Chapter 743: Not Easy

After more than half an hour, Yang Chen finally finished his "task," feeling quite satisfied as he released the pent-up tension from the past few days. He cheerfully put on his pants and even blew a kiss to Sally before happily trotting downstairs.

In the bright and elegant first-floor hall, Christine was sitting at the dining table, reading a newspaper.

Without even turning around, Christine chuckled, "It seems you really aren't one to dwell on sentimentality. Just waking up and already pulling something like this with my maid—it's truly in line with your style."

Yang Chen pulled out a chair and sat down, taking a bite of a cream-filled pastry. "Make sure to give her a million dollars as a reward."

"Why should I give a bonus to a woman you've had your fun with?" Christine put down the newspaper, pouting in dissatisfaction. "It's not like you're short on money. Don't be so stingy."

"Oh, come on, money means nothing to us. That young girl works hard; she deserves it," Yang Chen said with a face full of sympathy.

"Miss Lin must be a saint to be able to marry you," Christine said, not wanting to continue the disgusting topic. She reached for a glass of milk but frowned when she saw its color and decided to set it aside.

Feeling smug, Yang Chen crossed his legs and glanced out the large glass window at the magnificent view of Beverly Hills outside. The expansive view was truly invigorating.

"This place is pretty nice. Next time, I'll have Ron buy a place here too, and maybe hire a few Sam's country girls in maid outfits," Yang Chen said enthusiastically.

Christine snorted, "There aren't any more empty houses unless you want to settle for one of the properties near the bottom of the hill."

"I never said I'd buy it the regular way. Hold a gun to their heads, and they'd sell it for free," Yang Chen replied nonchalantly.

Christine rolled her eyes, choosing to stay silent. If she kept talking, she might not be able to resist blowing up the entire mansion.

Yang Chen picked up a glass of orange juice, downed it in one go, and then patted his stomach with a burp. "By the way, Aphrodite, how much do you guys know about the tribulation in Yanxia? What do you know about the stages like Nascent Soul and Tribulation Crossing? I'd like to hear about it."

Hearing her real name, Christine finally became serious and asked, "You've already experienced the first round of Nine Heavens Thunder Tribulation. Do you really not know about these things?"

Yang Chen smiled bitterly, "If I had known, I wouldn't have gone all out against Poseidon. That feeling of being struck by lightning was worse than just letting myself reincarnate."

Christine sighed helplessly, lowering her head in thought as if organizing her thoughts. After a long pause, she said, "Although we few have all experienced the great war between Yanxia cultivators and our God race thousands of years ago, we didn't deeply study the cultivation methods of Yanxia cultivators. So, I can only give you a general explanation. Also, it seems you have some misunderstandings about our war with Yanxia's ancestor cultivators, so I'll explain that to you as well."

As Christine spoke, she revealed details about the cultivation path and the true events from thousands of years ago that Yang Chen had never heard from Yan Sanniang.

It turned out that when the God race discovered that their survival on Mars was no longer viable, they migrated en masse to Earth. As Yan Sanniang had mentioned, they ruthlessly slaughtered a large number of primitive humans on Earth. To the God race, if they were to turn Earth into their new home, there could only be one ruler.

However, when they entered the Yanxia territory, the Yanxia cultivators finally couldn't sit idly by and began to resist.

At that time, the God race, led by the Twelve Olympian Gods, numbered in the tens of thousands—far more than just the twelve remaining today. In those days, Yanxia didn't have the "Hongmeng" organization, but the number of cultivators was also in the thousands.

Ordinary Nascent Soul stage cultivators, those who had broken through from the peak of Xiantian, varied greatly in strength. Some were exceptionally powerful, while others were merely in the realm but unable to unleash much combat power.

The God race, however, was different. Their mastery of spatial laws gave even ordinary members of the God race far greater combat power than typical Nascent Soul cultivators.

Because of this, the God race initially held the upper hand and planned to wipe out the Yanxia cultivators to fully conquer Earth, turning it into their new planet.

However, when the battle reached a critical point, several of the most powerful Tribulation Crossing stage experts, who had been hidden away and comprehending the Dao, suddenly emerged from Yanxia!

These individuals were so powerful that ordinary members of the God race were no match for them; they could be obliterated in an instant! Among the Twelve Olympian Gods, only the most powerful, such as Zeus, Athena, Poseidon, Hades, and Apollo, could contend with them.

As for who could actually defeat these Tribulation Crossing experts, only Zeus and Athena had that ability!

Zeus's power wasn't just due to his mastery of spatial laws, which surpassed that of Poseidon and others by several magnitudes. His trump card was the divine artifact "Thunderbolt," which only he could control!

The force that Yanxia cultivators feared most in the world was "Thunderbolt"! When Zeus unleashed his endless thunderbolts to blast open the gates of Yanxia, even cultivators in the Tribulation Crossing stage could only flee in panic, not daring to challenge the divine might!

As for Athena, her power was entirely on par with Zeus. As the only one possessing two divine artifacts—the "Aegis Shield" and the "Pallas Spear"—the goddess of war could face Tribulation Crossing cultivators without even needing to use her artifacts, and she would still remain unbeatable. This was because, in addition to her unparalleled mastery of spatial laws, she possessed the most terrifying wisdom!

Whenever Athena faced an enemy, she could even use ordinary prophecy to predict every move her opponent was going to make. And as for her supreme "Great Prophecy," it was even more horrifying.

Imagine, before you even make a move, every strike, every technique you plan to use is already anticipated by your opponent. No matter how hard you try to change your strategy, that very change is also part of the prophesied future! In such a scenario, unless you have overwhelmingly superior power, what chance do you have of winning?

Thus, as thousands of ordinary God race members were wiped out, and ordinary Nascent Soul cultivators suffered heavy losses, the war entered a fevered pitch. The Yanxia cultivators realized that no matter how hard they tried, even if they could hold off the other Olympian Gods, Zeus and Athena were like unstoppable blades driving straight for their heart!

In desperation, a few of the most powerful Tribulation Crossing cultivators lured Zeus and Athena to an ancient battlefield in Yanxia during one particular battle.

After that battle, Zeus was never heard from again. Only Athena, possibly warned by her prophetic abilities, managed to escape in a hurry.

When Athena returned, the other gods learned that Yanxia had, during ancient times, possessed ancestors whose cultivation far surpassed the Tribulation Crossing stage.

These ancestors had long since left Earth, but they had left behind some ancient relics from that time. The cultivation methods used by the cultivators of that era were also derived from the ancient period.

Moreover, the ancient great powers had left behind a powerful "array"!

The Tribulation Crossing cultivators had lured Zeus and Athena into this array and activated its core in an attempt to seal away these two unbeatable opponents completely!

Unfortunately, Athena, with her Pallas Spear, managed to force open a small gap and escaped just before the array could fully unleash its power.

Even so, Zeus, the only one with the "Thunderbolt" as a super-kill move, never returned to the God race!

Without their most powerful member, Zeus, even though they still had the undefeated Athena, the God race could no longer maintain their absolute superiority. After all, while Athena could defeat those in the Tribulation Crossing stage, she could not, like Zeus, obliterate their souls with thunderbolts, ensuring their complete destruction. The stalemate dragged on, and the gods feared that they might be ambushed by the Yanxia cultivators and sealed away by some ancient divine array again.

During this deadlock, the God race discovered that due to Earth's atmosphere and other differences from Mars, their birth rate had plummeted to terrifyingly low levels. At this rate, even if they killed all the Yanxia cultivators, they would still be doomed to extinction.

Only the twelve Olympian Gods, who had mastered the laws of space, could use infinite reincarnation. This meant that sooner or later, the God race on Earth would dwindle until only these twelve remained.

At this most difficult time for the God race, a few of the strongest Tribulation Crossing cultivators in Yanxia were about to face their second or third round of tribulation!

To the everlasting regret of those cultivators, all of the strongest Tribulation Crossing cultivators were obliterated by the heavenly tribulation, disappearing into the universe without leaving a trace of their souls.

The God race grieved over the impending extinction of their race, while the Yanxia cultivators were at a loss, having lost their pillars of strength.

In this desperate situation, no matter who won or lost, it no longer had any meaning.

Thus, the remaining eleven Olympian Gods and the remaining dozen or so Tribulation Crossing cultivators in Yanxia each voted and finally decided to stop the war and sign the "Covenant of the Gods."

This covenant was actually a two-way agreement: The gods were not allowed to unseal their powers or use the laws of space in non-God-race battles, as this would cause catastrophic destruction to ordinary life on Earth and hinder the evolution of worldly beings, going against the will of the heavens. Of course, if they were up against a Nascent Soul stage or higher cultivator, that would be a different matter. Any god who violated this would be cast into reincarnation by the other Olympian Gods.

On the Yanxia side, they were not allowed to invade areas outside of Yanxia or act against the God race without reason.

There were many other clauses, but the practical significance of the covenant, aside from restricting the gods from unsealing their powers at will, leaned towards Yanxia making concessions. After all, aside from Yanxia, the rest of Earth's regions were under the control of the God race. This is why the gods appeared in various countries and regions, not because Yanxia was off-limits, but because it was a place of sorrow and also the opponent's stronghold—one that the gods preferred not to stay in.

Of course, to ensure the covenant's effectiveness, both sides swore special oaths: The gods' vows were bound by the laws of space, and breaking them would render them unable to reincarnate. The Yanxia cultivators were bound by the laws of heaven and earth, with punishments ranging from the wrath of thunder to the inability to progress in cultivation, hastening their death by aging. Moreover, both sides had their pride and dignity. In the end, neither wanted to lose face, and as long as they didn't interfere with each other, there was no reason to break the agreement.

As Christine explained up to this point, Yang Chen interrupted her, "Why do I feel like things wouldn't have gone so smoothly? When that 'Covenant of the Gods' was signed, did both sides really vote unanimously? I doubt it. From what I've seen of Poseidon, he doesn't seem like the type to back down easily..."

To read the manga version, please click the YouTube link https://youtu.be/GnU613H6xm8