Hua Tian City was entirely pitch-black, constructed from mysterious rocks, appearing vast and colossal as it floated in the sky. Clouds and mist swirled around it, resembling a giant black dragon coiling in the void, emanating an awe-inspiring presence that shook the heavens and earth, filling all who beheld it with reverence.
The three ancient characters for "Hua Tian Cheng" were inscribed above the city gate, visible to all—this was the name of the sky city.
Gazing at these three characters, Ye Chen suddenly stood still in the void before the city gate, lost in thought for a moment before letting out a helpless, wry smile.
Was this fate? Or was it destiny, a cycle of Samsara...
"Ye Chen, what's wrong?" the others asked in surprise.
Ye Chen shook his head without speaking and followed the group into Hua Tian City.
Although it existed within the illusory world of the Void Heaven Domain, Hua Tian City was far from desolate; it was quite bustling. The streets were filled with people coming and going, with purpose-built taverns, gambling dens, restaurants, and other establishments common in the mortal world.
The city was filled with continuous stretches of palaces and towers, each appearing majestic and grand, with carved railings and jade inlays, shrouded in spiritual mist, standing side by side.
There were even floating divine halls, rising and falling in the air, appearing magnificent and imposing.
These halls belonged to various powerful factions, from within which powerful auras soared skyward—all at least at the Heavenly God realm and above the fifth heaven level, exceptionally formidable.
The Void Heaven Domain was a vast illusory world projected from the myriad realms. Not only could Primordial Spirits enter, but as long as one's spiritual power was sufficiently strong, even those at the Houtian or Xiantian stages could enter. Otherwise, how could Hua Tian City be so lively and bustling, as if one had arrived in a mortal capital?
However, in truth, there were also many experts above the Martial God level. A sweep of divine sense could easily detect numerous such individuals. When Great Sage Hong Tian and the others learned this, they couldn't help but gasp in shock, revealing the true fearsome nature of the myriad realms.
"The myriad realms are truly a terrifying place," sighed Great Sage Hong Tian. Yet even here, he felt no fear, because existences at the Divine Spirit realm, whether in the Tian Du Continent or the myriad realms, could absolutely be considered peerless figures. They could not be born in great numbers, certainly not flooding the streets.
Great Sage Hong Tian could sense the powerful auras within Hua Tian City, especially those at the Divine Spirit realm, which he was particularly sensitive to. He could sense at least over a dozen individuals at this level—more than in the Tian Du Continent—each residing within the floating divine halls, true overlords of their domains.
This also allowed the group to breathe a sigh of relief. Although there were more than in the Tian Du Continent, at least they weren't everywhere. Otherwise, it would be excessively terrifying, and the entire Tian Du Continent wouldn't need to resist at all.
"Let's split up and each explore this world. As long as we act cautiously, nothing will happen," Ye Chen suggested, gaining agreement from everyone, including Great Sage Hong Tian.
Here, no one knew they came from the Tian Du Continent. It was a mixed crowd; as long as they didn't expose themselves, they would be fine.
Moreover, only a small portion of the myriad realms were targeting and holding firm against the Tian Du Continent. More had no enmity with the Tian Du Continent, and there were also many beings from planar worlds and special heavens.
Great Sage Hong Tian imprinted Primordial Spirit marks on each of them. If anything happened, they could immediately notify him, and he would intervene at once.
Looking across the entire Hua Tian City, he, a Divine Spirit, could absolutely be considered a top-tier figure at the pinnacle of the pyramid.
"In this world, I wish to perfect my own Great Dao. Perhaps by then, even without Sir Qian refining the Myriad Purification Pill, I can heal my Dao injuries and transcend above," Great Sage Hong Tian said as he departed, vanishing into Hua Tian City. He needed to seek opportunities to complete his flawed Great Dao.
Ye Chen also parted ways with the other Ancient Talents, walking alone on the streets. Suddenly, he let out a long sigh and smiled self-deprecatingly, "To think that in this life, the first place I enter is still Hua Tian City. Is it fate or the Samsara of one person?"
In his previous life, the first place he entered in the Void Heaven Domain was Hua Tian City, and in this life, it was the same. It made him wonder if this, too, was a cycle of Samsara.
Samsara was too mysterious, involving too much karma. No one could truly understand it unless they were the mythically immortal and eternal supreme emperors—existences that belonged only to myths, said to have transcended the River of Time, transforming into the Supreme, overlooking the billions of beings struggling within the long river.
Not long after, he arrived at the center of Hua Tian City, where a pitch-black giant tower stood, piercing through the nine layers of clouds—the Void Heaven Pagoda!
The Void Heaven Pagoda was hexagonal, reaching skyward in pitch-black. Its walls were inscribed with various ancient bird and beast patterns, vivid and lifelike, and even bore ancient dark golden patterns carved upon it, possessing a mysterious texture.
Although only a hundred stories high, each floor was quite massive, taller than many palaces and towers in the city. Its entire structure was even larger than a mountain range, like a pitch-black pillar holding up the heavens, supporting the entire world.
Even though Hua Tian City was vast and expansive, this Void Heaven Pagoda still appeared incomparably huge within the city. The halls of the powerful factions paled in comparison.
This was a challenge pagoda. One hundred floors represented one hundred trials, each with a guardian.
Throughout history, this had been a challenge pagoda for the younger generation to test their strength, verifying how powerful they were based on the floor they reached.
The more floors one passed, the stronger their strength naturally was.
However, truly passing all one hundred floors was difficult, or rather, nearly impossible. Because the higher the floor, the harder it became, making it truly challenging to advance.
Even reaching the ninetieth trial represented the utmost difficulty. These were the combat imprints left by the ten strongest individuals who had ever challenged the Void Heaven Pagoda throughout history. Each imprint could be considered a king-level figure of their generation, having cultivated every aspect to the extreme, invincible among peers, hailed as king-level adversaries.
As for the hundredth floor, it was simply unconquerable, hailed as the peerless Supreme One of the same realm. Every aspect of cultivation surpassed the limits, representing the combat imprint of the strongest individual to ever challenge the Void Heaven Pagoda throughout history—unconquerable, peerless across ages.
Those who had passed the hundredth floor, even looking across the endless ages since the Void Heaven Pagoda's existence, could be counted on one hand. Each of these individuals was a true peerless young generation's supreme of their generation.
But even if one passed, it was merely waiting for the guardian to disappear when time ran out. Truly defeating the guardian was fundamentally impossible. Both being Supreme Ones, how could one determine who was stronger? One could only win by delaying time.
The Void Heaven Pagoda had six passages. Many outstanding talents of the younger generation entered to challenge it, constantly tempering themselves.
Beneath the ancient pagoda stood a massive pitch-black stone stele, densely inscribed with name after name—all challengers of the Void Heaven Pagoda throughout history, all from the younger generation.
Behind each name was a number, ranging from one to one hundred, representing the floor that person had reached in the Void Heaven Pagoda.
From low to high, it represented a ranking. The higher the name, the higher the number behind it. However, behind countless names, most were between one and sixty. Those exceeding sixty were rare. The higher one went in the Void Heaven Pagoda, the more difficult it became, with guardians many times stronger.
Even over countless years, those whose names appeared with numbers above ninety were exceedingly few, even describable as countable. Each was a true king-level figure, peerlessly powerful.
And at the very top of the stele, towering above countless challengers, there was another name, lofty and supreme, ranked first, with the number behind it unprecedentedly—one hundred.
And this person was named—Qian!
Just the character "Qian" seemed to carry the weight of millions of jun, capable of collapsing the sky. To this day, it still radiated endless brilliance. Everyone who came to the Void Heaven Pagoda looked upon this name with awe.
"Grandfather, who is Qian? Why is the number behind his name one hundred, while others aren't?" asked a boy only eleven or twelve years old, blinking his large eyes, full of curiosity.
The old man's expression changed slightly upon hearing this, signaling him to lower his voice. "Child, don't speak this person's name. He is a taboo figure."
"Why?" the boy asked, puzzled.
"Don't ask. Taboo is taboo, or it will bring great trouble," the old man said, his tone quite apprehensive. Yet he couldn't help but add, "You're still young and don't know about the battle forty years ago. Actually, even earlier, this Qian was already peerlessly invincible."
"It's said he was a peerless young generation's supreme from a lower realm. He once cleared the pagoda at the fastest speed, breaking the Void Heaven Pagoda's record and defeating the guardian of the hundredth floor, the Pagoda Lord. He even once fought against the contemporary, renowned True King of the myriad realms—the Sun God—above the hundredth floor."
"Sun God!" The boy's dark, bright eyes widened. That was a true super-figure, peerlessly powerful, with few rivals across the world, having been invincible for many years.
This Qian had actually fought the Sun God.
"You must know, at that time, both Qian and the Sun God were still at the Transformation God realm. But the Sun God had already reached the Great Perfection of Transformation God, and in the end, still couldn't suppress Qian. It ended in a draw," the old man sighed nostalgically.
The so-called Transformation God represented the Heavenly God realm, while the term Heavenly God was only used in the Tian Du Continent. In the myriad realms, Martial Gods were not called Martial Gods but Demi-Gods; Heavenly Gods were Transformation Gods, and Divine Spirits were Sages.
The Qian who left his name first on the pitch-black stele was a taboo figure, regarded as taboo by many. But he was not inferior to those contemporary, world-shaking True Kings of the myriad realms. On the Void Heaven Pagoda, he broke the combat imprint left by another peerless genius from tens of thousands of years ago, becoming the new young generation's supreme, guarding the hundredth floor.
To this day, his legends still shook the world, and none dared forget.
Ye Chen quietly gazed at the taboo name on the pitch-black stele, silent, saying nothing. Then he simply turned and left.
The old man looked at the departing figure of the youth and uttered in surprise, "Somewhat familiar... a figure very similar to that taboo person from back then."
But then he shook his head, dismissing the thought. Because that person had long since perished, body and soul utterly destroyed, in that world-shaking major event forty years ago. How could he still be alive in this world? It was just his eyes playing tricks—merely a resemblance.
After leaving the Void Heaven Pagoda, Ye Chen walked alone through Hua Tian City, silently observing everything.
It was vast, magnificent, with powerful figures standing like a forest, experts as numerous as clouds, surpassing the entire Tian Du Continent.
Within the Void Heaven Domain, there were thousands of such sky cities, spread across every part of the Void Heaven Domain, corresponding to the real myriad realms.
Every few great domains shared one sky city. Hua Tian City was the sky city shared by five great domains in the myriad realms: Xiang Yang Domain, Dong Hua Domain, and others. In reality, there were numerous powerful figures, but more remained in the myriad realms without entering the Void Heaven Domain. Otherwise, Sages at the Divine Spirit realm would definitely not be as scarce as a mere dozen or so.
Finally, he arrived at a tavern.
Taverns, gathering places for all walks of life, were always the most well-informed locations.
Ye Chen entered, seeking to understand information about the current myriad realms, collecting bits and pieces of news, organizing them. Even for leaving the Tian Du Continent and returning to the myriad realms in the future, it would be very helpful.
He sat for a full day and night, silent as if in meditation.
In the end, he also learned one thing: the curtain had finally risen on the once-in-a-millennium Human Sovereign throne competition. In the blink of an eye, decades had passed, and now basically the entire myriad realms were abuzz with matters of competing for the Human Sovereign position.
This was an unprecedented peak feast, even looking across all ages.
The Human Sovereign was the undisputed strongest existence in the myriad realms, above all living beings, incomparable, ruling over the boundless territories of the myriad domains, lofty and supreme. All forces in the world had to bow their heads in submission—a true Supreme One existence.
He or she could look down upon billions of living beings, presiding over the rise and fall of the world, capturing stars and grasping the moon with a raise of the hand, omnipotent. Even the most powerful beings had to bow before him or her.
Because he or she was invincible, incomparable across ages, difficult to surpass.
This was the Human Sovereign, the Human Sovereign of the myriad domains.
And what was even more captivating was that the Human Sovereign was not only the Supreme One figure presiding over the rise and fall of the myriad domains but also the existence closest to immortality in the world.
In this world, no matter how great an existence, none could achieve immortality. The power of time would strip away everything. Even if invincible like the Human Sovereign, without reaching the true mythical Emperor and Heavenly Sovereign thrones, they would eventually age, eventually fall, eventually pass away within the River of Time.
In ancient myths, in the distant, unreachable previous epoch, there truly existed supreme beings who were immortal and eternal, able to stand shoulder to shoulder with the Heavenly Dao, sharing the lifespan of heaven and earth, hailed as Emperors and Sovereigns, revered throughout the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths.
But legend has it that due to the greatest calamity in history, they vanished in that epoch.
And in this epoch, such figures could no longer be born. Only the Human Sovereign came closest to the mythical Emperor and Sovereign Heavenly Throne.
To break through to immortality and inquire about eternity, only the Human Sovereign could do so.
The Human Sovereign position was never fixed. If the Human Sovereign did not break through the limits, they would eventually age and eventually pass away. The Human Sovereign position almost changed every hundred thousand years—when the old Human Sovereign's sun was setting in the west, it was also the time for the birth of the new Human Sovereign, an era of transition between old and new.
One could foresee the intensity of the Human Sovereign throne competition, sweeping across the vast and boundless myriad realms. Countless geniuses within the myriad realms would compete for it, with conflicts lasting decades, centuries, or even millennia, possibly continuing for even longer until a new Human Sovereign was decided.
Especially in this generation, all signs indicated that whoever seized the new Human Sovereign position would very likely truly achieve the mythical Emperor and Sovereign Supreme Heavenly Throne, pushing this Human Sovereign competition to become the most intense in all history.
Ye Chen slowly let out a breath. The Human Sovereign competition, awaited for so many years, was finally about to fully raise its curtain. By then, one could foresee countless storms of blood rising. This was a feast, but even more so, a feast of blood.
One general's achievement is built upon ten thousand bones. All who set foot on this path, even world-renowned geniuses, would likely end up as a pile of bones on another's road.
Because there was only one true Human Sovereign. Others either had to withdraw or could only become a pile of bones on the new Human Sovereign's path.
Ye Chen sighed lightly. The Human Sovereign... truly the supreme, unparalleled number one. Which overlord of the myriad domains wouldn't compete? Not to mention seizing fortune and breaking through to the mythical Emperor and Sovereign Heavenly Throne, just being above all living beings, invincible in the human world for a hundred thousand years, was enough.
He touched his chest, where there was a pagoda-shaped mark—the Human Sovereign Pagoda, containing the Human Sovereign Trial. It was just a pity that the Human Sovereign Pagoda had never been able to activate; otherwise, he would have opened it long ago and begun the trial.
In truth, he suspected whether passing the Human Sovereign Trial inside would allow one to become the Human Sovereign, but he felt it was mostly impossible.
The Human Sovereign position wouldn't come that simply, and how could the Human Sovereign Trial be so straightforward?
Ye Chen sipped tea, continuing to gather news. Not long after, a piece of news spread: "Big news, big news! Someone is setting up a challenge platform in the city's ancient battle arena, declaring they will challenge the young generation geniuses of the five great domains, aiming to become the new generation's invincible king of the five domains and compete for the position of number one."
This news was like a meteor falling into the sea, stirring up thousand-layer waves, immediately drawing the attention of many in the tavern.
The outstanding talents of the young generation from the five great domains were exceptionally numerous, especially in this extraordinary generation. It was possible the new Human Sovereign of this generation would be born from among the five domains.
"What? At the ancient battle arena? Who is so bold?"
The crowd was astonished. The ancient battle arena was a martial battle stage that could evolve a world, but it was an ancient relic. Not just anyone could use it; without sufficient power and background, how could one activate it?
Moreover, to set up a challenge platform there, challenging the young talents of the five great domains—who dared to do such a thing? Many couldn't help but prick up their ears to listen and pay attention.
"It's Dong Hua Hao Yi."
"Dong Hua Hao Yi! It's actually him!"
Upon hearing this name, the crowd was shocked.
The Dong Hua Domain of the five great domains had always had an immortal presiding family clan existing in the world, presiding over the rise and fall of this great domain, essentially the domain lord family of this domain, extremely powerful.
This family was named the Dong Hua Clan. The entire great domain was named after this family, which spoke volumes.
Dong Hua Hao Yi was the most dazzling genius born in the Dong Hua Clan in this generation, peerlessly stunning, extremely powerful. Although young, his cultivation was formidable, hailed as a Young King of his generation, reigning supreme over the young generation of the five great domains, overwhelmingly powerful, who could contend with him?
When speaking of the Dong Hua Clan in this era, who wouldn't mention Dong Hua Hao Yi? Because he was too stunning and powerful. Although there were few records of his battle deeds in the world, each was extremely glorious. He was the most dazzling new star of the five great domains in this era.
The Dong Hua Clan also placed great hopes on him to compete for the Human Sovereign position.
This generation's Young King of the Dong Hua Clan setting up a challenge platform at the ancient battle arena, declaring he would challenge the young geniuses of the five great domains, naturally attracted the attention of many. All rushed out, wanting to witness the intense battle spectacle.
Not long after, Ye Chen also left, and his direction was unmistakably toward the ancient battle arena.