Alchemy Emperor of the Divine Dao

The Karmic Life Heavenly Venerable felt very rueful.

In the past, he had chosen to fuse with Heavenly Dao, sealing off the Two Realm Passageway. He had never anticipated that there would come a day when he could be revived.

He accepted the Black Tower, and touched it lightly. He had many, many words, but ultimately, all this culminated into a sigh.

"Thank you for your efforts." He nodded at Ling Han and the large black dog.

"Master, let's return," Ling Han said.

They had already been outside for quite a few millennia, and in this period, Hysteria's troops had also charged a few dozen times. Thankfully, they had hidden themselves inside the Celestial Guest Residence, and the target of Hysteria's troops was the barrier. On their way there, they would not carefully survey their surroundings, so no fight took place.

Though Ling Han had a lot of confidence in the Empress and the Rain Emperor, he still wanted to return quickly.

"All right." The Karmic Life Heavenly Venerable nodded.

The two men and one dog returned to the barrier. All this while, the Karmic Life Heavenly Venerable was trying to adapt to this new body.

"Heavenly Venerate, will this affect your progress in future?" the large black dog asked.

Though Heavenborn's body was as tough as Divine Metal, and who knew how many people there were that yearned desperately for such a body, it did not mean that the stronger the body, the more suitable it would be for cultivation. Instead, the first consideration would be if the body had any affinity with the soul inside.

If there was no affinity, then even if he had Xin Qihu's body, he would not be able to become a Heavenly Venerate.

The Karmic Life Heavenly Venerable nodded. "This body was nurtured by the heaven and earth, so it is completely suited to my soul. Moreover, I have also probed into quite a number of secrets of the heaven and earth through it. In fact, I can skip over that unique power of this dimension, and advance to become a First Tier Heavenly Venerate with one of the fundamental powers."

It was like Ling Han then.

It could not be helped. Being born and nurtured from the heaven and earth meant that it really could be so amazing. When Heavenborn had been in the World's Paramount Martial Academy, he had already been extremely powerful. Now that it was the soul of the Karmic Life Heavenly Venerable, he would only be even stronger than that.

The large black dog howled. Now, he had two powerful backers, so it would only be him bullying others, and never the other way round.

They returned to the barrier. Strictly speaking, Heavenborn had not died at all. The soul of the Karmic Life Heavenly Venerable had been residing all this while in this body. Hence, there naturally was no change to his identity at all.

They successfully passed through the city wall, and then Ling Han excused himself first, heading off to see the Empress.

They had not seen each other for several thousand years, and the Empress had completely stabilized her cultivation level of the Ninth Heaven. Furthermore, she had progressed even further through fighting in the repeated invasions, and was presently advancing steadily towards the middle stage of the Ninth Heaven.

When she saw Ling Han had returned, the Empress was naturally overjoyed as she kissed and embraced him.

When their conversation came to how the Karmic Life Heavenly Venerable had come back to life, the Empress was also happy for Ling Han. Though she was very proud, the other party was her husband's master, after all. Furthermore, he had saved Ling Han's life twice, so she was very grateful to him.

After the two of them were done reminiscing, Ling Han took the Empress to meet the Karmic Life Heavenly Venerable.

As they walked on the streets, they saw the people around them pointing at him, and whispering among themselves.

"Is there something on my face?" Ling Han asked the Empress with a grin.

The Empress shook her head. "Though you were still high in the number one spot of the recent leaderboard in these few thousand years, there is no change to your battle merits at all. Thus, it is natural that countless people would start to doubt your strength."

'So that's how it is.'

Ling Han couldn't help but laugh. This really was "the more popular one was, the more they would be gossipped about." He did not believe that there was no one that was not in the same situation as he was, but it was only he that would be faulted, and it was precisely because he held the top spot in the recent leaderboard which had drawn so much critique.

However, Ling Han was not concerned at all. Esteem and prestige could only be obtained through genuine battle. What was the use of mere words?

After meeting the Karmic Life Heavenly Venerable, life naturally returned to the usual pattern.

Cultivation.

Whether it was Ling Han, the Empress, or the Karmic Life Heavenly Venerable, the path of cultivation that was laid out before them was still long and far ahead.

For the Karmic Life Heavenly Venerable, his path was not smooth sailing, either. Because this was the Flaming Frost Realm, he had to sense that unique power of this heaven and earth again, and though he said that it was possible that he could grasp one of the fundamental powers in advance, he only meant that there might be some chance. Whether it would succeed or fail would have to be seen when the time came.

All of them were working hard on cultivation, but several years later, the troops of Hysteria attacked again.

This time, there were no small-scale probing battles. From the very beginning, it was a force that was able to topple mountains and overturn seas. They fought for a whole 17 days before they finally managed to block this wave of attack. The elites of the city began to counterattack, hunting down those wandering soldiers.

Then, ground-breaking news came out, shocking everyone.

After so many years, the barrier had also accumulated enough resources to concoct three Seven Deaths Seven Explosions Pills.

For Ninth Heaven Celestial Kings or Pseudo-Heavenly Venerates, this was extraordinarily significant. That was because while the troops of Hysteria would bring massive destruction, it was only Pseudo-Heavenly Venerates and Ninth Heaven Celestial Kings that would be dispatched, after all. Even after death, they could be used for alchemy.

After countless years of accumulation, there were enough raw ingredients, and there were finally results from alchemy.

Because of the difference of heaven and earth, it was also very difficult to refine the troops of Hysteria, especially when these creatures also contained extremely chaotic traits. It was very easy for the cauldron to explode. Hence, usually, it would take trillions and trillions of years to successfully produce a single cauldron of alchemical pills.

For cultivators, the Seven Deaths Seven Explosions Pill had very great benefits. At the same time, its side effects were also strong because the chaotic traits would not be so easily erased. Ingesting this pill could very easily cause one to lose his mind.

It was said that only as long as one survived seven waves of killing intent and the danger of becoming extremely violent in character would he then be able to digest the benefits contained inside this alchemical pill.

This was a good opportunity that would allow one to ascend the heavens in a single step. Though there was no way it could help one to break through the barrier to the Pseudo-Heavenly Venerable Tier or Heavenly Venerable Tier, it would greatly cut down on time spent on cultivation.

But there were only three Seven Deaths Seven Explosions Pills, so whom should they be given to?

If it was to be bestowed on a particular person, who would be satisfied with that? Furthermore, in terms of connections, there were a great many people here that were the descendants of Third Tier, Fourth Tier, or even Fifth Tier and Sixth Tier Heavenly Venerates. None of them could be easily offended.

Naturally, no one wanted to bear the blame for this, so they came up with a different way to resolve this issue.

Battle.

Power was what earned respect. This was the real iron rule that would never change in the world of cultivation. Elites possessed everything, and that was the case throughout the ages.

Hence, the owners of these three Seven Deaths Seven Explosions Pills would also be decided with a tournament. However, if one wanted to join the competition, he had to be in the top 100 of the recent leaderboard. Additionally, there would also be another 28 special spots. After round after round of elimination, three winners would emerge in the end.

The first round was to eliminate 99% of the people here. It was as difficult as ascending the heavens to make it into the recent leaderboard, what more when you had to squeeze your way into the top 100? All of them were elites among elites. Furthermore, while they could slowly grind their way into the general leaderboard with enough time, it could not be done for the recent leaderboard. The recent leaderboard would only include the battle merits achieved in the last 1,000,000 years.

Those who were ranked in the top 100 naturally had no need to worry. They only had to prepare for their upcoming battles. As for the others, they had their eyes set on the additional 28 spots, and all of them started moving. Not too long later, these spots had all "found their owners."

Ling Han was number one on the recent leaderboard. At least, there was nothing else he had to do for 1,000,000 years, and he could still maintain his spot as the top in the recent leaderboard. But because there was not the slightest improvement in his battle merits, this garnered public critique from the masses.

Everyone was fighting furiously, but he would be able to just laze his way into the qualifications stage. Who would be convinced by this?

There were also many people that were throwing up a ruckus, demanding that Ling Han should be disqualified. Their demands would naturally be disregarded, but this also showed that Ling Han was indeed not very popular.

Ling Han couldn't help but ask himself why, but he could not come up with a reason. It all came down to one thing: anyone who would not be envied by others could only be mediocre.

The Empress, the Rain Emperor, the large black dog, and the Karmic Life Heavenly Venerable had all missed this opportunity. Ling Han was filled with confidence. He would definitely be able to obtain a Seven Deaths Seven Explosions Pill. However, the fact that they would not all be given as a reward to the overall champion couldn't help but make him feel that it was unfortunate.