A mighty voice echoed through the world.

“Who dares to barge into the Violet Abyss?!”

Violet waves surged through the violet sea, and violet clouds filled the violet sky. It felt like a dream, but also strangely material; somewhere along the border between reality and illusion. This was the manifestation of a grand formation. Even Long Chen felt his soul shudder when he was caught within it.

He could sense that this violet sea and the sky were filled with sharp blades composed of law power. The formation had already locked onto him.

This was Long Chen’s first time witnessing such a terrifying formation. It had actually merged the laws of heaven and earth together with karmic luck! The Full Moon Sect’s formation discs that were capable of growth were already shocking enough, but they were still practically insignificant compared to this grand formation.

In truth, this formation was so well hidden that an average cultivator would never have noticed anything. However, with Long Chen’s sharp perception, he immediately noticed what was going on. The violet blood race’s foundation was truly something; no wonder Zheng Wenlong’s message had included a warning. If the violet blood race did harbor sinister intentions towards him, he really would be in danger.

“Long Chen!” 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

In response to that voice, Long Chen directly reported his name. He immediately sensed several almost imperceptible streams of divine sense scanning his body. A moment later, the void split open, and a wide staircase appeared right in front of Long Chen.

Long Chen’s foot stepped onto the first stair. A violet ripple spread from his foot.

Another test? I swear, these people sure love stairs...

Long Chen expressionlessly climbed up. Although he did have generally good feelings towards the violet blood race, his rational side told him that most ancient factions were ultimately corrupt. More importantly, even though they were all members of the violet blood race, Sovereign Mountain was not the Violet Abyss, and the Violet Abyss was not Sovereign Mountain. He could not simply assume that the two were the same, or even at all similar.

If Long Chen said that he trusted the violet blood race, then that was limited to just the people of Sovereign Mountain. When it came to the Violet Abyss, he was still wary. He didn’t necessarily dislike them, but he also had no reason to blindly trust them.

Long Chen walked up one step at a time. Every step caused a violet ripple to spread.

The staircase quivered and emitted different sounds. At the edges, the violet ripple would transform into multicolored divine light.

Different kinds of energy tried to disturb Long Chen as he climbed, but this level of interference was unable to affect him.

This staircase reminded him of Sovereign Mountain’s Divine Staircase Spirit Awakening. He thought back to the seventy-two divine peaks. He thought of mountain lord Qingyu. He thought of the talented and determined Xie Wanyi.

Even back at Sovereign Mountain, when he climbed the divine staircase, he was targeted by Bi Tu. If mountain lord Qingyu had not stopped things in time, Long Chen would have killed him. He wondered how the violet race people of Sovereign Mountain were doing now. His mother was personally teaching disciples. Was her strict guidance raising a new generation of heavenly geniuses?

Long Chen suddenly smiled. He was his mother’s greatest pride, but his mother was also prideful when it came to herself. He was a hundred percent sure that the disciples that she raised would be constantly compared to him. Thinking of how strict his mother was when teaching, he couldn’t help feeling some sympathy for those poor souls.

As he reminisced, he continued up. Ripples continued to spread from his footsteps. Various divine lights mixed and merged, making the void quiver. However, Long Chen’s footsteps remained steady the whole time. He didn’t rush up, but he didn’t slow down either. He seemed entirely unaffected.

Long Chen thought of the Heavenly Constellation Ancestor. That old man’s mentality had reached an inconceivable level; his strength was incredible, yet he still retained a humble heart. Even facing his descendants, he did not put on airs. He truly knew the meaning of humility. With such a person leading Sovereign Mountain, there would definitely be no problems.

In addition, the Heavenly Maple Divine Tree’s nourishment and spirit awakening would definitely result in their disciples being top tier in all regards. Finally, Sovereign Mountain had the Violet Gold Bell’s clapper. Would the coming of the new era cause this primal chaos divine item to once more show the magnificence it had possessed in its heyday?

When Long Chen reached the thousandth step, the void rumbled and boomed. All kinds of laws whistled over, causing the space ahead of him to twist. Supreme divine might crashed down on him like a tsunami. This staircase was similar to Sovereign Mountain’s staircase in principle, but not in level—Violet Abyss’s staircase had absorbed the new era’s laws. It was even stronger, and even harder to climb.

However, when that divine pressure crashed down on Long Chen, it actually passed right through him. That caused startled cries to ring out from the vicinity, but those startled cries were immediately silenced.

Clearly, there were experts in the vicinity watching everything here in secret. The fact that Long Chen could simply ignore the law pressure of the staircase was so shocking that it made them accidentally break their silence.

These people were guards of the main entrance. Even though they were just guards, they were Sovereign Lords of the new era.

With the new era here, Violet Abyss had reactivated their divine staircase to test the potential and talent of the new era’s experts. Since the staircase had absorbed the new era’s laws, it had advanced with the times, and it would immediately reflect the latent abilities of anyone who set foot on it.

Even amongst the violet blood race’s experts who could control the new era’s laws, there were some who could not reach a thousand steps. And upon reaching the thousandth step, the difficulty instantly soared. Many of those who did reach the thousandth step were unable to take even one single step beyond that.

This pressure was not just physical; it was spiritual and mental in equal measure. It crushed a person’s body, soul, and will. This was an extremely cruel test. Only those who passed this test would be considered inner disciples of the violet blood race and receive special treatment from the Violet Abyss. This trial instantly excluded around a third of the disciples here.

As for Long Chen, he reached the thousandth step without showing any reaction. He then continued climbing up without pause. The void continuously shuddered, and law power formed waves crashing into him, but Long Chen was unmoved.

When he reached the two-thousandth step, terrifying figures suddenly came flying out of the twisting space ahead of him.

There were dragons, there were phoenixes, there were greater demons of the primal chaos, and there were bloodthirsty, savage devils. They all roared and attacked Long Chen. There was a wild devil wielding a broadsword who swung it at Long Chen with all its might, but Long Chen didn’t so much as blink.

Just as the broadsword was about to strike Long Chen, it passed right through him without causing any harm. Those startled cries once more rang out.

“How is this possible?!”

“That was a physical attack!”

“These devils can destroy the body and the soul! Why can he just ignore them?”

“Quick, report this!”

These guards immediately grasped the severity of what was going on. However, just as one of them had risen and was about to fly off, a voice rang out within their minds.

“No need to report it. Don’t move, and don’t speak. You are hereby forbidden from telling anyone about this!”