Chapter 1757
Chapter 1757 (Raw 1769): Searching the Treasure City
As Xiao Chen entered closed-door cultivation, receiving the inheritance of the Faux God Flame, Huangpu Qi appeared aboveground in the Dragon Flame Ancient Land in a sorry state.
He counted the Snow Sword Palace disciples that managed to escape the city. He soon finished his count, and his complexion turned extremely pale.
Out of one hundred Snow Sword Palace disciples, only twenty-odd remained. The rest had died, mostly in the final burst of dragon flames.
Only one-fifth remained, and they had no Faux God Flame or Azure Dragon Totem to show for it.
This was truly a huge failure.
When Huangpu Qi returned to the Snow Sword Palace, he could expect to be punished by the sect Elders.
Huangpu Qi had brought harm to the team, resulting in many deaths and injuries.
"Brother Huangpu."
Just at this moment, a weakened Senior Ma, covered in injuries, led Xiahou Feng, Leng Feng, and the others over.
Senior Ma had lost more than half of his team fighting the many black Flame Demons.
After the second dragon flame eruption, even more died. Now, only ten-odd people remained.
Nearly the whole team wiped out.
Soon, Senior Liu's team arrived at this place. His members' expressions were even graver.
Senior Liu's team was the weakest—only a handful managed to flee the dragon city.
"Senior Ma, this Xiao Chen is someone from your team. Where did he come from?"
Huangpu Qi's expression appeared very sullen. As he looked at Senior Ma, there clearly was a trace of dissatisfaction.
Right now, Huangpu Qi was in an extremely bad mood. He wished that he could kill anyone connected to Xiao Chen.
"He is from the Grave Sea. However, I'm not sure which sect he came from. He just joined the team not long ago, so I don't really know much about him," Senior Ma explained hurriedly when he saw Huangpu Qi's expression.
This matter caused too huge a commotion. So many people from the Rank 5 Snow Sword Palace died. They would definitely not leave this matter be.
Right now, if there was any connection to Xiao Chen, even an accidental one, the consequences would be unimaginable.
Leng Feng said, "This matter cannot be blamed on us. If we discover him, both Senior Ma and I will not let him off, either."
"That's right. I will absolutely not let that fellow off. Unless he never returns to Dragon Flame City," Senior Liu said coldly with a sinister expression as a murderous intent flashed in his eyes.
Huangpu Qi said hatefully, "Damn it! The ancient transportation formation of Dragon Flame City activated after one hundred years. The ten great sects of the Soaring Dragon Marquisate all sent people. My Snow Sword Palace has completely embarrassed itself. I will make sure that fellow wishes for death when I'm through with him."
When Senior Ma and Senior Liu heard that, their hearts sank.
The Soaring Dragon Marquisate was the Soaring Dragon Marquis's conferred land in the Central Great Realm's Yanwu Dynasty.
When a dynasty lasted for ten thousand years without dying out, its Luck flourished. Those who were conferred shared the Luck of the dynasty.
From the moment a dynasty was established, it started accumulating Luck. Now, the four great dynasties had already accumulated Luck for hundreds of thousands of years.
Right now, each of these dynasties had enormous influence over the entire Great Thousand Realms.
The aristocrats of the dynasties could use the Luck of the dynasty. The sects that were permitted to establish themselves in the aristocrats' conferred land could also use the Luck of these aristocrats.
Compared to the Rank 5 sects established in other places, the Rank 5 sects in the dynasties were much stronger, in both accumulations and strength.
According to Huangpu Qi, the ten Rank 5 sects of the Soaring Dragon Marquisate had all sent people over.
It would be strange if Senior Ma and Senior Liu were not startled.
"Go and investigate. We have to figure out Xiao Chen's information. At the same time, spread the word that he obtained the Faux God Flame and the ancient Dragon Race totem."
Huangpu Qi's eyes blazed with murderous intent; the rage in his heart could not be extinguished. He placed all responsibility for his own carelessness on Xiao Chen.
In reality, when one went out on experiential training, death and injuries were practically inevitable.
The deaths of the Snow Sword Palace disciples had nothing to do with Xiao Chen at all. With such narrow-mindedness, Huangpu Qi was clearly a petty person.
With so many dead and injured, Huangpu Qi and the others had to crush their talisman bamboo strips to return to the city and recuperate.
This concluded their experiential training in the depths of the Dragon Flame Ancient Land.
--
In the underground dragon city, Xiao Chen revealed an expression of joy at forming the will of soul. This was truly a pleasant surprise.
Unexpectedly, the Soul Energy inheritance of the Faux God Flame helped him directly form the will of soul that he dreamed of.
Xiao Chen thought about how he always ended up in a sorry state whenever he faced the will of soul of those Star Venerates.
The will of soul's power was simply too terrifying.
Now, he gained direct access to the power of the world. Against cultivators without the will of soul, he would have a decisive edge.
Many times, even though Xiao Chen had the upper hand against Star Venerates, he had not dared to clash head-on, mostly because he lacked the will of soul.
Vital Qi, Veritable Essence Energy, and Soul Energy—the inheritance of these three energies from the Faux God Flame ended.
However, that flame mark that already faded on Xiao Chen's forehead had not vanished yet. There was still a faint trace.
The inheritance was yet over.
Xiao Chen was startled to discover a spot of golden flame in his sea of consciousness.
"Whoosh!"
The spark lit up the entire sea of consciousness, gold and glittering, appearing vast and boundless.
Divine Might!
A quick thought occurred to Xiao Chen. He was very familiar with this light. He had seen it back when that black-armored cultivator used the energy of the Faux God Flame multiple times to send out Divine Might to knock Huangpu Qi, Senior Ma, and the other Star Venerates into the air.
This spot of golden flame slowly grew, eventually turning into a strand of spiraling flame lingering in his sea of consciousness.
At this moment, the flame mark on his forehead vanished.
The inheritance of the Faux God Flame had ended.
That final strand of Divine Might was the most valuable treasure given to Xiao Chen. However, he did not know how many times he could use it.
"No wonder those people wanted to obtain the Faux God Flame, to the point of fighting to the death."
Xiao Chen could not help sighing when he sensed the growth of his cultivation, Vital Qi, and the newly formed will of soul.
This was truly like a dream. The feeling that the Faux God Flame gave him was simply too miraculous.
That final strand of Divine Might would benefit Xiao Chen for life. It would be of great help when he tried to break through to the Faux God Realm and condense the Divine Flame.
Aside from that, the memories from the Faux God Flame represented a treasure trove of experience and knowledge.
The benefit of this was not obvious right now, but it would be of extremely great help to Xiao Chen.
Looking around, Xiao Chen saw that the dragon city had turned into rubble.
The dragon city no longer looked ancient and majestic as it initially had. Now, it was quite sad and dilapidated. After the conflagration, everything had burned to nothing.
The Azure Dragon Race, its exquisite architecture, the courtyards that once existed, all of that vanished into history.
Xiao Chen did not know if he would have another opportunity to see an ancient Azure Dragon Race city.
His current emotions were indescribably complicated.
Xiao Chen was the last inheritor of the Azure Dragon Race, someone who was determined to revive the Azure Dragon bloodline. When looking at this ancient dragon city reduced to rubble, he felt sadder and more sentimental than regular people.
He gazed at the Dragon Race plaza.
The black Flame Demons formed by the Life Bestowal Spell had turned back into their original form, and most of the sculptures had cracked and shattered.
These Blaze Crystals were devoid of Spiritual Energy, no longer usable.
Only the first black sculpture that Xiao Chen created remained undamaged. That statue was made with the nourishment of other Blaze Crystals and his essence blood.
Xiao Chen carefully picked up that black sculpture and blew off the dust, then put it away.
"This is…"
Xiao Chen looked around and noticed something familiar underneath a few shattered rocks.
After gently pushing away the debris, he got a clear view of it. It was the black dragon scale that he gave Zhen Yuan earlier.
Xiao Chen recalled that the Divine Might had knocked Zhen Yuan back, and the demonic nature rebounded on him.
In a state of Berserking Qi Deviation, Zhen Yuan had fled somewhere, unable to care for anything but himself.
Zhen Yuan was probably in closed-door cultivation somewhere in the Dragon Flame Ancient Land. His strength might be scarily horrifying right now, but he was not in a good situation.
The Black Dragon King's demonic nature was consuming Zhen Yuan. His consciousness might be devoured at any time, which would leave him a puppet of the Black Dragon King, like the black-armored cultivator.
The Black Dragon King…
When Xiao Chen thought about the Black Dragon King, his expression turned very grave. The Black Dragon King in the memories from the Faux God Flame was terrifying.
The Black Dragon King would reappear within one hundred years.
When he considered having to face such a dreadful opponent, it was hard to feel happy.
Xiao Chen collected his thoughts and looked around at the ruins of the dragon city.
In his eyes, aside from the vicissitudes of time, he also saw a treasure city.
The memories from the Faux God Flame inheritance informed Xiao Chen of many secrets about this city.
If he explored a little, he would definitely reap a great harvest.
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