“Buzz.” The Death Seal lit up and raised Li Qiye like a lotus flower. He disappeared into the vast expanse.
“Bang!” It eventually broke through the sky vault and made entry into the tenth world.
“Thump!” Li Qiye fell into the ground after the seal disappeared. He laughed and patted the dirt and mud off his clothes.
He looked up and saw a barren land with no end in sight. It spanned more than ten million miles. A scorching air a.s.saulted his face as if there were countless volcanoes underground. This place seemed to have been set on fire by an unbelievable flame.
While stepping on the pebbles, people would feel as if they were stepping on burning coal. It was truly a test of perseverance.
“Burning Rampart, Pure Continent, not a bad place. A home for the hundred races.” Li Qiye licked his lips and smiled while breathing in the burnt air.
This was one of the thirteen continents. It had countless inhabitants from the hundred races.
No one knows how vast this place was. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that it was the size of any of the nine worlds.
It was a prosperous location. Even though it wasn’t as highly viewed as Arrogance in the mind of the hundred races, it was another safe haven for them along with Arrogance before the Emperor Hunt. Only in these two places were the hundred races treated on the same level as the three races. Thus, Arrogance and Pure were considered their territories.
Arrogance was the first among the thirteen continents where the hundred races gained equality while Pure was the second.
Before Emperor Hunt, all members of the hundred races were willing to stay at these two continents because they considered them the safest. Of course, this was due to the continuous effort of the wise sages in the past.
The greatest contributions came from two Immortal Emperors, Jiao Heng and Gu Chun.
Just the name of Arrogance should be indicative of Immortal Emperor Jiao Heng’s majestic accomplishment. Its name was White in the past but the emperor came and defeated nine Grand Emperors. This battle achievement threatened all the tenth world.
His domination lasted for several generations. Eventually, he even challenged Flame Emperor who possessed twelve Heaven’s Wills.
The result of this fight was unknown. After Flame Emperor died to a Heavenly Execution, it became even harder to find out. Nevertheless, Immortal Emperor Jiao Heng changed the name of the continent to Arrogance. Moreover, the citizens from the hundred races were no longer under the jurisdiction of the three races.
Flame Emperor at the time gave implicit agreement. No one from the three races objected this change either. Just like that, Arrogance became home for the three races.
A verse came from his achievement: “One palm against three thousand emperors; two fists sweeping through the thirteen continents.”
This ode echoed the entire realm, giving pride to the humans that were as weak as ants.
Pure came much later after Arrogance. The biggest contributor was Immortal Emperor Gu Chun.
He was the first emperor of the nine worlds so he ascended much earlier than Immortal Emperor Jiao Heng. However, he didn’t challenge and defeat all the Grand Emperors like Immortal Emperor Jiao Heng at first.
He lacked amazing battle records but gained a very high position after arriving. He was acknowledged by many Grand Emperors from the three races. Even the second person with twelve Heaven’s Wills, Origin Heaven Emperor, thought very highly of him.
He maintained a low-profile especially after Origin Heaven Emperor started the second ultimate expedition. He rarely asked about worldly matters and only focused on cultivation.
Several more generations later, after the failed expedition of Deepsouth Divine Emperor and Immortal Emperor Fei, the quiet emperor finally appeared.
He commenced a meeting with the Grand Emperors, Immortal Monarchs, and Immortal Emperors from all races with the intention of starting the fourth expedition. The result was the three races agreeing to remit Pure Continent. The hundred races from then on had the same status as the three races in this particular continent.
With the negotiation completed, Immortal Emperor Gu Chun and the other embarked on their way.
Even though he wasn’t as supreme as Immortal Emperor Jiao Heng who defeated many emperors to establish Arrogance, his inconspicuous effort and achievements still won him the respect in all the thirteen continents. The children of the hundred races felt that he was worthy of being the first emperor from the nine worlds.
Perhaps people from Arrogance would think that Immortal Emperor Jiao Heng was above him, the citizens from Pure considered him to be at the highest position.
***
Burning Rampart was a desolate desert in Pure. Despite spanning for millions of miles, it was tiny compared to Pure as a whole.
Immortal Emperors from the nine worlds could sense a unique aura here beyond the scorching temperature, one that couldn’t really be detected in the nine worlds. It was the aura of chaos containing primordial power from the origin!
This was the main difference between the nine worlds and the tenth. Cultivators from the nine worlds absorbed worldly energy to control the grand dao. Meanwhile, cultivators from the tenth were even more direct. They absorbed chaos energy in order to control primordial power.
Even though the worldly energy in the nine worlds could be refined into chaos and primordial power, it was much more difficult to do so if one wasn’t an Immortal Emperor.
When an emperor reached the nine worlds and wanted to grow, they would also refine their worldly energy and dao power into the next level.
Li Qiye smiled while sensing the aura that wasn’t as readily available in the nine worlds. He began his tread after determining a direction.
He was quite slow just like a mortal. In fact, he was indeed a feeble mortal right now. The withering ray from World Emperor’s group was too powerful. It destroyed everything from Li Qiye, including his dao foundation. Only the thirteen palaces and four inner physiques were left behind.
Alas, they were dimmed and devoid of power. It wasn’t strange for him to be reduced to this level. Think about it, how many people would be able to survive an attack from World Emperor and twelve more Grand Emperors?
His rebirth was already a miracle. Without his thirteen palaces, he would never be able to cultivate again since this type of injury would haunt him forever. The thirteen palaces have escaped all shackles. They protected his inner physiques and these two ent.i.ties removed the injuries from the withering ray.
With his dao foundation destroyed, all of his previous cultivation was gone with the wind. However, he considered this to be an acceptable result. He didn’t become depressed at all.
It wasn’t a big deal to him. All of this could be rebuilt again without difficulty. He had already achieved his goal for the ambush. At the very least, he was able to steal six wills to light up his second law.
More importantly, World Emperor escaped because of the Heavenly Tribulation. These emperors from the three races shouldn’t bother him for a while.
At the same time, the threat of the Ancient Ming ascending should be pressuring them as well. The question was whether to focus on destroying the Dark Crow, their lifelong enemy, or the Ancient Ming shrouded in darkness first? They required time to deliberate regardless of the final decision.
Thus, the next period of time was peaceful for Li Qiye after taking the first successful step in the tenth world!