Swallowing the Stars: Reboot, The Eternal Serpent!

Chapter 106 Unexpected Turn of Events!

Jiang Zhe frowned and asked, "What exactly is the true [Blood of the Ancient Gods]? And what is its connection to the once-in-a-millennium 'Holy City Grand Sacrifice'?"

"Your Excellency, the two are actually unrelated."

Koren reveals the secrets of the ancient god world to Jiang Zhe.

"Even without the 'Holy City Grand Sacrifice,' the blood of the ancient gods is harvested once every thousand years. It can be seen as the essence condensed by the ancient god world over a thousand years, and it will be quickly consumed within a few days after it is produced."

"The Holy City Grand Ceremony was originally just a simple celebration, but it was later used as an assessment to select powerful hero-level and saint-level ancient god descendants and grant them the qualification to drink the blood of the ancient gods."

"Wait a minute," Jiang Zhe asked疑惑地, "Is the true blood of an ancient god only available to those at the cosmic or domain lord level?"

"No, Your Majesty." Corin shook his head. "Saint-level drinks offer the best value for money, followed by Hero-level, and then Demigod-level."

Domain Lord level? Universe level? World Lord level?

Jiang Zhe frowned, unable to understand how such a cost-effectiveness ranking could have occurred.

"My Lord, warriors who drink the blood of the ancient gods will receive the title of 'Children of the Ancient Gods,' and they must embark on the 'Path of Pilgrimage' to find the lost heritage of the ancient gods."

The pilgrimage route?

Jiang Zhe was taken aback. It was the area marked in red on the star map he had seen before, where even world lords faced a near-certain death if they entered.

Are we sending those selected elite domain lords to their deaths?

Seeing the doubt in Jiang Zhe's eyes, Koren continued to explain, "The Pilgrimage Road is the ancestral land of our ancient gods. The blood of the ancient gods can greatly enhance the special aura on our bodies, reducing the probability of being attacked on the Pilgrimage Road, but the duration of this effect is limited."

"This safety effect is completely ineffective against gods, lasts for six months against demigods, three years against saints, and thirty years against heroes."

After Keren's explanation, Jiang Zhe suddenly understood and completely grasped the hidden content of the cultivation mission.

—First, one must stand out in the Holy City Grand Ceremony to gain the right to drink the genuine "Blood of the Ancient Gods".

Then, with the protection granted by the "Blood of the Ancient Gods," enter the "Path of Pilgrimage" area to explore and collect the precious treasures within.

Finally, evacuate the danger zone before the evacuation effect wears off and return safely.

This is the correct way to carry out the second training task.

At that time, not only will you receive 10 points, but you will also obtain an F-grade treasure similar to the Zichen Bailuoye, worth millions of Hunyuan units.

On another timeline, Luo Feng felt danger even when using his Demon Slayer Clan clone to explore inwards. That was because he was missing an important step: he wasn't wearing a safety-avoidance buff.

"Bravo! The Enlightener!" Jiang Zhe thought to himself with pride.

It all comes down to that old saying – "Having connections in the court makes things much easier!"

As a direct descendant of the royal city's ruling family, Koren revealed nearly 9% of the secrets of the ancient god world to Jiang Zhe.

All the benefits of this cultivation world are laid out in the open, just waiting for Jiang Zhe to personally reap them.

"By the way, Koren, what is the lost heritage of your ancient gods?"

Jiang Zhe believes that the spiritualists of the ancient god race have exceptional talent, and that their lost heritage is probably suitable for him.

"Your Majesty, I don't know either."

"It is estimated that only powerful beings at the level of demigods or city lords of holy cities would know about it. Even my ancestor never mentioned a single scale or claw to us."

"How about... Your Excellency, I try to ask around for you?"

"Forget it, don't do anything unnecessary." Jiang Zhe waved his hand, refusing.

If the influence of the [Enlightener] talent were any stronger, he wouldn't have used this argument.

If it could influence a realm lord and distort the will of a realm lord, then I would send Koren directly to the royal city to deliver an umbrella to his ancestor.

Jiang Zhe gathered his thoughts and returned to the beginning, asking, "Let's start with the most basic thing: how do I participate in the Holy City Grand Ceremony?"

Without hesitation, Coron replied, "It's simple, obtain the 'Thirty Royal City Hero Badge'."

Immediately afterwards, he was locked onto by a death stare, and an unpleasant snort exploded in his ear canal.

"Hmph! I know that."

"First, your badges have anti-counterfeiting features. Is there a way to address this?"

"Secondly, there isn't enough time. I probably won't be able to travel to 30 royal cities and play 3000 matches within 500 days."

After learning about Jiang Zhe's predicament, Ke Lun thought for a moment and realized that it was not difficult to solve.

"My Lord, the problem of the authenticity of the badge is easily solved. As long as you drink one vial of the ancient god's blood essence every month, you will be a member of our ancient god race for the duration of the period. The badge forged with your blood will pass the verification before the Holy City Grand Sacrifice."

"Ancient God blood essence? That's what you used to fool Drake?"

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Jiang Zhe frowned, strongly opposed to drinking other people's blood.

But she also asked curiously, "Don't you feel guilty about using the blood of your own people to make potions and drinking them?"

"Psychological burden? No, Your Majesty."

Jiang Zhe was surprised by Ke Lun's reaction; he was even a little excited.

"My lord, the source of our essence blood is those of our kin who failed in the Holy City's grand sacrifice. We inherit their bloodline power and bear their will in our useful bodies. If one day we can find the lost heritage, they will also have a part in it. Wouldn't that be a wonderful thing?"

Jiang Zhe was taken aback. Thinking about the situation of the ancient gods, he suddenly understood them a little.

If Earth were to fall into such a state, from Koren's perspective, would I still despise the blood of my own kind?

Even so, he still did not want to drink the blood essence extracted from the descendants of the ancient gods.

However, he has a way to make amends.

Once Orianna advances to the realm lord level, she will be able to replicate E-grade matter, and will be able to consume energy to replicate the exact same ancient god blood essence.

Just drink this pure essence created by Orianna.

Of course, if Orianna hadn't offered an alternative, Jiang Zhe would have reluctantly drunk it anyway, since he couldn't possibly miss this opportunity to cultivate in the world.

After a pause, seeing that Jiang Zhe didn't ask any more questions, Ke Lun continued the previous topic.

"Regarding the acquisition of the 'Hero Badge of the Thirty Royal Cities,' this is easy to solve; it all boils down to obtaining the qualification to participate in the sacrifice."

"Ordinary people gain the qualification to participate in the sacrifice by acquiring badges. Our clans, which have demigod-level experts, always have some privileges. We are not willing to waste time traveling between 30 royal cities."

I'm currently reading the error-free version! This is the first time I've published this novel.

"The location for the Holy City Grand Festival is on a continent spanning approximately 15 billion kilometers, and is revered as the 'Ancient God Arena'."

No branch of the ancient gods are allowed to inhabit this place; it is the sacred land of the ancient gods and retains its most primitive appearance.

It only opens up for the ten years leading up to each Holy City Grand Ceremony, allowing Holy Realm and Hero-level participants to gradually enter the continent.

"There are 99 monitoring points scattered throughout the Ancient God Arena, which are responsible for matters related to the Millennium Grand Ceremony."

Even without the "Hero Badge of the Thirty Royal Cities," members of our demigod families can enter the arena using their family tokens.

"If we can obtain 30 'Thirty Royal City Hero Badges' from the Ancient God Arena before the Millennium Festival begins, we can go to the Overwatch Point and have the Overwatch Officer help us forge our own badge, thus gaining the qualification to participate in the Holy City Festival."

Very well, there really is a loophole to exploit.

Jiang Zhe's lips curled up as he asked, "Can outsiders use your family's tokens? Like me?"

"Of course, it is an honor for the Kyle family that Your Excellency is willing to represent the Kyle family in the battle." Coren said with a happy expression. "Twenty years ago, the family allocated me a spot. I will write a letter to the family to send the token, and I will personally escort Your Excellency to the Ancient God Arena."

Honor?

Hopefully, the Kyle family won't end up with a nine-generation wipeout.

Jiang Zhe thought to himself, "This is what I'm thinking."

He said, "Thank you for your trouble. I won't treat you unfairly after it's done. By then, you'll have crossed the threshold of the Laws of Space."

Koren's face lit up with even greater joy, and he said excitedly, "Thank you for your generous gift, Your Majesty! I will do my utmost to make this happen!"

"Well, I'll be staying at the City Lord's Mansion for the time being. You may leave now."

……

In the blink of an eye, more than two months have passed.

When the Kyle family arrived in Tianwu City, there was no grand procession, only two people, an old man and a young man.

Standing in front of the city lord's mansion, the young man looked at the magnificent building before him, his eyes filled with intense jealousy and resentment.

"I deserve all this too! I should be a city lord, but it's all your fault, brothers, for suppressing me and forcing me to be a spoiled brat in the capital! I hate it!"

The hatred in Leo's eyes vanished in an instant.

Turning his head, he whispered to the old man behind him, "Elder Dalo, you know our mission here. You must do your best in the upcoming assessment and not let mediocre people ruin the reputation of my Kyle family."

"Sixth Young Master, this... I'm afraid it won't be easy to explain to the Eldest Young Master?"

"Hmph, Venerable Dalo, you were brought into the household by my mother. You need to understand your position. And..." Leo chuckled, "The Millennium Festival is coming soon, and another batch of ancient god blood will flow into our hands. I remember you had a grandson a hundred years ago, Venerable Dalo?"

The old man looked bitter and could only reply, "Don't worry, Sixth Young Master, I will make you satisfied."

After receiving an affirmative reply, Leo turned to look into the city lord's mansion and used his primal force to transmit his voice, "Third Brother, I've come to visit you. Aren't you going to come out and greet me?"

In a secret cultivation room in the city lord's mansion, Koren was awakened by a telepathic message, pulling him out of his state of comprehending the fundamental laws of space.

Annoyance flashed across his face, but his expression changed drastically when he realized who it was.

He hurriedly transmitted his voice to Hayden, who was guarding outside: "Quickly inform the Lord that the plan has changed. The messenger is my mortal enemy, and there may be a Saint-level power that could threaten the Lord's safety!"

Hayden's expression also changed drastically. He hurriedly left the door of the secret chamber to inform the Lord to go and seek refuge first.

Unbeknownst to them, the Hunyuan Umbrella enshrined in the secret chamber emitted a faint, shimmering light.

The Candlelight clone was inside the umbrella space. Jiang Zhe already knew what they were talking about, and his consciousness left the virtual universe.

"Domain Lord level? Perfect, let's test my 'Black Hole Evolution'!"

(End of this chapter)