Chapter 2026: 2026

Long Chen slowly placed his hand inside the pool. The runes covering his body were an ability he had gained after the three volumes of the Nirvana Scripture had merged together. It was strange to describe it, but Long Chen seemed to feel like he had possessed this skill before and was using it naturally.

The runes blocked the Inverse Dao Water Spirit Flame from touching his hand. He no longer felt its terrifying heat, nor did it burn his hand.

“It works!” Long Chen slowly stepped into the pool. With the protection of the runes, the Inverse Dao Water Spirit Flame wasn’t harming him. However, he was still cautious, only slowly fully immersing himself within the pool. He paused for a moment like this, and only after confirming that there were no issues did he continue deeper.

Once he was within the pool he realized that it was even deeper than he had thought. It was actually so deep that he couldn’t see the bottom. He had an urge to look at the bottom, but he didn’t quite dare to do such a thing.

If his runes failed at any moment during that journey, there was no way he would be able to return alive.

At a few meters, Long Chen stopped going any deeper. He called out Huo Long.

Huo Long felt an instinctual fear for the Inverse Dao Water Spirit Flame. Long Chen had to comfort it for a long time before it slowly appeared on his arm and carefully devoured a bit of the Inverse Dao Water Spirit Flame.

Fortunately, this Inverse Dao Water Spirit Flame was just a form of energy, not an Earth Flame Spirit Beast. Otherwise, it would be impossible to subdue it.

Perhaps it was precisely because the Inverse Dao Water Spirit Flame was so terrifying that this special environment had been made for it, specifically to limit its intelligence and prevent it from transforming into an Earth Flame Spirit Beast.

The Inverse Dao Water Spirit Flame was currently masterless. Only now was it possible to devour it without it resisting.

For the first time, Huo Long didn’t dare to absorb too much. It only devoured a tiny amount before returning to the primal chaos space.

When he spat it out, the Inverse Dao Water Spirit Flame fell to the ground like a raindrop.

“You can’t let it land on the ground! Make it float in the air!” cried out Long Chen. If the Inverse Dao Water Spirit Flame were to touch the ground, it would instantly incinerate the surrounding trees and plants. That was not what he wanted.

It was unknown whether or not the primal chaos bead heard his cry, but the sky shook slightly, and an invisible energy caused the Inverse Dao Water Spirit Flame to fly into the sky, making it float there far away from the ground.

Seeing that, Long Chen sighed with relief. However, Huo Long was still afraid and only dared to absorb tiny amounts from Long Chen’s arm before leaving.

It was only after several tests that Huo Long’s appetite grew greater. It began to absorb more and more each time. Long Chen started to sense the water level drop.

The Inverse Dao Water Spirit Flame that was sent to the primal chaos space gathered together and floated in the sky just like a giant ball of water.

Long Chen no longer sensed any danger and began to descend deeper. Unexpectedly, this pool was many miles deep.

When he reached the bottom, he saw there was a square protrusion a few meters wide. There was an ancient rune carved into it.

That rune was unleashing divine light that shone directly on the center of the divine pool. That was where the Pill Fairy was cultivating.

“As long as he slightly damages this rune, that girl will need even more time to control the Inverse Dao Water Spirit Flame,” said Evilmoon.

Just a little bit. It wouldn’t cause much of a disturbance, but it could greatly reduce the Pill Fairy’s efficiency. However, Long Chen acted like he didn’t hear it. He walked into the light pillar, and that rune shook slightly.

Long Chen suddenly looked back and saw a beautiful figure. That figure was illusory, but it was clearly a woman.

Her eyes were familiar. They were crystal clear, containing serenity, kindness, and love.

She was unmatched in every regard. Looking at Long Chen, her eyes were filled with tender emotions.

“Why bother?” Her mouth opened, and while Long Chen didn’t hear any sound, he knew what she was saying.

She was standing there right in front of him, but he couldn’t sense her existence. It was like they were separated by endless space and time.

Without realizing it, tears had streaked down Long Chen’s face. Seeing this woman made him feel incomparable pain in his heart. That pain was like the twisting of a knife.

He wanted to hold her and cry, but he knew that this woman didn’t exist in this world.

“You are you, you are not you, but you were still drawn into the ten worlds’ calamity. Why bother?” The woman looked at Long Chen. There was pain in her eyes.

“Because I will save you.” Words popped out of Long Chen’s mouth. Even he didn’t know why he would say such a thing.

The woman seemed to hear his words and tears dripped down her face. Her mouth curled into a beautiful smile.

“You are still so stubborn. Fine, even if we’re doomed to eternal damnation. I’ll accompany you.” The woman pressed a hand against Long Chen’s forehead.

Long Chen’s head instantly became blank. He didn’t know how long it was before he woke up.

He found that he was still within the pool, but many more things had appeared in his head.

“The Nine Star Hegemon Body Art’s sixth star’s pill formula!”

Long Chen almost shouted. He had actually obtained the formula for the sixth star. In other words, he could start condensing the sixth star.

Most importantly, many other things had appeared in his mind. Even he didn’t know what they all were.

“Just who is she? Why would she appear in the Brahma Divine Palace? Just how is she connected to the Pill Sovereign memories?” Questions rang out in Long Chen’s mind. This woman had appeared in the Heaven Dragon Flame Region’s inheritance stele as well. At that time, he had been looking for the second volume of the Nirvana Scripture to wipe away a curse from the Corrupt path. He had only learned the location of the inheritance stele thanks to the Pill Fairy.

At that time, the woman had said, “You are you, you are not you. You are one, you are not one.”

He hadn’t understood back then, and now having encountered her again, he felt a bitter pain in his heart. That was something he had felt before. It was the same pain he had encountered when Ye Zhiqiu had died for him in the Jiuli secret realm.

However, now his head started to grow muddled. What was the calamity of the ten worlds? Was it connected to the dark era?

He gave himself a headache thinking about it, only to end up with even more garbled thoughts. The thing he didn’t comprehend was that he only encountered her within Pill Valley’s inheritance grounds which were related to Lord Brahma.

“Evilmoon, how long was I unconscious for?” asked Long Chen.

“It’s been a month,” said Evilmoon.

“A month?!” Long Chen hastily looked up, only to see that the Pill Fairy was still quietly cultivating. He sighed with relief.

At this time, he noticed that he didn’t even need to intentionally use the Nirvana Scripture. It was activating automatically to protect him from the Inverse Dao Water Spirit Flame.

He would have to take a good look at what he had gained later. He swam up, and on the way, found that Huo Long was very obedient.

He had told it to absorb half, and it really had absorbed half. The water level had dropped greatly. The Pill Fairy was surrounded by even more mist.

Now the Inverse Dao Water Spirit Flame on the surface was no longer calm. It was roiling as its energy surged toward the Pill Fairy. Her control over it was clearly growing greater.

“It seems it won’t be long before she is in control of the Inverse Dao Water Spirit Flame. At that time, an unrivaled divine daughter will come out. There might not be anyone who can stop her. Hopefully, there won’t come a day where we have to fight to the death.” Long Chen looked back at the Pill Fairy one final time before sighing and leaving.

He knew that it was just a beautiful dream. But asking him to prepare ahead of time for his fight with the Pill Fairy by harming her wasn’t something he could do. That went against his principles.

He quickly walked down the stairs, arriving on the first level. He looked back at the statue of Lord Brahma. Seeing his masterpiece, he nodded in satisfaction.

He pushed open the gates once more. When he walked out, before he could even see what was outside, the void around him shook. A rod whistled toward him.

“Long Chen, face your death!” The attacker was Xiong Tianba.

BOOM!

Long Chen snorted and swung Evilmoon. He was knocked back several steps, tumbling back into the gates. While he wasn’t attacked by the palace’s formation for this, it was still uncomfortable.

Looking at Xiong Tianba, Long Chen’s pupils shrank. “You actually truly awakened your manifestation?”

Xiong Tianba’s manifestation was active behind him. Mountains and forests were stretching far into the distance within it. Long Chen had seen Xiong Tianba’s manifestation before, but at that time, it had just been an image. It might have been lifelike, but it had still just been an image. Now, it was no image but its own true world.

There was a halo of light around his manifestation, and Heavenly Dao energy was pouring toward him. It was like the entire world was blessing him with its energy. That meant he had truly awakened his manifestation.

“Long Chen, I said that I would personally kill you. Now do you believe me?” Xiong Tianba pointed his rod at Long Chen, killing intent filling his eyes. Standing there, he appeared both arrogant and domineering.