Chapter 25: The Peak
Snowflakes drifted down from above, landing on the petrified scales of an ancient dragon. This powerful ancient dragon, once known as the Rose Blood Dragon, had now turned into a massive stone statue, standing tall in the Corrupted Royal City occupied by Abyss Descendants.
Looking down from above, the entire Corrupted Royal City's high walls formed a circular ring, totaling two layers. The outer layer was the Light-Eating Layer, which would rapidly grow when exposed to intense sunlight. This was built to counter the Sun Faction, but now the supernatural microorganisms composing the Light-Eating Layer had all died, turning into gray-white stone.
Inside were high walls of black stone, several hundred meters tall—not particularly high for ancient dragons, mainly used against the Cold Tide. No one wanted their nest frozen into an ice cellar.
Unfortunately, the ancient dragon royal city was now in ruins, divided among numerous schools. Some came from Doom Star, some from regions eroded by the Abyss, and some from the Void. Their purpose was the same: to explore and understand the Abyss.
That's right, even the veteran Abyss Descendants had explored no more than 5% of the Abyss. Perhaps only by sitting on the ancient black throne belonging to the Lord of the Abyss could one gain over 40% understanding. As for the vast remaining regions, they were beyond what rational beings could comprehend or contact. Perhaps only Void anomalies drifted through those areas.
Or perhaps only after fully comprehending the Abyss and mastering the elements could one know the ultimate secrets of the Void Tree and the major Paradise factions.
The Star Realm had a particularly interesting paradox: the more powerful one became, the more one felt their own ignorance and insignificance. Many powerful beings thought Supreme was the endpoint, but actually reaching Supreme revealed that, for the vast Star Realm, this was merely obtaining a ticket to participate in the cataclysmic changes occurring each era.
The First Era's cataclysm involved Ancient Dragons, the Sun, Lords, and the Gods. The Second Era was even more brutal, with Law Destroyers, Spellcasters, and the Alchemy Civilization. As for the Third Era...
On the surface, the Third Era hadn't seen anything too outrageous, with Arcane Eternal Star suppressing everything. But the problem was that, for an era, the Third Era had only just begun—yet it had triggered all the crises and powers of the previous two eras simultaneously.
Because the large-scale invasion of the Abyss was coming.
If this calamity couldn't be withstood, the Third Era would be the end of everything—or rather, the beginning of the Abyss Era. By then, the Star Realm completely saturated with the Abyss might give rise to new dark beings, but they would have no way to coexist with the beings of the current era. The only ancient force in the Void Ten Thousand Realms that could survive this calamity was the Abyss Descendants.
Not that the Abyss Descendants had orchestrated all this. In fact, aside from the supreme being of Arcane Eternal Star, no one else could have planned it. The question was, if the Abyss Era truly descended, what meaning would it have for that supreme being?
Therefore, all of this was the trend of the times—a series of coincidences from major events starting in the First Era, combined with the changes of the ages, ultimately leading to the impending Abyss Era.
In this era of the approaching Abyss Era, Supreme was truly just a ticket to participate. In other words, even those in the first four tiers of Supreme could die at any moment.
First, let's talk about "Newly Ascended Supreme." For a long time in the Second Era, this was called "Pseudo Supreme" because those who ascended to Supreme with sufficient standards would only stay at "Newly Ascended Supreme" for a very short time—a few days at least, a few months at most—before becoming "Veteran Supreme."
Becoming "Veteran Supreme" was when one began to truly embody Supreme. For example, when Su Xiao first ascended to Supreme, he was actually at "Veteran Supreme," but because his ascension standards were absurdly high, he didn't stay at this stage long before heading straight to "Peak Supreme."
Actually, in the Second Era, after "Peak Supreme" came "Supreme Peak." The problem was that the gap between these two tiers was too large, leading to the emergence of the "Ultra Peak Supreme" tier.
To put it simply, if the span from "Newly Ascended Supreme" to "Veteran Supreme" was 5 to 13, then from "Veteran Supreme" to "Peak Supreme" was 13 to 40.
As for from "Peak Supreme" to "Supreme Peak," that was a span from 40 to 6000. Yes, that absurd. Hence, the "Ultra Peak Supreme" tier emerged, covering 40 to 630 from "Peak Supreme" to "Ultra Peak Supreme." But the span from 630 to 6000 was still ridiculously large.
Back when Su Xiao ascended to Supreme potential, "Supreme Peak" potential was roughly equivalent to 630 to 5800 "Supreme Potential Points." Don't think that using 630 "Supreme Potential Points" qualified one to aim for "Supreme Peak." The probability of ascending to "Supreme Peak" with such potential was minuscule—lower than Su Xiao opening a 1% probability chest and getting a three-second-plus flash of maximum returns.
Furthermore, the result of failing to ascend to "Supreme Peak" was only one: death at the levels of body, soul, and existence.
Thus, from the First Era to now, there weren't many "Supreme Peaks." The "Supreme Peaks" of the Abyss Descendants didn't count; they were special beings. Why was the Law Destruction Faction so powerful back then? Because every previous generation Law Destroyer was a "Supreme Peak."
To be precise, only potential gained from ascending to Supreme with 5800 "Supreme Potential Points" gave a normal probability of ascending to "Supreme Peak." What was that probability? A conservative estimate was no more than 30%.
Therefore, normally, from "Ultra Peak Supreme" to "Supreme Peak," it wasn't the theoretical 630 to 6000, but 630 to 50,000, or even 630 to 100,000. With only one chance to ascend and death upon failure, preparations had to be extremely thorough.
Yes, to reach "Supreme Peak," one genuinely needed to ascend, but no resources were required—only three things needed to be ensured.