The four great families of the Spirit Pagoda.
The Phoenix Family estate.
Heavenly Phoenix Douluo Leng Yaozhu passed through numerous lines of defense and arrived alone before a small courtyard sealed off by countless defensive Soul Tools.
Beams swept across Leng Yaozhu's body.
A cold mechanical voice sounded:
"Identity confirmed."
"Current head of the Phoenix Family. Access authorization verified. Passage permitted."
With the sound of turning gears, the metal gate before her, forged from the fusion of numerous rare metals, slowly opened.
A skyful of chill spilled forth.
Beyond the gate lay a deep passage.
Its stairs were made of ice crystals and descended underground.
"Could that ancestor really still be alive...?"
Leng Yaozhu murmured softly as she stepped into the passage on her long, snow-white legs.
A glimmer of sharpness and doubt flashed through her phoenix eyes.
She had come here because of an ancestral precept left behind by the Phoenix Family ten thousand years ago:
"After ten thousand years, the ancestor shall awaken!"
It was said that this ancestral precept had been established by the most astonishing ancestor in Phoenix Family history when he sealed himself here.
The Phoenix Family's present foundation was, to a great extent, built upon the lingering legacy left behind by that ancestor.
This was the Phoenix Family's greatest secret.
Only when each family head handed over their position would they reveal this ancestral precept and grant the access authorization to this place.
Now that she had become the head of the Phoenix Family, she had also happened to reach the time mentioned in the ancestral precept.
Yet Leng Yaozhu could not help feeling doubtful.
That ancestor had lived ten thousand years ago. Even if he had been a peerless genius, could a human truly cross a span of ten thousand years through sheer personal power?
"Tap, tap, tap..."
Crisp footsteps echoed through this utterly silent space.
Leng Yaozhu reached the very bottom of the secret chamber.
An Ice Coffin stood prominently at the center of the chamber.
Through the crystal-clear Ice Coffin, she could see a handsome man in pure white robes lying inside with his eyes closed.
His snow-like hair fell along either side of him.
His chest did not rise or fall, and not a trace of life could be sensed from him.
He was like a perfectly preserved work of art.
Leng Yaozhu stepped before the Ice Coffin and, following the ancestral precept, placed the ice-blue jade tablet that symbolized the family head atop it.
She dropped to both knees, her voice respectful and devout:
"Leng Yaozhu, current head of the Phoenix Family, has come in accordance with the ancestral precept to awaken the ancestor from his seal!"
Her voice reverberated through the secret chamber before gradually fading away.
When the Ice Coffin showed no reaction, a trace of disappointment crossed Leng Yaozhu's eyes.
Sure enough, even the most remarkable ancestor in the family's history ten thousand years ago had lacked the ability to cross such a vast span of time?
Just as she thought this inherited ancestral precept was nothing more than a beautiful fantasy—
A sudden change occurred.
The jade tablet resting atop the Ice Coffin suddenly burst forth with a dazzling ice-blue radiance.
Immediately after.
The young man lying within the Ice Coffin seemed to receive some sort of summons.
Under Leng Yaozhu's delighted and disbelieving gaze, his eyelashes trembled faintly.
The next moment.
His eyes snapped open.
A clear Phoenix Cry echoed through the secret chamber.
The coffin lid shattered in an instant, turning into ice crystals that filled the air.
The young man sat upright.
The divine light in his pure white eyes was so intense that even Leng Yaozhu, now the Heavenly Phoenix Douluo, did not dare meet his gaze directly.
The confusion in his eyes quickly vanished, replaced by a flash of brilliance.
His gaze settled upon Leng Yaozhu.
The young man slowly spoke:
"Are you the current head of the Phoenix Family?"
"Yes, Ancestor. My name is Leng Yaozhu, the current head of the Phoenix Family. I have come especially in accordance with the ancestral precept to awaken you."
Leng Yaozhu hurriedly replied.
This Heavenly Phoenix Douluo, who stood at the peak of the continent, seemed exceptionally young and immature before him.
"Leng Yaozhu..."
The young man softly repeated the name, then curled his lips into a smile.
His face remained calm and still, but inwardly, he was already laughing triumphantly.
"Success!"
"Success!"
"Bing'er, Xue'er, we did it!"
Within his spiritual sea.
The two beautiful figures who had awakened alongside the young man both wore delighted expressions.
When they had devised this plan, they had indeed been gambling.
But the truth was that they had succeeded!
Without becoming gods!
They had successfully crossed ten thousand years!
They had finally arrived in this era!
An era where the God Realm was absent, temporarily free of God King Tang's oversight!
The young man was named Leng Hanyuan.
Ten thousand years ago, during the era of Spirit Ice Douluo Huo Yuhao, he had transmigrated to the Douluo Continent.
He had awakened the ultimate ice martial soul, the Ice Phoenix.
Though he had missed Sky Dream Ice Silkworm due to the timing of his transmigration,
he had still successfully used his advantage as a transmigrator to secure the Two Emperors of Ice and Snow, two top-tier ice-attribute Soul Masters, as his allies.
He had also reached an agreement with Holy Necromancer Electrolux and obtained from him the inheritance of necromantic magic.
At just over twenty years old, he had successfully entered the ranks of Limit Douluos.
Yet he had not taken that final step.
Because the Douluo Continent of that era had, in truth, been God King Tang's private garden.
If one wished to attain godhood, there was no way to escape God King Tang's notice.
God King Tang's temperament was well known to all.
Unless one became a dog of the Tang Family like Huo Yuhao, God King Tang would never stand by and watch an uncontrolled god emerge.
But how could Leng Hanyuan possibly be willing to become God King Tang's dog?
So he made this decision.
He gathered vast quantities of ice-attribute heavenly treasures and earthly materials to construct this secret chamber,
and with his cultivation as an ultimate ice-attribute Limit Douluo, along with the help of the Two Emperors of Ice and Snow,
he combined it with the necromantic magic inheritance he had received from Electrolux.
He temporarily sealed away his life force and sealed himself.
He also established an ancestral precept for the Phoenix Family.
They were to awaken him ten thousand years later.
He would use this method to cross the span of ten thousand years.
He would arrive in this era, when the God Realm had temporarily lost contact because of the Space-Time Turbulence.
In this era without God King Tang's oversight, he would attain his godhood!
It was an enormous gamble!
Because everything had only been theoretically feasible!
For a human who had yet to become a god, ten thousand years was simply far too long.
Even for a Limit Douluo, it was no exception.
But the facts proved that Leng Hanyuan and the others had gambled correctly!
He had indeed crossed those seemingly insurmountable ten thousand years through self-sealing!
Leng Hanyuan clenched his fist.
He stirred the Soul Power that had remained stagnant for ten thousand years.
An immense, glacier-like aura immediately spread through the secret chamber.
Leng Yaozhu's pupils suddenly constricted.
With her cultivation and the strength of a Four-Word Battle Armor Master, she still felt extreme fear.
This ancestor from ten thousand years ago was likely no weaker than Shrek Academy's Sky-Propping Douluo Yun Ming.
He had truly stepped into the pinnacle of the mortal world!
One step further, and he might become a god!
Leng Hanyuan rose from the Ice Coffin, walked over to Leng Yaozhu, and patted her shoulder.
The gesture came naturally, carrying an elder's indulgence toward a younger generation member.
He spoke softly, his gaze turning toward the entrance of the secret chamber.
"Let's go."
"Take me to see that..."
"World ten thousand years later."
Before you continue