At first, some people did not believe the Source Ring could inscribe a Great Emperor's Dao Marks. They thought Jiang Yun had merely passed off the shadowy Dao Marks of some long-dead Saint or Saint King as the real thing, useful only for helping weaker cultivators hone their combat strength.
But after some of them spent ten thousand jin of Divine Source and sent a wisp of their Primordial Spirit into the Emperor's Tower, everything changed.
Against an opponent of the same realm, the Great Emperor's shadow beat them so badly they began to question their lives. Even Easy Mode stumped ninety percent of them.
There was no way these were Dao Marks left by a Saint King or Great Saint in disguise.
They had been beaten so thoroughly that they had no complaints left—not even the prodigies among the two thousand who had advanced some way into the Eight Forbidden Domain.
Not one of them could defeat the Undying Heavenly Emperor's shadow at half strength.
The Five-Colored Heavenly Saber cleaved through the Void. His undying secret arts were terrifying beyond measure, and his true Immortal Phoenix form soared across the universe, as though the Undying Heavenly Emperor himself had returned to life.
Yet that was only Standard Mode. Normal Mode still lay above it.
According to the Source Ring's description, Normal Mode replicated only eighty percent of the Undying Heavenly Emperor's combat strength at the same realm.
Everyone now believed it was the shadow of a Great Emperor or Ancient Emperor. They had no choice but to believe.
Three trials stood before the heroes gathered from the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths. Every one of them was a legend in their homeland, yet not a single person could clear Normal Mode.
To claim those same-realm Dao Marks had been