Heaven-Surpassing Divine Emperor

”So, you’re Jiang Chen?”

An icy voice suddenly rang out.

Jiang Chen stopped in his tracks and turned to look...

A group of several dozen people was approaching them at a leisurely pace. Leading them was a handsome young man.

The young man was dressed in a long, white robe.

A True Dragon was coiled upon the robe.

At that moment, the young man was squinting, sizing up Jiang Chen. Jiang Chen instinctively felt the man’s gaze was filled with hostility—and even a sliver of extreme killing intent.

’Who is this guy?’ Jiang Chen wondered. ’I’ve never seen him before. Why is he so hostile toward me?’

The white-robed young man looked Jiang Chen up and down, a corner of his mouth curling in thick disdain. ”I thought the one who killed my brother would be some incredible figure, but I never expected a sickly weakling like you. I was planning to take revenge for my brother personally, but now it seems you aren’t even worthy of forcing my hand. I suggest you kill yourself and atone for your crime!”

Behind the white-robed young man followed several dozen experts clad in white battle armor.

Their gazes, as they looked upon Jiang Chen, were also filled with coldness and mockery.

They looked at him as if he were already a dead man.

Jiang Chen raised an eyebrow. Staring at the white-robed young man, he asked in a deep voice, ”Who are you?”

”You are not worthy of knowing my name...” the white-robed young man said coldly.

The tension between them was palpable.

Just as a battle was about to erupt, Wei Lihuang snorted coldly. His face darkened as he looked at the white-robed young man. ”Long Jingtian, you’d best be clear on where you are. Celestial Secret Mountain is the hallowed ground of my Celestial Secret Pavilion. No one is permitted to cause trouble. If you continue to push this, I won’t be giving Long Chan any face!”

The white-robed young man, Long Jingtian, frowned. His sullen gaze swept over to Wei Lihuang, and he seemed somewhat wary of him. With a cold snort, he said, ”Wei Lihuang, don’t get arrogant. Give me a few more years, and I’ll have even you trampled under my feet.” He then turned back to Jiang Chen, the mockery on his face undiminished. ”Jiang Chen, my words still stand. If you don’t want to die an ugly death, you should just kill yourself and atone!”

”Hahaha...”

Long Jingtian let out a cold laugh and swaggered away.

Watching Long Jingtian’s retreating back, Jiang Chen clenched his fists as a cold glint flashed in his eyes. ’You want my life? I’m afraid you don’t have what it takes!’

Wei Lihuang’s expression was incredibly dark; clearly, Long Jingtian’s public arrogance had caused him to lose face.

He took a deep breath and said to Jiang Chen, ”Jiang Chen, you’re on Celestial Secret Mountain now, so even an Emperor Realm master wouldn’t dare make a rash move against you. However, if you meet that Long Jingtian outside of Celestial Secret Mountain, you’d best run as far away as you can!”

”Hm?”

Jiang Chen was taken aback.

Gai Shi gave a wry smile. ”Jiang Chen, Master Wei is right. That Long Jingtian is Long Jingyun’s older brother. He made it onto the Human Emperor List more than a decade ago. He hasn’t taken action in all that time, so his strength is unfathomable!”

’Long Jingyun’s older brother? No wonder he’s so hostile toward me!’

Jiang Chen nodded to himself, committing the name Long Jingtian to memory. As for running?

That word simply wasn’t in his vocabulary.

Gai Shi and Wei Lihuang exchanged a glance, said no more, and headed toward the summit of Celestial Secret Mountain.

...

Celestial Secret Mountain was over thirty thousand zhang high.

Jiang Chen and the others moved quickly, but it still took them a full hour to reach the summit.

Contrary to what one might expect, the summit of Celestial Secret Mountain, despite being thirty thousand zhang in the air, was not cold at all. In fact, it was as warm as spring.

Being there made one feel incredibly comfortable!

On the summit of Celestial Secret Mountain stood sprawling complexes of buildings, built into the mountainside. Viewed from high above, one could see that these structures formed a massive Eight Trigrams Array.

”Gai Shi, I have some matters to attend to, so I’ll have you show Jiang Chen around. Someone will come to guide you to the location of the Celestial Secret Banquet later!” Wei Lihuang said with a smile, standing at the entrance to the summit.

Gai Shi nodded. ”Don’t worry, this isn’t my first time on Celestial Secret Mountain!”

Jiang Chen said, ”If you have matters to attend to, Master Wei, please don’t let us keep you.”

”Then I shall take my leave.”

Wei Lihuang nodded and turned to leave.

Gai Shi grinned at Jiang Chen. ”Jiang Chen, come with me to where the people from the Luotian Dynasty are staying.”

Jiang Chen was a stranger in a strange land here, so he naturally let Gai Shi lead the way.

The Celestial Secret Pavilion had invited a great many masters to this Celestial Secret Banquet.

Of the Ten Great Dynasties, all were in attendance, save for the already destroyed Six Mountains Dynasty.

In addition...

Many reclusive masters had also received invitations from the Celestial Secret Pavilion and had gathered on Celestial Secret Mountain.

When Gai Shi led Jiang Chen to the gathering place for the Luotian Dynasty’s experts, it was already crowded. After all, the Luotian Dynasty was recognized as the most powerful dynasty on the Eastern Continent, and many of the experts’ home nations were its vassals, making the scene naturally very lively.

”Lord Gai Shi!”

”Greetings, Lord Gai Shi!”

As Gai Shi walked, a constant stream of experts greeted him.

Gai Shi merely gave a slight nod in return, explaining to Jiang Chen on the side, ”The Celestial Secret Banquet is held once every ten years. The last time I came, I hadn’t yet reached the Heavenly Destiny Realm, and there weren’t this many people. From what I hear, the Celestial Secret Elder is holding this banquet for some important reason, but my master didn’t tell me what it was. He only said that a great opportunity was waiting for me!”

Jiang Chen nodded.

He, however, had a faint inkling of the Celestial Secret Elder’s purpose for this Celestial Secret Banquet. It was most likely for the soon-to-appear Mystic Sect!

”Jiang Chen, I’ll take you to see His Majesty in a bit. He mentioned you just the other day!” Gai Shi said with a smile.

Jiang Chen paused, taken aback.

The ’His Majesty’ Gai Shi mentioned could only be the Emperor of the Luotian Dynasty, the current number one on the Celestial Venerable List—Gai Jinlong.

Jiang Chen couldn’t help but ask curiously, ”Why would Elder Gai Jinlong mention me?”

”He said... that in less than ten years, he’ll have to cede his position to you! But I’m not convinced. I’m going to train hard, and with that great opportunity my master mentioned, maybe I’ll reach the top of the Celestial Venerable List before you do!” Gai Shi laughed heartily, giving Jiang Chen a playful wink.

Jiang Chen rolled his eyes and said with resignation, ”Fine, fine, fine. If you say the spot is yours, then it’s yours! Satisfied now?”

Before long...

The two of them arrived at Gai Jinlong’s room. Just as they reached the door, they heard the sound of arguing from within. ”Hmph! Yang Qiong, get the hell out!”

”Gai Jinlong, you’ll regret throwing me out today!” Yang Qiong’s cold voice retorted. The door then flew open, and Yang Qiong emerged, his face a dark scowl.

He came face-to-face with Jiang Chen.

Yang Qiong froze for a moment, his cold gaze landing on Jiang Chen. He seemed momentarily taken aback by the man’s full head of silver hair, then frowned and said, ”You’re still alive?”

”Since you haven’t died yet, how could I dare to go first?” Jiang Chen replied with calm composure, a faint smirk on his lips. ”Li Ru asked me to pass on a message. He’s waiting for you in the Underworld.”

Yang Qiong’s face darkened. ”You little brat. Arrogant as ever. You won’t be smug for much longer. Hmph...”

Yang Qiong snorted coldly and departed with a flick of his sleeves.

Jiang Chen stared at his retreating back, a cold light in his eyes.

Just then, Gai Jinlong’s voice came from within the room. ”Is that Gai Shi and young friend Jiang Chen? Come in!”

Gai Shi nudged Jiang Chen.

The two of them stepped into the room.

”Greetings, Your Majesty,” said Gai Shi respectfully. Jiang Chen followed suit, ”Greetings, Elder.”

Gai Jinlong was number one on the Celestial Venerable List.

He deserved such respect.

What Jiang Chen hadn’t expected, however, was that Gai Jinlong’s brow was tightly furrowed. He stared intently at Jiang Chen for a long moment before letting out a slow sigh and saying...

”Young friend Jiang Chen, are you aware of the danger you’re in?”