First Layer of the Realm of the Heavens

Song Zhong had no idea when a thousand cultivators would finally gather, so he could only wait here.

All he hoped for now was that a thousand cultivators would arrive soon. If it took several decades to gather a thousand cultivators, the Demon Race and Tentacle Clan would have long since invaded the Human Race!

Fortunately, his luck seemed rather good this time.

Perhaps there were especially many Heavenly Prodigies from his era, or perhaps a great number of Heavenly Prodigies had already entered this place to wait before him.

He had only waited for three days when a staircase appeared ahead on the ninth floor.

Song Zhong followed the staircase in, only to instantly feel that he had entered another new world.

At a glance, he saw an enormous volcano ahead. Before he had even climbed onto the volcano, scorching waves of heat rushed at his face, as though they would set even the ground beneath his feet ablaze.

Song Zhong took a step and flew toward the volcano, but the moment he reached it, a terrifying pulling force came from below, forcibly dragging his body down.

Even with his current cultivation, he could not resist that terrifying force, and he instantly fell to the ground.

"So this time, the rule is to first make it through this land of flames?" Song Zhong could only start walking forward. The rules of every trial in the Realm of the Heavens were different. He had no idea what the exact rules were and could only keep moving onward.

At the same time, he watched his surroundings as he advanced.

According to Zhengyi Immortal Emperor and Wutian Immortal Emperor, cultivators who entered the Heaven Reaching Realm would not gather together from the start, but would be scattered apart.

However, there would generally be another cultivator somewhere nearby.

When the two of them had entered the first layer of the Heaven Reaching Realm, they had both encountered another cultivator within half an hour.

Of course, their goal had been to enter deeper layers, so they generally would not fight one another.

But the farther down one went, the more the number of cultivators able to enter the next layer would be limited, so fighting and killing would occur.

Naturally, neither of them had gone very deep. All of this had been told to their master by the Lord of Witchcraft Power, and then their master had told them.

As for why they had still been eliminated, they had not said. But according to Song Zhong's guess—

It was probably related to their Great Thousand World only being ranked ten thousandth.

When other cultivators saw someone from a Great Thousand World ranked so low, they would assume he was not very strong and would not worry about retaliation. They could simply dispose of him along the way.

"Sizzle, sizzle..."

Suddenly, the sound of something being scorched rang out.

Song Zhong looked down and saw that the shoes on his feet had already been burned through by the ground.

The temperature of this volcano was far too high. Even the dirt below was as scorching as an alchemy furnace. Ahead of him, there was no longer any soil at all, only flowing, boiling magma!

"Troublesome."

Song Zhong muttered, taking out a pair of shoes from his Universe Ring and putting them on. At the same time, Lightning Essence emerged and wrapped around his feet as he strode forward.

Lightning constantly collided with the magma beneath his feet, sending arcs of electricity bursting in every direction.

Ahead of him, flames continuously erupted from cracks in the rocks. Even the sky above had split open, with meteor-like fireballs pouring down without cease.

"So the first trial is a test of flames? Isn't this a little too easy?"

Feeling the power of the flames rushing at him, Song Zhong gathered bolts of lightning around his body, wrapping himself completely within them. He advanced all the way forward like that, and before long, he had crossed the volcano.

Before him, however, an enormous world of ice appeared.

Everything here had condensed from ice. The moment he entered, bone-piercing cold rushed at him.

Wrapped in lightning, Song Zhong continued onward.

"So the first trial is about passing through all sorts of special places? There may be a desert of sand and stone later, along with worlds of raging winds or even lightning?"

As Song Zhong advanced, the lightning around him came into contact with the surrounding ice, causing chunks of ice to explode one after another. The thunderous sounds spread far into the distance.

In the distance, a cultivator whose body was almost fused with the ice heard the sounds approaching from afar and abruptly stopped.

"A cultivator has come. Sure enough, not long after entering the first layer, one encounters other cultivators.

"I hope this one isn't from one of those Great Thousand Worlds ranked too high."

He gave a sinister grin. Rather than leaving, he remained where he was in the distance.

Before long, the explosions drew closer and closer. Soon, a figure completely wrapped in lightning entered his sight.

His gaze immediately fell upon the center of the other party's forehead. That number had been condensed from a Substitute Death Talisman and could not be concealed by any means. Even with lightning flashing, the number was still visible.

The instant he saw it clearly, he suddenly laughed. "A cultivator from a Great Thousand World ranked ten thousandth? Ranked so low, yet you still dare be so arrogant, gathering lightning around yourself as if you're afraid other cultivators won't notice you. Are you courting death?"

At the same time, Song Zhong also spotted a humanoid cultivator who looked like ice itself. In the center of the other party's forehead was a clear number: 4,999.