Heaven-Surpassing Divine Emperor

Icebound City.

Situated on the outskirts of the Profound Celestial Ice Field, it was a military fortress belonging to the Flying Snow Dynasty, an Upper Grade Dynasty from the Cang Realm in the far reaches of the Eastern Continent.

The entire city of Icebound City was constructed on an incredibly grand scale. Its walls were a thousand meters high and stretched for hundreds of thousands of miles.

It was a veritable defensive bulwark stretched across the dynasty’s border, the Flying Snow Dynasty’s first line of defense against the powerful experts of the Icefield Race from within the Profound Celestial Ice Field!

The Profound Celestial Ice Field was perpetually blanketed in ice and snow, a frozen world where all was still and desolate.

Resources were extremely scarce.

And so...

Every winter, the Icefield Race from the Profound Celestial Ice Field would organize groups of their experts to raid the Flying Snow Dynasty for supplies.

Small-scale battles were quite common.

During times of extreme cold, large-scale wars would even break out.

Furthermore, the Profound Celestial Ice Field was home to a creature known as the Ice Beast. Their bones and hides could be crafted into high-quality battle armor capable of withstanding the region’s bitter cold. Their Demon Cores were also prime ingredients for refining pills. As a result, a single Ice Beast could fetch a very high price in Icebound City.

For this reason, Icebound City was filled with experts as numerous as the clouds, and its people revered martial strength.

In the center of Icebound City.

Ten massive Teleportation Arrays stood in a row. Every so often, one would flare with light as experts emerged from within.

Surrounding the Teleportation Arrays were numerous Demon Hunting Teams.

There were also experts from merchant caravans.

Even experts from the Flying Snow Dynasty’s army were present, recruiting other powerful individuals.

”The Heaven-Fighting Demon Hunting Team is recruiting! Our captain is a powerful Human King Realm expert, so hurry and sign up!”

”The Qimang Commerce Association is traveling to the Royal Family of the Profound Celestial Ice Field! We need guards for the escort, and the pay is generous...”

”The Icebound Army is looking for new recruits! The compensation is excellent...”

The shouts and cries rose and fell in waves.

HUM!

A Teleportation Array in the far-right corner suddenly lit up, and two figures stumbled out, looking rather battered.

It was none other than Jiang Chen.

His face was pale and his aura was unstable. He gasped for breath. ”We finally made it out. It’s a good thing we were fast, or we would’ve fallen into that Pei Shenghai’s hands!”

”Yeah!”

The Black Emperor also looked shaken, patting its chest with a small paw. ”But it’s a good thing I damaged the Teleportation Array while adjusting the coordinates. He’ll have to wait for the array to be repaired to follow us. By then, we’ll surely be deep inside the Profound Celestial Ice Field.”

”Mhm!”

Jiang Chen nodded. A sudden gust of wind blew, so bone-chillingly cold that he couldn’t help but shiver. ”My cultivation is already at the Union Palace Realm Third Stage. I should be immune to heat and cold, so how can the wind here feel so freezing?”

”Hahaha, first time in the Profound Celestial Ice Field, I take it?” A middle-aged man nearby overheard him and spoke with a laugh.

Jiang Chen paused, turning to look at the man.

He was a middle-aged man with a rugged face and a bushy beard, dressed in a thick, fur-lined coat.

With a smile, he said, ”My name is Wuu Rui, from the Qinghai Dynasty over in the Sea Region. And where might you be from, young friend?”

One shouldn’t be rude to a friendly face. Jiang Chen returned the greeting with a cupped fist salute. ”My name is Jiang Chen, and I’m from... the Celestial Fate Dynasty!”

”The Celestial Fate Dynasty?”

Wuu Rui froze for a moment.

Several other experts nearby who had overheard also gave Jiang Chen strange, mocking looks and began to whisper. ”The Celestial Fate Dynasty is in the Cloud Domain, isn’t it? That’s the weakest domain in the entire Eastern Continent. You rarely see experts from there who dare to come to Icebound City. This kid’s got some nerve!”

”I bet he’s a disciple from some big faction who doesn’t know his own limits. Probably thinks he can come to the Profound Celestial Ice Field to ’temper’ himself!”

”’Temper’? You’ve got to be kidding. Haven’t enough so-called geniuses been buried in the Profound Celestial Ice Field already? He comes from a backwater like the Cloud Domain—how strong could he possibly be? He’ll probably die the moment he steps outside Icebound City!”

”Hahaha...”

The mocking voices were completely unconcealed, and Jiang Chen’s expression soured. He frowned and turned to Wuu Rui. ”Wuu Rui, is the Cloud Domain really that bad?”

Wuu Rui cleared his throat, looking embarrassed. ”Well, the Cloud Domain isn’t quite as bad as they make it out to be. It’s just... it’s a very remote region, and it rarely produces any top-tier experts, so people tend to look down on it. After all, out of all one hundred and eight domains in the Eastern Continent, the Cloud Domain is the only one that’s never had a genius appear on the Three Venerable Lists.”

”The Three Venerable Lists?”

Jiang Chen was taken aback.

Wuu Rui said, ”Back in your dynasty, you must have heard of the Three Lists of Heaven, Earth, and Spirit, right?”

Jiang Chen nodded.

He was certainly familiar with the Three Lists of Heaven, Earth, and Spirit. After the battle at the Saint Martial Sword Sect, he had become number one on the Celestial List of the Saint Martial Dynasty.

Wuu Rui continued, ”The Three Lists of Heaven, Earth, and Spirit exist in every dynasty across the Eastern Continent, but they only record the geniuses and experts within that specific dynasty. The Three Venerable Lists are similar, but they rank the top experts and geniuses from the entire Eastern Continent!”

As Wuu Rui explained, Jiang Chen began to understand what these Three Venerable Lists were.

The Three Venerable Lists were, respectively, the Human Venerable List, the Earth Venerable List, and the Celestial Venerable List.

The Human Venerable List had 100,000 positions and was for geniuses at the Union Palace Realm. The Earth Venerable List had 10,000 positions, corresponding to experts at the Human King Realm.

As for the Celestial Venerable List, it corresponded to Human Emperor Realm powerhouses and had only one thousand positions in total.

”The Three Venerable Lists represent the most elite geniuses and experts in the Eastern Continent. My greatest wish is to one day make it onto the Human Venerable List!” Wuu Rui lifted his head slightly, his gaze distant and filled with yearning.

Jiang Chen blinked, inwardly stunned.

’The Three Venerable Lists have a combined 111,000 spots, yet not a single person from the entire Cloud Domain has ever made it onto any of them?’

’Just how terrible is the Cloud Domain!’

Jiang Chen couldn’t help but shake his head with a wry smile. He looked at Wuu Rui and asked, ”Wuu Rui, I’m in urgent need of something called Profound Celestial Ice Marrow. You’ve been getting by in Icebound City for many years; you must have heard of it, right?”

”Profound Celestial Ice Marrow?”

Wuu Rui paused, then nodded. ”That’s one of the most precious treasures in the entire Profound Celestial Ice Field. Three years ago, an expert from the Earth Venerable List found a piece of Profound Celestial Ice Marrow no bigger than a fingernail. That piece was eventually bought by the Artifact Refiner Guild. I heard they paid one billion Lower-Grade Spirit Crystals for it!”

HISS!

Jiang Chen sucked in a sharp breath.

’One billion? For a piece the size of a fingernail?’

’Holy shit!’

’This Profound Celestial Ice Marrow is absurdly expensive!’

’Looks like buying it is out of the question.’

’Even if I went completely bankrupt, I wouldn’t be able to afford enough Profound Celestial Ice Marrow to craft the Profound Celestial Spirit Coffin. It looks like I’ll have to find it myself.’

Jiang Chen asked, ”Wuu Rui, do you know where I might be able to find Profound Celestial Ice Marrow?”

Wuu Rui thought for a moment before replying, ”As far as I know, all the Profound Celestial Ice Marrow in the entire Profound Celestial Ice Field is controlled by the three great tribes of the Icefield Race. I’m telling you, the Icefield Race is a very unique people. They are born with a natural mastery of the True Meaning of Ice and Snow. They possess the strength of the True Martial Realm at birth, and upon reaching adulthood, they attain the Union Palace Realm. The Clan Leaders of the three great tribes are especially powerful—they’re all Human Emperor Realm experts who hold a spot on the Celestial Venerable List!”

’The three great tribes, huh?’

Jiang Chen’s eyes glinted as he locked onto his new target.

’The Profound Celestial Ice Marrow is the key to forging the Profound Celestial Spirit Coffin, and I have to get it. It seems my only option is to head to the three great tribes of the Icefield Race and see for myself!’