“Why me?” the priest of fire turned to Ashu. “Why didn’t you choose the others? They’re better than me… I only became the priest of fire less than three years ago.”

Ashu spread his hands and shrugged like Lu Yun often did. “Because I only have the Fire Altar.”

……

Once the priest of fire fully mastered the Fire Altar, everything within the volcano followed too. Endless waves of fire rushed toward the scarlet ape Lu Yun had manifested, exponentially amplifying its power.

Lu Yun got to his feet. Connate li fire could no longer harm him and he didn’t need the protection of his fire essence. He was free to fully tap into the Mastery of the Five Elements and combine li fire with the scarlet ape.

It grew bigger yet, imbued with the power of the Tome of Life and Death. Snarling, the scarlet ape punched through the ghostly yang fire around the moat snake and grabbed her true form.

The Tome of Life and Death trembled above Lu Yun’s head, blasting the power of reincarnation into the moat snake through the scarlet ape. The snake screamed and momentarily lost her consciousness, ghostly power scattered.

“Open!” Seizing the opening, Lu Yun opened the Gates of the Abyss and dragged the moat snake through the doors.

The snake was too powerful. Not even the Tome of Life and Death would be able to defeat her if her strength hadn’t been suppressed by the connate-grade peerless treasure, and if Lu Yun hadn’t used his death art to summon connate fire essence and create the scarlet ape with yang fire.

……

Whoosh!

No sooner had the moat snake disappeared than the yang fire contracted violently and extinguished itself, leaving the world of blazing fire with nothing but a pitch-black void.

“The peerless treasure has come to a halt!” The priest of fire looked on with shock. Nevertheless, the area still brimmed with pure yang energy even without the flames of the volcano. It was still the point of purest yang in the tomb realm.

“The volcano was never here to guard the door to the yin tomb.” Ashu wasn’t at all surprised.

An oppressive coldness descended upon the area while wisps of chilling wind swept in from somewhere out of sight.

This was still the point of extreme yang, but the extremity of anything tipped over to the opposite, which created beings of extreme yin in this instance. Below them was a bottomless cavern from which the wind originated from.

“Let’s go,” said the priest of fire. “The volcano is now dormant and that will draw the other four priests to investigate.”

Becoming the real priest of fire made her stronger than the other four priests, but she had gained her new position only by agreeing to Ashu’s condition to become the dean of fire dao at the Dao Academy, which was effectively an act of betrayal of Xuan Yuan.

Deep down, she was very ashamed of that decision. She was thus reluctant to face her previous four colleagues.

“Stay here and don’t go anywhere.” Lu Yun suddenly withdrew the scarlet ape manifestation and landed on the Fire Altar. Nodding at the priest, he said, “The connate-grade treasure has ceased operations and the formation of Return to Origin torn down. The one truly guarding the door to the yin tomb has awakened.”

A faint ball of fire bloomed in the inky pit below, flickering in and out of existence. Ponderous breaths grew in strength from the pit, and the chilly “wind” that brushed over them was revealed to be the air flow created by the guardian’s breaths.

“Stay here, I’ll go down for a look.” Before Ashu could say anything, Lu Yun leapt into the pit as a flash of light.

“The other four priests have already come, let’s hide.” As he spoke, Ashu attached a Size Manipulation Talisman to each of the priest and demon sovereign. The three of them shrunk to particle size and went into hiding in a random corner. The power of the Fire Altar concealed them completely.

……

The giant pit ran incredibly deep; the priest of fire had never known such a place existed within the peerless treasure when it’d been obscured by the illusion formation.

Laying in the depths of the pit was a giant dragon. It looked just like a regular dragon, its pitch black body running about fifty kilometers long. What set it apart was the small bloom of fire atop its head.

A torch dragon.

Torch dragons were also known as the Torch of Nine Yin. Born in hell with the power of destruction, they had been guardians of human dao in the distant past. Legend had it that the most powerful of them could manipulate and even reverse yin and yang. With the blink of their eyes, they could turn day into night.

Lu Yun had once seen a torch dragon during Dongfang Hao’s heavenly tribulation, which meant that there was still a living torch dragon somewhere in the world.

Now, in the depths of this peerless treasure, he saw one. The torch dragon’s presence ran as deep as the ocean and was so daunting that it sent one’s teeth chattering. Such terrifying might was something Lu Yun had only experienced once before—in the presence of the three holy kings of the underworld.

A heavyweight of the human king realm! One that lived and breathed, that was untouched and unhurt. Holding his breath, Lu Yun stared at the enormous dragon while the dragon’s pale-gold eyes returned the gesture.

……

“I sense the aura of home on you, which means you’re the successor of the hell of human dao,” the torch dragon’s voice echoed in Lu Yun’s heart, hoarse, heavy, and ancient, laced with nostalgia and melancholy.

“Junior Lu Yun greets Senior Torch Dragon.” Lu Yun bowed to it.

The dragon must be incredibly old. It might’ve even been around during the primeval human dao or before Emperors Fall. It hadn’t reached the emperor realm then, and was thus spared in that great battle.

“Mmm.” The torch dragon inclined its head. “Although you are the successor of hell, I cannot go with you. Torch dragons have gone extinct in order to protect the human race, and I myself am forced to cower beside Xuan Yuan’s body and protect him because of a despicable bet...”

“You’ve misunderstood, senior,” Lu Yun shook his head, moving backward at the same time. “I’m not here to ask you to leave with me. I’m simply entering the yin tomb to grab something.”

“Moreover, I sense a revolting presence from you,” the Torch Dragon continued, ignoring Lu Yun’s response completely. It attempted to unfurl its long body, but the clinking sounds of chains rang from deeper in the pit.

It was chained here.

“I hate foxes. You have a fox with you, don’t you?” Its tones plummeted in warmth, and its pale-gold eyes flashed with rage.