A "Warm" Welcome from the Ten Emperor Layers
There is no wind on the tenth level of the Abyss.
When Yun Jingheng landed here, the Sky Bull Emperor was already waiting not far away.
It neither attacked nor spoke. The man and the ox stared at each other for a moment, and then the Sky Bull Emperor nodded first.
Yun Jingheng didn't know what it meant, but assumed it was some kind of rule here, so he nodded.
The Sky Bull Emperor turned his body to the side and pointed with his forelegs at a circular stone platform that was half-buried in the ground not far away.
The stone platform is covered with purple patterns, and light flows slowly along the patterns.
Yun Jingheng walked over and stood on it, but the Sky Bull Emperor didn't look at him again.
The patterns on the stone platform suddenly lit up, and in the next instant, he was pulled upwards by an extremely heavy force.
After a very brief moment of weightlessness, I landed on the ninth floor.
The Black Empress stood in front of him.
When it saw Yun Jingheng, it visibly stiffened for a moment, and then moved very awkwardly.
It's like wanting to back down, but not daring to.
Finally, it extended an extremely thin segmented limb from the black mist and pointed to a purple path on the right.
The meaning couldn't be clearer.
Yun Jingheng glanced at it, and even the Black Empress shrank back slightly.
Yun Jingheng said nothing and walked towards that road.
The Black Empress moved forward, creating distance, as if leading the way, or perhaps fleeing for his life.
They escorted him all the way to the next stone platform before quickly disappearing into the mist.
The eighth floor is above that, where the Bee Emperor and others wait.
Its wings were not fully open, but drooped behind its back. When it saw Yun Jingheng, its whole face seemed to freeze.
But the emperor's command was hard to disobey, so it forced itself to bend over to Yun Jingheng, then turned around and personally led him to the stone platform.
They moved extremely fast, as if afraid that if they lingered even a moment longer, he would remember their past grievances.
On the seventh level, the Transformation Emperor did not reveal his true form; he only manifested as a faint shadow, walking five steps ahead.
Until Yun Jingheng was delivered to the teleportation point.
On the sixth level, the Sage Emperor is even better at putting on an act than the previous ones.
It bowed to Yun Jingheng, its tone calm, even somewhat polite. "The Holy Emperor is waiting for you. Please."
It raised its forelimbs and pointed them at the stone platform.
When Yun Jingheng walked up, it still kept its head down, maintaining a very respectful posture.
On the fifth level, the Scythe Emperor did not appear; he stood far away, half of his body hidden behind a grayish-white boulder.
Seeing Yun Jingheng approaching from a distance, he nodded almost imperceptibly, then raised his sickle and swung it very lightly.
To the left front, a stone platform.
Yun Jingheng didn't look at him a second time. Only after Yun Jingheng passed by did the Scythe Emperor slowly sheathe his sword.
The giant scythe still bore the old cut made by Yun Jingheng last time.
On the fourth level, the Devil Emperor is the largest. He kneels beside the stone platform.
When Yun Jingheng arrived, it slowly got up and took two steps back to the side.
Each step shook the ground, yet it made not a sound from beginning to end.
The light patterns lit up, and he disappeared from the fourth level.
On the third level, the Blazing Emperor sat in the center of a scorched earth, the flames on his body still burning, but without any warmth.
When Yun Jingheng stepped out of the teleportation circle, Blazing Emperor did not get up.
It glanced to the right, Yun Jingheng followed its gaze and saw the next stone platform.
On the second level, Spirit Emperor appeared.
He stood at the entrance to the second level, with a vast expanse of dark white, cold mist behind him.
He gave Yun Jingheng a very slight smile, as if welcoming him, or perhaps bidding him farewell, and then he bent down, making a perfectly standard gesture of leading the way.
Yun Jingheng finally spoke after reaching this point. He asked, "Is it up ahead?"
Spirit Emperor Ling nodded, his voice barely audible, "The Holy Ruler has been waiting for you for a long time."
"Damn, they're really treating me like a guest! What if they knew I was here to cause trouble?"
Yun Jingheng didn't say anything more; he stepped onto the teleportation rune at the end of the second level.
When the purple light flashed for the last time and then disappeared, he was already standing on the first level of land.
In the distance, the Heaven Saint Rift Abyss Halberd was stuck in the gray-white ground.
And next to it, there was a person.
She was facing away from him.
Yun Jingheng stopped.
'Such high-class behavior? Do all important people have to put on an act?'
Yun Jingheng wasn't in a hurry.
He stood on the ground of the first floor, the Moonlight receding, leaving only a very thin layer on his body.
It was so deep here that even his breathing became unusually long.
The first floor wasn't as gloomy as the previous nine floors.
There were no hordes of monsters, no black tides, and no Emperor to lead the way.
The sky was a dark purple, and the ground was a somber gray-white.
Everywhere there are rock pillars, each one reaching upwards, like old nails carelessly driven into the void.
"You've arrived," the Holy King said.
His voice was neither warm nor cold, as if he were saying something he already knew.
He did not turn around, but remained standing with his hands behind his back.
Yun Jingheng didn't speak, but took a few more steps forward and stopped about ten steps behind him.
The sage king then slowly turned around.
He was very tall, more than a head taller than the average human.
His hair was as white as frost, and his eyebrows and eyes were deep and long.
If it weren't for the dark purple robes formed from the essence of the Abyss, he would have looked more like a king who had stepped down from an ancient divine throne.
He looked at Yun Jingheng, and a smile appeared on his face.
The smile even had a touch of kindness.
"You've come all this way, aren't you tired?" he asked, his tone as if he were concerned for a younger person returning from afar.
Yun Jingheng truly hadn't expected him to say that.
The sage king didn't mind, and simply raised his hand to the side.
A perfectly flat black rock slowly rises from the ground.
He pointed and said, "Sit down. You just arrived, no need to force yourself."
Yun Jingheng did not sit down, and the emperor was not annoyed.
He took two more steps forward, now only a few feet away from Yun Jingheng.
This distance was sufficient for the two to clearly sense each other's Divine Power.
The emperor looked Yun Jingheng up and down, as if he were measuring a precious artifact that he had finally obtained.
He nodded and said, "You're more composed than I expected. Those little things on the first few floors didn't hurt you, did they?"
"You sent them to pick me up just to stop me from taking action?" Yun Jingheng finally spoke, his tone devoid of emotion.
"Not entirely."
The Holy Emperor smiled. "I also want to know if you'll give me that face. You didn't kill them, that's very good."
He paused for a moment, then added, "I am very satisfied. Seeing you is like seeing myself before I was chosen by the Abyss; you are like a door that has not yet been fully opened."
Yun Jingheng did not respond.
The Holy Lord, however, seemed to have taken a talk and continued, "There are no rules like those in the Douluo Plane here."
"You can start over whatever you want to do. I'm not asking you to give up anything; I'm just giving you a bigger path. Since you've come this far today, I don't consider you an outsider." He said it very softly.
Yun Jingheng remained silent.
He thought to himself, 'Is this the Abyssal Sage King? Anyone who didn't know better would think he's some old man from a sect trying to recruit someone to inherit his cave.'
"When I was beating up your lackeys before, weren't you yelling that you were going to kill me? Your attitude changed damn fast."
The more polite the emperor was, the clearer he knew that this place was a den of cannibals.
He suddenly missed Ye Xinglan, missed her very much.
But his face remained expressionless.
Yun Jingheng finally sat down on a rock nearby, without leaning against it, but simply placing his hands on his knees.
He looked at the Holy Emperor: "Speak. Why did you let me down?"
When the emperor saw him sit down, the smile on his face became even more genuine.
He slowly walked to the Heaven Saint Rift Abyss Halberd, gently stroked its surface, and said, "I want to give you a position, and also see just how far you can go in your career."
Yun Jingheng narrowed his eyes very slightly.
Before he could answer, the Holy King laughed again, "Don't rush. You haven't rested at all on this journey. Talk to me for a while, and we'll talk business when you've rested enough."
After he finished speaking, he waved his hand lightly.
The ground was cleared away, and some extremely thin black mist dispersed.
A stone table rose up from below, on which were placed several cups of liquid of unknown origin.
The liquid was a deep purple, like night squeezed out from the first layer of the earth.
The emperor raised a cup and offered it to Yun Jingheng.
His movements were as natural as if he were entertaining a guest; Yun Jingheng looked at the drink but didn't touch it.
He said slowly, "No need."
The sage king didn't press the matter. He took a sip himself and said, "No rush, you'll get used to it."
"Since this is your first time seeing this, it's always good to be cautious. This is a valuable item, the essence of Abyssal Energy!"