Greatlaw Heaven, Nine Nether Palace.
The current Nine Nether Palace was already completely different from before. The most obvious change was that its scale had expanded by nearly twice over, making the entire palace complex appear even more majestic.
Between the enormous palace halls, armies clad in black armor marched in strict formation. Powerful Spiritual Energy fluctuations filled the sky above, while Spiritual Array patterns flickered faintly, clearly showing that powerful Spiritual Arrays were guarding the area.
On the four eastern, southern, western, and northern plazas belonging to Nine Nether Palace, rows upon rows of black armored military formations stood firmly, with terrifying Battle Will echoing among them.
Each of these four plazas contained ten thousand man formations of the Nine Nether Guards, and every single thousand man formation was capable of condensing a complete Jiu You Battle Will Spirit.
All of these forces had been personally trained by the siblings Zhan Tai Liuli and Zhan Tai Yun. Aside from the forty thousand troops on these four plazas, there was another elite force of ten thousand selected from among them. The weakest among them possessed the combat power of a First Grade Sovereign, making them even stronger than the Greatlaw Heavenly Army personally created by Mandala in the past.
Because of Liu Bai's status as an Emperor, Mandala had personally approved the promotion of Nine Nether Palace into an Emperor level force, which caused all the commanders under Nine Nether Palace to rise half a rank as well.
The reason it was only half a rank was because even an Emperor level force could not surpass the Greatlaw Heaven Territory's rule regarding Kings. Therefore, these people were still merely commanders. However, as commanders under an Emperor level force, not only were their own strengths greater, but their statuses were naturally much higher as well.
As long as their strength was sufficient, or their connections were strong enough, an Emperor could directly submit a nomination for Kingship. So long as it was not too excessive, Mandala as the Territory Lord generally would not reject it.
Back then, before Jiu You underwent Spiritual Transformation Divineification, she had relied on this method to become the Nine Nether King.
And today, another person had become a King level force within the Greatlaw Heaven Territory purely through background alone, and that person was Liu Mubai!
Although he had Liu Bai's full support, Liu Mubai was currently only at the peak of Fourth Grade Sovereign and still one step away from breaking through to Fifth Grade Sovereign.
Of course, just this single step required Liu Mubai to accumulate Spiritual Energy for half a year before he could hope to break through.
This was already an extremely fast cultivation speed!
After all, Liu Mubai did not possess any cheat like ability capable of defying the heavens and changing his fate or completely remolding himself. Even though he had a powerful elder brother, cultivation still needed to proceed step by step. Otherwise, damaging his foundation would completely cut off his path toward becoming a true expert.
If he returned to the Liu Clan now, a Fourth Grade Sovereign would already be enough to make the entire Liu Clan celebrate joyfully.
After all, aside from the legendary young master whom very few people had ever seen, the strongest person in the Liu Clan, Ancestor Liu Jingshan, was only at Spiritual Energy Disaster.
Therefore, if Fourth Grade Sovereign Liu Mubai returned to the Northern Heavens Continent now, he could probably directly become a Vice Principal of the Northern Heavens Spiritual Academy and one of the top experts of the entire Northern Heavens Continent.
Yet within the Greatlaw Heaven Territory, such strength could only earn him the status of a King through connections...
This made Liu Mubai feel deeply ashamed, as though he had disgraced his elder brother and become a burden.
However, he did not reject this title, because only by doing so could he truly stand independently, then desperately cultivate and prove that he was worthy of being Liu Bai's younger brother!
As the Greatlaw Heaven Territory continuously expanded, the number of newly joined experts also increased more and more.
Especially after Mandala advanced to Greater Earth Sovereign and became the undisputed number one expert of the Northern Region, even quite a few experts comparable to Emperors chose to join the Greatlaw Heaven Territory.
This situation reached its peak after Mandala announced the formation of the Northern Region Alliance.
Among those who joined the Greatlaw Heaven Territory, there were already Ninth Grade Sovereigns, while Seventh Grade and Eighth Grade Sovereigns numbered more than a dozen.
It should be known that in the original Greatlaw Heaven Territory, the only true Ninth Grade Sovereigns were Liu Bai and Sleeping Emperor.
Naturally, conflicts involving interests and authority inevitably arose between the veteran experts of the Greatlaw Heaven Territory and the newly joined experts, causing various contradictions.
Even Mandala herself had no particularly good solution for this. After all, such issues were inevitable during expansion. For now, they could only rely on time to slowly smooth things over.
However, all of this had very little impact on Nine Nether Palace. After all, many people knew about the relationship between Liu Bai and Mandala, and combined with Liu Bai's own strength, as well as the rumors of his terrifying methods capable of killing Earth Sovereigns, these newly joined members all kept their distance from Nine Nether Palace.
And this situation became even more pronounced after Jiu You's arrival.
After all, a Ninth Grade Sovereign Divine Beast was not someone even those two Ninth Grade Sovereign experts dared claim they could defeat, much less when paired with the mysterious Liu Emperor.
For the time being, Mandala had no time to deal with these disturbances, because now was the critical moment before the appearance of the Ancient Heavenly Palace!
However, before that, Mandala held an Emperor Conferment Ceremony within the Greatlaw Heaven Territory. The main purpose was to select true experts who would serve as the leaders for this exploration of the Ancient Heavenly Palace.
Aside from the original Four Emperors, Mandala planned to confer one more Emperor this time to complete the Five Emperors.
As for the candidate for this Fifth Emperor position, the main contenders were three people. Aside from Jiu You, who was a Ninth Grade Sovereign, the other two were Dragon Arm Sovereign and Old Man Withered, both famous Ninth Grade Sovereigns from the Northern Region.
Their choice to join the Greatlaw Heaven Territory this time was also for the sake of obtaining the title of Emperor within the Greatlaw Heaven Territory.
After all, with their strength, only becoming an Emperor held even a bit of attraction for them within a top force like the Greatlaw Heaven Territory.
Originally, they had regarded each other as rivals. Unfortunately, Jiu You's appearance directly disrupted their plans. It was very likely that both of them would lose their chance this time, causing the two of them to immediately develop some unpleasant thoughts.
Of course, relying on their own strength and former prestige, these two still possessed enormous influence among the newly joined experts. Therefore, within the current Greatlaw Heaven Territory, their popularity remained extremely high, and they had many supporters as well.
"Sister Jiu You, it's really lively today. I didn't expect there to be so many interesting things outside..." Mo Ling followed beside Jiu You while heading toward the location of the Emperor Conferment Ceremony, observing the densely packed flying groups around them.
For Mo Ling, who was experiencing the outside world beyond the Spirit Beast territories for the first time, such things were very interesting.
Unfortunately, not everyone shared the same thoughts as this innocent girl. For example, someone like Zong Qingfeng, whose mind was currently focused entirely on cultivation, considered this so called Emperor Conferment Ceremony to be nothing more than something boring.
"Do you want me to deal with those two?" Zong Qingfeng looked toward Jiu You and spoke coldly.
Although he was Liu Bai's beast slave, his attitude toward Jiu You was much more ordinary.
After all, she was not his master, so there was no need for him to humble himself before her.
The reason he proposed such an idea was because Jiu You was Liu Bai's lover, and as Liu Bai's beast slaves, they had the responsibility to protect her from any threats.
Of course, Jiu You preferred to believe that this fellow's hands were simply itching, and he wanted to fight Dragon Arm Sovereign and Old Man Withered himself.
After all, Jiu You had brought back quite a few Blood Spirit Pills refined by Liu Bai, and all of them had already refined some. Their cultivations had improved to varying degrees, so Zong Qingfeng was eager to find an opponent at the same level to battle against.
Jiu You smiled brilliantly and looked toward the martial grounds they were about to arrive at as she calmly replied, "No need."
They were merely two Ninth Grade Sovereigns. Jiu You herself also wanted to measure their strength.
After everyone gathered at the martial grounds, Jiu You finally understood just how far the Greatlaw Heaven Territory had developed.
The number of King level experts alone had already reached twenty five. Of the fifteen additional Kings, ten were newly joined experts and this was still under Mandala's deliberate control.
After all, the Greatlaw Heaven Territory had practically swallowed up the entire territory and forces of the Divine Pavilion, causing its strength to more than double directly!
The result of this was that the number of experts qualified to become Kings increased significantly. In order to control the number of Kings, the standards for newly conferred Kings had also risen greatly.
If previously one could become a King in the Greatlaw Heaven Territory with Fifth Grade Sovereign strength, now at the very least one needed Seventh Grade Sovereign!
However, the person most affected by this was actually Liu Mubai. A Fourth Grade Sovereign standing among numerous Sixth Grade and Seventh Grade Sovereigns only proved just how powerful his background was.
But for someone as competitive as Liu Mubai, this only caused him to hold an even stronger determination in his heart, a determination that he absolutely had to fight for recognition!
The plaza was crowded with people.
The many experts of the Greatlaw Heaven Territory took their seats one after another. Aside from Mandala seated at the very top, below her were the seats of the Four Emperors. Unfortunately, one of the Four Emperor seats was vacant, leaving only three people seated there.
Further below were dozens of seats belonging to the various Kings, each one occupied. It looked extremely imposing and fully displayed just how prosperous the current Greatlaw Heaven Territory had become.
Among them were two figures seated at the head of the Kings.
The person on the left had an aged face and a thin body, appearing from afar like a withered old tree on the verge of death. His eyes were slightly lowered, giving off a weak and powerless appearance, yet an intimidating pressure radiated from him.
On the right sat a middle aged man built like an iron tower. His appearance was ordinary, but his pair of arms were exceptionally unique.
They appeared several times thicker than those of ordinary people, while his broad palms hung casually at his sides as though every movement possessed enough destructive power to shatter mountains.
At this moment, both of them were focused on Jiu You, who sat not far away dressed in a black gown...
Compared to the expressions of the two men, Jiu You appeared far calmer. Facing the faint battle intent hidden within their gazes, she merely smiled indifferently.
These two might possess decent strength, but they were only at the level of ordinary Ninth Grade Sovereigns.
After all, they came from rogue cultivator backgrounds. Although their opportunities were not bad, that was about all there was to it. For example, Dragon Arm Sovereign had refined a pair of Dragon Clan arms into his own body, giving his hands strength comparable to that of the Dragon Clan.
But Jiu You had now refined the blood essence of the Ancient Undying Bird. Although she had not yet completely evolved into an Ancient Undying Bird, ordinary Dragon Clan members were still inferior to her, much less a human who had merely refined Dragon Clan body parts.
Afterward, once Mandala announced the beginning of the ceremony, she directly closed her eyes to rest.
Next came the Three Emperors stepping forward to host the initial King Conferment Battles... This time, the Greatlaw Heaven Territory would add five more Kings, which was also a bargaining chip Mandala had offered to appease the newly joined experts.
After all, with so many experts under her command, she naturally had to provide them with some benefits. Otherwise, why would they work for her?
These five new Kings were selected very quickly, and every battle ended in overwhelming victories because all five of the new Kings were Eighth Grade Sovereigns. Among the original Kings, aside from Shura King and Mountain Split King, others such as Blood Hawk King and Hong Ya King were only Seventh Grade Sovereigns.
As soon as these five new Kings appeared, the old Kings like Shura King immediately felt tremendous pressure.
However, for these five Kings along with their forces and subordinate factions, this was naturally excellent news. Waves of cheering erupted across the plaza as everyone welcomed their new Kings.
Of course, everyone also understood that the real highlight was only beginning now.
Just as Mandala once again announced the start of the Emperor Conferment Battle, her expression suddenly changed into one of shock as she raised her head and stared firmly into the sky.
There, a figure slowly appeared. Then, under the confused and shocked gazes of everyone present, he gradually arrived beside Mandala.
"What? Don't recognize me anymore?"
Hearing this, Mandala slowly narrowed her large eyes as she said in an annoyed tone, "So this is the surprise that little girl Jiu You mentioned? It really is quite surprising..."
"Heh, Liu Emperor has returned. Looks like we won't miss this grand show after all." Sky Vulture Emperor and the other two revealed delighted expressions upon seeing Liu Bai.
The many newly joined experts finally understood. So this was the mysterious Liu Emperor. However, they had heard that this person shared an unusual relationship with the Domain Lord, and now that they saw it for themselves, it truly seemed to be the case.
Among the various Kings, Liu Mubai, who sat near the very end, became somewhat excited upon seeing his elder brother appear. For some reason, he also let out a long sigh of relief in his heart.
During the days without his elder brother around, he had truly sat very uneasily with the title of "Liu King."
Mandala glanced at Liu Bai before calmly saying, "Starting today, he is no longer Liu Emperor..."
These words instantly stunned everyone, including the Three Emperors who had just been smiling moments ago.
What did this mean? Had he fallen out of favor?
Some people below immediately felt delighted inside.
Liu Bai was briefly stunned, but quickly understood what was happening.
Clearly, this was the mischievous sense of humor of Mandala, that little loli.
"I announce that Liu Bai, one of the Four Emperors of the Greatlaw Heaven Territory, has broken through to Earth Sovereign and is hereby promoted to Vice Domain Lord of the Greatlaw Heaven Territory!"
The moment these words were spoken, the entire audience erupted in uproar.
Meanwhile, Sky Vulture Emperor and the others standing beside Liu Bai stared at him with faces full of shock.
"Earth Sovereign?!"
These three words dealt a tremendous blow to them.
After all, this had originally been the lifelong pursuit of the three of them, yet in their eyes it remained an unreachable goal.
But now, a junior countless years younger than them, a young man they had personally watched grow, had actually advanced from First Grade Sovereign to Earth Sovereign within only three years. The shock left all of them frozen in place.
...
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