Chapter 77: Struggle for the Immortal Platform

Immortal Platform opens!

With the echo of the ancient bell toll, a brilliant light pillar piercing heaven and earth descends thunderously from the void into the central region of the Third Layer World.

Within the light pillar, a majestic and grand platform base can be faintly seen slowly sinking, like a divine mountain.

Immortal energy cascades like a waterfall from the edges of the platform base, like surging river water, continually striking and cleansing the surrounding space!

Buzz!

The sound of the Great Dao roars!

That is precisely the gateway to ultimate creation, the Immortal Platform!

In an instant, all cultivators inside the Third Layer, numbering several thousand, rushed toward the center where the Immortal Platform was descending!

When the Immortal Road opened three hundred years ago, several tens of millions of cultivators surged up from the lower realms into this Immortal Road!

These cultivators came respectively from the Myriad Heavens and Myriad Worlds, the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths, and the Three Thousand Dao Realms!!

Although the Immortal Road holds many opportunities, only a few thousand cultivators have obtained great fortune and cultivated three strands of immortal energy!

At this moment, crowds of people densely gather around the Immortal Platform!

Cultivators from the Myriad Heavens and Myriad Worlds, the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths, and the Three Thousand Dao Realms have gathered here!

Some stand suspended in the air, some sit cross-legged on mountain peaks, all gazing with fiery eyes at that enormous Immortal Platform!

Every figure is surrounded by three strands of immortal energy, their aura immensely powerful!

Anyone here, if casually cast into the lower realms, could become a peerless existence in a realm!

This is the immense fortune forged by the Immortal Road!

Even without the Immortal Platform, relying on the fortune of having already cultivated three strands of immortal energy, they can within a thousand years nurture a body of immortal energy and ascend to immortality!

But since the Immortal Platform can speed up this process, who would still forsake the near for the far?

Just as everyone eagerly gazed at the Immortal Platform, two lines of text emerged from within it!

【The fewer people entering the Immortal Platform, the greater the immortal energy infused into each individual!】

【The Immortal Platform will open in one hour!】

Whoa!

As soon as these words appeared, the scene instantly erupted in an uproar!

In a moment, the atmosphere also became somewhat subtle!

The fewer people entering the Immortal Platform, the greater the immortal energy infused into each individual!

It's like placing a cake there: the fewer people who go in, the more each can get!!

Although those who can come here have already cultivated three strands of immortal energy!

However, even among those of the same realm, their combat prowess also differs!

Some cultivators possess semi-immortal supreme treasures!

Some cultivators wield imitation immortal artifacts!

Some heaven-defying cultivators have even created peak supreme arts before stepping into the immortal realm, their power comparable to immortal techniques!!

Swish! Swish! Swish!

Soon, the cultivators who arrived here naturally divided into three factions!

One faction is the Myriad Heavens and Myriad Worlds!

One faction is the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths!

One faction is the Three Thousand Dao Realms!

Each faction has roughly over two thousand people, huddling together for warmth!

The faction of the Myriad Heavens and Myriad Worlds here is led by the three palace masters of the Heavenly Court!

Grand Palace Master Fang Lingjie, Second Palace Master Fang Duanhe, Third Palace Master Ye Wentian!

These three are the oldest and strongest in the Myriad Heavens and Myriad Worlds, each possessing a semi-immortal weapon!!

However, at this moment, the expressions of all three are somewhat solemn!

Without a doubt, among the three major factions, theirs from the Myriad Heavens and Myriad Worlds is the weakest!

Fang Duanhe kept looking around, as if searching for something.

"Why don't I see that kid? If he were here, entering the Immortal Platform would be certain."

Fang Duanhe muttered to himself.

The "that kid" he spoke of is naturally Liu Yiming!

Three hundred years ago, he and Liu Yiming formed a team to seek opportunities for a full hundred years.

The two of them were incredibly bold, specifically venturing into dangerous places and obtaining immense cultivation resources.

During that hundred years, whenever their lives were in danger, it was Liu Yiming who summoned their sect master to come and destroy the danger!

However, later Liu Yiming was taken away by their sect master, and Fang Duanhe was quite reluctant!

You know, being by Liu Yiming's side was equivalent to having an extra life-saving charm!

After Liu Yiming was taken away, Fang Duanhe immediately felt his sense of security greatly diminished; he no longer dared to venture into dangerous places, and his conduct became much more steady!

Later, when the Third Layer of the Immortal Road opened, Fang Duanhe found the other two palace masters of the Heavenly Court and teamed up with them to seek opportunities.

After all this turmoil, the three of them also managed to cultivate three strands of immortal energy during the three hundred years of entering the Immortal Road!!

And now, becoming an immortal is just one step away!

However, looking at the current situation, it seems somewhat difficult for them to lead the Myriad Heavens and Myriad Worlds crowd into the Immortal Platform!

"I don't know where that kid went; could it be that their sect master took them and they ascended to the immortal realm on their own?"

"Or perhaps they haven't arrived yet and will come when the Immortal Platform opens?"

Fang Duanhe pondered to himself, his divine sense continually scanning the surrounding space; still not seeing Liu Yiming's figure, he then reluctantly gave up……

On the Nine Heavens Ten Earths side, the leader is a youth wearing a star‑spangled long robe, with a flashing star‑mark on his brow.

Behind him floats a long sword, its blade shimmering with flowing light, as if a galaxy were condensed into it!!

He is Li Chen, the most stunning prodigy of the Nine Heavens Ten Earths, already a peak expert who had cultivated three strands of immortal qi before even entering the Immortal Path!

Over the past three hundred years, his entry into the Immortal Path has merely been to consolidate his realm, and he has continually studied to strengthen his self‑created peak supreme art, never competing with others for resources!

His entering the Immortal Path ultimately aims only to pass through this Immortal Platform to reach the Immortal Realm!

The long sword floating behind him is a pseudo‑immortal artifact, and he needs no one's help to activate it—he can trigger it alone with his own powerful aura!!

One person alone activating a pseudo‑immortal artifact—what a mighty figure!!

Even before entering the Immortal Path, he had already swept the Nine Heavens Ten Earths, unbeatable!

At this moment, Li Chen wears an interested look toward a direction—the camp of the Three Thousand Dao Realms—and his gaze is fixed on a person!

And that person is none other than the leader of the Three Thousand Dao Realms!

On the side of the Three Thousand Dao Realms, the leader is a purple‑haired youth whose whole body is entwined with thick demonic aura!

The youth wears a purple long robe, with a bone sword floating behind him; the bone sword is likewise suffused with thick demonic aura, as if countless souls were roaring within it!

This person is named Wen Wang, a demonic path cultivator!

He is also an unparalleled prodigy of the Three Thousand Dao Realms!

In the Three Thousand Dao Realms, demonic cultivators are all the rage!

Wen Wang has shown astonishing talent for demonic cultivation since childhood, aloof and ruthless.

At ten years old, he killed his own younger brother and refined him to boost himself!!

At one thousand years old, he slaughtered his entire clan and refined their souls to elevate himself.

Wen Wang is icy and aloof, almost devoid of emotion, single‑mindedly devoted to the Dao, earning the title 'Refiner of Men, Earth, and Heaven'!

As long as it improves himself, he spares no means; in merely ten thousand years he cultivated three strands of immortal qi and came to dominate the Three Thousand Dao Realms!

The bone sword at his back is also a pseudo‑immortal artifact, forged by slaughtering countless living beings!

He too can activate that pseudo‑immortal artifact by his own power, and he has also created his own peak supreme art.

At this moment, Wen Wang turned his head to look at the myriad Three Thousand Dao Realm cultivators gathering behind him, gave a cold smile, and said: "How is it? Are you seeking my protection?"

"Lord Wen Wang, we wish to follow you and ask you to lead us in storming the Immortal Platform!!" a one‑horned man said, clasping his hands tremblingly before Wen Wang.

This one‑horned man is also a demonic cultivator, his body radiating overwhelming demonic aura.

But his demonic aura pales beside Wen Wang's, like a firefly next to the moon—utterly insignificant!

Although they are of the same cultivation realm, Wen Wang makes the one‑horned man feel as if there are several realms between them, making any talk of equals impossible!

"Heh!" Yet upon hearing the one‑horned man's words, Wen Wang gave a cold smile, turned his head, and looked disdainful: "Just by you, do you even deserve to follow me?"

"But…"

Wen Wang suddenly shifted his tone, his gaze turning to the Nine Heavens Ten Earths camp, fixing on Li Chen!

In Wen Wang's eyes, among those present, only Li Chen of the Nine Heavens Ten Earths is worthy to be his opponent.

After Wen Wang glanced at Li Chen for a moment, he continued to the cultivators of the Three Thousand Dao Realms behind him: "But after all, you are from the same Three Thousand Dao Realms as I; if anyone tries to move against you, I wouldn't mind lending a hand!"

To Wen Wang, the cultivators of the Three Thousand Dao Realms are no more than his own dogs!

He can bully or even kill his own dogs as he pleases, but if anyone else dares to touch them, that's not allowed!

Of course, although Wen Wang is arrogant and overconfident, at this moment he can still see the situation clearly!!

After all, the forces are now split into three camps, each boasting two or three thousand Emperor Realm experts who have cultivated three strands of immortal qi!

Thus, if Wen Wang acted alone, two or three thousand Emperor Realm experts from the opposing camp charging at him would overwhelm him!

Moreover, over on the Nine Heavens Ten Earths side there is another equally formidable Li Chen staring at him!

So at this point, it's wiser to stick together.

"I see you are also a heroic figure, Lord Wen Wang; the Immortal Platform is about to open, and we need not fight to the death." At this moment, Li Chen looked at Wen Wang and suddenly said:

"Anyway, entering the Immortal Platform allows ascension to immortality; it's merely a matter of how much immortal qi is infused to lay the foundation for the immortal realm."

"Your Three Thousand Dao Realms and our Nine Heavens Ten Earths are evenly matched; if a great war broke out now, both sides would suffer mutual loss, with no one gaining any benefit."

"If one's own cultivation is damaged, even entering the Immortal Platform may not guarantee successful ascension!"

"If so, why not join forces to wipe out the third camp? Then the slots for entering the Immortal Platform would be reduced, wouldn't they?"

"That way, both the Nine Heavens Ten Earths and the Three Thousand Dao Realms would get a share of the spoils—why not?"

"You'd agree, wouldn't you, Lord?"

As they spoke, Li Chen's gaze turned toward the camp of the Myriad Heavens Ten Thousand Worlds!

One naturally picks the soft persimmon to squeeze!

Among the three camps, the Myriad Heavens Ten Thousand Worlds side is undoubtedly the weakest!

In the Myriad Heavens Ten Thousand Worlds camp, they lack even a single pseudo‑immortal artifact, and only a handful possess semi‑immortal artifacts!

Given that, whose face should we step on if not yours?

Having heard Li Chen's words, Wen Wang also turned his gaze to the Myriad Heavens Ten Thousand Worlds crowd, pondered briefly, then uttered a single word: "Good!"

Although Wen Wang does not fear Li Chen!

But the Immortal Platform is about to open; if they were to fight now and suffer mutual loss, it would jeopardize their ascension—not a wise move!

As for the Myriad Heavens Ten Thousand Worlds side, Wen Wang doesn't even glance at them—no pseudo‑immortal artifact at all, heh, so weak yet they dare to covet the Immortal Platform's fortune; they're practically courting death!

"Haha!" Li Chen burst out laughing: "If that's the case, then let us join forces and wipe out that bunch of Myriad Heavens trash!"

As they spoke, Li Chen looked toward the leader of the Myriad Heavens Ten Thousand Worlds side, Fang Duanhe and his three companions:

"Actually, I don't particularly enjoy slaughter; if you lot of Myriad Heavens trash withdraw on your own, we wouldn't mind sparing your lives!"

"Have a bit of self‑awareness—you Myriad Heavens trash should be content just to have cultivated three strands of immortal qi on this Immortal Path."

"The fortunes inside the Immortal Platform aren't for you to lay hands on, so listen up, head back quickly, alright?"

Li Chen's tone was very refined and elegant, his bearing graceful.

However, his words fell into Fang Duanhe and his companions' ears, yet they made Fang Duanhe and his companions feel somewhat cruel!!

They have devoted their whole lives to cultivation, isn't it just hoping that one day they can ascend to the immortal realm and prolong their lifespans?

Now, the opportunity to become an immortal lies before them; as long as they step in, they can ascend to the immortal realm.

And yet, at this moment, someone actually urges them to give up this chance to become immortal—how could they possibly accept that?

""Hmph! Why bother reasoning with them? Just kill them all!"" At this moment, Wen Wang saw that no one on the myriad realms' side had left, and a flash of anger appeared on his face.

He casually summoned the bone dagger floating behind him into his hand, and immediately swept a blade straight toward the camp of the myriad realms!

Swish!

In an instant, the blade's aura surged, covering the heavens, bearing the power of countless lingering souls as it poured down upon the crowd of the myriad realms!

Boom! Boom! Boom...

Moments later, several Emperor Realm experts on the myriad realms' side spat blood on the spot!

Fang Lingjie, Fang Duanhe, and Ye Wentian were somewhat better off, but they also suffered injuries!!

""You... are bullying too much!" the Heavenly Court Grand Palace Master Fang Lingjie glared at Li Chen and Wen Wang with fury!

""Courting death!" Wen Wang snorted disdainfully, then casually swung a blade toward Fang Lingjie!

Swish!

The blade's light, wrapped in vast demonic qi, came sweeping like a crescent moon, as if capable of destroying everything!

""Big brother, retreat quickly!" Fang Duanhe shouted, for that blade's light was too terrifying; once it struck Fang Lingjie, Fang Lingjie would surely die on the spot!!

Fang Lingjie's heart jolted; he wanted to retreat, but discovered that the blade's light had directly sealed the space around him, restricting his movements!

""Big brother!" On the other side, Fang Duanhe and Ye Wentian suddenly arrived carrying a bronze brazier.

This is a supreme treasure!

That bronze brazier instantly expanded, covering the three of them and blocking the vast blade's light!

""Heh, a broken brazier dares to dream of blocking my blade's qi?" Wen Wang said with a cold snort.

Boom!

As expected, just as the blade's light fell, the bronze brazier covering Fang Duanhe and them shattered instantly!

The blade's light showed no diminution, still horribly terrifying, as if nothing could withstand it!

In the blink of an eye, the blade's light arrived before the three of them...

At that moment, a blazing white light shot forth from afar!

Boom!

That blazing white light directly dispersed the demonic-qi-filled blade's light!

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh...

Li Zhangsheng and company flickered into view!

""Senior Fang!" Liu Yiming darted toward Fang Duanhe's side.

""Brother Liu, you've finally come." Seeing Liu Yiming, Fang Duanhe almost teared up!

""Huh?" Wen Wang glanced somewhat surprised at the suddenly appearing Li Zhangsheng and company, then gave a mocking smile and said:

""Here come a few more bugs?"

""What, you few bugs also want to test how sharp my blade is?"

Wen Wang looked down on Li Zhangsheng and company, swinging his bone dagger again!

Then, Li Zhangsheng merely raised his hand slightly!

Boom!

Wen Wang directly turned into a blood mist...