Jiu You knew that the entire Ancient Heavenly Palace was protected by a terrifying grand array, so if one wanted to enter, the only way was through the Ascending Dragon Gate.
However, the others did not know this. Under the temptation of the Ancient Heavenly Palace, there were naturally people who forgot the danger and flew about recklessly. The consequence was that they accidentally intruded into the grand array and were instantly burned to ashes by the terrifying power of the formation.
This scene happened right before the eyes of Jiu You and the others, frightening everyone badly.
"So terrifying..." Lin Jing exclaimed, her face still carrying lingering fear.
Ling Xi looked at the light that had just flashed and said with a solemn expression, "This is a Spiritual Array..."
It was just that the level of this array was impossible to determine. At the very least, none of them had the ability to forcefully break through it. If they accidentally touched it, their fate would probably not be much better than that person's.
"What should we do?" Xuan Ming Sovereign asked with a pale face. At this moment, he had already lost the confidence he had earlier.
"Find the entrance." Jiu You calmly uttered three words.
Afterward, the group became even more cautious in their movements. Their flying altitude dropped to the lowest possible level as they slowly searched for the entrance to the grand array.
Of course, there were still countless people speeding through the skies. Quite a few even flew directly over the heads of Jiu You and the others. Upon seeing these cautious fellows below, they even sneered disdainfully in their hearts.
But in the next moment, miserable screams quickly rang out. In the end, those people exploded into countless specks of light and vanished, causing countless cries of terror to erupt.
Finally, after an hour, Jiu You and the others discovered a stone gate atop a mountain peak.
Countless profound runes were engraved upon the ancient stone gate, and above it, three ancient words appeared faintly.
"Ascending Dragon Gate..."
It seemed that this was the entrance to the Ancient Heavenly Palace.
Soon, more and more people arrived there, all fixing their attention on the stone gate. Yet not a single person dared to step forward rashly.
Clearly, they had already learned their lesson from acting recklessly, so each of them had become much more cautious now.
In less than ten minutes, densely packed figures had already appeared throughout the region, both in the skies and on the ground.
Mu Chen swept his gaze across the surroundings, and his eyes narrowed slightly, because among these figures he sensed several astonishing Spiritual Energy fluctuations. Those fluctuations were no weaker than Xia Hong's, perhaps even stronger.
This place could truly be considered a gathering of geniuses.
However, he did not speak, merely following silently behind Ling Xi and Jiu You.
Although nothing had been explicitly stated, from the journey earlier, their group had already vaguely come to let the two women, Jiu You and Ling Xi, make the decisions together.
As for Xuan Ming Sovereign, who had previously boasted about taking care of these juniors, he was now too embarrassed to speak again. Still, judging from the old man's expression, it was obvious he was dissatisfied with two little girls acting as the leaders. Most likely, once they entered the Ancient Heavenly Palace, he would choose to part ways.
In truth, this was also what most people were thinking.
After all, they had risked their lives entering the Ancient Heavenly Palace in order to search for treasures. If they all stayed together, then how would they divide the treasures once they found them?
If they were truly allies, it would be one thing, but their group clearly was not like that. At the very least, the six people from the three major forces could not possibly remain united, while Jiu You, who possessed the Elder Token and a large amount of internal information, would definitely not want others taking advantage of her.
As for Mu Chen, his main purpose in coming here was to search for the Immortal Golden Body, so naturally he would not travel with the others either.
As the number of people continued increasing, the surroundings became noisy as well.
Many people knew nothing about this so called "Ascending Dragon Gate," but they could roughly guess that this was the only way to enter the Ancient Heavenly Palace.
"Miss Jiu You, do you happen to know anything about this Ascending Dragon Gate?" After waiting for a while longer and seeing that no one stepped forward, Mu Chen became somewhat anxious and could not help but ask Jiu You.
From her earlier behavior, it was obvious that Jiu You knew something about the Ancient Heavenly Palace, which was why he asked.
Jiu You did not intend to hide anything.
"In ancient times, all disciples who joined the Ancient Heavenly Palace would enter through this Ascending Dragon Gate. This gate would evaluate their strength and potential, then grant them the corresponding status. Some outstanding individuals could rise to greatness in a single step through this gate, which is why it was called the Ascending Dragon Gate."
Everyone suddenly understood after hearing this.
"Then should we try challenging the Ascending Dragon Gate now?" Lin Jing appeared rather excited. Clearly, she wanted to know what sort of evaluation she would receive from the Ascending Dragon Gate.
Jiu You glanced around. More people were still arriving, but there was no need for them to wait for others. The sooner they passed the test, the sooner they could enter. She had no interest in acting like in the original story, waiting until everyone else had finished before making her entrance. Aside from helping some guy pad out word count, it had no practical use whatsoever.
"I'll go first."
The first to speak was still Zong Qingfeng.
Jiu You nodded.
The moment Zong Qingfeng made his move, everyone nearby immediately focused their attention on him.
No one spoke. Every single person was waiting for the result of Zong Qingfeng's challenge.
When Zong Qingfeng flew to the front of the Ascending Dragon Gate, light suddenly swept out from the gate. The radiance passed over him, and his figure disappeared into the Ascending Dragon Gate.
Everyone stared at the place where Zong Qingfeng had vanished, anxiously waiting.
The heaven and earth remained silent as everyone gazed at the Ascending Dragon Gate. After swallowing Zong Qingfeng, the ancient stone gate once again became motionless.
However, this silence did not last long.
Buzz buzz!
A faint trembling sound suddenly emerged from the ancient gate. Then, brilliant light flowed across the stone gate as mysterious runes continuously rolled and shifted.
Creak!
The tightly shut stone gate slowly opened by a crack.
A beam of light burst forth, and within that radiance, a somewhat disheveled figure flashed out. It was precisely Zong Qingfeng, who had entered the Ascending Dragon Gate earlier.
After Zong Qingfeng appeared, a ray of light swiftly condensed before him, eventually transforming into an ancient token.
Roar!
Radiance surged as a dazzling pillar of light suddenly shot into the sky from the token. Around that pillar coiled a giant dragon that raised its head and roared, dragon cries echoing across the heaven and earth.
This scene immediately caused the pupils of quite a few people familiar with the Ancient Heavenly Palace disciple rankings to shrink.
"How is this possible? That man is only an Eighth Grade Sovereign. How could he become a Dragon Token disciple?!"
Even Jiu You's face showed astonishment. In her expectations, the three Beast Slaves including Zong Qingfeng would most likely become Flood Dragon disciples. Anything beyond that would depend on whether they could exceed their limits.
Clearly, Zong Qingfeng had indeed achieved that.
"White Dragon Token. Although it is the lowest level among Dragon Token disciples, it still surpasses more than ninety nine percent of people. Very impressive!" Looking at the returning Zong Qingfeng, Jiu You could not help but nod in praise.
Unfortunately, Zong Qingfeng himself seemed somewhat dissatisfied.
Even after desperately unleashing the Kunpeng Clan's innate divine ability at the end, he still could not pass the Azure Dragon Token trial. It seemed he was still not strong enough!
Seeing his expression, Jiu You and the others could guess what he was thinking. Aside from speechlessness, Jiu You truly did not know what else to say.
This fellow was indeed as stubborn as ever.
Over the next period of time, Chi Hongwu, Bai Bin, Mo Ling, and the others entered the Ascending Dragon Gate one after another.
Soon, waves of roaring dragon cries rang out. Aside from Zong Qingfeng, the other three only obtained the status of Golden Flood Dragon disciples, which still caused waves of uproar.
There was no helping it. Their cultivation levels could only be considered at the bottom among the people present, yet they still received such high evaluations. Many people even began wondering whether the Ascending Dragon Gate's trial was too simple.
Such thoughts completely vanished after the trials of two experts ranked within the top twenty of the Strongest List, because the two of them had only obtained the even lower status of White Flood Dragon disciples!
"How is this possible? Liu Kui, ranked seventeenth, and Wang Tongxian, ranked sixteenth, only received White Flood Dragon Tokens. How could they be so much worse than those earlier people?!"
Those words immediately caused the expressions of the two involved parties to turn ashen.
After all, they were genuine Ninth Grade Sovereigns, yet their final evaluations were actually inferior to a Seventh Grade Sovereign. This slap to the face was simply too harsh!
The two seemed too embarrassed to continue listening to the surrounding whispers. They directly activated their tokens, and immediately the stone gate released spiritual light that enveloped them before their figures disappeared.
"They entered!"
Everyone was overjoyed upon seeing this.
Earlier, Zong Qingfeng and the others had not entered because they were waiting for Jiu You, which had caused many people to worry. But now it seemed that as long as one passed the trial and obtained an identity token, they could enter at any time.
This instantly caused many people to become eager to try.
However, the Ascending Dragon Gate could only admit a limited number of people each time, so naturally the stronger individuals would seize the earlier spots.
Next, Jiu You, Ling Xi, and Lin Jing entered together, and afterward three dragon roars echoed throughout the Heaven and Earth.
"These three women are far too incredible, aren't they? They actually all obtained Dragon Token disciple status?"
The people outside who heard the dragon cries were all stunned. Just where had these monsters come from?
Radiance flickered as two azure dragon shadows descended, signifying the identities of two Azure Dragon disciples. These two were precisely Jiu You and Ling Xi.
"Sister Ling Xi, that's wonderful!" Mu Chen clenched his fists tightly, excitement surging in his heart.
However, after evaluating his own strength, Mu Chen felt that it would be very difficult for him to obtain Dragon Token disciple status.
"Even becoming a Golden Flood Dragon disciple would be enough."
It was not that Mu Chen lacked confidence. It was simply that his current strength was far inferior to that in the original story. Having barely broken through to Seventh Grade Sovereign, even with the help of a grand array, he might not necessarily defeat Mo Ling, who possessed Phoenix bloodline, which was why he thought this way.
Just as everyone was still shocked by the sudden appearance of two Azure Dragon disciples, a golden pillar of light suddenly shot into the sky above the Ascending Dragon Gate. Outside the golden pillar coiled a golden dragon.
"It's a Golden Dragon Token!"
The soaring golden dragon directly shook the entire space. Even the other two Ascending Dragon Gates elsewhere sensed it.
This was the very first Golden Dragon disciple, and the shock it brought could easily be imagined!
"Who is it? Who exactly obtained the title of Golden Dragon disciple?"
"It must be Zhu Yan! He's ranked first on the Strongest List. Aside from him, I can't think of anyone else who could receive such an evaluation!"
"That's not necessarily true. The Skylaw Continent is full of hidden dragons and crouching tigers. Besides, there are also outside geniuses this time. Who knows whether there are people hiding their true strength."
The other two Ascending Dragon Gates were filled with whispered discussions, while the people on Jiu You's side were already dumbfounded.
"Who is that girl? Why have I never heard of her before?"
"Exactly! Anyone capable of obtaining Golden Dragon disciple status would definitely not remain unknown if they were from the Skylaw Continent!"
"Could she be an outsider?"
Jiu You and the other two women had no interest in caring about what the outsiders thought. Looking at the smiling Lin Jing, both Jiu You and Ling Xi could not help but reveal traces of envy in their eyes.
As expected of the little princess of the Martial Realm.
"Congratulations, little sister Lin Jing."
Ling Xi said with a smile.
"Hehe, thank you, Sister Ling Xi."
Just as the three women were congratulating one another, another soaring dragon roar rang out from the distant sky, followed by a golden pillar of light erupting upward.
Clearly, another Golden Dragon disciple had appeared at one of the other Ascending Dragon Gates.
This time, no one dared make random guesses anymore, because nobody knew which heavenly genius had displayed their talent this time.
Within the golden light, a graceful figure slowly emerged.
The owner of that graceful figure wore a colorful dress. She had long wavy hair that carried a trace of charm. She also possessed a slender and supple waist, along with flawless alluring curves that made it impossible for people to look away after one glance.
However, such a beautiful girl wore a thin veil over her face, concealing what should have been a breathtaking appearance. Even so, the faint outline revealed beneath the veil was still enough to stir hearts.
After obtaining the token, the girl in the colorful dress completely ignored the surrounding cries of astonishment. She directly activated the token and entered the Ancient Heavenly Palace.
If Liu Bai were here, he would definitely be able to guess the girl's identity.
Among those who possessed such perfect beauty and figure while also having such astonishing talent and strength, there was probably only one person in the entire Great Thousand World.
That was the eldest princess of the Endless Fire Territory, the daughter of the Flame Emperor, Xiao Yan!
Endless Fire Territory. Martial Realm...
The princesses of the two top super forces had almost simultaneously obtained the highest evaluation of the Ascending Dragon Gate.
Soon, more and more people gathered there. Even Su Qingyin and Qin Jingzhe, ranked second and fifth on the Strongest List, arrived.
However, after Lin Jing, no second Golden Dragon disciple appeared at this Ascending Dragon Gate. Although Mu Chen was the Child of Destiny, his cultivation was simply too weak, so it was impossible for him to obtain a Golden Dragon Token like in the original story. Instead, after exhausting all his strength, he obtained the evaluation of a White Dragon disciple, which already made him overjoyed.
There was no helping it. His expectation had only been to become a Golden Flood Dragon disciple. Now that he had become a Dragon Token disciple, it had completely exceeded his expectations, so Mu Chen was not discouraged in the slightest. Instead, his confidence greatly increased.
During this trip into the Ancient Heavenly Palace, he absolutely had to accomplish his goal!
...
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