A black light suddenly whistled over at the chasing golden phoenix.

BOOM!

Huge ripples appeared in space as the world shook. The phoenix let out a mournful cry as it was sent flying into the distance. A black pot flew back, and Long Chen caught it.

The golden phoenix was tumbling through the air, seeming to have lost its balance. It smashed into a mountain, and that mountain was instantly ignited.

“As usual, the pot is mighty,” praised Long Chen. Even the Heaven Incinerating Flame couldn’t damage the pot. During their collision, Long Chen had seen some of the rust on its bottom isolate the flame energy.

Seeing that the pot couldn’t be damaged by the Heaven Incinerating Flame, Long Chen had an urge to chase after it to see if he could subdue it. But he saw that it wasn’t injured at all. It was like it really had just been struck by a pot.

After a moment’s hesitation, Long Chen didn’t go after it. Instead, he turned and fled. His brain told him that a greedy heart never had a good ending.

Long Chen didn’t have any assurance in subduing the golden phoenix. Even with the pot, his chances of victory were essentially zero.

Moreover, even if he could beat it, he wouldn’t be able to capture it. With Huo Long’s current power, there was no way for it to eat such a tough piece of meat. The difference between them was too great.

So Long Chen wisely chose to scram. This golden phoenix wasn’t something he could currently provoke.

As he rushed off, he heard furious bird cries from behind him. The phoenix was probably complaining about how he had gotten away.

Long Chen rushed off for several hours before finding a gorge to hide himself in and rest. He looked at Huo Long, who was a bit depressed.

The Heaven Incinerating Flame had exhausted a great deal of its core energy. Just seeing it like this distressed Long Chen.

“Don’t worry, I’ll help you recover. We can find some weaker Earth Flames to devour, and once you’re strong enough, we’ll go get revenge against it.” Long Chen summoned Huo Long and patted it on its head comfortingly.

Long Chen began to advance slower. Although he didn’t change his general direction, now he was constantly searching for Earth Flames for Huo Long to devour.

Fortunately, Huo Long had sharp senses and could easily sense the presence of Earth Flame Spirit Beasts. In just half a day, Huo Long had devoured four weaker Earth Flame Spirit Beasts, allowing it to recover the majority of its core energy.

In order to increase their efficiency, after recovering, Huo Long summoned three split bodies, which went off to search for even more Earth Flame Spirit Beasts.

Long Chen suddenly became ecstatic. Huo Long’s split bodies were all true bodies and possessed their own Spiritual Strength. They could handle danger and fight on their own.

Long Chen worked together with Huo Long for a whole day, allowing it to devour seven powerful Earth Flame Spirit Beasts. Two of them had decent rankings that allowed Huo Long to not only fully recover, but also grow stronger.

Long Chen had Huo Long release its eight split bodies. Those split bodies were to go out on their own and hunt Earth Flame Spirit Beasts while Huo Long’s true body stayed with Long Chen.

Huo Long’s split bodies had half the power of the true body, but their intelligence was the same. As long as they were careful, they could continuously devour Earth Flames and grow stronger.

During this time, Long Chen would go after the Nirvana Scripture. They couldn’t waste any time. Huo Long’s split bodies had sharp senses and could sense danger from a great distance.

Even if four of the split bodies were eliminated, as long as the other four returned after devouring Earth Flames, the gains would definitely make up for the losses.

Following Long Chen’s directions, eight small flame dragons split up, while Long Chen rushed into the depths of the Heaven Dragon Flame Region with Huo Long’s true body.

This time, Long Chen didn’t dare to randomly rush around. He had Huo Long go completely straight because he didn’t want to run into anything as monstrous as the Heaven Incinerating Flame again.

When they ran into weaker Earth Flame Spirit Beasts, Huo Long would conveniently devour them. If they were equally matched or stronger, they would go around them.

One month could be described as a long time or a short time. However, since Long Chen had to find the tablet within this period, he had to rush.

When Long Chen finally arrived at the place the Pill Fairy had marked, he saw that it was a land of red dirt, which emitted flame fluctuations.

There was a canyon ahead, and upon entering, he went through nine turns before seeing a huge stone tablet.

The tablet was so huge that there was no way to clearly see its complete body. Light revolved over it, while it emitted a primeval aura.

Seeing this tablet, Long Chen’s heart suddenly turned calm. Everything else in the world fell away, and the only thing left was this stone tablet.

He slowly walked over. His hand lightly touched its inscriptions. For some unknown reason, his hand was trembling, and he suddenly realized he was crying.

“Why does this tablet seem so familiar…” Long Chen lightly brushed against the inscriptions. It felt like there were some sealed memories in his head, but he couldn’t recall them.

“You’ve finally come.”

Just at this moment, a voice rang out in Long Chen’s mind. Light enveloped him from the tablet, and he suddenly appeared in a starry sky.

There were stars above and below him. He was standing within space. Here, it felt like the flow of time was constantly changing. He didn’t even know what exactly he was feeling.

“Can you turn around and give me a good look at you?” A voice rang out. It was a very gentle voice, and it sounded like heavenly music. However, it also sounded extremely distant, so distant that it was as if it came from a different spacetime.

Long Chen slowly turned. He saw an illusory figure behind him that he was able to see clearly. It was a peerless beauty. Ripples floated out of her in a mysterious and profound manner.

Even after seeing her clearly, he suddenly felt like he could no longer see her so clearly. He was unable to sense her existence.

The things that gave him the greatest impression were her limpid eyes. Her eyes were serene and kind, making him feel a burst of warmth.

“Senior, you…” Long Chen opened his mouth, but his voice was somewhat choked with sobs. His tears still continued flowing out of his control.

The woman sighed sadly. “You are you, you are not you. You are one, you are not one.”

The voice was transmitted into his ears, yet Long Chen found that it wasn’t a true voice, but a special kind of energy being read by his divine sense.

Although they were facing each other, Long Chen felt like they were isolated by a boundless space, or perhaps by boundless time. She didn’t come from the present. She came from the past, or perhaps the future.

Just what was going on? Why did this woman feel so intimate to him, yet also fill him with sorrow?

“You are…”

Long Chen suddenly recalled an image. Within the void, a peerless expert with nine stars in his eyes and a divine ring behind him fought fiercely against his opponent.

At that time, there had been a person behind him, but Long Chen had only gotten a glance. However, he felt that it was a woman.

For some reason, he connected this woman with that woman.

“Senior, can you hear my voice?” asked Long Chen.

“Nine stars against the heavens. The heavens collapse, gods fall, and blood dyes the sky red. The peak of power? The peak of the Dao? To defy the heavens, is this the final result?” The woman muttered to herself as she looked at Long Chen.

The stars in the void suddenly began to shake. They started to rapidly move through the air as they trembled.

“Perhaps it’s right, perhaps it’s wrong. Whether it’s right or wrong, what harm is there in it? You will always have that unbending nature. I can only silently stand beside you.” The woman suddenly reached and held Long Chen’s cheeks.

However, her hands were unable to touch him. They simply floated above him as her body began to fade.

“Can I ask who…”

That woman didn’t seem to hear him. She vanished and Long Chen’s heart turned cold. He didn’t know what had just happened.

Just at this moment, countless runes lit up around him. One after another, they entered his head.

Chanting shook the starry sky. Long Chen’s heart jumped, as the voice of the person chanting was the voice of the woman just now.

Each syllable, each inflection, each bit of it was hallowed and profound. As the chanting continued, the world began to spin. The stars rose and fell. It was like the world was following the scripture.

The total scripture wasn’t long. It only had a few dozen syllables to it, but just this short scripture contained boundless profundities. It formed a never-ending cycle with no end or beginning.

Yet, despite how profound it was, Long Chen felt it to be very familiar, as if he had long since mastered it but simply forgotten it. Now that he heard it again, he immediately comprehended its essence.

Suddenly, the scene around him faded, and he once more appeared in the Heaven Dragon Flame Region.

Just as he reappeared, the huge stone tablet suddenly seemed to go through millions and millions of years of erosion. It crumbled.

The tablet fell to pieces, and the pieces then faded into dust, vanishing. It was like it had never existed.

Long Chen just stared, unable to calm himself. It seemed that he had touched one of the secrets of this world. An unprecedented feeling of crisis filled him. He found it hard to breathe.

“I can’t bother with this now. Since I’ve obtained the second volume of the Nirvana Scripture, it’s time to remove this damn curse.” Long Chen took a deep breath and slowly formed a hand seal.