The Darkness Guardian's stone axe fell with a howl that split the air. Dark energy coiled around its blade like solid ink, and even space rippled faintly in its wake. Xuan Kongzi's gaze sharpened. A purple-gold pill cauldron appeared before him in an instant, the Pill Patterns engraved on its surface lighting up with a brilliant golden radiance.
Clang!
The stone axe struck the pill cauldron with a deafening crash. Xuan Kongzi's body swayed slightly, and the golden light on the purple-gold cauldron actually dimmed. The Darkness Guardian, meanwhile, did not budge, its strength clearly far beyond everyone's expectations.
"An Origin Venerate Realm Darkness Guardian..." A Pill Venerate drew a sharp breath. "The ancient Pill God's palace used such a being as a guard?"
"It's not alive. It's a puppet made from dark energy and obsidian. It knows no pain, and its strength is inexhaustible," Xuan Kongzi said gravely, his hands swiftly forming seals. "Everyone, form the Nine Revolutions Burning Heaven Array!"
At his command, the ten Pill Venerates quickly spread out and took their places at specific positions. Pill cauldrons floated above their heads, and pill flames of every color poured forth, intertwining in the air to form a massive flame array. At its center, nine pillars of flame shot skyward and converged into a sphere of fire containing the power of destruction.
"Go!"
With Xuan Kongzi's low shout, the sphere of fire trailed a long tail of flame as it hurtled toward the Darkness Guardian.
The Darkness Guardian roared and swept its stone axe across, trying to cleave the sphere apart. But the Pill Essence within the sphere was a natural counter to dark energy. The moment the stone axe touched it, the blade sizzled under the scorching heat, sending black stone chips flying.
Boom!
The sphere of fire exploded against the Darkness Guardian's chest. Golden flames spread like a tide, engulfing half its body. The Guardian let out an inhuman roar as the obsidian armor on its surface rapidly melted, exposing the dark energy flowing inside.
"It's working!" Mo Chen was overjoyed. He hurriedly channeled his pill flame, feeding energy into the array.
But the Darkness Guardian's powers of recovery were beyond imagination. Nourished by the dark energy, its melted armor regenerated at a speed visible to the naked eye. The eerie green flames in its eyes grew more violent, and it raised its stone axe once more. This time, a dark axe beam dozens of zhang long gathered on the blade and swept toward the Pill Venerates in the array.
"Bad! Retreat, quickly!" Xuan Kongzi's expression changed drastically.
The Pill Venerates hurriedly fell back, but the dark axe beam was so fast that it caught up to the last of them in an instant. The Pill Venerate hastily summoned his cauldron to block it, only for the axe beam to cleave it apart instantly. Dark energy swallowed him whole, and before he could even scream, he turned into a wisp of black smoke.
"Senior Brother Zhang!" Mo Chen's eyes threatened to split, filled with grief and fury.
Xiao Yan's gaze was cold. He could sense that although the Darkness Guardian was powerful, it lacked intelligence and could only attack on instinct. Its core had to be that mass of dark energy pulsing in its chest!
"Attack its chest!" Xiao Yan shouted. Three-colored Heavenly Flames instantly ignited on the Heavy Xuan Ruler as he rushed at the Darkness Guardian like a ghost.
The Darkness Guardian sensed the threat and brought its stone axe down at Xiao Yan's head. Xiao Yan neither dodged nor evaded. He infused his feet with the power of the Origin Stabilizing Divine Stone, leaving an afterimage where he stood as he narrowly avoided the blade. At the same time, the Heavy Xuan Ruler smashed into the Guardian's chest with the might to burn heaven and annihilate earth!
Clang!
Heavenly Flames and dark energy collided violently with a piercing blast. A great crater was smashed into the obsidian armor on the Darkness Guardian's chest, and the dark energy inside churned violently. It had clearly suffered a severe blow.
"Now!" Xuan Kongzi seized the chance and poured all his Origin Qi into the Nine Revolutions Burning Heaven Array. "Nine revolutions become one, burn all things to ashes!"
The flames within the array surged once more. This time, the nine pillars of flame no longer remained separate, but converged into a golden pillar that pierced heaven and earth. Like an ancient divine spear, it struck precisely at the wound in the Darkness Guardian's chest!
"Aaargh-!"
The Darkness Guardian let out an utterly piercing howl as the golden pillar of flame pierced its body, completely igniting the dark energy within it. Its massive form struggled violently in the flames before finally collapsing like a melting candle, turning into a pile of broken stones trailing black smoke.
The danger had passed, but no one felt the slightest joy. The fallen Pill Venerate's death weighed on every heart like a massive stone.
"Are we... are we still going on?" a young Pill Region disciple asked, his voice trembling. He had clearly been frightened by what he had just witnessed.
Xuan Kongzi took a deep breath, his gaze resolute. "We must. To purify the pill formula, to stop the Lord of Darkness, it's worth any price!"
Xiao Yan nodded and stepped forward to collect a remaining fragment of the Pill Venerate's cauldron, silently clenching it in his hand. This was the price of fighting the darkness, heavy and cruel.
The group continued deeper into the Pill Hall. After passing through the passageway, they came upon a vast hall. At its center stood a statue of the Pill God dozens of zhang tall, holding a pill cauldron and gazing down with a majestic expression, as though looking over all living beings. Dozens of pill cauldrons lay scattered around the statue. Most were already damaged, but their former exquisite workmanship could still be seen.
"This should be the Pill God's pill-refining hall." Xuan Kongzi walked up to a pill cauldron and gently traced the patterns on its surface, his eyes full of reverence. "These cauldrons are all supreme treasures from ancient times. What a pity..."
Before he could finish, countless runes suddenly lit up on the walls around the hall. They intertwined into a massive curtain of light, trapping everyone inside. At the same time, an eerie green light shone from the statue's eyes, and a presence even more powerful than the Darkness Guardian's emanated from within it!
"Bad! There's something wrong with the statue!"
No sooner had Xiao Yan spoken than the pill cauldron in the statue's hand suddenly flew out and hovered in midair. Dense dark energy poured from its opening, gathering into a blurry shadow. The shadow slowly took shape, becoming a black-robed man with indistinct features. The dark energy coiling around him was a hundred times purer than that of the Shadow of Darkness they had encountered before!
"It's... an avatar of the Lord of Darkness!" Xuan Kongzi's expression changed drastically, and even his voice trembled. "It was hiding inside the Pill God's statue!"
The black-robed man slowly opened his eyes. They had no pupils, only pure darkness. He looked at the group and spoke in a voice like countless people whispering at once. "Insignificant ants, you dare intrude upon my place of slumber..."
"Weren't you sealed in the Fallen Immortal Abyss?!" Xiao Yan demanded sharply.
"Sealed?" The black-robed man gave a low laugh. "That was merely a wisp of my remnant will. My true self has long since seeped into every corner of the Great Thousand World. This Pill Hall is one of my favorite 'nests.'"
His gaze settled on Xiao Yan, touched with curiosity. "An interesting little fellow. You have three kinds of Heavenly Flames within you, as well as a supreme spatial treasure... Your bloodline is also very unusual. It seems somewhat similar to that annoying Pill God's from back then..."
"You knew the ancient Pill God?" Xiao Yan's heart stirred.
"Knew him?" The black-robed man sneered. "If not for the purifying pill he refined back then, I would have ruled the Great Thousand World long ago! But now, he has turned to dust, while I am about to return!"
He abruptly waved his hand, and a vast surge of dark energy swept toward the group. Even the defenses Xuan Kongzi had laid down trembled violently in its path.
"Form the array!" Xuan Kongzi roared. The nine remaining Pill Venerates formed the Nine Revolutions Burning Heaven Array once more, but this time their expressions were incomparably grave. Against an avatar of the Lord of Darkness, even the array would probably struggle to hold.
Just as the dark energy was about to engulf the array, the Pill God statue at the center of the Pill Hall suddenly erupted with dazzling golden light!
Within the golden light, an illusory figure slowly appeared, bearing the same appearance as the Pill God statue. Though indistinct, the figure radiated a warm and powerful presence that instantly forced the dark energy back.
"It's the Pill God's remnant will!" Xuan Kongzi shouted excitedly.
The Pill God's remnant will paid them no heed. He stared straight at the black-robed man, his voice as majestic as a great bell. "Remnant of darkness, you dare defile my dwelling!"
"Pill God?! Impossible! You died long ago!" Shock appeared on the black-robed man's face for the first time, as though he had seen something utterly inconceivable.
"My will exists alongside the Pill Dao. As long as pill flames still burn in the Great Thousand World, I shall never perish!" The Pill God's remnant will slowly raised his hand and pointed at the cauldron hovering in midair. "In my name, burn the darkness away!"
The pill cauldron that had flown from the statue's hand suddenly erupted with flames even more brilliant than those of the Nine Revolutions Burning Heaven Array. Filled with boundless vitality and the power of purification, they engulfed the black-robed man in an instant.
"No-!"
The black-robed man let out a despairing howl and struggled violently in the golden flames. But before the Pill God's flames, his dark energy melted like ice and snow. It was soon completely purified, leaving not the slightest trace behind.
As the black-robed man dissipated, the surrounding curtain of light vanished as well. The Pill God's remnant will turned his gaze to Xiao Yan, a gentle light flickering in his eyes. "Inheritor of Heavenly Flames, wielder of spatial power... it seems heaven has not abandoned us."
Xiao Yan was shaken. He looked at the Pill God's remnant will and bowed respectfully. "This junior, Xiao Yan, greets Senior Pill God."
The Pill God's remnant will nodded slightly and gently waved his illusory hand. A beam of golden light shot into Xiao Yan's forehead. Xiao Yan felt warmth spread through his sea of consciousness as countless pieces of Pill Dao knowledge and a blurry image flooded his mind. It showed the Pill God in white robes, locked in battle with the Lord of Darkness, the cauldron in his hand burning with flames similar to Xiao Yan's own Heavenly Flames.
"These are my insights into the Pill Dao, along with the ultimate profundity of the purifying pill formula. I give them to you." The voice of the Pill God's remnant will grew faint. "The Lord of Darkness's true body is already at the edge of the Great Thousand World, and the seal is about to break... You bear Heavenly Flames and spatial power, and you are a descendant of my bloodline. I entrust the future to you..."
A descendant of his bloodline?
Xiao Yan's heart shook. Before he could ask for details, the Pill God's remnant will turned into specks of golden light and merged into every corner of the Pill Hall. The Pill God statue grew still once more, though the golden light on its surface was gentler, as if silently guarding something.
Silence filled the hall. Everyone was too stunned by what they had just seen and heard from the Pill God's remnant will to speak.
Xiao Yan was a descendant of the Pill God's bloodline?
The news was even more shocking than the appearance of the Lord of Darkness's avatar.
Xuan Kongzi walked up to Xiao Yan and looked at him with a complicated expression. "Xiao Yan... you..."
Xiao Yan took a deep breath and suppressed the turmoil in his heart. He could sense that not only had Pill Dao knowledge appeared in his sea of consciousness, but some dormant power also seemed to have awakened in his bloodline, resonating more strongly with the Heavenly Flames within him.
"I don't know either." Xiao Yan shook his head. "But Senior Pill God's words shouldn't be wrong."
He looked at the pill cauldron, which had now grown still and floated quietly in midair. He could sense a presence within it that was connected to his bloodline.
"That cauldron..." Mo Chen pointed at it, his eyes full of reverence.
"It is Senior Pill God's life-bound pill cauldron, the Burning Heaven Cauldron," Xuan Kongzi said. "It seems Senior Pill God intended to give it to you."
Xiao Yan walked up to the Burning Heaven Cauldron and reached out to touch it gently. The cauldron trembled slightly and flew into his hand of its own accord. The patterns on its surface lit up, resonating with the Heavenly Flames within him.
"Just as I thought..." Xuan Kongzi said with emotion. "You truly are the successor Senior Pill God chose."
Xiao Yan tightened his grip on the Burning Heaven Cauldron, his heart full of complicated emotions. He had never expected to be connected by blood to the ancient Pill God. Perhaps this was the source of the bloodline power Elder Bai had spoken of.
"The ultimate profundity of the purifying pill formula is already in my mind," Xiao Yan said. "We can go back now."
Xuan Kongzi nodded and swept his gaze across the hall, a trace of reluctance in his eyes. "Let's go."
The group composed themselves and left the Ancient Pill Hall, taking the fallen Pill Venerate's belongings with them.
As they emerged from the Fallen Pill Mountain Range, sunlight fell upon them, dispelling the chill of the hall. But every heart was heavy. The Lord of Darkness's true body was about to arrive, and the Great Thousand World would probably soon face an unprecedented crisis.
Xiao Yan gripped the Burning Heaven Cauldron tightly, sensing the power awakened in his bloodline and the Pill Dao profundities in his sea of consciousness. His gaze grew utterly resolute.
No matter how difficult the road ahead, he would not retreat.
For the sake of protecting others, for the sake of the inheritance, and for those waiting for him.
His footsteps would continue forward, to meet the coming storm.
(To be continued)