These creatures are truly too powerful! Shi Hao spotted several skeletal remains submerged at the bottom of the magma sea. Merely the residual blood qi emanating from their skulls was enough to strike down stars from the heavens—utterly staggering!
The magma sea stretched endlessly. The distance Shi Hao and the Enchantress had traversed alone spanned countless miles. As stars plummeted, they crashed into the sea with deafening roars, sending waves soaring into the sky.
Yet, despite the presence of several imperial bones, the vast sea remained largely undisturbed.
One of the seated imperial skeletons radiated light, pulverizing the falling stars into dust, which dissolved into the magma.
“This…” Even the Enchantress was left dumbfounded, her crimson lips parting into an “O,” her bewitching eyes wide with shock. Her lithe figure swayed as she leaned forward, her chest heaving with rapid breaths.
What kind of divine power was this? What kind of heaven-defying means?
Shi Hao gazed up at the starry sky, then back at the skeletal remains in the imperial bone sea. The residual blood qi from their consciousness seas could defy the heavens and shake down the sun and moon—it was beyond astonishing.
He wondered just how powerful these beings had been in life.
Alas, he couldn’t fathom it. Such realms surpassed his comprehension. Without reaching those heights himself, he could never truly understand.
His current cultivation simply wasn’t strong enough. If he had transcended, he might have grasped the nature of these beings.
“Sigh, I’ve long heard that those who dare claim the title of ‘Emperor’ are indeed earth-shattering existences. It’s no exaggeration,” the Enchantress murmured, awed by their might yet saddened by their fate.
Such formidable figures had still fallen in battle. The intensity of those ancient conflicts was unimaginable.
“Are there any imperial treasures here?” The Enchantress’s eyes darted around, her expression hinting at mischief.
Imperial treasures were artifacts that had etched their names into history, forged with the combined strength of entire clans. The emergence of even one would shake the world.
Emperors—some immortal, others standing at the pinnacle of the mortal realm—each dominated their era, unrivaled for ages. Blessed with immense fortune, the treasures they crafted were beyond comprehension.
Shi Hao also searched, activating his Heavenly Eye to scan the depths of the magma sea.
“There’s something there!”
Soon, he spotted broken weapons at the bottom. Even from a distance, he could sense their chilling aura—as if those shattered artifacts could rend the cosmos apart.
“Ah, forget it. We have no way to obtain them,” the Enchantress sighed, resigning herself to reality.
A mere wisp of blood qi from those bones could sever stars. Attempting to claim their treasures would likely invite calamity.
They observed the area for a long time, circling and scrutinizing it.
“This place may not be useful now, but it could become a battlefield in the future,” Shi Hao mused, his gaze drifting between the imperial bone sea and the boundless starry sky.
“How so?” the Enchantress asked.
“War is inevitable. These fallen warriors died with unresolved grudges. Their bones remain. If their enemies ever return, who knows what might happen?” Shi Hao said.
Even these two powerhouses skirted the sea, hastening onward toward the colossal city at the heart of the forbidden zone.
“Hmm?” The Enchantress gasped in surprise.
After traversing millions of miles across the crimson magma, they sensed an overwhelming pressure—a vast, majestic presence.
Deep in the magma sea, a hazy, colossal landmass loomed on the horizon, its outline just visible.
“Is that an island, or are we reaching the sea’s end?” the Enchantress wondered.
“Still within the sea,” Shi Hao replied.
They advanced swiftly, and the indistinct scenery gradually sharpened into focus, leaving them stunned.
This was no sea’s end—it was a mountain, towering beyond measure, piercing the clouds. The closer they got, the more immense and majestic it appeared.
Now fully visible, it resembled not a mountain but a continent shaped like one, rising from the magma sea.
Barren and gray, it stood silent, like a dormant volcano.
Using their Heavenly Eyes, they confirmed it was indeed a volcano—just one of unimaginable scale.
It seemed to stretch beyond the heavens, impossibly vast.
For a moment, they wondered if the entire magma sea had formed from its eruptions.
The mountain’s peak vanished into the clouds, brushing against celestial bodies.
“Phoenix Mountain!”
Shi Hao spotted three ancient characters carved into the mountainside, his expression turning peculiar.
“Oho! That name alone promises wonders. We must ascend!” the Enchantress exclaimed.
The True Phoenix—a being ranked among the Ten Fierce, peerless in its era, hailed as an immortal creature.
To find a mountain bearing its name here sparked endless speculation.
Especially with this sea of roiling magma—legend spoke of phoenixes reborn in flame, and this fiery expanse only deepened the mystery.
Exchanging a glance, they began their ascent.
“Phoenix Mountain” was less a mountain and more a landmass. Upon setting foot on it, its sheer vastness overwhelmed them.
Only from high above could one appreciate its grandeur—a titanic peak rising from the sea into the firmament.
“A city!”
At the summit lay a vast, flat expanse dominated by an enormous city—likely the legendary Phoenix City.
In ancient times, pure-blooded phoenixes had dwelled in celestial realms. Finding their ruins here was no surprise.
The Enchantress marveled at the withered but indestructible phoenix trees lining the streets, their bare branches gleaming like metal.
The gray mountain, the lifeless city, the desiccated trees—all pointed to this place’s identity.
Legends abounded of phoenixes nesting in phoenix trees.
Yet here, only silence and death remained.
“Wait—something’s wrong!” The Enchantress’s instincts flared.
Shi Hao, already sensing danger, grabbed her wrist and bolted.
Mist swirled, obscuring their vision.
Suddenly, they stood on a street, inside the city.
“Damn it, we’ve been trapped!” the Enchantress paled.
They’d been outside moments ago, but in their haste, they’d triggered a formation, inexplicably entering the city.
A supreme formation clearly guarded this place.
Repeated attempts to escape failed. Even spotting the walls proved futile—they were repelled each time they tried to climb.
Leaping into the air only resulted in being forced back down.
Trapped for three days, they grew desperate.
The Phoenix City was uncanny, its secrets inscrutable.
Then, on the fifth day, a deafening roar shattered the silence.
A monstrous figure, thousands of feet tall and one-legged, lumbered into view, wielding a spiked club.
*Boom!*
With each swing, buildings and trees crumbled.
Shi Hao and the Enchantress had previously tried—and failed—to damage the formation-protected structures.
This creature’s strength dwarfed theirs.
Yet, as it passed, the ruins miraculously repaired themselves.
Dodging its rampage, they barely avoided the club’s sweep.
Then, as abruptly as it appeared, the monster vanished.
Stunned, they wondered if it had ever existed.
Half a month passed with no escape.
Shi Hao considered consulting the God-Striking Stone, but it lay dormant, encased in a cocoon during a critical evolution.
Trapped for over a month, they feared missing the Heavenly Deity Institution’s trials.
Then, they spotted movement—a ghostly figure drifting like a leaf on the wind.
An emaciated old man, eyes sunken and closed, skin like tarnished copper.
A walking corpse.
“He’s dead,” the Enchantress whispered.
Yet the corpse moved, chillingly silent.
Then, it raised a hand—and plucked two stars from the sky, compressing them into spinning orbs.
Shi Hao and the Enchantress gaped.
A dead man wielding such power?
Indeed, the corpse bore a fatal wound—a hole through its forehead.
This was no revenant like those of the Netherworld. It seemed driven by lingering will, its body un-decayed.
“An instinctual remnant of its past life. If war comes, it might unleash unimaginable force,” Shi Hao mused.
Fortunately, it ignored them, drifting away like a specter.
“Could it be one of the Ten Fierce—a phoenix?” the Enchantress wondered.
Shi Hao’s heart raced. It was possible.
“Have I just met one of the Ten Fierce?”
“Maybe.”
They pondered this for days.
After a month and a half, they discovered clues in the city’s ancient structures—certain formations might offer escape.
But as they activated one, their surroundings blurred, and they were transported.
They found themselves in a cave abode, bathed in chaotic qi and radiant light.
Still in the city? Or linked to it?
Most shocking of all—a massive egg pulsed with vibrant life force.
“Could this be… a phoenix egg? Don’t tell me we’re about to leave with a supreme True Phoenix!”
Shi Hao’s mind raced. The egg seemed starved for millennia.
Glistening and enormous, it faintly reminded him of the aura he’d sensed from the Phoenix Maiden during his dream of the Immortal Ancient Era—a cultivator with three strands of immortal qi.
“But I saw her die. It can’t be her,” he muttered, shaking his head.
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