Chapter 564: Red Emperor
The Martial Saint and the Demon Saint both attacked Long Chen, a Ninth Heavenly Passage Stage cultivator, at the same time.
“You idiots.” Long Chen laughed and turned into a ray of blood-colored light. Whoosh! He disappeared. Everyone thought he was running away, but to their surprise, he was heading towards the bronze door.
By the time they realized it, he became visible for a moment and then plunged into the flames. There were some ripples in the flames, then they swallowed him whole.
“He entered the Divine Fire Realm!” The crowd gasped and quickly ran after him. Before they arrived, he had completely vanished.
“Don’t move! If six people enter, the whole Divine Fire Realm will collapse! Then the Martial Emperor and the rest will die,” said the Martial Saint from the Martial Alliance, hurriedly stopping everyone.
“How humiliating that the brat managed to get in! That brat is cunning. He probably planned to enter all along. That’s why he was standing there so calmly!”
“We were tricked!”
“He’s so young, but so cunning.”
“The Demon Emperor can easily kill him off inside. Why are you so worried? I’m sure that he won’t be able to leave. There are four Third Earthly Martial Stage masters in there. A puny Long Chen is nothing!” Everyone cursed furiously.
Then the door creaked again and slowly closed. Startled, everyone backed away. After they retreated, the fireball slowly engulfed the whole door and the “Divine Fire Realm” sign, turning into just a gigantic ball of fire floating in front of them. It spun, then it slowly sank into the mud. It disappeared just like that.
Everything returned to normal. They all looked at each other in shock.
“Even the door disappeared! Nothing is left! How will the Demon Emperor and the others get out?” one of the Demon Saints cried in panic.
“Don’t worry. Since someone designed the test to be like that, then there must be a way to get out. I’m sure he’ll get the Red Emperor Seal!” said the other Demon Saint with determination.
“In that case, let’s return to the Ancient Demon Domain.” After the two Demon Saints made their decision, they left with the injured and unconscious Jiang Wushang. The Martial Alliance members looked at each other and said, “Let’s go to Cloud Heaven City to set up camp, then report what happened to the Martial Overlord. We’ll let him decide!”
“Yes, Sir!”
***
Long Chen appeared in front of the others who had entered.
The moment he did, Long Yue pulled him behind her, watching the two emperors cautiously. They had already agreed on sending in four people, but now that Long Yue had an extra person with her, they would not let it rest.
As expected, Yang Ningfeng said, “We have four factions here, so only four may fight for the Red Emperor Seal. Now that there’s one more person, I think the only way to make it fair is to kill him.”
The Demon Emperor said, “Long Yue, will you do it? Or should we? Don’t anger everyone just because of one puny Ninth Passage Stage kid!”
Long Yue looked at them coldly and smiled. “If you want to kill him, it’s simple. You can do it over my dead body. The problem is, will you be able to do it?”
Seeing that the situation was getting tense, Huangfu Fengchen maintained his smile and said, “Don’t make jokes like that! Long Chen is my darling daughter’s big brother! And he is now my nephew. In the future, he might even become my son-in-law! How could I allow you to kill him on a whim?”
Long Chen was stunned.
He stared at Huangfu Fengchen in shock. To be honest, he had never seen a father behaving like that. Huangfu Qi was only ten—why was he already looking for a son-in-law? He was a strange man indeed.
After some thought, Long Chen realized that Huangfu Fengchen was just trying to protect him, and it was just a joke.
This meant that Huangfu Fengchen and Long Chen were on the same side. As a result, he was also on the same team as Long Yue.
The Demon and Martial Emperors were naturally on the same team.
With two versus two, it was even. As for Long Chen, if there was truly a battle, he could not do much and would basically just be a burden.
The two emperors locked eyes, reading the situation well. If they wanted to kill Long Chen, it would ignite a battle between the four of them. That would not be worth it.
The entrance was completely shut now. The whole space trembled, and flames lit up five spots on the wall in front of them. The flames grew larger until they turned into five passageways. Every inch of each passage was also covered in fire, except for the ground.
A spark flew out of the passage and formed several words.
“One person per tunnel, or die.”
The instructions did not state who would die, but if they disobeyed, they would not meet a good end. The four of them were used to being mighty leaders in the Divine Martial Empire, but they were forced to lay low and be obedient in the Divine Fire Realm.
Both Long Yue and Huangfu Fengchen were worried about Long Chen because this meant they would not be able to take care of him. He was actually a burden for them.
“Big Sister and … Patriarch Huangfu, you two don’t have to worry about me. I’ll be fine,” said Long Chen, trying to comfort them.
He was not very confident either, but he had many divine techniques on top of his combat techniques. He even had Little Cat with him, who was a very knowledgeable fellow. He would surely be able to stay alive. Maybe he would even be able to get the Red Emperor Seal.
Huangfu Fengchen and Long Yue locked eyes, seeing concern in each other’s faces.
“I personally would not have recommended you to come in here, but since you’re already here, there’s nothing I can say. Good luck, kid,” said Huangfu Fengchen in a rare moment of seriousness.
“He’s right. I won’t be able to help you either,” Long Yue said sadly.
The two emperors glanced at them with schadenfreude, then they each entered a passage. Every passage looked the same, so there was nothing to fight over.
“Don’t worry. Perhaps I will be the one who gets the Red Emperor Seal in the end.” Long Chen stood up with great confidence. He waved at them, then he entered one of the tunnels.
“This teenager is bold,” Huangfu Fengchen commented.
“Like you, no?” said Long Yue. Then she entered one of the tunnels, leaving the last one for Huangfu Fengchen.
***
Other than the dried soil on the ground, fire covered everything. If Long Chen had not injected the Golden Crow’s soul remnants into his nine meridians, the heat here would have barbecued him alive.
The deeper he went, the higher the temperatures.
“Only five could enter, and after that happened, five tunnels appeared. It’s like everything was pre-arranged. Why? Is there someone above controlling us?” asked Long Chen.
“You’re right. Someone controls the Divine Fire Realm, though that person has long died. I don’t have much power now, so I can’t really sense his presence,” said Fat Cat.
“What do you mean?”
“The remnants of his soul control the Divine Fire Realm. When a Martial Realm cultivator cultivates, he is actually growing his Martial Soul. An Earthy Martial Realm cultivator has to empower his Earthly Martial Soul to progress, and he has to do the same with the Heavenly Martial Soul at the Heavenly Martial Realm and the Divine Martial Soul at the Divine Martial Realm. Both the Earthly Martial Soul and the Heavenly Martial Soul exist independently from a person’s own soul, which is also known as the Divine Soul. However, when one reaches the Divine Martial Realm, the Martial Soul and the Divine Soul merge together. As long as the Martial Soul isn’t destroyed, the Divine Soul will exist forever.
“The Martial Soul is power, while the Divine Soul is sentience. Even though the body has died, the souls may still remain under the right circumstances. I’m guessing that a Divine Martial Soul left behind by a cultivator who was at the Divine Martial Realm controls the Divine Fire Realm. Of course, it’s likely only a small portion of the original Divine Martial Soul.”
Long Chen only half-understood what Little Cat had said.
He did not know enough about what cultivation at the Martial Realm entailed.
However, he understood the part about the Divine Martial Realm master, and he replied in shock, “Divine Martial Realm? Above the Earthly Martial Realm is the Heavenly Martial Realm, and both have nine stages, making a total of eighteen stages. The most powerful cultivators in the whole Ten Thousand Nations Territory are only at the Heavenly Martial Realm, so where did this Divine Martial Realm person come from?”
“He isn’t from the current times. There were Divine Martial Realm cultivators in the Ten Thousand Nations Territory in the Middle Ages. I don’t really know who they were though. Since you guys are looking for the Red Emperor Seal, perhaps this is the Red Emperor,” said Little Cat.
“Red Emperor? Divine Martial Realm? Five Emperors?” Long Chen made a mental note.
He knew that the Divine Martial Realm was his goal. If he reached it, he would have the right to marry Ling Xi. But how long would it take to get there?
He bit his lip. He had a feeling that he would have an extraordinary opportunity in the Divine Fire Realm, and it would be up to him to take full advantage of it.
He felt a little helpless.
Being looked down upon by his beloved’s family—that was the worst form of humiliation to a man. If he did not fight hard, he would have to carry this shame for the rest of his life.
He was unwilling to surrender.
That was why he strode forward without fear.
That was why he was willing to put himself in danger to enter the Divine Fire Realm.
If he did not enter, how could he marry Ling Xi?
Long Chen did not know how long he had been walking, but he nearly started sprinting when he saw light at the end of the tunnel. When he rushed out of the tunnel, he found himself in a cave similar to the one before. There were no flames around here, and there was another exit that led to an identical tunnel.
But getting there would not be easy.
A total of ten little flames burned not far from his feet. The moment he arrived, the flames suddenly rose up into the air!