"Let's step outside to talk. You might not be comfortable here."
The Holy Emperor casually pointed, and another portal of starlight appeared. He stepped through first, with Evan Chu following close behind. Strangely enough, the place Evan arrived at was a world filled with birdsong and blooming flowers.
"This is my Space Domain. I've always hoped to evolve it into a world-space capable of nurturing life, but no matter what I try, I always fail.
So all these flowers, birds, fish, and insects were brought out from my original trial world. The Star-River Dominion doesn't actually have these lifeforms, because their level is too low—they simply can't survive in the outside environment.
I thought that in a setting like this, you'd probably sense something familiar. After all, we both walked out of a trial world, so talking here should help you relax a bit.
Oh, I forgot to introduce myself—I'm the Second Person who came before you. My name is Holden Hong."
"You didn't bring me here just to say all this, did you?"
Evan Chu had zero interest in this space. Compared to his Chaos World Domain, it was worlds apart.
"Of course not. I'm not that bored. My true body is currently attempting a breakthrough to the final stage. If I succeed, I'll step into late Holy Emperor Realm. But if I fail... I might fall for good."
Holden Hong sighed, then pointed. A stone table appeared, with two stone chairs set on either side.
"Let's do this—drinking and chatting at the same time. This fruit wine is my own creation. I don't have many hobbies, but I do have a bit of skill in brewing."
Holden Hong poured out two cups of fruit wine, handing one to Evan Chu and keeping one for himself. He took a light sip and said contentedly, "The flavor is incredibly rich. Even I can't bear to drink it most of the time, since it's so hard to make. Except for that time I celebrated Jun Yang's promotion to Throne, I haven't touched it in thirty thousand years—until today.
Here, you try some too."
Evan Chu thought it was just ordinary fruit wine, so he didn't prepare at all and drank it down in one gulp. Instantly, his internal organs felt like they were on fire—agonizing pain! But right alongside the pain, his Stellar Power started surging violently, and the bottleneck he'd been circling—the peak of late Saint—suddenly became tangible!
"Uh! Sorry, I forgot to mention—this fruit wine contains powerful comprehension force. One cup instantly multiplies your sensitivity to power by three hundred times, and during breakthroughs, it gives you ten times the usual enlightenment.
Of course, it's only effective below the Saint Venerable Realm, but at your current level, the reaction's even stronger. Honestly, you seem... way more monstrous than I imagined! If a normal person drank it all at once, they'd probably explode on the spot."
Listening to Holden Hong, Evan Chu's face turned dark. That stunt had really put him through the wringer. It was obvious Holden hadn't 'forgotten' to warn him—he'd just never planned to, or rather, this whole thing was a test!
And that was exactly the case. After hearing about the Third Person's performance from the four Hall Masters when Evan Chu first entered the Frostbane Dynasty, Holden Hong's first reaction wasn't excitement—it was disappointment, then jealousy. In his heart, he couldn't help but scream, 'Why couldn't it have been me?'
"Let's get to the real topic." Evan Chu gritted his teeth, still enduring waves of pain inside.
"Yeah, it's time for business. Honestly, it's nothing complicated—I'm just passing on the exact words the First Person entrusted to me."
Then Holden Hong switched to a storyteller's tone and told Evan Chu, "Actually, the Frostbane Dynasty wasn't always a dynasty. Its real name was Frostbane... Sacred Land!"
"Sacred Land?" Evan had never heard this before. No one had ever mentioned it to him, and apparently, even most people inside the Frostbane Dynasty didn't know this secret!
"Surprised, right? I was shocked too when I first heard the story. Now I'll pass on exactly what I heard from the First Person."
The Star-River Dominion's timeline is roughly divided into the current Sacred Land Era, the preceding Ancient Era, and then the even older Primordial and Archaic Eras. No one knows exactly how long each era lasted, but from the start of the Sacred Land Era, there were Five Sacred Lands and Three Thousand Dynasties. Back then, one of those Five Sacred Lands was called Frostbane!
At its peak, Frostbane Sacred Land was unrivaled. Its master, the Frostbane Sacred Emperor, stood above every powerhouse in the other four Sacred Lands. But he was also extremely arrogant and reckless, never caring about consequences. Eventually, he enraged the other four Sacred Lands. Hundreds of their top experts united to besiege him, and the Frostbane Sacred Emperor fell...
Along with him, nearly all the experts from the other four Sacred Lands were wiped out too. Furious, they launched a campaign to exterminate Frostbane Sacred Land, and for a hundred thousand years, the name 'Frostbane' vanished from the Star-River Dominion.
But after just a hundred thousand years, a powerhouse titled Frostbane Holy Emperor suddenly rose in the Star-River Dominion, rapidly built up strength under the Frostbane banner, annihilated one of the Three Thousand Dynasties, and seized an entire star region.
The four surviving Sacred Lands tried to wipe him out for good, but for various reasons, the attempt fizzled out.
But things didn't end there. Although the four Sacred Lands didn't massacre the Frostbane Dynasty, they invoked a Heavenly Dao Curse—decreeing that no one in Frostbane could ever break through from Holy Emperor Realm to Sacred Emperor Realm, or cultivate an independent Chaos World Domain. That cut off any chance for Frostbane to regain its Sacred Land status!
After Holden Hong finished, Evan Chu was left in shock, unable to calm down. He'd never imagined the Frostbane Dynasty had such a buried past.
"The one who rebuilt the Frostbane Dynasty and claimed the title of Holy Emperor—wasn't he the First Person who emerged from the trial world?"
"No, not at all. The one who rebuilt the Frostbane Dynasty was the Frostbane Sacred Emperor's son. But right after the dynasty was founded, the Sacred Lands sent experts to unite and kill him.
Only after that did the First Person from the trial world take charge of the Frostbane Dynasty. As for me, I emerged from the trial world about 3.4 million years ago and inherited the title of Holy Emperor."
"Then where is the First Person now?"
"He fell... He refused to believe a mere curse could block Frostbane's rise. When he reached late-peak Holy Emperor Realm, he tried to defy the heavens and force a breakthrough to Sacred Emperor Realm. In the end, Heavenly Dao Thunder Punishment struck him down. And this wasn't the tribulation lightning of a small world—it was the Star-River Dominion's most primal thunder!
No one can withstand it. He only lasted until the third bolt before he died.
"So... does that mean Frostbane truly has no chance to return to Sacred Land peak? That no one can break through to Sacred Emperor Realm?!" Evan's heart sank; this was devastating news.
"There is! Unless you can withstand nine full bolts of Thunder Punishment, or else destroy the four Sacred Lands that issued the curse back then!"
Holden Hong's avatar sighed. (If the support is strong, there will be more to come!)