Dragon Phoenix Empress

Futu Yijing had no idea what kind of luck he had.

He had met three supreme experts of antiquity, yet none of them had truly fallen.

Futu Yijing sighed. Faced with the present situation, he could only shake his head helplessly.

Then something else occurred to him, and he asked, "Since you knew the Dragon Phoenix Empress was here, why did you make this place the reward for the top ten in the Tournament of Prodigies?"

"The Empress is about to complete her nirvana and return. We also need to select worthy successors for the future Dragon Phoenix Army."

Once the Dragon Phoenix Empress completed her nirvana, she would inevitably return to the Great Thousand World, and these descendants of the Dragon Phoenix Army would naturally leave with her.

If they left, they would naturally need to leave some powerful cultivators behind in the Dragon Phoenix Realm.

Futu Yijing said no more and turned to walk deeper inside.

Since I'm here, I ought to meet the Dragon Phoenix Empress.

The woman was just about to follow when the curtain of light on the ancient bridge barred her way.

After he crossed the ancient bridge, the scene before him changed abruptly.

This, too, was a world of fire. The entire space was seared crimson and blazingly hot. In an instant, Futu Yijing felt as though his body was about to burn. Towering ancient blazing phoenix trees stood all around, their leaves drifting down and dancing through the air, forming a wondrous spectacle of breathtaking beauty.

Every blazing phoenix tree leaf was enormous, like a phoenix feather, vivid and exquisite.

A leaf drifted into Futu Yijing's hand, and he discovered a radiance shimmering upon it. There was actually a trace of bloodline power within this leaf.

Futu Yijing's eyes flashed. With a sweep of his hand, the leaves gathered toward him.

Gathered together, these leaves actually gave Futu Yijing the sensation of being scorched by raging flames.

Just then, a majestic female voice came from ahead.

"Heavenly Sovereign of the Futu Clan, these leaves are what you seek."

Futu Yijing froze, then looked toward the voice.

There stood a towering, fiery-red phoenix tree. Beneath it sat a woman of peerless beauty with her eyes closed. She wore fiery-red battle armor, and her long crimson hair resembled clouds aglow with the light of a red sun.

The Dragon Phoenix Empress!

"Futu Yijing pays his respects to the Empress." Futu Yijing cupped his hands and bowed to her.

"The phoenix trees here were formed from my bloodline. Since you found your way here, you must have come for my bloodline. Let us see how much you can obtain," the Dragon Phoenix Empress continued.

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

The true dragon bloodline within Futu Yijing seethed, and a true dragon phantom seemed to soar through the air around him. He stepped forward, his gaze fixed on the falling leaves.

With a simple gesture, Futu Yijing refined a leaf into a drop of blood, upon which a dragon phoenix phantom faintly appeared.

In the next instant, the drop of blood was absorbed into Futu Yijing's body.

Like some sort of catalyst, it sent the true dragon bloodline within him surging and seething wildly.

His black eyes instantly turned gold.

A terrifying aura erupted from Futu Yijing. A true dragon phantom, wavering between illusion and reality, coiled around him.

Then an even more terrifying phantom faintly emerged from within Futu Yijing-a gigantic Phoenix Bird. This was the dragon phoenix phantom. Although called a dragon phoenix, its form was that of a Phoenix Bird.

Futu Yijing raised his hand, and spiritual energy swept outward. Dozens of leaves transformed into drops of essence blood, converging upon him before merging into his body.

Boom!!

Behind him, a pair of enormous phantom wings instantly spread open, and destructive flames blossomed in the void.

As the leaves were continually refined into essence blood and absorbed into his body, incomparably resplendent, fiery-red phoenix wings gradually appeared behind Futu Yijing. Little by little, they merged into his body, as though they were part of him.

As the dragon phoenix essence blood continued to enter his body, Futu Yijing's hair began to change. A streak of vivid red appeared, then rapidly spread, turning his restrained black hair entirely into a flamboyant crimson.

Boom!!

At that moment, a blood-red halo erupted from within Futu Yijing and spread outward. An unparalleled pressure rippled through the hidden realm.

The pressure passed through the hidden realm and bore down upon the entire Dragon Phoenix Realm.

Every living creature in the Dragon Phoenix Realm fell to its knees beneath that pressure, fear written across every face.

The Dragon Phoenix Empress raised her hand, and a dome of light enveloped Futu Yijing, sealing his pressure inside.

Only then could the living creatures of the Dragon Phoenix Realm move again.

Yet the appearance of that pressure had left the entire Dragon Phoenix Realm gripped by terror and unease.

This was especially true of the several Lower Earthly Sovereigns on Dragon Phoenix Mountain who did not know the truth. They were already the strongest beings in this world, yet that pressure had rendered them unable to move, filling their hearts with dread.

"Pfft!!"

Futu Yijing spat out a mouthful of blood.

The dragon phoenix bloodline was far more violent than he had imagined. His battle armor had already shattered, and savage bloody gashes appeared across his body.

Despite his wretched state, Futu Yijing continued circulating his spiritual energy to transform the leaves into essence blood.

Soon, dragon phoenix blood formed a river that surged toward Futu Yijing.

The Dragon Phoenix Empress merely watched from the side without interfering much.

Half a day later, a heaven-shaking phoenix cry rang out. An immense Phoenix Bird suddenly appeared above Futu Yijing's head, bearing the overwhelming might of a sacred beast as it breathed immortal flame.

A black dragon coiled around the Phoenix Bird, seemingly guarding it.

For a time, dragon roars and phoenix cries echoed through the air.

Brilliant light shone down from above, like the radiance of an auspicious omen. Countless leaves drifted down, dancing through the air and weaving a dreamlike scene.

Suddenly, the spiritual energy within the hidden realm began to rage.

The spiritual energy within Futu Yijing surged along with it.

The Dragon Phoenix Empress had now opened her long-closed eyes. Her phoenix eyes remained fixed on Futu Yijing, as though she wanted to see for herself what he intended to do.

Advancing under these circumstances would be very smooth, and he would cross quite a few stages as well. There would be no major problems in the short term, but once Futu Yijing reached immortal grade, he would discover that his path to saint grade had already been severed.

Futu Yijing's cultivation broke through from Early Spirit Grade to middle spirit grade.

Then to late spirit grade.

It touched upon immortal grade.

But at that very moment, Futu Yijing forcibly suppressed his rapidly rising cultivation, bringing it down from the threshold of immortal grade to late spirit grade, then to middle spirit grade.

He knew perfectly well that if he did not suppress his soaring cultivation, he would be finished for the rest of his life.

An Immortal Grade Heavenly Sovereign was an exalted figure even in the Great Thousand World, but he was unwilling to stop there. He had to force his cultivation back down.

Just as his cultivation began to stabilize, another sudden change occurred. The power of the dragon phoenix bloodline erupted, and his cultivation began to climb once more.