One year outside equals a thousand years inside the Divine Temple.
More than three centuries have passed outside.
But inside the Divine Temple, over three hundred thousand years have gone by.
After countless trials, of the original ten thousand Human Immortals, only a little over two hundred remain. All have reached peak late-stage Human Immortal, and their immortal yuan force has been refined to the utmost.
Actually, they could break through to Earth Immortal anytime, even jump several realms in a row without stopping, but Ian Song doesn’t let them advance yet.
Their combat power is crazy; every late-stage Human Immortal can easily kill a regular Earth Immortal, and can even go toe-to-toe with a Golden Immortal for a while.
Of the original thousands of Earth Immortals, just over a hundred twenty are left. Each is at peak Earth Immortal, and with their strength plus God-King-level techniques, they can completely crush ordinary Golden Immortals who stand no chance.
Exactly one hundred Golden Immortals remain.
Just over fifty Profound Immortals are left, all at peak late-stage Profound Immortal, and they can totally defeat regular second-layer Ancestral Immortals.
After round after round of elimination, only eleven out of more than fifty Ancestral Immortals remain. All have reached the fifteenth layer, and one has even made it to the eighteenth layer.
Two have reached the seventeenth layer of Ancestral Immortal.
All of them train in God-King-grade techniques, and with the divine armor and divine swords and sabers Ian Song gave them, those eight at fifteenth layer can instantly kill a typical sixteenth-layer Ancestral Immortal, and at least match a seventeenth-layer.
The two at seventeenth layer are even qualified to take on an eighteenth-layer Ancestral Immortal.
As for the one at eighteenth layer, they’re absolutely invincible among ordinary eighteenth-layer Ancestral Immortals.
As for Ian Song himself, while keeping an eye on these people, he never neglected his own cultivation. In just tens of thousands of years, he broke through to eighteenth-layer Ancestral Immortal, and spent the rest of his time researching arrays and restrictions.
His soul has already undergone nine metamorphoses. He’s tried it before.
When he uses his soul technique, Phantasm, he can easily drag an eighteenth-layer Ancestral Immortal into an illusion world, and afterward, the target has no idea what happened.
In other words—
He’s now basically invincible in the Immortal World.
Still, he doesn’t dare get cocky or underestimate the other System Hosts. After all, those Hosts all have their own Systems backing them; even if they don’t have a cheat like the Divine Temple, they shouldn’t be weak.
Only one month remained until the System's five-hundred-year deadline for this mission.
In other words, the Immortal Kingdom War would most likely begin in a month.
"Let's go!"
With a wave of his hand, Ian Song led everyone out of the Divine Temple.
"Take this month to rest up. In one month, I'll lead you all into a world-shaking war!"
With a flicker, Ian disappeared from sight.
Immediately after, countless figures rushed out from all directions.
"You... weren't you all dead?"
Seeing these people rush out, Rachel Xuan was so stunned she couldn't react.
"Haha, Rachel Xuan, we weren't actually dead! Dying inside the array doesn't mean real death!"
One of the previously eliminated Human Immortals had now advanced to the Golden Immortal realm.
The month that followed.
All the Immortals who came out of the Divine Temple indulged themselves to the fullest, and Ian Song relaxed as well.
After all, even Ian couldn't be absolutely sure of victory in the Immortal Kingdom War this time.
It's worth mentioning that his son Zane Song had already grown up, reaching first-layer Ancestral Immortal realm. Right now, he was overseeing the nation as Crown Prince.
His other children had also advanced one after another to the Profound Immortal realm.
Among them, Gavin Song and Ethan Song had even surpassed Noel Song, reaching peak late-stage Profound Immortal and were close to breaking through to the Ancestral Immortal realm.
What made Ian most gratified was that all his children got along harmoniously, with none of the scheming or infighting you’d expect. After all, the Crown Prince position was set for Zane Song from the day he was born, so there was never any drama over succession.
Naturally, Ian would never allow such things to happen.
Of course, it also had a lot to do with the mothers’ teachings. Ian had already told them long ago that their children’s future lay not in the Immortal World, but in the God Realm.
Since they'll be following their husband to the God Realm sooner or later, what does it matter how much they fight over in the Immortal World?
Meanwhile, except for Hannah Murong, all of Ian Song’s wives had advanced to the Ancestral Immortal realm. With the vast resources of an Immortal Kingdom at their disposal—and Ian even arranging for Master Heaven-Secrets to personally guide their cultivation—it was only natural.
After giving birth to Zane Song, Hannah’s cultivation dropped by one layer, but in just over ten years she recovered to eighteenth-layer Ancestral Immortal. Due to Heavenly Dao’s restrictions, there was almost no room to advance further after reaching the eighteenth layer, so she focused on refining her immortal yuan force at peak level.
During the rest period, Ian summoned another thousand Divines just to rob them of their divine artifacts and storage God-rings.
He handed all those divine artifacts and storage God-rings over to Hannah Murong to manage, planning to give them to Zane Song when he eventually ascended the throne. Of course, this was also Ian’s way of leaving his son a solid family foundation.
After all, whether he’d make it back alive from the Immortal Kingdom War was anyone’s guess.
Their reunion was brief. The five-realm elites who passed the Divine Temple’s final trial soon gathered before Ian Song once again.
Right then, a System notification sounded in Ian’s ear for the first time in years: "Ding! The Immortal Kingdom War will begin in one hour. Host, please prepare! For this battle, you may bring 200 Human Immortals, 100 Earth Immortals, 80 Golden Immortals, 50 Profound Immortals, and 12 Ancestral Immortals!"
Except for being one Ancestral Immortal short, Ian had more than enough elites in the other four realms.
With a thought, Ian summoned Marcus Five-Gates.
"Greetings, Your Majesty!"
Marcus Five-Gates bowed deeply.
Ian nodded. "This time, you’ll be joining me in a world-shaking war. If you survive and return, I’ll grant you freedom!"
Hearing this, Marcus Five-Gates was overjoyed. "I am willing to lay down my life for Your Majesty!"
Then, Ian turned to the others.
He spoke slowly: "For this war, I need 200 Human Immortals, 100 Earth Immortals, 80 Golden Immortals, and 50 Profound Immortals. Some of you will have to step back. Who stays and who leaves—you decide among yourselves!"
"Your Majesty, can’t you take all of us with you?"
Everyone pleaded.
Ian shook his head. "It’s not that I don’t want to take you all—it’s that I can’t. Time is short, so make your decisions quickly!"
While they decided who would stay behind, Ian contacted Miaowu.
"Miaowu, how many hosts qualified for the tournament this time?"
"Over eight thousand!" Miaowu replied.
"Why so many? Aren’t there only three thousand Immortal Worlds?" Ian asked, puzzled.
"Fool! Each major plane does have only three thousand Immortal Worlds, one God Realm, and several mortal worlds. But these System hosts aren’t all from the same plane. Get it now?"
"I see!" Ian finally understood, then asked, "So just how many major planes are there in this world?"
Ian had assumed Miaowu wouldn’t answer, but unexpectedly, Miaowu said, "Plenty! After all, each Creator can make a complete major plane!"
"And what level is a Creator?"
"Heh, let’s just say a Creator could kill a God Emperor with a puff of breath!" Miaowu cackled.
Ian shivered inwardly at those words, wanting to probe the Creator’s true power, but Miaowu refused to answer any further.