God Emperor

“Pluto Ice Thread Rain.”

The Power of Pluto Ice that Mu Lingxi had struck out turned into thousands of strands. Like rain falling from the sky, they tied up the saint projection, making its body stiff and its movements slow.

Whoosh!

A slender hand held the phoenix feathers and dragged out a long trail of cold light. She swept it across and cut the projection’s waist.

After accepting the invitation from the old man, Mu Lingxi immediately spread her wings and flew out of the platform to meet with Zhang Ruochen.

“See?” she said a bit proudly, lifting her snowy chin. “A mere saint projection isn’t my match.”

Zhang Ruochen nodded and smiled. “Indeed, not bad.”

“Where’s the Dark Fool?”

“He smashed the projection with one punch,” Zhang Ruochen said. “He went to the God-Naming Platform long ago.”

“One punch?”

Mu Lingxi was shocked.

Earlier, she’d fought with the saint projection, so she knew how strong it was. She couldn’t even imagine defeating it with one punch.

“How can there be so many shocking figures in Heaven World?” Mu Lingxi felt unconfident.

Zhang Ruochen chuckled. “If Heaven World didn’t have so many shocking figures, it probably would have been defeated by Hell World long ago. Plus, you’re already great. You don’t have to compare yourself to them. If you have to, I’ll do it for you.”

Mu Lingxi’s eyes twitched. “Oh, you’re a shocking figure too. How many strikes do you intend to defeat the projection with?”

“How many do you think I should use?” Zhang Ruochen asked.

“Um… Three?”

“Okay, three it is.”

Zhang Ruochen flashed and disappeared from the spot. He reappeared on the platform that Mu Lingxi had fought the projection on.

With his hands behind his back and a smile, he looked around. All of the cultivators that had been preparing to enter the platform were stunned.

“What’s going on? How did that human scholar get onto the platform?”

“Does he know an invisibility spell?”

“No, it might be spatial power. There must be a cultivator amongst us who’s skilled in the spatial way and can instantly send beings onto the platform.”

Zhang Ruochen gazed up and looked at the old man hovering in the air. “Should I challenge a saint projection?”

“You are at the pinnacle of the first step Saint King Realm. Your projection will be in the same realm.”

The old man flipped open his scroll and tapped his finger on a page. Then a speck of light flew out of the paper and landed on the platform.

Whoosh!

The speck of light transformed into a general at the pinnacle of the first step Saint King Realm. He held a spear and looked very powerful.

“Pinnacle of the first step?” Zhang Ruochen was a bit disappointed.

He’d thought that he had reached the second step already.

The old man was very advanced and probably wouldn’t misjudge.

I must continue working hard. Zhang Ruochen sighed inwardly.

The projection was made out of Holy Qi and Rules of Saintly Way. His spear was like a sharp dragon. It transformed into a beam of light and stabbed straight at Zhang Ruochen’s forehead.

“Even though it’s a projection, it’s still very strong. It’s like a second step Saint King.” Zhang Ruochen was surprised.

What was shocking was that the old man had just flipped through the saint spirit scroll and could create such a strong projection. This was even more powerful than turning beans into soldiers.

Holding that scroll was like holding countless Saint Kings. One could easily destroy an ancient sect.

He couldn’t think about it too closely. If he did, it was enough to give him goosebumps.

With step techniques, Zhang Ruochen let the projection take two hits.

When it was about to attack a third time, Zhang Ruochen took a step beforehand and condensed the Sword Way Xuangang. He pointed his sword forward and stabbed through the projection’s skull, winning easily.

After receiving the invitation, Zhang Ruochen put his hands together and bowed to the old man. Then he flew down the podium and landed beside Mu Lingxi.

Mu Lingxi bit her lips, asking, “You could defeat him in one move. Why did you have to use three?”

“Because you told me to use three.” Zhang Ruochen smiled.

She knew that Zhang Ruochen said this on purpose, but Mu Lingxi still felt warm inside. Shyness appeared on her face. Thankfully, she had a veil on and it covered her blush. “Oh, you. You’re getting better at capturing a girl’s heart.”

“Let’s go. We should hurry to the God-Naming Platform too. I heard there are many treasures there. We’ll get more if we go earlier.”

Zhang Ruochen and Mu Lingxi charged through the gates. It was like going through a curtain of water. An ancient aura immediately hit their faces. It felt like crossing over the river of time, going from the present to the past.

There was a majestic divine mountain hovering before their eyes. It was pyramid-shaped. Compared to this, God-Gazing Mountain looked like it was just a small hill.

Some parts of the mountain had bloody light shooting into the sky and some parts were pitch black. Some places bathed under sunlight and were filled life; other places were dead like hell.

This was the God-Naming Platform.

There were four paths before them, leading to four directions on the mountain.

Zhang Ruochen and Mu Lingxi chose a path and walked forward quickly. They walked through mist. It was white all around them. They couldn’t see anything other than the stone bridge underfoot.

Gradually, the mist scattered and countless ancient trees appeared before them. They had black bark and green leaves. The trunks were thick enough that you needed a dozen people holding hands to wrap around it. The leaves shone with green light.

Mu Lingxi’s eyes sparkled. “These ancient trees have probably grown for tens of thousands of years. They’re treasures for refining weapons. The leaves may be useful for pills too.”

“They’re definitely extremely great trees for those under the Saint Realm,” Zhang Ruochen said. “But they’re not valuable to us. Look, they’re all over and no one cares about them.”

Mu Lingxi took a few more steps forward and the line of sight grew clearer. As expected, these trees spewing Holy Qi grew everywhere on the mountain. Those that she’d seen before seemed so common.

Other people’s voices sounded before them.

Zhang Ruochen and Mu Lingxi hurried over. Gradually, a mass of majestic yet dilapidated buildings appeared before their eyes.

A hundred-foot-tall green stone door stood under a tree. There was a golden sign above the gate with three words: Outer South Yard.

Behind the stone door, there was a broken wall that he couldn’t see the end of.

The broken wall, ground covered in broken tiles, rusted tripods, collapsed pavilions… Even though it was a pile of rubble, it still shone with a saintly glow.

The broken wall was made out of spiritual jade.

The tiles were made from saint clay.

The rusted tripod was the remnant of an ancient saint weapon. However, the weapon spirit had died and the spirituality leaked out, so it turned into scrap metal.

…

Nothing here looked ordinary.

One could imagine that, at its peak, this place must have been a cultivation paradise with many strong cultivators living here.

Mu Lingxi lowered her delicate frame and dragged her finger through the dirt. Purple specks of light emerged in the dirt. Her eyes instantly became pleasantly surprised. “The soil actually contains faint divinity. This must be where a god used to live.”

“I’m afraid it’s not that simple,” Zhang Ruochen mused.

When they continued, they finally met other people.

These people were gathered around a saint pool. There were at least 20 people—all strong figures with invitations. They were top figures from their worlds.

The pool was around 170 meters long.

There was a white saint tree in the center of the pool. Its bark, branches and leaves were all milky white as if carved out of jade.

The tree had more than 40 saint fruits. Each fruit was like a moon, shining with ivory light. The fragrance from the fruits filled the air within hundreds of feet. Taking a breath could make you feel refreshed.

Zhang Ruochen’s face had a pleasantly surprised expression. “Heartmoon Saint Fruit.”

“No way! The fruit on this tree really is the legendary Heartmoon Saint Fruit?” Mu Lingxi widened her eyes. Her lashes all stood up straight.

The cultivators around the pool heard Zhang Ruochen’s surprised cry and turned around to look at him.

Amongst them, a short and thin man with eight spidery arms walked toward Zhang Ruochen. Chuckling, he said, “Brother, you have great eyes. You recognized the Heartmoon Saint Fruit at once.”

He glanced at Mu Lingxi and shock flashed past his eyes.

But he quickly looked away and his eyes grew composed. He was clearly a very steady person and wasn’t easily tempted by beauty.

“I heard that the Heartmoon Saint Tree is very rare,” Mu Lingxi said. “It’s only planted where a Supreme Saint cultivates. It absorbs the Supreme Saint’s exhales to grow normally and bear fruit.

“If you eat a Heartmoon Saint Fruit, a Saint can immediately raise to the next level or even help a Saint King.

“How can one tree have more than 40 of these extremely precious fruits?”

The eight-armed spider king chuckled. “It’s not only around 40 fruits. Earlier, it had a total of 138 fruits, but most of them were picked away by the monstrously strong people.”

“It could produce 138 fruits?” Zhang Ruochen was shocked too.

After all, the ancient records stated that one Heartmoon Saint Tree could only produce one fruit.

The eight-armed spider king said, “The God-Naming Platform isn’t an ordinary place. It’s not just the Heartmoon Saint Fruit. Even the more precious Ghost King Fruit can have a dozen on one tree.”

“The God-Naming Platform has a Ghost King Fruit Tree?” Zhang Ruochen was extremely shaken.

When the eight-armed spider king first arrived at the God-Naming Platform, he’d been even more shocked than Zhang Ruochen. But after seeing a dozen of the legendary saint fruit trees in a row, he’d gradually calmed down.

In the distance, a young girl with snowy-white skin glanced at Zhang Ruochen and scoffed. “Only the powerful figures can pick the Heartmoon Saint Fruits and Ghost King Fruits. Those who aren’t enough can only watch.”

“Is it really hard to pick?”

Zhang Ruochen walked toward the saint pool. Staring at the white tree, he inhaled the fragrance emanating from the fruits and instantly, his limbs felt refreshed.

The young girl could tell that Zhang Ruochen and Mu Lingxi had just entered the God-Naming Platform. They evidently hadn’t been invited by the Truth Godly Palace and had entered through the qualification test.

Thus, she kind of looked down on Zhang Ruochen. “So many of us here have failed, so you ask if it is hard or not? I advise against trying, or else you might fall into the pool and turn into an ice statue from the Yin Pluto Ice.”