A lofty sentiment awoke in Feng Wuji’s heart. “The three of us are Holy Scions. However, the reputation of the Holy Lands fell continuously. We have to go on this trip. I have long wanted to test out these high-ranked Demon Races.”
Nuan Muyun smiled but did not say anything. She was not as ambitious as these two and was just going with the flow. If she could help the two, she would do her best.
The warship flew on, bringing Xia Houjue and the other two through the barrier of the sky, heading to the toughest battlefield of the Starry Heavens.
---
At the same time, with the Heaven Punishing Corpse God’s personal disciple at the lead, Wei Hua, Wang Can, and some others packed their belongings and departed on the same journey to the Starry Heavens.
---
The Ghost Race’s Xie Zixuan wiped his eight treasured sabers clean. Under the gaze of the Mountain Monarch, his figure vanished into the Starry Heavens.
---
No one had expected Xiao Chen to display such splendid and frightening ability at the King conferral ceremony. He had emerged suddenly like a comet, putting intense pressure on the other outstanding talents.
[TL Note: We are not entirely sure about this, but we believe that the comet description is not a simple simile but an allusion to the Chinese belief that comets are omens of disaster, which presage events on Earth.]
Many of them actually headed for the Astral Battlefield earlier than they initially planned, all for the sake of chasing after Xiao Chen, who had been conferred the Azure Dragon King, to compete with him again after they advanced to Martial Emperor.
The impact of this matter was not limited to this. After the news of these people going to the Astral Battlefield in advance spread, a trend formed in the Kunlun Continent: anyone who reached grandmaster-level Martial Sage would head to the Astral Battlefield.
In this age of geniuses, the flourishing sharpness appeared everywhere.
---
In the Deity Domain, the Deities’ Nation sat on a vast sea of golden power made of faith. Palaces filled the place; stars decorated the skies.
Di Wuque was meeting with the supreme being of the Deity Race, the Heaven Abandoning Deity Sovereign. He knelt on the floor, asking the Deity Sovereign to erect a Deity Statue for him.
“You are not even a Martial Emperor, and you want to use the power of faith to raise your strength. If you do that, you will be just like those false Martial Emperors that advanced using the Deity Statues for the rest of your life.
“Think about it for yourself. If you really want revenge even to the point of giving up your identity as the Divine Son, then I will waste a thousand years of my cultivation and use the power of faith to raise you to a Martial Emperor, able to defeat the current Xiao Chen with one move.”
The Heaven Abandoning Deity Sovereign remained expressionless, his true body encased in golden light. A multitude of heavens appeared behind him. Billions of ordinary beings lived in these heavens, praying every day, providing him with an endless stream of faith.
Di Wuque clenched his right fist tightly, his fingernails digging into his flesh. Blood flowed out. Only after a long time did his heart calm down.
“Wuque knows his mistake. I will pay back the humiliation that I received with my own hands.”
The Heaven Abandoning Deity Sovereign revealed a look of gratification. “It is good that you know your mistake. Giving you the cultivation of a Martial Emperor is pointless. Draining your potential for the sake of one person is the stupidest thing you can do.
“Take this.”
With a fling of the Heaven Abandoning Deity Sovereign’s hand, a secret manual flashing with golden light flew towards Di Wuque.
“Myriad Heaven Divine Fist, Forbidden.”
Di Wuque received the secret manual. The cover of the secret manual had the words “Myriad Heaven Divine Fist.” It looked just like the Myriad Heaven Divine Fist that was circulating outside, except there were eye-catching forbidden words written at the end, giving off a sense of difference.
“This is the complete Myriad Heaven Divine Fist, a forbidden technique of our Deity Race. The ones circulating outside are just the incomplete version.”
After the Heaven Abandoning Deity Sovereign said that, he gave Di Wuque another two secret manuals. Like the first manual, these secret manuals all had forbidden words written in blood. One was a Cultivation Technique, Undying Deity Sovereign Body, and the other was a Sword Technique, Heaven Extinguishing Sword Art.
“Go to the Astral Battlefield tomorrow. Aside from that place, no other experiential training ground can allow you to cultivate these three forbidden techniques faster than here.”
Di Wuque carefully put away the three forbidden techniques and left silently. The Heaven Abandoning Deity Sovereign heaved a sigh of relief. The Divine Son was still the Divine Son; he never changed.
Early in the morning, when Di Wuque was about to depart alone, he turned a corner and ran into the Divine Daughter, Tian Youxi, and the thirteen Keepers.
“I will go with you to the Astral Battlefield.”
“We are willing to accompany the Divine Son to the Astral Battlefield as well,” the thirteen Keepers said in unison.
After a moment’s hesitation, Di Wuque’s confused face finally revealed a smile.
---
In the largest inn of Supreme Sky City, a youth in blue robes and a sword on his back drained the wine in his cup. Then, he left behind some money for the wine.
In a half-drunk and half-sober state, he muttered, “It is time to go to the Astral Battlefield.”
Everyone had their own story; everyone had their own desires.
In this age of geniuses, the troubled times created many heroes.
These so-called outstanding talents, if they did not have a tempered heart and gave up chasing after their desires after failing once, they would only possess an undeserved reputation.
After tempering themselves for hundreds or thousands of times, even if they lost a hundred battles, their hearts would not change. The title of “outstanding genius” would always be theirs.
The curtains of this great age had already opened. The story on the stage had its highs and lows. As it rose and fell, it would bring about a grand and majestic scene in this great age.
The outstanding talents were still around. The Azure Dragon King on the stage was actually never alone before.
After reaching great grandmaster-level Martial Sage, Xiao Chen should have been the most qualified outstanding youth to enter the Astral Battlefield. However, with the three Holy Masters pulling strings, they tossed him far from the Kunlun Continent, to the desolate Heavenly Star Island.
Nevertheless, the outstanding talents of the various races who were grandmaster-level Martial Sages went to the Astral Battlefield in advance. They went off in a different direction from Xiao Chen, without any way to meet again.
However, if one were a supreme being that could view the chessboard of fate, one would discover that the two lines heading away from each other started from a point on a sphere. After traveling halfway around, they would form a complete circle and meet again.
---
On the purple dragon-shaped warship, Xiao Chen did not know that because of his performance at his King conferral ceremony, he had triggered a change in the younger generation of the Kunlun Continent.
Currently, he and Lan Shaobai stood at the bow of the warship. As they watched the clouds move past them, they chatted.
“Speaking of which, why are you not using a transportation formation? There are transportation formations that connect directly to the Primal Chaos Domain in the Central Province.”
To get to Heavenly Star Island, one had to leave the Tianwu Domain, cross the Primal Chaos Domain and the Yellow Soil Demonic Garden, and then navigate the Chaotic Demonic Sea. From there, one continued going west, traversing the great boundless ocean and passing many islands and seas before arriving at Heavenly Star Island.
Even with the peak King Grade warship flying at full speed nonstop, Xiao Chen and his group would still require three to four months of travel time.
A Sage Grade warship would take double the time. Even after half a year, they would not arrive.
If the group used the transportation formation and departed from the Primal Chaos Domain, they could save two months.
In the past, there had actually been a transportation formation that linked directly to the Martial God Palace on Heavenly Star Island. Unfortunately, for some reason, the transportation formation had been severely damaged.
Furthermore, that place was practically abandoned by the Martial God Palace. So the transportation formation was as good as having none; it was already completely useless.
Lan Shaobai was very curious about what Xiao Chen was thinking by using the purple dragon-shaped warship to fly over.
The wind blew from the front, ruffling Xiao Chen’s hair. As he looked into the distance, the sky was as white as snow. However, plenty of darkness and filth hid behind this pure white.
Naturally, he had his plans by purchasing so many Astral Cores and using the warship to head straight for Heavenly Star Island.
Xiao Chen did not know what plans the Sea Monarch’s old guards had in store for him. But based on their plan to openly kill him in the Supreme Sky Sect, he was sure they had a backup plan.
If his group followed the original plan and used the transportation formation, he believed that they would suffer attacks from the other party.
If that was the case, then they might as well change their route. It was just wasting some time.
Fortunately, Xiao Chen could use this time to completely digest the energy from the ten Spirit Veins he consumed, stabilizing his cultivation.
Of course, he could not tell Lan Shaobai this for now. He changed the topic and said, “Let’s talk about you. Weren’t you busy gathering people to resist Di Wuque’s Heroes’ Convention? Why did you come over and follow me?”
Lan Shaobai smiled helplessly. “After you chopped Di Wuque in half at the King conferral ceremony, his reputation fell to rock bottom. Naturally, after losing his prestige, his Heroes’ Convention fell through. No one will participate.”
When Xiao Chen thought about it, it made sense. Back then, Di Wuque’s reputation was flourishing. Finding his equal among the younger generation would have been hard.
The cultivators of the Kunlun Continent would use Di Wuque as a standard for comparison when they spoke about how powerful a person was, even discussing how many moves that person would last against Di Wuque.
However, within a mere year, Xiao Chen had first humiliated Di Wuque at the Heavenly Ruin Wasteland, then chopped him in half at the King conferral ceremony. With these, Di Wuque’s reputation bottomed out.
With such a reputation, organizing a Heroes’ Convention would just make a joke of himself.
Lan Shaobai revealed a disappointed expression. Then, he said, “I’m following you because I want to write an Azure Dragon Bamboo Scroll.
“For the past year, I traveled everywhere—the Ghost Domain, the Fiend Domain, the Corpse Domain, and even the vast Heavenly Starry Ocean. I was given the cold shoulder, even mockery and ridicule.
“I was too proud in the past. After seeing the experts of the world, I found out how insignificant I was. With my own strength, I will not be able to write a book on heroes. However, after the King conferral ceremony, I discovered that although the world is vast, I can just use you to write an Azure Dragon Bamboo Scroll.”
Xiao Chen had not expected the other party’s frankness. He smiled and said, “You sure are direct. However, I will have to disappoint you. I don’t really care about the Azure Dragon Bamboo Scroll and do not have a huge ambition like Di Wuque.”
Lan Shaobai was not surprised. He revealed a faint smile on his fair and handsome face. “The Azure Dragon Bamboo Scroll is not only a register of a Heroes’ Convention. What I want to record is the entire Martial Epoch from the very start to now: all the ancient glory, the fall of the Ancient Era, and this flourishing age.
“If speaking about ambition, my ambition is much greater than Di Wuque’s. Whether you agree or not is not a problem. I just want to be by your side, to witness this great age, to finish writing about this age.”
Xiao Chen saw that Lan Shaobai’s tone was sincere, his expression serious. He could not help but feel some respect.
What Lan Shaobai wanted to do was something no one before or after would accomplish, a monumental task on which he would have to devote much effort and time—a challenge.