Half a day was practically insignificant to these Invincible Kings.
As the entrance to Lotus Flower Ancient City began to close, King Thunder no longer hesitated. With a casual gesture, he tore open the spatial barrier at the entrance and stepped into the ancient city.
During the era when Lotus Flower Ancient City remained open, anyone possessing Invincible King strength or greater could forcibly tear through the entrance with raw power alone. Once the city completely sealed itself, however, even Universe Venerables would find themselves unable to enter.
Each cultivator had a limited number of entries into Lotus Flower Ancient City. The city recorded your soul aura, even avatars couldn't bypass this restriction by entering repeatedly. Every opportunity had to be treasured.
"Hurry! King Thunder has entered!" King Snake-Neck called to the dozen limit Kings from the Demon Alliance beside him, while King Blazing Flame surged forward close behind King Thunder.
King Blazing Flame, also renowned for extreme speed, held the distinction of being the second-fastest Invincible King in the entire Sixth Battlefield, second only to King Thunder himself.
The other Invincible Kings similarly summoned their respective faction's limit Kings, urging them to enter Lotus Flower Ancient City.
This ancient city represented the greatest opportunity in the entire Sixth Battlefield!
Besides here, no other location in the battlefield offered such a concentration of treasures in one place.
Whoosh!
The dozens of Kings gathered outside rushed through the passage into Lotus Flower Ancient City.
Lotus Flower Ancient City, seventh level.
After passing the first ordinary trial, Han Jue entered the next space.
Whoosh~
The space was deeply unsettling. Blood-red clouds filled the sky, emitting streaks of crimson light. Strange sounds, ghostly wails and tortured howls, echoed from all directions. The ground appeared to be composed of sticky flesh and blood, with sections of exposed white bone occasionally visible through the gore.
As someone whose consciousness primarily resided in the Star Stream Sea clone, Han Jue had developed something of a cleanliness compulsion. Seeing such a scene made him grimace with disgust.
Roar!
A monster's roar echoed in his ears. Han Jue unleashed his World Power, scanning the entire space, but found nothing.
With a thought, he instantly appeared at the center of this macabre world.
At the heart of this space stood a graveyard of white bones, with a tall white bone tombstone rising from its center.
The tombstone was inscribed with numerous ancient characters, similar to those encountered in the first level's trials. Han Jue could decipher the content through the spiritual imprints embedded within them.
"I am the Lord of White Bones. I spent over ten million epochs to become a Universe Master, yet I was severely wounded in battle with one of the strongest beings in the universe, ultimately meeting my demise. Thus, I left behind the secret techniques I created, for those with destiny to cultivate. If they can be widely disseminated, that would be most beneficial."
The legacy of a Universe Master?
Such things existed in Lotus Flower Ancient City?
Han Jue's pupils contracted as he stared at the white bone tombstone in astonishment, his heart unable to calm for a long time.
What kind of power was this Lotus Flower Ancient City, that it could leave behind so many treasures and legacies?
Now he had some answers.
This Lotus Flower Ancient City was likely a legacy from an ancient power of the early universe, or perhaps even from before the Great Cataclysm, a remnant from the previous cycle of reincarnation!
From destruction to rebirth, things within the primordial universe weren't necessarily completely destroyed. Even if they were, artifacts from the Universe Sea might re-enter the primordial universe through various means.
This city had very likely once belonged to a top-tier power possessing the strongest beings in the universe, with many Universe Masters, much like the current human, demon, and insect races.
Han Jue continued reading,
"I left two secret techniques here, both peak-level secret techniques of the Universe Master. One is a close-combat secret technique called 'Bone Erosion,' and the other is a soul attack secret technique called 'Soul Annihilation.'"
[Extremely Difficult Trial: Choose one secret technique to cultivate and reach the entry level.]
Peak-level secret techniques of the Universe Master?
The strongest secret technique Han Jue had created so far was only a pinnacle-level secret technique of the Universe Overlord. Above that lay the ultimate secret techniques of Universe Overlords, and then the various tiers of Universe Master-level techniques.
However, merely learning one of these techniques, and only needing to reach the entry level, was relatively simple.
After careful consideration, Han Jue chose the soul attack secret technique, "Soul Annihilation."
"Bone Erosion" wasn't suitable for his fighting style. It was a combat secret technique that required changing one's physical characteristics, transforming into a life form similar to the Lord of White Bones himself. Neither Han Jue's original body nor his Star Stream Sea clone would benefit from such transformation.
"Soul Annihilation," on the other hand, was much simpler.
This seemingly straightforward soul attack technique was vastly more powerful than the techniques in the Ethereal Soul Scripture, and far surpassed the Mirage Sea technique as well.
Han Jue had only learned the eighth level of the Mirage Sea technique before switching to the Ethereal Soul Scripture, never even attempting the ninth level.
Soul Annihilation was brutal in its simplicity.
By possessing soul strength far exceeding the opponent's, the user employed a method similar to burning their own soul, not only greatly enhancing their own combat power, but also forcibly inflicting severe damage on the enemy's soul. It could burn the enemy's soul, exhausting their soul power and causing them to fall into deep sleep, or even die outright.
Burning one's own soul in this manner was reversible. Burning the enemy's soul, however, was something the enemy had virtually no chance of stopping unless the user died.
Generally speaking, under normal circumstances, this technique resulted in a Pyrrhic victory at best. If it successfully ignited the enemy's soul, however, it became a kill without any loss to the user.
It had to be said, the Lord of White Bones was quite the genius to devise such a despicable trick.
Han Jue began learning the technique.
The prerequisite for entering Soul Annihilation was mastering a special method of burning the soul.
As a member of Earth's powerful soul lineage, this secret technique posed no challenge for Han Jue whatsoever.
Lotus Flower Ancient City, eighth level.
King Burning Hand stared at the space before him with a grim expression.
A treasure trial!
His luck hadn't been this good in tens of thousands of epochs. Upon entering the eighth level, he had encountered a rare treasure trial, and an extremely rare one at that. The prize was a complete set of treasures almost comparable to ordinary high-grade treasures!
This treasure set was a complete suit of armor consisting of seven parts: helmet, breastplate, arm guards, knee pads, leg guards, boots, and inner armor.
Each part, taken individually, was an ordinary treasure. Together, they formed a top-tier armor set comparable to ordinary high-grade armor.
However, what distressed King Burning Hand was that guarding this treasure set was a special golden dragon with Invincible King strength!
The enormous golden dragon coiled at the center of the space, fiercely protecting the treasure set and giving no one any chance to approach.