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The appearance of shocking scene made the experts standing within that idyllic landscape retreat several steps back unwittingly.
All of them could sense that there was a barrier around this paradise, yet even so, they could still sense the waves of heat emanating from the lava.
There were also the unearthly winds pushing the lava along, and heavenly flames and red lightning so dense, there were practically no gaps left. None of them had the confidence to say that they could survive such a hellscape.
That was despite the former God Emperor’s remnant spirit making it quite clear that the mausoleum’s transcendent fortune lay beyond the danger.
Such tempting rewards were right there before them, yet they still didn’t dare be greedy.
Transcendence was naturally tempting, but to them, survival was actually even more important.
Wasn’t seeking an even higher level of cultivation than those around them precisely for the purpose of living on?
Wouldn’t proceeding into such danger in the name of transcendence be counterproductive?
Besides, the remnant soul said that so long as they meditated here, they still had a chance at transcendence.
“This scene really is shocking.” The Great Sage’s fiery eyes shook. Although Old Lord Taishang had once refined him in flames, even he trembled in the face of such scalding lava.
“I’ve troubled you.”
As everyone else gazed at the lava in shock and horror, Red Demon strode into peril without the slightest hesitation. When the others saw this, some scoffed that he didn’t know his limits, while others were shaken by his heroic valor. Either way, Red Demon was now the center of attention. A situation like this needed someone to take the lead. Those who remained would see what happened to Red Demon before deciding whether to forge ahead or remain here.
Pure white heavenly flames rained down without pause, and lava burst upward from the ground.
It seemed like the end of the world, and the proud Red Demon seemed pitiful and insignificant by comparison. He cautiously avoided every last threat, endured the baptism of those piercing, unearthly winds, and gradually headed closer to the end.
“He’s over halfway there.”
A full hour had passed, and this hellscape was only about a hundred meters across, yet he’d only gotten halfway through.
The crowd exclaimed over his good luck. To think he’d made it halfway there without dying amidst the lava! They also sighed with emotion over the difficulty of traversing this danger zone. Red Demon was, after all, one of the stronger experts present. And yet, it had still taken him so long just to get halfway through.
But at that moment, Red Demon, who was like a tiny boat drifting about the vast ocean, was suddenly stroke head-on by a bolt of red lightning.
He shook, then collapsed into the lava. From the perspective of those watching, he didn’t even get the chance to struggle; the ashes of his corpse must have already intermingled with the lava.
“This… Is he dead?”
It seemed it really wasn’t easy to traverse the lava. Even Red Demon, with his deep, inscrutable cultivation, had to proceed with the utmost caution, yet in the end, even he had wound up dead without so much as leaving a corpse behind.
In a flash, the various imperial king experts were in uproar. In their heart of hearts, they had absolutely no desire to forge ahead into such peril.
“You saw the results too. If you still don’t believe the danger, you’re welcome to go ahead and test your luck. Of course, before that, I’d like to give you a fair warning: the good fortune waiting beyond the lava is reserved for the Emperor Star. you…”
Ye Zichen didn’t know why, but for some reason, he saw a hint of playful ridicule in the remnant soul’s eyes.
Ye Zichen naturally didn’t know the Second Era’s Master of the Stars, but thinking about it, if he’d become master of the Emperor Star, he shouldn’t be this sort of person. Especially in the face of life and death. Even if he wasn’t the type to take pity on them, he at the very least shouldn’t be playing with them like this.
Just as Ye Zichen was questioning the nature of the remnant’s smile, and before the remnant had even finished his speech, Gu Li led his followers and An Lu into the danger zone without hesitation.
“Let’s go!”
The soul remnant’s threats clearly had no effect on them at all. When he saw this, the soul fragment’s eyes flashed with fury, but just as he was about to say something, that little loli and bulky man walked into the lava-filled danger zone too.
“Throwing your lives away!”
Shockingly, Red Demon’s death only encouraged more people to enter that perilous land. Those remaining in the paradise reacted as if they were watching a parade of idiots, throwing themselves into endless danger one after another.
Until…
They succumbed to the danger and perished.
Gu Li’s entire group died.
At least, Ye Zichen had seen them die within the lava. Furthermore, they didn’t last as long as Red Demon had. They didn’t walk as far, and their death went faster too.
The loli and her stalwart companion fell even shorter; they perished within the lava after less than a hundred breaths of time.
“Gu Li’s dead?” Yang Jian stared, eyes wide. He didn’t know what to say. In truth, Gu Li’s death was a good thing for them. And yet, whenever he saw Gu Li, he was convinced that if “the good died young”, Gu Li was sure to live forever. He found it hard ot believe that Gu Li would die so easily.
Furthermore, he felt it was a pity about An Lu, that girl with the eyes so pure, just looking at them seemed to cleanse his soul. She’d followed Gu Li, that duplicitous scumbag, into peril and died with him.
“Why didn’t you stop them? Or at least stop An Lu?” asked Pu Jingwan.
Ye Zichen might not care too much about Gu Li, but An Lu’s death was sure to make his heart ache.
As she said this, Pu Jingwan glanced at Ye Zichen. She knew that he’d always seen An Lu like a younger sister.
“Let’s go.”
Ye Zichen had been quiet all this time, yet that was how he broke his silence. The great emperors at his side all stared in a daze, while Yang Jian and the Great Sage looked at him in disbelief.
“Ye-zi, have you gone stupid?” Yang Jian was at a loss. “I think staying here sounds pretty good. Don’t you think, monkey?”
The Great Sage glanced at the lava, then scratched his head. “I think so too. Yang Jian’s making a lot of sense.”
“Let’s go.” To their surprise, Ye Zichen reacted as if he hadn’t even heard them. He simply walked straight into the lava.
When his friends saw this, although they were unwilling, they followed. If Ye Zichen went in, they couldn’t possibly just leave him on his own.
It was much the same for the great emperors. Ye Zichen was the Emperor Star; like it or not, they had to ensure his safety.
Furthermore, they felt that Ye Zichen wasn’t the type to just disregard the consequences of his actions. If he’d chosen to go inside, he might very well have discovered something they hadn’t.
“It’s not an illusion!”
While Red Demon’s death had struck Ye Zichen a little, it was Gu Li’s death that really made him feel there was something fishy about all this.
He in no way believed Gu Li was dead!
Especially since, after Red Demon died, Gu Li nevertheless resolutely forged on ahead. He’d even brought An Lu with him. This convinced Ye Zichen that something strange was going on.
As he watched from the outside, Ye Zichen thought the lava might just be some sort of hallucination.
But now that he was really inside, he realized that all of it, from the howling winds and lava to the heavenly flames and red lightning, were real.
However, they weren’t as fierce as they’d seemed watching from that otherworldly paradise.
The lava was hot, as were the descending heavenly flames, but not so hot that they could damage an imperial expert.
In that case, it was clear that while this place’s hazards were no illusions, Red Demon, Gu Li, and the others’ deaths were fake!
“Ye-zi.”
Yang Jian and the Great Sage followed. They were completely focused on Ye Zichen’s safety, so they hadn’t realized what was happening here yet.
“Is everyone here?” Ye Zichen glanced at those who’d come in behind him. Every great emperor of the alliance, including Venerate Spirit Treasure, had followed him into this blazing hellscape.
“Let’s go, then!”
“Be careful! This place…” Yang Jian was just about to drag him back when he realized that the flames and lightning simply weren’t all that scary.
“What’s going on?”
“It seems that soul fragment was playing us.” Xuan Ji watched, and when a streak of flame next descended, she even reached out to touch it.
The pure white flames blazed on her palms, but they didn’t do any damage at all.
“I thought there was something strange about these heavenly flames and that red lightning. Neither are at the pinnacle of their respective daos. Red Demon’s cultivation is no inferior to ours, yet after a single bolt of red lightning, he fell into the lava and died without so much as the chance to resist. It’s rather suspicious.”
“That’s true.” Empress Su Qingyan reached for the flames too. When she held them in her palm, they felt warm, but they didn’t do her any damage. Then, she glanced back at that idyllic grassland. The remaining experts watched, their gazes just as terrified as before.
“What is the God Emperor’s remnant soul trying to accomplish with this? What good does keeping us there do him? As far as I know, the Second Era’s God Emperor was compassionate to all. He shouldn’t do something so disadvantageous for the Third Era.”
“The God Emperor, naturally, wouldn’t do such a thing. But what about other people?” laughed Venerate Spirit Treasure.
“Others?” The great emperors froze, then thought back to what they knew of when the God Emperor had been buried here. “Are you saying that that soul fragment isn’t the former God Emperor’s at all? And that it’s actually…”
“At a fundamental level, the Second and Third Eras occupy the same space. The Second Era’s Master of the Stars failed to transcend, and his auxiliary and fated stars transformed into the stars of the night sky. Before he was buried in this mausoleum, the Second Era’s Master of the Stars sealed that era’s Demon Emperor. But who knows just where he sealed him?” asked Venerate Spirit Treasure.
In the primordial era, the demons had brazenly invaded god and yao territory.
Human and yao had no choice but to join forces to ward off the invasion. However, the demonic horde was too vast. Even together, they couldn’t slow the pace of the invasion.
Countless lives were lost or ruined.
Since the then-God Emperor was also his era’s Master of the Stars, he used his own soul to seal the Demon Emperor and end this calamity.
Without their leader, the demons broke out into in-fighting, giving the yao and gods a chance to catch their breath.
Afterward, the Four Great Auxiliary Stars buried the God Emperor here. But it was true…. No one knew just where that Demon Emperor had been sealed!
“That remnant soul really is the Second Era’s Demon Emperor!” exclaimed Xue Yang.
“I’m eighty to ninety percent sure of it,” chuckled Venerate Spirit Treasure. “If so, then that ‘paradise…..’” Chao Feng started to speak, but trailed off.
Venerate Spirit Treasure responded without hesitation, “What ‘paradise’? I’m afraid that’s simply that guy’s graveyard!”