Five Hundred Years of Refinement

The City of the Heavenly Emperor stood apart from all worlds, floating in the endless void, above and beyond the affairs of the mortal realm. Eternal silence surrounded it, unbroken by any sound.

Within the sealed city, a giant skeletal chest cage trapped Xiao Chen at its center.

Boom!

His body shattered into pieces, bright blood blossoming in the air. Xiao Chen forced himself to endure the torment of hell. Crimson stains marked the stone bone cage.

In the span of half an hour, his body had already shattered for the thirty-ninth time. Fresh blood scattered, droplets of red staining the enormous stone bones, a sight both ghastly and shocking.

“Enduring bitter hardship does not guarantee one will become a man above men, but he who cannot endure bitter hardship cannot even be called a true expert. Throughout the ages, every peerless powerhouse succeeded through countless ordeals and a thousand brushes with death.”

As the great voice rumbled through the City of the Heavenly Emperor, Xiao Chen's body shattered for the seventy-eighth time. His flesh turned to paste, his bones were ground to splinters, and blood sprayed through the air.

He cycled endlessly between destruction and rebirth, enduring the most excruciating torment. And all of this he inflicted upon himself—forcing his mind to remain calm amidst the agony, forging an eternal, unmoving heart in the crucible of death, tempering a will as unyielding as divine iron.

Yet this was only the prelude. To achieve heaven-defying combat power, one needed to undergo a hundred refinements to forge a War Body, cultivate a will of divine steel, and comprehend the laws of all heavens and myriad worlds.

Three days later, Xiao Chen could no longer suppress a roar. By now, he suffered not only the shattering of his physical form but also the cracking and mending of his very soul.

The dual torture of spirit and flesh—even a body of steel and bone, even gods and Buddhas, could not endure such agony.

Blood splashed and vanished into mist, a gorgeous red haze filling the air around him. The stench of blood saturated the stone bone cage, sharp and choking.

One could clearly see the stark white bone fragments protruding from shredded flesh, a scene of brutal, bloody horror.

And this brutal torment had only lasted three days. In the five hundred years to come, even greater suffering awaited.

Yet amid this hellish refinement, he was to comprehend the laws of ten thousand worlds, perceive the thoughts of all things, and grasp the Great World Heart—or the Great World's Will.

Ten years later, Xiao Chen had reached the peak of the Earth-Penetrating realm, the Ninth Heaven. It was not difficult for him to step into the Half-Ancestor realm; under normal circumstances, he could certainly achieve it. But what he sought was to become a powerhouse of heaven-defying combat power within that realm—a true Battle Saint!

In the thirteenth year, as he once again re-formed his shattered War Body, Xiao Chen was drenched in blood. His long hair, matted with gore, hung in strands. The veins on his body bulged, and his sinews throbbed violently.

Xiao Chen roared, raising his face to the sky.

Divine power surged around him, operating at its limits like a wild tempest rampaging through his meridians. Finally, the divine energy rushed like a bursting dam through every inch of his flesh and blood.

A thunderous explosion erupted within Xiao Chen's body, as if nine heavens of divine thunder had detonated at once. Boundless power surged within him. Every meridian became as vast as a great river, divine power surging and roiling. All his divinely transformed acupoints blazed with brilliant light, like countless stars scattered across the sky.

In that moment, two dazzling beams shot from Xiao Chen's eyes. One foot had finally stepped into the Half-Ancestor realm—he had become a Lower-Level Ancestral God Battle Saint!

But this was far from enough. He had to be stronger—he had to become a true Half-Ancestor.

Borrowing the raging ocean of divine power within him, he launched a full assault toward the true Half-Ancestor realm.

Xiao Chen could not help but roar. Every inch of his flesh bulged like writhing dragons. His blood-drenched long hair flew backward, standing on end, blood droplets rolling down.

“I want to kill Otherworld Ancestral Gods with heaven-defying combat power!”

With Xiao Chen's declaration, at the farthest reaches of the void outside the City of the Heavenly Emperor, countless massive lightning bolts converged and struck toward him.

Though the City of the Heavenly Emperor stood above all worlds, detached from the mortal realm, Xiao Chen's ascension to Half-Ancestor still summoned endless heavenly thunder.

Boom!

Colossal bolts of lightning, each as thick as a mountain, crashed down upon the city.

“The lightning comes not from one world. You must undergo multiple thunder tribulations. One moment of carelessness, and you will be utterly annihilated, reduced to smoke and ash.”

The great voice echoed thunderously, allowing the lightning to surge in and strike the stone bone cage that held Xiao Chen.

In that moment, Xiao Chen finally became a true Half-Ancestor. The divine light in his eyes grew even sharper, like two peerless heavenly swords. The moment they opened and closed, they shattered the void.

He felt a truly overwhelming power!

Boom!

Rolling heavenly thunder crashed down. Myriad bolts of lightning drowned the void, their brilliant radiance engulfing the City of the Heavenly Emperor.

This was the lightning of an entire world. Endure it, and he would have boundless horizons. Fail, and he would be reduced to ashes and dust.

“Come!”

Standing amid the bone cage, covered in blood, Xiao Chen raised his hands to the sky, allowing the ten-thousand-zhang lightning to pour into his body. He did not block it, did not resist.

The boundless lightning could not harm him in the slightest. His War Body absorbed it all.

At the same time, a powerful soul force deep within his body exploded, transforming into boundless divine power that surged into every part of his form. An immense force merged into his flesh and blood.

The soul of a Sovereign that he had once refined into his body was now finally fully fused, becoming a part of his divine power.

Boom!

Ten thousand bolts of lightning struck again, each as thick as a mountain. The heavenly thunder of one world descended upon him.

Xiao Chen still did not resist. He allowed all divine lightning to enter his body, surging into his fleshly form.

If anyone else had witnessed this, they would have been dumbfounded. It was as if Keke had a second coming—that little snow-white beast had achieved the Half-Ancestor realm in her sleep, and now Xiao Chen was displaying equally astonishing potential.

Boom!

Thousands upon thousands of lightning bolts rained down, drowning the entire City of the Heavenly Emperor in radiance. Violent heavenly thunder from every realm struck this one place.

And throughout it all, Xiao Chen sat as still as a rock, unmoving, allowing countless layers of lightning to pierce his body, using the most overbearing power to temper his War Body.

Rumble!

Other Half-Ancestor souls that had once been refined into his body now also shattered, transforming into the purest divine power that rushed into his meridians, merging with Xiao Chen.

Though he had only just stepped into the Half-Ancestor realm, his combat power alone could match several Half-Ancestors combined!

Boom!

Billions of lightning bolts struck simultaneously. Xiao Chen had fully entered the Half-Ancestor realm. The Sovereign souls and Half-Ancestor souls refined into his body were now completely fused, making him a truly fearsome Half-Ancestor—a single man whose power equaled several Half-Ancestors together.

All the lightning was absorbed, not a single wisp wasted. It was the combined boundless thunder of countless worlds.

In that moment, Xiao Chen reached an unparalleled pinnacle of power. Every movement brimmed with inexhaustible divine force. He had undergone a heaven-shaking metamorphosis.

Roar!

He bellowed toward the sky, and the City of the Heavenly Emperor trembled. At the far end of the void, all the starlight of the firmament converged and surged toward him.

The stars of the firmament shook. The celestial power of countless worlds gathered into great rivers, surging wildly to form radiant divine cascades that poured into the momentarily opened City of the Heavenly Emperor!

“Temper the War Body with a billion stars! Hone the Battle Body with the power of ten million stars!”

In that moment, Xiao Chen furiously chanted his mysterious art. Not only did his 365 main acupoints blaze with dazzling light, but countless other divine acupoints also shone brilliantly, merging with the divine cascades that rushed toward him.

Three hundred and sixty-five great deities manifested, roaring in unison, frantically absorbing the immeasurable power of the stars.

At this point, Xiao Chen should have forged his own divine weapon, but he did not. He was tempering only his War Body. More and more, he felt that the physical form itself was the most powerful weapon. As for Ancestral God weapons like the War Swords, they required no refinement from him.

This was his greatest asset, his future reliance.

“I will destroy the Otherworld Ancestral Gods! One day, I will reach that level!”

The moment the starlight vanished, the 365 great deities disappeared completely.

Boom!

At the same time, Xiao Chen's War Body shattered once more. Amid the piercing light of blood, his form burst into fragments, and he began his hellish training anew.

Thirty years passed. In the midst of his bone-shattering and flesh-grinding, Xiao Chen comprehended the laws of the world and mastered the will of the great heavens, letting boundless divine power surge out of his body.

Thirty years of hellish training had brought him a shocking transformation. On this very day, as his flesh shattered once more, thirty War Swords burst forth, soaring into the sky amidst a spray of blood. The dripping swords were entirely crimson, their inner radiance blazing as they shot outward.

Blood and swords united. Heaven and earth shook in unison. The City of the Heavenly Emperor trembled, and the starry skies of all the worlds trembled with it!

Thirty War Swords merged with the blood, radiating ten thousand feet of light, revealing their peerless edge for the first time!

The War Swords clanged and hummed, their blades vibrating, their points thrust toward the heavens!

When the thirty War Swords joined together, a tattered Formation Diagram emerged. Xiao Chen slowly reformed his body, rising from the shattering, standing at the center of the incomplete diagram, becoming an eternal, indestructible whole.

At the same time, his entire body blazed with divine light. Patterns and diagrams surfaced on his skin.

The tattered Formation Diagram formed by the thirty War Swords was as if one body with Xiao Chen, perfectly interwoven, merged into a seamless whole!

With a single thought, Xiao Chen made the thirty blood-drenched War Swords rend the void, transforming into thirty divine beams that swirled around him.

In that moment, Xiao Chen understood something profound. He stood quietly within the incomplete Formation Diagram and began a hundred years of contemplation.

In the mortal world, the glory of a generation passed in an instant. Within the City of the Heavenly Emperor, a beauty could age to yellow earth in the blink of an eye.

A hundred years of silence, like dead wood, to comprehend the War Sword Formation Diagram.

Dead wood sprouted anew, endless vitality surging. Xiao Chen awoke, but soon fell silent again like a stone. He began to perfect the Eight Aspect Worlds, the Eight Syllables of Origin, and to further temper his War Body.

Five hundred years passed in a flash. Xiao Chen, clutching half a stone skull, walked out of the stone bone cage.

The City of the Heavenly Emperor shattered the void and soon returned to the World of Immortality.

Boom!

Heaven and earth quaked!

The Immortal Heavenly Shield, a demonic blade, a thirty-three-story giant pagoda—these shattered the void and suddenly manifested, pressing down toward the City of the Heavenly Emperor!

Xiao Chen's long hair flew wildly as he stood alone at the center of the city. He wore the Dark-Iron Ancestral God War Suit, held the Seven-Colored Sacred Tree in his hand, and twin beams of divine light shot from his eyes. The tattered Formation Diagram slowly emerged, emanating the aura of the Primordial Celestial Realm.