That giant divine pillar slammed into the metal bird, smashing it into the ground. As a result, a long ditch appeared in the land.

This attack had contained Long Chen’s killing intent. Hence, the metal bird was smashed to pieces, while the pillar also crumbled from how hard the metal bird had been.

The metal bird was now no more than a pile of scrap. It had died with the pillar. Suddenly, three figures flew out.

That was their Yuan Spirits. Their physical bodies had been destroyed in the impact, and now they could only flee with their Yuan Spirits.

“Die.” A bolt of lightning instantly swallowed the three of them.

They barely had a chance to scream before they exploded.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Suddenly, Long Chen unleashed a second lightning arrow.

One of the Yuan Spirits had actually used some unknown technique to survive Long Chen’s attack. That Yuan Spirit belonged to their leader.

“Long Chen, just wait! The Mechanism Sect won’t let you off!” He let out a furious roar before actually self-detonating.

His Yuan Spirit transformed into runes that flew out in every direction. His voice rang throughout the air from every one of the runes. “Even in death, I’ll pass this news to the sect! Long Chen, you and everyone near you should just wait to be annihilated by the Mechanism Sect!”

Long Chen’s lightning arrow destroyed most of the runes, but a portion of them flew away.

This was most likely some secret art to transform that leader’s will into runes, and they would pass news of his death to the Mechanism Sect.

Perhaps Long Chen could have destroyed all the runes with one attack, but he hadn’t been expecting something like this, so there was no way to stop it. Since there was no way to stop it, he couldn’t be bothered to care. In any case, he wasn’t afraid of people knowing.

He waved his hand, grabbing the fragments of the stone pillar and the scrapped metal bird. Of course, he also flipped through the corpses, taking their spatial rings.

Long Chen took out a fist-sized sparrow. It looked very ordinary, but it wasn’t actually a sparrow. It was a tool that Guo Ran had made to pass information.

Long Chen opened the stomach of the sparrow, placing the spatial rings inside. The armor and metal bird of the Mechanism Sect should be quite helpful to Guo Ran.

After the sparrow activated, it transformed into a beam of light that shot into the distance.

Long Chen was just about to leave when his pupils shrank. At some point, a white-robed woman had appeared, standing in the sky.

That woman had actually appeared without him sensing it at all. Long Chen couldn’t help being shocked.

Standing there, she was wrapped in immortal mist that gave off watery fluctuations. She was like a fairy wrapped in illusion.

Ripples spread from every part of her, making it impossible for anyone to see her true appearance. It was only vaguely possible to see that she had waist-long hair and an elegant figure. There was an unspeakable immortal charm to her.

She was definitely a peak expert. To be able to escape the senses of the Nine Star Hegemon Body Art, she must be extremely powerful.

“You killed people of the Mechanism Sect. You might have to deal with some trouble in the future.” Her voice was gentle like water.

“I already have plenty of trouble, and I don’t mind adding a Mechanism Sect into the mix,” said Long Chen indifferently. “May I ask if you have any pointers?”

The woman shook her head. “I was just passing by and happened to see it. The Mechanism Sect is very difficult to deal with, and their methods are sinister. They’ll do anything it takes to achieve their goals, so only a few people are willing to provoke them. You had best be prepared.”

“Then many thanks. Ever since I stepped into the cultivation world, the troubles have never stopped, so I’m already used to it.” Long Chen cupped his fists in thanks.

“You should be Long Chen, correct?”

“Correct.”

“You really are just like the stories. Let me warn you, the Mechanism Sect has a supreme expert of the ancient era, Zhao Wuji. He’s very vengeful and a terrifying figure. He will also be attending the gathering, so you’ll definitely see him there.”

After saying that, the woman’s body merged into the empty space as if she didn’t possess a solid body. She vanished at will, without Long Chen being able to grasp where she had gone.

“The monsters of the ancient era really are terrifying,” sighed Long Chen.

Previously, there had been that woman on the Three Foot Golden Crow. She had almost flipped his flying boat just by passing by. Then there was this woman who came and went silently like a ghost. They both gave him a sense of immense pressure.

Since such a woman had called Zhao Wuji a terrifying person, he was probably truly terrifying.

“It seems I’m fated to be accompanied by bad luck in this life. Even just quietly traveling, I run into such bad luck. Just how did these blind idiots end up running into me?”

Long Chen sighed. He had silently picked up another enemy.

“Whatever, it doesn’t matter. If someone wants to play, I’ll accompany them.” Long Chen took a deep breath and stepped into his flying boat, flying away.

He quickly saw the western part of the Martial Heaven Sea-Ring. Ripples appeared on the surface of the water as he flew over it.

Things were very peaceful. Any sea demons that appeared were frightened away by the pressure of the flying boat.

Suddenly, an intense fluctuation came from within the primal chaos space. Long Chen hastily looked, only to see a figure slowly surfacing within the ball of Inverse Dao Water Spirit Flame that was hanging in the sky.

Huo Long had managed to refine a portion of its power before, allowing it to slowly devour the rest of the Inverse Dao Water Spirit Flame without any rejection. Huo Long had dived into it.

During this time, Huo Long had been like a fetus slowly being nourished by the Inverse Dao Water Spirit Flame. Now, it was breaking out.

Huo Long’s figure slowly flew out. Its whole body was fiery red, but now there were water-like ripples coming from it, like it was a dragon of lava.

It suddenly roared and devoured the ball of Inverse Dao Water Spirit Flame hanging in the sky. After devouring it, Huo Long’s body expanded, and it seemed a bit bloated. Huo Long had already learned to control the Inverse Dao Water Spirit Flame’s power. It would now just slowly digest it.

“Haha, good job Huo Long! It just so happened that I was lacking trump cards. You woke up at the right time.” Long Chen laughed. Huo Long had awakened, and he could clearly sense its terrifying fluctuations.

Huo Long vanished from the primal chaos space, reappearing on Long Chen’s arm. It had just touched Long Chen’s arm when his arm caught fire.

Huo Long hastily returned to the primal chaos space. It seemed it would need some more time.

Long Chen was excited, but Huo Long was ten times more excited. It had just tried to show some affection for Long Chen, only to burn him.

“It’s fine, it’s fine. Huo Long, the stronger you are, the better,” comforted Long Chen.

He looked at his arm. It had turned black, almost all the way to his bone. If Huo Long hadn’t retreated fast enough, his arm would have been turned to ash.

Huo Long communicated with Long Chen spiritually, apologizing like a child that had made a mistake.

Long Chen comforted it, even praising it. In the future, it would be able to help him immensely.

After awakening, Huo Long’s intelligence had grown. It told Long Chen that it could use the Inverse Dao Water Spirit Flame in battle now. Although its control wasn’t great enough for alchemy yet, there was no problem when it came to fighting.

Furthermore, this meant that Long Chen would be able to protect himself if he encountered the Pill Fairy once more.

“Good. Then work hard during this time. Try to control it perfectly. Only then can I use it to refine pills. Being able to refine eleventh tier pills is the only way for me to get stronger,” said Long Chen.

Eleventh tier pills would be his foundation for getting stronger right now. He had to resolve that problem quickly, or there was no way he would be able to compete with the monsters that had just appeared.

The flying boat quietly flew over the Martial Heaven Sea-Ring. He didn’t encounter any more trouble, however, there were a few powerful existences that sped past him along the way. He sensed great pressure from every one of them.

Clearly the supreme experts that had been worth sealing in the past were not easy to deal with.

However, Long Chen felt a fierce battle intent soar within him. His blood started to heat up once more in anticipation.

Eventually, he reached the land on the other side. However, there wasn’t a single blade of grass present. It was an endless barren desert.

As he got further into the land, he saw some cities, but their population was very low. There was no way for them to compare to the Eastern Wasteland.

Eventually, he reached a giant city that made Long Chen’s heartbeat quicken. He had finally reached the gathering of past and present heroes.