Heaven-Surpassing Divine Emperor

「The next morning.」

The fiery morning sun had just peeked over the horizon, its warm rays shining down upon Ancestor Mountain.

RUMBLE!

The entire Ancestor Mountain was like a mirror, reflecting dazzling rays of sunlight that shot into the sky. The whole mountain seemed to transform into a peak of brilliant Gold.

It was incredibly dazzling, incredibly sacred!

One by one, the powerful cultivators were startled awake, their gazes all turning toward Ancestor Mountain...

Under the sun’s illumination, the light from Ancestor Mountain grew ever more intense, making the entire mountain resplendent in gold and jade.

SWOOSH!

A pillar of light erupted from the top of Ancestor Mountain, shooting straight into the firmament and connecting heaven and earth.

It was followed by a second, a third, a fourth...

A total of ninety-nine pillars of light burst forth from Ancestor Mountain.

Within each of the ninety-nine pillars of light, a stone stele slowly ascended.

On the steles were the writings of the Icefield Race!

They recorded segments of the Icefield Race’s history, sacred and powerful. Each character seemed like a mighty expert of the Icefield Race, as if narrating a moving and epic tale.

SWISH...

When all ninety-nine steles had flown into the sky, the heaven-piercing pillars of light vanished in an instant, leaving only the steles floating in mid-air.

HUMMM!

The steles vibrated in unison.

Starting from the first stele, runes transformed into streams of Flowing Light and flew out. Like living sprites, these runes danced as they soared into the sky above the summit of Ancestor Mountain.

They collided, condensed, and fused together in the center of the ninety-nine steles.

A massive gate of golden light appeared high in the sky.

This was the entrance to the Profound Celestial Ancestor Realm!

”The ancestors have shown themselves!”

”The Icefield Race is eternal and undying...”

”Ancestors above, Bing Qianchi, leader of the Royal Family, pays his respects to the ancestors!”

”Zifeng Tianhen, Clan Leader of the Purple Wind Clan, pays his respects to the ancestors!”

”Wang Shangwu, Clan Leader of the Ice King Race, pays his respects to the ancestors!”

”We pay our respects to the ancestors of the Icefield Race. May your spirits in heaven bless and protect our Icefield Race, granting us eternal prosperity and everlasting existence...”

One by one, the experts of the Icefield Race knelt on the ground, their expressions sincere and reverent.

At this moment, there was no distinction between the three great tribes.

They were all of the Icefield Race, worshiping the same ancestors!

After the worship ceremony concluded, the Clan Leader of the Royal Family, Bing Qianchi; the Clan Leader of the Purple Wind Clan, Zifeng Tianhen; and the Clan Leader of the Ice King Race, Wang Shangwu, stood side by side. Their gazes were solemn and calm as they announced, ”Bring forth the offerings!”

RUMBLE!

Streams of offerings, long since prepared, were brought forward one after another.

There were the cooked carcasses of massive Ice Beasts, fresh and delicious Spirit Fruits, and fragrant, fine wines...

”Ancestral Worship Incense!”

Bing Qianchi shouted.

Bing Qianchi, Zifeng Tianhen, and Wang Shangwu acted simultaneously. They materialized three massive incense sticks from the void, each a hundred meters tall and so thick that it would take more than a dozen adults to encircle one.

The three colossal incense sticks were planted in the ground before Ancestor Mountain.

Once lit, waves of rich fragrance wafted through the air.

White smoke rose slowly, blanketing most of Ancestor Mountain and making the area look like a paradise on earth.

The surrounding experts all waited in silence...

This was the Profound Celestial Ice Field’s ancestral worship. Even the masters on the Celestial Venerable List would not dare to casually break this rule.

The next part of the ancestral ceremony was simply to wait. Only after all three incense sticks had burned to completion would the ritual be considered over!

Bing Qianchi stepped forward and announced in a clear voice, ”As you all know, the Profound Celestial Ancestor Realm is the resting place of my Icefield Race’s ancestors. To protect their slumber, the Icefield Three Races have reached a decision. For this opening of the Profound Celestial Ancestor Realm, no foreign experts will be allowed to enter the Ancestral Land. The only exceptions are members of my Icefield Race and experts from nations backed by masters on the Celestial Venerable List!”

His announcement caused an uproar!

How many experts were on the Celestial Venerable List? Only a thousand in total!

Among those thousand, many did not participate in the administration of any nation. There were only fifty or sixty dynasties and kingdoms truly led by an expert from the Celestial Venerable List.

More than half of the nations present had no expert from the Celestial Venerable List backing them!

Didn’t this mean that the experts from those nations who had traveled so far had made a wasted trip? How could they accept that?

”On what grounds?”

”Yeah, my nation has an expert on the Celestial Venerable List too! He just doesn’t involve himself in the dynasty’s affairs. Why can’t we enter?”

One by one, the experts seethed with righteous indignation.

As for the experts from nations backed by masters on the Celestial Venerable List, they all adopted an attitude of ’this has nothing to do with me’. With looks of schadenfreude, they waited for the show to begin.

Bing Qianchi said coolly, ”Don’t be hasty. I would naturally not be completely unreasonable. We, the Icefield Three Races, are offering an opportunity to foreigners from nations without a Celestial Venerable List master. An expert at the Union Palace Realm must challenge a master on the Human Venerable List. If you win, you may enter the Ancestral Land. An expert at the Human King Realm must challenge a master on the Earth Venerable List. If you win, you may also enter the Ancestral Land!”

As soon as he said this, the crowd of experts fell silent.

They knew that the Icefield Three Races had already allowed experts from nations backed by Celestial Venerable List masters to enter the Profound Celestial Ancestor Realm. It was impossible for those experts to make an enemy of the three Human Emperors for the sake of unrelated people like them.

If they truly wanted to enter the Profound Celestial Ancestor Realm, their only path was to challenge a master on the Human Venerable List or the Earth Venerable List!

”I issue a challenge! Zou Yun, ranked ninety-three thousand on the Human Venerable List, I challenge you!”

”Huo Lang, ranked fifty thousand on the Human Venerable List, I challenge you...”

One after another, experts immediately issued their challenges.

The masters on the Human Venerable List had no choice but to accept!

The challenges raged on, one after another.

Jiang Chen, however, stood motionlessly in the crowd, as if none of this had anything to do with him.

”Jiang Chen, aren’t you going to challenge someone?” Zhao Hongluan asked.

Jiang Chen smiled. ”No rush!”

Beside them, Zifeng Jie sneered, ”I think you should challenge someone ranked below fifty thousand on the Human Venerable List. That would be a safer bet, hahaha!”

Jiang Chen glanced at him but didn’t say a word.

”Who is Jiang Chen?”

A cold voice rang out beside him.

Jiang Chen paused, opened his eyes, and looked toward the speaker.

It was a sturdy young man clad in ice-blue battle armor, with short blue hair and a domineering, flamboyant air about him. He was well over three meters tall and burly, with muscles bulging like blocks of lead—hard and brimming with explosive power.

This was none other than Bing Xiao, the Third Prince of the Icefield Race Royal Family, ranked three hundred and eighty-fifth on the Human Venerable List!

Jiang Chen glanced at him and said coolly, ”I am. And who are you?”

”My name is Bing Xiao. You may not know me, but you should know my fourth brother, Bing Hu!”

Bing Xiao grinned, his white teeth flashing with a cold light. He raised a fist and clenched it slowly, producing a series of sharp cracks. ”I know you want to enter the Ancestral Land, and I know you definitely won’t challenge a high-ranking master on the Human Venerable List, so we won’t be able to fight today. I just came over to get a good look at you, so that once we’re in the Ancestral Land, I can recognize you immediately, kill you, and avenge my fourth brother!”

As soon as he said this, many people in the crowd turned to look at Jiang Chen with expressions of schadenfreude.

However, Jiang Chen just smiled faintly. Under the astonished gazes of the crowd, he pointed a finger at Bing Xiao, then at the fighting arena up ahead, and said coolly, ”No need to wait that long. I’ll fight you right now!”