Chapter 108: The Divine Emperor Enters Tribulation (Part One)

The City of All Gods, the Hall of Discourse, and the Central Great Platform.

On the central white jade platform stood ten figures, lone and unbending, gazing across all heavens. Their bodies radiated a blazing brilliance, like ten primeval stars—mighty, solemn, and making all beings look up in awe.

These ten titans were the foremost ten of the First Great Doctrine Tournament of the Northern Wastes.

The Venerable of the Five Elements, the Heavenly Roc Divine Lord, the Abyssal Sea Divine Lord, the Water-Kun Divine Lord, the Frost-Fang Divine Lord, the Earth-Order Divine Lord, the Demon-Soul Seven-Desires Divine Lord, the Lord of Slaughter, and the Skythief Divine Lord.

With the spread of that tournament, the names of the top ten had already resounded through the Northern Wastes and rippled across the Primal Wilderness. Across heaven and earth, among billions in the untamed expanse, who did not know them? Who had not heard the names of these ten? This was fame. This was power. This was fortune itself.

This was what every participant in the Tournament of Doctrine sought above all else: renown, authority, and blessed destiny.

Beneath that triple halo of fame, authority, and fate, all the creatures in the grand spectator stands felt the ten on the central platform grow ever taller and more divine in their eyes. They shouted more and more wildly, acclaiming their names.

“The Venerable of the Five Elements is unbeatable in every direction!”
“The Abyssal Sea Divine Lord is unfathomable!”
“The Heavenly Roc Divine Lord—none stronger than he!”

The ten stood on the central white jade platform, able to overlook all heavens and cast their gaze down upon all living things, while praise rolled around them in waves.

Cool as aloofness like the Venerable of the Five Elements, unfathomable as the Abyssal Sea Divine Lord, mercilessly cold as the Frost-Fang Divine Lord, ambitious as the Heavenly Roc Divine Lord, and so forth—each seemed to rise above all beings, floating above mortal years and seasons.

On the spectator tiers, millions of creatures were swept into frenzied acclamation, save for three imperial guest pavilions that remained utterly still. In those three sat the envoy of the Dragon Clan, the envoy of the Phoenix Clan, and the envoy of the Qilin Clan.

As they watched the whole scene turn into a sea of excitement, the three envoys observed with cold eyes. Yet even the central platform and the ten exalted ones who basked in the adoration of all living things had offered each envoy their own insight.

Candle Dragon, watching the crowd lose itself in fervor, sighed: “What all beings seek, it comes to this.”

Phoenix Radiance, staring up at the platform, spoke with excitement, “A true hero should stand like this—seeking the world’s praise in the Doctrine Tournament.”

Qilin Flame, watching those ten who enjoyed universal veneration, said with a flash of jealous admiration, “A life of only one such day—why, even death would be enough for it.”

The three envoys had believed their words would never pass beyond their own circles. They spoke freely for that reason.

Alas, there are no walls that can seal even the wind.

In the end, the words of Candle Dragon, Phoenix Radiance, and Qilin Flame spread everywhere, through the entire Primal Wasteland.

Once those words were uttered, the name of the Doctrine Tournament spread madly through the Eastern, Southern, and Central Wastelands. Beings in those three vast realms all wished to witness the Doctrine Tournament praised so highly by the three great clans.

None of them, least of all the three envoys, had ever imagined they would help carry that tournament into wider fame across all three wastes, then across the whole Primal World.

As ever more beings came to know of it, the tournament grew into a feast of triumph shared by all living things and the mighty of heaven and earth, standing beside the Peach Banquet of the heavens and earth as one of the two greatest celebrations of the wild age.

Of course, all that came later. Now let us turn back to the First Tournament.

After about half an hour of making the ten endure the crowd’s hymn of praise, the Divine Court that hosted the Tournament finally made its appearance.

A brilliant pillar of crimson light descended from above the central white jade platform. The red was like blood, sweeping outward with overwhelming command.

Any being no higher than a King-Grade Deity was broken by its ironclad pressure; even a Divine Lord would feel a hush of dread beneath that iron-blood authority.

In an instant, the millions packed into the stands fell silent, and the earlier clamor vanished.

Yet the ten titans on the central platform remained unmoving, faces unchanged, eyes fixed upon the crimson column.

As the crimson light slowly faded, the figure within emerged: Martial-Warrior Celestial Honored.

He bore a hard, resolute face; his eyes were blades. Dressed in iron-blooded divine robes, he radiated that same iron-blood aura.

“A top ten, interesting indeed,” Martial-Warrior Celestial Honored thought inwardly as he looked upon the ten unblinking warriors.

The ten thought themselves formidable, yet they inwardly felt no small dread at the absolute force of Martial-Warrior Celestial Honored.

“Who would have thought that a single Martial-Warrior Celestial Honored could command such dreadful iron-blood power? What then must the Supreme Divine Emperor be?”

Though the ten showed no change of countenance under the pressure, it was only because Martial-Warrior Celestial Honored had not fully unleashed it. Had he done so, those ten on the white jade platform would have yielded.

As a primordial demon-god who had reigned over the martial division of the Divine Court for tens of thousands of years and whose cultivation had reached the late divine-lord realm, Martial-Warrior Celestial Honored’s strength was inscrutable and beyond reckoning. Could it truly be matched by newly risen youths scarcely known to the world?

No longer looking at the ten below, he slowly swept his iron-blood pressure inward, easing it so that those who had not withstood it might recover.

After one full minute of surveying the crowd and seeing that most had already regained themselves, he suddenly spoke: “Humbly welcome the Divine Emperor!”

Yet the millions in the stands seemed not to catch it, sitting there dumbstruck.

“The Divine Emperor Himself is arriving at the platform!” they did not seem to realize.

Seeing this, Martial-Warrior Celestial Honored raised his voice again: “Humbly welcome the Divine Emperor!”

This time he secretly used a mind-borne transmission so every being in the stands could hear him clearly.

At last the million divine beings on the stands came to life. Then it was a rush of sound.

One after another, they rose and faced the palace of the Divine Court, bowing with respect and crying out:
“Welcome, your majesty, Divine Emperor!”
“Welcome, your majesty, Divine Emperor!”
“Welcome, your majesty, Divine Emperor!”

In the thunder of worshipful voices, ten holy white steeds from the Tianhara plains drew a sacred golden chariot, racing out from the clouds toward the platform.

Alongside that divine chariot rode three thousand guards of the Divine Emperor, mounted on celestial horses, surrounding and escorting it in front and behind.

As the golden chariot drew near, within a radius of a million li the platform trembled with music for the Divine Emperor’s descent. In that vast and majestic composition, the chariot finally came to hover above the central Doctrine Platform.

“Salutations to the Divine Emperor!”

At the height of the great music, Martial-Warrior Celestial Honored led the countless spirits in homage, casting their respectful bows.

At that moment, the grand music and the voices of adoration interwove, rising into an even more immense, sacred, and magnificent harmony.