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“Little brats of this mortal world, welcome to the trial grounds of my Imperial Mandate Sect!”

The old man’s voice wasn’t overly loud, but Shun Long could still feel his spiritual sea shudder for some reason! In the beginning, he felt as if the old man’s voice was being transmitted directly into his mind, but as time passed, he quickly realized that things weren’t as simple as that. The owner of the voice didn’t just use his soul sense to transmit it, but there was some extremely mystical quality to it that made his voice reverberate throughout the entire ‘City of Immortals’!

It didn’t matter where someone was, what type of place they were trapped in, or what type of treasures they tried to use to defend themselves from any external influence, once the old, ancient voice resounded through the air, every single Dao King present in the ‘City of Immortals’ heard its contents whether they wished to or not!

In fact, the Dao King realm cultivators weren’t the only ones who seemed to have heard it. In the second level of the ‘City of Immortals’, a similar scene was taking place as well.

The Dao Emperors there abruptly halted their actions and turned to look at the now darkened sky, where an enormous blurry face had already started taking shape, before the old man’s voice echoed in their minds as well!

”Whether you were strong enough to survive all by yourselves so far, whether you used others, or if you simply hid away and avoided trouble, it’s all irrelevant. The only thing that matters is that you stayed alive. Strength is a skill, cunningness is a skill, but luck… that’s an even more important skill for cultivators to have. Since all of you were fortunate enough to survive until today, it means that fate has bestowed a chance upon you. Step into the Heavenly Tower and test yourselves. This old man will give you all a chance to shed your mortal shell and embark on the true path to immortality!”

A second tremor rang through the ‘City of Immortals’ as the old man’s voice uttered that last sentence, before the gigantic face in the sky gradually vanished. The billowing dark clouds slowly receded, and the intense earthquake stopped as well, allowing the ‘City of Immortals’ to return back to its original atmosphere.

And yet, a deafening silence permeated the place as Bai Longtian and the others kept staring at the sky in a daze.

”Trial grounds? So this ‘City of Immortals’ is actually a sect’s trial grounds?” Bai Longtian could no longer conceal the shock in his heart after realizing the implications behind the old man’s words! No matter what, for a single sect to have created such an enormous place merely to test its new disciples was nothing short of unbelievable! At least as far as Bai Longtian’s imagination went, he couldn’t fathom how terrifying of a power this Imperial Mandate sect must have been, to be able to create a place like this.

”Imperial Mandate sect? I don’t think I have heard of this name before!” Jiang Chen shook his head as he pondered the old man’s words as well. From what he could infer at least, Jiang Chen could tell that this ‘Imperial Mandate sect’ certainly wasn’t a native of the central continent and most likely came from somewhere deep in the ‘Immortal Dimension’. Otherwise, that old man wouldn’t have called them ‘little brats of this mortal world’. And yet, although Jiang Chen wasn’t a native of the ‘Immortal Dimension’, he possessed at least some rudimentary knowledge about most of the first-rate sects who ruled a region in the ‘Immortal Dimension’, but he had never heard the name Imperial Mandate sect before!

Unable to come to a conclusion, he eventually turned to Shun Long hoping for an answer.

And yet, to Jiang Chen’s and the others’ surprise, Shun Long seemed to have fallen deep in his thoughts as well.

After a few moments of silence, Shun Long finally closed his eyes and let his consciousness slip into the foggy space inside the ‘Stone of Time’ before he asked curiously

”Little Black, what do you think?”

Little Black’s bright blue eyes resembled a deep, serene lake at this moment, as the black dragon answered calmly

”Master doesn’t need to think about this matter too much. After all, such practices are actually commonplace in the ‘Immortal Dimension’. There are endless mortal worlds out there, and this mortal world that master lives in is just one among many. Although the ‘Immortal Dimension’ is extremely vast, it’s only natural for those sects who are always looking for talented disciples to search through these mortal worlds as well!

As for this Imperial Mandate sect, although I have never heard of that name before, judging from how long their trial ground has been around, they must be at least a second-rate sect in the ‘Immortal Dimension’!”

Shun Long nodded after hearing Little Black’s assessment before he opened his eyes again. Indeed, most things seem to have fallen into place this way. The ‘Demon-fanged City’, the ‘Stone Mural’, and the ‘Illusion Oasis’, every single place that Shun Long and his group had visited so far, was always a trial followed by a reward, depending on how well one performed during the trial.

The more ‘Demon-fanged mice’ one hunted, the more rewards they could obtain from the city, and the longer one stayed in the ‘Illusion Oasis’, the more ‘Immortal water’ they could get their hands on in the end! As for the ‘Stone Mural’, that was a trial that purely depended on one’s talent. Of course, Shun Long had no idea how many more trials the entire ‘City of Immortals’ had, but there were surely many, many more!

Besides, since this ‘City of Immortals’ was, in reality, the trial grounds of an immortal sect, Shun Long could finally guess why it was only Dao Kings and Dao Emperors who were allowed to enter inside!

With a deep breath, he then closed his eyes and sat cross-legged on the ground as he emptied his mind. First, he was planning to complete his breakthrough and reach the peak of the sixth stage in body refinement, before paying a visit to that ‘Heavenly Tower’!

“Little brats of this mortal world, welcome to the trial grounds of my Imperial Mandate Sect!”

The old man’s voice wasn’t overly loud, but Shun Long could still feel his spiritual sea shudder for some reason! In the beginning, he felt as if the old man’s voice was being transmitted directly into his mind, but as time passed, he quickly realized that things weren’t as simple as that. The owner of the voice didn’t just use his soul sense to transmit it, but there was some extremely mystical quality to it that made his voice reverberate throughout the entire ‘City of Immortals’!

It didn’t matter where someone was, what type of place they were trapped in, or what type of treasures they tried to use to defend themselves from any external influence, once the old, ancient voice resounded through the air, every single Dao King present in the ‘City of Immortals’ heard its contents whether they wished to or not!

In fact, the Dao King realm cultivators weren’t the only ones who seemed to have heard it. In the second level of the ‘City of Immortals’, a similar scene was taking place as well.

The Dao Emperors there abruptly halted their actions and turned to look at the now darkened sky, where an enormous blurry face had already started taking shape, before the old man’s voice echoed in their minds as well!

”Whether you were strong enough to survive all by yourselves so far, whether you used others, or if you simply hid away and avoided trouble, it’s all irrelevant. The only thing that matters is that you stayed alive. Strength is a skill, cunningness is a skill, but luck… that’s an even more important skill for cultivators to have. Since all of you were fortunate enough to survive until today, it means that fate has bestowed a chance upon you. Step into the Heavenly Tower and test yourselves. This old man will give you all a chance to shed your mortal shell and embark on the true path to immortality!”

A second tremor rang through the ‘City of Immortals’ as the old man’s voice uttered that last sentence, before the gigantic face in the sky gradually vanished. The billowing dark clouds slowly receded, and the intense earthquake stopped as well, allowing the ‘City of Immortals’ to return back to its original atmosphere.

And yet, a deafening silence permeated the place as Bai Longtian and the others kept staring at the sky in a daze.

”Trial grounds? So this ‘City of Immortals’ is actually a sect’s trial grounds?” Bai Longtian could no longer conceal the shock in his heart after realizing the implications behind the old man’s words! No matter what, for a single sect to have created such an enormous place merely to test its new disciples was nothing short of unbelievable! At least as far as Bai Longtian’s imagination went, he couldn’t fathom how terrifying of a power this Imperial Mandate sect must have been, to be able to create a place like this.

”Imperial Mandate sect? I don’t think I have heard of this name before!” Jiang Chen shook his head as he pondered the old man’s words as well. From what he could infer at least, Jiang Chen could tell that this ‘Imperial Mandate sect’ certainly wasn’t a native of the central continent and most likely came from somewhere deep in the ‘Immortal Dimension’. Otherwise, that old man wouldn’t have called them ‘little brats of this mortal world’. And yet, although Jiang Chen wasn’t a native of the ‘Immortal Dimension’, he possessed at least some rudimentary knowledge about most of the first-rate sects who ruled a region in the ‘Immortal Dimension’, but he had never heard the name Imperial Mandate sect before!

Unable to come to a conclusion, he eventually turned to Shun Long hoping for an answer.

And yet, to Jiang Chen’s and the others’ surprise, Shun Long seemed to have fallen deep in his thoughts as well.

After a few moments of silence, Shun Long finally closed his eyes and let his consciousness slip into the foggy space inside the ‘Stone of Time’ before he asked curiously

”Little Black, what do you think?”

Little Black’s bright blue eyes resembled a deep, serene lake at this moment, as the black dragon answered calmly

”Master doesn’t need to think about this matter too much. After all, such practices are actually commonplace in the ‘Immortal Dimension’. There are endless mortal worlds out there, and this mortal world that master lives in is just one among many. Although the ‘Immortal Dimension’ is extremely vast, it’s only natural for those sects who are always looking for talented disciples to search through these mortal worlds as well!

As for this Imperial Mandate sect, although I have never heard of that name before, judging from how long their trial ground has been around, they must be at least a second-rate sect in the ‘Immortal Dimension’!”

Shun Long nodded after hearing Little Black’s assessment before he opened his eyes again. Indeed, most things seem to have fallen into place this way. The ‘Demon-fanged City’, the ‘Stone Mural’, and the ‘Illusion Oasis’, every single place that Shun Long and his group had visited so far, was always a trial followed by a reward, depending on how well one performed during the trial.

The more ‘Demon-fanged mice’ one hunted, the more rewards they could obtain from the city, and the longer one stayed in the ‘Illusion Oasis’, the more ‘Immortal water’ they could get their hands on in the end! As for the ‘Stone Mural’, that was a trial that purely depended on one’s talent. Of course, Shun Long had no idea how many more trials the entire ‘City of Immortals’ had, but there were surely many, many more!

Besides, since this ‘City of Immortals’ was, in reality, the trial grounds of an immortal sect, Shun Long could finally guess why it was only Dao Kings and Dao Emperors who were allowed to enter inside!

With a deep breath, he then closed his eyes and sat cross-legged on the ground as he emptied his mind. First, he was planning to complete his breakthrough and reach the peak of the sixth stage in body refinement, before paying a visit to that ‘Heavenly Tower’!