Stepping through the light gate, Ian Song felt as if he had entered another world—a world completely cut off from the outside.
It was a boundless starry sky, with billions of stars twinkling, dreamlike and unreal.
"So this is what the inside of the Stellar Divine Temple looks like!" Lone-Blade Gideon exclaimed in awe. Ian glanced at the others and saw they all wore similar stunned expressions, mesmerized by the endless starry sky.
"Children, welcome to the Stellar Divine Temple."
Suddenly, a vague, ethereal voice echoed in everyone's ears.
"Who are you?" Ian called out, unable to sense where the voice was coming from at all.
"I am the Spirit of the Stellar Divine Temple."
That vague, ethereal voice sounded again.
"Hello, Temple Spirit. Where did this temple come from? Does it have a master?" Ian pressed.
"If you can clear all nine layers of the First-Tier Trial Layer, I will tell you the answer!"
The Temple Spirit replied.
Ian seemed to catch onto something and asked, "So you're saying this temple doesn't just have nine layers in its Challenge Domain?"
"Yes!"
"Alright, children, the challenge is about to begin. Remember, if you can't clear the first layer, you'll be erased. You have one month. Good luck!"
As soon as the words fell, all forty-nine people, Ian included, were transported into a sealed space.
Next, this space split into forty-nine small transparent cells. With a flash of light, three expressionless puppets appeared around each person.
These three puppets matched the challenger's own cultivation realm.
For example, if you were Innate First Layer, the three puppets would all be Innate First Layer.
Conversely, if your cultivation was early Heaven-and-Man, then the three puppets would also be early Heaven-and-Man.
The battle began.
No matter if they came from the Three Great Empires or the Black Heaven Demonic Cult, every candidate was handpicked—each absolutely had the power to take on three at once.
Eve Autumn, Lone-Blade Gideon, and the rest had Ian Song's personal coaching, so triple the enemies was hardly a problem for them.
"Kill!"
As the three puppets lunged at him, Ian swung his sword and slashed out.
"Splurt, splurt, splurt!"
"Keep going!" Ian said without a second thought.
The world flickered, and Ian found himself in the second-tier challenge domain. To be honest, it looked pretty much the same as the first.
"Child, on this floor you get one free resurrection, but let me warn you—try not to die!" The Temple Spirit said, its tone full of meaning.
As soon as the words dropped, six late Heaven-and-Man puppets appeared around Ian.
This time, Ian didn't wait for them to attack—he struck first.
Sword-light flashed, blood sprayed, and all six puppets went down in one move.
A flash of light—someone else appeared in the second-tier domain. Ian blinked. It was Lily Qi.
"Lily, don't overdo it—know when to quit!"
Ian said to Lily Qi, and in the next instant, he was teleported to the third-tier challenge domain.
Facing nine late Heaven-and-Man puppets, Ian barely felt any pressure. Honestly, these puppets weren't even as tough as the nine sect elders he'd decapitated before.
Fourth layer...
Fifth layer...
And the magic treasure? Ian checked it out and found it was actually spirit-tool grade. That really got him excited.
He stashed all twenty reward items in his Storage Ring, then said, "Temple Spirit, now you should tell me who created this temple and where it came from."
Ian finished the fight and stepped right into the seventh layer.
A full twenty-one late Heaven-and-Man puppets surrounded him.
"Kill!"
Sword intent erupted as he activated the Azure Lotus Sword Codex.
Azure lotuses burst into bloom.
Lotus Sword Formation!
This fight, Ian really felt the pressure. It took him a full hour to wrap up the battle.
The moment he stepped into the eighth layer, Ian whipped out a top-grade spirit crystal and started absorbing its energy to restore his zhenyuan. That last fight had drained him quite a bit.
Twenty-four late Heaven-and-Man puppets appeared in a flash.
The battle continued.
This fight, Ian felt unprecedented pressure, but after three hours, he still came out on top.
Ninth-layer challenge domain!
"Damn!"
As soon as thirty late Heaven-and-Man puppets showed up, Ian couldn't help cursing out loud.
One day and one night later.
Ian lay on the ground like a dead dog, covered in wounds. But before he could even trigger the Radiance of Life to heal, a milky-white light shone down on him, healing every injury and restoring his zhenyuan and spirit power to full.
"Congratulations, child! You're the 369,726th person to completely clear the First-Tier Challenge Domain!" The Temple Spirit's voice rang in Ian's ear as he was instantly transported back to the starry void, where he could clearly see the other challengers still fighting in their domains.
Lily Qi had already reached the third layer, but she looked totally spent—she was running on fumes, and there were still four puppets left to go.
After ten more moves, one puppet snuck up behind her and lopped off her head.
But in a flash of light, Lily Qi was resurrected. She looked a bit dazed and shocked.
Lone-Blade Gideon's fight was steady. He was still in good shape—he'd already taken out five of the nine puppets. As long as he kept it up, finishing off the last four shouldn't be a problem.
Eve Autumn, meanwhile, was up against nine early Heaven-and-Man puppets.
But she'd trained in the Origin-Nurturing Scripture Ian had taught her, so her zhenyuan was way purer than the puppets', and stronger too. Plus, her martial arts combined top techniques from the Three Great Holy Lands and the Black Heaven Divine Palm. Only two opponents left—her odds of clearing the third layer were over ninety percent.
As for the Great Zhou challenger, he was technically late Post-Natal, but Ian could tell he'd suppressed his realm—his actual strength was way above an ordinary Innate First Layer.
After a few dozen moves, that guy finished off all nine puppets and stepped into the fourth-tier challenge domain.
There were forty-four people left in the second layer, and none in the first—which meant every challenger who entered the temple had cleared the first layer.
Ian withdrew his gaze, thinking back to what the Temple Spirit had said. He was the 369,726th person to clear the First-Tier Challenge Domain, so this temple must've existed for ages—probably dropping into other worlds over and over.
"Temple Spirit, now that I've cleared the first tier, what kind of reward do I get?" Ian asked the void.
"These are your rewards."
Twenty glowing spheres appeared in front of Ian. Sweeping his gaze over them, he saw they contained manuals, pills, weapons, martial skills, armor—and most rare of all, a magic treasure.
There were three cultivation manuals, three martial arts manuals, ten bottles of pills, three sets of armor, and one magic treasure.
After a quick look, Ian found that two of the manuals were basically the same as what the Black Heaven Cult Master and the others had gotten—fast-track systems, but capped at late Heaven-and-Man.
The third manual was also a fast-track system, but this one could be cultivated all the way to early Golden Core.
So, three manuals—two for Heaven-and-Man level, one for Golden Core.
Ian didn't bother checking the pills one by one.
But that set of armor was seriously valuable—it could block over eighty percent of a late Heaven-and-Man expert's power.
And the magic treasure? Ian checked it out and found it was actually spirit-tool grade. That really got him excited.
He stashed all twenty reward items in his Storage Ring, then said, "Temple Spirit, now you should tell me who created this temple and where it came from."