"Don't panic. It's only the Seven Realms Sacred Palace — with Grandfather here, they wouldn't dare do anything to you," said the Sect Master of the Red Soul Sect.
"Grandfather, I know. I never took that piece-of-trash Seven Realms Sacred Palace seriously to begin with."
"But Grandfather, what exactly is this place? It looks like a Combat Platform," the Young Master of the Red Soul Sect asked.
"It *is* a Combat Platform. We originally assumed we'd be having a showdown with those present-era nobodies."
"But they separated us onto different Combat Platforms, making it impossible to meet up."
"After that, we figured the barrier gate would release Formation demon beasts — that those beasts would be our opponents."
"But then you all came out."
"Furthermore, your numbers matched exactly with the digits on the barrier gate."
"Now even I can't make heads or tails of what's going on."
As he spoke, the Sect Master of the Red Soul Sect scratched his head. He was genuinely having a headache over this.
However, upon hearing his grandfather's words, the Young Master's expression changed drastically: "Grandfather, that's bad."
"What?" The Sect Master of the Red Soul Sect was taken aback, his face full of bewilderment.
"Our opponents really might be these juniors." The Young Master of the Red Soul Sect pointed toward Jie Tianran and the others at the far end of the Combat Platform.
"Nonsense. You're all just a bunch of juniors."
"Even if the present-era martial cultivators are a bunch of nobodies, there's no way they'd set you up as their opponents — it's completely unfair." The Sect Master of the Red Soul Sect shook his head.
He thought his grandson's idea was utterly impossible.
"Grandfather…"
The Young Master of the Red Soul Sect was about to explain when a change occurred in the void above.
Rumble— Along with a rumbling boom that served as some kind of signal, yet another pillar of light descended from the colossal barrier gate high above the starry sky.
The pillar of light landed at the center of the Combat Platform — atop that elevated platform — and blossomed open like a flower stretching a thousand meters long.
Upon closer inspection, one could see that its exterior was a layer of barrier force, while the interior was mostly a mass of energy — an aura that seemed like a cross between blood and fire.
That aura appeared to be of the same nature as the one behind the banner of the Red Soul Sect's Young Master, yet it was also clearly distinct.
Though the aura on the Young Master's banner was far less in quantity, it was noticeably more concentrated.
They were not on the same level at all.
Soon, the barrier force and the energy merged together.
In the next instant, that mass of energy erupted like a volcano. All of it surged into the sky, then scattered outward, rushing toward every person present.
Everything happened too fast for anyone to dodge. In the end, the energy adhered to their bodies like armor.
"This energy?"
At that moment, everyone instinctively turned their gaze toward the elevated platform.
They could sense that the energy clinging to their bodies was reacting with the platform.
Clearly, in order to ascend that elevated platform, this energy would be indispensable.
However, Jie Tianran directed his gaze toward the juniors on the opposite side of the Combat Platform.
"Could it be that our opponents are really these juniors?"
Even Jie Tianran found this unbelievable.
He could sense that the energy was only attached to the surface. What adhered to them most closely was, in fact, the barrier force.
This barrier force had an extremely powerful protective effect — it was a barrier force that even he could not break through.
Moreover, the energy could be stripped away, but the barrier force could not.
That meant the barrier force was meant to preserve their lives.
And on the outermost layer of the barrier force — the red aura connected to the elevated platform — that was what could be seized.
Just then, a pillar of light projected from the elevated platform, and within it, a line of large characters appeared: *"The red aura is the key to unlocking the Heavenly Stairway. The denser the aura, the stronger the Stairway it unlocks. The old and new generations may seize it from one another."* The characters were enormous, and everyone could read them clearly.
Upon seeing these words, everyone found it hard to believe.