Chapter 6179 Fourth Heavenstage Human Emperor
Long Chen sat high in the sky beneath the sea of stars. The starry expanse flowed endlessly above him as eight astral gates flickered into view.
This time, he didn’t start by opening the Life Gate. Instead, he calmly observed all eight astral gates and the stars behind them.
“Every time I open the Life Gate, the other gates respond. Although astral energy comes bursting out, I always sense some dissonance in the flow, like something’s off. Maybe... the Life Gate isn’t supposed to be the first?” Long Chen muttered.
With his heightened perception and experience after repeatedly opening the Life Gate, Long Chen could now sense astral energy far more keenly. He continued examining the eight gates, hoping to uncover the correct starting point. Yet even now, he couldn’t determine the ideal sequence.
“Well, I’m already a third Heavenstage Human Emperor. I can handle three silver rods. My physical body should be strong enough for more testing!”
“Gate of Pain—Open!”
A thunderous boom echoed as an astral gate slowly opened. As a wild surge of energy poured into Lpng Chen, he winced from the pain.
“Not this one! Gate of Vision—Open!”𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢
“Gate of Terror—Open!”
“Gate of Death—Open!”
A mouthful of blood burst from Long Chen’s lips. Although he closed the Death Gate quickly, the backlash of its violent astral energy still wounded him.
“Again, Gate of Limit—Open!”
“Gate of Body—Open!”
“Open!”
“Open!”
...
Long Chen continued opening the eight gates, each time suffering new injuries from the violent waves of astral energy.
Even with his powerful physique, the strain was immense. But every time he healed, he resumed the process.
Days passed, and he had opened the gates hundreds of times. He had been closely observing how each gate responded to the others. Through this, he confirmed the truth: the Life Gate was not the first. The proper starting point was the Opening Gate.
After relentless testing and more than a few brushes with death, Long Chen pieced together the correct sequence: Opening Gate, Body Gate, Life Gate, Pain Gate, Limit Gate, Vision Gate, Death Gate, and Terror Gate.
This order had been earned through blood and grit. The Terror Gate in particular nearly tore his body apart every time it opened.
The sequence was absolutely right. After all, Long Chen had tested and confirmed it several times. Although he closed the gates quickly, he still almost saw the gates to hell several times.
After figuring it out, he opened the Opening Gate again—then followed with the Body Gate. At once, an enormous amount of astral energy poured into his body, far stronger than before.
With two gates open simultaneously, the force was more than ten times that of a single gate. Long Chen lasted only a few breaths before closing them.
Long Chen glanced at his skin and saw fine cracks across his arms. He then shook his head.
“It’s no good... I am still too weak.”
Still, he saw a new path: to let the violent astral energy tear his body apart and use that devastation as a means of tempering his flesh. It was brutal, but it would work.
Unfortunately, his current strength wasn’t enough for that method. A misstep would lead to severe injury and days, if not weeks, of recovery.
“Time to activate more weight runes,” Long Chen sighed.
Grinding his teeth, Long Chen resumed his silver rod training. Seven days later, he finally adapted to the full weight of four silver rods.𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚
Just then, a rumbling sound came from within his body, and a majestic aura rose out of him.
“A double win!” Long Chen exclaimed, delighted.
Another breakthrough was arriving faster than expected. He immediately deactivated the weight runes and concentrated.
BOOM!
An hour later, a deafening explosion shook the sky as a wave of qi swept out from Long Chen.
Emperor power circulated madly through his meridians, causing him to feel overflowing with energy.
“Gate of Opening—Open!” “Gate of Body—Open!”
As Long Chen shouted, two massive astral gates appeared within his starry sea. A stream of stars flowed into his body.
BOOM!
Long Chen clenched his fist and flicked a finger. The resulting shockwave tore through the air with an ear-splitting boom.
This power is so great that it even scares me. Just two gates open, and I’m already this strong. What if I opened all eight?
Excitement surged through Long Chen.
Who needed Sovereign flames? Once he opened all eight gates, no divine sprout would be able to stand before him.
“Earth Vein Bull Python!”
With a thought, Long Chen summoned the Earth Vein Bull Python again.
BOOM!
Long Chen’s fist collided with the beast’s tail. Both were sent flying, though Long Chen’s injuries were minimal.
“Heh, that’s the difference! Even if that patriarch of the Heavenly Demon Golden Monkey race appeared again, I wouldn’t need the Earth Vein Bull Python to fight him now! Time to test my spiritual domain!”
BOOM!
Long Chen condensed a spiritual shield. When struck by the Python’s tail, it cracked but did not shatter.
Long Chen muttered, “If I didn’t test it like this, I wouldn’t have noticed that my Spiritual Strength had silently grown.”
He stared at the shield, pleased. Just days ago, this same shield had shattered instantly under pressure. Now, it held firm.
That kind of progress was hard to detect without a proper test. But this confirmed it—his Spiritual Strength had evolved with his breakthrough.
Long Chen waved his hand, transforming the shield into a skyful of flower petals. Watching them spin through the air, he sighed in wonder.
“Evilmoon, you really are a treasure!”
If it weren’t for Evilmoon, all his Spiritual Strength would have remained little more than wasted potential in battle.
And now, with this power, his survivability had risen tremendously.
Long Chen now made it a habit to constantly have hundreds of dragon scale petals flowing around him. They were completely invisible but could be used to respond to an emergency.
With just a thought, these petals could take any form, attacking or defending. Their reaction speed even surpassed his physical body.
Once again, Long Chen activated his weight runes. This time, he set them to remain active permanently. He would turn this into his normal state. Whether he was walking or sitting, he would have them on.
In the past, he hadn’t dared to do this. The immense burden drastically slowed his reaction speed, and a sneak attack could’ve killed him before he could even react.
But now, things were different. His spiritual domain could block the attacks of even late-stage Sovereign Lords. It would buy him enough time to deactivate the runes, even during a surprise attack.
At this time, the primal chaos space quivered, and a ferocious, majestic aura surged.