Heaven-Surpassing Divine Emperor

Inside the underground cavern.

Everyone wore expressions of disbelief.

An expert ranked in the top 800 on the Human Venerable List, at the Union Palace Realm Seventh Stage, had just self-destructed and died without any warning?

What in the world was going on?

A strange atmosphere settled over the crowd.

"Bing Long, what was that all about?" Long Jingyun asked.

Everyone looked at Bing Long.

Bing Long’s face was grim. "I have no idea," he said. "There are no records of anything like this in my clan’s history."

The crowd looked toward the other experts from the Icefield Race.

Zifeng Jun, Zifeng Jie, and Purple Wind Frost of the Purple Wind Clan also shook their heads, indicating they knew nothing.

The experts from the Ice King Race, like Luoyu Chuan and Xia Shang, shook their heads as well.

Long Jingyun frowned, growing irritated. To be surrounded by a floor full of treasures but not dare to take any... this was pure torture!

Jiang Chen crouched down, picked up a Secret Manual, and tried to open it.

But he discovered a seal on it. It was a Bloodline Seal, which required a drop of blood to break before the contents within could be viewed.

Jiang Chen frowned, thinking to himself, ’Strange. It would be understandable if only Profound Weapons required Blood Recognition, but why does even a Secret Manual have a Bloodline Seal? Do the other treasures have them too?’

Jiang Chen immediately began to sort through the dazzling, countless treasures.

He found that, aside from the Profound Weapons, all the other treasures had Bloodline Seals.

This meant that to obtain these treasures, one had to use their blood to break the Bloodline Seal. But with the cautionary tale of the man who had just died, Jiang Chen didn’t dare to rashly attempt it. ’There’s nothing wrong with the treasures themselves! Could it be... the problem is with the Blood Recognition process?’

A sharp glint flashed in Jiang Chen’s eyes.

He closed his eyes and began searching through the memories of the Celestial Demon Emperor Venerable in his mind. Finally, he found a memory that perfectly matched the Bloodline Seal before him.

Jiang Chen’s eyes flew open, a look of stunned realization on his face. "So that’s how it is! No wonder every treasure here is branded with a Bloodline Seal!"

"Jiang Chen, what did you discover?"

Long Jingyun heard Jiang Chen’s muttering and swooped down in front of him, looming over him and demanding an answer.

This immediately drew everyone’s attention.

Bing Long also appeared before Jiang Chen, smiling sinisterly. "Jiang Chen, if you’ve discovered something, you’d best be honest and share it. We can all get rich together. Don’t even think about keeping it all for yourself!"

Zifeng Jie leaned against a stone pillar and said, "Jiang Chen, you might as well stop being so secretive!"

"Yeah, share what you found with everyone!"

"If you try to keep it all for yourself, we won’t stand for it!"

One after another, the experts verbally attacked him.

In their words, Jiang Chen had seemingly become a villain of the worst kind.

Zifeng Jun, Zhao Hongluan, and Purple Wind Frost’s expressions changed slightly, and they moved to stand by Jiang Chen’s side.

Purple Wind Frost put her hands on her hips and said indignantly, "What are you all talking about? Why should Jiang Chen tell you the secret he discovered? If you found a secret, would you share it with everyone? What a joke!"

"Do not do to others what you would not have them do to you!" Zhao Hongluan added.

Zifeng Jie chuckled sinisterly. "So, you’re saying you few have no intention of sharing the secret with everyone? You plan to monopolize the treasures in this Treasure Vault?"

Bing Long’s eyes lit up, and he shouted, "Everyone, come quick! Jiang Chen has discovered the secret of the treasures in the vault, but he refuses to tell us..."

"What?"

"How could someone be so malicious?"

"We have to force him to tell us the secret..."

One expert after another feigned righteous indignation, as if Jiang Chen had committed some unforgivable crime.

Seeing Jiang Chen surrounded and besieged by the crowd, both Zifeng Jie and Bing Long wore smiles that showed their scheme had succeeded.

Long Jingyun frowned, then said with an air of righteousness, "Jiang Chen, I advise you to tell everyone the secret you discovered!"

They had already been waiting in this Underground Treasure Vault for a long time.

They could only stare blankly at the dazzling array of treasures, unable to act.

For them, this was immense torture!

Every one of them looked anxious.

Even the usually stoic Gai Shi stepped forward. He looked at Jiang Chen calmly and said, "Jiang Chen, as long as you’re willing to tell me the secret, I will owe you a favor. If you ever ask for anything within my power, I, Gai Shi, will do everything I can to help!"

Everyone was stunned.

None of them had expected Gai Shi, the number one expert on the Human Venerable List, to say such a thing.

Even the few Human King Realm masters present revealed looks of shock and uncertainty.

Jiang Chen was taken aback. He also hadn’t expected Gai Shi to say that. A smile appeared on his face. "Since you’ve spoken, Gai Shi, I naturally won’t hide it from you. I can tell you the secret of these treasures. I just hope that if you obtain any Profound Celestial Ice Marrow in the Profound Celestial Ancestral Land, you will give it to me!"

Jiang Chen looked at Gai Shi with anticipation.

Gai Shi paused. "Profound Celestial Ice Marrow?"

For those who needed it, the Profound Celestial Ice Marrow was a priceless, incredibly precious treasure.

But to those who didn’t, it was just an ordinary piece of ice!

Gai Shi waved his hand nonchalantly. "Don’t worry. As long as I get any Profound Celestial Ice Marrow, I will give it to you immediately!"

"Thank you!"

Jiang Chen cupped his fists, then with a flicker of his Divine Thought, he secretly transmitted the secret of the Bloodline Seal to Gai Shi.

A look of astonishment crossed Gai Shi’s face. A moment later, he slapped his head and said, "So that’s how it is! The ancestors of the Icefield Race were truly wise. I understand now! Jiang Chen, thank you for your help. Don’t worry, if I find any Profound Celestial Ice Marrow, I will give it all to you! I’ll be on my way!"

"Take care!" Jiang Chen smiled.

He watched as Gai Shi, beaming with joy, took the treasure he had so carefully selected and strode away.

Inside the Treasure Vault.

Everyone was dumbfounded.

"It seems Jiang Chen really does know the secret of these treasures!"

"Even Gai Shi traded a favor for the secret. It doesn’t seem right for us to just force it out of him, does it?"

"It really isn’t."

The crowd whispered amongst themselves.

Many of the experts secretly glanced at Long Jingyun. As the peerless genius ranked second on the Human Venerable List, he was seen as the only one who could challenge Gai Shi. Gai Shi had traded a favor for Jiang Chen’s secret, yet Long Jingyun wanted to use force to coerce him. It was contemptible!

’Damn that Gai Shi...’

Long Jingyun cursed inwardly. Taking a deep breath, he looked at Jiang Chen and said, "Jiang Chen, as long as you tell me the secret, I am willing to owe you a favor!"

"I’m willing too!"

"Me too!"

"We..."

One expert after another spoke up.

Only the experts from the Purple Wind Clan, the Royal Family, and the Ice King Race—including Zifeng Jie—looked pale and uncertain, caught in a dilemma, not knowing whether to step forward or stay back.

Jiang Chen raised his hands and pressed them down, signaling for the crowd to quiet down. He then said, "Everyone, I can tell you the secret of these treasures, but I have two conditions I hope you can all agree to!"

"No problem!"

"Forget two, as long as they’re not too outrageous, even ten would be fine!"

A confident smile spread across Jiang Chen’s face as he slowly and deliberately said, "My first condition is that if any of you obtain Profound Celestial Ice Marrow, I hope you will let me have it. Of course, I’m willing to pay a price to buy or trade for it!"

"No problem!"

"To me, Profound Celestial Ice Marrow is just a useless hunk of ice. If I get it, it’s yours!"

Everyone agreed.

Long Jingyun also nodded. "Hurry up and state your second condition!"

Jiang Chen grinned, looking toward Zifeng Jie, Bing Long of the Royal Family, and the experts of the Ice King Race. "This second condition," he said, "is that you all must swear you will never reveal the secret of the treasures to Zifeng Jie, Bing Long, or anyone from the Royal Family or the Ice King Race. As long as you all agree, I, Jiang Chen, will tell you the secret right away!"

The moment he said this.

The expressions of Zifeng Jie, Bing Long, Bing Xu, Xia Shang, Luoyu Chuan, and their fellow experts all changed at once. They glared at Jiang Chen with murderous eyes, looking as if they wanted to devour him whole.

Bing Long quickly said, "Everyone, you mustn’t listen to this kid’s provocations!"

"That’s right, you absolutely cannot believe him!" said Xia Shang.

Zifeng Jie gritted his teeth. "Think about it... we’re from the Icefield Race! If it’s a secret even we don’t know, how could he?"

However...

The crowd completely ignored their protests and roars.

"If even Gai Shi believed him, why shouldn’t we?"

"Don’t worry, we definitely won’t tell those idiots!"

Everyone declared.

Seeing the ugly, puce-colored expressions on the faces of Zifeng Jie and the others, the corner of Jiang Chen’s mouth lifted into a smirk. He then secretly transmitted the secret to the crowd.

A bright glint shone in Long Jingyun’s eyes.

The other experts all rushed toward the treasures they had their eyes on.

Only Zifeng Jie, Bing Long, and their group were left staring blankly at each other, their faces a mixture of confusion and envy as they watched the crowd snatching up treasures...

[Sorry everyone. To write these few dozen Chapters, Little Tian has been pulling all-nighters for several days. Today, I was hit with vomiting and diarrhea during my meal and had to see a doctor. It’s been delayed until now. This is Chapter 42. There are still eight more Chapters [to make up], plus the five regular update Chapters for today, May 2nd. That means Little Tian will release thirteen Chapters today! I won’t go back on my word! Thank you all for your support!]