Dragon Phoenix Pool

Hum.

Suddenly, the spiritual energy between heaven and earth began to boil like water, turning violently berserk. Vast spiritual energy gathered above that ancient mountain range, faintly...

One could see that immense spiritual energy transforming into surging, sky-filling tidal waves of energy. The space there grew increasingly distorted beneath the flow of spiritual energy. Countless people stared at the scene with burning eyes, their hearts pounding wildly.

Once the space had twisted to its limit, a gigantic ray of light slowly emerged, inch by inch tearing the space apart. Endless radiance poured from the rift. In that instant, it seemed as though the Dragon's roar and Phoenix's cry carried over from ancient times, ringing clearly through heaven and earth. Mu Chen had never heard such a dragon roar before. It seemed to contain a majesty capable of surpassing even heaven and earth, making one tremble.

"Dragon Phoenix Heaven has opened!" A wildly jubilant, trembling shout suddenly rang out across the boiling land, instantly igniting the atmosphere to its peak. Swish! Swish! Countless eyes turned red in that instant.

The next moment, streams of spiritual energy shot into the sky. Light and shadow tore through heaven and earth, and the shrill sound of rushing wind formed sonic booms that rumbled throughout the world. The overwhelming masses of figures surged into the torn space like a swarm of locusts, throwing this entire region into chaos.

Mu Chen watched the vast, surging scene and could not help sighing in amazement. Then he looked at Xiao Qingyan and said, "Let's go too."

Xiao Qingyan lightly nodded. The two moved, turning into streaks of light that joined the immense torrent of figures before charging into the space from which the ancient Dragon's roar and Phoenix's cry emerged.

The moment they entered Dragon Phoenix Heaven, just as the young woman was about to take Mu Chen's hand, a broad hand beat her to it and grasped her small hand. Its owner glared at Mu Chen before taking Mu Chen's hand as well.

Before Mu Chen could say anything, the space around them abruptly became turbulent and distorted violently. Yet the blurring sensation brought by that distortion quickly faded, and Mu Chen felt his feet touch solid ground as the hazy scenery around him rapidly became clear.

He slowly opened his eyes, then froze. The surroundings had changed completely. The rolling mountains had vanished, replaced by a slightly dark-red grassland.

They stood atop a hill on the grassland. An ancient breeze swept toward them, stirring the dark-red plains like a churning sea of blood and giving off a faintly terrifying feeling.

Hum, hum. The space above the grassland continuously rippled as figure after figure appeared. They had clearly passed through the spatial rift and entered Dragon Phoenix Heaven.

However, it seemed that everyone who passed through the spatial rift was randomly transported away by the turbulent spatial fluctuations. That was why Xiao Qingyan had tried to take his hand—so that the two would not be separated.

As more and more figures appeared, the originally silent dark-red grassland swiftly became noisy. Countless people looked around this unfamiliar world with curiosity and excitement, and some could no longer restrain themselves, darting toward the distance.

Mu Chen stared at the dark-red grassland, but his brows faintly furrowed. He vaguely sensed something unsettling.

"Move."

Hum hum. Just as that unease rose in Mu Chen's heart, Xiao Chen beside him spoke coldly.

Before his words had even faded, the dark-red grass across the plains suddenly flew into the air, disintegrating midair into countless clouds of dark-red blood mist. The mist swept directly toward dozens of figures who had been the first to fly away.

At that moment, eerie pinkish-white flames surged from Xiao Qingyan's body, forming a barrier of fire around the other two before she shot into the sky.

The danger in Dragon Phoenix Heaven far exceeded Mu Chen's expectations. In such a perilous place, a moment of carelessness could turn one into a pile of bones.

As the three shot upward ahead of the others, numerous young powerhouses in the sky also fled for their lives. They clearly understood that they had been particularly unlucky to be transported into a land of death.

Hum hum! The disturbances caused by the fleeing crowd immediately stirred countless strange insects. The entire crimson grassland seemed to come alive as innumerable dark-red tornadoes appeared and swept toward the escaping figures.

Hum.

A tornado formed from a dark-red sea of insects rapidly swept toward Mu Chen. Its overwhelming momentum made his expression change. He immediately swept his sleeve, sending a vast stream of spiritual energy lashing out.

Bang! The two collided, but most of the spiritual energy was devoured by the dark-red insects. Yet after consuming it, many of their bodies ignited, with faint purple flames flickering over them. Mu Chen's eyes flashed at the sight, and he glanced at Xiao Chen in surprise.

The other man seemed to have known all along that these dark-red insects feared flames.

But when Mu Chen's gaze fell on Xiao Qingyan, he found that the look she gave Chen Xiao was incomparably complicated—joy, hatred...

Could it be that Chen Xiao did something to wrong her?

"What kind of flame is this? It's so powerful."

Mu Chen asked curiously. He could sense that the pinkish-white flames were even stronger than the Undying Flame within his body.

"The Purifying Demonic Lotus Flame. It does not belong to the Great Thousand World, but is a peculiar Heavenly Flame from a lower plane. It possesses the power to purify all things in the world."

Xiao Qingyan explained softly.

Before her words had even ended, Xiao Chen felt his scalp go numb. Especially when he met her gaze, he immediately looked away as quickly as possible.

Swish! Protected by the Purifying Demonic Lotus Flame, Xiao Chen and the other two charged into the blocking sea of insects as though entering empty territory. The insects tainted by the Purifying Demonic Lotus Flame instantly turned to ash, their piercing squeaks ringing out without end.

The three flew at full speed. Behind them, screams rang out continuously as countless young powerhouses were swallowed by the sea of insects, reduced to bones that fell from the sky. But Mu Chen had no ability to save them now. Once trapped within the insect swarm, even with the protection of the Purifying Demonic Lotus Flame, he would eventually be worn down and killed. Whoosh. At full speed, the three flew for nearly ten minutes before finally leaving the crimson grassland and landing atop a barren stone mountain. Mu Chen turned back and saw endless red mist rising from the grassland like a calamity.

Still, aside from them, a few figures managed to escape in miserable condition. Their spiritual energy had once fused with the power of flames, and they had relied on that strength to break through the insect swarm's encirclement.

"What terrible casualties." Mu Chen's expression was grave. At least a thousand powerhouses had appeared in that grassland earlier, yet fewer than a hundred had escaped now. Even Mu Chen's scalp tingled at such a casualty rate. Dragon Phoenix Heaven was far more dangerous than he had imagined.

Mu Chen shook his head and suppressed the turmoil in his heart. Then he flicked a finger, and spiritual energy gathered into a spiritual map before him—the one obtained from Dragon Phoenix Pavilion. However, the map was too blurry. Only after scouting the area for quite some time did the three roughly determine their location.

"We should be heading in this direction."

Whoosh! Three streams of light swept swiftly across the somewhat desolate sky. They moved extremely fast, yet made no sound, clearly having deliberately suppressed any disturbance.

The streaks of light crossed thousands of meters in the blink of an eye, but after a short while, they suddenly halted. With a flash, they landed on a mountain below and concealed themselves. Not long after they hid, the ground ahead began to shake as if heaven and earth were trembling. Space quivered as more than a hundred enormous exotic beasts flew past, their roars filled with bloodlust.

The three hid in the shadows. Watching the herds of exotic beasts fly overhead, Mu Chen could not help shaking his head. Dragon Phoenix Heaven held an immense number of such creatures. Although their intelligence was extremely low, the Essence Blood scattered throughout this realm by the True Dragon and True Phoenix had granted them terrifying power.

If they were caught in the creatures' frenzied siege, even if they escaped, they would suffer considerable exhaustion. Thus, although Xiao Chen was quite tempted by the Dragon Phoenix Bloodline within those exotic beasts, he had not made a move along the way. He avoided them whenever possible.

Because, in his senses, Dragon Phoenix Pool was getting closer and closer. There was no need to lose sight of the greater goal for a minor gain.

Soon, the three appeared atop a solitary peak and looked ahead, their pupils abruptly shrinking. Before them lay a collapsed expanse of land, crisscrossed by deep abysses. Its savage appearance made it clear that this place had once experienced a terrifying battle capable of shaking heaven and earth.

At the very center of that collapsed land stood a towering mountain. It rose into the clouds and seemed faintly pale. But upon looking closely, they suddenly realized that it was actually a mountain of bones!

Those skeletal remains were simply too enormous. Piled together, they had formed a massive mountain of bone!

Ancient light patterns could faintly be seen upon the bone mountain. They pulsed gently as though possessing some kind of life force, while a terrifying pressure radiated from the mountain, making one's scalp go numb.

"Dragon Phoenix Pool should be atop that bone mountain." Mu Chen looked toward its summit, where clouds swirled. Yet the pressure emanating from there was clearly the strongest. Xiao Qingyan also gazed at the collapsed earth and the mountain of bones, saying calmly, "Quite a few people have arrived." Mu Chen lightly nodded. Across this vast land, he could sense many fluctuations of spiritual energy. Their number was not small. Those who had entered Dragon Phoenix Heaven clearly possessed some ability.