitedly, his spirits soaring as he watched the spectacle unfold.

What Ye Chen was doing was exactly what Taiyi had always wanted to do.

Unfortunately, his own strength fell short, so he could only dream about it. Now, seeing Ye Chen causing such havoc, how could he not be thrilled?

"What a troublemaker."

Shura Tianzun sighed and clicked his tongue. Back in his day, he was quite the force himself, always stirring up chaos wherever he went. But compared to Ye Chen, he was like a minor wizard facing a great one—Ye Chen was truly on another level.

Boom! Bang! Boom!

As they grew more excited, the booming sounds intensified.

Or rather, the number of people trying to stop Ye Chen had increased.

Along the way, old figures kept emerging from hidden mountain corners, each one extraordinarily powerful.

In addition, Yin Ming had summoned heavenly soldiers and generals from elsewhere—not just a few, but vast armies from all directions, rushing to his aid with immense momentum.

Precisely because of this, Ye Chen pursued even more fiercely.

After all, the Upper Immortal Realm was the Heavenly Court's territory. The longer the delay, the more disadvantageous it would be for him. Remember, the several million troops at Tianlao earlier were just the tip of the iceberg of the Heavenly Court's hidden strength.

And Dao Mie Xianzun and his companions were merely four among many xianzun.

If more armies were mobilized or more supreme experts emerged, even with his god-level abilities, Ye Chen would have to retreat to avoid being overwhelmed—after all, one fist can't beat four hands.

Boom! Bang! Boom!

The rumbling accompanied him all the way, along with a trail of blood and bones.

"What? Ye Chen is chasing Yin Ming?"

"That's impossible! Yin Ming is the Heavenly Court's ruler. Does Ye Chen have that kind of power?"

"It's absolutely true. The Heavenly Court is in complete disarray."

Such a massive disturbance in the Upper Immortal Realm was hard to hide from the scattered immortal realms. As news spread, people everywhere were shocked.

Especially at Huashan, no one could believe it. When scouts sent back images, even Huashan Zhenren, with his renowned composure, stood frozen like a statue. If he was like that, the elders were even more baffled, wondering where Ye Chen had gotten such power from.

Still, Huashan remained on standby, not making a move.

What they meant by "on standby" was that the lower ranks stayed put, while figures like Huashan Zhenren and Diyuan Zhenren had secretly left Huashan and headed straight for the Upper Immortal Realm.

Other factions were doing the same as Huashan.

The most active ones were the great demons and devils, all sharing a tacit understanding: cause chaos in the heavens.

In fact, Niu Mo Wang and his group had been stirring up trouble since escaping from Tianlao. After freeing the prisoners, they split into teams of three or five and scattered across the Heavenly Court.

With Ye Chen drawing all the attention, they could accomplish a lot—like raiding the Dan Shen Hall or wandering through the Pantao Garden.

The rumbling sounds were no longer confined to the east; they echoed from all directions.

In the east, Ye Chen was relentlessly pursuing Yin Ming.

In the other three directions, Niu Mo Wang and the others were causing destruction everywhere they went.

The entire Heavenly Court was thrown into utter chaos.

On top of that, more talents from the scattered immortal realms were rushing in to fish in troubled waters—claiming to watch the show, but really after treasures.

With the heavenly soldiers and generals too busy to deal with them, it was the perfect time to stir things up.

"Block him! Stop him for me!"

In the eastern void, Yin Ming's shrieks still rang out loudly as he urged his jade carriage onward, not daring to look back.

"Anyone who blocks me dies!"

Ye Chen's roar followed close behind.

Those who tried to stop him were sent flying through the air. Even xianzun couldn't withstand a single strike from him, let alone xianjun.

Ahead, another majestic palace came into view.

It was the Lingxiao Baodian, the place where the immortals of the Heavenly Court held their assemblies, and the largest palace in the entire court. From afar, it loomed like a mountain, radiating majestic energy, with immortal light enveloping it, making the four characters "Lingxiao Baodian" stand out prominently.

Spotting it, Yin Ming rushed toward it like a lifeline.

Ye Chen shot forward like a bolt of lightning, smashing the massive jade carriage to pieces with one strike. No divine patterns could withstand an imperial weapon's blow.

Pfft!

Yin Ming spat blood as he was blasted into the air, landing squarely inside the Lingxiao Baodian.

Immediately after, the palace hummed and activated a massive barrier, etched with imperial-level array patterns.

Ye Chen arrived and, without a word, swung his staff.

Clang!

The metallic clash was sharp and clear. His strike was like hitting a steel plate—it didn't budge the barrier at all and instead sent him rebounding, his iron staff vibrating.

This barrier, which even an imperial weapon couldn't break, was incredibly formidable.

It wasn't that the imperial weapon was weak; it was just that the Heavenly Court's myriad laws and techniques were unpredictable, and even imperial immortal arts could be inconsistent. The imperial weapon itself was suppressed here, so the Xuanyuan Emperor Sword couldn't unleash its full power.

Boom!

Ye Chen steadied himself, stomping a chunk of the void into pieces.

Boom! Boom!

These booms seemed to echo, as roaring sounds filled the distant horizon—the Heavenly Court's experts had arrived. Some rode flying swords, others piloted war chariots, and still others soared on clouds, all advancing with murderous intent, a dark mass covering the sky from three sides.

Ye Chen ignored them, focusing only on the Lingxiao Baodian.

Inside, Yin Ming stood tall, a sinister smile on his face, as if taunting, "Go ahead, try to kill me! Come in and kill me!"

The ruler of the Heavenly Court wasn't foolish.

Breaking the barrier would take Ye Chen too much time.

And in that time, the Heavenly Court's armies would arrive in full force—not just a few million, but several times that number.

By then, if Ye Chen was surrounded, escaping wouldn't be so easy.

Unfortunately, he had underestimated the emperor of Great Chu. Ye Chen approached, staff in hand, and instead of assaulting the barrier, he invoked an imperial ethereal technique, passing straight through it.

"You..."

Yin Ming's expression changed drastically—he had forgotten about that strange divine ability. Without a second thought, he turned and fled.

"Where do you think you're going?"

Ye Chen snorted coldly, moving even faster, and swung his staff, sending Yin Ming flying.

To his surprise, Yin Ming's body was covered in a layer of flickering immortal light. A strike that could make a xianzun vomit blood didn't harm Yin Ming at all—the force was completely absorbed by that light.

"Faith power."

Ye Chen narrowed his eyes, recognizing the source of that energy.

Of course—Yin Ming, as the Heavenly Court's ruler, was like a god to the Upper Immortal Realm, receiving endless worship and accumulating vast faith power over the ages. It was incredibly potent for self-protection.

Much like Buddhist nianli, this invisible and formless force was overwhelmingly powerful.

The faith power on Yin Ming was likely granted by the Jade Emperor, allowing him to withstand an imperial weapon's strike unscathed, showing just how immense the Heavenly Court's accumulated faith was.

Without it, Ye Chen's strike would have obliterated him.

"You can't kill me."

Yin Ming grinned menacingly, already seated on the dragon throne.

The throne hummed and trembled, revealing array patterns—it was engraved with a teleportation platform, an imperial-level one at that.

Ye Chen dashed forward in an instant, swinging his staff down.

Regrettably, he was a split second too late. The staff shattered the throne, but it didn't touch Yin Ming—he had already teleported out of the Lingxiao Baodian.

Though he had escaped, the Heavenly Court's armies had arrived.

At a glance, dark masses of soldiers and generals surrounded them from all sides.

Just like at Tianlao, they blanketed the ground like a black carpet and obscured the vast sky like a dark curtain, with many xianzun and veteran xianjun among them. Their numbers far exceeded the previous millions, now over ten million strong.

From the sky above, the enormous Lingxiao Baodian looked tiny in comparison, like a spirit pearl embedded in a sea of blackness.

And that was just what was visible— who knew how many more lurked in the shadows.

The booms continued relentlessly, with even more Heavenly Court experts on their way, slowly unveiling the court's true depths.