A few hundred kilometres away from the Dead Sea City, there was a small mountain range - Eagle Range, for its shape resembled an eagle in flight, when seen from above. While the mountain range was by no means small from a mortal's perspective and almost impossible to cross, in the whole of Jupyter, it was nothing remarkable. It was what lay to the other side of the mountain range that was remarkable - The Dead Sea.
The Divine Sea Sect was called so because of a humongous sea almost in the centre of super-plane Jupyter. It was said that the sea was so vast and dangerous, that anyone below the divinities would be unable to cross it on their own power. Even Upper Ascendants were unable to cross the entire sea as the organisms that lived in the sea were very much capable of gobbling them up. Several mythical beasts had their lairs in the Divine Sea. And it was said that one of those beasts was a True God Beast. One must know that the God Beasts in Aterna just had a bit of bloodline of God Beasts. A true God Beast would be capable of shattering the firmaments, destruction so intense that mortals ascribed them the place of Gods - the gods of destruction and calamity. Technically, for a beast to be called a True God Beast, it must be in the divine realm of strength after reaching adulthood without any form of cultivation. But there were many other requirements that were considered as well.
According to popular legends, when Divine Sea Divinity was only in the upper ascendant realm, she had been chased into the Divine Sea by her enemy forces. As she was on the verge of death before entering the sea, many people assumed that she was dead. But a few years later, she emerged from the Divine Sea having reached the divine realm and become a 2-star divinity! It was then she assumed the title of Divine Sea and established her sect in the centre of Divine Sea. It was a story so popular that almost all the children in the Divine Sea Sect's territory grew up listening to it. The seven smaller sects under Divine Sea Sect were actually smaller lakes that surrounded the Divine Sea. These seas were known due to their own incredible legends and quirks. These were
Dead Sea - This water mass did not contain any living organisms. Even if living organisms were placed in the sea, they became unable to procreate and their lifespan was drastically reduced. From huge and powerful ascendant beasts to smallest micro-organisms, nothing survived in these waters.
Endless Sea - The sea was constantly covered by natural mysterious illusion phenomena. Once one entered this sea, if one's mastery in illusions was weak, they would never be able to leave it. It seemed to be endless once one stepped into the sea - hence the name.
Blood Sea - This sea contained real blood. It was said that many years ago, some primordial beast was killed leading to the formation of the Blood Sea. The blood was so powerful that it did not evaporate, making the sea last for millions of years.
Chaos Sea - It was said that there were extremely violent volcanic basins at the base of this sea which kept on exploding incessantly. These volcanoes were connected to the centre of the super-plane - primordial chaos. This released huge amounts of chaos energy into the sea. The supreme laws of chaos were intertwined with the water giving the sea its name.
Yang Sea - This sea was named so because the temperature of the sea was simply insane. The laws were so powerful in this sea that the water in the sea could directly melt lower-ascendants. And the laws made it so that the water would not evaporate making it a constantly boiling sea.
Paradise Sea - This sea was known to be in the skies. The laws of gravity were contrived here making the sea exist in the sky.
Sludge Sea - This sea was known to have so much density that it could choke even ascendants who ventured into its waters. The water in this sea was so dense that demi-ascendants would not be able to lift a single drop of water. The density of water made it extremely solid while retaining properties of wetness - almost like sludge.
In the test that was underway, all the subsidiary sea sects were going to have their own preliminary testing followed by the final test at the Divine Sea Sect. Currently, at the base Eagle Range, there was a huge crowd. Countless people could be seen in all directions. Most of the people were only in the conception realm there were many cultivators abound as well. All these were the candidates that were planning to take the test. As the number of candidates was tremendously huge, there was no registration for the first test. Or it could be said that even before the registration, there was a pre-preliminary test. Of course, the Dead Sea Sect had made proper arrangements at the base of the mountain. The entire scene looked like a huge fair. Countless tents could be seen all around. These were either shops or inns. All the candidates, as well as other passersby, could enjoy this huge fair that was organised every 50 years on the occasion of Divine Sea Sect's entrance test. The fair had been going on for a week and three days before the test, Michael had made his way here.
As Michael made his way through the fair at night, he noticed the lights and colours that decorated the entire area. It was as if a joyous festival was underway - one celebrated by countless many people. Also, the cultivation level of all these people was exceptional considering their age. In Aterna, it was rare to find a perfect-realm expert under the age of 50 - even in the history of the new races. But here, they were common as bricks. Any random person was likely to be hailed as a historical genius and crown-prince of a race in Aterna. But here, all these exceptional individuals were very common. This was the difference between a super-plane and a tertiary plane. And now when Michael looked at the discrepancy, he felt many emotions. He felt deep gratitude for both the ancient beings that had helped him. Without them, he would be nothing. Looking back at his experiences, he also felt awe. He had experienced many things in a very small time-frame. He had not even lived two centuries but had interacted with two ancient beings. Who else here could claim that?
As he was roaming around, Michael came across a huge tent. It was actually a wooden tent that had five floors. One look would tell people that it was different from normal. Curious, Michael went in. Inside, he found a huge counter where there were many receptionists waiting. All of them were great beauties. Though not comparable to Ashley, they would still be considered princesses in Aterna. Michael went over to a lady who did not have anyone at her counter.
> Reception Lady : Hello good sir. How are you?
>
> Michael : I am good. What service do you provide here?
The reception lady showed surprise at his question. It was clear that she had not met many customers as unaware as Michael.
> Lady : Sir, this is a Battle-Viewing Pavallion. We are part of the Jingnag Corporation. In this establishment, you can look through the battle-videos of many experts - ranging from young talents to powerful cultivators. Of course, there is a fee associated with each battle video that you watch.
Michael was very surprised by this. He asked
> Michael : How do you collect so many videos?
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> Lady : We usually have many people who keep scouring official tournaments and tests. They record all the battles between these experts which we make available for viewing later. We also have a very powerful information network that gives us a way to guess the location of many fights. We even have daredevil videographers who go to war torn battlefields to collect these videos. Also, we buy battle-videos from different people. Battle videos are actually a very widespread business. It allows us to keep an eye out on powerful and talented cultivators. If you are participating in the upcoming entrance test, it is even more important that you see these videos. We have several different lists - the most important candidates to watch out for in the Dead Sea Sect, the most important external candidates, the renowned lone geniuses and so on. We even have battle videos of divine children!
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> Michael : Is that so? Do you have battle videos of divine beings?
Michael's question shut the lady up. She looked at him as if she was looking at a moron. She said:
> Lady : Sir, in this establishment, there are no videos of divine ones. Divinities are all beings that stand beyond the realm of cultivators. In this place, the battle videos of upper ascendants is the most precious commodity - and there are only a few videos of that level and they are very expensive. The least price for watching is a million lower-ascendant gold.
Michael was shocked at the outrageous price but he did not show it on his face. He looked over at the lady and said
> Michael : Please show me all the videos regarding the prominant candidates in the entrance test for the Dead Sea Sect. If I pass the preliminaries, I would also want to look at videos of candidates from other sects as well as divine children. Please give me a reliable contact talisman for this purpose.
>
> Lady : Sure Sir. I have this compilation of battle videos especially made for Dead Sea Sect's candidates. It will be a thousandmortal gold.
After taking the jade chip, Michael went upstairs where he took a room and started going through the videos.
These jade chip were made so that they would project the videos in the form of soul-energy fluctuations and using one's soul energy, one would be able to see it. There were locks and mechanisms to ensure that every video would only play once. But Michael had a cheat - psychic energy. Using his psychic energy, he directly perceived the contents of the chip completely bypassing the locks and constraints. This allowed him to watch all the videos in much greater detail and quality with endless repeats. Michael went through video carefully. There were many geniuses who were given a spot in the chip but most were not a threat to Michael. If it had been before his breakthrough or psychic skills, he would have found them worthy opponents but now he could ignore them completely. There were some unique cases who could be troublesome due to their bloodlines but Michael was confident in crushing them all the same. Thus, he rushed through their battles before finally finding the battle videos of the seeded candidates.
These were the ones who were forecasted to be in the top 10 by various powers involved. It contained a total of 16 candidates - all of them were in the demi-ascendant realm. After all, reaching the ascendant realm before 50 years of age was too heaven-defying and not at all common even in Jupyter. Michael went through these battle-videos seriously but he was confident of his chances against most of them. His celestial path could overpower half of them even without his other trump-cards. But there were a few that he had to consider very carefully.
The first was the Prince of Dead. His real name was Razor Mark. His father was a lower-ascendant who completed four transformations - someone on the same level as Gordon Marx and Roamer Ritz. But it was his teacher who was a bigshot. He was an elder of the Dead Sea Sect and was an upper ascendant. And Razor was known across the entire Dead Sea Sect to be the most talented of the youngest generation. It was evident as he reached the demi-ascendant realm at the age of 30 with grand-laws. He was also a celestial and had a powerful bloodline. His attainment was also superb, perhaps even better than Michael. While the use of treasures was banned in the test, use of life-treasures was allowed and Razor definitely had one. It was actually an entire armour. Once he manifested it, his powers would be amplified to ridiculous levels. He too could the ascendant level of power, the same as Michael. Overall, he had no weaknesses. Even Michael felt that his chances of winning were only fifty per cent at best. He was so popular across the sect that the people started calling him by his title - the Prince of Dead.
The other was another youth - Charles Rutherford. He was actually from a different Super Force - Rutherford clan! The Rutherford Clan was actually a Super-Force of variant humans. The patriarch of the clan - Gold Leaf divinity was actually a four-star divinity. He was only half-human as one part of his bloodline came from the elves and so the entire force was considered a variant human force. It was rumoured that the Rutherford clan was forming an alliance with the Divine Sea Sect. Charles was one of the younger generation members of the clan - one of them with an extremely pure bloodline. His world tree bloodline was known to be so pure that even the patriarch of the clan had been keeping an eye on him. Even though he was not a celestial and a normal demi-ascendant, his powerful bloodline allowed him to surpass ordinary celestials. He too held the power of ascendants without reaching that realm.
The final person was actually someone Michael remembered - Ross Tyson. He was the same person who had answered Michael's query a few days back. He was the young Sect Chief of a first-class sect - Green Valley Sect. His father was an extremely powerful upper-ascendant, someone who had completed all eight transformations. To think that an ordinary youth would have such an incredible background! The notion that Jupyter was a plane of crouching tigers and hidden dragons was again reinforced in Michael's mind. He too was a demi-ascendant with the power of grand laws. He was also a celestial. But what set him apart from the rest was his attainment. He was a martial genius in true sense. His attainment in martial arts was actually fairly advanced into the Great-master realm. If one had to make a comparison, his skills made it so that he could easily take on an army with the same raw strength as himself but with ordinary attainment. Looking at his battle-videos, Michael felt great pressure. Even though Michael had the guy beat in brute strength, Michael was again not very sure of his victory.
Apart from these three - hailed as the three geniuses of Dead Sea, there were a few others to keep an eye out for but they did not pose a significant threat. But these were only the experts that were relatively famous. There might be many hidden ones who could give these three geniuses a run for their money. Michael himself was one such person. Even though he was not confident of winning the first place, he actually could challenge for it. As Michael thought about the future, he felt a great rush of excitement. After all, he was going to compete with the greatest geniuses of the dominion. This was his grand stage, the stage where he would carve his path. The emperor of Aterna, the child of the plane, unrivalled under heaven, king of geniuses - there were many titles Michael had obtained in his life. But none of them had been too difficult to obtain. In his entire life, he had never had a true peer. Someone who could match his steps, his genius and his progress. In Aterna, he was the greatest genius, the strongest, the ruler of all. But he was lonely as well. Even the greatest geniuses across history paled in comparison to him. But now, he had not even gone to the Divine Sea Sect and he could already find people with talent, opportunity and fate even better than him. This gave him a sense of pressure and a deep sense of exhilaration. It was only now that he could carve his path - through his willpower and indomitable dao, he would compete with geniuses from heavens beyond his reach. He would go against them with all he had. What happened at the end of the road was hardly important.
Three days later, the preliminary test was announced - one had to climb the highest peak of the entire Eagle Range before the sun went down. For any mortal, this would have been an impossible task but for cultivation geniuses like these, it did not seem too hard. But there was a catch - suppression. The force of suppression was actually extremely powerful and increased with height. It also depended on one's biological age. Thus, the younger ones had a benefit. Anyone who was older than fifty faced such a huge suppression that even taking a single step was impossible. Michael's biological age was actually 42 years already. Thus, the suppressive force he had to withstand was on the higher side. But it hardly even inconvenienced him. He continued up the mountain at a steady pace, neither going too fast nor too slow. As there was no prize to climb the mountain before others, Michael did not bother trying. He leisurely climbed the mountain with other candidates. But the suppressive force actually caused more than ninety per cent of the candidates to fail. By sunset, only around 10 thousand candidates reached the top of the mountain.
At the top of the mountain was an independent space set up that could hold up a large number of participants.
When Michael reached the mountain peak, the sun was about to set. The view from the top of the mountain was simply stunning. On one side, he could see hundreds of kilometres away, the city walls and buildings of the Dead Sea City - though extremely minuscule. On the other side, as far as his eye could reach, all he saw was dead still water! The Dead Sea lay spread in front of him. The sheer magnitude of the sea caused him to gasp. It was as if it was desolate and ancient, still across time and space - the state of completion and stagnation that came associated with death. The mere sight caused Michael to grasp a few concepts of the laws of death! As the sun set into the sea, it seemed to light up a flame across the entire sea setting off an orange glow. Michael saw the entire scene and realized how small his existence was. But as he felt his insignificance, he felt his grand ambitions. The more he saw, the more his ambitions grew. One day, he wanted to hold the dead sea in his palm and decide its fate! This was his ambition, it was grand and humongous - much bigger than the mere Dead Sea.
Michael felt that his life was just like challenging the mountain. The more he went further, the more pressure he would have to face. But the higher he could go, the grander the view would be. And he was ready to challenge the mountain called life.