Chapter 2844: The Great Ceremony Begins

Afterwards, it became much more peaceful among the Darkstar race. The reason why it was described as peaceful was because the cultivators that could be seen almost everywhere outside the cities had decreased in number, while the outsiders who entered and left the Two World Mountains had vanished completely.

There were only patrol squads assembled from Darkstar race Godkings that roamed the lands of the Darkstar World, capturing any outsiders who wandered about outside.

The Hundred Saint City had always been in a state of full vigilance and the protective formations remained in their strongest state. As the fifty-two organisations that stayed behind in the city secretly hoped the great ceremony of the Darkstar race would end sooner, they also carefully prepared themselves by guarding the only teleportation formation in the Hundred Saint City.

That was their hope of escaping, the last thing they could count on!

They carried out extremely strict inspections on the teleportation formation. They would basically look through it once, inside and out, every single day, even sending people through it as experiments to ensure it could operate normally when they needed it to.

Although some of these prodigies had already begun considering retreating due to being afraid of death, their trip to the Darkstar World this time was more of a test from their clan. It affected their futures, which was why none of them wanted to be deserters before they had confirmed if there were any dangers or not.

Even though a third of the organisations in the Hundred Saint City had already left earlier, that was because of the seventh divine hall’s threats. If they did not retreat, all that would be awaiting them was death.

Shrinking back under those circumstances was not embarrassing, and their clans would not blame them either. However, if they retreated purely because of the tense atmosphere among the Darkstar race, escaping when they were under the protection of the fifth hall master, that was something intrinsically different.

As a result, the fifty-two organisations of the Hundred Saint City stood fast to their positions.

Time passed by silently. Under the great anticipation of the entire Darkstar race and the nervous and highly uneasy waiting of the outsiders, the day of the great ceremony that the Darkstar race had been preparing for all this time finally arrived.

The location of the great ceremony was the capital city of the Darkstar race. All the peak experts of the Darkstar race had already assembled there. Apart from all the Primordial realm experts of the Darkstar race, the city lords of the thirty-six major cities, the one hundred and eight kings and the thirty-six lords of each major city had all assembled there too.

All outsiders had vanished from the capital city a long time ago. All of the people from the Saints’ World and the ruins of the Spirits’ World had been gathered in the thirty-six major cities.

The great ceremony this time was a colossal matter that could change the entire Darkstar race’s fate, so the Darkstar race truly placed great emphasis on the issue of safety during the ceremony. Not only were all ten renowned armies of the Darkstar race stationed inside and outside the city, but even the thirty-six cities had assembled all of their forces to stand guard under the lead of the various vice city lords.

The people they were guarding against were all the outsiders placed under house arrest in the thirty-six major cities!

Above the capital city, the ten divine halls that originally hovered there had all been moved to certain positions. They seemed to stand in a certain formation, and the Darkstar Divine Hall that originally hovered above the ten divine halls had descended, surrounded by the ten divine halls in a special array. It was like the moon surrounded by many stars.

The eleven divine halls hovered in the air. Each divine hall gave off dazzling light and emitted powerful pulses of energy. At first glance, they were like eleven luminous suns.

Below the divine halls were the forces from the thirty-six major cities. Under the lead of each city lord with the thirty-six lords and hundred and eight kings providing support, they sat in the air in huge formations.

Among them, the Darknight City also had a newly-chosen city lord, as well as a new generation of the thirty-six lords and hundred and eight kings.

Below the forces of the thirty-six cities were the countless citizens of the capital city. Currently, all of them knelt on the ground with faces filled with devotion, quietly waiting for the stirring moment.

“Open the sacrificial altar!”

At this moment, the Darkstar Emperor sat on top of the Darkstar Divine Hall in the air. His expression was solemn as he spoke in a dignified voice.

His voice spread across the entire city, landing in everyone’s ears.

“Opening the sacrificial altar—drawing the power of the Windless City…”

“Opening the sacrificial altar—drawing the power of the Darkhell City…”

“Opening the sacrificial altar—drawing the power of the Duoye City…”

“Opening the sacrificial altar—drawing the power of the Darknight City…”

“Opening the sacrificial altar—drawing the power of the Blacklight City…”

…

Virtually the moment the Darkstar Emperor finished talking, the voices of the thirty-six city lords boomed through the air. With their voices, the formations assembled from the thirty-six lords and the hundred and eight kings were activated. In that moment, they seemed to establish some kind of mysterious connection with the thirty-six major cities nowhere close to them.

Immediately, thirty-six pillars of resplendent light shot into the air in the distance, rushing towards the capital city from thirty-six different places.

This was the power of the thirty-six major cities. The thirty-six clusters of energy traversed the great distance and directly enveloped their city lord, thirty-six lords, and hundred and eight kings. Afterwards, under the control of the thirty-six city lords, the thirty-six clusters of energy merged together in a single moment, radiating with enough light to dazzle the entire world and directly plunging ten thousand meters into the air above the city like a sword.

From afar, it seemed like a huge pillar of white light had risen up from the ground and pierced the heavens. It was like a pillar that upheld the sky, resplendent and glorious.

In the next moment, the space at an altitude of ten thousand meters pulsed violently. The pillar of energy condensed from the powers of the thirty-six cities seemed to be a key, opening a mysterious gate hidden within the void.

Within the mysterious gate, an altar that seemed to be forged completely out of white jade hovered up.

The altar was not particularly large. It was a few thousand meters across at most and was littered with stone tablets. Ancient diagrams and characters were engraved on the altar as if it recorded the lustrous and glorious history of the Darkstar race. It radiated with a heavy presence of age.

In the very centre of the altar stood a humanoid stone statue. It was extremely large, surrounded by thousands of stone tablets. It was worshipped by countless lives, like a sovereign of the past.

However, the stone statue was faceless. It was impossible to make out its facial features or appearance. It was only possible to tell from the characteristics of its body that it was a man.

An abnormally lofty man who gave off an aura of utter dominance and supremacy!

“Is this the Grand Exalt of the Darkstar race?”

Seated in the air above the fifth divine hall, Jian Chen shuddered inside because he could sense an indescribably profound aura of ways from the faceless statue. In his eyes, the statue seemed to have condensed the ways of the Darkstar race, the apex of all ways within the Darkstar race.

The altar gradually drifted out of the space in the void before hovering ten thousand meters above the capital city. When the space there settled back down, the illusionary figure of the Virtuous Sage of Heaven suddenly appeared. He did not fly over to the altar immediately, instead climbing up a set of invisible stairs, making his way over to the altar step by step.

Standing on the altar, the Virtuous Sage of Heaven’s illusionary figure slowly knelt down. He knelt on both his knees and buried his head deeply into the icy-cold floor before speaking out in a booming voice, “Bow to the ancestor!”