The Paintings on the Stone Gate

The next day.

When the sun rose outside to bring light, Holy Mountain City was in a state of solemn silence.

The plaza, where a hundred-meter-tall statue of the Great Emperor stood, was already packed with a dense crowd, a veritable sea of people.

Beneath the majestic, radiant statue of the Great Emperor, it felt as if they were being watched by the Great Emperor himself; everyone remained silent, and no one dared to speak loudly.

An elderly man with a shaved head, wearing golden robes and possessing a face as cold and hard as a sculpture, walked slowly toward the base of the Great Emperor statue, accompanied by several figures in silver robes.

The plaza where the Great Emperor statue stood was a no-fly zone; this was the rule.

The only one who could violate it was the Great Emperor.

"I am the current City Lord of Holy Mountain City, Salaman Gulei." The golden-robed elder spoke slowly.

Regardless of whether a Great Emperor was currently reigning in Holy Mountain City, there was always a City Lord responsible for its management, and by unwritten tradition, the position was held by a member of the Gulei Family, descendants of Great Emperor Gulei.

And the ancestral instruction of the Gulei Family was that no descendant could enter the Stone Gate!

Therefore, the Gulei Family had not produced another Great Emperor since Great Emperor Gulei.

Of course, the Gulei Family had been able to endure for countless years not just because of the bloodline within Holy Mountain City, but because there were countless others outside as well.

This was the most ancient of families, and also a very mysterious one.

Even when they repeatedly encountered world-ending catastrophes, the Gulei Family could quickly return to Holy Mountain City, rising from the ashes and continuing on through the generations.

A grand voice spread out from the golden-robed elder, echoing across the area.

"A cycle of one hundred thousand years, the day for the Stone Gate to open has arrived."

"You should all be clear on the rules, but I will emphasize them once more."

"First, the Stone Gate will remain open for at most one year before closing; you must exit within that year."

"Second, once you enter, you are responsible for your own life and death; whatever happens inside has nothing to do with the outside world."

"Third..."

The voice continued to echo over the plaza, and the crowd remained silent.

After a while, once everything had been read out, the golden-robed elder paused. "Very well, those heading to the Stone Gate, follow me." He turned and walked toward a direction outside the plaza first, followed by the silver-robed figures, and then the members of other factions, who followed silently.

Ten guards clad in black armor stood before a cave entrance; seeing the golden-robed elder leading the group over, they silently stepped aside.

The golden-robed elder led the team inside, and then the people filed in one after another.

They traveled along a passage that seemed bottomless, and after an unknown amount of time, they finally saw the end. When they stepped out of the cave, a strange scene appeared before their eyes—

It was a massive abyss crack, with clouds and mist churning at the bottom, along with streaks of lightning snakes slithering about, emitting low, whistling sounds. An endless, terrifying pressure emanated from below, making one feel like an ant walking on a volcano that could erupt at any moment, ready to be reduced to ashes in an instant.

Floating above the abyss crack was a tall portal—a black Stone Gate with faint traces of gold, a thousand meters high and several hundred meters wide. The gate seemed to be covered in some kind of imagery, exuding a mysterious aura.

The golden-robed elder said, "Only in this year, every one hundred thousand years, does the Abyssal Thunder Sea recede to allow the Stone Gate to emerge. Do not underestimate these lightning bolts; they are not like the ones outside. The power of the abyssal lightning is unimaginably great. In history, there was once a Great Emperor who risked touching them, and in just a fleeting moment, he was turned into dust... he became the shortest-lived Great Emperor. You all know the story of that Great Emperor Wangu; those who do not wish to die must come out within a year."

"There is still half a day until the Stone Gate opens. You may wait here, or you may contemplate the images on the Stone Gate."

After the golden-robed elder finished speaking, he glanced at the silver-robed figures beside him. They flew up without a word, stopped in front of the Stone Gate, and focused their minds on it, as if there were some treasure on it, watching with rapt attention.

A nearly four-meter-tall powerhouse of the Stone People, whose muscles were like rock, said, "City Lord Gulei, your Gulei Family has never entered, yet you constantly contemplate the images on this Stone Gate. Could it be, as the legends say, that this Stone Gate holds a secret that even Great Emperors pursue?"

Another Saint of the Sea Race, a woman with a hot and sexy figure wearing thin armor that only covered the essential parts of her body, said softly, "I have also heard this story. It is said that Great Emperor Gulei was the first person to enter the gate, but he did not enter directly; he received special guidance from the Stone Gate before entering. He obtained unimaginable gains inside, and only then did he come out. He was different from all other Great Emperors. There are even legends that Great Emperor Gulei did not pass away because his lifespan reached its limit, but that he voluntarily left our world and entered the vast starry sky. Is that true, Lord Gulei?"

The various factions standing on the edge of the cliff wore strange expressions on their faces; clearly, they had all heard these things to some extent.

The golden-robed elder remained expressionless and said indifferently, "My Gulei clan has upheld the will of our ancestors and guarded Holy Mountain City all this time. Not a single clansman has entered the Stone Gate to compete with you for that opportunity. One hundred thousand years after another, watching those Great Emperors rise and fall, replacing one generation after another—why do you think that is?"

He turned around, his gaze sweeping over the crowd, his voice low. "To tell you the truth, in the oldest records of our Gulei Family, Great Emperor Gulei did indeed say that the Stone Gate contains the secret to transcending the Great Emperor realm. I can guarantee this, but are you willing to try? To risk a year to see if you can succeed? Or to go inside and fight for it, at least there is a slim chance of becoming a Great Emperor."

The Saints gathered here looked at each other, then looked at the silver-robed figures hovering by the Stone Gate. Many showed thoughtful expressions, some were moved, but more were skeptical.

A beautiful Snow People woman, whose hair and skin were both white, asked. Her voice was cold, like the wind of midwinter blowing across: "Then has anyone in your history ever succeeded?"

The golden-robed elder shook his head and said regretfully, "No, not a single one. Aside from Great Emperor Gulei who might have succeeded, after countless years, one Great Emperor after another has emerged from the Stone Gate, but not one of our clansmen has ever succeeded." He looked at the Stone Gate and sighed, "The main thing is that one must contemplate them within a year; it is too difficult. If you miss the opportunity, you must wait another hundred thousand years. Even Great Emperors do not get a second chance, let alone us."

The people present were silent, their gazes toward the Stone Gate becoming varied.

"There is still time anyway, let's try contemplating it first." A chubby woman laughed and flew over.

Others followed; since the Stone Gate hadn't opened yet, they might as well take a look. What if they were lucky enough to have a chance?

The golden-robed elder watched this scene with a smile, but there was a trace of mockery in his eyes. His Gulei clan had the warnings of Great Emperor Gulei, preparing generation after generation; so many geniuses, yet no one had succeeded in countless years. Did these guys really think they could succeed so easily?

In his mind, the words left behind by Great Emperor Gulei surfaced: "The things inside the Stone Gate can indeed help them take a step further, but that is all. From then on, they will stop there. My descendants must never do this."

Meanwhile, Su Ke, who had been watching from the beginning to the end in his spaceship, became interested in the images on the Stone Gate upon seeing this and ordered Lyumila and the others on the scene to approach and take a look.

At the same time, he already felt that something was wrong.

Could this Stone Gate have been left behind by someone on purpose?

Thinking of the legends of this galaxy in the ancient era, an unprecedented disaster wiped out everything in a region of tens of thousands of light-years overnight. This was a region of tens of thousands of light-years! Not to mention destruction, even light would have to travel for tens of thousands of years! It was equivalent to destroying half the galaxy directly!

What kind of power... could achieve this?