Chapter 481: With All One’s Might
“Ka ca!”
The dragon claw interlocked with the space in between the opponent’s fingers. Xiao Chen’s body then twisted, and a huge force spread out through the arm of the Blood Flame Beast King, tearing it apart.
Now that its arms were crippled, the Blood Flame Beast King fell to the ground and started letting out ear-piercing pained roars.
“Pu ci! Pu ci!”
Sparks appeared where its arms had once been and the Blood Flame Beast King started to regenerate at a visible rate.
Xiao Chen’s expression did not change. He knew that unless he attacked the weak point of his opponent, that was the vengeful spirit mark, he would not be able to deal any true damage.
Thus, he landed on the ground at lightning speed. A fierce purple flame started to burn in his right eye and soon gushed out.
A flaming tornado that contained the Purple Thunder True Fire Origin Flame merged into the surging clump of chaotic energy. Then, carrying a huge amount of energy, it flew towards the Blood Flame Beast King.
The clump of energy was already at its limits. Now that such a vast and pure Yang-attributed energy affected it, it started to crack apart.
A hole also appeared in the scarlet clouds that covered the sky. A ray of resplendent golden light shined down from the hole.
When the Blood Flame Beast King saw the chaotic clump of energy surging at it, its expression changed. This was no longer something it could deal with.
As it had been regenerating its arm, it had already wasted some time. It was too late to try to hide.
The Blood Flame Beast King could only raise its palm and form a scarlet flame shield in front of itself, taking Xiao Chen’s attack head-on.
Xiao Chen did not wish to give it even a single chance. He let go of the saber in his right hand and sent out a palm strike.
“Xiu!”
The Palm Sword immediately shot out and turned into a beam of light. It effortlessly ripped a hole in the shield of scarlet flames.
“Boom!”
When the clump of chaotic energy arrived, the shield that had a hole in it managed to defend for a short while, before completely shattering under the might of the clump of energy.
A horrifying energy instantly exploded out of the clump. The Blood Flame Beast King was blasted into a miserable state. Its light became very dim, and most importantly, the circular object in its chest now had a crack in it.
When looking through the crack, Xiao Chen could clearly see a white light moving about within it.
Xiao Chen’s eyes turned cold, and he instantly sheathed his Lunar Shadow Saber. Then, he summoned a clump of Purple Thunder True Fire and quickly formed some hand seals.
“Life Bestowal Spell!”
“Xiu!”
A dagger made of purple flames instantly entered the crack. The Blood Flame Beast King roared in dissatisfaction. Its already dim body started to crack.
Eventually, it turned into clumps of flame and scattered into the surroundings.
Now that the Blood Flame Beast King was dead, Xiao Chen heaved a sigh of relief. This Blood Flame Beast King had been no weaker than him.
Furthermore, the Blood Flame Beast King was completely made out of flames. It was hard to deal with. If it were not for the Life Bestowal Spell and Purple Thunder True Fire, the final explosion of the clump of energy would not have resulted in fatal damage.
The longer the fight dragged on, the more disadvantageous it became for him.
“Ka ca! Ka ca!”
The towering scarlet pillar and the glossy clouds above it started to shatter. The beam of golden light became larger as well until it became like a large pillar of light descending down.
“Bang! Bang! Bang!”
Under the illumination of the golden light, the towering scarlet tower started to tremble and completely fell apart. The two thousand meters tall scarlet pillar was reduced to a pile of rubble.
Xiao Chen landed back on the ground and said indifferently, “There are still three more. The Blood Flame Beast Kings are slightly weaker than me but their body’s recovery ability is better than mine. Thus, I have to end the fight quickly. It seems that I might have to use my trump cards.”
Xiao Chen closed his eyes and analyzed his earlier fight. When he finally reopened them, he concluded that he had to finish the fight quickly in order to succeed.
He had to think of a way to break the circular object in the Blood Flame Beast King’s chest, even if it were at the cost of him getting injured. Then, he could use the dagger made from the purple flames to attack the vengeful spirit mark. That was the best way to deal with the Blood Flame Beast Kings.
After six hours, Xiao Chen killed the final Blood Flame Beast King in the Scarlet Blood Flame Prison.
Another hole appeared in the scarlet clouds above and a golden pillar of light shone down, shattering the lofty scarlet tower.
Xiao Chen landed on the ground once again. His white robes were dyed red. He had wounds of various sizes all over his body and his mind was fatigued.
He was panting lightly, so he stuffed a Medicinal Pill into his mouth. Then, he sat cross-legged and started circulating his energy to heal his wounds.
“Sha! Sha! Sha!”
After the four towering scarlet pillars collapsed, the scarlet clouds above started to quickly shatter. As Xiao Chen expected, the cage collapsed on its own.
When all the scarlet clouds disappeared, a golden light filled the sky and shone down. The chilly atmosphere that covered the entire space vanished.
“Pa!”
A huge golden palm appeared in the air, covering half the sky.
The lines on the huge palm were very clear, and it contained a supreme might. It descended and grabbed the strange lotus-shaped flame.
For a moment, Xiao Chen thought he saw the Scarlet Blood Frost Flame and the huge palm locked in intense combat.
As for the result of the battle, Xiao Chen did not find out. By the time the fight ended, he had already turned into a beam of dim light and flown out of the painting.
The familiar surroundings of the Ancient Desolate Tower appeared within Xiao Chen’s vision. When he looked around, he saw that the paintings of the other seven people were still there. He concluded that he was the first person to come out.
Xiao Chen withdrew his gaze and looked at the painting in his hand again. As he slowly unfurled the painting, a new scene appeared.
The cage that held the sky up was no more. The painting had turned into that of a huge golden hand grabbing a lotus flower made of scarlet flames.
Xiao Chen thought to himself, This painting is really strange. It seems to be able to suck in things from the real world.
If I meet an enemy that I cannot defeat in the future, would I be able to trap him in this painting?
I wonder if I can bring this out? Xiao Chen tried to put the painting into his Universe Ring but discovered a formless obstructive force preventing him from doing so. No matter how hard he tried, in the end, he could not succeed.
He could only carry it in his arms. He was currently covered in injuries, both internal and external ones.
The Yin-attributed flames of the Blood Flame Beast King had significantly damaged his meridians, so he had to recuperate before proceeding to the next floor.
He closed his eyes, sat cross-legged, and started circulating his energy to treat his injuries.
“Xiu!”
After a while, a strong wind blew. Xiao Chen checked with his Spiritual Sense and discovered that it was Xia Xiyan who had failed her challenge and had been thrown out of the Ancient Desolate tower by the painting.
Xiao Chen felt it was unfortunate. Then, he continued to focus on treating his injuries. Not long later, there was another flash of dim light—Mu Xinya had failed her challenge as well.
Every now and then, there would be a flash of dim light. Jiang Zimo and Chu Mu failed their test and were ejected out of the Ancient Desolate Tower as well.
Xiao Chen felt himself to be fortunate. If he did not have the Purple Thunder True Fire, he would not have been able to clear the Scarlet Blood Flame Prison so easily.
He might have ended up just like them. After all, the odds of failure were very high.
After some more time, under the nourishment of his Essence and Medicinal Pills, Xiao Chen’s internal injuries alleviated and his external injuries mostly healed.
Xiao Chen opened his eyes and got up, “This is as much as I can do. If I want to completely recover, I will need at least half a day. I cannot wait for that long.”
“Bang!”
Just at that moment, a painting exploded and turned into countless scraps of paper.
Chu Chaoyun stood miserably on the ground. He was completely covered in frost, and his lips were frighteningly black.
Chu Chaoyun must have run into a lot of trouble at the Ten Thousand Poison Ice Cave. However, he managed to come out.
“Bang! Bang!”
There were another two explosions at the same time. It was Zuo Mo and Ding Fengchou. They have passed the test of the painting as well.
The two of them were in very miserable states as well. After they came out, they did not say anything. They only gave Xiao Chen a strange look and started to treat their wounds along with Chu Chaoyun.
Xiao Chen noticed that when they came out, their paintings exploded. However, his painting was still intact.
There must be something going on that Xiao Chen was not aware of. However, now was not the time to think about this.
Xiao Chen pushed off the ground and quickly headed for the light barrier above. Then, he successfully went through the light barrier without much obstruction.
“Di da! Di da!”
Pure Essence liquid dripped down continuously. This time, it took Xiao Chen eighty seconds to completely pass through the light barrier.
When he opened his eyes he could clearly feel his body fill with energy. The Essence that he had exhausted earlier had been completely replenished. The size of the Qi whirlpool had even increased.
Xiao Chen revealed a smile. This light barrier was equal to two months of cultivating for him.
He looked around and started to size up the fifth floor. In the front, there was a mysterious door flickering with light.
Aside from this, there were no other things on the fifth floor. When Xiao Chen stood before the flickering door, he saw a vague reflection of himself on it.
The Xiao Chen in the reflection wore white robes and had eighteen Azure Dragons moving around him. He stood on an infinitely tall mountain summit.
A crowd with respectful and envious gazes stood below the summit watching the person at the summit.
Xiao Chen’s expression became slightly startled. However, he still managed to analyze this calmly in his heart. This door seemed to be able to reflect the desire of others.
Standing at the peak, receiving the respect and admiration for eternity—that was the dream that Xiao Chen chased after by pursuing the martial way.
The test Xiao Chen had to pass on this floor was probably desire. This was the reverse of the test of death on the third floor. This was the lure of life, the test of yearning.
Some people had a state of mind that was like a rock. Even when faced with the pressure of death, they would not be shaken.
However, on the path of martial cultivation, there was something worse than death—desire. Death was like a rigid pressure, but desire was like a whetstone used to sharpen knives.
It could cause someone to fall into it unknowingly, halting their progress. This was even scarier than death.
“Regardless of the situation, I should just face this calmly. It is already pretty good for me to be able to come this far!”
Xiao Chen had a cautious expression as he faced his desire. He could not guarantee that he could clear this test. He could only take things one step at a time.
He took a deep breath and raised his leg to step into the light.
“Xiu!”
After Xiao Chen entered the light, Chu Chaoyun, Zuo Mo, and Ding Fengchou appeared on the fifth floor.
Thinking about it, these people were probably very anxious as well. They saw Xiao Chen enter the fifth floor before them, so they only recuperated for a short while before rushing up.
