Chapter 1936 Arriving at the Ninth Heaven

• Pingxi had a thousand complaints bottled up. Still, she stepped in. Even if she hated it, she chose to follow. She chose to trust Damon King. “Let’s go.” The Dragon King let out a sigh and could only tag along. The other three had gone in; it’d be weird if he didn’t. After all, they were the only ones who could truly rely on each other. Zhan saw this and stepped in as well. A spatial node. Thinking of his past, Zhan felt a bitter twist. Back then, when he saw a spatial node, he’d skirt far away, never daring to get close. This was the first time in his life he walked into one—just to join a bunch of kids in a crazy stunt. “Hope you’re right,” Zhan muttered as he went in. Hummm. All five vanished. The spatial node stayed, slowly spinning, waiting for the next lucky soul. … Zhan strode out. Spatial nodes were wild, basically short-range jumps through space. When he emerged, the other four were waiting not far ahead. Zhan came out and said calmly, “Spatial nodes don’t reverse. You can exit here, but you can’t go back through it.” He tasted the chaos around them, then nodded. “Good. We’re not far from the Nine Heavens and Ten Lands.” That was how you found your way in the chaos: the closer you got to the Nine Heavens and Ten Lands, the calmer the aura felt; the farther you went, the more it turned vicious. Deepest in, it was totally out of control. They all watched Damon King, waiting for him to call it. No one could pretend they weren’t nervous. “Move.” Damon led the way. With the dragon-etched compass pointing true, there was no need to figure out directions. How fast were five ninth-tier fighters? Pretty much like hop-after-hop short-range jumps. The chaos got stirred to a frenzy—though honestly, it was already a mess. When a faint glow showed up ahead, Zhan’s eyes went wide. Not just Zhan. Even the Devil Lord, who barely ever changed expression, looked stunned at Damon. Ahead, a massive orb of light was branded into the chaos. As they sped up, the orb swelled bigger and bigger. Heat rolled off it, even bleeding into the chaotic void, making every inch of you feel scorched. “The Upper Nine Heavens.” Zhan sucked in a breath. The Upper Nine and the Lower Ten carried different flavors. From the chaos, the Lower Ten looked like clusters of light too, but the ten lands were linked—huge, sprawling—with a stone road running between them, stringing them together. The Upper Nine were different. No chains. Each was its own domain, connected by teleport arrays. Back in the day, the Master of Order built those arrays—the greatest trick of the Upper Nine Heavens. Zhan glanced at Damon, shocked. “How’d you know about this spatial node?” No way this was luck. His gaze dropped to the compass in Damon’s hand. He drew a breath. “It’s the compass, huh? Damn, that’s a treasure. Didn’t think you had something this good.” Zhan looked a little envious. Oddly, there wasn’t a hint of greed in his eyes. A tool that could fix position in the chaos was the real deal, top-shelf. Most folks, seeing it, would think about taking it and calling it theirs. But Zhan didn’t have that look. Yeah… he and Old Demon Chu were the same kind of prideful. That’s why Damon dared reveal the compass’s power in front of him. Zhan said, “With this thing, we could totally pull off a sneak hit on the Upper Nine. Kid, how about we crash into the First Heaven right now and kill the Son of Heaven? End it all in one shot.” Damon King: “…” He hadn’t thought that far. “You’re joking, sir,” Damon said with a dry smile. Even the Devil Lord stared at Zhan like he’d lost his mind. Just the few of them, going after someone above the Emperor realm? Yeah, sure. What a joke. Even if you want to die, don’t throw yourself away like that. If you throw a fight on purpose, you get called out. Seeing their weird looks, Zhan felt awkward and cleared his throat. “I was just spitballing.” Yeah… you can spitball; we can’t just nod along, Damon griped inside. While they chatted, they drifted close to the colossal light-mass. It was gigantic. Heat blasted like a furnace, melting the chaos nearby. The liquified aura seeped into the barrier, then slowly filtered into the domain and turned into normal power along the Way. “Should be the Ninth Heaven,” Zhan said. “Huayan rules the Ninth, walking the path of pure, blazing yang—a true master of the Great Sun.” Damon nodded. He’d seen plenty who cultivated the Great Sun. Emperor Yu under his banner was one. The Scarlet Sun Emperor he’d cut down back then was another. But compared to the Great Sun path in front of them, those two were laughably weak. You don’t notice till you stack them side by side—then the gap hits you like a freight train. If Huayan’s Dao was the real sun, then Emperor Yu and Scarlet Sun were just furnace fires. This was the real top tier. “We just walk in?” Damon asked Zhan. “Just walk in.” Zhan nodded. “Relax. The Upper Nine are too proud to guard the borders.” As soon as he said it, a figure zipped out of the chaos afar and slipped through the Ninth Heaven’s barrier. “That was…” “A Ninth Heaven expert heading out to roam,” Zhan explained. “There are ancient ruins circling the Upper Nine—leftovers from ages past. Lots of treasures and insights into the Way still sit in those ruins. Tons of folks from the Upper Nine go hunt them down.” Damon nodded. Yeah, like the ruin the Master of Order once found—that’s what made him what he was. Even though the Master of Order had been gone for ages, the Nine Heavens and Ten Lands still lived by the laws he set. When cultivators swore on the Way, they did it in the name of Order. That fired up a whole lot of treasure hunters. “Let’s go,” Zhan said this time. “I can’t wait.” His hatred was beyond anyone’s grasp. He’d teamed up with the Son of Heaven to execute Order—only to be killed by the one he trusted. That kind of hate could only be washed clean by killing the Son of Heaven. As they closed in on the Ninth Heaven, Damon could feel the Dragon King’s nerves spike. Saying you weren’t nervous would be a lie. This was the Upper Nine. The Hundred-Million Tribulation had been kicked off by them, and here they were, hitting back. Of course they were on edge. Among them, only Zhan knew the Upper Nine well. The others? They were familiar enough, but none had actually been here. The Upper Nine were mysterious. The closer they got, the tighter everyone’s chest felt. Near now. Closer and closer. “Huh?” Right as they reached the edge of the Ninth Heaven’s barrier, the dragon-etched compass in Damon’s hand started spinning like crazy. The compass commanded fate, and a vague, gut-deep warning made his hair stand on end. “Stop.” The sudden shout punched through their already frayed nerves. The nearer they drew to the barrier, the tenser it got. Even Zhan’s face went serious. Damon’s sharp call froze the air in an instant.