Smoke and dust billowed around the battlefield as the aftermath of their epic clash settled. Ace stood in the air panting heavily, his body still tingling from the residual cold of Linley’s [Frost Wave].

Linley, on the other hand, lay motionless within the crater, battered and stunned by the sheer power of Ace’s ultimate technique.

Though Dragonblood Warriors were typically inferior to the Undying Warriors of the Armand Clan, there likely had never been an Undying Warrior whose defence could compete with Linley’s at the same level.

This had allowed Linley to focus solely on offence, believing the defence of his azure dragon scales would remain strong, even in the face of Ace’s strongest techniques…

Looking down at his chest, Linley could only smile helplessly as he saw the charred mess that was once his chest. Those azure scales he had been so proud of had been all but incinerated, allowing him to get a clear view of his insides.

Still, with the magnitude of his current vitality as a humanoid Divine Beast, he wasn’t quite at death’s door, but continuing with the battle was impossible.

“I admit my loss,” Linley smiled weakly, sincerely convinced of his loss but still proud of his progress.

A cheerful smile suffused Ace’s lips as he put his glaive away, moving to Linley’s side.

“It was a good fight,” Ace chuckled as he stretched his hand out to help his rival up. “I had fun,”

“Mmh,” Linley nodded weakly as he accepted Ace’s help up. “Me too.”

The wasteland around them bore the scars of their intense battle, a testament to their incredible power. Still, the eyes of all those present were focused on the two young men.

This would be a battle that would go down in history as one of the most prolific battles of this generation, potentially even this era, and whilst most were merely happy they were there to bear witness to such a terrific battle, there were a select few whose emotions could be described as complicated, to say the least.Top of Form

Catherine’s beautiful jade eyes narrowed into slits as she stared at the two young men. What was going through her mind, only she knew.

On the opposite side of the battlefield, Olivier was staring no less intensely, his fists cracking under the pressure of having them balled so tight. But unlike Catherine, whose thoughts could be presumed to be nefarious, Olivier’s were more simple and pure. After losing to Wukong and Ace already, he simply didn’t want to lose to anyone else of his generation or the one below for that matter.

“Marvelous. Truly marvellous,” Beirut clapped, causing others to follow suit. “I can understand why yours is referred to as the golden generation.

I have been alive a long time, but never in all my years have I seen as many talents in one generation. Two Apex Divine Beasts. A dozen apex geniuses, the worst of whom would easily be able to dominate almost any other generation, and then there are the two of you.

Whether it’s your potential, current power, or ability to lead others, you are second to none.

As my way of giving a helping hand to this upcoming generation, I’ve decided to open the lower levels of the Necropolis of the Gods a little early!”

Hearing that, be they saint or deity, all were shocked. Who here wasn’t an expert, and, as such, didn’t know of the secrets of their Yulan Plane?

They knew that the Necropolis of the Gods held a myriad of heaven-defying treasures, including Divine Artifacts and the highly-coveted Divine Sparks.

“Lord Beirut,” Desri asked respectfully but still hurriedly, unable to contain his excitement. “Will it be opened to all saints?”

Lord Beirut’s words indicated that he was only opening it due to the talent shown by the younger generation. Like Desri, most of the older spectators couldn’t help but wonder if, since he was opening it due to them, he would also put an age restriction on it.

“No need to worry; since I’m opening the lower levels, all saints will be allowed entry,” Beirut chortled, understanding the concerns Desri and the other saints had. “But I will be making a slight change to the rules for this opening – two to be precise.

For starters, where normally the lower Necropolis of the Gods is only open to saints, this time, mortals will be allowed entry. The only prerequisite is that said mortal must have the power of a saint.”

As he said that, he waved his hand, summoning what appeared to be a humanoid puppet. “All mortals who wish to enter will have to prove their power by defeating this Deathgod Golem.

It has the power of a weaker early-stage saint. As long as you can defeat it, you will be allowed entry.”

Seeing that, all the spectator’s eyes flashed with amazement. In a plane like the Yulan Plane, where aside from the select few deities, saints were the ones who stood at the top of the world. Still, how hard was it to become a saint?

There were billions of creatures on the continent, but there weren’t even a thousand saints. If a family were able to get hold of such a puppet, even if it was just a weaker early-stage saint, it would still allow a family to become a high-class family.

Still, as much as many wished they were able to get their hands on such a treasure, no one felt tempted by greed; after all, the owner of said golem was their world’s foremost expert.

“The second change to the rules is that, whereas before, the gates to the Necropolis would only be opened once at the start and again at the end, now the gates will remain open for the whole ten-year period, meaning that you don’t have to rush to enter on day one,” Beirut explained slowly. “With that being said, it’s important to note that although you can enter anytime you wish within the ten-year period, once you enter, you can’t leave until the ten-year period is up.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

Also, those with the power of a deity will be forbidden from entering the lower levels.”

Hearing that, everyone understood Beirut was making these rules for the sake of the younger generation. Ace’s generation were only teenagers right now, and according to the last intelligence reports, even the weakest of their group already had the power of an expert at the eighth rank.

Within five years, it was very possible that they would all have the power required to gain entry.

Even if they had to wait five years to gain entry, they would still have five years to explore. Still, no one had any complaints. As far as they were concerned, as talented as Ace and his group were, aside from Ace and Linley, no one else would be able to compete with them for the treasures in the Necropolis.

They were also glad Beirut made sure to prohibit those with the power of a deity instead of limiting it to those at the deity level.

It was clear that although he favoured the young geniuses of the Yin-Yang Pavilion, he wasn’t being biased in his actions.

If Arianna Qingya was allowed to enter with them, all those saints could forget about competing for treasures. With her power, it’d be a simple matter for her to sweep through the entirety of the lower levels, claiming all those incredible treasures for herself and her sect.

Still, as happy as the saints were about the recent developments, there were two present who had concerns of their own – namely Catherine and Dylin.

“Lord Beirut,” Catherine spoke, her voice just as gentle and hypnotic as ever. “Since you’ll be opening the lower levels, does that mean you’ll be opening the upper levels after that?”

Though she did her best to conceal it, many could still sense the feelings of hope and expectation she held.

“Of course,” Beirut nodded. “Directly after closing the gates to the lower levels in ten years, I will immediately open the gates to the upper levels for you deities, or rather those with the power of a deity.

That also goes for those of you entering the lower levels in the next ten years. If you manage to increase your power by enough to carry on into the deity levels of the Necropolis of the Gods, you are free to do so.

With that being said, the difference in danger levels between the 11th level – which is the last level for the saint floors – and the 12th level – the first level of the deity floors – is immense.

If the average prime saint were to run across even the weakest creature on there, they’d end up forfeiting their lives within a breath’s time. So, even if you do get the chance to go up, I’d advise you to think long and hard before making a decision that could end up claiming your lives.”

“On behalf of myself and those of my Yulan Empire, thank you, Milord,” Catherine said, her tone laced with thick excitement.

“Six months from today will mark the day the Necropolis of the Gods opens its gates, so all those who wish to enter should come to the central region of my Forest of Darkness at that time,” Beirut stated, ignoring Catherine’s attempts at flattery before turning around. “Well, that’s everything from me. If there’s nothing else, I’ll be taking my leave.”

“There is one more thing,” Ace said, stopping Beirut and all the other experts from directly taking their leave now that today’s festivities had come to an end.

“Ooh?” Beirut turned curious as his beady eyes fell back on the young genius. “Go on,”

“Lance,” Ace smiled encouragingly towards his mother’s fiancé.

Hearing that, Lance took a deep breath before stepping forward, fighting against the immense pressure he was under with the eyes of so many of his continent’s experts eyeing him – each of whom could take his life with a mere wave of his hands.

Still, when remembering the reason behind what he was planning, resolve welled up from deep within as he gently took his fiancé’s hand in his. “For those of you who don’t know, my name is Lance – I am the fiancé of Gol D. Milianna.

In a month’s time, our Gol territory will be celebrating its promotion to the status of a kingdom. After careful deliberations, Milianna and I have decided to merge that special day with our own wedding, and we would like to invite each of you to come to our special day.”

Lance’s words caused no small amount of shock in the spectators, especially as they understood the hidden implications and meanings behind this announcement.

Ace was the love child of O’Brien and Milianna. It was no secret that Ace’s attitude towards the former O’Brien Empire was because of what O’Brien did to his mother. Still, even if many secretly despised O’Brien for his actions, that was how it remained a secret. At the end of the day, O’Brien was still a Demi-God who could kill the majority of them with a thought!

But with Lance coming out and publicly declaring that Milianna was his woman and that he would be marrying her. He, a mortal with no significant standing, was effectively slapping the face of the War God.

Even the High Priest herself simply stared silently at the seemingly ordinairy man, her frigid eyes narrowing.

His inviting everyone obviously included her, which wasn’t only slapping O’Brien in the face. As his ally, Lance’s words and actions were slapping her in the face as well.

Catherine had a strong urge to slap Lance to death where he stood, but she could see from the expressions on the faces of Cesar and Arianna that if she tried anything here, they wouldn’t hesitate to act against her.

Because of the complexity of the situation, no one dared to come out and accept the invitation for fear of angering the crimson-haired Demi-God. Well, almost no one.

“Congratulations in advance,” Beirut chortled, the sound of his voice easily cutting through the tension. “Allow me to be the first to RSVP. I shall see you in a month.”

Without waiting for Lance to respond, Beirut’s body disappeared.

Not even a second later, the devilish-looking youth – Dylin also spoke out. “It would be my pleasure to attend your special day. I, too, will see you in a month.”

With both the continent’s most powerful deities speaking out, Catherine could only leave with a snort. She didn’t dare to attack, but nor did she have any intentions of humouring this blatant provocation any further either.

But with her now gone, many of the saints who couldn’t afford to be as brazen as Lord Beirut and Dylin could now go forward and accept Lance’s invitation.

Many of the saints used that opportunity to form a better and more personal relationship with Ace, the Pavilion and Even Linley, but unfortunately, Ace paid them all little attention.

Slowly, the crowd thinned until it was only those from the Gol and Baruch Duchy and the members of the Pavilion left.

“Haha, you can breathe now, Lance,” Ace teased. “Everyone’s gone now.”

“That’s easy for you to say,” Lance sighed as he fell backwards on one of the few patches of grass unaffected by the devastation caused by Ace and Linley’s battle. “I genuinely thought my heart was going to beat a hole straight out of my chest!”

Hogg and his former guard commander turned family aide – Hilton – couldn’t help but sigh as they silently watched the scene unfold, especially Hilton.

A decade ago, Lance was nothing more than an ordinairy guard who worked directly for him. Back then, Lance was merely a warrior of the third rank. A warrior Hilton barely took any notice of, but now…

Not only was he engaged and about to marry one of the most famous and beautiful women on the continent, Lance himself was also an expert who could be said to be standing near the apex of mortals.

Realising that, Hilton could only smile self-deprecatingly as he remembered the look of despise and condescension he gave his former subordinate back when he decided to leave the Baruch Clan to stay beside Ace and his mother.

“You did well,” Milianna smiled sweetly. “Now all that’s left to do is prepare for the big day in a month.”

“Mmh,” Lance nodded, a big goofy grin appearing on his face. “Just one month!”