The Three Sovereigns

Sovereign Qin? Sovereign Yan Luo? Sovereign Reincarnation?

Three Sovereigns—the title 'Sovereign' unmistakably marked them as experts of the Earth-Penetrating realm.

Xiao Chen was stunned. This was utterly unexpected. He had guessed that the three skeleton war kings might be King Qin Guang and the others, but he never imagined they had reached such a level—truly heaven-defying.

Yet when he recalled that their former lives were the Three Kings under the command of the Ancestral God Suiren, his astonishment faded somewhat.

He urgently wished to see them. After so many years apart, he could hardly believe they had risen to such heights.

"I am sorry, but none of the three war sovereigns are here. You cannot see them."

When the seven-colored old skeleton gave this answer, Xiao Chen felt a pang of disappointment.

"Where have they gone?"

Seeing the deep, meaningful gaze from the old skeleton's hollow eye sockets, Xiao Chen realized he had been too forward. After all, he was merely a Heavenly King at the Perfected Man realm, and in the old skeleton's eyes, a stranger of uncertain origins. To press for the whereabouts of the three war sovereigns who served the young female sovereign was inappropriate.

"I have no ill intentions. I only suspect that Sovereign Qin, Sovereign Yan Luo, and Sovereign Reincarnation might be my old acquaintances. To be honest, I am not of the Divine Tribe. My spirit did not perish, and I achieved flesh-and-blood rebirth in the world of the dead..."

To avoid misunderstanding from an Earth-Penetrating skeleton sovereign, Xiao Chen selectively recounted some past events, proving that he might indeed know the three sovereigns.

"Oh? You have recalled your past life?" The seven-colored old skeleton was surprised, looking at Xiao Chen with newfound interest.

"Yes, I remember everything."

The seven-colored skeleton sovereign was crystalline, shimmering with specks of iridescence, but his eye sockets were deep and empty, as if they could devour a person's soul. He stared at Xiao Chen, silent, yet exuding an invisible pressure that made Xiao Chen's heart pound.

After a long pause, the old skeleton nodded. "I believe your words. However, the three sovereigns are truly not here. They have followed the Sovereign into the deepest reaches of the Death Continent."

"What?!" Xiao Chen was shocked.

"They departed a year ago."

This news was wholly unexpected. Xiao Chen stood, paced the grand hall, then stopped. "I truly wish to see them."

The old skeleton king tapped his crystalline finger bones on his throne. "If you wish to follow into the depths of the Death Continent, I advise you to abandon the idea. Over the past thousand years, three sovereigns have fallen there. With your current cultivation, you would surely die."

Beside him, the snow-white little beast wrinkled her dainty nose and gave a few disgruntled snorts.

The young female sovereign leading three war sovereigns into the heart of the Death Continent was clearly a gamble. Xiao Chen frowned but dared not voice a direct protest. Instead, he expressed his concern obliquely.

"My lord and the three war sovereigns control the Abyssal Prison and have set aside old grievances to join hands with several sovereigns, including Yi Tianzhong, as they go deep into the continent. They should be able to protect themselves."

What lay at the deepest part of the Death Continent that even allied sovereigns could only hope to survive? The thought was chilling.

Xiao Chen deliberated long and finally abandoned the decision to venture into the continent's depths. Even though Keke controlled the Lost Paradise—a theoretically safe haven—she was still far from the sovereign realm, and to plunge into such danger rashly would be foolhardy.

"May I stay here? I wish to await the return of the sovereign and the three war sovereigns."

"Of course." The seven-colored old skeleton nodded slightly, and in the manner unique to fire-seed beings, cracked his bony mouth in what passed for a smile—a skeleton's grin.

Even if Xiao Chen had no ties to the three sovereigns, a warrior at the Perfected Man realm was welcome anywhere.

In the following days, Xiao Chen toured the sovereign city and personally visited the three sovereigns' palaces, confirming everything the old skeleton had said.

Xiao Chen settled in the sovereign city, awaiting the young female sovereign's return, and immersed himself in cultivation. Almost every moment he sat in meditation, quietly comprehending the 'Duo' syllable heavenly sound, while the Heavenly Stele Profound Art operated on its own.

Of course, when truly testing the power of the 'Duo' syllable, Xiao Chen would step outside the city. Though the city was strong, the sound waves were so vast they would disturb many.

Day after day, month after month, Xiao Chen trained like this for a full year, mastering sixty percent of the 'Duo' syllable's profundity. During that time, he used the abundant spirit essences from the Lost Paradise to divinely transform more than two hundred of his three hundred and sixty-five major acupoints, reaching over two hundred.

This genuinely pained the snow-white little beast. Every time she saw Xiao Chen's divine acupoints shining like stars filling the sky, she would mutter and count on her tiny paws, calculating just how many divine fruits had been piled up. Each time, she could not help swallowing several mouthfuls of saliva.

The seven-colored old skeleton king watched all this. He had already used secret arts to confirm that Xiao Chen and the three war sovereigns were close as life-and-death companions, so he grew increasingly kind toward him, occasionally appearing to offer guidance.

Xiao Chen had never formally taken a teacher on his cultivation path. When the old skeleton king ungrudgingly passed on the soul-refining technique and helped him comprehend seventy percent of the 'Duo' syllable, Xiao Chen felt boundless gratitude toward this bloodless skeleton.

The seven-colored skeleton king was also pleased. There was another reason he felt drawn to Xiao Chen: he had long recalled his past life. He too hailed from the Nine Provinces, and in ancient times he had been a renowned general—a master of martial arts—Lian Po.

When Xiao Chen learned the old skeleton's identity, he was stunned and immediately performed a great bow of respect. He held deep reverence for this legendary figure.

"The Perfected Man realm is extremely difficult to break through. As its name implies, it is the ultimate limit a living being can reach, for once you pass this threshold, you leave the category of 'human' and enter a boundless expanse where the sea is wide enough for fish to leap and the sky high enough for birds to fly. The shackles are like an impassable heavenly moat. Breaking through requires not only cultivation and insight but also various opportunities and coincidences."

The old skeleton king guided him thus.

Many great talents throughout history had struggled for thousands of years at this realm with barely an inch of progress. Each heavenly tier was an insurmountable chasm. Xiao Chen deeply understood this.

In the second year, apart from divinely transforming several dozen more acupoints, Xiao Chen's cultivation did not advance a single bit. Even the training of the 'Duo' syllable nearly stalled.

The old skeleton king shook his head. "Training like this any longer is meaningless."

Xiao Chen was silent, then said, "I know. I plan to travel far, deep into the Death Continent to seek an opportunity."

"With your current cultivation, entering the deepest part of the Death Continent holds no hope of survival," the old skeleton king warned.

"I do not wish to be trapped forever at the Perfected Man realm."

"If you are willing to take a risk, I can offer you a chance."

When Xiao Chen learned the old skeleton king's specific arrangement, despite being prepared, he still drew a sharp breath.

A few days later, the old skeleton king personally led Xiao Chen to the center of the sovereign city—the young female sovereign's great palace.

Within this sprawling complex of halls, inside the training ground, there was a stone mountain over a thousand meters high. At its base was a sealed enormous cave, called the Demon Cave.

No one knew how many devils and evil entities were suppressed within. From the old skeleton king's casual remarks, Xiao Chen vaguely deduced that the young female sovereign had awakened and burst forth from this very cave.

Over the years, many renowned experts in the young sovereign's domain had entered the Demon Cave for training to elevate their cultivation, but half of them had disappeared forever within.

"Remember, do not venture too deep. The further you go, the more devils and evil beings you will encounter. It is said that many species are powerful creatures from the deepest part of the continent. Perhaps this cave connects to the deepest regions," the old skeleton king admonished.

Beside him, the little beast Keke was reluctant to part, wanting very much to follow. But Xiao Chen refused. He needed true life-and-death training; bringing the little one along would defeat the purpose.

Finally, Keke handed Xiao Chen a large bundle, fragrant with the scent of various divine fruits and spirit essences.

When the seal on the red-brown stone mountain was opened, the pitch-black cave mouth immediately emitted wails of ghosts and howls of demons that made one's scalp tingle.

"Remember, never go too deep!" was the old skeleton king's final warning.

Xiao Chen picked up the bundle Keke had given him and charged in without looking back.

The seven-colored skeleton king moved his hands, channeling boundless power to reseal the cave mouth.

Time flowed like water, slipping by unnoticed.

In the blink of an eye, a year had passed. Keke was overjoyed—she had been cooped up all year and finally reached the appointed time. She and the seven-colored skeleton king returned to the Demon Cave.

When the old skeleton expended his divine power to open the seal, the cave mouth was filled with the harsh wails of evil spirits, but there was no sign of Xiao Chen.

"Ya ya—why isn't he out yet?" the little creature grumbled.

"Wait a little longer," the old skeleton king comforted.

But they waited a full seven days, and still Xiao Chen did not appear.

"I want to go in and find him," the little beast said with concern, ready to enter the demon cave.

"No!" The old skeleton king refused outright. "We agreed that he would return within at most four years, opening the seal at this time each year. He must have chosen to continue training inside. If you rush in, you might not find him, and you could become lost among the countless branching tunnels."

The seven-colored old skeleton directly sealed the cave mouth. If he left it open too long, he feared attracting even more powerful evil beings that might break out, causing great trouble.

The second year, when they opened the Demon Cave seal, Xiao Chen still had not appeared. Inside, demon mists churned and ghosts wailed. On the seventh day, a powerful devil rushed out—a unicorn-headed, purple-haired creature covered in fine scales, at the Perfected Man realm.

The seven-colored skeleton king quickly sealed the Demon Cave and then used great power to suppress this devil.

"Why isn't he out yet?" the little beast Keke worried.

"No rush. There are still two years," the old skeleton king reassured her, then began interrogating the captured devil. But unfortunately, he obtained no useful information from it.

At this moment, Xiao Chen was deep within the Demon Cave. It was like a vast labyrinth, with tunnels branching in all directions, leading to unknown destinations.

On the day he first charged in, he encountered a powerful undead. Even with his Perfected Man realm cultivation, he fought desperately for ten days and ten nights before narrowly eliminating it.

But this triggered a catastrophe. The undead seemed to have a special status. In the following year, he was hunted almost every day.

Endless armies of undead, like a sky-darkening swarm of locusts, pursued and besieged him through the boundless depths of the underground cave. They were utterly relentless, as if sworn to mutual destruction.

Among them, there were seven or eight powerful undead heavenly kings at the Perfected Man realm, possessing unimaginable divine abilities. Their powerful soul attacks were hard to defend against. Several times, Xiao Chen hovered on the brink of death.

When the old skeleton king opened the seal in the first year, it was Xiao Chen's most perilous moment. Seven powerful undead had surrounded him.

Each undead's cultivation was not inferior to his own, making it impossible for Xiao Chen to fight his way to the cave exit.

It was a brutal battle. Xiao Chen unleashed every technique he had, using the primal power of the Eight Aspect Worlds and the four heavenly steles to clear a path, killing one powerful undead to break through the encirclement.

But he himself was left with only a single breath of life.

In a cave filled with evil beings everywhere, danger was extreme.

Fortunately, the large bundle of celestial essences Keke had prepared allowed him to recover his vitality at critical moments.

In the second year, Xiao Chen spent every day in endless combat with undead hordes, and often encountered other kinds of evil creatures. His situation was precarious; he struggled on the edge of death almost daily. It was true life-and-death training.

During this period, he finally learned why this undead race was hell-bent on killing him. It turned out that the powerful undead he had killed first was their 'sovereign,' who had been severely wounded in a battle with the sovereign of another evil race, causing his strength to drop to the Perfected Man realm.

After learning this, Xiao Chen felt a lingering fear. If he had faced an unwounded undead sovereign, he would have turned to dust long ago.

But according to the seven-colored skeleton king's speculation, sovereigns of this level rarely moved; they mostly stayed in the most hidden places undergoing life-and-death seclusion and would not actively attack people. To encounter one was a stroke of (bad) luck.

After killing four powerful undead and countless weaker evil spirits one by one, Xiao Chen finally escaped this race's territory and entered another abyss.

For two full years, he had been hunted almost every moment, struggling between life and death. His potential was pushed to its absolute limit; otherwise, he could not have survived.

When the second year passed, Xiao Chen found that he had finally advanced to the Perfected Man Fourth Heaven. This was a hard-won achievement, paid for with over a hundred near-death ordeals.

This forced Xiao Chen to sigh once more: the Perfected Man realm was truly difficult to break through! It really seemed to be the ultimate limit of living beings.

Over the past two years, he had another major gain. By constantly consuming celestial essences to recover and refining the essence of the evil beings he killed, nearly three hundred of his acupoints had become divinely transformed.

Vaguely, Xiao Chen sensed that some change was occurring—in his body.

Finally, he noticed that mysterious and profound patterns seemed to be appearing on his skin.

This shocked Xiao Chen greatly. Acupoints being divinely transformed and divine meridians connecting them had not surprised him, but now, an inexplicable heavenly diagram slowly emerging on his body made him feel uneasy.

"Chi!"

A beam of death light shot past, nearly piercing Xiao Chen.

The dark cave was extremely dangerous. The threat of death existed at every moment.

He encountered a powerful cyclops demon. This evil being was humanoid, covered in scales, with only a single eye on its face that could emit death beams capable of piercing all tangible matter.

Xiao Chen clicked his tongue in amazement. This underground demon cave was truly terrifying—he had met another Perfected Man realm powerful creature.

Words were unnecessary. In this world, everything was decided by strength. Such an encounter would inevitably end in a fight to the death.

But unexpectedly, the cyclops demon, after drawing Xiao Chen's attention, suddenly transformed into a beam of light and fled into a nearby tunnel, escaping.

Just as Xiao Chen wondered, rumbling sounds came from deeper in the cave, and four figures rapidly approached. He immediately changed expression. He saw clearly that they were four powerful unicorn devils.

This was a royal clan of the devil race. They had humanoid bodies, purple hair, blue eyes, and a single horn on their heads. Their bodies were covered in snow-white scales, looking both ferocious and frightening.

All four unicorn devils had reached the Perfected Man realm. They had originally been pursuing the cyclops demon, but upon spotting Xiao Chen, they all threw themselves at him.

He cursed inwardly. The evil beings in the Demon Cave were extremely cunning. That cyclops demon had actually led disaster to him.

A bitter battle was unavoidable. These four powerful unicorn devils chased Xiao Chen for a full three months before he finally killed two of them and narrowly escaped.

Almost every day he underwent a baptism of life and death, forcing his potential to continuously release. He felt his cultivation slowly advancing. Though the cost was enormous, it was all worthwhile.

"Insignificant Divine Tribe member—how dare you trespass into the domain of Flame Sovereign! I sentence you to death!"

As Xiao Chen entered an underground abyss, he had already felt waves of scorching heat. But then a roar suddenly erupted, and the entire abyss was flooded with flames.

Cold sweat broke out on Xiao Chen's forehead. He had never expected to encounter a sovereign.

Endless hellfire blazed, a green light soaring into the sky. The temperature was terrifyingly high. A humanoid flame creature blocked his path, surging with towering emerald flames.

"Clang..."

The clear chime of war swords instantly startled Xiao Chen. The mysterious diagrams that had emerged on his body were trembling. At first, he thought it was the war sword sealed in his divine acupoints resonating, but then he realized it was not.

The faint, mysterious patterns on his body bloomed with light. They were actually resonating with two war swords in the flame abyss.

They were two ancient war swords. In the abyss ruled by Flame Sovereign, though they did not radiate brilliance, they were so conspicuous, embedded in the stone walls, gently trembling with clanging sounds.

Xiao Chen was deeply shocked. How could there be two war swords in the Demon Cave?

He had thought the forty-nine war swords were scattered across the Nine Provinces and the four worlds, but they also existed in the world of the dead.

What exactly was this Demon Cave? Could it really be connected to the deepest parts of the Death Continent, as the seven-colored skeleton king had said?

Thinking that the young female sovereign had awakened and fought her way out of this very Demon Cave, Xiao Chen felt his scalp tingle. This place was truly mysterious, unfathomable, and terrifying.