Chapter 177 : Upper Three Immortal Sects
Chapter 177: Upper Three Immortal Sects
As the sun vanished, the storm dissipated, and heavy smoke and dust filled heaven and earth, dyeing the blue sky into a dark gray.
“Drip, drip!”
The sky began to drizzle. It was a sticky black rain formed from radioactive dust and carbon particles born of blazing combustion, as if the heavens themselves were weeping.
At the very center of the Three-Phase Bomb’s explosion, a terrifying crater with a diameter of three kilometers abruptly appeared. The soil on the crater’s surface had been melted by thermal radiation into a glassy substance.
By all logic, no living being should have survived such a hostile environment.
Yet in the next second, a streak of golden light shot into the sky, quickly escaping the shroud of black rain, before plummeting to the ground and revealing a golden fish-flood dragon.
Gold Egg shook his head, ignored the smoke before him, opened his mouth, and spat out Chen Beiwu.
As soon as Chen Beiwu landed, he looked toward Gold Egg, discovering that the latter’s body was covered in a thick layer of ash, yet his scales were utterly unharmed.
‘Hiss—you’ve already become this strong?’ Chen Beiwu’s eyes revealed shock.
He knew that Gold Egg’s strength had surged after advancing to the Second-Tier Lesser Beast, but this was far too outrageous—he could actually ignore a nuclear strike.
Could it be that he had underestimated Gold Egg’s power?
Gold Egg was now already comparable to a Foundation Establishment peak cultivator!
Sensing the shock in Chen Beiwu’s heart, Gold Egg proudly raised his head and spat out a puff of black smoke.
“Gulu!” (“A mere fatal injury, nothing worth mentioning!”)
No sooner had he spoken than darkness overtook him, and Gold Egg fainted on the spot.
Although the Third-Tier Treasure Art, Gilded Body, allowed him to nullify most of the nuclear blast’s force, the terrifying heat and shockwave still left him with considerable internal injuries. It was just that his scale defense was too strong, concealing the damage entirely on the outside.
Witnessing this, Chen Beiwu’s expression changed slightly, and he immediately activated the Rejuvenation Art to heal Gold Egg.
Only when Gold Egg’s aura gradually stabilized did Chen Beiwu let out a breath of relief.
……
Two thousand meters underground, inside the council hall of the New Ape Clan.
“Ka-cha!”
Staring at the red dots disappearing one after another on the giant screen, the Ape King could not help but beat his chest with both fists.
Yes, just like this.
Before the ultimate weapon of the New Ape Clan, humans could only be utterly defeated!
But in the next instant, the Ape King’s eyes widened, fixing on the one red dot on the screen that had not dimmed.
“How is this possible? It’s impossible that a human exists in this world who cannot be destroyed by a Three-Phase Bomb!” The Ape King lost all strength, collapsed onto his throne, and muttered incoherently.
Meanwhile, the thirty-six senior Chouyuan also had their smiles stiffen, their faces filled with disbelief.
Some of the Chouyuan elders, unable to accept reality, even struck their own heads and let out meaningless howls.
Ignoring the crazed council members, one Chouyuan muttered in despair: “It’s over. We will become sinners of the Ape Clan!”
“No, we haven’t lost yet!” The Ape King forcefully drew in a breath, his gaze sweeping across the high council. “The Ape Clan will never be slaves! I will enact the Jade-Shattering Plan!”
“If one Three-Phase Bomb cannot kill those strange humans, then we will launch them all, flatten the surface, and alter the very environment of New Ape Star!”
“No matter how strong those humans are, they cannot survive under nuclear radiation without food or drink!”
Hearing this, the ape councilors exchanged glances and voiced no objection.
They knew all too well the fate of becoming slaves.
Better to wager everything than to see their clan defeated, enslaved by humans, unable to live and unable to die!
……
Bixiao Immortal Sect, God-Void Realm monitoring chamber.
As they watched the images on the giant screen, several Golden Core True Persons’ eyes flashed with faint astonishment.
They admired Chen Beiwu’s decision not to withdraw early from the God-Void Realm, choosing instead to stand to the end. But none of them had believed he could withstand a nuclear blast.
They had never expected him to succeed!
Only True Monarch Jiang’s expression remained calm, as he gave Chen Beiwu a “Middle A” evaluation.
The Chouyuan Star’s ultimate thermonuclear weapon, developed over four thousand years, was indeed impressive, but in the end, it amounted to no more than the linked lifetimes of fifty men.
Compared to the Beast-Taming cultivation civilization of the Immortal Alliance, which had inherited and reformed countless millennia of ancient human cultivation history, Chouyuan Star’s scientific civilization was no different from gravel.
Chen Beiwu’s survival under nuclear fire was commendable, yet what Jiang Chuan appreciated more was his temperament—hence the “Middle A” evaluation.
‘For such a small place as Yuan-Kong County to produce such an immortal seedling!’ Pei Heng’s eyes narrowed, sweeping across the hall to find that the Golden Core True Persons present all wore calm expressions, no longer sparing Chen Beiwu on the screen a second glance.
‘A pack of old foxes!’ Pei Heng cursed inwardly.
True geniuses were rare, especially beast tamers who, at such a young age, could already contract a Second-Tier Treasure Beast.
Most of the Thirteen Immortal Sects’ Golden Core True Persons here were already tempted, though they still needed to observe Chen Beiwu’s performance in the final trial.
‘This is troublesome.’ Zhao Wuchen’s eyes narrowed.
He was confident he could suppress Pei Heng, but he was not certain he could compete with the powerhouses of the Upper Three Immortal Sects.
The so-called Upper Three Immortal Sects were the three sects that had always ranked at the top of the Thirteen Immortal Sects: the Yuqing Immortal Sect, the Shangqing Immortal Sect, and the Taiqing Immortal Sect.
These three sects were closest in strength to the Five Great Grotto-Heavens.
It was said that if the Upper Three Immortal Sects united as one, their strength could rival even the Grotto-Heavens.
The chief overseer of this Immortal Alliance re-examination, True Monarch Jiang Chuan, hailed from the foremost sect of all—the Yuqing Immortal Sect.
If True Monarch Jiang were to extend an olive branch, few examinees of the Immortal Alliance would dare to refuse.
“Hu.”
Zhao Wuchen exhaled deeply, his gaze once again fixing on Chen Beiwu on the screen.
To avoid complications, he decided to claim Chen Beiwu for his sect before the final trial began.
……
Chouyuan Star.
Time passed swiftly, and in the blink of an eye more than twenty days had gone by.
In order to secure their dominance, feeling their rule threatened, the New Ape Clan spared no cost, launching all their thermonuclear weapons to bombard the surface, attempting to use the hostile environment to exhaust the cultivators of the Immortal Alliance.
Learning from experience, Chen Beiwu hid deep beneath a canyon and did not emerge, escaping wave after wave of nuclear bombardments until his survival mission was complete.
But the Immortal Alliance candidates who had failed to react in time met with disaster.
Even those disguised as ape generals could not pass the identity checks and were instead locked onto by the quantum radar hovering outside Chouyuan Star—earning themselves the reward of a Three-Phase Bomb.
When the thirtieth day came to an end, Chen Beiwu raised his head to glance at the dim sky.
If not for the quantum radar beyond the planet constantly tracking his position, giving him an ominous premonition each time he considered leaving the canyon depths, he would have charged straight into the Ape Clan council hall and slaughtered every last elder.
“Wong!”
In the next instant, heaven and earth shifted, and Chen Beiwu found himself within the examination hall. There were no other candidates around him—only a graceful woman in green robes standing before him.
“The re-examination is over. You may leave now.” She reminded softly.
Chen Beiwu nodded, left the hall with Gold Egg in tow, and went off in search of food.
He had been on Chouyuan Star for a whole month and had not eaten a single thing.
Yet when Chen Beiwu pulled out his phone, he discovered the date displayed on the screen was June 12th, 10:00 a.m.—only two hours had passed in reality.
‘So it was indeed an illusion realm.’ Chen Beiwu thought to himself.
Once he exited the God-Void Realm, Gold Egg’s injuries vanished as well, as though everything that had transpired before was nothing but an illusion.