Chapter 397 – Ancient Phoenix Main Hall
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The environment within the Divine Phoenix Mystic Realm was incomparably complex and convoluted. The lucky chances here had accumulated for 100,000 years, or even several hundred thousand years.
Because the fire origin energy within the Divine Phoenix Mystic Realm was incomparably pure and rich, it was extremely easy for all sorts of fire-attribute materials and treasures to develop here, including even Flame Essences.
Within the Sky Spill Continent, there was an extremely low number of Flame Essences, each one of these Flame Essence was exceedingly rare. But within the Divine Phoenix Mystic Realm, there was comparatively many of them. However, it was a pity that there were too many limitations on entering the Divine Phoenix Mystic Realm. The time limit was only a few days, and even then, if one wished to find a Flame Essence, they would need extremely good luck.
After Lin Ming obtained the Fallen Star Flame, for the following two days he only found a common stalk of Flame Grass within a pool of lava. Besides that, he had found nothing else.
As the third day ended, that would also be the last day to explore the wide open land of the Divine Phoenix Mystic Realm.
The sun began to fall close to the ground, and then it rose again. Afterwards, at the end of Lin Ming’s sight, a fire-red palace appeared. The palace waved in his eyes, as if it were a mirage in a desert.
“This is the Ancient Phoenix Main Hall.”
Lin Ming narrowed his eyes and traced a jade tablet within his spatial ring. This was the key to entering the Ancient Phoenix Main Hall. There was a total of 16 jade tablets. If one didn’t have this jade tablet, then as the 16 people entered the Ancient Phoenix Main Hall, they would be sent out of the Divine Phoenix Mystic Realm, thus ending their trial.
At the same time, within the Divine Phoenix Mystic Realm, Mu Dingshan, Mu Xiaoqing, and the rest of the 16 individuals all saw the Ancient Phoenix Main Hall appear in front of them. These past three days, they each had their own harvests. Mu Dingshan had found a very precious fire-attribute ore. He also found a valuable material that could be used to increase the fire-attribute true essence within one’s body. As for Mu Xiaoqing, she had obtained a Snow Lotus Ice Blossom after subduing an ice-attribute spirit beast.
However, these were all inferior to the precious Fallen Star Flame that Lin Ming had obtained. Not only was Lin Ming’s destiny greater, but even if Mu Dingshan had come across this medium-grade earth-step Flame Essence, he wouldn’t have had the strength to deal with it; the only route he would have been able to take was a hasty escape.
In similar situations of luck, the ability one had corresponded to how much of an advantage they could grasp from their lucky chances.
Lin Ming looked in the direction of the Ancient Phoenix Main Hall, activated his movement technique, and then flew towards it.
The people had a saying that one would run their horse dead before reaching the mountain in sight. Lin Ming thought that the Ancient Phoenix Main Hall was only a palace, and it would take about an incense stick of time to reach. However, he hadn’t expected that all his ideas were incorrect; it had taken him nearly two hours to reach the palace!
As he approached the Ancient Phoenix Main Hall, Lin Ming gasped. This was just too big, way too big. Big to the point of horrifying him! No wonder it had seemed so close when it had been so far away!
The towering walls of the Ancient Phoenix Main Hall reached the skies, and were completely made of dark crimson rock; they were no less than 1000 feet high. Above that, there was a massive circular phoenix totem image that was no less than 200-300 feet in diameter.
Every column of the Ancient Phoenix Main Hall would take a least a dozen people holding their arms to fully encircle it. On these columns were all sorts of pictures. There were Saint Beasts, God Beasts, masters of mankind, all sorts of treasures, pills, valuable materials, and mounts. Among the columns, there were even those with large groups of nefarious looking demons. They grasped large axes or scythes, and their entire bodies were entwined in thick chains, the muscles of their bodies bulging like dragons under their skin.
As Lin Ming saw these depictions on the columns, his pupils shrank. He had seen this race of beings before. After swallowing the Shattered Demon Heart Crystal, he had seen the Netherworld Great Emperor take his great axe and slaughter a nearly endless amount of demons. After he killed one, he would always drink their blood.
The demons that the Netherworld Great Emperor massacred were entirely alike with the reliefs depicted on these columns.
However, the ones that the Netherworld Great Emperor massacred were apparently nothing but small fries. The ones depicted on the columns were all supreme experts. The mounts they rode were Flood Dragons, Hornless Dragons, and other such Saint Beasts. These demons on the columns should at least be Revolving Core realm masters, and even many extreme Revolving Core masters and almighty Peerless Emperors.
As he looked from a broader perspective, there were hundreds – if not thousands of these demons engraved onto the columns. Lin Ming was shocked. These hundreds and thousands of great masters also had hundreds and thousands of Saint Beasts. Not even a Holy Land of the Sky Spill Continent would have power on such a massive scale!
If these reliefs weren’t exaggerations, then it could only be said that the world of the past era that the Ancient Phoenix Clan once lived in was many times more terrifying than the present!
Lin Ming sighed. It seemed that the present Sky Spill Continent, in terms of the quality and quantity of its powerhouses, was much lower than that of the past.
“Junior-apprentice Brother Lin, you’ve arrived here so quickly!”
As Lin Ming was gazing at the reliefs, he suddenly heard an affable and hearty voice from behind him. Lin Ming turned to see Mu Dingshan enter the Ancient Phoenix Main Hall. Mu Dingshan had a very worn out expression that was covered with dust, and his clothes were torn or charred in several places. Even his hair was scorched. It seemed that in these past three days, he had experienced a great deal of trials.
As Mu Dingshan saw Lin Ming look at him, he smiled and brightly laughed, “Junior-apprentice Brother, please don’t laugh at me. My luck has been quite good. I found a Flameheart Flower that could be used to enhance one’s fire-attribute true essence. However, it was guarded by a nearly sixth-level Fire Python. My strength is limited, so I was barely able to wound Fire Python and then take the Flameheart Flower. However, I was also heavily injured in the process.”
Mu Dingshan smiled with a self-deprecating expression. At this time, Mu Xiaoqing and the other direct disciples arrived one after another. Whether they were from the Vermillion Bird Faction or the Blue Luan Faction, they all eventually came to the same Ancient Phoenix Main Hall.
The 16 disciples all arrived together, not a single one of them had died. This was good news indeed!
The 16 disciples had all received some wounds, but all of their faces were filled with excitement and passion. Especially the third ranked direct disciple Sun Yu – he was finding it hard to conceal the happy pride on his face.
“Senior-apprentice Brother Sun, it seems that you had a very great lucky chance during this time in the Divine Phoenix Mystic Realm? What did you get? Why are you so happy?” A cheerful looking youth asked. He was the eighth ranked direct disciple, Zhang Yan.
After they entered the Ancient Phoenix Main Hall, they still had around an hour to rest. During this time, it was inevitable that they would discuss whatever harvests they managed to obtain during their jaunt into the Divine Phoenix Mystic Realm.
Sun Yu smiled, and then took out the treasure he had obtained in the Divine Phoenix Mystic Realm. As disciples from the same sect that had friendly relations, there weren’t many taboo subjects between them. Not only that, but after exiting the Divine Phoenix Mystic Realm, they also had to register whatever the found. There were some things that even the sect would bid for.
Sun Yu took out an exquisite jade box and carefully opened it. A dim, hazy red light suddenly shot into the sky, causing all of the surrounding disciples to exclaim in awe.
“If I’m not wrong, that’s Sunfire Jade!”
“That’s right! I’ve seen one from my master before, you’re definitely not wrong!”
Within the delicate jade box, there was a small red jade the size of a longan. The surrounding fire origin energy continuously gathered onto the small red jade, creating a small vortex.
“It’s really Sunfire Jade! Junior-apprentice Brother Sun, your luck is awesome!” Even Mu Dingshan was moved. In comparison, even what he had obtained was lacking.
“Haha, I just have good luck. I’m sure that everyone’s harvest is not much worse than mine.” Although Sun Yi spoke modestly, his eyes were shining with excitement and pride that he couldn’t suppress, and his body was shaking in giddy joy.
This Sunfire Jade could not be refined nor could it be taken to increase one’s own strength. But as long as one wore it on their body somewhere, they could increase the amount of fire origin energy that gathered around them. Thus, they could speed up their cultivation speed to a certain extent. In battle, it would also increase a martial artist’s recovery capability; this was truly a rare treasure.
After being stimulated by the appearance of the Sunfire Jade, the other disciples began to take out the treasures they had obtained. The ones that had greater harvests naturally showed off more. As for the ones with smaller harvests, they could only sigh and watch on in envy and longing. There were even two disciples that looked sad and dejected, not bothering to even speak. They had searched everywhere that was in their capabilities for the last three days, but hadn’t managed to find anything.
Many disciples believed that if they didn’t find anything within the Divine Phoenix Mystic Realm, then that would signify that their destiny was poor; this was not an auspicious sign.
Even the quiet and low-key Mu Xiaoqing showed off her harvest. Although the Snow Lotus Ice Blossom was valuable, it was still far from being able to compare with Sun Yu’s Sunfire Jade. Sun Yu couldn’t hide his smile, feeling sublime in his heart. Although Mu Dingshan and Mu Xiaoqing were stronger than him, they hadn’t obtained a better treasure than him. This meant that he had the greater destiny.
After Mu Xiaoqing finished showing off what she had found, Sun Yu turned to Lin Ming, who was staring at the reliefs on the columns. He said, “Junior-apprentice Brother Lin, what did you obtain in the Divine Phoenix Mystic Realm? Let us have a look!”
“Oh?” Lin Ming turned his head. He said, “My luck was good. I managed to obtain a Flame Essence.”
“Flame Essence?”
Everyone was immediately interested. Something like a Flame Essence would sell for a great price, even if it was a low-grade human-step one.
“Junior-apprentice Brother Lin has such great luck.”
“Even the most basic of Flame Essences are worth many true essence stones. Junior-apprentice Brother Lin’s luck is too amazing.”
“As expected of our Junior-brother Lin.” Sun Yu also complimented, smiling as he continued, ”Junior-apprentice Brother Lin, what level of Flame Essence is it? Take it out so we can have a look.”
“Yes, yes, let us take a look!” The many disciples were very eagerly waiting to see, even Mu Dingshan was looking expectant.
Lin Ming didn’t bother hiding anything. He immediately withdrew the jade box from his spatial ring and took out the cocoon that was formed from azure true essence. As he undid some of the true essence threads, he revealed the tightly sealed Fallen Star Flame.
This purple flame, although sealed, still released an aura that made one’s heart race. As soon as the azure true essence that contained it was undone, the Fallen Star Flame once again made a racket as it was exposed to the world, struggling and roaring like a small leopard. The symbol runes that bound it released ‘chi chi chi’ sounds as they were unexpectedly being constantly corroded by the Fallen Star Flame.
At the same time, the surrounding fire origin energy instantly became restless, howling as it flew towards the Fallen Star Flame and formed a giant fire origin energy vortex from thin air. This vortex was countless times more formidable than the one that had been produced by the Sunfire Jade.
Mu Dingshan’s complexion immediately changed. He could clearly feel the fire origin energy with his own body being pulled, as if it wanted to break free from his body.
Sun Yu also stared with wide eyes, his expression full of shock and disbelief. After he repeatedly confirmed the truth in front of him, he finally realized an incredible fact.
“Medium-grade earth-step Flame Essence!”
“Junior-apprentice Brother Lin, you managed to subdue a medium-grade earth-step Flame Essence!?”
Mu Dingshan and Sun Yu nearly spoke at the same time. As their voices fell, the other disciples that didn’t understand what level of Flame Essence this was were immediately bewildered, their eyes widening and their hearts shaking.
Medium-grade earth-step Flame Essence?
This sort of Flame Essence could kill someone. If they encountered it, it would already be a good result if they didn’t die. But Lin Ming was actually able to subdue it?