The newcomer was Xue Wuxia.

Her arrival surprised the shadows, but what stunned them even more was her level of strength.

Divine tier.

Not even that most freakish of geniuses, Yue Titan, had reached the divine tier. How could this little girl possibly be at the divine tier? Could she be an even more freakish genius than Yue Titan?

“You call yourself Wuxia, but you’re really Princess Night Dream, aren’t you?” The fiery red shadow, Volcano, felt that apart from a certain utterly mysterious Majesty, the Sky Tower could not possibly have a second divine-tier power. But why would that Majesty — who guarded the entrance to the Ruins of the Gods beneath the Tianra Imperial Palace with the Mirage — suddenly come out? Hadn’t she sworn to sleep forever and never come out into the world again?

“This humble girl would never dare to claim a senior’s name so lightly.” Xue Wuxia broke into a smile, and wherever its divine light touched, you would have sworn spring had returned to the earth and a hundred flowers had burst into bloom.

“You’re really not Princess Night Dream?” Even the sapphire-blue shadow, Vast Sea, could not help asking.

“Why can’t the Sky Tower have a second divine-tier warrior? You are mistaken, in fact. The Sky Tower has not only a second divine-tier warrior, but a third, a fourth and even more. The age of decline is over. Today’s Sky Tower has already begun to rise. As for the divine tier — setting aside the unknown hidden masters of earlier generations, there are several known ones alone, and this humble girl ranks only fifth among them. Our honored guests have seen so much of the world. Why make such a fuss?” When Xue Wuxia said this, the shadows got an even bigger fright.

What?

The Sky Tower has at least five divine-tier powers now?

That has to be a joke! Apart from Princess Night Dream, who sleeps forever inside the Mirage and never comes out, where would the Sky Tower get a second divine tier? Let alone as many as five — that’s nothing but wild exaggeration!

Xue Wuxia did not explain. The truth was what it was, and she had no need to say more.

The shadows waited a good long while and found that this little girl simply did not care to explain or argue, and in spite of themselves they believed her a little more.

At the very least, this little girl in front of them, the one called “Wuxia,” was a divine-tier power other than Princess Night Dream. If there were other geniuses as outstanding as she was, there was no telling whether the Sky Tower might have a few more divine-tier existences! Thinking it over carefully, it made sense. If the Sky Tower had no divine-tier powers, why would Dongfang be so careful? Why would he lay out a plan that left nothing to chance?

He had invited powers from all over the Sky Realm to the Sky Tower, willing to share the secrets of the Ruins of the Gods with outsiders. The Golden Emperor, the Demon Emperor, the Immovable Supreme and the great powers, and even all the other forces Dongfang had quietly gathered — if the Sky Tower had no masters at all, only Princess Night Dream, why would Dongfang go to such enormous trouble…

And then consider the Divine Hall Supreme, Tianyu. As the foremost man in the Central Divine Hall, a top-tier power who looked down on the whole Sky Realm, he had tacitly approved of what Dongfang was doing.

To say that no divine-tier power stood guard over the Sky Tower was simply not believable!

Only — five divine tiers seemed like far too many!

Could there really be that many?

The purple shadow, Thunder, expressed his doubt. “Our respects to you, divine-tier power of the Sky Tower. We came uninvited, but we mean no harm; we come only out of curiosity about the Ruins of the Gods. We promise to stay strictly neutral and to take no part in any dispute between you and the Central Divine Hall. While we offer you our sympathy, might you clear up the confusion in our minds? As far as I know, the Sky Tower has been in decline for many years, and in the Heavenly Realm hardly a word is heard of it anymore. Where would it get as many as five divine tiers?”

“There are indeed three more at the divine tier, but they aren’t here. Perhaps in the fighting a little later on, you’ll come to know them.” Xue Wuxia looked up at the dome of the Hall of Guidance and suddenly smiled. “And perhaps before very long, we’ll have even more at the divine tier. With him around, anything is possible.”

“You mean Yue Titan?” asked the emerald-green shadow, Wilds.

“I believe you already have the answer in your hearts.” Xue Wuxia did not answer directly. She only smiled.

“Could you tell us why Yue Titan, who’s called the Sky Tower’s greatest genius, hasn’t reached the divine realm, while you got there first?” the black shadow, Storm Cloud, asked, puzzled.

“He hasn’t reached the divine tier because he doesn’t want to, for now — not because he can’t ascend. I think you all understand the difference between the two.” Xue Wuxia smiled.

“Why?” The fiery red shadow, Volcano, let out a baffled yelp.

Able to ascend to the divine tier and not wanting to — what kind of person is that?

Does the brat think ascending to the divine tier is a mistake? Or is he so bored out of his skull that he can’t even be bothered to ascend?

Yue Titan really is a baffling guy! How is this brat’s head put together? Able to reach the divine tier and not ascending — if anyone else said that, they’d be torn to shreds! How can he do something so unreasonable? And what does he think ascending to the divine tier is anyway? A game of house? It’s enough to make you want to scream!

The fiery red shadow, Volcano, thought about how he had spent a full ten thousand years before he finally managed to ascend to the divine tier, and then several thousand more years condensing his Divinity before he truly, finally, became a god.

Now, hearing that someone else could become a god and didn’t even want to, he felt as sour as if a whole jar of vinegar had been knocked over inside him. He could hardly stand it.

That brat really deserves to be struck down by heaven!

“Ahem!” The sapphire-blue shadow, Vast Sea, gave a slight cough. He did not find Yue Titan’s strange behavior odd at all. There might be no one like that in the Sky Realm, but in the Sky Tower, there really were oddballs of every kind! Take the Sky Tower of the old days: if he hadn’t run into two powers with eccentric tempers, who were afraid that killing too much would wipe out the Sky Realm’s next generation, would he still be alive today? If you wanted to talk about odd, those two powers’ personalities were strange enough. Who spares an enemy out of worry that the enemy might die out? If he had not been through it himself, he would never have believed it either — and yet it was the truth!

“Earlier you said you’d take us inside the Ruins of the Gods. Is that true?” the golden shadow suddenly asked.

“Not only you. Even the Divine Hall Supreme, Tianyu, who has longed to go inside for tens of thousands of years without success, and Dongfang, the Sky Tower’s greatest traitor, may enter too. I will carry on the wishes of the Goddess of Wisdom, open the entrance to the Ruins of the Gods, and let all of you come and go as you please.” Xue Wuxia’s face was earnest and her voice sincere, and she nodded with complete seriousness.

“…” The shadows stared at one another.

This answer was far, far beyond anything they had imagined.

What reason could there be for her, and for the Sky Tower’s guardian, to decide to throw open the gates of the Ruins of the Gods and let anyone come and go as they pleased?

Could there be some scheme behind it? Or some deeply hidden trick to lure an enemy in? But whatever the reason, doing this was the act of a madman!

To guard the entrance to the Ruins of the Gods, Princess Night Dream had slept for thousands of years and sworn never to come out into the world again.

And now it was being opened, just like that, for anyone to go in and out.

It was — it was just too incredible.

“Actually, this Hall of Guidance entrance is a fake, isn’t it? The real entrance really is under the Tianra Imperial Palace, isn’t it?” The fiery red shadow, Volcano, could not hold it in any longer and asked.

“That is indeed an entrance, but the Ruins of the Gods do not have only one. In fact there are three entrances to the Ruins of the Gods: one belongs to the Longteng Continent, one to the Demon Abyss and one to the Sky Stairway. The entrance we are standing at now belonged to the Demon Abyss in ancient times. It is also the only entrance ever opened to the outside world — or you could say it is the safest and simplest one.” Xue Wuxia explained softly. “Only a pure virgin can enter through the Sky Stairway’s entrance. And the entrance that belongs to the Longteng Continent is the strictest and hardest of all. It takes an extremely grueling trial to be accepted there. The senior you spoke of keeps guard outside it and does not let people in lightly, not because she wants to keep everything for herself, but because she is afraid those who go in will throw their lives away. Her benevolence and her virtue are beyond anything petty outsiders could ever fathom.”

“So that’s how it is…” When they had heard it all, the shadows felt as if everything had suddenly become clear.

They believed at least ninety percent of what Xue Wuxia said.

First, the little girl’s divine mind was completely pure, with no crooked intention to deceive in it. Second, during their nearly half a month of exploring, they had looked over countless marks left by the Sky Tower’s predecessors. At first those had been murky and unclear, but once Xue Wuxia cleared up their confusion, the two came together and everything fell into place at once.

The golden shadow asked, a little hopefully, “Then what are the conditions for this entrance that used to belong to the Demon Abyss?”

Xue Wuxia smiled. “None at all. In ancient times, the condition for entering here was seeing through illusion. But later generations found that seeing through illusion was too hard for the lives of the Demon Abyss, while for those of the Longteng Continent and the Sky Stairway it was no obstacle at all, so many warriors from the Longteng Continent and the Sky Stairway abandoned their own entrances and came here instead. Later still, a goddess of great wisdom founded the Hall of Guidance here. Warriors from the Demon Abyss, the Longteng Continent and the Sky Stairway alike could all follow the Hall’s guidance, find the right entrance and go inside the Ruins of the Gods.”

“You really mean to open the gate here and let all of us go in and take a look?” The fiery red shadow, Volcano, felt his own breathing grow a little tight.

“Ah — what do you need us to do for you?” the black shadow, Storm Cloud, asked, feeling her out.

“We can’t beat Tianyu.” The purple shadow ruled that condition out in advance.

“You don’t have to do anything. Please just keep on staying neutral, our honored guests!” Xue Wuxia waved her hand to show that there were no conditions at all.

“And how will the secret treasures in the Ruins of the Gods be divided?” The emerald-green shadow, Wilds, exchanged a quiet word with the sapphire-blue shadow, Vast Sea, and then put the question everyone most wanted answered.

“A divine artifact chooses its own master; it goes to whoever is fated for it. We will certainly raise no objection.” Xue Wuxia smiled, paused, then smiled again. “But my opinion does not speak for Yue Titan. Perhaps you’ve already learned from your intelligence that that guy is an extremely selfish treasure maniac. If you run into him, you’d do best not to provoke him, or I can’t promise what he might do. Of course, with the war raging, Yue Titan has no time for any of this right now. This humble girl is only offering a small hypothetical.”

“…” The shadows all broke out in a bit of a sweat.

As for what kind of person Yue Titan was, they already understood that very clearly from all sorts of intelligence.

It was only because the brat had not yet ascended to the divine tier that they had worked up the nerve to come adventuring and treasure hunting here together. Had they known that there were at least five divine-tier powers in the Sky Tower, and that all of them listened to Yue Titan, they would never have provoked the brat so lightly.

Anyone would be angry. These were his own family’s treasures, and someone was looting them while his house burned. It would be a wonder if he weren’t angry!

Of course, if the brat lost — if he were beaten by Dongfang, beaten by the Divine Hall Supreme, Tianyu — then there probably wouldn’t be any problem. Losers have no rights to speak of.

But if the brat defied heaven and won in the end…

“We — ahem — we’re only curious about the secret treasures of the Ruins of the Gods. As you said, a divine artifact chooses its own master, and we may not be fated for any of them. We came all this great distance mostly just to have a look.” The sapphire-blue Vast Sea stated their position a little awkwardly. Of course, that was nonsense. Nobody would come here without some ideas of their own. Come to a mountain of treasure and go home empty-handed — where was the sense in that? Absolutely not! But for the sake of appearances, “just to have a look” was the right thing to say. They could hardly come out and say they meant to loot someone else’s house while it was burning.

“Then please wait a moment, honored guests, while I open the Gate of Wisdom!” Xue Wuxia smiled and let it pass. She did not care about any of this at all. The real enemies were not these top-tier powers of the Sky Realm who had come with a little greed in their hearts, but Dongfang, and the Divine Hall Supreme, Tianyu, hiding behind him.

Opening the Gate of Wisdom in the Hall of Guidance, and opening the inner core of the Ruins of the Gods, was the key to winning this war.

Whether by the guidance of those who came before, by the counsel of her family and friends, or by the enlightenment of the Book of Truth in her hands, opening the gate of the Ruins of the Gods was where the turnaround would begin. If she failed at this task, this grueling campaign might never be turned around.

Xue Wuxia now stood before the statue of the Goddess of Wisdom and connected herself to it with her divine mind.

She used the same method as the young mother who had once come in before her, taking on the goddess’s wisdom with the purest body and the purest heart…

Amid a sky full of runes, bathed in divine light, Xue Wuxia took in, drop by drop, the last wishes and the guidance of the ancient Goddess of Wisdom. She was the most suitable choice, and she had come of her own free will. Here, beyond the Goddess of Wisdom’s inheritance, she also felt the marks and the experience left behind by countless predecessors who had passed through. In an instant, her body and mind were lifted into endless transcendence.

In that moment, she understood the true purpose of opening the Gate of Wisdom!

(End of Chapter 1268)