Chapter 995 – Hells of Flame, Second Level
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They had penetrated 8000 miles deep into the Hells of Flame. This was a terrifying depth. Here, not only were the temperature and the fire origin energy heavenly winds terrifying, but the immense pressure from the thick fire fog pressed down on them. As it grinded against the martial artists’ protective true essence, it emitted crackling sounds like a millstone.
“Guard your mind and do not blindly use force to resist it. You must use your understandings of Laws to withstand it; this will be greatly beneficial to training and tempering your true essence!”
Sun Cyprestar said as he continued flying downwards. An 8000 mile depth was a distance that even the disciples of Phoenix Hall were finding hard to resist.
9000 miles!
The several disciples who had entered Phoenix Hall only by virtue of their connections finally had their protective true essence burst open. Because one robed youth had exhausted all his energy he directly fainted on the spot. In the next moment, he was wrapped up by the blue-green flame energy of the Ruby Sovereign and was sent to a safe minor dimension.
In the last 1000 miles, the difficulty rapidly shot up. More and more Phoenix Hall disciples found that they couldn’t continue onwards.
Besides Phoenix Hall, the disciples of the other three halls couldn’t continue onwards. There was only one person left, and that was Zhou Fei.
At this time, Zhou Fei was still fairly easily continuing downwards. But, he knew that this relaxedness wouldn’t last for much longer.
He couldn’t help but glance at Lin Ming. Lin Ming was doing well within his expectations; otherwise he wouldn’t have been considered the target he had to surpass in the future.
“Huo Yanguang, Lin Ming, I want to see what step you two will be able to last until.” Zhou Fei quickened his pace as he thought this.
The second level of the Hells of Flame was close at hand.
At this moment, within the vast red dust and fog, everyone saw a group of women. The beautiful woman leading them was Chu Redcloud.
She had been waiting there for the Phoenix Cry Palace disciples.
“Hoho.” Chu Redcloud smiled as the Phoenix Cry Palace disciples finally caught up. She wanted to take a look and see just how great the junior disciples of Phoenix Cry Palace were.
Sun Cyprestar naturally noticed Chu Redcloud. The two sides had a feeling of being in sharp opposition.
“Let’s go, we’re entering the second level!” Chu Redcloud led her disciples and directly rushed towards the second level.
Sun Cyprestar took a deep breath and said, “Everyone wake up and give it everything you have! Don’t weaken our morale!”
Bang!
From the first level to the second level, space suddenly changed. Everyone saw their surroundings brighten as the world turned light blue.
The flames here were blue in color.
In the second level of the 18 Hells of Flame Pagoda, the temperature suddenly rose to yet another level. It was now 30 times the temperature of magma.
At the same time, the fire origin energy turned into beasts within the air that rushed towards everyone!
Even Lin Ming felt a tremendous pressure within this space.
At this point, besides the senior disciples, there were only a dozen or so junior disciples of Phoenix Cry Palace remaining.
As for Charming Phoenix Palace, they were better off: they had 20 some people left remaining.
“White Daohong, take the Divine Transformation realm disciples and continue downwards. I will slowly continue with the junior disciples.” Sun Cyprestar said. He could faintly feel that the second level was the limit for the junior disciples. If they continued much further, the junior disciples wouldn’t be able to last.
“Okay, Elder Sun.”
White Daohong turned into a beam of light and led the Divine Transformation realm disciples deeper into the Hells of Flame. To the Divine Transformation realm disciples, the first two levels weren’t considered much at all.
Chu Redcloud faintly smiled and softly said, “Xiaoyun, take the Divine Transformation realm disciples and follow White Daohong. Do not weaken the momentum of our Charming Phoenix Palace!”
“Yes, Elder Master.” Lu Xiaoyun replied without expression. She turned into a blue beam of light and led the Divine Transformation realm disciples of Charming Phoenix Palace to chase after White Daohong!
Two brilliant rainbows shot downwards. In the Hells of Flame, they were actually having a competition of speed.
As soon as the Divine Transformation realm disciples left, the ones remaining were mostly Life Destruction and Divine Sea realm disciples.
And the focus of the competition was concentrated on the junior disciples that were 33 years old and below.
This was not without reason. These people were the key characters that decided victory or defeat in the bet between Sun Cyprestar and Chu Redcloud.
Lin Ming didn’t hastily rush downwards. Instead, he peacefully meditated on the wild yet mysterious fire origin energy here, comprehending the Fire Laws from the various shapes that the fire origin energy took.
At this moment, Lin Ming felt a pair of eyes aimed at him. He looked up to see that on the side of Charming Phoenix Palace, a 16-17 year old girl was looking at him with a smarmy smirk on her face, a hint of provocation in her eyes.
“You’re the one called Lin Ming? My name is Yan Littlemoon. I’ve heard of you before. It seems that you defeated a ninth stage Life Destruction martial artist during the fifth stage of Life Destruction so your reputation shot up?”
Lin Ming looked at this Yan Littlemoon, not responding. Once a martial artist reached Life Destruction it was extremely difficult to tell their age from their appearance. This Yan Littlemoon should be in her twenties, and her cultivation was a stage higher than his at the seventh stage of Life Destruction. Of all the junior disciples who were able to reach the second level of the Hells of Flame, that cultivation could be considered among the lowest.
To arrive here with a seventh stage Life Destruction cultivation, this girl was undoubtedly a proud heavenly daughter of Charming Phoenix Palace. In the future it was highly likely she would grow into a character on the level of Lu Xiaoyun.
“Hehe, our cultivations are similar. How about we compete a bit and see who can reach the third level first?”
Third level?
Lin Ming was slightly startled. With his current condition, he absolutely could not reach the third level. The only reasonable method he could use to do so was to use the Heretical God Sprout to shield himself and absorb the fire origin energy. Only then would it be possible for him to reach the third level. As a final resort, he could open the grandmist space and directly melt away the Fire Laws within the Hells of Flame. If he did that then there would be no problem to reach the third level.
However, Lin Ming didn’t want to depend on the Heretical God Sprout too much. The power of Laws was something he had to comprehend himself in order to develop the most solid foundation. While he could use the things that the Heretical God Force absorbed, they still weren’t his own. As for releasing the grandmist space, that completely negated the training effect of this smelting trial; there would be no significance in doing so.
Thus, Lin Ming was preparing to rely on himself to rush into the 18 Hells of Flame.
Not too far away from Yan Littlemoon, Chu Redcloud was watching all of this happen. Her lips curved up in a small smile. No one at Phoenix Cry Palace knew that Yan Littlemoon had a perfect Ancient Phoenix bloodline. Within her body, half her bloodline was human and the other half was of the Ancient Phoenix!
Such an extreme genius had already achieved a terrifying boundary in the comprehension and compatibility of Fire Laws; it was to a degree that ordinary martial artists could never compete with her. In the future, Yan Littlemoon’s accomplishments would surely be far more extraordinary than Lu Xiaoyun’s.
Even placed within Charming Phoenix Palace where talents freely poured forth, she was a rare talent that appeared only every several hundred years or even every thousand years!
“I’m not interested. I’ll descend another 2000 miles at most before I stop.” Lin Ming said without expression. He could faintly feel that this Yan Littlemoon’s understanding of Fire Laws surpassed even Huo Yanguang’s.
It had to be known that Huo Yanguang had crossed the ninth stage of Life Destruction. When he crossed the ninth stage of Life Destruction he had to withstand the baptism of the Heavenly Dao. But Yan Littlemoon hadn’t gone through that. Yet even so, her comprehension of Fire Laws had reached the level of Huo Yanguang. From this alone her talent and perception could be imagined!
As for Lin Ming, his comprehension of Fire Laws was far inferior to Huo Yanguang’s. If his understanding of Fire Laws was lacking then he would have to expend several times the true essence for every step he took within the 18 Hells of Flame; it would simply be impossible for him to go much further. If Lin Ming didn’t cheat by using the Heretical God Sprout then the most he could descend was another two to three thousand miles in the second level.
“You can only descend another two to three thousand miles?” Yan Littlemoon was surprised. “That’s the level you’re at? This is far too boring! Aunty Redcloud, you really determined that this Lin Ming fellow is my greatest rival here?”
Yan Littlemoon looked at Chu Redcloud with some dissatisfaction. Before arriving at Fire Spirit Star, Chu Redcloud had urged Yan Littlemoon numerous times to be careful of Lin Ming. But now that she saw Lin Ming with her own eyes, all she could see was that he was nothing but… mediocre!
“Do not underestimate your opponent. Lin Ming’s superiority stems not from his comprehension of Fire Laws. There are many aspects of which he has an advantage you cannot compare against. In this smelting trial, although Fire Laws and compatibility with fire origin energy are the most important parts, it doesn’t solely focus on these two points. As for other aspects, they will also be tested here.”
“Humph! If we haven’t competed then how can it be known that I am inferior to him in any aspect at all? He defeated a ninth stage Life Destruction martial artist at the fifth stage of Life Destruction, but that’s probably because that Huo Yanguang is far too stupid. Since Aunty favors him, I will take a look and see just how he excels in other fields. But for now, I’m not going to follow them along. These people are so slow that they seem like snails. I’ll be heading down first.”
As Yan Littlemoon spoke, she no longer bothered with Lin Ming. She gathered her true essence and turned into a red beam of light that shot towards the third level of the Hells of Flame!
Her speed couldn’t compare with the Divine Transformation realm disciples’ but it was still alarming. As the disciples of Phoenix Cry Palace saw this, all of them were left bamboozled!
“This… who is that young girl?”
“If I didn’t read wrong then isn’t she at the seventh stage of Life Destruction?”
“Heavens! I’m at the Divine Sea realm but I’m already finding it hard to continue. If I flew down at high speed I would likely just die, but she’s doing it so easily. She… is she even human?”
Yan Littlemoon was a genius that had just recently appeared at Charming Phoenix Palace; the people of Phoenix Cry Palace simply didn’t know of her. Now that they saw her prowess, all of them were inevitably shocked.
And as Sun Cyprestar saw this, he felt his heart skip a beat. He reached out a part of his sense and tracked down Yan Littlemoon. Then, he made a startling discovery. In just two breaths of time, Yan Littlemoon had dove over a thousand miles downwards to reach a 12,000 mile depth.
Then…
13,000 miles, 14,000 miles, 15,000 miles…
Moreover, at that depth her speed still didn’t diminish!
It was only at the 18,000 mile depth that Yan Littlemoon’s speed began to faintly reduce. At 19,000 miles, she began to slow down as if she were reaching her limit.
But the 19,000 mile distance was already nearing the third level of the Hells of Flame!
How could this be possible!?
A seventh stage Life Destruction martial artist neared the third level of the Hells of Flame!
Sun Cyprestar looked up at Chu Redcloud and his voice changed. “She has…”
Chu Redcloud faintly smiled in response. She slowly and clearly said, “Perfect Ancient Phoenix bloodline.”
“Perfect Ancient Phoenix bloodline!?!? How is that possible!? Those with perfect Ancient Phoenix bloodlines are only born in the three great family clans and they are concentrated at headquarters, so how could any one of them be at your Charming Phoenix Palace!?”