Suddenly, paeans of praise resounded. Xiao Chen’s expression turned solemn and dignified. As he continuously burned his Magic Energy, he stored up power and built up Divine Might.

As the spatial wave reached Xiao Chen, he finally succeeded in condensing Divine Might. The Deity Statue enlarged by a thousand times, radiating a bright light and Divine Might.

The Deity Statue smashed down with its palm. “Bang!” It stopped the layered spatial waves. As the waves churned, spatial storms spread out into the surroundings.

The Deity Statue behind Xiao Chen slowly cracked and shattered, eventually turning into nothing. His body swayed all of a sudden, due to a dizzy spell.

Xiao Chen’s counter knocked back the Jiang Clan First Elder, who spat out a mouthful of blood and seemed to have visibly aged in an instant.

“Roar!”

Right after the wave passed, the Lin Clan First Elder used the Ten Thousand Beast Cauldron to summon out one hundred ancient mutated beast images. They instantly charged over to Xiao Chen and buried him among their numbers.

A look of disdain flashed on the Lin Clan First Elder’s face. He raised the Ten Thousand Beast Cauldron, intending to control the hundred ancient mutated beasts to bite Xiao Chen to bits alive.

These hundred ancient mutated beast images were unlike what the Lin Clan scion summoned out with the replica; they were on a different level, utterly incomparable.

These beast images already had simple spirituality and were extremely ferocious. Their bodies were infinitely close to that of the original ancient mutated beasts.

With one hundred ancient mutated beasts, there was a high probability of injuring a quasi-Emperor.

However, this was coincidentally not something Xiao Chen feared.

With a flip of his hand, the Holy Beast Medallion appeared in Xiao Chen’s palm. It shot out an azure light and instantly shocked the hundred ancient mutated beast images stiff.

Xiao Chen continued to burn his Magic Energy, wanting to suck in these hundred beast images into the Holy Beast Medallion.

However, his expression suddenly changed, and he immediately stopped. There was an even stronger aura from the Ten Thousand Beast Cauldron acting like a formless chain, locking down these hundred beast images.

The suction of the Holy Beast Medallion could not tear these chains apart. Despite the distraction from it, the hundred ancient mutated beast images started to struggle.

These beast images wanted to struggle free of the Holy Beast Medallion’s might.

Xiao Chen withdrew decisively. As a wind howled, he took the opportunity to escape the encirclement of the hundred ancient mutated beast images.

The Lin Clan First Elder’s eyes widened in shock, staring incredulously at Xiao Chen stunning the beast images into stillness before easily breaking out of the encirclement.

“Damn it!”

The Lin Clan First Elder wanted to control these mutated beast images into attacking. However, he could not do anything. Just summoning these hundred mutated beasts had already taken quite a toll on his body. If he wanted to continue controlling them, he had to rest for a while first. Otherwise, his body would not be able to cope with the cauldron’s demands.

Xiao Chen’s figure paused in the air. Then he glanced at the three significantly injured people. This was a great chance.

He could kill the three and take this opportunity to snatch away three Emperor Grade Secret Treasures.

In an instant, Xiao Chen rejected this thought. His body was not in that good a condition right now. When he took the risk earlier, letting the might of three Emperor Grade Secret Treasures press on him directly, he had suffered significant injuries. However, he just temporarily suppressed them.

The three First Elders of the Sovereign Noble Clans sat cross-legged on the ground, quickly recovering from the injuries they received from activating the Emperor Grade Secret Treasures.

The expressions of the three were extremely unsightly. This time, they had made a great joke of themselves.

The three brought three Emperor Grade Secret Treasures to kill Xiao Chen. However, not only had they failed to do so, but all three scions that came with them had also died at Xiao Chen’s hands, instead.

Having the scions die was not a big problem. The Sovereign Noble Clans had many branches with countless outstanding talents. Under the intense competition, there was never a lack of inheritors.

While it was rare for their disciples to die when they went out on experiential training, it still happened.

The most important thing here was face, the face of the Sovereign Noble Clans. This time, they lost their faces before the entire world.

---

In the distant heavens, Ying Zongtian stood beside the Sword Sovereign, Liu Xiaoyun. He peered through space and saw everything that happened.

Liu Xiaoyun hugged a sword as he smiled. “This fellow is ruthless enough. I wonder if the old fogeys of the Yan Clan, Jiang Clan, and Lin Clan can hold themselves back?”

Smiling, Ying Zongtian commented, “It looks like a few more troubles await me during my Sovereign Tribulation.”

“Why do you not look worried at all? The old fogeys of those three clans are not weak,” Liu Xiaoyun asked, still smiling.

“With me, Wu Xiaotian here, is there a need to be afraid?”

Space tore opened, and the Saber Sovereign, Wu Xiaotian, came out wearing tight robes and holding a treasured saber.

“Weng!”

The moment Wu Xiaotian appeared, Liu Xiaoyun’s sword started trembling uncontrollably. Its overwhelming sword intent built up, waiting to be unleashed.

“The Space Sword’s temper is still the same as before?” Wu Xiaotian smiled gently.

Forged by Situ Leihong, the Space Sword ranked fifth in the Divine Weapon Ranking.

Liu Xiaoyun suppressed the sword intent of the Space Sword and smiled coldly. “Your Time Saber has not changed, either. It is still the same as before, like it is dead.”

The Time Saber was also in the Divine Weapon Ranking and ranked fifth as well.

For the sake of his Sovereign Tribulation, Ying Zongtian actually sought the Profound Domain’s Saber Sword Two Sovereigns. No wonder he was so confident that he would clear the tribulation.

“Let’s go. If you want a fight, wait until it is time for my tribulation. You will have a chance to fight then.”

Clearly, Ying Zongtian already anticipated such a situation. He was smiling, not surprised at all.

Although the two did not like each other, they could put aside their personal feelings. They both snorted coldly and ignored each other.

------

At a desolate mountain range, Xiao Chen sat cross-legged with his eyes closed, circulating his energy.

By this point, his fight with the three Sovereign Noble Clans had already lasted half a month.

During this time, the other party continuously chased after Xiao Chen. He fought as he traveled, getting closer to the Central Province.

In the meantime, several other factions had joined in the fight.

As Xiao Chen trod the line between life and death in the past half month, fighting different enemies, his comprehension in the martial way continued to deepen.

After shaking off some of his pursuers, he had less than ten days to the King conferral ceremony. He finally made his decision.

He would tear the paper on the window, step across, and break through the bottleneck of peak Superior Grade Martial Sage, becoming a great grandmaster-level Martial Sage.

[TL Note: Windows in ancient China were made with a wooden frame, normally with ornate patterns, and the blank parts were covered with paper.]

Opening his eyes, Xiao Chen extended his hand and took out ten Peak Spirit Veins.

Xiao Chen intended to break through his bottleneck and then consume the ten Peak Spirit Veins in one go, stepping directly into the great grandmaster-level Martial Sage realm.

What kind of plan was this? Xiao Chen exhausted one Peak Spirit Vein only after cultivating for one year to bring himself to peak Superior Grade Martial Sage.

Such a horrifying speed was already astonishing.

However, Xiao Chen wanted to consume ten Peak Spirit Veins in one go today, so that he could step directly into the realm of a great grandmaster-level Martial Sage.

There were two kinds of King conferrals. One was when one became a Sovereign Martial Emperor; they could then confer themselves a King and get their own King title.

If the King title one wanted already had an owner, one would have to challenge and defeat the owner before one could obtain it.

Just like the Thunder Emperor. When he became a Sovereign Martial Monarch, for the sake of obtaining the Thunder Sovereign title, he immediately challenged the holder of the Thunder Sovereign title, the Palace Master of the Thunder and Lightning Palace.

However, the results were rather tragic. The Thunder Sovereign was of the same generation as the Azure Emperor and was puissant. As for the Thunder Emperor Sang Mu, he died under mysterious circumstances.

The other method was the King conferral ceremony that the Martial God Palace was about to hold. The titles were given based on the military merits with the Martial God Palace.

Below King, there were still Marquis, Count, and Duke.

Compared to the former, the latter ranks held less weight. However, their augustness and dignity were not one bit lower; some even surpassed that of the former.

When one gained one million military merits, one could be conferred King. However, accumulating one million military merits was not easy to achieve.

Military merits could be used in the Martial God Palace to exchange for all sorts of rare and precious Spirit Cores, Medicinal Pills, Martial Techniques, or Cultivation Techniques. Regular cultivators had difficulty accumulating them without using any.

Furthermore, military merits were not easy to obtain. For the past millennium, no more than twenty people had received a Kingship from the Martial God Palace.

Of these, no more than ten became King before the age of one hundred and none under the age of fifty.

Now, the White Emperor City’s Young City Lord, Xia Houjue, was only thirty-five years old and already accumulated one million military merits. He would be inheriting his ancestor’s King title, becoming the White Tiger King.

One could easily imagine what a glorious achievement this was.

The three Vice Palace Masters of the Martial God Palace worked together to send out invitations to the entire world, holding the King conferral ceremony in the Central Province’s Tianwu City.

The three Vice Palace Masters were all Sovereign Martial Emperors, the Holy Masters of the Three Holy Lands: the Phoenix’s Passion Palace, the White Emperor City, and the Divine Martial Gate.

It had been many years since the three Holy Masters worked together to disseminate news.

This time, they cooperated to send out invitations—which showed how much importance they placed on this matter.

Given the three Holy Masters’ might in the Tianwu Domain, all the sect masters or cultivators of repute who received the invitation would show up.

Invitations might even be traded.

Outside of the Tianwu Domain, the name of the Three Holy Lands was not as influential. In the eyes of people from other domains, the strongest among the humans was definitely the Thunder Sovereign.

The cultivators of the other domains took time to attend this King conferral ceremony mostly because of an extremely short and simple sentence at the bottom of the invitation.

With one glance, ninety-nine percent of the people would not notice this sentence.

Xiao Chen, one million military merits, conferring King on the same day.

With only ten days to the King conferral ceremony, the cultivators from the various places that received an invitation had to start moving no matter how close they were.

---

Tianwu Domain, Supreme Sky Sect:

When Shui Lingling looked at the invitation, she revealed a playful smile.

The invitation introduced Xia Houjue’s accomplishments in detail, speaking of all the glorious things he achieved since his debut. There were several hundred words about it.

Furthermore, Xia Houjue’s name was clearly written in gold, making it stand out.

The back of the invitation was equally exquisite, featuring a painting of Xia Houjue riding the White Tiger Holy Beast standing at the summit of a tall mountain. He looked into the distance, and the cape he wore fluttered in the wind.

As for the information of Xiao Chen being conferred King, it was at the bottom.

There were only a few simple words written in the same color as the invitation letter in a corner where they would be easily missed.

If one did not look carefully, one would not discover that there was such a line.

In actual fact, this was the case. Due to the Martial God Palace’s aggressive advertising, the many ordinary cultivators of the Tianwu Domain forgot about Xiao Chen being conferred King. They only knew that Xia Houjue was being conferred King.

Shui Lingling closed the invitation letter and asked First Elder Han Qinghe who was at the side, “Martial Uncle Han, how is Junior Brother Xiao Chen recently?”

Han Qinghe muttered, “It’s been bad news recently. After he barged through Strange Fire City, three of the Sovereign Noble Clans brought their Emperor Grade Secret Treasures to block him. Originally, it was already a dead end for Xiao Chen. However, I don’t know how, but he managed to charge past them and even killed the scions of these three Sovereign Noble Clans.

“All the same, Xiao Chen was significantly injured as well. The three Sovereign Noble Clans have been pursuing him over the past few days, but he is lying low now, and there have been no traces of his movements.”

Shui Lingling revealed worry on her gentle face. She wondered how Xiao Chen had managed to go so far on this path.

There were still ten days to the King conferral ceremony. If Xiao Chen fell on this path, then all his efforts would go to waste.

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