Divine Fire Sect

Just as the three were feeling dejected, Xiaofei thought for a moment and said, "Perhaps I was mistaken. This kind of fault space may extend far beyond a hundred meters. That would be well beyond the limits of our senses, making it impossible for us to detect it directly."

"So far below the ground, even a Titled Douluo probably wouldn't notice it. Otherwise, it would have been discovered long ago. Detection? Detection..." Xiaofei muttered to himself.

Xiaofei suddenly stood up. "That's right. We don't necessarily have to sense it. We only need to detect it."

Huo Wu and Huo Wushuang looked at Xiaofei in confusion. "What's the difference?"

Xiaofei said excitedly, "We may be unable to sense it now, but that doesn't mean we have no way of learning what lies underground!"

The two still looked puzzled.

Xiaofei hurriedly said, "Huo Wushuang, can't your Head Soul Bone release sound waves to attack enemies? If you attack the deepest point underground directly, wouldn't you be able to detect the differences below?"

The two suddenly understood. After thinking it over, Huo Wushuang nodded. "That should work." He immediately tried it. Activating his Head Soul Bone skill, Huo Wushuang sent a wave of sound straight underground. After carefully sensing it, he nodded. "I really can sense whatever is struck. I can attack roughly five hundred meters underground. If what I hit is different, I'll be able to feel it."

For the next stretch of time, Huo Wushuang became a detection machine, while Huo Wu and Xiaofei continuously helped him recover his Soul Power.

Finally, four days later, Huo Wushuang suddenly said, "This is it. It feels like my attack missed. That should be the Broken Void Layer."

Once Huo Wushuang confirmed the direction, Xiaofei immediately used his External Soul Bone and turned into an excavator. The External Soul Bone could cut through even steel, let alone mere layers of rock.

Two hours later, the three reached the final layer of stone. By then, they could all sense that the space beyond it was hollow. Xiaofei took out antidotal herbs for the other two to consume, but still felt uneasy, so he brought out the Aromatic Silk Beauty. Holding the Aromatic Silk Beauty in his left hand, Xiaofei swung his steel claws with his right and cut open the final stone layer.

The moment the stone layer was cut open, a scorching aura rushed out from within. The air truly seemed to carry some sort of poison. After all, ten thousand years had passed, and there were practically no plants beneath the volcano.

When the three entered the space, their eyes widened in shock. Before them stood a massive city, yet the entire city was tilted at a forty-five-degree angle. Half of it had already sunk into the magma, while the other half remained connected to the ground and hung slanted in the air like a balance scale.

Perhaps because they were lucky, the city gate was actually on the raised side. The three headed toward it. Only broken walls and ruins remained throughout the city, but the sect's plaque, made of some unknown material, had not decayed. The words Divine Fire Sect were faintly visible upon it.

After searching for so long, they had finally found the Divine Fire Sect. Hopefully, there would be some opportunity waiting inside.

The three entered the sect, but aside from a few broken stones, there seemed to be nothing left. Xiaofei quickly took out the map and compared it carefully. The layout on the map was somewhat similar to the interior of the Divine Fire Sect. Only one location on the entire map had been specially marked. Clearly, that was where the sect's treasure was located.

Following the map's directions, they searched deeper inside. At last, the three reached their destination, and what stood before them left them utterly stunned.

Before them stood a gigantic tower, hundreds of zhang tall. Like the ground, the tower was tilted, though not by quite as much. Xiaofei examined it carefully and was startled to discover that, aside from its entrance, the entire tower appeared to be sealed. Even more astonishingly, the tower was built entirely from Extraterrestrial Meteor Copper. Extraterrestrial Meteor Copper existed only within meteorites and was exceedingly rare. Its weight and value were no less than Deep Sea Silver's. The value of such an enormous tower was practically limitless. Besides, how had such a huge tower been constructed from meteor copper?

The words on the tower were clearly visible: "Divine Fire Tower."

The three stared at the door, which was likewise made of meteor copper, and fell silent. With their current strength, Xiaofei and the others simply could not damage the tower's gate. At its center was a peculiar indentation shaped like a flame.

Just as Xiaofei was feeling frustrated, Huo Wu somewhat awkwardly took out a similar object from where she had kept it close to her body. Clearly, this was the key to the Divine Fire Tower.

Xiaofei and Huo Wushuang were speechless. Huo Wu quickly explained, "My grandfather gave me this key before I left home. Even he didn't know exactly what it was for. He only knew that it had been left behind by the Divine Fire Sect long ago."

Huo Wu used the key to open the gate, but it was obviously extremely heavy. The three had to exert all their strength just to open a gap wide enough for one person to pass through. Once they entered, the gate closed automatically.

After entering the Divine Fire Tower, the three were surprised to find that they could see all the way to the top at a glance. Inside was actually a slanted staircase leading directly upward. At its peak, in the center, stood a statue made of meteor copper. In the statue's hand was a flame. The Divine Fire Sect had vanished ten thousand years ago—could the fire in the statue's hand have burned for ten thousand years?

At the same time, however, all three felt that the flame in the statue's hand held an immense attraction for them. As they walked toward the slanted stairs, a tremendous pressure descended from above, and the flames within their bodies began to stir restlessly.

Xiaofei carefully examined the surroundings and finally found a passage of writing on the wall. It described the origins and development of the Divine Fire Sect.

More than ten thousand years ago, the Divine Fire Sect's first patriarch had been an extraordinarily gifted genius. From a young age, he had aspired to become a god, so he cultivated painstakingly and eventually reached humanity's limit: rank 99 Peerless Douluo. Yet rank 99 and rank 100 were separated by a chasm that blocked his path. In the end, he came up with a plan. He moved his entire family into the Undying Volcano and established the Divine Fire Sect. Then, gathering every resource at his disposal, he built this Divine Fire Tower entirely from meteor copper.

He wanted to use the Divine Fire Tower and the earth-vein power of the Undying Volcano to break through to rank 100. He succeeded halfway—he crossed beyond rank 99, yet did not become rank 100. That was because he had no God Position and no inheritance from any deity. But he hoped that his descendants could complete his goal and reach rank 100. He sacrificed all the abilities of his life into the wisp of flame held in the copper statue's hand. That flame had transcended the realm of ordinary fire; it was already a wisp of divine fire.

From then on, the Divine Fire Tower became both the cultivation ground and inheritance site of successive clan members. Whenever a clan leader reached rank 99, they would offer their Divine Soul and abilities to this wisp of divine fire. However, this place of inheritance also attracted the covetous eyes of powerful outsiders. The Last Patriarch fought a great battle against his enemies, and in the end, both sides suffered heavy losses. This caused the Undying Volcano to begin erupting. Ultimately, the Divine Fire Sect was buried beneath the volcano and vanished into the river of history.