Strange Fire Plaza, Emperor Grade Young Pill

Boom!

The moment the Surprise Night Spear appeared, its unmatched power tore the stone gate apart. The restrictions throughout the Ancient Emperor Cave Abode might as well have been nonexistent; they had no effect at all.

As the cave abode's stone gate shattered, the restrictions binding Dragon Emperor Zhu Kun vanished with a thunderous crash. After being trapped for thousands of years, he had finally regained his freedom.

Roar!

Even with Dragon Emperor Zhu Kun's composure cultivated over nearly ten thousand years, tears still welled in his eyes. He raised his massive dragon head and roared at the sky, venting the excitement in his heart.

Xiao Xian watched Zhu Kun completely lose his composure and smiled faintly without stopping him.

Anyone confined in this dark, silent place for thousands of years would struggle to remain composed upon escaping. In Xiao Xian's eyes, Zhu Kun's reaction was perfectly normal.

Several minutes later, Zhu Kun had finally vented enough and slowly calmed down. Looking embarrassed, he said, "Master, forgive my display. I was trapped here for far too long, and now that I have finally escaped, I could not help losing my composure."

"It is nothing. That is only human nature. If you have vented enough, then follow This Emperor into this legendary Dou Emperor's cave abode and see just how extraordinary this Tou She Ancient God truly was," Xiao Xian said with a wave and a smile.

"Since Master is in the mood, this old servant shall naturally obey," Zhu Kun replied with an easy laugh.

Then Zhu Kun's body, tens of thousands of zhang long, began to shift. A flash of light passed, and he transformed into a middle-aged man in purple robes with three long strands of beard beneath his chin.

The two entered a dazzling passage one after the other. As space and time revolved around them, they appeared in a bizarre and resplendent realm.

This space was equally enormous. At its center floated a vast continent, surrounded by countless drifting currents of gray air. Mountains on the continent pierced the clouds, ancient trees towered into the heavens, and exotic flowers and plants covered the ground. It was truly a paradise on earth.

The only regret was that there was not a single living creature within it. The surroundings were utterly dead and silent.

At the center of this floating continent stood an immense stone complex: a sprawling stone hall and a grand plaza.

The plaza was astonishingly vast, occupying nearly half the plain. Huge stone pillars, each several thousand zhang in diameter, stood upon it. They rose so high they seemed to pierce the clouds, and atop each pillar rested a flame of a different color.

There were twenty-three such pillars, each several thousand zhang in diameter. Together, they formed a semicircle that tightly enclosed the plaza.

This was the famous Strange Fire Plaza within the Ancient Emperor Cave Abode. The differently colored flames upon it were the top twenty-four strange fires of the Dou Qi Continent. Aside from the first two stone pillars, which stood empty, flames burned atop all the others.

It was strange. Though these were supposedly the top twenty-four strange fires, only twenty-one flames were present, and even one stone pillar was missing.

Xiao Xian naturally knew why. The strange fire ranked first was Tou She Ancient God himself. He had been a consciousness born from a strange fire, then devoured other strange fires and cultivated himself to the Dou Emperor realm before finally ascending through the void. Naturally, the plaza held none of his origin flame.

The reason Void Swallowing Flame, ranked second, and Purification Lotus Demon Flame, ranked third, were absent was because those two had escaped from the Ancient Emperor Cave Abode. Thus, the positions belonging to the two great strange fires stood empty.

In truth, the strange fire ranked first had no specific name. It required devouring the other twenty-two strange fires and ultimately fusing all their characteristics to give birth to the strongest flame, the one ranked first. Tou She Ancient God had been born in precisely this manner.

The two flew across the enormous Strange Fire Plaza before arriving at the stone hall behind it.

The stone hall was shrouded in dense mist, making its true form nearly impossible to see with the naked eye.

Xiao Xian took a deep breath, then exhaled sharply. A powerful gale burst from his mouth, sweeping away all the mist in its path and revealing the stone hall's true appearance.

The stone hall visible to the naked eye had actually been an illusion. There was no stone hall at all. Hidden behind the mist was a colossal stone statue ten thousand zhang tall, depicting an elderly man. It was none other than the legendary Tou She Ancient God.

Hundreds of light spheres floated around the statue. Every sphere shone brilliantly, and a closer look revealed that each contained a cultivation method or Dou Skill. All of them had reached the Heaven Rank.

In other words, these hundreds of light spheres contained hundreds of Heaven Rank cultivation methods and Dou Skills. It was truly staggering.

On the present-day Dou Qi Continent, Heaven Rank cultivation methods and Dou Skills were far from common. Every appearance of one could stir up bloody conflict across the continent, and even powerful clans like the Ancient Eight Clans would join the scramble.

Yet inside the Ancient Emperor Cave Abode, Heaven Rank cultivation methods and Dou Skills seemed as plentiful as weeds, packed together in dense masses, utterly diminishing their preciousness.

Good stuff!

Tou She Ancient God seemed to have had an extremely serious collecting habit. Not only had he collected the twenty-three highest-ranked strange fires on the Different Flame Ranking List, he had also amassed so many Heaven Rank cultivation methods.

To gather so many things, Tou She Ancient God must have extorted quite a few top clans back then. How else could one person have created so many peak Dou Skills?

Without the slightest courtesy, Xiao Xian claimed the several hundred Heaven Rank cultivation methods for himself. He might not need them, but they would still make fine collectibles.

"Hehe, it has truly been a long time since anyone came here." Just as Xiao Xian finished collecting the cultivation methods scattered across the sky, an aged voice sounded by his ear.

An elderly figure had appeared atop the previously empty stone statue at some unknown point. He stood with his hands behind his back, looking down on Xiao Xian and Zhu Kun. His gaze was lofty and disdainful, as though he were looking at two ants.

"Tou She Ancient God!"

Zhu Kun's mind went blank for an instant, and he cried out in horror.

How could this be? Had Tou She Ancient God not been said to have died? This Ancient Emperor Cave Abode was supposedly Tou She Ancient God's tomb. He could not possibly still be alive.

Zhu Kun could hardly believe it. The legendary Tou She Ancient God, said to have died long ago, was standing perfectly well within the Ancient Emperor Cave Abode. Could he have been faking his death from the very beginning?

"Hehe, he is no Tou She Ancient God. He is merely an unfinished pill refined by Tou She Ancient God—the Emperor Grade Young Pill. His current form is only an imitation of Tou She Ancient God. Compared to the real Tou She Ancient God, he is far inferior," Xiao Xian said with a smile.

Lord Xiao had read the complete version of Battle Through The Heavens, so he naturally knew that this so-called Tou She Ancient God was merely the Emperor Grade Young Pill in disguise. The true Ancient God had long since vanished from the Dou Qi Continent.

"Emperor Grade Young Pill? The supreme medicinal pill said to be capable of helping one advance to Dou Emperor?" The horror on Zhu Kun's face abruptly turned into excitement as he asked.