Alchemy Emperor of the Divine Dao
chapter-2518

Chapter 2518: Passing the Formation

The Celestial King in black had harbored no positive feelings toward Ling Han. Everyone knew this.

Now, Ling Han had appeared here, while the Celestial King in black was nowhere to be seen. What did this signify?

The Celestial King in black had been… killed?

Gasp!

If this were true, the information that it revealed was far too terrifying.

Firstly, it was extremely difficult for Celestial Kings to kill fellow Celestial Kings. This was recognized by everyone. As long as the gap in cultivation level wasn’t large, a Celestial King wouldn’t be able to stop another Celestial King from fleeing.

Secondly, how long had passed? Yet, a Celestial King had already been killed?

To kill the Celestial King in black with such ease, just how overwhelming did Ling Han’s battle prowess need to be? He had killed him in such a short amount of time, and he had more so stopped him from fleeing?

With these thoughts in mind, the Celestial Kings couldn’t help but feel uneasy. They were filled with apprehension.

Ling Han simply replied with a smile. He didn’t explain anything.

He continued to gaze at the city gates before him, with the shards of the symbols floating around his mind. He attempted to piece them together.

Strangely, however, no matter how hard he tried to commit these symbols to memory, they would slowly fade away with the passing of time. After just two hours, they completely vanished from his mind. He couldn’t recall them no matter what.

“Friend, this stage is about trying to piece some words together. You have to rearrange these shards into the correct words within a limited amount of time. If you’re correct, you’ll be invited into the city,” the Plum Blossom Celestial King said.

Ling Han grumbled in his mind. Who had come up with this stupid test?

He nodded at the Plum Blossom Celestial King, expressing his thanks.

The other Celestial Kings humphed in their minds upon seeing this. They were slightly displeased.

Ling Han looked at the city gates again. Meanwhile, the Plum Blossom and the others also did the same thing, with all of them mulling over the shards. The words and symbols would change all the time, so it would be useless even if they had passed this stage before. They would still have to challenge it again.

As such, it was also impossible to rely on fortune.

Ling Han focused his full attention on the task this time. When the shards appeared in his mind, he didn’t try to immediately piece them together. Instead, he started to analyze them first. After all, different words would definitely have slight differences.

Sure enough, it wasn’t long before he separated these shards into 20 different groups. He then multitasked, rearranging these 20 words at once.

With his powerful divine sense, this was naturally no difficult task.

A short while later, the 20 words lit up in unison.

“Very well, you have solved the puzzle. You now have the right to enter the city. Don’t be too arrogant.”

Ling Han read this in his mind.

Whoosh!

A sheet of light swept over, immediately drawing him into the city.

Pu!

The five Celestial Kings violently spluttered again. Their eyes were wide with shock and disbelief.

He had solved the puzzle that quickly?

“His achievements will definitely be limitless!” the Celestial King in green said with emotion.

“Hmm?!” The Plum Blossom Celestial King suddenly faltered before saying, “I’ve heard that Yang Zhixuan was defeated by a mysterious person before. In fact, this person ripped his Battle Armor apart with his bare hands. However, he hadn’t even reached the Celestial King Tier yet.

“Before, I merely thought that this was a rumor. Now, however…”

“It’s that brat!” the four Celestial Kings exclaimed in unison.

***

With a shudder, Ling Han had already appeared in the city. However, this city was empty and desolate, with not a single person in sight. It was filled with a sense of gloominess and eeriness.

However, Ling Han was unafraid as he strode forward.

Tap, tap, tap…

Footsteps traveled over from in front of him, after which two figures appeared. They were both around six meters in height, and they both radiated with the luster of metal.

Ling Han was slightly astonished.

These were War Soldiers!

Crackle…

The two War Soldiers attacked in unison, shooting beams of red light from their eyes. These beams of light swept toward Ling Han.

Ling Han raised his hand to block the attacks, with the four beams of red light all landing on his hand.

‘It burns!’

Ling Han was astonished. This wasn’t the Regulations of Fire. Instead, it was a type of violent and chaotic energy that could cause even him to feel a burning sensation. This was simply incredible.

It was no wonder that the Foreign Realm was feeling immense pressure from the Dark Inverse Realm. In fact, they had even been forced to create a Battle Beast such as Little Terror. This was because of the overwhelming power of War Soldiers.

Moreover, unlike Celestial Kings, these War Soldiers could be mass-produced. Once they reached a certain number, they would indeed become terrifying.

“Explode!” Ling Han roared.

Boom!

His voice transformed into a shock wave.

Peng, peng!

The two War Soldiers were instantly blasted into smithereens, unable to withstand his crushing Fifth Heaven battle prowess.

Ling Han continued to crush all opponents in his way, quickly making it out of the city. What appeared before him was a large river.

Again, he was unable to fly across this river. There was some kind of mysterious power in the air that would strike him down with thunder if he attempted to.

Meanwhile, numerous rocks would float to the surface of the river from time to time. However, there was seemingly no pattern to when they appeared or disappeared.

Ling Han understood that he needed to cross the river by using these stones as platforms.

“The length of my strides will clearly be limited as well. Anyhow, let me have a try first,” Ling Han said to himself. He jumped onto the first stone. Unleashing his full power, he then leaped toward another.

Plop!

He immediately fell into the water.

With a boom, the roaring river directly washed him downstream.

It took him 15 minutes to run back to the starting point. It was clear that there was no limit on how many times he could fail. However, if one wanted to make it onto the ranking list with the other supreme prodigies, they naturally couldn’t fail even once.

Ling Han stood still, observing the changes in the stones and analyzing the patterns of their appearance.

After one day, he finally stepped forward again.

Xiu, xiu, xiu!

He leaped across the stones, crossing the river in a single breath.

He glanced back before continuing to advance.

A short while later, a gate appeared before him.

This wasn’t another test. Instead, this was the gate of the World’s Paramount Martial Academy.

He had passed the Nine Deaths Formation… or rather its first level.

A person flew out from the gate. It was a middle-aged man who had three ribbons of iridescent light around him. He looked at Ling Han, and said, “Congratulations on passing the Nine Deaths Formation. From now on, you’re a proper disciple of the academy!

“Dare I ask for your name?”

Ling Han pondered for a brief moment before replying, “Zhang San.”

The middle-aged man’s expression involuntarily froze. ‘Even if you don’t want to reveal your identity, can you please put in some effort and think of a more normal name? It doesn’t require that much brain juice, does it?

‘Is it really alright for you to act like this?’

“Friend Zh-Zhang San, do you want to challenge the second level of the Nine Deaths Formation?” the middle-aged man asked with a smile. “Only after passing the second level can you leave your name on the Eternal Stone.”

He pointed to the row of eight stone tablets beside him, all of which were dotted with names.

Ling Han looked toward the first stone tablet. These were the 100 people who had passed the second level in the quickest time. The first name that jumped out at him was Lin Xiaoyang.

“Lord Lin Xiaoyang is the eldest son of Heavenly Venerate Lin Luo,” the middle-aged man said with respect and reverence. “Lord Lin Xiaoyang’s cultivation talent isn’t astounding, yet he’s a person who is much wiser than he appears. Moreover, he’s also a prodigy who bloomed later, with each of his footsteps solid and sturdy. Right now, he’s already a Sixth Tier Heavenly Venerate.”

A thought occurred to Ling Han. Lin Luo was Zhou Heng’s master, and he was more so a Seventh Tier Heavenly Venerate!

This branch was far too freakish. Not only was the father a Seventh Tier Heavenly Venerate, but even his son and disciple were Sixth Tier Heavenly Venerates. This was truly something to envy.

He looked down, and the second name that appeared was Han Yeyun. After that was Lu Ziyu.

The middle-aged man continued to introduce them, saying, “Lord Han Yeyun, Lord Lu Ziyu, Lord An Feiyu, and Lord Long Yanyun are all prodigies from several epochs ago. As of now, they’ve all become Heavenly Venerates.”

Sixth was Guang He, and seventh was… A’mu!

Ling Han’s pupils contracted. He had heard of this person before. He was a freak among freaks.