When Long Chen reached the three-thousandth step, the void flickered violently.

Laws converged into sharp blades, warhammers, chains, and they all struck at Long Chen mercilessly. Every single attack seemed to pose a fatal threat, drawing out people’s most primal terror. However, Long Chen continued to ignore them, and these attacks also passed right through him without harming him.

“This is impossible!”

“Even the greatest heavenly geniuses would have to use their full force to block these attacks!”

“Some people are even killed by these attacks! Are you telling me... they’re actually illusions?”

“Maybe if you ignore them, they won’t touch you?”

“Maybe if you ignore the outsider devils, they won’t touch you either? Dumbass! We’ve already had over three million disciples take this trial! Are you telling me that all three million disciples were idiots? Not one person could tell it was fake?”

These hidden guards were all dumbfounded. This completely toppled their understanding of the divine staircase’s rules.

When Long Chen reached the three-thousand-six-hundredth step, space around him shuddered. The law power filling the world disappeared. A giant gate appeared; divine light flashed from behind it, and a massive scroll slowly opened. Golden light blazed like the sun.

“It’s the Violet Abyss Golden Ranking!”

Startled cries rang out when this golden scroll appeared, despite most of them half-expecting it to show up. The Violet Abyss Golden Ranking was a new ability that the divine staircase had awakened in this new era. When a person reached the three-thousand-six-hundredth step, the divine staircase would carry out a test, assessing their power, talent, aptitude, intelligence, and other areas.

Only the top ten were recorded on the Violet Abyss Golden Ranking. It was said that each name was given a split of the Violet Abyss’s oceanic karmic luck, allowing them to become a supreme expert.

Of course, the names recorded on the scroll right now were the latest top ten. Every time someone new reached the rankings, someone else would be kicked out to make room for them. As time passed, the difficulty of squeezing into the rankings grew harder and harder; the rankings had seemed more or less stabilized just earlier that morning. Yet now, a new name was about to be added to the ranking, and another name would fall.

The golden scroll flashed. Long Chen saw that there were ten names on it, and one of them seemed somewhat familiar, but the golden light was too blinding for him to read them properly.

Then, the scroll abruptly closed shut.

“...?” Long Chen stared in confusion. Just what was this?

Before he could say anything, hundreds of people in luxurious robes appeared in front of the mountain gate.

“So if you cheat your way to the three-thousand-six-hundredth step, you still can’t enter the Violet Abyss Golden Ranking. It’s such a shame. We thought that the person said to be the number one expert of the nine heavens would be stronger.”

It seemed that these disciples of the violet blood race had heard of Long Chen’s name. However, it also seemed that they viewed his title as the number one figure of the nine heavens with contempt.

A well-built man walked over, shaking his head in disappointment. He eyed Long Chen up and down. “So you’re the famous Long Chen?”

“Open the gate!” said Long Chen indifferently.

The violet blood race had given Long Chen an invitation card, and Long Chen had it on him. There was no possibility his interlocutor didn’t know for a fact who he was. Thus, Long Chen couldn’t be bothered to waste words with him.

“How arrogant,” sneered the man. “You think you can—aaah!”

The man had intended to keep antagonizing Long Chen, but Long Chen simply grabbed him by the throat and slammed him into the gate. The sound of the impact echoed through the air.

The man spat out blood and slowly slid down the gate. By the time he hit the ground, he was unconscious.

“I have no time to waste with stupid games. Open the gate,” said Long Chen indifferently. It seemed he had done nothing more than swat an annoying fly.

The violet blood disciples were shocked and outraged. The man that Long Chen had just thrown was the strongest amongst them. Yet he was unable to put up even the slightest resistance against Long Chen, so how could they do anything? They clenched their fists, wanting to say something but not daring to.

Finally, one disciple clenched his teeth and formed hand seals.

The gate slowly opened, and a wave of karmic luck gushed out that made Long Chen narrow his eyes. As expected of one of the human race’s strongest forces! Others were still doing their best to gather as much karmic luck as possible, but the Violet Abyss’s karmic luck reserve was already so immense that it was bursting at the seams.

He stepped into the gate. Once he disappeared inside, that disciple formed new hand seals, and the gate closed behind him.

“Senior apprentice-brother Li, are we really letting him in just like that?” asked one disciple.

“You’re right. I’ll open the gate and you pull him out and beat him up. Is that what you want?” demanded senior apprentice-brother Li.

That disciple was instantly struck dumb.

The first thing that Long Chen saw when he walked through the gate was endless gravestones. These gravestones reminded him of the ones he had seen on Sovereign Mountain.

“The destruction of the Heavenly Daos, the end of the ten thousand laws! The soul cannot rest in peace when the body dies filled with regrets!”

“My soul will never rest! I will be reborn and let the blood of those fiends rain down from the heavens!”

“I step alone upon the heavens and I slay every devil in my path. I alone shall stand at the peak of the world!” 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

“If this world is mine, then what fear have I of the Netherworld?”

“I now throw myself into the Netherworld, and my roar will shake it from the foundations. Nether Emperor and Ghost Sovereign, kneel before me...”

Those roars filled with anger, regret, and resentment carved onto the gravestones echoed in Long Chen’s mind.

Long Chen knew that he was definitely not going through the main entrance to the Violet Abyss. The staircase, the cemetery, these were symbols that the violet blood race viewed him as one of them. Only actual members of the violet blood race were qualified to come into contact with these things. Every gravestone represented a heroic ancestor who fought to the death in the primal chaos era.

Anyone entombed here had to be among the greatest experts of the violet blood race. The gravestones were pristine and had countless offerings placed on them. This showed that the violet blood race’s experts often came here to pay their respects to them. They had not forgotten these heroes, and neither had they forgotten their enemy.

Long Chen smiled slightly. This road, coupled with that gatekeeper’s provocation, told him a great deal about the attitude of the Violet Abyss higher-ups. Namely, as long as he was here, he would be given the same treatment as everyone else. If others had the opportunity, he would have the opportunity. If others were allowed to do something, then so was he. In the same vein, what others did, he also had to do. There would be no bias, and no preferential treatment.

He followed the path through the cemetery until he reached the end. There was a spatial transportation gate here. Long Chen stepped through. Space twisted, and he appeared in a large plaza.

There was a violet formation here, and countless disciples were seated within. Violet qi swam through the air like lazy dragons. Long Chen narrowed his eyes at the sight.

Karmic luck manifested into physical form?

“Senior apprentice-brother Long Chen, it’s been so long!”

Just as Long Chen was surprised by these karmic luck dragons, a familiar voice rang out from nearby.