Chapter 884 - Day of Apocalypse
After chasing into the depths of the palace, Ye Qingyu casually flicked a hand.
A chill began to diffuse while the smoke and dust in the air instantly dissipated.
Visibly, the throne of the Divine Dragon master had completely collapsed, and an enormous and unfathomable pit had opened up in its place.
Despite being no more than ten meters wide, the pit seemed to be several dozen kilometers deep. A tumbling, earsplitting noise could be heard from below, sounding like the roars of evil demons in the Ninth Hell. Billows of black smoke spewed from the depths, containing a horrid scorching power.
The true life core of the new sect master had fled right into this bottomless pit of thick black smoke.
After transforming into flowing light, Ye Qingyu leapt into the pit to give chase.
Like a chilly beam of lightning, he cut through the scorching smoke as he dove down at extreme speed, instantly pulverizing all impediments. In a twinkling, he had already traveled ten kilometers down, where an orange light was flickering and the temperature was scorching to an indescribable limit.
Am I already at the bottom?
He paused for a moment.
Just then...
Boom!
An extremely scorching beam of orange light shot directly at him.
"[Human King Sword]!"
Sword qi arose in accordance with his thoughts.
As a beam of flowing light burst forth, a boundless sword will instantly annihilated the beam of orange light.
Ye Qingyu paused his advance, while purple lightning flickered in his eyes which had a perfect view of everything around.
The bottom of the abyss was akin to the interior space of a volcano. Nevertheless, it was incomparably vast, with a circumference of several kilometers. Boiling lava tumbled frenziedly and boundlessly, resembling a raging ocean in a storm. The terrifying temperature was enough to incinerate a Heaven Ascension realm pinnacle expert at once. In extremely bizarre fashion, the entire space had been dyed in a ghastly orange-red color and was warped like melted transparent glass.
After reaching this place, the true life core of the new sect master disappeared without a trace.
Not even the slightest bit of aura was left behind.
With the silver-colored Human King Sword Will looming around him, Ye Qingyu stood in the Void, completely unaffected by the environment. Lightning formed in his eyes once again as the mystery of the [Eyes of the Void] burst forth. Sweeping his divine-like eyes across, he took in everything within several hundred kilometrers.
"Huh? That's..."
With extreme shock, he discovered that something seemed to be concealed in the depths of the surging lava below.
Upon careful examination, he realized that it was a huge figure, which stretched several hundred kilometers, that was hiding in silence. It resembled an underground winding range of lofty mountains, vaguely possessing a life aura of its own. Although Ye Qingyu was unable to see clearly what it was through the several kilometers of orange-colored top-grade flaming slurs, he sensed an inimitable visual impact at just one glance. This caused even an expert like him to shudder out of fear.
What exactly is it?
Alarmed, he was about to take a second look when an unusual change occurred.
A huge flaming lava palm silently appeared behind his head and, like the legendary giant spirit's Hand of Destruction, mercilessly smashed toward him. Strange and terrifying flame formations circulated on it, locking the Void all around him.
"[Human King Sword Mantra]... [Sword Storm]."
Without moving, he conjured a thought. Countless streaks of silver-colored sword will shot out and bombarded the giant spirit's flaming palm, which became ice-sealed by the surging chill. Subsequently, the palm broke off inch by inch, turning into pieces of ice crystal which fell into the sea of flaming lava below, and disappeared with only a puffing sound of vaporization.
Yet, at the same time, huge waves manifested on the sea of flaming lava.
Several hundred meters tall, they lashed brazenly toward Ye Qingyu.
Murderous spirit abruptly emerged all around the space.
"Haha, I knew you couldn't keep hiding. Demon, show yourself!"
Guffawing, Ye Qingyu forcefully turned around and employed the [Eyes of the Void] to the maximum level. The lightning beams in his eyes became like supreme divine swords, giving off a divine meaning which smashed downward and shattered the huge waves on the orange sea of flaming lava. A giant composed of flaming lava, several kilometers tall, could thereafter be seen hiding beneath the huge waves, from where it was whipping them up.
Its aura was unmistakably that of the true life core of the new sect master.
This flaming lava giant turned out to be the true form of the new sect master.
"Could he actually be a flaming spirit?" Ye Qingyu was a little surprised.
Nevertheless, he acted without hesitation. Bending five fingers, his yuan qi surged forth, causing the sword meaning of the [Human King Sword Mantra] to reappear. Countless white streaks of sword will circulated like ice chains upon bursting out from his fingers, and as they frantically dove downward, they instantly froze the ocean of flaming lava within an area of several hundred meters and bound the flaming giant within.
The might of a Saint was that great.
The flaming giant roared angrily while struggling.
He had fled here with the intention of making use of the geographical advantages and invoking the power of the entire ocean of flaming lava to deal with Ye Qingyu. Never did he imagine that he would remain far inferior to the latter while hiding and launching surprise attacks, and would so quickly be shackled by chains of sword will.
The latter's power made him feel a sense of despair and terror.
"I don't believe it, this is impossible..." The new sect master bellowed as his giant body writhed and struggled frantically while the orange-yellow flames within him gave off a fierce and dazzling radiance. However, he was unable to get free of the entwining chains of sword will and cold light.
"He isn't a flaming spirit, for he's unable to truly invoke the power of the lava ocean..."
Ye Qingyu quickly discovered an irregularity.
If the new sect master truly gained Dao from the underground lava, then he was probably a flaming spirit, who should be capable of manipulating all of the power of this stretch of underground fire lava. As this power was the true power of the land, even a portion of it would be very terrifying. Therefore, if he was indeed a flaming spirit, Ye Qingyu's [Human King Sword Mantra] would absolutely not be able to entrap him.
Instead, he was completely unable to trigger the full power of the underground fire lava despite struggling fiercely and becoming more powerful than before. This showed that he was a fake who was way inferior to a true flaming spirit.
"Looks like I have to capture him in order to ascertain what he really is."
As Ye Qingyu operated the [Limitless Divine Way], the power of his sword will gushed forth. White icy sword will diffused throughout and seemed to freeze the entire space of underground fire in a twinkling, also causing the temperature of the surroundings to plummet. Countless streaks of silver-colored sword light shot forth from Ye Qingyu's palm and completely sealed the flaming giant within, before hauling him up from the orange lava little by little.
"Ughhh... no, you can't be this powerful, I'm not convinced." He absolutely did not expect that he would remain unable to challenge Ye Qingyu having led him here and tapped on the power of the underground fire lava.
It became evident that the strength of his opponent was a lot greater than alleged by the final estimation of Elder Ming Jue's investigation previously.
It was a miscalculation.
"Ugh..." Accompanied by an angry bellow, the body of the flaming giant was hauled up from within the orange underground fire lava. In a twinkling, its orange light vanished before it turned into black rocks, losing its spiritual energy and breaking apart. It then fell tumbling into the sea of underground fire lava below, splashing up huge waves of fire.
A beam of blood-colored flowing light flew out of the broken body of the flaming giant, wanting to escape.
It was the true life core of the new sect master.
But Ye Qingyu was already well prepared. He opened his mouth and blew out a beam of bright-yellow Immortal qi which rapidly enwrapped the beam of blood-red flowing light and sealed it within with just a gentle coil. Like the others, the beam turned into a bright-colored blood pill and spun around and around in mid-air.
Having lost its spiritual energy, the flaming giant's body disintegrated completely in mid-air and fell into the lava sea below. This body had been put together by the new sect master using some kind of technique, and now that his true life core had departed from it, it lost its support and became nothing but a dead object.
Ye Qingyu retracted his [Human King Sword Mantra].
The surrounding chill disappeared at once.
He raised a palm for the blood pill to fall into.
Like the other puppet bloodworms which he had sealed earlier, its surface was as bright as fresh blood. However, being the size of an adult human's fist, it was a lot bigger and contained many times more energy than the others, and it seemed as though a Saint was imprisoned within. By looking past the surface of blood patterns, one could vaguely see that a dark-red splendor was circulating within, resembling a wandering and struggling black snake.
"A black snake? Could he be a Black Snake Demon? But this aura is not a demonic one and is instead an evil force, which is in fact so evil that it makes me shudder. A normal snake demon cannot possibly possess such a terrifying evil qi. This is getting confusing."
He looked at the blood pill in his hand with some uncertainty.
"Young fellow human, release me immediately or the day of apocalypse will befall and rip you into pieces..." A psychic force, which was none other than the aura of the new sect master, emanated from the seal. It was akin to the evil aura of a chaotic evil beast and was as terrifying as an apocalyptic king.
"The day of apocalypse?" Ye Qingyu laughed as he sent a streak of divine consciousness across. "What big words. To think a tiny little bloodworm would dare to lie about an apocalypse."
"Junior, you clearly don't know what kind of beings you've offended. The remote ages were all destroyed by us. If you obediently let me go and willingly become my slave, you'll be granted a place of your own when the day of apocalypse arrives, otherwise..." Roaring, the psychic force of the new sect master incessantly transmitted fitful wisps of divine consciousness through the seal of the blood pill.
Frowning slightly, Ye Qingyu considered for a while and did not continue the conversation. Instead, he added another layer of Immortal qi seal to seal the blood pill completely off.
Then, he lowered his head and looked once more at the orange-colored lava sea below.
The image he had seen earlier when using the [Eyes of the Void] showed up again in his mind. Several kilometers below in the lava ocean, the winding creature which resembled a dragon or a snake appeared to be hibernating. It was extremely frightening and was absolutely not a common creature.
"Should I dive down to take a look?"
Ye Qingyu could not make up his mind.