Chapter 1176: You Enter the Palace as Well

Time slowly passed, and before long, the mountain summit had been basked in the light of the setting sun, presenting a beautiful sight to behold.

At this point, there were already close to a hundred people gathered on the plaza on the mountain summit, close to twenty of which were Great Encompassment cultivators, sixteen of whom were the chiefs of the sixteen premier primordial tribes.

Aside from these Great Encompassment Stage beings, the rest of the people gathered on the plaza were all the brightest young talents with the purest bloodlines in the primordial tribes, and only they were able to endure the climb to the mountain summit.

Among the tribes present, the Huntun Tribe had the most people, numbering in excess of ten, while the Mountain Moving Ape Tribe had the least people, namely only Yuan Shanbai and the tribal chief.

The Huntun Tribe was a descendant tribe of the Rahu, one of the eight ancient True Spirit Kings, and theirs was an extremely powerful tribe.

Their current chief was a tall and imposing middle-aged man dressed in a very eye-catching, embroidered purple robe, outside of which was a suit of black scale armor. His entire body was bulging with muscles that gave off an appearance of explosive power.

His facial features were extremely hideous, with his entire face riddled with sharp spkes, and his mouth was as wide as that of a toad. There was also a short, purple beard on his chin, and the individual strands of hair in the beard appeared as sharp and straight as steel needles.

His enormous aura indicated that he was a late-Great Encompassment cultivator, and at this moment, he was scouring the entire plaza with a perplexed look on his face.

After a brief hesitation, he made his way to the center of the plaza, where he extended a respectful salute toward Bai Ze, then asked, "Your Majesty, it appears that everyone has already gathered, so why has the blood inheritance ceremony still not commenced?"

"We're waiting on one more person. He should be here soon," Bai Ze replied.

As soon as his voice trailed off, a low roar suddenly rang out from the northern edge of the plaza, following which a giant spider-like figure sprang up into the air before crashing down onto the plaza.

It was naturally none other than Han Li.

In addition to his Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts and true spirit bloodlines, he had also been forced to make use of his time law powers, and even then, it had taken him over six hours to finally reach the mountain summit.

Xiao Bai and Liu Le'er immediately rushed over to him with elated expressions, while he reverted back to his human form.

Even so, everyone had already caught a glimpse of his devilish deity form, and aura quickly came under scrutiny as well.

The chief of the Mountain Moving Ape Tribe wasn't all that surprised to see Han Li reach the mountain summit, but the chiefs of the other tribes were far less composed.

The first one to speak up was a purple-faced, middle-aged man with a pair of black wings on his back, and he exclaimed in a furious voice, "That's a human! Why has a human been allowed to scale our holy mountain?"

He was the chief of the Soaring Leopard Tribe, a descendant tribe of the Taowu. However, their bloodline wasn't as pure as that of the Zouwu Tribe, and the founding ancestor of their tribe was none other than a certain patriarch of the Zouwu Tribe.

Hence, even though they were also one of the sixteen premier primordial tribes, they were considered to be inferior in seniority to the Zouwu Tribe.

Another halberd-wielding man with the head of a falcon also sprang to his feet, and arcs of silver lightning flashed over his wings as he yelled, "Why does he possess multiple true spirit auras?"

This man was the chief of the Silver Winged Lightning Bird Tribe, another one of the sixteen premier primordial tribes.

The other tribal chiefs present were also very alarmed by the sight of Han Li, and it was clear that they were far from pleased to see him.

All the while, a hunch-backed elderly man from the Qing Ape Tribe was looking on in silence with a cold smile on his face.

He was the chief of the Qing Ape Tribe, and he had been made aware of Han Li's status as a human before most of the other tribal chiefs present.

Qing Dian and Qing Chu were both standing behind him, glowering at Han Li with resentful expressions.

Bai Ze's brows furrowed slightly at the sight of the animosity directed at Han Li, and Lekima immediately took that as his cue to step forward and declare, "Don't be alarmed, everyone. Fellow Daoist Han Li has been invited here by His Majesty to attend the ceremony."

Everyone instantly fell silent upon hearing this, and despite the questioning looks in their eyes, no one raised any objections or queries.

"Rest assured, everyone, Fellow Daoist Han is a friend of our primordial tribes," Lekima continued. "In fact, he was the one who found the only remaining offspring of the Ink-Eyed Pixiu King and brought him back to our primordial land."

"So he's the one..." someone exclaimed.

Clearly, stories of some of Han Li's feats had already begun to make the rounds among the primordial tribes.

Han Li wasn't surprised in the slightest by everyone's reactions, but he was very much taken aback by the sight of a certain figure in the Zouwu Tribe.

Standing at the forefront of the Zouwu Tribe was a white-haired young man with his hands clasped behind his back, observing Han Li with a cold smile.

It was the same person who had attempted to steal his dao pills all those years ago, and there was a clear flash of mutual recognition as soon as their eyes met.

Han Li then turned his gaze to the Heavenly Fox Tribe, and he discovered that there was another familiar figure among them that he hadn't seen before, namely Fox 3.

The two of them exchanged a glance and a nod, but before they had a chance to communicate through voice transmission, Han Li was called over to the center of the plaza by Lekima.

"I pay my respects to the True Spirit King," Han Li greeted as he cupped his fist in a salute toward Bai Ze, who smiled and nodded in response.

"We can begin the ceremony now," Bai Ze declared, and all of the primordial beings present immediately gathered on the platform.

Bai Ze arrived before everyone and said, "Today's blood inheritance ceremony is an event of the utmost importance for our primordial tribes. At the moment, turmoil is building in the entire True Immortal Realm, and the all-encompassing tribulation that was prophesied by the Inky-Eyed Pixiu all those years ago is most likely already upon us."

Most of the primordial beings present were rather perplexed to hear this, but the expressions of all of the chiefs had changed drastically, clearly indicating that they were aware of the prophecy in question.

Han Li was naturally unaware of this prophecy, but he had personally witnessed the brewing unrest in the True Immortal Realm of late, so he was able to understand Bai Ze's concerns.

Xiao Bai was just as oblivious as everyone else, but he was listening particularly intently, seeing as the prophecy in question had been left behind by his father.

"On this day, we will be opening the Holy Primordial Palace and the Asura Blood Gate. The thrones of the eight kings have been empty for far too long, and it's time to restore the eight True Spirit Kings to resurrect the former glory of our primordial land!" Bai Ze continued, and this declaration was met with a collective cheer.

......

The eyes of all of the primordial beings present were glowing with excitement, but Han Li was rather perplexed.

Could it be that this blood inheritance ceremony can somehow summon back the missing True Spirit Kings?

"Representatives of the sixteen premier tribes, step forward!" Bai Ze ordered, and Lekima was the first to oblige, stepping forward in a proud manner.

Liu Le'er emerged from the Heavenly Fox Tribe, while Qing Dian stepped forward from the Qing Ape Tribe. Somehow, the tusk that had been snapped by Han Li had already been restored to its former condition.

The white-haired young man emerged from the Zouwu Tribe, and the representatives of all of the other tribes also quickly stepped forward at Bai Ze's behest.

The representative for the Mountain Moving Ape Tribe was none other than Yuan Shanbai, and he stepped forward before taking a glance in Han Li's direction.

Xiao Bai was standing beside Han Li, looking rather hesitant, only after receiving a smile and an encouraging nod from Han Li did Xiao Bai leave his side to step forward as well.

"All representatives, enter the holy palace with me. Everyone else, remain on the plaza to await the array's activation," Bai Ze ordered, and everyone did as they were told.

With that, Bai Ze began to make his way toward a round, stone palace behind the plaza, followed by Lekima and the other tribal representatives.

All of a sudden, Bai Ze stopped in his tracks, then turned to Han Li as he instructed, "You enter the palace as well."