Pagoda

"Legend has it that an immortal flame lies at the heart of that Fire Domain, one that burned an immortal to death countless ages ago!" one of the young cultivators said.

The terrifying Fire Domain in the Eastern Wasteland's Southern Region was renowned far and wide. Even great regions such as Central Continent and Southern Ridge had heard tales of it, so cultivators from the Eastern Wasteland's Central Region naturally knew of it too.

"Then do either of you know where I could find a Domain Gate to the Southern Region?" Lu Chen asked.

"Those major sects can build teleportation Domain Gates to cross the void." At his question, one of them gave a bitter smile. "Unfortunately, using their Domain Gates comes at a tremendous price. How could an ordinary unaffiliated cultivator afford it?"

These two young men were merely unaffiliated cultivators in the first secret realm, not much further along than Lu Chen was now.

"I think I once heard a senior mention that the Central Region used to have a natural domain of divine flames too," one of the young cultivators suddenly said. "Legend has it that before Desolate Antiquity, an invincible Saint Spirit was born there. But for some reason, the flames later went out."

"Oh? There's a place like that? Do you know where it is, fellow Daoist?" Hearing this, Lu Chen felt he could explore it if it was not too far away.

The young cultivator frowned and thought for a few moments. "I vaguely remember that senior mentioning it was in the Great Wilderness, twenty thousand li north of the Flowing Cloud Kingdom."

Twenty thousand li. That isn't too far! Lu Chen silently made some calculations and decided he could go take a look. Otherwise, he had no way to forge his immortal gold into an artifact.

After spending two days in the Flowing Cloud Kingdom's Cloud Capital, Lu Chen rode a streak of rainbow light northward, intending to explore the place where the divine fire had died out.

Several days later, he reached a barren, lifeless land. Looking down from the sky, he saw mountains resembling extinct volcanoes, all utterly bare. Not a single plant was visible, let alone any animals.

Desolate mountains and scattered rocks were all this land had to offer, stretching boundlessly beyond the horizon. He had no idea what had caused this place to become so barren.

As he ventured deeper, heavy snow inexplicably began falling from the sky. The closer he drew to the center, the heavier it became.

Strangely, however, none of the snowflakes landed on the extinct volcanoes. They all drifted toward the stretches of scattered rocks between them.

Endless extinct volcanoes amid heavy snow. Gazing at this strange scene, Lu Chen silently thought of a certain place: Fire Demon Ridge, where Ye Fan had lured numerous holy sons to their deaths.

Ye Fan's classmate Liu Yunzhi had joined forces with numerous holy sons, using Liu Yiyi as leverage in an attempt to surround and kill Ye Fan. Instead, Ye Fan had summoned a heavenly tribulation and killed them all.

Of course, chronologically speaking, this had not happened yet. It was merely an event from the original course of events.

So this is the place. It really did once nurture endless divine fire. After carefully searching his memories, Lu Chen fully recalled this place.

Fire Demon Ridge was where a Great Perfection Saint Spirit had fallen. Before Desolate Antiquity, it had consisted of countless volcanoes, each spewing torrents of divine flame from the earth veins.

Thus, this region of heaven-and-earth divine fire had nurtured a Great Perfection Saint Spirit of the Fire Clan, who possessed strength comparable to an Ancient Emperor from the moment he emerged into the world.

Unfortunately, legend held that he had strayed from the Dao into demonic ways and brought calamity upon the world, only to be slain by the Ruthless Great Emperor.

Afterward, the endless volcanoes here had gone extinct, never again spewing divine fire.

Moreover, the Fire Clan Saint Spirit's death seemed to have left behind resentful unwillingness, giving this region an eerie fluctuation. Though nothing ominous had ever happened here, cultivators generally preferred to stay away.

Since I'm here, I might as well explore. A Great Accomplished Saint Spirit could rival Ancient Emperors and Great Emperors. Anything left behind would surely be a divine treasure.

Lu Chen turned into a streak of rainbow light and flew into the depths of Fire Demon Ridge. Only after a long time, passing through blizzards and crossing countless extinct volcanoes, did he reach the center of this region.

There stood an extinct volcano ten thousand zhang high, piercing deep into the clouds. It was both the birthplace of the Fire Clan Saint Spirit and the place where he had fallen.

Fierce winds swept through this land, and blizzards raged without end, yet not a single snowflake landed on that volcano. Only the surrounding mountains were completely blanketed in white.

He concentrated on sensing his surroundings for a moment before flying to the summit. The crater was unimaginably vast, resembling a lifeless basin that had solidified into rock countless ages ago.

I wonder whether there's still divine fire in the earth veins below! He searched the crater for a while but found no divine treasures left behind, nor encountered any danger.

It was as though all the opportunities and dangers that had once existed here had been swept clean by a single stroke of the Ruthless Great Emperor's sword, leaving nothing behind.

Since I'm here, I should explore beneath the surface. Lu Chen summoned an ancient blue-green sword and slashed at the rock below, preparing to dig down to the earth veins and see whether the divine fire had yet to burn out completely.

Although he had not yet forged his Primordial Divine Patterns into a weapon, he could still use the patterns alone to control the ancient sword Old Gu Ling had left him. Its power was simply somewhat reduced.

The ancient sword danced, blue-green light flashing as countless chunks of rock were excavated. A round passage several meters in diameter steadily extended downward.

Ten zhang, a hundred zhang, a thousand zhang...

When he reached a depth of three thousand zhang, Lu Chen finally sensed searing heat. Wisps of blood-colored divine fire appeared at the bottom of the passage, and the rocks here began turning red, as though on the verge of melting into magma.

Enveloped in rainbow light, Lu Chen slowly descended. The closer he drew to the bottom, the more keenly he felt the terror of those blood-colored divine flames. After all, a Great Accomplished Saint Spirit had once been born here. How could ordinary flames have nurtured such a supreme being?

Fortunately, his body had been tempered by the Sacred Fruit and the Nine-Turn Immortal Pill, granting him tremendous physical strength. Even compared with a Desolate Ancient Sacred Body at the same stage, it was far from certain that he would be weaker!

"An ideal place to forge an artifact!"

He sat cross-legged above the blood-colored divine fire, circulated his profound art, and carefully drew a wisp of the flames' divine energy into his body.

The next instant, even his powerful flesh felt a sharp, searing pain. Fortunately, it was still within what he could endure.

A wisp of terrifying blood-colored flame burned above his Bitter Sea, beginning to melt the hundreds upon thousands of Primordial Divine Patterns within it, forging them into the weapon Lu Chen envisioned-a pagoda.

Why a pagoda?

There was no particular reason. Liking that form was enough, because on the Immortal Path, it was the person who was powerful. An artifact merely served as an aid!

The artifacts with which cultivators attained the Dao came in every conceivable form. No one form was inherently stronger than another; it was their wielders who were powerful.

Take swords, for instance. They were among the most common weapons, but did that mean they were weak?

Look at the Taihuang Sword of Central Continent's Great Xia Dynasty, the Longevity Sword of the Mythological Era's Longevity Heavenly Venerable, and Heavenly Venerable Lingbao's Four Killing Swords. Every one was an Extreme Dao Emperor Weapon that endured through the ages. The Ruthless Great Emperor had even forged a true immortal sword. Who could claim that swords were weak?

Likewise, the Undying Heavenly Emperor's Heavenly Blade, Great Emperor Wushi's Chaos Bell, and Ye Fan's later cauldron all demonstrated the same truth: so long as the person was powerful enough, any artifact they forged would be powerful.