I am the Ancient Phoenix God!

Several days later.

On a remote, desolate stretch of the Gobi Desert.

All around lay only weathered rocks and endless yellow sand.

There were no villages here, no Soul Beasts, not even a single blade of withered grass to be found.

The setting sun stained the sky blood-red, lending it an air of desolation.

Chen Jin sat cross-legged atop a massive weathered rock.

His eyes were closed as he tried to circulate his Soul Power and calm the scorching heat within him.

Yet this time, something was wrong.

His once-quiet dantian now churned violently like boiling magma.

An unusual, searing heat spread through his limbs and bones without warning.

He opened his eyes, his breathing instantly quickening.

Scenes from several days earlier suddenly flashed through his mind.

Zhu Zhuqing's cool, aloof face and curvaceous figure kept appearing before his eyes at that moment.

A normal young man's bodily instincts remained, however firm his will.

The faint fragrance he had caught while walking beside Zhu Zhuqing had now become the fuse that ignited the explosives.

The Evil Fire suppressed for years found an outlet and battered his reason with wild abandon.

"Damn it..."

Chen Jin gritted his teeth, pressing both hands against his knees.

His nails dug deep into his palms as he tried to stay lucid through physical pain.

In an instant, the Evil Fire erupted completely.

Chen Jin tumbled awkwardly off the rock and landed on one knee in the scorching sand.

His skin turned crimson in an instant, and even faint wisps of white smoke rose from his pores.

In the past, the Evil Fire's backlash had caused, at worst, stabbing pain and unbearable heat.

But this time, the violent flames seemed to bore straight into his marrow.

His bones were melting.

His soul was being roasted.

This agony surpassed the limits of physical torment.

"Urgh!"

Chen Jin let out a muffled cry of pain.

Blood-red heat began gushing from his pores-a bloody mist formed from evaporated sweat and blood.

Under the impact of this violent force, the meridians within him began rupturing in swathes.

His internal organs felt as though they had been suspended over a raging fire, almost reduced to ashes.

For years, to preserve his purity, he had forcibly suppressed this Evil Fire within his body.

Now, once that accumulated power erupted, it surged like a mountain flood, threatening to destroy his flesh completely.

Black-and-red currents swirled around him, exuding a foul, savage aura.

His reason began to blur.

Blood filled his eyes, and tempting voices kept ringing through his mind, urging him to indulge himself, to find a woman and release it.

As long as he abandoned his resolve, this agony would vanish at once.

Ma Hongjun's mockery and Dai Mubai's disdain kept echoing in his ears at that moment.

"No..."

A flash of resolve crossed Chen Jin's eyes.

He would rather die than fall into the mortal dust.

Chen Jin forced himself to hold up his body, barely managing to shift from kneeling to sitting.

With difficulty, he formed a meditation seal with his hands.

In his heart, he silently recited the song etched deep into his soul since childhood.

"The phoenix cried upon that lofty ridge."

"The parasol tree grew there, facing the morning sun."

The pure, noble verses echoed through his mind, trying to awaken his last remaining conscience and clarity.

Each word was like a trickle of clear spring water, trying to quench the Evil Fire within him.

Yet the Evil Fire's backlash was even more terrifying than he had imagined.

Those black-and-red flames devoured his remaining Soul Power furiously.

His ruptured meridians left his body trembling incessantly.

Sweat drenched him, only to be instantly evaporated by the intense heat on his skin.

"The phoenix... cried..."

Chen Jin's voice was weak, yet carried an unshakable resolve.

He repeated those words over and over.

But the Evil Fire within him grew even more violent and had already begun eroding his sea of consciousness.

His consciousness began plummeting into a bottomless abyss.

At the very instant he was about to lose control completely.

A sudden change occurred.

The dull bird pendant hanging against his chest suddenly grew intensely warm.

Chen Jin had worn this pendant for as long as he could remember; its material was ordinary, without the slightest fluctuation of Soul Power.

He had always thought it was merely an ordinary keepsake left by his parents.

Yet now, an indescribably dazzling divine radiance burst from the pendant.

It was a seven-colored light.

The instant the light appeared, a gentle yet vast power flooded into his body like the tide.

Before this power, the Evil Fire that had nearly burned him to ashes seemed to have met its nemesis, instantly suppressed and quelled.

Chen Jin was utterly astonished.

He could clearly feel that the agony that had pierced his heart and gouged his bones had vanished without a trace in an instant.

He barely managed to open his eyes.

He saw that the pendant had already lifted away from his chest and was floating quietly in midair.

The divine light emanating from the pendant grew ever brighter.

All the sand and dust within a hundred-meter radius froze at that moment, leaving only that dazzling seven-colored radiance between heaven and earth.

The light interwove and gathered in midair.

At last, it formed an enormous, majestic phantom.

It was an incomparably sacred Seven-Colored Golden Phoenix.

Its wings were composed of seven different kinds of divine light, and mysterious runes flowed across every feather.

It spread its wings proudly, its whole body radiating a pure, serene, supremely sacred aura.

Before this phantom, all the filth in the world seemed so insignificant.

Chen Jin stared blankly at the sight.

He had never seen a creature so beautiful, so awe-inspiring.

This was the true king of all birds, a true phoenix.

The divine phoenix phantom lowered its head slightly, its eyes, filled with wisdom and majesty, settling on Chen Jin.

In the void, an ancient, timeworn song faintly sounded:

"A bird dwells in the cinnabar cave; its name is the phoenix."

"Its nine virtues answer auspicious omens; its five colors form splendid patterns."

The voice echoed over the Gobi Desert, vast and holy.

As each word fell, it became a golden rune and merged into Chen Jin's forehead.

A flood of memories and information poured into Chen Jin's mind like the tide.

At that moment, he felt his soul leave his body.

It was as though he had become a true phoenix, soaring above the nine heavens and weaving among the rivers of stars.

He saw the birth of the Phoenix Clan and witnessed their majesty as they commanded the divine fires of heaven and earth.

Proud, holy, untouched by dust.

This was a true Phoenix Soul.

After finishing its chant, the divine phoenix phantom became a dazzling streak of light and plunged straight into his body.

Warm divine light instantly spread through his limbs and bones.

Nourished by the divine light, his ruptured meridians reconnected at an astonishing speed and grew several times wider than before.

His damaged internal organs brimmed with vigorous life once more, emitting a faint golden halo.

More importantly, there was the foul Evil Fire still lingering within him.

Under the divine light, those black-and-red impurities were rapidly stripped away and purified.

The once-violent Evil Fire, filled with desire, underwent a complete transformation at that moment.

The flames changed from black and red to a pure dark gold, radiating a sacred, searing heat.

That was-Phoenix True Fire.

It held no trace of evil, only the utmost destruction and rebirth.

Chen Jin slowly opened his eyes.

Two dark-gold flames flashed deep within his pupils and vanished.

He could feel his Soul Power beginning to soar wildly at that moment.

Rank twenty-eight.

Rank twenty-nine.

Rank thirty.

Without encountering any bottleneck, he reached the pinnacle of Soul Grandmaster outright.

More importantly, his Martial Soul, the Evil Fire Phoenix, completed its transformation at that moment.

It shed the word "evil" and became a true, supreme sacred Beast Martial Soul-the Nine-Heaven Divine Phoenix.

He stood up, feeling the pure, powerful energy within him, his heart filled with astonishment.

Just then, an ancient, boundless voice bearing endless majesty thundered through the depths of his sea of consciousness.

"I am the Ancient Phoenix God."