Nine Star Hegemon Body Arts

The matters of the desolate era were not recorded by written characters. Hence, no one was clear on them because the few badly damaged murals and odd diagrams from that time were indecipherable.

So, the legends of the desolate era were simply legends. These were just stories for people to listen to, and only a few people really believed in them.

However, some matters of the desolate era were believed without a doubt because some things that couldn't be explained by the current era were related to those legends.

"Whether or not those desolate fiends really exist, no one knows. But because the Dao Dawn Domain borders the devil sea, it is affected by it, resulting in our domain having very few Divine Lord Primals. You also saw that there wasn't a Primal Divine Lord at the Nine Prefecture Convention. It's because Primals will all escape the Dao Dawn Domain before reaching the Divine Lord realm. Those who did manage to make their breakthrough in other domains usually don't bother returning," said Bai Shishi's mother.

"Then isn't this domain really a hell? Those who have ability flee, while only those with no ability stay here?" asked Long Chen.

"That's about right. Those who make breakthroughs to the Divine Lord realm can succeed, but their primal bloodline will curiously disappear," said Bai Shishi's mother.

"Is it taken by someone?" asked Long Chen.

Bai Shishi's mother was a bit startled. She then looked at Long Chen and didn't reply.

Upon seeing her reaction, Long Chen's heart skipped a beat. It felt like he had guessed correctly. Was the Dao Dawn Domain truly hiding some unspeakable secret? Was this related to why the dragon expert had sent him here?

"But I believe the High Firmament Academy must have a way to counter this, right?" asked Long Chen.

Bai Shishi's mother smiled but didn't reply. However, that faint smile was clearly his answer.

Just at this moment, countless devil beasts appeared within Bai Shishi's heavenly tribulation.

"These devil beasts are the ones that Bai Shishi has slain before. She was still weak back then and had to go all-out to kill them. Although she won, they left a shadow on her heart. During the Four Peak heavenly tribulation, those shadows grow, manifesting within the tribulation. All the fear within a person's heart is drawn out. I provoked you so that you would be prepared. What you fear and hate the most might appear in your heavenly tribulation. Also, the rainbow crane race's auspicious qi can reduce the might of the heavenly tribulation, but it cannot reduce these heart-devil manifestations. That is what worries me the most."

Long Chen instantly felt ashamed. "I'm sorry, senior. Junior was rude."

Long Chen was shocked inside. If this heavenly tribulation could manifest the world within his inner heart, wouldn't all his secrets be exposed?

"Die!"

Suddenly, a heaven-shaking roar came from within the tribulation. Long Chen and the others jumped in shock.

"Ku Wuya?!"

Ku Wuya's figure appeared within the manifestation. He was wielding his wolf tooth club, and his aura was even more frightening compared to on the martial stage.

"The more the heart fears, the stronger the enemies grow. This Ku Wuya is one of the heart-devils, and Shishi must defeat her own heart-devils in order to purify her Dao-heart," said Bai Shishi's mother. Her expression was still calm. She had clearly long since expected Ku Wuya to appear here.

Rumbling rang out. Bai Shishi's golden sword emitted dazzling light. With a single slash, a torrent of qi gushed out, bewitching the eyes.

The Ku Wuya that had been condensed by lightning only lasted a few minutes against Bai Shishi before being destroyed.

"The fact that Shishi can so easily dispatch her heart-devil is mostly thanks to you," said Bai Shishi's mother.

She referred to how Long Chen had defeated Ku Wuya. If Ku Wuya was still alive and had happily won the Martial Dao convention, then even if Bai Shishi could defeat the real Ku Wuya, this heart-devil version of him would be even stronger. Perhaps she would still be able to win, but not so easily.

After Ku Wuya was slain, millions of specks of light appeared; every light contained a flickering rune. Bai then Shishi slowly closed her eyes, as if she was meditating.

"This is now the critical moment. She must choose four peaks. According to the proper sequence, you should choose the area you are strongest in and then pick the next strongest one. Once your four peaks are chosen, the ten thousand Daos will merge, strengthening the four peaks…"Bai Shishi's mother was speaking for everyone. The Four Peak realm could be considered a turning point in a cultivator's life. They had to choose four areas to strengthen themselves.

Those specks of light each contained a rune, and those runes represented different kinds of power. There were hundreds of them just for pure power, including the qi, blood, flesh, tendons, bones, and others. But some could also increase the overall power of the body and not just individual parts. It was up to you whether you could sense them and grasp them.

Those runes all looked the same on the outside. Only those with absolute calmness could clearly sense what kind of power they contained.

The people couldn't make any mistakes here. They had to pick their strongest point with the first rune from amongst these millions of runes. There also couldn't be any mistakes with the order.

Furthermore, the heavenly tribulation only gave a person a few minutes to choose the runes. Once the heavenly tribulation dissipated, they would never have this chance to pick their four peaks again.

Within the tribulation, all one's attention would be on the tribulation. Their sense of time would grow muddled. Thus, this decision was also a mental trial.

Bai Shishi suddenly made her move. She flew up to one of the runes in the air, and startled cries rang out.

Just as Bai Shishi made contact with the rune, it vanished with a flash, disappearing amongst those millions of runes.

"Ah, how regretful. The rune dodged. It had to be a high level Heavenly Dao rune."

Amongst these Heavenly Dao runes, the same kind of attribute would appear seven times. These seven runes would all be of the same attribute, but of different quality, rank one to rank seven. Every rank represented a different future.

The first four ranks did not possess enough spirituality. Only those at rank five and above were capable of dodging. So countless people felt regretful that Bai Shishi hadn't managed to grasp that rune.

Suddenly, Bai Shishi made her move again. The void shuddered and azure light erupted.

"It's a rank five Heavenly Dao rune!"