A Martial Odyssey

When Yi Ping and his group had reached the end of the edgy ridge, they saw a towering iron gate with a shimmering portal. They immediately knew that this shimmering portal would lead them to the upper level of the Stellar Sanctuary!

But the icy platform that was in front of them was empty!

Obviously, they had all heard the terrifying roar of a dragon earlier but there was no sight of it now!

Or was it because the dragon was waiting to appear just after they had stepped on the icy platform and the roar that they had heard was just a hint to the challengers?

Alice said quietly, "Remember the divine beasts are able to move throughout the levels of the Stellar Sanctuary at will. We don't really want to fight these immortal beasts unless we have no other choice."

Yi Ping asked, "So, that Divine Dragon has now left the vicinity?"

Alice scanned the surroundings keenly as she said, "Maybe."

Aiel laughed softly, "Or the Divine Dragon is never here in the first place. Let's us step upon the icy platform now. I am curious to see what the boss monster of the 48th floor looks like!"

Han Lin suddenly leapt in front of Aiel, "No wait, Mistress!"

Aiel chuckled softly, "Han Lin, so what is wrong? Are you are afraid?"

Han Lin seemed to look at everyone with a pleading look, "Something is not right, really! I…sense the presence of a dragon here…"

Aiel laughed it off, "You are too timid, Han Lin…"

But Han Lin looked into her eyes intently…

All of a sudden she froze; it was because she had suddenly remembered that Han Lin was a Dragon Practitioner and that she was one of the last of her kind!

Han Lin looked at the icy platform as she trembled, "It is still there but it is invisible…even I don't know exactly where it is. But I can sense its presence with my Divine Draco Sense."

Alice said quietly, "Interesting. It can even hide its presence from me so it must really be something."

Isa was also looking intently at the icy platform as she gripped her divine sword, "The same goes for me as well."

Yi Ping was also looking intently at the icy platform but somehow he had a familiar feeling that he could not describe as he looked blankly at the icy platform.

But he knew that they were just one step to overcome this level…

Yi Ping said all of a sudden, "Let's go!"

Youxue smiled, "Finally! That is the Yi Ping that I know in the past! I have forewarned him not to go up to the Heavenly Mountains but he still ignores my kind warning!"

Yi Ping smiled awkwardly when he remembered the first time that he had met Youxue. At that time, he was just a naïve wanderer while she was already one of the fraternity most highly skilled exponents!

Lie Qing was also mocking pretentiously, "He has always been this daring. This is not his very first time!"

Lele was also laughing but she was also gripping her long scythe tightly; a battle awaited them and she knew that she must not be careless!

Meanwhile Asura was looking quietly at the icy platform as she warned quietly, "We don't know what the boss monster looks like yet. And we don't know where the divine dragon is yet. I have got a very bad feeling about this…"

Even Alice was nodding but the entire group was all natural combatants and they were actually relishing for the challenge, especially the Goddess Isa and the Goddess Celestial Alice!

They were actually throwing a secret challenge through their subtle expressions to each other!

Isa laughed softly as she dashed past Yi Ping to be the first one to step onto the icy platform!

Now that they were on the icy platform, they could feel that the cold bitter winds were picking up speed!

Once they had reached the middle of the icy platform, a wall of ice had suddenly burst up with a thunderous eruption from a mile around them and the icy platform was even colder than before!

A gigantic white ape and eight smaller monstrous white apes had spawned in front of them!

The gigantic white ape was around 10m in height while the smaller white apes were around 4m in height!

Their presences were immediately intimating!

Alice warned aloud, "The boss monster is the Abominating White King Ape! It is extremely strong and agile!"

However Yi Ping's attention was not wholly on them as he scanned his surroundings, "The boss monster is not the divine dragon? But where is it?"

But his thoughts soon returned to these white apes when they had all suddenly charged at them with a startling speed!

In a blink of an eye, these white apes were upon them!

Yi Ping immediately shouted, "Split! Leave the biggest white ape to me!"

Alice and Isa had flashed next to him as they called out to him at the same time, "And us as well!"

But no sooner had they called to him, the Abominating White Ape King was already upon Yi Ping as it smashed its punch on the ground with a violent exploding burst of force that narrowly missed him!

Yi Ping had already split his Celestial Alice and at the same time he had also displayed the Thousand Memories Swords as he displayed dozens of explosive repetitive slashes upon the Abominating White Ape!

The Goddess Isa had raised her Divine Constellation Sword as she lashed against the Abominating White Ape King with a series of purple flashing strokes!

Yi Ping had immediately recognized the intricate strokes that were displayed by Isa as her unique sword techniques; the Unanimous Quadruplet Hits!

The Goddess Celestial Alice blinked upward with a somersault flip; her forehead shone with a brilliant golden light as she raised her divine sword gracefully in her hands while muttering gently, "The sixth seal!"

Immediately she had slashed against the side of the Abominating White Ape with a powerful slash that immediately imploded six times with a shattering explosive ringing impact!

The Abominating White Ape King was knocked slightly off balanced by the Goddess Celestial Alice!

Even Yi Ping was slightly startled by the martial display of the Goddess Celestial Alice that had immediately sent several martial shockwaves throughout the vicinity!

Isa smiled wryly to Alice, "Isn't that a little overkill…"

The Abominating White Ape King had suddenly roared with a thunderous roar that was so shattering that Yi Ping was suddenly sent stumbling backward!

It was a fortunate thing that with his present martial internal strength, he was able to resist the martial outburst but still he was forced to cough out a bout of black blood as he forced himself to charge forward again.

But he did not have the chance because he had suddenly noticed that there was an overwhelming cold outburst that had exploded around the Abominating White Ape King that sent Yi Ping and Isa off balanced!

Only Alice managed to stand on her ground by displaying her Mystic Stratosphere Divine Skill in a stunning outburst of exploding heated martial windforce!

The Abominating White Ape King jumped forward with stunning agility and had raised its fist to hammer Isa and Yi Ping!

Yi Ping was startled by it as he quickly dispelled the sword energies of the Thousand Memories Swords as he turned a brilliant golden when he displayed his newly acquired profound skill, the Golden Invincible Force as seven golden beaming globes surrounded him!

The gigantic size of the Abominating White Ape King, coupled with its brutish speed and strength would made its hammer punch a fatal blow for anyone!

And during that split second, the Abominating White Ape King had already made its move!

Yunzi saw it coming as she called out panicky, "Yi Ping!"

She quickly displayed her flying sword technique at the Abominating White Ape King but her flying sword was quickly deflected by the bursting outward force that was sweeping furiously from her target!

The Abominating White Ape King had jumped on top of Yi Ping with a thunderous landing crash on the ground that caused the entire icy platform to shake violently and just as it was about to plummet its fist at Yi Ping, Alice had flashed next to Yi Ping!

There was a thunderous impact and an explosive shockwave as Alice caught the full attack blunt of the gigantic Abominating White Ape King with her left hand!

Yi Ping was startled that Alice was able to hold the full blunt of the Abominating White Ape King with just a single hold of her hand and that the ground beneath her did not even appear to be affected by their titanic impact!

He gasped, "That is the martial strength of her Mystic Stratosphere Divine Skill?"

Alice said casually, "I am the Goddess Celestial Alice, the Eternal Goddess of the Three Known Realms. Bow before me!"

Even before Yi Ping could recover his reflexes and reacted, Alice had leapt upward and she seemed to be pulling the Abominating White Ape King along with her!

Before he even move his fingers, the Abominating White Ape King had come crushing down with an explosive thunderous impact onto the ground and Alice had pierced her divine sword through its skull with a startling golden piercing light!

Alice winked at Isa, "You seem a little slow today."

Isa replied unhappily as she muttered, "The ground is too slippery or else it will be my kill. It unfair that it only goes after Yi Ping and I…"

As Yi Ping stood up slowly, the Abominating White Ape King was already slowly dematerializing slowly even before the mushroom cloud had yet to clear and everyone was already walking slowly to Yi Ping, Isa and Alice!

Yi Ping was relieved that everyone was able to handle their fights pretty well!

Barely had the battle had begun, it had ended!

Lele said melody, "It has been too easy. Don't you think so?"

Lingfeng smiled as she took a quick at the Universal Old Man, the Lord Supreme and the Immortal Saint of Swords who had all sported a stunned expression on them!

It was because this was the very first time that they had ever seen the Goddess Celestial Alice in action and it was almost surreal!

It was obvious that she was a class above the Goddess Asura, the Goddess of Mercy Xiang and even the Goddess Isa!

Like Yi Ping who was still looking at Alice with an astonished look, they were all staring at Alice with a look of disbelief!

The Lord Supreme took a look at Yu'Er and Mei'Er who had both performed with equally astonishing class against the monstrous white apes as he muttered, "This is the boss monster of the 48th level and the strength of this boss monster must surely be enhanced by the size of our group but the Goddess Celestial Alice has just dispatched it in a blink of an eye…"

The Immortal Saint of Swords on the other hand was sighing softly because he had suddenly thought of the formidability of the Heavenly Kings that they had encountered.

He had suddenly realized that for these immortals, the lower levels of the Stellar Sanctuary were like taking a stroll for them!

Alice smiled enchantingly as if she could read everyone's thoughts, "It is not so easy after the 60th floor."

Yi Ping was smiling weakly as he continued to look at Alice awkwardly. He thought that with his current martial progression, he would be able to show off a little and to take the lead. But he had not expected in just a blink of an eye, he had been disadvantaged by the slippery ground and the startling formidability of this Abominating White Ape King!

Suddenly nine sparks of light had gathered from the dematerialized forms of the vanquished white apes and flew into Yi Ping with a startling speed, startling him!

But as soon as the nine sparks of light had entered into Yi Ping's body, it had disappeared!

Everyone was gasping at this bewildering sight and they were all exchanging curious looks!

They were however relieved that nothing unduly had happened to Yi Ping!

Lele probed, "What is that?"

Just as Yi Ping was about to ask the same too, he had suddenly noticed that there were two golden dragons on both his forearms!

Even before he could recover from his surprise, Lie Qing was gasping to him. "Ping'Er, there is also a golden dragon on the back of your neck! What is happening to you?!"

Alice and Isa were both gasping while Lingfeng, Yu'Er, Me'Er, Ye Yin, Youxue, Xingyue, Yunzi and Aiel were all gathering panicky around Yi Ping as they crowded around him!

Han Lin was gasping as she stared at Yi Ping, "These golden dragons are the most sacred symbols of our clan…"

All of a sudden Isa took a look at Alice, "I…I recognize these golden dragons. Alice, do you remember as well?"

Alice took a look at the golden dragon motifs before she said nodded slowly as she began to move her fingers rapidly, "These golden dragons have come from the Dark Emperor Robe of the Dark Chaos Lord…"

Isa looked at Yi Ping quietly as she nodded, "That is right. It comes from the dark robe of the Dark Chaos Lord. It seems that the Dark Emperor Robe has once again returned to the side of its master…"

Yi Ping was looking at himself as he stretched his hands. He was trembling because this was a wholly familiar feeling that he had felt earlier!

He muttered, "The beckoning dragon roar that I have heard earlier actually comes from you?"

Alice looked at Yi Ping with an astonishing expression, "Yi Ping, this is indeed your Dark Emperor Robe but its physical form had long disintegrated. But because it is an immortal artefact, it can never be truly destroyed. And now you have become as one with it…"

Isa smiled beguiling at Yi Ping, "Yi Ping, you may not know this but do you know…"

She swept her glance at Lele and Youxue before continuing, "You can't choose to become one with an immortal artefact and only the immortal artefact can choose you. Only those who are really freaking lucky will become one with an immortal artefact. When that happens, it will always mean an elevated progression for that person. Not only that, that person will also gain the inherent abilities of the immortal artefact!"

Yi Ping smiled weakly, "I wonder what the inherent abilities of this Dark Emperor Robe are then…"

Alice smiled before replying divinely, "The Dark Emperor Robe is renowned for its Nine Heavenly Array Defense. You may stand to benefit a little from it. Unfortunately, the Dark Emperor Robe has lost its physical form or else its formidable defense will be able to aid you tremendously!"

Isa added with a shy smile, "Even Alice's Seventh Seal is not able to wholly penetrate the Dark Emperor Robe so you can guess how formidable it is!"

When Yi Ping had heard that, he was a little disappointed. It was because if he had the physical form of the Dark Emperor Robe then he may be able to fight the Heavenly Kings on a more equal footing!

Alice smiled, "Maybe one day you may be able restore the physical form of the Dark Emperor Robe but I can tell you that it is even better to become one with the Dark Emperor Robe."

Yi Ping had a puzzling expression, "Oh?"

Alice explained with a gently smile as she stole a glance at Isa, "If you are over reliance on the formidable defense of the Dark Emperor Robe then your state of divinity will never be able to progress. Moreover by becoming one with the Dark Emperor Robe, you have gained something that is even more formidable!"

Yi Ping muttered with a bewildering look, "Something that is even more formidable?"

Isa nodded as she laughed softly, "Let me tell you on behalf of Alice then! These nine golden dragons that are on your body now are able to replicate the natural fighting instinct of the Dark Chaos Lord. In other words, through them you will have inherited the fighting genes of the Dark Chaos Lord!"

Alice nodded, "In other words, you may become a true warrior-god that even the Heavenly Kings will have cause for concern!"

Yi Ping muttered, "A true warrior-god…but I don't feel anything different…"

Alice smiled gently, "You will know when the time comes."