Chapter 340: Immortal Dark Phoenix
Fu Yu and Liu Ming returned to deliver the message to Cang Lu. “Grand Supreme Elder, the brat had disappeared, we cannot find him!”
“What? he disappeared?” Cang Lu was enraged. So many Cosmic Stones were stolen from right under his nose? The little brat and the Winged Serpent must be Bi Lin’s subordinates! Cang Lu glared venomously at Bi Lin.
Cang Lu was getting frustrated. Bi Lin was clad in Tier Nine Purple Demon Armor. Even if he went all in, he could not break through Bi Lin’s defense. There was nothing he could do to her.
“Senior Cang Lu, should we stop fighting?” Bi Lin said smiling. The Purple Demon Armor on her body glowed. The armor could adapt itself according to the wearer’s body build and gender. The well-crafted, streamlined structure of the armor further enhanced Bi Lin’s physical features.
Even though Bi Lin hung a smile on her face, she was getting agitated as well. She could no longer feel the Psyche energy she had left on Ye Chen’s body. She originally thought that Ye Chen would obediently hand the Cosmic Stone over to her. She did not expect Ye Chen to somehow snap out of her control completely.
Cang Lu angrily glared at Bi Lin again, the Solid Earth Technique surrounding Bi Lin started to slowly scatter away.
“Bi Lin, this matter between the Tribunal Council and you Thunder Beast Clan isn’t over yet!” Cang Lu said threatened.
“Many thanks to Senior Cang Lu for your gracious display of mercy,” Bi Lin replied smiling. She turned into a bolt of lightning and went off in a flash.
“Grand Supreme Elder, are we just going to let the woman get away like this?” Fu Yu asked, dissatisfied with the outcome.
“What else can we do? This is pissing me off. Pay close attention to this witch Bi Lin. The brat must be meeting up with the witch again soon!” Cang Lu said gravely. If he got his hands on all those Cosmic Stones, he might even break through into Transcendent Stage. Then, he would be able to make a tremendous leap among the ranks of the Tribunal Council as well but all the Cosmic Stones were stolen by Bi Lin. She even took the Purple Demon Armor, adding insult to injury.
With a “swoosh”, Bi Lin quickly made her way to the entrance of the seventh floor of the Soul Pagoda. She swept through the place with her Psyche and did not find any signs of Ye Chen.
“He vanished around this area so he probably didn’t enter the seventh floor. Just where did he go?” Bi Lin raised her brows. She continued to scan the place with her Psyche but still found no signs of Ye Chen. Just what sort of technique was able to evade her Psyche tracking?
“To think a day would come that even I’d be outmatched.” Bi Lin smiled. “These boys are pretty good, I must admit.”
Bi Lin had never planned to kill Ye Chen and Little Wingsy. However, since the Cosmic Stones were a great asset to the Thunder Beast Clan, she was not going to let them fall into the hands of Ye Chen and Little Wingsy either. To think that after her careful half-day planning, it still landed in Ye Chen’s hands.
Ye Chen stayed inside the Heavenly Astra Seal. He glanced at the Master Lion. “Master Lion, what’s the situation out there?”
“That sexy little girl is still looking for you. She’s probably losing her patience by now. As for the other two men from the Tribunal Council, they seem to think that you’re going to meet up with the sexy little girl. They are monitoring her from a distance. It also looks like they are getting ready to enter the seventh floor,” Master Lion said, smiling. He had completely erased Ye Chen and Little Wingsy’s energy so Bi Lin could not track inside the Heavenly Astra Seal.
Ye Chen peeked inside his armguard space. There were close to five hundred Cosmic Stones. Even the presence of a single strand of these Cosmic Stones would shock the world.
“Master Lion, this is for you!” Ye Chen motioned with his right hand and two hundred Cosmic Stones scrambled in the air as he tossed them to the Master Lion.
Master Lion reached out with his front paw but the Cosmic Stones landed on the ground in front of him. He glanced at Ye Chen, a strange glow appeared in his eyes but he did not say much.
“Little Brat Ye Chen, since you got so many Cosmic Stones, you better start cultivating now since you can’t go anywhere now anyway. There’s going to be more fighters coming this way. You’re going to be in trouble if there are Transcendent Stage fighters!” Master Lion said.
“Master Lion, why don’t you exit the Heavenly Astra Seal? For your capabilities, if you exited the Heavenly Astra Seal, you could claim nearly all the treasures in the Soul Pagoda!” Ye Chen asked. He could use the Celestial Chi Flying Dagger to break the Heavenly Astra Seal to set Master Lion free!
“Little Brat Ye Chen, it’s a long story. I want to go out there too, but at this point, I don’t even know if it’d be a blessing or a curse for me to head out there. Following the calamity from ages past, most of the fighters have gone to Tianyuan Ancient City. As for the ones who remained, they have either long perished or refined themselves into spirit arcana. The Tianyuan Ancient City must be behind all of the sudden changes in the Soul Pagoda. I worry there’s going to be some sort of unprecedented disaster if I head out there.
“This is a very difficult decision for me to make. After being sealed in the Heavenly Astra Seal for so long, I want to go out but at the same time, I don’t dare to go out there.”
Ye Chen nodded after he heard Master Lion’s words. It appeared that even Master Lion had second thoughts about leaving the Heavenly Astra Seal. He wondered what sort of place Tianyuan Ancient City was. It was not a place he could reach as he was now.
Ye Chen must continue cultivating himself and become stronger!
Ye Chen stuffed roughly twenty Cosmic Stones into the Soul Pearl for Little Wingsy.
Ye Chen picked a Cosmic Stone and began to absorb the Cosmic Power within the Cosmic Stone. A majestic, condensed energy entered his body.
The energy within the Cosmic Stone was truly wondrous. Previously, Ye Chen had advanced from top Heavenly Venerable Rank to beginner Mystique Venerable Rank from absorbing a Cosmic Stone. With this second Cosmic Stone, he felt another significant increase in his cultivation base again.
Apart from a breakthrough in his cultivation base, he also felt an apparent transformation of the Celestial Martial Chi inside him.
The Celestial Martial Chi had continuously consolidated dazzling rays of red, blue, and purple light where they shot out from his palms.
A good eight-tenth of the Cosmic Power within the Cosmic Stone was absorbed into the Celestial Martial Chi!
As time went on, even Emperor Ming’s Belt that was strapped on Ye Chen’s waist began to glow faintly. Eight projections of mystical beasts appeared around the belt and began dancing around it. There were all kinds of mystical beasts including a bird, a fish, and a snake. Their figures were vivid and extremely life-like.
Ye Chen was surrounded by a trace of mysterious energy.
Master Lion looked thoughtfully at the mystical beast projections dancing around Ye Chen.
“Little Brat Ye Chen, there are eight Arcane Beasts sealed within Great Emperor Ming’s Belt. If you can release any one of them, the Arcane Beast will be yours to command!” Master Lion’s voice echoed in Ye Chen’s mind.
Ye Chen was mildly surprised that there were even Arcane Beasts sealed within Great Emperor Ming’s Belt.
Ye Chen could vividly hear runic incantations in his mind. Could those be the technique for summoning the Arcane Beasts?
Ye Chen belted out, “Come out!”
The Celestial Chi in Ye Chen’s body erupted into the skies following a loud blast. A gigantic bird surrounded in black flames appeared above Ye Chen’s head. The majestic flame bird was more than three meters tall and its body was enveloped in a cloud of black-colored flames. When it sang, it was as if the heavens trembled. The flame bird unleashed a giant wave of energy as it spun and danced in the sky as if it was about to erupt into the skies any moment.
“This is the Immortal Dark Phoenix. It’s said that the strength of the Immortal Dark Phoenix is limitless and it’s an incarnation of immortality. This Immortal Dark Phoenix is conjured from a feather sealed in Emperor Ming’s Belt. It’s already considerably powerful. Since your cultivation base is still too low, its current level is only around beginner Daemon King Rank. As you raise your cultivation base, it’ll continue to become stronger as well,” Master Lion explained, looking at the gigantic flame bird.
“Immortal Dark Phoenix? Does Master Lion mean that this flame bird was conjured from a mere strand of a feather?” Ye Chen asked in an astonished tone. If a mere feather possessed this much strength, how powerful was the actual body of the Immortal Dark Phoenix?
“Of course, the Immortal Dark Phoenix Clan is an existence that is superior to my Purple-fire Astra Lion Clan. They are ancient Arcane Beasts. In terms of strength, even the strongest among my Purple-fire Astra Lion Clan is nothing more than an ant compared to them! Just a strand of the feather is powerful enough,” Master Lion said “the Immortal Dark Phoenix Clan had vanished for hundreds of thousands of years. It’s very difficult just to locate a single strand of their feather.”
Ye Chen inspected the flame bird. The Immortal Dark Phoenix before him was conjured from just a mere strand of a feather. Despite that, its appearance was incredibly majestic as it exuded an ancient aura. He could only imagine what kind of powerful presence a real Immortal Dark Phoenix would have.
An Immortal Dark Phoenix conjured from a feather already possessed Daemon King Level power!
Ye Chen felt the energy radiating from the Immortal Dark Phoenix. He turned to Master Lion. “Master Lion mentioned that there were eight Arcane Beasts sealed within Great Emperor Ming’s Belt. That makes the Immortal Dark Phoenix only one of them. How can I release the other seven Arcane Beasts?”
Master Lion shook his head. “You’re still too weak. You could only barely invoke the belt and are only capable of releasing one of them.”
Ye Chen nodded. It was already a pleasant surprise that he was able to release such a powerful Arcane Beast. He was getting ahead of himself. For now, it was more important that he focused on getting stronger.
Apart from the Immortal Dark Phoenix, the Heaven Rumbling Cauldron was also circling in the skies above. Following Ye Chen’s training, he could feel the bond between himself and the Heaven Rumbling Cauldron steadily grow as they shared a faint spiritual connection. He also felt his cultivation base was improving rapidly. There was suddenly a flash in his mind as the Heaven Rumbling Cauldron became engulfed in pillars of flame.
As time passed, Ye Chen slowly entered a state of trance. As he continued to channel the Nine Astras within his dantian, he felt himself being in a vast, almost ethereal space.
The Heaven Rumbling Cauldron suddenly vanished as Ye Chen was channeling the Nine Astras. After a moment, it appeared again in the space within Ye Chen’s dantian, the flaming tongue of the Heaven Rumbling Cauldron burning the Nine Astras. Under the tempering of the Heaven Rumbling Cauldron, the Nine Astras started becoming purer, becoming nine crystal clear orbs.
Waves of mysterious energy surrounded Ye Chen’s vicinity. He sat in the middle of the formation, like a statue of Golden Buddha in a temple.