Dongbo Xueying’s eyes gleamed brightly, a faint smile playing at the corners of his lips. “If one cannot transcend, eternal damnation after death is only fitting. I imagine most cultivators would choose to join.”
“And you?” The man clad in purple-gold armor with a black cape regarded him calmly.
“I’ll join,” Dongbo Xueying declared.
Drawbacks?
He didn’t care in the slightest. Perhaps the members of the Destruction Legion, forever confined to this desolate existence, saw it as torment. But Dongbo Xueying felt nothing of the sort. The path of cultivation was fraught with dangers. To reap benefits, one must bear corresponding risks. The risks of joining the Destruction Legion were already minimal.
“Good,” said the purple-gold armored man, turning away. “Follow me.” With that, he soared into the air, flying toward the distance.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Dongbo Xueying swiftly followed, as did the three golden-armored captains and eight black-armored soldiers. The monkey-like creature beside him chattered excitedly, “Hahaha! It’s been ages since a World God joined. Mostly, it’s just True Gods trying their luck. Hmph! As if the Destruction Legion would accept just any True God! Almost none of them pass the trials.”
“True Gods?” Dongbo Xueying asked. “Which ones? Did Bloodblade Divine Emperor or Qing Jun ever come?”
“Hmm?” The purple-gold armored man glanced back at him and replied softly, “Bloodblade Divine Emperor is a True God Sovereign, one who has reached the pinnacle of his kind. He is immensely powerful, the strongest being I know of in your current cosmic epoch. With no master leading the Destruction Legion now, what little benefits we offer hold no allure for him. Naturally, he wouldn’t join.”
Dongbo Xueying froze, his mind roiling like stormy seas.
*Your current cosmic epoch?*
“What do you mean by ‘cosmic epoch’?” Dongbo Xueying couldn’t help but ask. “Commander, what are you implying?”
The purple-gold armored man flew ahead, his tone indifferent. “In your current cosmic epoch, there exists the Divine Realm, the Material World, and the Dark Abyss, correct?”
“Yes,” Dongbo Xueying nodded quickly.
“Grass and trees wither and flourish,” the commander continued. “Stars are born and die. Even the worlds of your Material World are created and destroyed. So too must the Divine Realm, the Abyss, and the Material World have their beginnings and ends.”
“The Divine Realm, Abyss, and Material World can be collectively called a complete universe.”
“And like grass and trees, universes too must perish and be reborn,” the black-caped man said.
Dongbo Xueying felt his mind quake. Though this was the first he’d heard of it, he immediately sensed the truth in these words. He knew that Pang Yi, one of the Three Ancestors, was among the earliest beings born in the Divine Realm. Similarly, the Destruction Monarch was an ancient powerhouse from the earliest days of the Divine Realm and Abyss.
*The earliest days of the Divine Realm…*
But what existed before the Divine Realm? What world was there then?
Moreover, legends spoke of the Heartlake Island Ruins as having existed since the very birth of the Divine Realm.
“That is all in the past. Only ruins remain now,” the commander said, gazing down at the ancient stone pillars standing in the distance. He dove toward them, and Dongbo Xueying and the others followed.
—
Dongbo Xueying observed the pillars. At a glance, there were over a hundred of them, densely packed. The commander stood silently, his black cape fluttering in the wind as he stared at the pillars. After a long pause, he finally spoke. “To join our Destruction Legion holds little appeal for beings like Bloodblade Divine Emperor. Yet countless True Gods and True God Venerables have sought entry, only to be rejected. In your cosmic epoch, only one has succeeded.”
“Only one?” Dongbo Xueying was astonished. “Who?”
“Pang Yi!” the commander sighed. “And he ultimately became a captain. Truly remarkable.”
Dongbo Xueying was awed.
*Pang Yi.*
One of the Three Ancestors! The foremost of the Five Calamities of the Divine Realm, though now he kept a low profile, serving under Bloodblade Divine Court while refining his cultivation methods, hiding his edge. In fact, his most infamous moment in the Divine Realm and Abyss was being grievously wounded by a single punch from Qing Jun.
Yet he was a captain of the Destruction Legion.
But…
This commander had become a leader at the Fourth Heaven. Pang Yi was merely a captain, yet the commander called him “remarkable”?
“Kid,” the ugly golden-armored elder beside him sneered. “You don’t understand. With our masters long gone, the Destruction Legion’s resources are limited. We can’t recruit as freely as before. The trials are far harder now. Those who become soldiers today would have been captains in our time. Those who become captains now would have been commanders then!”
Dongbo Xueying understood.
“Twenty-nine True Gods from your cosmic epoch have attempted the trials. Only Pang Yi succeeded,” the commander said, glancing at him. “You are the first World God from your epoch to come here.”
“I have confidence in myself,” Dongbo Xueying said. “But there have been many dazzling World Gods in the Divine Realm’s history. Why am I the first to come here?”
The monkey grinned. “Simple. Unless a Heartlake Island guest trespasses into our territory, we don’t bother with words—we kill or expel them on sight. There’s no chance to take the trials. And the World Gods of your epoch hardly know how to become Heartlake Island guests. The True Gods haven’t told you.”
Dongbo Xueying nodded. He’d only stumbled upon the Bloodfire Gate because he’d chosen a remote cave to rescue his father-in-law. Luck had played a part!
Later, sensing something amiss with the gate, he’d gambled on returning to it while being pursued, thus uncovering its secrets. Combined with his mastery of a supreme technique and his self-created spear art, “Destruction,” he’d passed the screening to become a guest.
The secrets of ancient ruins in the Divine Realm and Abyss were likely closely guarded even among the mighty. Such knowledge was traded in secret, never freely given. Otherwise, more than just twenty-nine True Gods would have attempted the trials—after all, the Divine Realm alone had over a hundred mighty figures.
“Realm is the foundation,” the commander said softly. “For a World God, transcending is paramount. Joining the Destruction Legion might have been the greatest mistake of my life.”
“Yet many of our predecessors transcended. The fault lies with me,” the commander shook his head slightly. “No one else to blame. But remember this, young one—learn from my example. Realm is the foundation. Do not let the allure of power blind you.”
“I understand,” Dongbo Xueying nodded.
The commander sighed inwardly.
His master had repeated this lesson many times. But only after suffering would one truly grasp it. Sometimes, realization came too late. His master, once a supreme being, the master of Heartlake Island, had been powerless to save him.
“With our resources scarce, we can accept fewer members now, and the trials are harder,” the commander said, pointing at the pillars. “There are three trials to join, each potentially fatal. But I assume this is just a clone of yours? Losing one shouldn’t matter. You may abandon the trials at any time.”
“No need,” Dongbo Xueying said. If he quit now, he’d be thrown out—straight into the hands of the Nine Suns Monarch and his allies.
“For the first trial, choose any pillar,” the commander instructed.
Puzzled, Dongbo Xueying studied the pillars.
They were ancient, covered in divine runes, exuding an archaic aura. Yet he couldn’t discern any differences between them.
Still, he obediently stepped forward and randomly selected one. “This one.”
“Good,” the commander said. As he pointed, golden characters began glowing on the pillar’s surface. “This is a top-tier World God secret art, just a step below a supreme technique. You must master it to the seventh layer within ten thousand years. Succeed, and you pass the first trial. Fail, and you will be expelled from the Destruction Heaven.”
“I doubt you’ll make it,” the monkey muttered. “Most get kicked out right away. Over ninety percent fail the first trial.”
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