Chapter 499: The Great Thousand-level Universe

"Its mystery and unpredictability," Ye Jinghong said, voice deepening, "must surpass the total of all trials you've ever joined, all secret realms you've ever breached, and all Ancient Paths you've ever set foot on!"

"Inside… danger lurks everywhere, death calamities are everywhere, it can be called endlessly perilous!" Ye Jinghong's eyes were sharp, "But opposite to that, the opportunities are equally endless! There lie ancient legacies that may have vanished from the Zhutian Wanjie long ago, nurturing inconceivable celestial wonders, and it is the prime battlefield for dueling Top‑tier Monsters from different universes and testing the Dao!"

He paused, his tone carrying a complex nostalgia for past glory: "You must understand, this Origin Ancient Road does not open at any time. Only in those special eras when brilliance shines to the extreme, fortunes peak, and genius Top‑tier Monsters surge like geysers does it have a certain probability of manifesting! Its opening itself is a symbol of the era's amassed destiny, and also the ultimate Trial Ground for the era's most elite beings."

Ye Wuque felt his emotions surge, and couldn't help asking: "Clan Leader, where does the end of this Origin Ancient Road actually lead? And that unspeakable place, where is it?"

Ye Jinghong stared into Ye Wuque's eyes, slowly uttered three words, each weighing a thousand pounds:

"No Return Path."

"What?!"

Even though Ye Wuque's will is as firm as rock, at this moment he couldn't help but turn pale with shock, his pupils suddenly contracting!

It actually… leads to the No Return Path?!

The very No Return Path that was just confirmed to have undergone a terrifying cataclysm, that even Ye Shizu had to go to personally, symbolizing the Dark Source and ultimate danger…?

Ye Wuque was truly shocked!

He had thought the Origin Ancient Road might lead to some unknown ancient ruin, a lost world, or perhaps a source of the Dao, but never imagined its terminus directly connects to the greatest taboo and disaster zone of the Zhutian Wanjie!

"This is why I say it's extremely dangerous." Ye Jinghong looked at Ye Wuque's shocked expression, voice deep, "Rather than calling it a simple trial treasure ground for seeking opportunities, it's better to say… it's a front line where the most elite Young Beings of the Zhutian Wanjie step in early and directly clash with truly Inauspicious Clan forces in life‑and‑death battles… It's a brutally cruel Blood‑colored Screening Field!"

His words rang powerfully, painting a cruel and grand picture: "Stepping onto the Origin Ancient Road, you will not only in the early stage have to compete and clash with Top‑tier Monsters from different universes and civilizations, vying for opportunities and destiny on the Ancient Path. In the later stage, as you go deeper, the environment becomes harsher, and you will directly face Inauspicious beings from the No Return Path! That is a true life‑or‑death struggle, a survival war that transcends cosmic boundaries! Only in such ultimate cruelty, a crucible of Dark Blood Fire that gathers the most elite geniuses and fiercest foes of the Zhutian Wanjie, experiencing the most brutal life‑and‑death battles, can one truly forge an invincible will and power, achieving the most complete transformation and ascension!"

Ye Jinghong emphasized: "The scale, scope, influence, and cruelty of this trial far exceed the so‑called Great Thousand Divine Universe trials you've taken part in, even beyond the Star Sky Ancient Road you just completed! The Tianjun God‑Sealing Stele you encountered is merely one of many entrances to the Origin Ancient Road, scattered throughout the Zhutian Wanjie. Only beings who meet certain conditions and receive the resonance can know of and enter it."

"And once the Origin Ancient Road truly opens," Ye Jinghong's tone carried a solemn grandeur, "it will sweep across all known Great Thousand-level Universes, engulfing the most elite, most dazzling Top‑tier Monsters! That will be the true young generation of the Zhutian Wanjie, the pinnacle‑level arena of simultaneous competition and life‑and‑death struggle!"

"Great Thousand-level Universe?" Ye Wuque sharply caught the unfamiliar term, repeated it with slight doubt. It was his first time hearing this concept.

Seeing Ye Wuque's confusion, Ye Jinghong's face showed a faint smile, and he explained:

"Great Thousand-level Universe is a concept used to describe the infinitely vast and infinitely brilliant cosmic structure of the Zhutian Wanjie."

"It means infinite towering grandeur, infinite antiquity, infinite brilliance, infinite splendor, infinite vastness!"

"It is the true core unit of the cosmic geography in the proper sense."

His tone carried emotion and awe:

"It is said that within the entire Zhutian Wanjie scope we can currently comprehend, the known, stable Great Thousand-level Universes are definitely not many!"

"Each is a colossal entity that has undergone countless epochs of sedimentation, possessing inconceivable depth and vast territories."

Ye Wuque felt a tremor in his heart and couldn't help asking: "Then is our Nine Heavens Ten Lands… considered a Great Thousand-level Universe?"

Ye Jinghong, upon hearing, gently shook his head: "No, Nine Heavens Ten Lands can only be regarded as a Multi-level Universe at present. Likewise, the Other Shore World we clash with, the Xuanhuang World of your mother's origin, and another equally ancient and powerful Honghuang World… these all belong to the Multi-level Universe category."

Seeing the bewilderment in Ye Wuque's eyes, Ye Jinghong then recounted an even more astonishing secret:

"However, among some of the oldest, almost mythic scattered records within the clan, there exists a rumor so ancient it is hard to verify."

"It is said that in the epoch of countless ancient years, in a era so distant it defies imagination, the present Nine Heavens Ten Lands, Other Shore World, Xuanhuang World, and Honghuang World… these four seemingly independent Multi-level Universes were actually an indivisible, fully unified whole!"

His gaze drifted far, as if retracing that glorious history erased in the river of time: "In that era, these four vast Star Domains together formed a dazzlingly brilliant beyond imagination, massive beyond description… Great Thousand-level Universe! It was a true golden age, all races prospered, the Dao flourished, Supreme beings emerged, and radiance illuminated the heavens!"

Ye Jinghong's tone shifted, with an ineffable shock and awe: "However, it is said that later an unimaginable cataclysm occurred. A WorldShatteringExistence, whose contributions to creation and Great Power are indescribable, for some unknown reason, with a single palm, shattered that unified, brilliant Great Thousand-level Universe… forcefully!"

"The universe cracked, realms separated, the Dao wailed… This gave rise to the four major Multi-level Universes we now know—Nine Heavens Ten Lands, Other Shore, Xuanhuang, Honghuang—each independent yet interlinked!"

"A single palm… shattered an entire Great Thousand-level Universe?!" Ye Wuque was utterly stunned, his mind roiled, unable to calm for a long time.

With his current understanding and strength, Nine Heavens Ten Lands is already boundlessly vast, so expansive that he feels his own insignificance.

And Nine Heavens Ten Lands, to barely form a part of that former Great Thousand-level Universe, still needs to be joined with the Other Shore, Xuanhuang, and Honghuang—three equally colossal worlds!

What kind of world‑shattering, all‑encompassing power does that palm possess?

What level of cultivation does that WorldShatteringExistence that struck possess?

What invincible aura and might does it wield?

Simply imagining that scene makes his heart race with yearning, yet also makes him feel as tiny as dust!

Ye Jinghong looked at Ye Wuque's stunned expression, knowing how great an impact this information had on him.

He slowly summarized: "In short, Wuque, this Origin Ancient Road is a trial path where danger and terror coexist, despair and hope intertwine, containing limitless possibilities and Reverse Heaven opportunities…!"

"It confronts the Darkness of the No Return Path, gathers the Top‑tier Monsters of the Great Thousand-level Universes, and is a true Gu Refinement Field; only the strongest can reach the end and glimpse the ultimate mystery."

He added deliberately, admiration in his eyes: "According to some extremely secret ancient notes scattered within the clan, Zhetian Ancestor, one of the Three Great Ancestors of the Ye Clan, in his youth once stepped onto the Origin Ancient Road! Moreover, he left countless brilliant legends and unbeaten records that still circulate in certain ancient circles!"

Ye Wuque heard this, his eyes suddenly brightened!

Zhetian Ancestor also went there?

Yet upon reflection, with Zhetian Ancestor's awe‑inspiring, epoch‑shaking, invincible bearing that dwarfs the ages, joining such a supreme trial that gathers the heavens' Top‑tier Monsters and leaving a glorious reputation is entirely natural.

This instead further ignited his fighting spirit and yearning; where the ancestors have tread, how could we retreat?

After Clan Leader Ye Jinghong's thorough and profound introduction, Ye Wuque finally formed a relatively clear and grand mental outline of this mysterious Origin Ancient Road.

No longer a vague resonance and rumor, but a real path that points directly to the core secrets of the heavens, concerning the future's great trends—a Reverse Heaven Path!

He inhaled deeply; the heaviness and urgency in his eyes, originally caused by the encroaching Darkness, were now replaced by an even more blazing, more resolute light.

Crisis approaches, time is tight, and he worries how to boost his strength faster to face the Darkness Storm that may sweep the heavens.

And the emergence of the Origin Ancient Road is akin to pointing out a shortcut, though thorn‑laden, that may lead straight to the clouds!

It must be gone to!

Ye Wuque had already made up his mind.

He will tread this Ancient Path, clash with the top Top‑tier Monsters of the Zhutian Wanjie, battle the Inauspicious beings of the No Return Path, and through extreme pressure and the baptism of Dark Blood Fire, break through himself faster and ascend to higher realms!

He wishes to, like Zhetian Ancestor, leave his own legend on that road, and also obtain sufficiently great power to protect everything he wishes to protect, to change the possibly forthcoming, despair‑inducing dark future!

The resonance has arisen; the road ahead is clear.

What remains is to wait for the final opening moment, and then… tread the Ancient Path, battle the heavens, glimpse the Origin, and subdue the Darkness!