Knock knock…
A series of knocks were heard on the door.
"Master."
Lan Yu's voice was heard from the outside.
Chu Kuangren got up and opened his room door to see Lan Yu waiting outside. The moment he saw her, the Tome of Physiques inside him suddenly elicited a reaction.
In Chu Kuangren's field of vision, Lan Yu suddenly had streaks of bright lights circulating around her body. Moreover, those lights seemed to contain boundless mystique.
That mystique shockingly gave Chu Kuangren a sense of feeling that it could be apprehended.
It seemed that he was now able to gain insight from a Daoist Physique's mystique!
That was the ability that the Tome of Physiques granted him. Each one of those people with special physiques was now researchable subjects for him.
With a flicker of his mind, the strange phenomenon in Chu Kuangren's field of vision disappeared.
"Master, what's wrong?"
Lan Yu looked a little puzzled.
She noticed Chu Kuangren staring at her and seemed stunned for a moment.
"Nothing."
"Master, I'm going to make a trip to the ancestral lands with the Religion Leader, to meet with that Chief Sovereign who has just woken up. The Holy Light Religion's ancestral land is off-limits to any outsiders, so I'm afraid that you'll have to stay behind and wait here," Lan Yu explained apologetically.
Chu Kuangren replied with a gentle smile, "No worries. You go ahead."
"Rest assured, Maiden Sage. We, the Holy Light Religion, would never leave our guests unattended. Today, I'll be making Brother Chu company here."
Holy Light Religion's Third Elder commented.
"Much appreciated, Third Elder."
After that, Lan Yu proceeded to head to the ancestral land.
Meanwhile, the Third Elder smiled at Chu Kuangren and said, "Brother Chu, why don't I take you around the city?"
"Sure, thank you."
"No problem."
…
The ancestral lands were the places where each great orthodoxies' Sovereigns reside.
Due to the Emperor Road's restrictions, or to prolong their life, each great orthodoxy's Sovereign older than nine thousand years old would rest in this place.
The Holy Ancestral Land was a bright place.
White jades were built into its roads, where divine fires burned brightly at every corner. Numerous glorious palaces were everywhere, and each one of those palaces emanated extremely strong energy.
The instant Lan Yu stepped foot inside the ancestral land, she could immediately feel that the energy of this place was completely distinct from the outside world. It was as if this whole place had been barricaded from the rest of the world the entire time.
This ancestral land was a secret realm created by men.
Here, nobody would be restricted by the Emperor Road Laws.
The Holy Light Religion Leader brought Lan Yu to a palace, where they met with a gray-haired old man.
This old man expressed a friendly smile when he saw Lan Yu. "You must be the Lan Yu that everybody has been telling me about, the host of the Holy Radiant Physique."
"Pleased to meet you, Sovereign. My name is Lan Yu."
"Young lady, there's no need to be overly courteous here. I've requested to see you today, mainly to witness to what extent you have cultivated your Holy Divine Fire Art to."
"I've already cultivated it to the seventh level, but I haven't been able to achieve a breakthrough to the eighth," Lan Yu said hesitantly.
The Holy Divine Fire Art had a total of nine levels.
Every scale of a level would make the Holy Divine Fire's power stronger. In just a few months, Lan Yu had been able to cultivate it to the seventh level. With this feat alone, she had already broken the record as the fastest in all of Holy Light Religion's history.
In fact, their Bachelor Sage Bai Tianxing took several decades to cultivate but could only just reach the eighth level.
Besides, if Lan Yu were to duel with Bai Tianxing, Lan Yu would most probably be the victor.
However, the level at which the skill was cultivated did not represent everything. Multiple other factors also had to be taken into account, like cultivation realm, combat experiences, et cetera. Moreover, Lan Yu owned the Holy Radiant Physique, which could massively boost the Holy Divine Fire Art.
"Today, I'm here to help you break into the eighth level."
Whitelock Holy Sovereign said with a smile before proceeding to slam his hand onto the floor. A white jade pagoda was constructed, and a white altar that had numerous lavish patterns carved on its surface slowly rose into the air.
Atop the altar was a white flame suspended in midair.
"Come, stand on top of this altar. One of my Holy Divine Fires is up there, and I want you to gain insight from it. I believe it would be of great help to you."
Lan Yu gently nodded, and without doubting him even one bit, she walked up to the altar.
She reached a hand out into the Holy Divine Fire, and the flames swiftly spread onto her whole body. Astonishingly, the flames turned into pieces of white chains!
"Holy Light Chain!" Lan Yu's expression abruptly changed. "Religion Leader, Holy Sovereign, what's the meaning of this?!"
The Holy Light Chain was one of the moves listed in the Holy Divine Fire Art. It was a move specially used on heretics.
Yet now, the Holy Sovereign had used this against her, a Maiden Sage.
"Holy Light Maiden Sage, you would soon understand why I did this."
Whitelock Holy Sovereign kept that warm smile on his face, but at this point in time, that smile was extremely cold and evil to Lan Yu.
She mustered her spiritual power and attempted to break the chain. However, this Holy Light Chain had been set by the Holy Sovereign. With her current cultivation realm, there was little that she could do.
"Don't waste your energy on this. This Holy Light Chain has been infused with my Emperor qi. Not more than a handful of people in this world can break it."
Whitelock Holy Sovereign laughed. He gently stomped his feet on the ground, and a rumble trembled through the entire palace, raising another altar into the air once again.
Meanwhile, a person walked into the palace from outside.
It was Bai Tianxing.
"Bachelor Sage, get up there." Their Religion Leader smiled and said.
"Yes."
Bai Tianxing looked rather ecstatic.
He had waited for this day for too long.
"What the hell are you guys trying to do?" Lan Yu interrogated.
"Just passing some fire."
Whitelock Holy Sovereign lifted his arm and slammed his spiritual power into the two altars.
In the blink of an eye, the lights on the altars amplified, and mysterious runes started to flow on them. A mystical energy wave appeared in the void.
Soon after, Lan Yu and Bai Tianxing, who were on the altars, found themselves releasing a giant white flame from their bodies against their control.
That was the Holy Divine Fires that they both cultivated!
At this moment, the Holy Divine Fire on Lan Yu started to gush toward Bai Tianxing's direction, and it slowly darkened.
"My Holy Divine Fire is losing its energy!"
Lan Yu's expression turned grim. "So this is the Flame Ritual that you guys talked about. I've never heard of anything like this before."
"That's because we have never told you about it. The Holy Divine Fire Art has a unique function, wherein cultivators of the divine fire would be able to interchange their respective fires." Holy Light Religion Leader smiled as he explained.
"This has been your plan all along. You guys made me your Maiden Sage and got me into cultivating the Holy Divine Fire Art, all for the purpose of transferring the divine fire that I've cultivated to Bai Tianxing. Thus, increasing his strength!" Lan Yu scoffed coldly.
"That's just one of our aims. The thing that we look forward to most is that Holy Radiant Physique of yours. Through this Flame Ritual, we not only can pass your divine fire to the Bachelor Sage, but we can also transfer the Holy Radiant Physique's source into the Bachelor Sage's body as well!"
"From here on, the Bachelor Sage would have the Holy Radiant Physique too!"
The Holy Light Religion Leader said mercilessly.
He would never have allowed some random outsider sky-pride to become their Maiden Sage otherwise. Everything that he had done to this date was all for Bai Tianxing's benefit.
"The Holy Divine Fire could be interchanged, so how could you be so certain that the one who would lose out on this deal would be me instead of Bai Tianxing?"
"Heh, you have such an imagination. The Holy Divine Fire Art that I've given you is incomplete, which is the reason why you can only cultivate it to the seventh level. Meanwhile, the one that the Bachelor Sage cultivates is the complete version of the Holy Divine Fire Art, and he is already at the eighth level. As long as he desires, your divine fire will be bent to his will and absorbed into his body."
"I see."
Reality finally dawned on Lan Yu.
Just then, Bai Tianxing, who was on the other altar, looked at Lan Yu and told her, "Lan Yu, don't you worry. Even though I've siphoned your divine fire and Daoist Physique Source, I still love you with all my heart. As long as you promise to leave Chu Kuangren, I can promise you that you'll remain as the Holy Light Religion's Maiden Sage…"
"Shut up!" Suddenly, Lan Yu jeered. She stared at Bai Tianxing coldly in the eyes. "Your words are making me disgusted!"
"Lan Yu, you…"
Bai Tianxing's expression became solemn. "In that case, don't blame me."
He ignited the Holy Divine Fire Art inside his body in an attempt to siphon Lan Yu's divine fire as fast as possible. However, as soon as he activated his technique, his expression changed drastically.