Ye Lingshan had just appeared when she let out a shout. Surrounded by runes, she actually charged through the sea of flames.

Long Chen was startled. Worried that she would be injured by Huo Lieyun’s flame domain, he grabbed her, enveloping her in his own flames to protect her.

“What’s going on?”

“Quick, there’s no time to explain! Run!”

Just at this moment, Huo Lieyun, whose flame energy had reached a peak, threw a giant blazing flame spear at the two of them.

However, at the same time, a furious roar came from beneath the ground. A giant figure larger than a mountain charged out.

“What the fuck?!” Long Chen’s hair instantly stood on end. It was a giant ox-headed devil. Black qi swirled around its body as if it was a fiend from hell. Its aura gave him a bone-chilling feeling.

He had no idea what Ye Lingshan had done to provoke such a beast. It was clearly after her.

Long Chen hastily formed hand seals. His Yuan Spirit lit up, chanting the Nirvana Scripture. The flame energy of Huo Lieyun’s paragon art was suddenly under his control.

Huo Lieyun’s expression changed. Long Chen had suddenly stripped away his flame energy. It was like there was a supreme will present.

Although he had also mastered the Nirvana Scripture, he had never imagined that it could possess such might. Having lost control of his own flames, he even lost connection to his own flame spear.

He was about to resist with his own Nirvana Scripture, but it was too late. His flame spear suddenly pierced toward the ox-head devil’s head.

BOOM!

The flame spear exploded. That was the strike of a paragon art, and it caused an immense explosion.

However, that giant ox-head devil wasn’t injured at all. Its head merely quivered for a moment, its movements becoming sluggish.

It let out a furious roar. This attack seemed to have provoked it. Its body came charging out of the crack in the ground.

Just standing there, half its body pierced the clouds. It suddenly smashed a fist at Huo Lieyun. It viewed that spear attack as an attack from Huo Lieyun.

That was because of everyone present, Huo Lieyun’s aura was the strongest, and he had flames surging out of him. He became the ox-head devil’s main target.

“Bastard!” Huo Lieyun was enraged. That attack had clearly been caused by Long Chen, but there was no way for him to explain that to this beast. It also wasn’t giving him time to explain. Its punch was about to reach him, and it was an appalling attack.

“Flame Divine Wall!” The flames around Huo Lieyun transformed into countless dragons. They twined in front of him, forming a giant barrier.

The ox-head devil’s punch instantly blew apart this powerful barrier. Flames roared in every direction.

“Run!” Suddenly, the other experts noticed that the Phantom Blood Locusts had vanished at some point.

However, their fleeing speed wasn’t as fast as the wave of flames. They were drowned in them. Some of the experts who weren’t fast enough or weren’t strong enough were instantly slain.

Amongst these flames were some black runes that came from the ox-head devil. The two kinds of power were clashing and were so powerful that even these elite Empyreans were unable to resist.

Once the flame wave was past, there were over seventy Empyreans whose bodies had been destroyed. Amongst those, just over ten were able to protect their Yuan Spirits as they continued fleeing.

Suddenly, the ox-headed devil smashed its own chest with its fists. An ear-piercing soundwave spread in every direction.

Anyone who heard it felt their souls shudder in pain. Those who only had Yuan Spirits left instantly exploded. This was actually a strange attack targeted toward Yuan Spirits.

Huo Lieyun had been sent flying by the punch. As he had been the one who had borne the majority of its power, his body almost collapsed.

He was furious. Just how did such a terrifying monster end up setting its sights on him? Summoning a pair of flame wings, he fled. If he continued fighting against such a beast, he really would be an idiot.

“Hey, what are you running for? Weren’t you bragging about your legend just now? Bring out that prideful background of yours to fight against it!” Long Chen had long since fled and was ahead of Huo Lieyun. He didn’t forget to turn back and mock him.

Huo Lieyun gnashed his teeth. His spear trembled. With almost no hesitation, he sent it stabbing toward Long Chen.

“Haha, many thanks for sending me off!” Long Chen laughed. Black flames flowed around Evilmoon as he slashed it into the flame spear.

Long Chen was sent flying, and the speed at which he was flying shot up. Borrowing the force of Huo Lieyun’s blow, he increased the gap between them even more.

As for Huo Lieyun, his speed dropped as he faced the power of Long Chen’s saber. The ox-headed devil behind him sent a palm crashing toward him.

Huo Lieyun’s expression changed. He hastily blocked its attack again.

As a result, he once more hacked up blood, his whole body almost exploding.

However, he had learned from Long Chen and borrowed the force of this blow to flee. He had to get further from this terrifying monster, or he really might die here.

Suddenly, the ground began to tear apart, and one giant figure after another crawled out. They were like fiends from hell. They began to slaughter the experts present.

Only by personally facing these terrifying monsters did the experts learn just how strong they were. Even if they had time to activate their divine items, they couldn’t block a single attack.

They fled in every direction, terrified. But their speed was clearly too little too slow in the face of these ox-head devils.

It was like this world had become hell. The ox-head devils were constantly slaying the experts. Even Empyreans appeared helpless in front of them.

“What did you do to provoke such terrifying fellows?!” demanded Long Chen as he pulled along Ye Lingshan. Lightning circulated around them. He was forced to dodge the monsters as they continued to appear from underground.

There were dozens of them now. He didn’t dare to face them in battle, as he wasn’t looking to be a masochist. Their power wasn’t something that he could face.

“I found a sealed copper plate underground. I didn’t have time to figure out what it was before I was hunted down,” answered Ye Lingshan. She pulled out a fist-sized piece of copper.

It was about the thickness of a chopstick and was covered in cracks. There were no fluctuations coming from it, and it looked like a piece of scrap metal.

“At first, I thought it was some supreme treasure. After all, it was sealed. I had to use a paragon art to break part of the formation to get it. But it doesn’t seem like a treasure now. My luck is garbage. I almost got killed by these monsters.” Ye Lingshan shook her head with some lingering terror. She had clearly gone through a dangerous experience underground. For her to even live to escape was already the protection of the heavens.

“This is....” Long Chen was shocked upon seeing the copper plate.

“What? Is it a treasure?” asked Ye Lingshan, surprised.

“Let’s get out first.” Long Chen put away the copper plate, but he was still shocked. He didn’t recognize the copper plate itself, but he recognized its aura.

That was the aura of the Eastern Wasteland Bell. There was no way that he was mistaken. Back then, the Eastern Wasteland Bell had been nourished in his spiritual space. It had been on the verge of collapse, and it was thanks to his spiritual nourishment that it hadn’t been destroyed.

Later on, it had unleashed a single blow in the branch Xuantian Dao Sect of the Eastern Wasteland. It had defeated enemies that he hadn’t been able to defeat himself, and after accomplishing its promise, it had vanished without a trace. In all the years since, he hadn’t managed to learn anything about where it had gone.

This tiny bit of copper was actually a portion of the Eastern Wasteland Bell. Back when he had seen it, it had been fragmented, with many missing parts. Unexpectedly, Ye Lingshan had actually managed to find one of those fragments.

However, this fragment had no spirituality on its own, looking like garbage. Long Chen then placed it in his spiritual space in hopes that it could revive with the nourishment of his Spiritual Strength.

The world was constantly shaking as the attacks of the ox-head devils slaughtered the experts present. Only a few managed to slip through them. The rest were annihilated.

As for Long Chen’s side, there were three of them. Long Chen had to repeatedly dodge their attacks. Several times they were almost struck by their palms. Ye Lingshan was pale with terror.

“Long Chen, maybe we should return the copper plate to them. It doesn’t seem like they’re willing to let us off!”

“We can’t. This copper plate is too important. We have to be able to bring it away. Don’t worry, we’ll reach the exit soon,” said Long Chen as he pulled her away. He quickly saw the gate that he had come through.

At this time, Huo Lieyun came flying over from another direction. However, he was covered in blood and looked wretched.

“You go first. I’ll eliminate him.”

Long Chen pushed Ye Lingshan into the gate. That was where they had entered from.

“Huo Lieyun, do you want to make things more stimulating?” Long Chen smiled upon seeing Ye Lingshan fly through the gate and vanish. He moved to block Huo Lieyun’s path, a black lotus slowly condensing in his hand.