Chapter 1885 (Raw 1896): Test at the Main Gate
Two months later, Xiao Chen appeared outside an ancient dragon city of the Divine Dragon Empire.
The words “Heavenly Dragon City” were written on the signboard hung above the city gates.
The words on the signboard contained a certain charm that already attained the level of Heavenly Might. It transcended the category of a Great Dao, reaching a higher level.
As Xiao Chen stood before the city gates and looked up, he felt that the signboard was infinitely high. It was like the sky above his head, showing its might without any fury.
Aside from Ancestor Dragon City, the Divine Dragon Empire had only seven other perfectly preserved ancient dragon cities.
Each city had millions of years of history. After the Immortal Epoch crumbled, the culture and inheritance of before were destroyed.
However, some ancient buildings remained preserved. When the Martial Epoch rose up and people rediscovered them, they were passed down.
Now, these other seven ancient dragon cities of the empire were managed by the seven other palaces of the Dragon’s Gate. Naturally, the Heavenly Dragon Palace was in charge of Heavenly Dragon City.
The dragon city before Xiao Chen was even vaster and more ancient than Soaring Dragon City.
When Xiao Chen entered the city, every street contained a hidden Dao charm. When looking with his Soul Energy, he found a bright light that was invisible to his physical eyes. The light was dazzling, piercing, and glistening.
Boundless Dragon Qi filled the sky. It looked very dense, coalescing into thick clouds and encasing the entire Heavenly Dragon City.
The purple clouds of Dragon Qi seemed to hide a mysterious building containing a supreme Dragon Might. It was aloof and produced an extremely strong pressure.
Several buildings on both sides of the street were made out of many inherited Dao Tools.
With the many complete Dao interlinked and driven by formations inside, these buildings formed small worlds with stable Dao.
That was to say, while these buildings did not look that big, after one entered, one would discover entire worlds within them. A building that looked like it was only one hundred meters tall could have a mountain range inside when one entered.
Clearly, these were used as facades by the large clans within the empire.
An ordinary faction would not be able to use inherited Dao Tools casually in such an extravagant manner.
The Heavenly Dragon Palace lay in the very center of this ancient dragon city. There were mountain ranges in there, towering into the clouds.
Xiao Chen managed to rush over in time. This day was the day that the Heavenly Dragon Palace recruited new disciples.
The main gate of the Heavenly Dragon Palace teemed with Dragon Race cultivators, who had come to take the test.
There were people with the same cultivation as Xiao Chen, middle-stage Star Venerate experts. Of course, there were even more early-stage Star Venerates. As for late-stage Star Venerates, there were still a significant number of them.
Such a scene was impressive. A Rank 6 sect was indeed different.
In other sects, Star Venerates could directly become true inheritors. However, everyone present was actually a Star Venerate. Without being a Star Venerate, one would not be qualified to step through the main gate, not to mention entering the Heavenly Dragon Palace.
However, after further thought, this was rather normal. After all, the Divine Dragon Empire was one of the eight great empires of the Central Great Realm, a huge faction.
As Xiao Chen stood before the main gate of this Heavenly Dragon Palace, he sighed sorrowfully in his heart. If the Azure Dragon bloodline still existed, he would be joining the Azure Dragon Palace.
How unfortunate! How unfortunate!
To think that no one recognized the bona fide Azure Dragon bloodline. Xiao Chen could only join the Heavenly Dragon Palace, which was mostly made up of the mixed-blood dragon bloodlines.
Someday, I have to reestablish the Azure Dragon Palace, restoring the glory of the Azure Dragon bloodline, Xiao Chen swore to himself, frowning heavily as he did so.
“Another year passed, and the Heavenly Dragon Palace is recruiting disciples again. This time, it seems even more bustling than in the previous years.”
“That is natural. I heard that there would be positions for entering the inner sect one year later. Many of the clan disciples that do not lack resources have to join the Dragon’s Gate’s outer sect first if they want to enter Ancestor Dragon City.”
“Ah, Ancestor Dragon City, the place where the talented gather. That is the only place where one can come in contact with the core-most inheritances of the Dragon Race.”
“However, we can forget about it. As early-stage Star Venerates, we can only become outer palace disciples of the Heavenly Dragon Palace. Those middle-stage Star Venerates and late-stage Star Venerates can try fighting for the chance to enter the inner palace, though.”
The area outside the main gates was extremely bustling, with many discussions taking place.
“Boom!”
Just at this moment, an incredibly berserk aura came from the distance. Everyone turned their heads and saw eight stallions pulling a war chariot in the north. A cold-faced youth was riding on the war chariot.
This youth looked calm and composed. He gave off a terrifying Dragon Might, the aura of a True Dragon bloodline cultivator.
Just the slight exposure of the might of a True Dragon kicked up a strong wind, shocking this group of mixed-blood dragon bloodline cultivators deeply.
“That is Fang Tianyi, the Fang Clan’s Young Master from the Flaming Cloud County. He possesses a Grade 5 True Dragon bloodline. How terrifying! To think that he is already a Holy Venerate! With such cultivation, he should be able to directly become a core disciple in the Heavenly Dragon Palace.”
A core disciple!
Tang Dan had said that while the Heavenly Dragon Palace’s inner palace disciples looked glorious, in reality, they were not even worth mentioning before the core disciples, holding no status at all.
Only by becoming a core disciple would one be qualified for promotion to heaven-class core disciple, obtaining the focused care of the Heavenly Dragon Palace.
Outer palace disciple, inner palace disciple, core disciple, and heaven-class core disciple.
The hurdle at each step functioned as a sieve. Every step would eliminate ninety-nine percent of the applicants. Regular people would not be able to advance to a core disciple, even after working hard all their life. Directly becoming a core disciple would be like ascending to heaven in one step.
When Fang Tianyi appeared, he immediately received many envious gazes.
A True Dragon bloodline, the disciple of a rich clan, and talent, evident from Fang Tianyi’s Holy Light Stage cultivation, all of these were worth envying.
Xiao Chen felt shocked in his heart. Everything that he saw proved Tang Dan’s words right; he could not underestimate the Heavenly Dragon Palace.
After Fang Tianyi arrived, the many disciples of large clans turned up, one after another. Without exception, they were all Holy Venerates. Clearly, these people were targeting the core disciple positions.
These people did not lack resources, unlike the other mixed-blood dragon cultivators who joined the Heavenly Dragon Palace due to an urgent need for resources.
What these people cared about was the qualification to enter Ancestor Dragon City at the end of the year.
These people had the same goal as Xiao Chen.
There were limited slots. Everyone wanted to get in, so competition was unavoidable.
When these disciples of rich clans appeared, the atmosphere of the place changed somewhat. As these rich clan disciples looked at the other Holy Venerates, they all showed proud and hostile expressions.
Some of them even had old grudges with each other. If not for wanting to enter the Heavenly Dragon Palace, they might have started fighting each other here.
“Friends who want to join my Heavenly Dragon Palace, those who want to take the outer palace test should take the small passageway on the left. Those who want to join the inner palace, take the small passageway on the right.”
A resonant voice rang out from the hazy, purple clouds, and many Holy Venerates flew down from the sky.
These were the core disciples responsible for this test, welcoming the applicants, and introducing the Heavenly Dragon Palace.
“As for those who want to advance to core disciple directly, just remain here. Let me see how many people there are.”
One of the young cultivators swept his eyes across the place, inspiring fear in others. The many cultivators in front of the main gate immediately fell silent.
This was a demonic genius who had reached peak early-stage Holy Venerate. Xiao Chen’s heart skipped a beat. The dense Veritable Essence Energy in the other party felt as dazzling as the red sun.
Dense, thick, and pure. This person must have refined his Veritable Essence Energy several times, making it boundlessly strong and incomparably vast.
With one look, it was clear that this was no ordinary Holy Venerate.
It looked like Tang Dan’s warning was still somewhat conservative. Now that Xiao Chen was in this Central Great Realm, he could no longer look at it with the same expectations as in the world outside.
Furthermore, the Divine Dragon Empire was an elite empire with only Dragon Race cultivators; there were no ordinary people.
It was too easy for the Divine Dragon Empire to produce outstanding talents.
Furthermore, as the center of the Great Thousand Realms, this Central Great Realm possessed all of the Luck. The environment and the level of space here were naturally much higher than those of the outer realms.
No wonder most of the people who came from the outer realm ended up consigned to obscurity when they came to the Central Great Realm, feeling regret until their death.
There were simply too many geniuses in this place.
No wonder when Tang Dan guessed that I wanted to enter Ancestor Dragon City, she revealed an extremely shocked expression.
No wonder she wondered why I would need a fake identity. I am just a Star Venerate “mixed-blood dragon” whom no one would pay any attention to.
“This person is Yi Qianyun. He has a Grade 6 True Dragon bloodline. Ten years ago, he comprehended the Sword Great Dao. The most terrifying rumor about him claims he killed ten Evil Dao Holy Venerates two years ago, when he was still a Star Venerate.”
“I also heard that in that fight, he grew stronger as he fought, eventually breaking through the bottleneck of Star Venerate in one go. After that battle, his fame spread everywhere, and his Luck increased. He ran into all sorts of fortuitous encounters. Indeed, he is actually close to breaking through to middle-stage Holy Venerate now.”
“The most terrifying thing is that his Veritable Essence Energy is dense and pure. I wonder how much resources he refined to get such a result.”
When this Yi Qianyun stood out, the many young cultivators planning to take the test for core disciples discussed him in soft voices.
As Yi Qianyun stood on the tall platform, he radiated an overwhelming pride as he looked in all directions. Then, he smiled and said, “Not bad. Not bad. To think that there are close to fifty people. This is the most in recent years. The attraction of Ancestor Dragon City is truly extraordinary. However, you might not necessarily become core disciples in my Heavenly Dragon Palace just because you are Holy Venerates. Wait a minute…”
Suddenly, Yi Qianyun’s expression changed slightly when his gaze landed on Xiao Chen. He shouted coldly, “Where did this little mixed-blood dragon come from? Did you not clearly hear what I said?”
Immediately after Yi Qianyun spoke, many gazes fell on the white-clad Xiao Chen at the same time.
Among the group of Holy Venerates, Xiao Chen’s middle-stage Star Venerate cultivation with his unknown bloodline did not have any presence. However, Yi Qianyun’s cold shout immediately made Xiao Chen stand out like a sore thumb.