Chapter 176: Sea of Fire

“Stop bawling, though the cost of activating this thing is not small, no one asked you to use it all the time. At a critical moment, it could possible save your life.” Upon seeing Lin Dong’s depressed appearance, the small marten could not help but roll its eyes and say.

“Other people would be so excited if they obtain this kind of middle ranked Symbol Puppet, it’s only two thousand Pure Yuan pills after all.”

After hearing the little marten’s words, Lin Dong immediately rolled his eyes. He was no important figure and did not have the support of a great clan. Behind him, there was only an unremarkable and tiny Lin Family.

“Ai, fine, I’ll just take it as picking up a lousy piece of life insurance.” Lin Dong softly sighed. Like the little marten said, even if the cost to activate this Symbol Puppet was not small, there are times when it would perhaps be able to achieve a life changing effect. When comparing two thousand Pure Yuan pills to his life, the latter was more precious.

With these thoughts, Lin Dong also raised his hand and kept the Symbol Puppet into his Qiankun bag. After which, he turned his head to gaze at the broken door nearby. Deeply exhaling a breath of air, he did not hesitate as he beckoned with his hand, taking the lead to slowly walk over, while Little Flame and the small marten also swiftly followed.

After walking through the broken door, what entered his eyes was a huge mess. The remains of many broken Symbol Puppet limbs covered the floor, while some markings on the ground indicated that an intense battle had occurred here. These were probably left behind by Lin Langtian and the rest.

Lin Dong slowly walked within this messy passage, although he did not encounter any treasures, he also did not meet any obstruction. Looks like Lin Langtian and the rest had thoroughly cleaned this place, and anything that would obstruct them had been destroyed by force.

In this quietness, Lin Dong walked for about ten minutes as he passed through several spacious and huge hlls. Towards the end, the traces of battle in these places became increasingly intense. One could tell that the Symbol Puppets later on were getting stronger and stronger, combined with their numbers, even Lin Langtian would have to make a little effort.

“Pa!”

When Lin Dong’s steps once again passed through another empty yet extremely messy huge hall, his gaze suddenly paused on curtain of light to his front.

This seems to be the end of the passage, with only the curtain of light emitting a faint glow. Lin Dong very carefully walked near that curtain of light before his eyes concentrated on a shattered Symbol Puppet in front of him. The color of this Symbol Puppet was exactly the same as the one he had obtained in the from the medicine pool, and it also looked to be a middle ranked Symbol Puppet.

From the exceedingly fierce scars of battle, it was evident that this Symbol Puppet had once fought with Lin Langtian and the rest. However, in the end, it was still unable to stop them and had been forcefully destroyed.

“Even a middle ranked Symbol Puppet that has a power comparable to a Form Creation stage practitioner is unable to stop them.”

Lin Dong lowered his head and touched the broken Symbol Puppet, as a serious look flitted across his eyes. These guys were undoubtedly the finest younger generation members of the Great Yan Empire. Such strength truly caused one to gasp in admiration.

“The symbol inscriptions that the Nirvana stage practitioner had left on this Symbol Puppet had yet to fade completely, thus, he still possessed the ability to fight. And it is also because of this that they were unable to take it for their own use. Among the younger generation members of the Great Yan Empire, these four are still considered not bad, however, compared to that Nirvana stage practitioner, they still have a long way to go. Even after so many years, the symbol inscription was still not something they could erase.” The small marten sat on Lin Dong’s shoulders as it remarked.

Lin Dong lightly nodded his head. Truth be told, he was really fortunate to have picked up an ownerless middle ranked Symbol Puppet.

“If you enter from here, you should reach the core part of the old tomb. Do you plan on entering? It would likely be several times more dangerous inside than before.” The small marten looked at the curtain of light at their front as it spoke.

Lin Dong nodded his head and smiled: “Since we’ve already reached this place, would we still turn back?”

As his words were spoken, Lin Dong did not hesitate as he stepped forward and entered the screen of light. The screen of light undulated and his figure disappeared. After seeing this, the small marten and Little Flame also followed as they dashed into the screen of light.

…

After entering the screen of light, darkness appeared before Lin Dong’s eyes for a moment and in the next instance, a scarlet red light flooded his eyes. An extremely red-hot wave of fire attacked him and forced him to hastily utilise Yuan Power to protect his body.

After protecting his body, Lin Dong finally had the time to size up his surroundings. Immediately, astonishment colored his eyes, because what appeared before him was actually a scarlet red sea of fire, which was where the wave of heat from before had originated from.

“These flames should be illusionary right?” Lin Dong furrowed his eyebrows as he inquired

“Whether it’s real or fake, who can be sure. This should be a great formation, and it seems to be rather well made.” The small marten looked for a while before its claws pointed towards the center of the flaming sea: “Oh, those few guys also seem to be stuck.”

Upon hearing these words, Lin Dong’s gaze hastily shifted to look. Sure enough, he saw a few figures resisting the waves of fire within the flaming sea. Those figures turned out to be Lin Langtian and the rest.

“Such a strong great formation, to think that it could trap even Lin Langtian and the rest!” Lin Dong softly gaped before he spoke again: “Then, this great formation…I’m afraid we will also be unable to pass.”

“That may not be certain, every formation has its own method of passing through.” The small marten objected as its claws pointed towards the sea of fire to their front: “Do you see that the sea of fire is split into several paths of fire?”

Lin Dong’s eyes also turned in that direction, only then did he see that the sea of fire had actually been split into countless paths of fire.

“Is this the method to cross? However, there are so many paths, which one is the true path?” Lin Dong asked in astonishment.

“Heh heh, these paths are all fake. Lin Langtian and the rest have been unable to uncover this fact, they tried to follow these paths and instead ended up trapped in the formation.” The small marten let out a strange laughter as it said.

“All fake? Then where is the real one?” Lin Dong was once again taken aback.

“The road before us is the true path.” The small marten’s claws once again pointed forward. This time, it did not point towards any of the paths, but directly pointed at the burning sea of fire.

“The most impossible place is usually the most likely one.” As it gazed at Lin Dong’s shocked expression, the small marten laughed before it appeared in a flash on Lin Dong’s shoulder, and lazily said: “Let’s go, brat, be a little courageous.”

As he gazed at the raging sea of fire, Lin Dong let out a bitter laugh. You needed more than a little courage to charge into a sea of fire.

“Ai, I’ll try…”

After pausing on the spot for a while, Lin Dong finally gritted his teeth. Since he had already reached this place, he could not possible retreat. Although Lin Langtian and the rest were trapped, he at least still had this extremely experienced little marten as his marten advisor…

Since he had made his decision, Lin Dong no longer hesitated. A vigorous Yuan Power gushed forth and wrapped around his body. At the same time, the Mental Energy in his Niwan Palace also began to stir, preparing to deal with any sudden situation that might occur at any time.

Thoroughly prepared, Lin Dong’s foot slowly stepped forward, as he was on the verge of stepping into the sea of flames, he once again firmly gritted his teeth as he stepped in.

As he walked into the sea of fire, the burning pain he anticipated did not come. Only then did Lin Dong’s tensed heart finally relax, as he wiped off a layer of sweat from his forehead.

“Just continue forward.” The small marten ridiculed Lin Dong for a while as always, before it waved its claws and said.

Lin Dong nodded his head, after calling for Little Flame, he continued to walk forward into the deeper parts of the flaming sea. The surrounding flames no longer caused Lin Dong to feel unwell, he tried to grab at the flames but instead seemed to have grabbed onto nothingness and he did not feel anything at all.

“This is truly bizarre.”

Lin Dong secretly praised in his heart, as he quickened his pace. As he reached the deeper parts, he was gradually able to see Lin Langtian and the rest, who were giving their all to resist the columns of flame which shot out from the sea of fire. For a time, they seemed to be rather flustered. These unlucky fellows had taken the wrong path and had instead ended up in the great formation’s attack range.

In this sea of fire, Lin Dong was able to see Lin Langtian and the rest, however, it seems like they were unable to see the former, and it was also because of this, that Lin Dong was finally able to inspect them without fear.

“Eh…”

As Lin Dong’s gaze swept across the sea of fire above him, he suddenly let out a cry of alarm. This was because he had discovered that the mysterious woman who stood atop the green lotus was unexpectedly not here.

“Could she also have successfully passed through this great formation?” Lin Dong’s expression fluctuated. He was only able to effortlessly unravel this great formation under the small marten’s guidance, yet, if that woman had overcome it with her own strength, wouldn’t that be a little overwhelming? After all, even people as strong as Lin Langtian and the rest were all stuck here…

As Lin Dong’s expression was in flux, an illusionary huge bronze door suddenly appeared in the sea of fire to his front.

Staring at the seemingly illusory appearance of that huge copper door, Lin Dong’s heart slightly sunk. He did not expect that there was indeed someone who had entered already. If he was not wrong, it should be the mysterious woman who stood atop the green lotus.

“Since I’m already here, no matter what, I’ll go in and take a look!”

Before the huge copper door, Lin Dong hesitated for a moment, in the end, he was not resigned to leave. His figure flashed as he made his way into that illusionary door.

As Lin Dong passed through the huge copper door, the scarlet red also completely dissipated. A peaceful stone hall appeared before his eyes.

There were not overly extravagant decorations in this stone hall, and it instead looked rather simple and empty. Lin Dong’s gaze swept one round around the stone hall before concentrating at its center. A stone coffin without a lid stood there and atop the stone coffin, was a ball of light that emitted a vigorous life force.

Lin Dong slightly narrowed his eyes, as he concentrated on that ball of light. Faintly, he could see a dark green heart that seemed to be made of bright energy, which was gently beating. As the dark green heart throbbed, the Yuan Power in the huge hall also seemed to shake.

“Nirvana Heart!”

The small marten’s somewhat astonished voice slowly rang out in Lin Dong’s mind.

“Is that the legendary Nirvana Heart?!”

Lin Dong’s gaze concentrated on that ball of light, his eyes were slightly glazed as he slowly stepped forward.

However, just as Lin Dong’s foot stepped forward, an indifferent voice that was infused with soul energy suddenly rang out in the quiet stone hall.

“This is not a place you can come to, please withdraw…”

Lin Dong’s foot froze, soon after, he slowly lifted his head, his pupils slightly shrinking as he gazed up in the air. There, a green lotus floated, while a calm as a lotus seed and beautiful figure, was currently gazing at him with a pair of clear eyes, which did not have even the slightest ripples on its surface.