Ten realms.

After the battle of the ten emperors, the ten realms fell into a brief calm.

The ancient path stirred some discussions, but soon quieted down.

All demigods and martial saints reduced their outings, strengthening their cultivation, preparing for the upcoming fourth layer of the Ascension to Divinity Ladder.

Some demigods and martial saints began to consider whether to participate in the next Ascension to Divinity Ladder.

The mortality rate is too high.

In the anticipation of gods of the ten realms, the Ascension to Divinity Ladder radiated light, illuminating the ten realms.

The fourth layer of the Ascension to Divinity Ladder opened.

A nine-tier square platform emerged above the fourth-layer ladder.

All demigods received the same celestial ladder message.

This layer of the ladder is called the Ninefold Heavens.

It tests combat ability, enlightenment, and spiritual will.

The lower three layers, middle three layers, and upper three layers have similar test contents, but the difficulty increases tenfold.

At the same time, the difficulty is adjusted according to the realm.

Each completed layer is evaluated in three ways.

Pass, excellent, transcendent.

Passing does not offer any extra reward, only upon passing all nine layers does one receive a Celestial Ladder Star.

If there are more than three excellents and all nine layers are passed, two Celestial Ladder Stars are awarded.

If one transcendent is achieved and passed, three Celestial Ladder Stars are awarded.

With transcendent times reaching three, six, and nine, extra celestial ladder rewards will be given.

Upon seeing the formation of the fourth-layer celestial ladder trial, demigods finally released their held breath.

But soon, the giants were dumbfounded, and the dragon world laughed heartily.

Many giants below the upper-rank are on the ancient path and might miss this Ninefold Heavens ascension.

All major forces held meetings to respond.

Dragon Country’s martial saints gathered in Xiong City.

After arriving, the saints repeatedly looked at the conference hall.

Zhou Leng didn’t come.

A shadow flashed in Huang Xuan Pavilion’s eyes, and he slowly said, "The theme of this meeting was originally to discuss the ’Ninefold Heavens,’ but, Zhou Leng is participating in the giants’ ancient path."

Some martial saints frowned.

Zhou Leng’s grand cleanup, though causing heavy losses to various families, occasionally grumbles in private, yet overall, they still agree with this action.

Even if Zhou Leng killed excessively, martial saints still regard him as the first new generation martial saint, entrusting the human future and hope in him.

If Zhou Leng cannot participate in this Ascension to Divinity Ladder, falling behind in cultivation, it would be a huge loss for humanity.

"Why didn’t anyone stop him?" A martial saint asked.

"The value of the ancient path is not inferior to a layer of the Ascension to Divinity Ladder," Zhu Shiji said.

"It’s different. The Ascension to Divinity Ladder is only within the ten realms, this ancient path might be competing with demigods across the universe, even if Zhou Leng’s strength is strong, he can’t compare to cosmic talents, heard the divine sons of the universe are everywhere."

"If he participates in the Ascension to Divinity Ladder, the base rewards would be quite high, but the ancient path is different, he is ultimately human, not a giant."

"He was too confident on this matter. Can he be contacted?"

"That’s impossible, even the giants are at a loss." 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

"What a pity..."

Seeing no way out, martial saints began discussing the Ninefold Heavens.

After a simple discussion, Zhu Shiji said, "This seems not to be the enclosed type; we can enter and exit freely, let’s give it a try first."

"Everyone, aim for higher evaluations, the greater the rewards."

"I think just passing is fine. This trial should have quite a high difficulty, we might not pass at first, need to gradually strive. If we linger too long for higher ratings, we might end up failing to pass the Ninefold Heavens in the end, which is counterproductive."

"Hmm... everyone should handle this aspect themselves, aiming for stability, quick passage, aiming for victory, slowly raise evaluation."

"The first layer of the Ninefold Heavens is testing combat ability, which means we’ll enter to fight enemies, everyone be mentally prepared. This trial, opponents won’t be weak."

Human martial saints raised their heads, looking up at the Ninefold Heavens on the fourth layer of the Ascension to Divinity Ladder.

With a thought, their bodies transformed into light, entering the Ninefold Heavens in the blink of an eye.

Time slowly passed.

An hour later, beams of light continuously flew out from the Ascension to Divinity Ladder, landing back in the martial saints’ conference hall.

The first returning martial saints, though their bodies showed no damage, were pale-faced, quietly manipulating their qi while meditating.

Soon, all martial saints returned.

"Did anyone pass?" Chen Shaohuang’s face showed a hint of embarrassment.

The room was silent.

Several outgoing martial saints could not help but chuckle.

"All failed? Seems our previous debate on rushing or prolonging was overthought."

"What did you encounter? I came across a group of robots, wildly firing lasers and all kinds of high-tech weapons, initially I could hold on, but later couldn’t withstand." Chen Shaohuang restrained himself from cursing.

"Good news is, I only met one enemy. Bad news is, the enemy I met was a fierce beast. Early in the battle, it kept colliding, I kept flying in the sky," Huang Xuan Pavilion slightly twisted his shoulder.

Everyone looked at him, faintly feeling their bones ache.

"I had good luck, met a martial artist, although I lost, learned quite a bit."

"Pity everyone’s enemies are not the same, if they were, that’d be better."

"The Ascension to Divinity Ladder is too sly, afraid of us learning from each other. But surely someone will encounter similar ones, let’s write down the battle process, complement each other’s strengths..."

"Alright."

Zhu Shiji silently thought, if Zhou Leng were here, could he pass the first layer in one go?

Later, martial saints contacted demigods of other worlds, asking about the battle situation.

Receiving the messages, they all laughed.

All failed, it seems there’s no fast-pass for the Ninefold Heavens, only through constant grinding to grow and pass.

For everyone, this is good news.

Because these tests generally last a long time, allowing one to gain significant insights.

But there’s also bad news.

If Zhou Leng returns too late, he likely won’t have enough time to pass.

Yet, with things being as they are, there’s no way to worry about Zhou Leng, only hope he returns soon.

After the Ninefold Heavens started, the ten realms became quieter.

Beams of light continuously flew to the celestial ladder, then continuously falling back.

One day, two days, three days...

On the fourth day, on the first-layer square of the Ninefold Heavens, the shadow of a fierce beast suddenly appeared.

All parties instantly understood, a demigod had passed the first heaven.

Many demigods discovered that even after ten more days, they might not pass.

The atmosphere of the ten realms subtly changed.

Many demigod martial saints harbored a feeling of not giving up, cultivating and striving to break through the Ninefold Heavens with all their might.

Dragon Country.

A caravan walked out of Shuizhou Demon City, a team quietly left, entering an underground base within an abandoned county 50 kilometers outside Rucheng.

This is the newly constructed base of the Demon Worship Sect.

Upon reaching the depths of the base, someone abandoned their disguise, revealing the face of the Four-sided Duke.

The latest head of the Demon Worship Sect, Four-direction King, arrived on Blue Star.

"Hold a meeting."

"Understood."

Ten minutes later, Four-direction King frowned, looking ahead at a group of innate weaklings.

They shrunk their necks, not daring to breathe, Four-direction King watched them with annoyance.

No martial saint among them.

No grandmaster either.