Chapter 2068: Entering the Divine Temple

Putting away the corpses of the two false gods, Zhang Xuan continued forward with the others.

After walking a short distance, a temple warrior at the peak of Immortal Monarch realm appeared. After killing him, they saw a circular platform ahead.

“This is an opportunity to break through to false god. Go ahead!”

Without stepping forward, Zhang Xuan said to a peak Immortal Monarch.

“Thank you, Sect Leader…”

The genius nodded gratefully, entered the platform, and immersed himself in cultivation. Indeed, he felt the power within him boiling, on the verge of breakthrough.

The group continued forward and soon found two more circular platforms.

Each platform was guarded by a temple warrior. For others, it would be impossible, but for Zhang Xuan, it was extremely simple.

After killing the guarding warriors and arranging for Elder Hongwu and the other to enter, Zhang Xuan continued on.

Seeing another circular platform, he swayed and sat down.

Focusing his mind and calming his breath, he immediately sensed a special power surging around him, completely different from the spiritual energy he had absorbed in the Abandoned Continent. His cultivation at the peak of Immortal Monarch stirred restlessly under this aura, on the verge of breakthrough.

“Unfortunately, I haven’t yet deduced the technique for breaking through to false god…”

After cultivating for a while, he couldn’t help shaking his head.

That strand of consciousness had been deducing during the Spring and Autumn Ceremony, but so far, it hadn’t succeeded.

In this situation, forcefully attempting a breakthrough might achieve false god, but without a suitable technique, it would leave hidden dangers for future progress—a loss outweighing gain!

Whoosh!

With a grab of his hand, he collected the aura dispersing from the circular platform into a jade bottle and stored it in his ring.

Entering the platform, he also understood that breaking through to false god relied on this special spiritual energy. This substance, like the ancient sage energy in the Master Teacher Continent, would allow him to break through anytime once the technique was deduced!

Leaving the platform, he continued forward.

In the passage, there seemed to be many such platforms. Soon, he found another. After dealing with the guarding warrior, Zhang Xuan paused, and an identical clone slipped in.

After a moment, the clone broke through, reaching the false god realm.

Continuing forward, soon the flood dragon, nine-headed fire phoenix beast, and other peak Immortal Monarch spirit beasts all successfully broke through.

“Walking like this, I definitely won’t reach the temple in one day…”

With all his beast pets and clones reaching the false god level, and many peak Immortal Monarch long swords being nurtured in this aura, with a chance to become false god realm artifacts, Zhang Xuan finally looked ahead.

The Heavenly Bridge remained immersed in darkness, stretching far with no end in sight.

This bridge was open for only one day. Walking like this, he would never reach the so-called temple, and the so-called snatching of the “God” character would become empty talk.

These stone platforms were limited in number. Once the “God” character was successfully seized, a sect would become like the Divine Temple, able to produce countless false gods and even forge false god realm weapons.

Truly inexhaustible, no longer constrained by the other side!

However…

The Divine Temple had always wanted to kill him, besieging him many times without success. If he went there, would he be ambushed?

“The Heavenly Bridge opens only once every hundred years. The Divine Temple might have a chance to enter the God Realm. No matter how dangerous, I must go and see!”

After a pause, his figure vanished, and reappeared a moment later, now wearing a blue robe, flying forward swiftly.

Without the Heavenly Bridge, even breaking through to false god, he couldn’t find the temple. Missing this opportunity meant waiting another hundred years—such a long time, it was better to take the risk now.

Ahead, there were no more circular platforms; it seemed they were limited in number.

Among these, the first two had no warrior guards, but the later ones mostly did. That is, the Divine Temple tacitly allowed two people from the six major sects to break through. Beyond that, except for strong ones like Confucius and the founder of the Lingyun Sword Pavilion, almost no one could reach them, let alone use them.

Once every hundred years, each time most of the six major sects only had one person break through. Over thousands of years, only a few dozen had accumulated.

Collecting all the spiritual energy from these platforms, a long sword appeared beneath his feet. With his sword intent activated, Zhang Xuan’s speed suddenly increased.

Having his many beast pets break through and collecting the spiritual energy from the platforms had already wasted nearly three hours. If he didn’t speed up, entering the temple would be nearly impossible!

With divine sword intent permeating, Zhang Xuan’s speed surpassed that of ordinary false god realm experts.

However, this bridge was truly too long.

After flying continuously for three hours, covering an unknown distance, he still saw no end.

“Going back and forth in one day and breaking into the temple… how is that possible!” It had been six hours since entering the Heavenly Bridge, half a day, and he still hadn’t seen the end. Could it be that with his current strength, he simply couldn’t reach it?

According to previous records, if one didn’t return to the Connecting Heaven Stone before the Heavenly Bridge disappeared, they would likely fall into fragmented space and end up dead or missing; even false god experts could hardly survive.

Half a day had passed; there was still half the time left!

“Fly for another hour…”

After a pause, Zhang Xuan gritted his teeth.

In the previous three hours, he hadn’t been going full speed. According to calculations, if he turned back now, he could return to the Connecting Heaven Stone in four hours.

That is, he would fly for another hour to see. If he still couldn’t reach the temple, he would have to turn back!

Activating his immortal power, he exerted all his strength to accelerate forward.

Half an hour later, the seemingly endless bridge changed. In the void, a pitch-black hall slowly emerged in his sight.

“It’s really far… Back then, Confucius and the founding patriarch of the Lingyun Sword Pavilion could enter it; their cultivation was at least as strong as mine now…”

Seeing the temple, Zhang Xuan breathed a sigh of relief, mixed with emotion.

Although he was at the peak of the Immortal Lord realm, his true strength was not weaker than that of ordinary False Gods. Coupled with the Sword Intent of the God and beasts like the Profound Shell Turtle, it would be difficult for anyone to catch up to him. Yet at such speed, he had flown continuously for over six hours before finally seeing it...

The length of the Heaven-Connecting Bridge was indeed terrifying!

For Master Kong and the others to successfully enter, they must have also crossed such a long bridge, and their speed was certainly no slower than his.

The palace was enormous, suspended in the air as if embedded in the darkness. After flying for about another quarter of an hour, Zhang Xuan finally arrived before it.

Creak!

As if sensing the arrival of life, the palace's doors slowly opened.

With a flicker of his body, Zhang Xuan stepped inside.

As soon as he entered, the hall's doors slowly closed. The originally pitch-black hall suddenly had countless torches ignite, illuminating the surroundings.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Ten figures flickered into view around him, each with a steady aura, their depths unfathomable!

All were False God realm experts!

Truly worthy of the temple—False Gods, rarely seen in the outside world, appeared here in double digits.

"Knowing that the temple is hunting you, you still dare to come here. Zhang Xuan, you certainly have no lack of courage!"

On the throne in the center, flames blazed. A tall, dark figure abruptly appeared, standing above the flames as if emerging from fire. A long robe concealed his face, making it impossible to see his features. His voice was cold, devoid of any emotion.

"The Abandoned Continent has countless geniuses. I'm just curious—why are you so relentless in pursuing me? Is it merely because I comprehended the Sword Intent of the God?"

Zhang Xuan had anticipated this situation and was not nervous. Instead, he frowned.

Since arriving in the Upper Firmament, he had kept a low profile, yet the temple had still besieged him three times in a row. He simply couldn't figure out what was going on.

"Sword Intent of the God?"

The figure on the throne snorted coldly: "That alone is not enough to warrant the temple's intervention!"

"Then..." Zhang Xuan frowned.

The figure said: "You must have come from the Master Teacher Continent, right?"

"You know about the Master Teacher Continent?" Zhang Xuan raised an eyebrow.

"I want him alive..."

Without further explanation, the figure on the throne waved his hand.

Swish!

Ten pseudo-god temple warriors immediately surrounded him.

"It won't be so easy to catch me!"

Since he dared to come to the temple, he knew there would be danger. Zhang Xuan stepped back and flicked his palm.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

The two pseudo-god corpses he had collected into his ring earlier at the Heavenly Bridge suddenly appeared.

Boom!

They exploded in an instant.

On the way here, he had already diverted his attention to refine the two corpses into soulless golden men.

"Hmph!"

Before the explosive force could fully spread, a cold snort sounded, and then light flashed inside the temple. In the next moment, the surging force was confined into a ball and dissipated with a "pop" sound.

Zhang Xuan's face darkened.

He had thought that the simultaneous self-destruction of two pseudo-gods would at least buy him some time, but unexpectedly, the temple's defensive formation was so powerful that it neutralized the impact force in an instant.

"Escape!"

With a flick of his wrist, the Tongchang Sword appeared in his palm. Zhang Xuan gently swept it, and the divine sword intent spread out, slashing down toward the tightly closed door of the temple.

The Tongchang Sword had originally been only one step away from the Demigod realm. On the way, by borrowing the spiritual energy from the circular platform, it had successfully broken through. Combined with the divine sword intent, its power was extremely formidable; even an ordinary Demigod realm expert could not withstand a single blow.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

The sword energy struck the door, producing a sound like clashing steel, yet it did not leave even a white mark.

"Could it be... that this door is also a Demigod realm treasure?"

Zhang Xuan was filled with disbelief.

With the Demigod realm Tongchang Sword and the divine sword intent, even someone as powerful as Han Jianqiu would not dare to face its edge. Yet this door, after taking a blow, remained completely unscathed, without even a trace left behind. Its level was unimaginably high!

"Don't struggle in vain..."

As if they had long known he would make such an expression, the pseudo-god realm experts surrounding him all smiled and struck together.

A giant net woven from immortal power descended from the sky, and in the blink of an eye, sealed off all of Zhang Xuan's escape routes.

"Break!"

Sword qi surged from the tip of his sword once more, and Zhang Xuan charged straight toward the giant net.

Whoosh!

The sword qi encountered no resistance, as if the giant net did not exist. Zhang Xuan only felt a tightness as he was bound securely, and the immortal power within him seemed to be sealed, unable to move any further.