Chapter 6673 The Starry River Sovereign Palace
Heaven and earth shook—not only the martial stage, but the entire astral space.
This was the strike Zhong Yun had wagered everything on. The moment his arm was destroyed, he understood the truth: the gap between him and Long Chen was too vast to overcome. He had already lost.
His only chance lay in this final gamble.
He ignored his own condition, even taking the risk of damaging his foundation to launch this attack. He was staking his life and future, prepared to cripple himself if necessary.
The blow he had gambled everything on landed squarely on Long Chen’s shoulder.
BOOM!
But while the world shook, Long Chen didn’t budge an inch.
Outside the martial stage, deathly silence reigned. Shock and disbelief froze every face.
Zhong Yun’s full-power attack only left a palm-sized crack on Long Chen’s Star Battle Armor.
Finally, a shout broke the silence.
“Has the world gone crazy?!”
This person felt like he had to have gone insane.
A rank-nine Heaven Ranker had condensed his entire life’s power into a single strike, and it had merely cracked Long Chen’s armor?
Long Chen turned his head slightly and looked at the broadsword on his shoulder.
“Is that it?” Long Chen asked.
Blood sprayed out of Zhong Yun’s mouth. A hollow sensation seized him, and he fell from the sky.
Zhong Yun tumbled onto the ground, coughing up blood nonstop. His spiritual fluctuations grew weaker and weaker.
Parts of his organs came out as well. It was a horrifying scene.
Clearly, Zhong Yun had lost miserably. Most frightening of all, his gamble had worsened his injury dramatically. He was just a breath away from becoming a cripple.
The martial stage quivered.
Just as everyone assumed that it had judged Long Chen as the victor and Zhong Yun would be transported out for the healing squad right outside, a shocking scene appeared.
The martial stage started healing itself, and the holes in it quickly closed.
At the same time, the stage rapidly expanded, cracking the spectator platform. Everyone hastily fled and rose into the air. They had no idea what was happening.
The spectator platform was crushed. Astral runes came pouring out of it, flowing toward the martial stage.
The martial stage grew even larger, its aura overwhelming. The entire Starry River Palace was shaken. This phenomenon had never occurred before.
Qu Liushang looked up at the giant starry river flowing above the palaces like a ribbon. Sensing the shift in the laws of the Starry River Palace, he seemed to realize something.
The new martial stage shuddered. It was now absolutely gigantic, while the spectator section had turned to rubble.
“What terrifying Sovereign might and dense law power!”
Seeing this new martial stage and sensing its suffocating pressure, everyone was alarmed. Zhong Yun had vanished from it, but just as he did, Qu Yingying suddenly cried out.
“What is going on?! I didn’t initiate a challenge!”
Qu Yingying’s tablet was flashing. She was doing her best to contain it and shut it off, but her tablet had initiated a challenge on its own accord.
No matter what she did, she couldn’t stop it. Her tablet seemed to have gone out of control. Divine light enveloped her, indicating that she was about to be transported onto the martial stage.
“Little brother, have you gone crazy?! You don’t recognize your own family? I’m your big sister from another father and mother! You initiated a challenge against me?!” Qu Yingying shouted at Long Chen as she attempted to control her tablet.
Since she had not even touched her tablet, this meant there was only one possibility: Long Chen had initiated a challenge toward her—a kind that she could not refuse. There was no other possibility.
Before Long Chen could reply, more light flashed on the martial stage. A new figure appeared.
“Rank ten, Cui Changqing!”
Startled cries rippled through the crowd.
Immediately after, the bewildered Qu Yingying was pulled onto the stage.
“Rank eight, Qu Yingying!”
Divine light flashed repeatedly.
“Rank seven, Ren Ming!”
“Rank six, Kuang Sheng!”
“Rank five, Zhao Qingkuang!”
“Rank four, Feng Ya!”
“Rank three, Li Ziwei!”
“Rank two, Li Yaoming!”
“Rank one, Li Tianbi!”
As one figure after another appeared, everyone was shocked. The entire Starry River Palace was thrown into chaos.
The top ten of the Heaven Rankings were all in seclusion at this critical stage of cultivation, yet they had been forcibly summoned.
The top ten looked around in confusion. Having recently broken through to the Sovereign Lord realm, they were in the midst of comprehending laws. Why had they been dragged out?
Seeing their reactions, Qu Yingying immediately realized she had blamed Long Chen wrongly. This was not his doing.
It was the martial stage itself.
At that moment, an emotionless, mechanical voice echoed across the stage.
“The challenger of the consecutive battles to the peak, Long Chen, challenges all the top ten of the Heaven Rankings. If the challenger wins, the points of everyone on the Heaven, Earth, and Mortal Rankings shall be seized.”
“WHAT?!”
The uproar rose to a new level. Long Chen was supposed to challenge all the top ten at once?
And if he won, he would take every single ranking point?
That emotionless voice continued, “The Starry River Sovereign Palace will be activated for the challenger so that they may receive Heavenly Sovereign Yaochen’s legacy!”
“The Starry River Sovereign Palace?!”
The Starry River Sovereign Palace was the final palace left behind by the Starlight Heavenly Sovereign, Li Yaochen, before his death.
The Starry River Palace’s inheritance was split into two portions. One was the proper inheritance of the nine star line, which was located in the Starry River Treasure Pavilion.
The other portion was Li Yaochen’s personal inheritance. All his insights and cultivation comprehension were locked away in the Starry River Sovereign Palace.
Before his passing, Li Yaochen had left behind a single sentence:
To obtain my legacy, one must possess unparalleled wisdom and courage.
After he passed, the experts of the Starry River Palace tried everything they could think of to open the Starry River Sovereign Palace, but nothing worked.
The Starry River Sovereign Palace had many trials that were viewed as essentially impossible. Over all these years, no one had passed them.
Only now did they understand.
Li Yaochen’s requirement was to reach the top ten of the Heaven Rankings through consecutive battles to the peak.
When Long Chen defeated the rank nine Heaven Ranker—Zhong Yun, the new martial stage appeared. This was perhaps the only way of opening the Starry River Sovereign Palace.
But could they truly allow a disciple from the nine heavens to inherit Li Yaochen’s legacy?
All the higher-ups were tense now. They now knew the way to open the Starry River Sovereign Palace, but they would not let Long Chen seize this chance.
On the martial stage, aside from Qu Yingying, everyone’s expressions darkened. Their gazes locked onto Long Chen, sharp as drawn blades.
“A vagrant from the outside world wishes to touch the legacy of my Li family’s Heavenly Sovereign? Stop dreaming!” shouted the rank three, Li Ziwei.
He was the first to step forward.