Long Chen shook his head. “It might be hard to hear, but I’m not going to skirt around it. I’m unable to understand why your senior experts all look like… shoehorns that gained sentience. They all look like they have a permanent scowl on their donkey faces. If they weren’t with you, I really would have trouble believing they also came from the Illusive Music Immortal Palace.”


  “What do you mean, sentient shoehorns? They… that really is rude.” Zi Yan glared at Long Chen. “Although they look fierce, that’s because they’ve fought against invaders several times. They’ve killed so many of them that they accumulated darker auras. If they used the Music Dao to suppress those auras, it would suppress their realms as well. That’s why they chose to seal themselves.”


  “Is that really true?” asked Long Chen.

  “How could it not be? Would I trick you?” Zi Yan was starting to grow angry.

  “Well, I really dislike them. Even if it is to protect the Martial Heaven Continent, I don’t like it. I’m not going back to the Illusive Music Immortal Palace. My temper’s not good, and I don’t want to embarrass you,” said Long Chen.

  Long Chen had gotten enough of the Illusive Music Immortal Palace with this one visit. If it weren’t for Zi Yan, he wouldn’t have visited them at all.

  “I know. I don’t like them either. When they speak, they always seem peculiar. It’s not comfortable. But they’re my elders, so I’m not in a good spot to contradict them. Once the dark era is over, I will leave the Illusive Music Immortal Palace,” said Zi Yan.

  “Why? Where will you go?” asked Long Chen.

  Zi Yan blushed and glared at him. “Why? Do you think the world isn’t big enough for me to find a home?”


  Long Chen almost slapped himself. He really had been stupid lately. Zi Yan was clearly saying that she would join him, and he just had to ask such a question.

  “Alright, let’s not talk about that,” said Zi Yan. “You said you need to prepare. Prepare what?”


  “You’ve reached the fifth Heavenstage so quickly?” Long Chen suddenly noticed that Zi Yan’s aura was strangely heavy.

  Zi Yan smiled. “The foundation that the Illusive Music Immortal Palace has been building for tens of thousands of years has all been thrown my way. How can my cultivation speed not be fast? Due to cultivating the Music Dao, the past ancestors transmitted their life’s energy into the Heavenly Music Stone just before their deaths. Although that Heavenly Music Stone cannot allow me to advance, being enveloped by it all day makes my bottlenecks very easy to break through. My seniors already paved the path for me just for this tribulation.”


  Although Zi Yan had been fighting with the Dragonblood Legion against their enemies during this time, it wasn’t every day. Normally, she would participate in one sneak attack and then rest for a few days.

  During those few days, she would immerse herself in the Illusive Music Immortal Palace’s Heavenly Music Stone. That was why her rate of advancement was terrifyingly fast.

  “Is such a rapid advancement really alright for you?” asked Long Chen. Although Zi Yan’s aura was powerful, they also were not as stable as they should be. That was the result of such a rapid advancement.

  At this rate, when she reached the ninth Heavenstage, her foundation would definitely show serious signs of being unstable. That was not a good thing.

  If it was someone else, then fine. After all, with a battle for the continent at hand, they couldn’t care too much about such things. But this was Zi Yan, one of the pillars of the Martial Heaven Continent. She still had a long way to go.

  During his visit to the Wine God Palace, Long Chen had learned more about the Heaven Merging realm. There were still the early, mid, and late stages for the first to third Heavenstages, the fourth to sixth Heavenstages, and the seventh to ninth Heavenstages.

  Moreover, there were further Heavenstages within his realm. The tenth Heavenstage was called the Venerate realm, the realm that the divine families’ Lord Venerate was in.

  The eleventh Heavenstage was the Saint realm, the level of that Lord Saint. That realm was currently the peak of this world.

  The twelfth Heavenstage was the Emperor realm. Three and a half people in the Martial Heaven Continent had reached this realm, the Peng Emperor, the Blood Emperor, and the Corrupt Emperor. As for the Stone race’s Shi Changsheng, although his cultivation base was at the very pinnacle of the Saint realm, in the end, he could only count as a half-step Emperor. Thus the Stone Emperor’s name was self-proclaimed.

  As for the thirteenth Heavenstage, that was the Sovereign realm, the ultimate limit of this mortal world. Throughout all of history, only five people had reached this realm, the realm where they looked down upon the world of mortal dust.

  When Long Chen heard this explanation from the High Priest, he was deeply shaken. If the thirteenth Heavenstage of the Heaven Merging realm was the Sovereign realm, didn’t that mean that he didn’t need any karmic luck? He would still be able to reach this realm because the Nine Star Hegemon Body Art had thirteen Heavenstages in every realm.

  After hearing that, Long Chen grew much more at ease. Who cared about the world’s karmic luck turning him into a Sovereign? He didn’t need that. He could just cultivate normally.

  This was also why Long Chen felt that it was not good for Zi Yan’s aura to already show some bad signs at the fifth Heavenstage. If this continued, her cultivation base would solidify around the ninth Heavenstage. If that happened, it would not be worth it.

  Zi Yan smiled. “The Music Master and the others also told me this. But have you forgotten about the Southern Sea Zither? As long as I become its master, this problem will be gone instantly. Don’t worry about me. But as for you…”


  Long Chen’s cultivation base was still at the first Heavenstage because he had been refining pills this entire time. When he had tried to cultivate, he was startled to find that his body was no longer able to absorb Heavenly Dao energy.

  That was because as soon as the Heavenly Dao energy entered his body, it was erased by the power of his 108,000 astral spaces.

  He had then tried to consume some demonic Heaven Merging Pills and was comforted to find that its effect was truly amazing. He could cultivate through pills. That was why Long Chen hadn’t wasted any time while refining pills.

  “That’s why I need a few days. Protect me while I increase my realm,” said Long Chen.

  “Right here? Why not in the Illusive Music Immortal Palace?” asked Zi Yan.

  “Those old fellows are really dislikeable. If I went into seclusion there, it might give me a heart-devil,” joked Long Chen.

  “Bah, don’t talk nonsense,” said Zi Yan. He was practically jinxing himself by saying that.

  Long Chen laughed and then set up a few formations prepared by Xia Chen. This would prevent anyone from peeping.

  With Zi Yan to protect him, Long Chen took out a demonic Heaven Merging Pill. He was about to stuff it into his mouth when Evilmoon suddenly spoke.

  “Long Chen, think carefully about this. These pills are very evil. Whether it’s a blessing or calamity, no one can say.”