Ripples in the Upper Realm

The Upper Realm is vast and boundless, divided into three thousand continents.

Within this expansive territory, there are top-tier forces with Divine Kings as their pillars, ancient families that have passed down their legacies for millions of years, and mysterious organizations hidden at the edges of chaos.

Powerful figures stand like a forest, and the laws are strict and severe.

Yet the legend of the "Dust Star Gate" has circulated through the Upper Realm for tens of millions of years.

After all, it is the entrance to the inheritance left by the Ancient Divine King Titan, Dust Star Daoist. Whoever obtains the key to the inheritance and enters it has the chance to gain a Divine King-level opportunity.

For millions of years, countless forces have expended vast resources, searching the cosmos for traces of the Dust Star Gate.

Some forces were fortunate enough to find one, but unable to unravel the mystery of the inheritance key, they could only guard it as a Forbidden Zone.

Other forces waged earth-shattering wars over a single Dust Star Gate, only to end in mutual destruction.

Even Divine King-level experts personally intervened, attempting to force the stone gate open, only to be repelled by Dust Star Daoist's residual Divine Rules, suffering severe injuries.

But on the third day after Bai Ye obtained Dust Star Daoist's complete inheritance, the seventy-two Dust Star Gates that had been discovered across the Upper Realm began to dissipate almost simultaneously.

The first to notice the anomaly was the "Purple Extreme Divine King Family."

The Purple Extreme Family had been passed down for thirty million years. Their ancestors had once met Dust Star Daoist, and a Dust Star Gate was guarded within the family's Forbidden Zone.

On that day, the guardian of the Forbidden Zone suddenly sent an urgent report, saying that the stone gate was becoming transparent and the Divine Patterns on its surface were gradually dimming!

The family patriarch, Zi Ji Tian Chen, a top-tier expert who had reached the third level of the Divine King Realm, immediately rushed to the Forbidden Zone in person.

When he arrived, the pitch-black stone gate that had stood for tens of millions of years was turning into specks of starlight, slowly dissipating into the air.

The moment the gate vanished, a faint yet clear wave of Divine King inheritance energy spread through the void of the Upper Realm, then fell completely silent.

"The inheritance... has been taken by someone?"

Zi Ji Tian Chen stood in the center of the Forbidden Zone, the purple-gold power of his Divine Rules surging around him. His eyes were filled with disbelief and a thick, greedy light. "Tens of millions of years! A full tens of millions of years! And someone has actually managed to obtain Dust Star Daoist's complete inheritance!"

He immediately ordered an assembly of all the family's elders and core members. In an instant, dozens of terrifying auras converged in the Council Hall, the weakest among them being at the Divine Venerable Realm!

"Patriarch, does the dissipation of the Dust Star Gate mean the inheritance has fallen into another's hands?" Grand Elder Zi Ji Yuan asked in a deep voice, his tone laced with urgency.

The Purple Extreme Family had paid countless costs to guard this stone gate. How could they accept the inheritance being lost to someone else now?

"Correct." Zi Ji Tian Chen nodded, his expression grave. "That wave just now was precisely the imprint of Dust Star Daoist's inheritance. It seems someone not only entered Dust Star Valley but also passed all the trials!"

"Send the order: mobilize all the family's intelligence networks and thoroughly investigate every recent anomaly in the Upper Realm, especially among the younger generation of True God Realm cultivators. We must find the one who obtained the inheritance!"

"Patriarch, if we find this person, how should we handle him?" a middle-aged elder asked, a ruthless glint flashing in his eyes. "Dust Star Daoist's inheritance is of utmost importance. It cannot fall into the hands of an outsider!"

"At any cost, seize the inheritance!" Zi Ji Tian Chen's voice was icy, carrying an unyielding authority. "If the other party is sensible and willing to offer up the inheritance, we may spare his life and take him in as a family vassal. If he resists, then kill him outright—soul and body annihilated!"

The elders in the Council Hall nodded one after another, their eyes all gleaming with greed.

A Divine King-level inheritance was enough to elevate the Purple Extreme Family's strength to another level, even giving them a chance to break through to the Divine Emperor Realm. There was no way they would miss this opportunity!

The news spread like a tide, rapidly reaching all the major forces of the Upper Realm.

The sect master of the "Blazing Heaven Divine Sect," Fen Tian Zhan, was seated in the sect's ancestral land, refining a Divine Emperor-level flame seed.

When the news of the Dust Star Gate's dissipation reached him, he abruptly opened his eyes. Two streams of golden fire shot out, burning two black holes into the void before him.

"Someone actually managed to obtain the Dust Star inheritance?" Fen Tian Zhan's voice carried anger and unwillingness.

As an emerging superpower in the Upper Realm, the Blazing Heaven Divine Sect had devoted itself to searching for the Dust Star Gate over the past million years, losing three Divine Venerable Realm elders in the process. Now that someone else had beaten them to it, how could they endure it?

He immediately summoned the sect's "Hunting Hall Master," a top-tier expert at the ninth level of the Heavenly God Realm: "Lead all members of the Hunting Hall and disperse across the three thousand domains. You must find the one who obtained the inheritance!"

"Remember, I want him alive, I want him dead—the inheritance must be brought back to the sect!"

"Your subordinate obeys!"

The Hunting Hall Master bowed in acknowledgment, then turned into a streak of fire and vanished into the ancestral land.

At the headquarters of the Upper Realm's neutral organization, the "Eternal Dao Alliance," a massive palace floating in a sea of chaotic clouds, the alliance master, Gu Dao Zhen Ren, was playing a game of Go with the grand elders.

When the news of the Dust Star Gate's dissipation arrived, the piece in his hand suddenly stopped mid-air, and a flicker of surprise crossed his eyes.

"Unexpected. After tens of millions of years, someone has truly managed to unravel Dust Star Daoist's inheritance trials."

Gu Dao Zhen Ren let out a soft sigh and placed his piece down. "Dust Star Daoist was once a Divine King Titan who could contend with Divine Emperor Realm experts. His inheritance is enough to shake the very structure of the Upper Realm."

"Alliance Master, should we intervene?" a white-haired elder asked. "If the Purple Extreme Family or the Blazing Heaven Divine Sect obtains the inheritance, it would be detrimental to our Eternal Dao Alliance."

"No need." Gu Dao Zhen Ren shook his head, his gaze profound. "Let us observe for now. The one who obtained the inheritance managed to pass Dust Star Daoist's trials—he is no ordinary person. Perhaps he will bring new variables to the Upper Realm."

"We only need to keep a close watch and make our move once the situation becomes clear."

Beyond these top-tier forces, countless smaller powers and rogue cultivators across the Upper Realm were also shaken.

"The Dust Star Gate has disappeared! Someone has taken the inheritance!"

"Who? Who could have such fortune?"

"The legend of a thousand millennia has finally borne fruit! If I can find this person, even a mere sliver of the inheritance would be enough to let me break through to the Divine Venerable Realm!"

Countless cultivators spontaneously formed search parties, scouring every corner of the Three Thousand Domains, trying to track down the trail of the inheritance's recipient.

The air of the Upper Realm seemed to instantly grow thick and tense, as a struggle over the Divine King Inheritance quietly brewed in the shadows.

At this very moment, Bai Ye, situated in the Azure Cloud Sect of Azure State in the Lower Realm, remained utterly unaware of it all.

He was immersed in cultivation, tirelessly refining the foundation of the True God Realm.

Making his final preparations to break through to the Heavenly God Realm!