Nine Star Hegemon Body Art

The instant he stepped onto the staircase, the world faded. Even the stairs were no longer visible here. He was on a path to an unknown world, and everything behind him vanished. He could only advance step by step.

Here, every step felt like going against the flow of time. With every step, the resistance grew, but it was still at a level that Long Chen could endure. When he reached the end of the staircase, he found himself on a level with more lifeforms that immediately attacked.

He charged through them and took the next staircase. He repeated this until the seventh level. On the seventh level, the creatures were so powerful that he was barely able to get past them while becoming covered in blood.

It took three tries for him to reach the next staircase. Once he was there, he gasped for breath. His wounds slowly healed.

“What were those things?” asked Long Chen. Those lifeforms had been incredibly powerful.

The lifeforms within this tower were varied. Some were human, and some were beasts. There were also some strange existences that he had never encountered before. But without exception, they were all extremely powerful with their own unique attack styles.

Amongst them had been a dark ant that had spat out black mist. That black mist had almost instantly corroded his soul. If it wasn’t for his powerful Spiritual Strength, he probably would have lost his senses for a moment and been killed.

“This tower is too strange. It’s like its own world, like the Heavenly Daos. It seems to be replicating the experts that died inside. Even their attacks are replicated to strike those who come later. You should be happy because the next person is going to have it even worse. They’ll have to face your attacks,” said Evilmoon.

“What? I’m also being replicated?” asked Long Chen.

“Most likely.”

Long Chen began to sweat. “This path was pointed out by Sovereign Yun Shang. Doesn’t that mean…”

Looking at the end of the path, Long Chen felt a chill. Was he able to face Sovereign Yun Shang as an enemy?

“Ah…” Evilmoon was also stunned.

“If Sovereign Yun Shang was replicated by this tower, who could beat him? No wonder he told Yun Tian not to walk this path.” Long Chen’s expression darkened.

A Sovereign was an unbeatable existence. Just facing one alone would be deadly, but then there were also the attacks of the other lifeforms to consider.

“What a con. If he had said that from the start, would we have come here?” raged Evilmoon.

Long Chen was now between the seventh and eighth levels. There was no way back. He could only continue onward, and that was probably a path to death. Long Chen was caught in an awkward position.

“Fuck, let’s do it.” Long Chen took a deep breath. Looking inside himself and seeing that he had fully recovered, he stepped forward. The eighth level should not be the most dangerous. Most likely, the Sovereign was waiting for him on the ninth level.

As soon as he stepped onto the eighth floor, he swung his saber, only to hit nothing. The space around him was empty.

“Huh?”

Long Chen and Evilmoon stared. This was different from what they had expected.

“Are you surprised?”

Just at this moment, a voice made Long Chen jump. He hastily turned around, almost attacking. But when he saw that figure, he let out a startled cry.

“Sovereign Yun Shang!”

Standing there was Sovereign Yun Shang. Long Chen would never be able to forget his eyes. He wore white robes and seemed untouched by the dust of the mortal world, as if he had already transcended mortal struggles.

“Ah, so the me that you’ve seen before has already become a Sovereign.”

“What?” Long Chen was first startled and then realized that one he was seeing right now was the young Sovereign Yun Shang. The one he had encountered in the Spirit World was him after becoming a Sovereign. In other words, this Yun Shang before him had yet to become a Sovereign.

“Brat, you’re just Yun Shang’s clone. What are you doing here?” demanded Evilmoon.

Yun Shang smiled. “From the moment I saw Long Chen, I was no longer just a clone. It seems that you bear quite a grudge against me?”

“Bear a grudge? Hm, winners are winners and losers are losers. What’s the point of bearing a grudge? It’s just too bad that you’re already dead, or once I have recovered, I would definitely fight you again. If I had my Ten Thousand Dragon Nest with me last time, I might not have lost,” snorted Evilmoon.

Long Chen was just staring. Yun Shang’s aura was gradually changing.

“That’s correct. If you weren’t too careless and had the support of the Ten Thousand Dragon Nest, I would have needed to go all-out against you. But even then, so what? Even if you beat me, what would you do after destroying the Spirit race? You would just continue devouring and devouring, allowing your own desires to devour you. No matter how strong you grow in that state, what’s the point? Are you not happy with your current self?” Yun Shang looked at Evilmoon profoundly.

“Hmph, what do I have to be happy about? I don’t even have my body anymore, and I have to fight with a useless fellow. Every time, my power is suppressed to his level. Am I supposed to be grateful to you?” snorted Evilmoon.

Yun Shang smiled and didn’t reply. He turned to Long Chen. “My current self is my past, and what you saw before would be my future self. Now that we meet again, my past and future bodies are being connected by your karma. My future self has gradually merged with this body. That’s why my aura is changing.”

“I don’t really get it, but it sounds badass. A Sovereign really is a Sovereign,” said Long Chen with sincere admiration.

Long Chen was ranked amongst the highest level of experts of the Martial Heaven Continent, but compared to Sovereign Yun Shang, he was vastly inferior.

“That’s different. Our eras are different. Although at that time the continent had just experienced the ancient immortal battle and started declining, there were still some intact inheritances. But you were born in a declined era with the most marvelous inheritances already becoming fragmented. Even shockingly talented people did not have the benefit of those inheritances. Also, you should change your appellation a bit. Sovereign is what outsiders call me. You should call me big brother.” Yun Shang patted Long Chen’s shoulder.

Sovereign Yun Shang’s aura had now transformed, going from a slightly foreign feeling at the start to the same aura of the Sovereign Yun Shang that Long Chen had encountered in the Spirit World.

It seemed that his past and future selves had finished merging. This was something that Long Chen had never encountered before, making him feel like an inexperienced brat in comparison.

His familiar eyes, his familiar voice, his familiar actions, Long Chen felt as if he had returned to that space from back then.

“Big brother.”

Sovereign Yun Shang nodded. “There’s no need to be embarrassed. Calling him brother is a matter between the two of you. The two of us are a different matter.”

Long Chen nodded. He truly had been a bit embarrassed over this. If he called Yun Tian brother as well, the seniority would be a bit messed up.

“Big brother, why are you here?” asked Long Chen.

“This is a clone of mine. When I stopped the Ghost Ship back then, I opened my Heavenly Fate Eyes, seeing countless opportunities from the Ghost Ship. I also saw what I needed, but there was one thing that I was unable to take along with the others in one trip, so I left it for Yun Tian to take,” said Sovereign Yun Shang.

“Big brother, I don’t understand. If you have Heavenly Fate Eyes capable of seeing the future, why was there such a miscalculation?” asked Long Chen, referring to the matter of the dragon king blood essence stone.

“Although I have Heavenly Fate Eyes, they can only see a fraction of the future and only of one world. When I left Evilmoon and its dragon core sealed for you, I was unable to see that the dragon core would end up being taken by a god from a different world. That was not within the scope of my Heavenly Fate Eyes. Due to her taking it, my calculations were thrown off. Furthermore, the future is not unchanging, so don’t trust in divinations too much. To cultivate is to strive against the future fate has in store for you. Otherwise, everyone would simply be born, grow old, and die in an endless cycle. To cultivate is to be unwilling to leave your fate in someone else’s hands. The future is always within your own hands.”

Yun Shang suddenly took a turn, saying, “This clone of mine was left behind to see who would arrive here in the future. I didn’t expect to see you. To protect this clone, I wiped out the strands of the other lifeforms and absorbed their energy to keep my clone alive.”

This explained why there were no other lifeforms on this level. They had all been killed by Sovereign Yun Shang. Long Chen felt even greater admiration for him. The lifeforms on this level had to be even stronger than the seventh level’s. Furthermore, the lifeforms in this tower were essentially undying due to the tower’s laws, but Sovereign Yun Shang had still managed to kill them permanently.

“Since you’ve come, let’s go to the ninth level,” said Sovereign Yun Shang, walking toward the staircase up ahead.

“Big brother, you haven’t gone up to the ninth level before?” asked Long Chen.

“I went up, but there was karma suppressing me, telling me that the ninth floor is not for me. Perhaps this opportunity was not meant for me. I used my Heavenly Fate Eyes to come here, which is in itself a form of cheating, so it rejected me. I’ve tried several times but never managed to get through. Now that you’re here, you should be able to pass. I also want to see what secrets are up above.”

Walking alongside Sovereign Yun Shang, Long Chen stepped onto the staircase. The world twisted, and a black bone blade slashed toward them with a sinisterly dark aura.