Lord Chen's words of reflection still echoed in Chen Yan's ears, but his gaze grew ever calmer.
Deep in his mind, it was as if the tens of thousands of years of humiliation endured by the Human Race flashed before him in an instant.
At last, he understood why the condition for reaching Ninth Order was to slay an Ancient God Beast of overwhelming strength at Eighth Order.
Because without doing so, even if one reached Ninth Order, one could not survive day after day in this boundless chaos, in this real world steeped in evil.
What Chen Yan had seen earlier was the very world in which Lord Chen had always lived.
If someone lived in such a world for long enough, no matter how high-spirited and ambitious he was, he would gradually yield to the Ancient Gods' boundless majesty and the terror of the unknown.
All the world's laws, along with the emotions unique to the Human Race, would collapse completely.
Chen Yan did not know whether, if he were Lord Chen and had to remain in this world, he could hold fast to his original convictions.
But—
Chen Yan's eyes widened. If he did not experience it for himself, what right did he have to say he could not endure it?
An idea surfaced in the depths of his mind and refused to fade.
"Chen Yan, if you want to do what you must, you'll have to get past me."
Lord Chen clasped his hands behind his back and spoke calmly:
"I'll give you a chance. I'll give Lu Xunyang a chance, and Great Xia a chance. I'm only a threshold—a threshold standing in your way.
If you can't even get past me, how can you hope to face the Ancient Gods?"
He slowly turned around. The