Long Chen had just formed a hand seal when he suddenly felt danger. He hastily turned around and saw a figure rushing over.

“Hahaha, Long San, you’re here as expected. Now let’s see where you can run.” It was a flame-wrapped Jiang Zijun.

Long Chen was startled. He hadn’t expected Jiang Zijun to find him here.

“Are you surprised? Did you think Zhao Xiang was on your side? Hahaha, you can buy our people, but we can buy your people too,” laughed Jiang Zijun. “Did that idiot Kan Dongze think sending a few people disguised as you would manage to trick me? What a joke. Kan Dongze wanted to follow me, but he didn’t expect me to use a few body doubles as well. I knew you would come here. Tell me, where is the tablet? If you tell the truth, I’ll consider giving you an easy death.”

Long Chen came to a sudden comprehension. It seemed Zhao Xiang had been bribed by the other side. But Zhao Xiang had only been looking after him until he joined the Divine Pill Hall. Afterward, they hadn’t interacted at all.

For others to get a bit of information from Zhao Xiang wasn’t difficult. And Long Chen had truly mentioned the second volume of the Nirvana Scripture to Zhao Xiang.

Jiang Zijun had very likely deduced that Long Chen would come here based on that. It seemed it wasn’t just the Pill Fairy who knew about the tablet’s existence.

Jiang Zijun was surprised to see that the tablet had vanished, so he demanded to know what had happened.

“I’m not your father, so why do I have to answer you?” sneered Long Chen. This was the Heaven Dragon Flame Region. Here, he didn’t need to have any misgivings.

“Haha, hopefully once I capture you, you can still laugh.” Jiang Zijun laughed. Nine flowers appeared behind him, and the flames around him suddenly grew, seeming to want to burn down the heavens.

“I’ll let you experience the power of my new flame. This is a power someone like you wouldn’t be able to achieve in your lifetime!”

Jiang Zijun waved his hand, and a dark red spear appeared. This spear had plum blossom patterns on it.

“This is a peak existence, ranked thirteenth on the Earth Flame Ranking, the Scarlet Plum Explosive Flame! Has a country bumpkin like you even heard of it?”

Jiang Zijun didn’t immediately attack. Instead, he stood there, showing off his power, acting as if he were a god looking down on Long Chen.

This flame was something he had worked bitterly to subdue in the past few days. Amongst Earth Flames, those that contained the word Explosive in their names were all extremely berserk and hard to subdue.

Those were the kinds of flames that flame cultivators wanted to get, while alchemists would wisely choose a different one. That was because such violent flames would require even greater Spiritual Strength to control.

However, flame cultivators who pursued destructive power were different.

“Be careful! I wouldn’t want you to be killed in one blow, or it’d be boring!” With the Scarlet Plum Explosive Flame causing the void to quiver, Jiang Zijun stamped forward, his spear whistling toward Long Chen.

Long Chen waved his hand, and a flame blade condensed. He slashed it at the spear.

“Hmph, an insect really doesn’t know its power!” Jiang Zijun sneered and poured in even more energy to his spear.

BOOM!

Long Chen’s flame blade exploded. Huo Long’s current power wasn’t enough to handle Jiang Zijun’s Earth Flame. With its power divided between eight split bodies, its own power dropped.

However, Long Chen possessed his own power. He had long since expected this result, and as his flame blade exploded, he smashed his fist at Jiang Zijun.

Jiang Zijun was startled and suddenly recalled that Long San was famed for his strong physical body. He hastily blocked with his spear.

Flames exploded. Long Chen’s punch destroyed Jiang Zijun’s spear, and fist continued to strike his chest.

“Raging Flame Armor!” Jiang Zijun hastily shouted, and runes came out of the nine flowers behind him, forming a layer of armor.

BOOM!

Long Chen’s fist landed, and Jiang Zijun was sent flying. But Long Chen’s fist was also covered in blood.

The Raging Flame Armor was one of Pill Valley’s powerful magical arts. When Jiang Zijun used it with the Scarlet Plum Explosive Flame, its defensive power was extremely great, enough to cause Long Chen’s fist to be injured while Jiang Zijun escaped unscathed.

“Die!” Jiang Zijun was infuriated. Although the punch didn’t injure him, it had been unpleasant. Seeing Long San injured, he attacked.

“It really is annoying to not be able to use my power.”

Long Chen suddenly formed hand seals, a solemn expression on his face. He began to chant, and the same chanting began to appear in the air as if gods were chanting alongside him.

“The second volume of the Nirvana Scripture? Impossible!” Jiang Zijun’s expression changed.

It had to be known that the second volume of the Nirvana Scripture was something only given to supreme geniuses in Pill Valley. Only those who had reached the level of Tower Masters were qualified to learn in it.

Even rank eight Celestials weren’t qualified. As for Jiang Zijun, he had had to make an application to learn it, and this application had gone through the Grand Elders as well as the valley master before he had finally been approved. The whole process had taken half a year.

Long San had only been in Pill Valley for such a short amount of time. There was no way he was qualified to learn the second volume of the Nirvana Scripture. Unless…

Jiang Zijun suddenly thought of the scripture’s original tablet that had vanished from this location. A shocked expression crept over his face.

BOOM!

Jiang Zijun’s spear arrived and struck nothing but air. Long Chen had simply retreated.

Long Chen was surrounded by runes, and sacred chanting filled the air. But at this time, black qi was coming out of his body. That qi gave off an evil feeling.

Jiang Zijun was appalled. That black qi gave him a sensation of mortal danger, and he felt like he would die just from touching it. He involuntarily retreated into the distance, not daring to get close. His survival instincts told him that the current Long San was extremely dangerous.

More and more black qi appeared. It was like mist surrounding Long Chen. It was enveloped by flames and refused to scatter.

“Hehe, I can finally get rid of this damn curse.”

When he previously used the first volume of the Nirvana Scripture, Long Chen hadn’t felt anything particularly special. But now, all his immortal platforms linked up with some kind of energy in the world, forming a resonance.

Before, he could only feel the Nirvana Scripture gathering energy around him, but now he felt like he had merged with the world.

The world’s flame energy was merging with his body. It felt like he was boiling from the inside. The flame energy entered his Spirit Blood, his muscles, his skeleton, and even his soul. The curse was forced out.

Furthermore, when he felt this sensation of merging with the world, a new segment of words appeared in his mind. When those words appeared, Long Chen almost cried out in joy.

“The fifth star’s pill formula! It’s the fifth star’s pill formula!!!” Long Chen was ecstatic. He had finally obtained the pill formula for the fifth star.

As the curse was fully expelled from his body, his aura began to climb. The black mist was suddenly blown apart and vanished without a trace.

Jiang Zijun looked at Long Chen with shock. He didn’t know what had happened, but he felt like he was facing a dragon that had woken from hibernation.

With the curse lifted, Long Chen slowly circulated the power of his immortal platforms to nourish his body.

During his advancements to the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth Heavenstages, the curse had made it so he couldn’t use his spiritual yuan to nourish his body. Now he was making up for it.

A huge amount of energy poured throughout Long Chen’s body, causing the space around him to shake.

The ground splintered and cracks spread into the distance. That pulse of energy lasted for just a few seconds before stopping.

Long Chen looked at his hand. He muttered to himself, “I can only use ten percent of my power? But that’s enough to handle trash I suppose.”

Although the curse had been removed, and his physical body had powered up, he was still only able to use a tenth of the power of his immortal platforms. If he used any more, his body would break down.

“Bastard, don’t think you can scam me! Die!”

Jiang Zijun was infuriated at hearing Long Chen call him trash. He charged forward.

A flame-wrapped fist directly blew apart Jiang Zijun’s spear and continued to strike him in the chest.

Jiang Zijun still had his Raging Flame Armor, but this time, Long Chen’s punch left a hole in his chest. Jiang Zijun vomited blood and flew back.