Lu Zhou's heart skipped a beat. Evil creature? Had he been discovered?
At the same time, a thunderous noise rang in the air.
The lava surged up into the air like a fire dragon that broke through the sea's surface.
Even Lu Zhou who had gained the fire-resistance ability from the life heart of a ferocious beast felt the heat from the lava even after he increased his fire-resistance ability.
Like a red cresting wave, a flying beast burning in flames flapped its wings in the air, causing lava to rain down from the sky.
'Birth Chart Beast?' Lu Zhou was taken aback. Based on its aura, he speculated this behemoth was at least 1,500 years old. He had searched for a long time without finding anything; he did not expect Yi Yao to find it so quickly.
Small flames appeared on Yi Yao's energy shield as he kept the lava rain at bay. Despite the lava rain raining down on the energy shield, the shield was like a solid fortress.
It was clear now that Yi Yao did not discover Lu Zhou.
However, Lu Zhou was now presented with a new problem. To keep the lava rain at bay, he would have to use his Primal Qi. He looked up in the air and used his extraordinary power instead. Before the lava rained down on him, the extraordinary had already dispelled it.
On the other side, Yi Yao looked at the Birth Chart Beast flapping its wings and said in a deep voice, "Scarlet pheasant? Not bad."
Based on the conversation between Yi Yao and Jiang Xiaosheng, Lu Zhou had no doubt the black lotus domain was monopolizing the Birth Chart Beasts in the red lotus domain with various formations. However, why did Lu Li give him the ferocious beast's Birth Chart Heart at that time? Apart from that, was the passage to the black lotus domain really located under the lava?
At this moment, the scarlet pheasant let out a shrill cry that shook the Sky Wheel Rift Valley.
Yi Yao seemed to have a variety of ways to deal with the scarlet pheasant. At this moment, he was trying to lasso the scarlet pheasant with a glowing chain. The glowing chain sailed in the air like a swimming dragon toward the scarlet pheasant.
The scarlet pheasant was not intimidated. Instead, it flapped its wings and flew toward Yi Yao.
Buzz!
Yi Yao manifested his avatar immediately.
The Five Chart Thousand Realms Whirling avatar shook the scarlet pheasant and forced it back.
Meanwhile, rocks kept rolling off the walls in the ruins of the cave.
Lu Zhou frowned slightly. His extraordinary power could only last him for a while. After thinking about it for a moment, he retreated with the Purple Glazed Ceramic in tow.
Yi Yao was still fighting the scarlet pheasant. With his cultivation base, the scarlet pheasant probably would be able to last very long.
Lu Zhou continued watching far away from the battlefield.
The glowing chain in Yi Yao's hand glowed with a black and red light after it successfully landed on the scarlet pheasant and bound it.
Clank! Clank! Clank!
The sounds of chains clanking rang in the air as the scarlet pheasant struggled and let out a shrill cry that seemed to resound in both heaven and earth.
Fortunately, Lu Zhou had obtained the power of muting from the Heavenly Writing so he could mute the scarlet pheasant's sound technique.
The black astrolabe continued to spin. On the huge astrolabe, five distinct zones lit up at this moment. The triangular patterns shone as well when the Birth Charts shone.
After looking at Yi Yao's astrolabe, Lu Zhou further confirmed that the 36 triangles formed the huge astrolabe, and each triangle represented each Birth Chart. Moreover, it was obvious from the beginning that the triangles and Birth Charts were arranged in a particular sequence.
At this moment, Lu Zhou acutely felt the importance of the piece of cloth that Lu Li gave him. If it were not for that thing, he would be flying blind. He would not be able to determine the right position to place the life heart at all.
Buzz!
A buzzing noise rang in the air when Yi Yao activated his astrolabe. The 36 triangles on the astrolabe resonated, and the distinct zones of the five Birth Charts shone brightly. In just a blink of an eye, five beams of black light shot out.
The five beams of black light merged into one before it pierced the chest of the scarlet pheasant that was tightly bound. With this, the scarlet beast was grievously injured.
Based on all the information he had gathered and what he had observed from his own avatar, Lu Zhou knew the lotus seat was called the Birth Palace. In the center of a Birth Palace, there were 36 triangles that formed a Birth Disk; this was where one would place their Birth Chart Hearts. The 36 triangles, arranged in a particular sequence, on the Birth Disk represented Birth Charts. All these would resonate before forming the astrolabe at the back of an avatar. After this process, one would be able to form the Thousand Realms Whirling avatar! When the Birth Disk resonated with the astrolabe, it would release the power of the Birth Charts.
Lu Zhou continued channeling his extraordinary power into the Purple Glazed Ceramic as he watched the scene before him. Watching Yi Yao allowed him to understand his own shortcomings.
Through reading the ancient books and listening to Li Yunzheng's explanation of Birth Charts, Lu Zhou managed to figure out the way to activate a Birth Chart. However, when it came to fighting alongside the Thousand Realms Whirling avatar or harnessing the power of the avatar, he did not have much experience so his skills were rudimentary. Therefore, his eyes had lit up earlier when he saw the energies from Yi Yao merged into one.
At this time, the commotion in the ruins of the cave was no longer as loud as before.
"Evil creature, do you still want to resist?" Yi Yao flew toward the scarlet pheasant. He raised his right hand, and a black energy sword appeared in his hand. Without wasting time, he thrust the sword into the scarlet pheasant's chest.
Blood gushed out of the wound as soon as Yi Yao's thrust the black energy sword in. The color of the blood completed the lava in the surroundings. However, the blood had only dripped half a foot in the air before it evaporated from the lava's high temperature.
The scarlet pheasant let out a final sorrowful cry before its head lolled down.
At this moment, Yi Yao pulled his black energy sword out of the scarlet pheasant's chest. However, the tip of the sword was now curved like a hook. The scarlet pheasant's life heart hung at the tip of the hook.
Yi Yao looked at the life heart with a satisfied expression as he muttered to himself, "Don't blame me for killing you. Who asked you to develop an appetite for humans first?"
Following that, Yi Yao put the life heart into his sleeve pocket and withdrew his Thousand Realms Whirling avatar. Strangely, when he turned back to look at the scarlet pheasant's corpse that was still bound in the air by his glowing chains, he continued talking to himself with a hint of smugness in his voice, "Do Birth Chart Beasts feel guilty after killing humans? No. Therefore, humans shouldn't feel guilty after killing Birth Chart Beasts either. It all boils down to one thing; one could only blame oneself for being weak, regardless if they're humans or beasts."
Clang!
Yi Yao released the glowing chain's hold on the scarlet pheasant's corpse, and it fell immediately.
Boom!
When the scarlet pheasant's corpse fell into the lava, it stirred up huge waves of lava, splashing droplets of lava everywhere.
Yi Yao manifested his Thousand Realms Whirling avatar again and used it to keep the lava at bay.
To begin with, the valley had been reduced to ruins due to Lu Zhou and Yu Chenshu's battle. With the addition of Yi Yao's fight with the scarlet pheasant, the state of the entire place worsened. It looked like it was about to collapse… again.
The entire place began to quake violently as rocks after rocks of varying sizes rolled down.
"This…" Lu Zhou was not afraid of the expert with five Birth Charts, but he felt it was unnecessary to engage with the enemy for the time being. However, he did expect the place would begin to collapse… again!
The rocks continued to fall everywhere; they made a huge splash in the lava when they fell in it.
At this moment, Lu Zhou hurriedly dodged a few falling rocks as he looked at Yi Yao.
Yi Yao did not notice Lu Zhou at all as he flew to the guiding mark. Then, he slammed his hand against the mark, causing even more rocks to fall.
Lu Zhou: "…"
Yi Yao's hand was still on the guiding mark. He pushed the mark, embedding it deeper into the stone wall.
More and more rocks continued to fall.
Yi Yao only needed to manifest his avatar to block the falling stones.
On the other hand, Lu Zhou who was trying to be stealthy could not possibly do something as ostentatious as manifesting his avatar. He could only use his movement technique and dodge left and right.
Perhaps, it was due to the huge commotion; Yi Yao still did not discover Lu Zhou.
After a while, it finally became quiet again when all the rocks seemed to have fallen down.
Yi Yao inspected the place where the guiding mark used to be before he nodded in satisfaction. Then, he turned and flew off into the distance.
Lu Zhou was confused. Was Yi Yao planning to stay in the red lotus domain or was the passage to the black lotus domain not under the lava?
Now that Yi Yao had left, Lu Zhou walked out of his hiding place and flew toward the guiding mark. The patterns on the mark were much clearer now after Yi Yao pushed it deeper into the stone wall. He was rather certain it was a guiding mark.
Lu Zhou looked at the lava under his feet and muttered to himself, "So is the entrance under the lava?"
As soon as Lu Zhou's voice fell, a calm voice that was tinged with slight confusion rang from the darkness.
"You… Who are you?"
Lu Zhou turned to look in the direction of the voice and saw Yi Yao flying back in with a smile on his face and killing intent flashing in the depths of his eyes.