The Five Emperor Tower Emerges

The female corpse opened her eyes. Her flesh was ice, her bones jade—peerless beauty, cold and breathtaking. The moment she sat up within the Five Emperor Tower, the world shifted, heaven and earth lost their color. The huge lake below evaporated completely, and a hazy purple mist rose like raging flames.

The single layer of the Five Emperor Tower that had been joined above was ancient and majestic. Radiance swirled around it, and it trembled ceaselessly. But destroying the lower stone tower of the same origin was out of the question, and even breaking free from it was impossible.

Xiao Chen sat cross-legged opposite the female corpse, motionless. He was controlling the perfect body within her, channeling all its vast power outward.

This was a physique that surpassed the Stone King level. Even though her divine consciousness had long perished, the mere remnant of her perfect, powerful body was enough to shake heaven and earth.

"Impossible!" All the Stone Kings were shocked. The Five Emperor Tower had actually manifested two layers.

Zixiao Wang had obtained one, and now Xiao Chen unexpectedly controlled another. Lu Zhan and the others knew nothing of the events from a bygone age. Seeing Xiao Chen reappear in the world, they all felt a foreboding.

"Boy, how did you break out?" Lu Zhan's presence dimmed the sun and moon. His withered, demonic body seemed forged from steel, every sinew standing out like iron cables. He lunged forward, a black demonic claw flashing with eerie cold light.

But in that moment, Xiao Chen was sheltered within the Five Emperor Tower, impossible to breach. Furthermore, the joined two-layer stone tower vibrated with an aura that made even Stone Kings tremble in fear.

The ancient tower shook, deflecting that demonic claw to the side. An immense force pushed Lu Zhan back.

Zixiao Wang's stone body was battered and broken, yet it emanated a chilling presence. He was the master of the tower above. His divine sense spread like an ocean, trying to seize control of the tower and crush Xiao Chen from above.

"Boom!"

He sat down heavily on the upper stone tower, vast divine power surging down to seal the double-layered tower, hoping to wear Xiao Chen away.

"In the infinite heavens, apart from me, there is no other thought!" Xiao Chen growled, then entered the female corpse's body, fully unleashing the boundless divine power of her perfect physique—power that surpassed the limits permitted by this world.

"Boom!"

The double-layered Five Emperor Tower blazed with ten-thousand-zhang radiance. The female corpse commanded the everlasting supreme treasure, an absolute pressure that crushed all obstacles.

Brilliant light burned like raging flames. The ocean-like lake below was utterly dried up, and Zixiao Wang above was thrown into the air. As if burned, he was forced away from the Five Emperor Tower, recoiling as from a viper.

"How can this be?!" Zixiao Wang's eyes shot two terrifying beams of light. "Power beyond this world's limit..."

Lu Zhan and the others were horrified. Even a powerful Stone King had been thrown into the air like he was on fire—imagine how terrifying those divine flames were.

At that moment, everyone finally saw the female corpse inside the tower. All the divine power emanated from her.

"Who is she? How does she have such power?" Everyone wondered.

But this was no time for distraction. Zixiao Wang lunged down again like a fierce tiger, purple energy surging for a hundred thousand li. The entire eastern region was shaken.

His palm-blade formed a rainbow, weaving strands of order-patterns, trying to reclaim his tower.

"Clang! Clang! Clang!"

Xiao Chen controlled the female corpse, forming one mysterious hand seal after another, striking into the sky and completely sealing Zixiao Wang off.

But the second layer was refined by Zixiao Wang after all. Under his ocean-like divine sense, it began to shudder violently, trying to fly away.

A powerful Stone King recalling an artifact marked with his imprint would naturally be effortless.

But in this moment, everything was overturned. That layer of the Five Emperor Tower trembled but could not rise. It was firmly fixed in place, as if an immense attraction held it.

A great heavenly tone rang out like a bronze bell, spreading across the eastern region.

Five shadowy forms flew out from within the tower, hovering outside the second layer, completely suppressing it as it tried to soar into the sky.

"The Five Emperors!" Zixiao Wang showed a look of shock. "This is the base tower of the Five Emperors—it bears their imprints and can gather all the other layers."

In a sense, what Xiao Chen controlled was the mother tower, the foundation of the Five Emperor Tower. Only by possessing it could one collect the other layers. Without it, no one could assemble the complete Five Emperor Tower.

"You want to take it? That's impossible!"

"Boom!"

At that moment, Zixiao Wang finally revealed his true power. He had already seen that the female corpse had no spiritual awareness. His vast, ocean-like divine sense suddenly burst forth, charging toward the first-layer tower, trying to seize control by possession.

If he succeeded, the consequences would be unimaginable. Even briefly controlling the female corpse would be catastrophic—no one could suppress him then.

But Xiao Chen was not particularly afraid. Even that demonic shadow from ages past had struggled to breach the stone tower. He believed he could hold Zixiao Wang off.

Radiance flowed, and the tower itself bloomed with divine light—the interweaving of divine laws and order. There was no terrifying fluctuation, no suffocating pressure, only a gentle stream and a warm breeze. Yet this serene radiance blocked Zixiao Wang completely.

Not a shred of divine sense could penetrate. At the same time, Xiao Chen counterattacked, using the female corpse's hands to form seals and push outward.

"Thud!"

Power beyond the limit shook the Celestial Realm. The entire eastern region felt like it had been struck by lightning.

Zixiao Wang turned into a haze of purple energy and fled in an instant, returning to his true body. Even he dared not face such immense power head-on.

"Crack..."

But at that moment, Xiao Chen frowned. Fine cracks appeared on the female corpse's body. A terrible thing was happening: her form truly could not exist in this world. Even hidden within the tower, she slowly decayed. Forcing divine power today only accelerated the change.

Xiao Chen controlled the female corpse and suddenly charged out of the tower. He knew time was short. If he kept using her perfect body, her form would be lost forever.

Only by seizing the moment and completely taking Zixiao Wang's stone tower would today's effort not be wasted.

The female corpse's emergence startled Lu Zhan, who narrowly avoided being struck by the ancient lamp in Ge Qian's hand and retreated a hundred li.

Zixiao Wang was even more terrified, thinking Xiao Chen intended to attack him at all costs. He retreated decisively.

With no one to stop him, Xiao Chen drove the female corpse into the second stone tower in an instant, his hands drawing arcane patterns, striking the king's imprint with divine seals.

A king's imprint was not so easily erased. Xiao Chen had only used the female corpse to shatter it temporarily.

The female corpse moved as swift as a dream, flashing back into the first-layer tower almost instantly. After this sortie, more cracks appeared on her body.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Both layers of the stone tower vibrated, firmly locked together and temporarily inseparable. Zixiao Wang was furious—though his connection to the tower was not severed, he could no longer summon it as before.

"Go!"

In that moment, Xiao Chen did not delay. Controlling the mother tower, he turned into a stream of light and fled into the distance.

At the same time, Ge Qian also wielded the ancient lamp, broke free of Lu Zhan, and sped away.

"Thanks, thanks! No need to see us off!" With those words, Shi Zhongdi also escaped from the Stone Corpse and Lang Ya, disappearing in an instant.

"They won't get far!" Zixiao Wang's face was dark, his voice icy. Today, the female corpse's appearance had exceeded his expectations. Otherwise, with that stone tower in hand, he could have killed opponents of the same rank.

Though his connection to the tower was not severed, he turned into a stream of light to pursue, letting out a sharp screech—a Stone King's command to the entire Celestial Realm to hunt Xiao Chen.

With the Five Emperor Tower emerging today, the other Stone Kings would naturally hear of it, and chaos would follow.

A million li away, Xiao Chen had already stopped. He tossed the double-layer stone tower directly to Shi Zhongdi, saying, "It's yours."

As if it were not a supreme treasure but a lump of mud, discarded so carelessly.

"You want me to reenact your tragedy of fleeing with the Three Sovereign Mirror?" Shi Zhongdi glanced at him in dissatisfaction.

"You go find the old bone skull. With the three of you combined into one, can't you protect this tower?" Xiao Chen indeed treated the stone tower like a hot potato. Now it was his turn to hold the ancient lamp.

"Fine. As long as we control the female corpse inside, killing one or two Stone Kings won't be a problem." Shi Zhongdi wasn't exaggerating. With his strength and the old stone turtle combined, wielding the Five Emperor Tower and the female corpse, they could indeed do so.

"Try not to use the female corpse. Her body is nearly decayed. I think keeping her shell might be useful later." After saying this, Xiao Chen fled—he had done what he needed to do, and the rest was no longer his concern.

As Shi Zhongdi fled, he hurriedly erased the imprints within the second-layer tower. He had to thoroughly remove Zixiao Wang's marks, or they would never shake off the pursuit.

On that day, the Celestial Realm fell into utter chaos. The Stone Kings stirred, fighting over the Five Emperor Tower. The scene was as grand as the earlier scramble for the Three Sovereign Mirror. All the kings mobilized.

Shi Zhongdi groaned inwardly. His old bones were nearly breaking from the constant flight. Facing the pursuit of so many kings, even his three-in-one fused form couldn't handle it.

None of this had anything to do with Xiao Chen. He believed that old hands like Shi Zhongdi and the old stone turtle wouldn't die—they had survived countless great calamities since primordial times; they definitely had the means to save themselves.

On the same day, when Lu Zhan returned to the Otherworld, the being dwelling at the end of the Ninety-Nine Stone Steps flew into a rage.

The crucible he had painstakingly cultivated had been snatched away by someone, along with the Heavenly Mark. This was unbearable.

Xiao Chen returned to the Nine Provinces, but that didn't bring calm. An unexpected incident occurred.

Dark clouds rolled in the sky, turbid waves surged high, and many satellites orbiting the heavens were damaged. Countless skyscrapers swayed under the storm clouds as if the end of the world had come.

Demonic waves surged. A huge black shadow swayed above the sky. To this technological civilization, it was a shock.

In that instant, a massive hand reached down, grasping toward the vast land below.

The people of this technological world were horrified. This transcended their understanding of the universe—it was nothing less than the return of myth.

All kinds of technological weapons rose into the sky, shooting at the beast claw covered in cyan scales, but they could not move it.

Xiao Chen was shaken. He recognized that beast claw instantly—it belonged to the primordial power dwelling at the end of the Ninety-Nine Stone Steps. He hadn't expected it to ride the Ninety-Nine Stone Steps themselves into the Nine Provinces.

It had sensed the aura of the Heavenly Mark and come to seize it, planning to destroy everything here.

Who could stop it? Unless the Little Stone Emperor rose from the dead, there was simply no power of this level in the world.

"Rumble..."

That giant hand descended. A building that was once the world's tallest shattered. At the same time, that city rumbled and collapsed into ruins, with heavy casualties.

And this was only the pressure radiating from high in the sky. The beast claw itself had not yet truly descended.

All kinds of technological weapons had already reached an astonishing stage, but they were useless against that giant hand, unable to shake it in the slightest.

The earth shook violently. As that great hand descended, everything below would cease to exist.

"Boom!"

Suddenly, under the Nine Provinces, ancient lamps rose one after another, each with dancing flames.

Eight ancient lamps rose slowly, like eight bright moons, illuminating the dark sky and driving away the demonic fog.

At the same time, Ge Qian, who was flying through the Celestial Realm, felt his body shake. The ancient lamp in his hand flew off on its own, instantly returning to the Nine Provinces.

Nine ancient lamps shone brightly. The gloomy sky was filled with a sacred aura as the rolling dark clouds were driven back.

From above the sky came a mournful scream.

"The Five Emperors! Did you know I would return?"

The gentle radiance of the nine ancient lamps looked peaceful and holy, but it had an unimaginable effect on the terrifying existence above.

Sparks of flame seemed to scorch the soul of the being perched on the Ninety-Nine Stone Steps, injuring it.

"Three Sovereigns, Five Emperors... each of these lamps is an extension of your divine fire. Could it be..."

The being in the sky watched its own great beast claw crack open, shedding many cyan scales.

Xiao Chen was deeply shocked. He had never imagined such a thing would happen. The divine fire of the nine lamps was extremely holy and peaceful, harmless to anyone—but uniquely to beings that surpassed the limits of this world, it caused immense damage.

"I see... You have all fallen. These lamps are your tombs!" The terrifying figure above laughed long and loud. "But your efforts are futile. I will return, and I will pluck out the lamps and dig open your graves!"

Xiao Chen felt a profound shock. Only today did he learn what the ancient lamps truly were: the tombs of the Three Sovereigns and the Five Emperors.