Heaven-Surpassing Divine Emperor

The water in the Ice Lake grew colder and colder.

The closer he got to the bottom, the lower the temperature dropped.

As Jiang Chen swam toward the lakebed, the oppressive force of the surrounding water grew stronger and stronger, almost to the point where he felt he couldn’t move at all.

Under the immense pressure, every muscle in his body tensed up, becoming as hard as steel.

If not for the fact that Jiang Chen’s cultivation had broken through to the Union Palace Realm Ninth Stage, and that his Divine Demon Tyrant Body made his physical form comparable to a High-level Celestial Tier Profound Weapon, he would have undoubtedly been crushed into a meat paste under such powerful water pressure!

Even so...

Jiang Chen’s bones creaked and groaned, and trickles of blood were squeezed from his skin.

’Hang on, I’m almost there!’

The red glow around Jiang Chen’s body grew dimmer and dimmer, and the surrounding water became even more bone-chillingly cold.

His body was starting to feel numb.

His consciousness, too, was slowly starting to fade!

One hundred meters!

Eighty meters!

Sixty meters...

By the time he was thirty meters away from the light at the bottom of the lake, a layer of white frost had already formed on Jiang Chen’s skin, making him look as if he could turn into an ice sculpture at any moment.

Jiang Chen gritted his teeth and swam forward with all his might.

’Almost there, just a little further!’

’Hang on!’

’I can’t give up, I’m just one step away...’

Jiang Chen constantly cheered himself on in his mind, pushing himself to his absolute limit.

He finally neared that glimmer of light at the bottom of the lake.

The moment his palm touched the light, the bottom of the lake was suddenly filled with a blinding white radiance.

The white light was of the Saint Tier, and powerful.

It instantly expanded, completely enveloping Jiang Chen.

At the bottom of the lake...

The surrounding space continuously distorted, and the lake water rippled. The white light and the icy water merged, forming a vortex!

The rapidly spinning vortex directly swallowed Jiang Chen.

BOOM!

Everything before his eyes twisted into a spiral. Space itself formed a tunnel, and with a flash, Jiang Chen’s figure shot out of it.

WHOOSH...

Jiang Chen burst out of the water.

His body was covered in a layer of frost. The bone-chilling cold caused a sheet of ice to form where he stood. In an instant, the grass and plants on the ground were frozen into ice sculptures, a testament to the extreme cold!

"Celestial Flame Sun-Devouring Slash!"

Jiang Chen let out a low roar.

His hand formed a sword, and with a Sword Finger, he pointed at his own body. CHH-CHH! A ball of Blazing Fire instantly enveloped him.

Under the searing heat of the Fiery Fire Sword Qi...

All the frost on Jiang Chen’s body melted away, and his body finally returned to normal.

Letting out a long sigh, Jiang Chen looked around, his gaze freezing. "What is this place? How can such a strange place exist?"

Before Jiang Chen’s eyes...

...was clearly a paradise, a land of singing birds and fragrant flowers, filled with a warm atmosphere!

Verdant green grass covered the ground, a hundred flowers bloomed in unison, and there were even all sorts of strange, ancient trees that soared into the heavens.

A faint, tranquil fragrance drifted through the air.

It was refreshing to the heart and soul!

"To think that at the bottom of the Ice Lake, a place so full of death and desolation, there would be such a miraculous place. This is truly incredible!" A look of excitement and curiosity appeared on Jiang Chen’s face.

This place was simply too beautiful!

Everywhere he looked, Jiang Chen saw strange plants he had never even heard of before.

For example, there were flowers that resembled beehives, and inside them, seeds like lotus pips were clustered together.

But as Jiang Chen approached them, the flowers all instantly swelled up like inflated balloons. The blossoms swiveled to aim directly at him, and then, with a series of POP-POP-POP sounds like popping beans, the seeds within them shot toward Jiang Chen like arrows loosed from a bow.

"What the hell is this stuff?"

Jiang Chen’s gaze sharpened, and with a flicker of his Divine Thought, he commanded, "Thunder Realm!"

The Spiritual Qi in the space pulsed, growing violent and transforming into a sea of lightning.

Bolts of lightning fell from the sky, connecting heaven and earth, their violet-gold color dazzling to the eye.

RUMBLE!

Under the impact of the lightning, the seeds exploded one after another, unleashing destructive shockwaves.

If Jiang Chen hadn’t released his Thunder Realm in time, the explosions from those seeds would have been enough to severely injure him!

"Everything here is just too bizarre. Who could have imagined that at the bottom of an Ice Lake teeming with terrifying Ice Corpses, there’d be such a strange grotto-heaven?" Jiang Chen’s eyes shone with curiosity and amazement as he looked around, discovering that the place was filled with so many wonders it was dazzling and overwhelming.

His Divine Thought Power covered the area in a hundred-foot radius.

He would be able to react instantly to the slightest disturbance.

As he was walking...

Jiang Chen discovered a small wooden house up ahead.

In front of the house was what looked like a small garden. Inside the yard was a vegetable patch where some fruits and vegetables were being grown.

At that moment, a small white rabbit was crouching by the vegetable patch, holding a watering can in its front paws and watering the plants. It had a serious expression, like a well-behaved child. Its long, furry ears twitched, and its red eyes turned to look at Jiang Chen.

It didn’t seem surprised, as if it had known all along that Jiang Chen would arrive.

The little rabbit set the watering can aside and hopped over to Jiang Chen. It stood up straight on its hind legs, its whiskers twitching on its split lip as it let out a few crisp chirps.

Then it hopped away.

After a few hops, it looked back at Jiang Chen and waited for a moment.

"You want me to follow you?" Jiang Chen asked, stunned.

The little rabbit nodded and continued hopping forward.

Jiang Chen hesitated for a moment before following. ’I’m a grown man, surely I can’t be tricked by a rabbit, can I?’

The little white rabbit led Jiang Chen to the front of the wooden house, where a stone table and stone chairs stood. On the table sat a single teacup.

The cup was a verdant green color. Inside was some clear tea, with two translucent, jade-like tea leaves floating on the surface.

A faint, elegant fragrance wafted over. As Jiang Chen took a light sniff, he instantly felt refreshed and clear-headed.

It felt as if his very soul had received an immense benefit!

"Soul Origin Dao Tea? Th-this is the legendary Soul Origin Dao Tea?" Jiang Chen’s eyes widened in utter disbelief.

Soul Origin Dao Tea!

A precious Sixth-grade High-level Spiritual Medicine, it was said that this tea was harvested in the Nine Nether Soul City and needed to be nurtured by thousands upon thousands of corpse spirits. It would sprout once every eight hundred years and grow for another eight hundred. It had to go through a cycle of blooming and withering nine times, and only when the leaves matured for the tenth time could the most precious few leaves from the very top be picked and refined through profound methods.

In the memories of the Celestial Demon Emperor Venerable, a single cup of this Soul Origin Dao Tea was enough to cause one’s soul to undergo a transformation, drastically increasing their Divine Thought Power!

One probably couldn’t find a second cup of Soul Origin Dao Tea in the entire Eastern Continent!

"This cup of Soul Origin Dao Tea is for me?" Jiang Chen swallowed hard and looked at the little rabbit.

The little rabbit scratched its furry ear, nodded, and made a human-like "please" gesture.

Jiang Chen took a deep breath, carefully picked up the cup of Soul Origin Dao Tea, and drank it all in one go.

GULP!

The moment the Soul Origin Dao Tea entered his mouth, it transformed into a thousand clear streams that surged into his soul. Jiang Chen’s whole body trembled, and two blindingly brilliant gleams of light suddenly erupted from his eyes...