Long Chen replied, “I will go there when I have the time one day. Not only have you protected me, you even guided me into the Earthly Martial Realm. I will repay the favor one day.”
Huangfu Fengchen laughed. “That’s alright. No need for such formalities. My daughter has taken quite a liking to you, and I don’t find you repulsive. Helping you didn’t cost me anything, so it’s fine. I will have to go now. Goodbye.”
He then disappeared swiftly after saying goodbye to Long Yue too.
“Huangfu Fengchen is not a bad guy. He’s quite humane.” Long Yue approved of him too.
“He’s indeed good.” Long Chen watched Huangfu Fengchen disappear before looking at Long Yue. “Big Sister, I’ve reached the Earthly Martial Realm, but we didn’t get the Red Emperor Seal. What should we do next?”
“Let’s find the others first. We have people from the Red Souls in Cloud Heaven City. We can locate the others through them.”
Long Chen nodded.
They were only three Li away, so they sprinted towards Cloud Heaven City.
Long Chen was conflicted. He didn’t know if he should tell her that he had obtained the Red Emperor Seal. The Red Emperor Seal was one of the clues that would lead them to the Prismatic Key, which would then lead them to the treasure of the Five Emperors. According to the fragmented soul of the Red Emperor, the treasure was located in the Ancient Graveyard.
The Ancient Graveyard was also where Long Chen needed to go.It was the perfect time to obtain information about the place since Long Yue would know more than the others. Long Chen asked her, “Big Sister, do you know anything about the Ancient Graveyard? Could you tell me about it?”
“The Ancient Graveyard?” Long Yue did not expect that question from him. “Long Chen, how do you know about it?”
“I thought I could explore one day.”
Long Yue shook her head and sighed. “It’s too dangerous there. The Ancient Graveyard is where numerous experts from the Ten Thousand Nations Empire perished in ancient times. While there are numerous treasures there, it’s also filled with unimaginable dangers. Setting aside the King-tier and Emperor-tier demonic beasts that dominate the place, there are also traps and trials left behind by the experts from back then. The Divine Fire Realm is an example. It was a miracle that you survived both of its trials.”
The Ancient Graveyard is most likely a forbidden area where treasures and danger go hand-in-hand. This was within Long Chen’s expectations, but he wanted to know how it connected to the Three Emperor Territory.
“I don’t have the qualifications to go there now, but if I get lucky and become stronger, I should be able to go there. I wonder how I should do that?”
Long Yue saw how sincere he was and answered in kind.
“Are you sure you want to go there? Every time the Ancient Graveyard opens, a bloodbath ensues. Very few people return from that place since everyone wants a treasure for themselves. The Ancient Graveyard can be described as a large coliseum that numerous experts from the Nine Divine Empires strive to enter. Every time it opens, experts kill each other without any hesitation as the allure of treasures and the grudges held between the empires blind them. Many of the experts of the Nine Divine Empires rose to their positions thanks to the treasures they found at the Ancient Graveyard.”
“Nine Divine Empires? I thought there were ten?” Long Chen was confused.
Long Yue smiled wryly. “Nine, not ten. That’s because the Divine Martial Empire is no longer qualified to be called one. If it weren’t for the Nine Divine Empires honoring the promise they made in the past, the Divine Martial Empire wouldn’t have survived until today.”
Long Chen had never heard of any of this before. Based on what she had said, it appeared that the Divine Martial Empire was the weakest of them all.
“Why is that?”
“Thousands of years ago, the strength of each empire was roughly the same, but as time went on, the people of the Divine Martial Empire started becoming weaker and weaker. Due to that, the other empires attacked the Divine Martial Empire in an attempt to secure more land from themselves. The Divine Martial Empire was supposed to be wiped out that day. The weak perish and become food for the strong. But one day, roughly a thousand years ago, an extremely strong individual appeared in the Divine Martial Empire. He had reached the peak of the Heavenly Martial Realm. He challenged the experts of all nine empires and won. No one was his match. He was the strongest individual in the Ten Thousand Nations Empire.”
Long Yue became excited when she said that.
“You mean he made a promise with them before he challenged all of them? If he beat all of them, the others would never encroach on the Divine Martial Empire?” Long Chen immediately guessed what had happened back then.
“Yes, but with a time limit. They agreed to set it as two thousand years. Thanks to that, even though the Divine Martial Realm was currently the weakest, we have a thousand years of peace left. Still, it’s a fact that we are considerably weaker than the other empires.”
Even though all of that had happened long before Long Chen was born, he could feel how admirable that person was just from listening to the story.
“He made the nine other empires adhere to the promise to give two thousand years of peace to the Divine Martial Empire. That person must have been extremely powerful.”
Long Yue nodded and said proudly, “That person had the surname ‘Long.’”
Long Chen was stunned.
“You are right, and he was our ancestor. His blood flows through our veins. It’s just a shame that none of his descendants inherited his strength. Then the despicable Martial Alliance overtook our family and became the leader of this land,” Long Yue said with a sad expression on her face.
To think that the extremely powerful figure was Long Yue’s ancestor.
Long Chen had a feeling that Long Yue's ancestor was a Dragon Warrior of the lowest-ranked Red Dragon. To think that even the weakest dragon would make him the strongest person in the entire Ten Thousand Nations Empire. It was clear that Dragon Warriors were extremely strong.
That was how the Divine Martial Empire remained standing even though they were weak.
Similarly, it also showed how strong the rest of the empires were. The Martial Overlord at the Fourth Earthly Martial Stage would probably just be a regular person if he went to the other empires.
“Long Chen, do you understand how strong the other empires are now? If you go to the Ancient Graveyard, your opponents will not only be those from our empire, but also the others. Imagine this: you are alone and from the Divine Martial Empire, but the other empires have thousands of people with them. All of them are at the Earthly Martial Realm, and some of them are even at the Heavenly Martial Realm. How will you fight against them?”
“That’s true, but could you tell me how to enter the place? I’m asking out of curiosity since I can’t enter when I’m this weak.”
Long Yue nodded. “The Ancient Graveyard opens periodically. News of its opening is explosive news for the other empires, but no one in the Divine Martial Empire knows about it. Do you know why?”
“Of course not.” Long Chen shook his head.
“The Ancient Graveyard is controlled by an invisible force. Whenever it opens, the invisible force gives out special tokens called Ancient Tokens to every empire. Those who possess tokens are then sucked into the Ancient Graveyard when it opens.”
Long Chen was shocked, not because of the tokens, but the person sending them.
That person must be extremely powerful.
Most of the people in the Ten Thousand Nations Empire did not know about the Three Emperor Territory. The Ten Divine Empires had the perception that the Three Martial Realms were the peak of cultivation, which was why they didn’t know that the invisible force was most likely an expert from the Three Emperor Territory taking care of the Ancient Graveyard.
But that was just his conjecture. He was still weak, so this wasn’t the time to concern himself with these matters. He was more concerned about whether the tokens would be given to the Divine Martial Empire or not.
“Yes, every empire receives them, but the numbers are based on the empire’s overall strength. Each empire is given anywhere from five hundred to several thousand based on their strength, but the Divine Martial Empire is only ever given one as a courtesy.”
One?
Long Chen almost fell over from shock.
The Divine Martial Empire was too weak.
That meant that he would have to get his hands on that single token no matter what.
“The Ancient Graveyard opens up once every ten years or so. The last time it opened, Martial Overlord Zhao Wuji entered and never returned. Before that, someone strong from the Martial Alliance obtained it, but he never returned either. The Ancient Graveyard is considered a nightmare for the experts of the Divine Martial Empire.”
Long Yue tried to intimidate Long Chen with the truth, but he refused to give up. “When was the last time it opened?”
Long Yue smiled bitterly. “Coincidentally, the last time it opened was roughly ten years ago. I wonder if Zhao Wuji will go. I know I definitely wouldn’t.”
Long Chen had one last question. “Where will the Ancient Token appear?”
“It’s random. There is no fixed location.”
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