Chapter 2283: 2283

Long Chen was shocked, angered, and panicked. The Nirvana Scripture was able to control flames. Just now, the karmic hell flames had clearly started weakening, but he was unable to suppress them.

The Nirvana Scripture was not the problem. It was that he himself was too weak. These endless flames were on a completely different level from him.

“Long Chen, I was the one who brought the karmic hell flames here. I used you.” Leng Yueyan stood beside him, guilty.

The Nethergod’s expression changed, and her bone sword whipped down. However, Leng Yueyan seemed to have expected it and pulled Long Chen away.

The Nethergod raged, “Leng Yueyan, why would you do this?! How does this benefit you in the slightest?!”

Now she realized that this was the result that Leng Yueyan had always wanted. Even Long Chen had been used. The Nethergod had now been pushed into desperate straits with no way to reverse things.

Long Chen was staring at Leng Yueyan with shock. However, he didn’t feel anger toward her. He was merely befuddled.

“I’m sorry, Long Chen. I’ll explain.” Leng Yueyan turned to the Nethergod, raising her bone sword against her. “I’ve been fighting you for a long time now. I’ve already gathered the energy of all your clones. However, clones remain clones, and we only occupy forty percent of your divine energy. As the true body, you have absolute dominion over the remaining sixty percent. Perhaps you anticipated such a thing when you created your clones, so you kept the main power to yourself. As a result, I can never defeat you. I thought of a thousand ways to fight, but not one was able to beat you and take control. I’ve had enough of those days. When you stopped hunting me down, I knew that your attention had turned to Long Chen.

“When Long Chen subdued you on the Martial Heaven Continent, you came to learn many things about him. You also knew when he would be coming here. You stood guard here, waiting to use him to force me out.

“You set up the Inverted Cosmos Barrier so that once I came, I couldn’t leave. To tell the truth, I’d say that your intelligence must have reverted to the level of a child after you cut me off. Have you forgotten that the Inverted Cosmos Barrier also cuts off your senses toward the outside world? You’re the one who trapped yourself.

“I opened the Hell Flame Purgatory of the eighteen levels of Purgatory. I didn’t have the power to draw them here, but I could construct a spatial portal that allowed them to come here.

“You thought you understood everything about Long Chen, but you didn’t know that Long Chen possesses his own special world within his body. His thunderforce and flame energy are both stored there. Furthermore, you could not know that the Nirvana Scripture that he controls is an extremely ancient secret art capable of calling the power of all flames.

“So when you had him cornered to draw me out, you didn’t realize you also cornered yourself. At least a tenth of the karmic hell flames from the Hell Flame Purgatory have been drawn here. You should know for how many millions of years the Hell Flame Purgatory have existed. The flames contain the power of karma, the karma of countless lifeforms that died. Long Chen can control the flames, but he can’t control the karma within. As for you, you actually didn’t think of that. You thought that Long Chen was able to draw the karmic hell flames here, so he should be able to send them away. Ming Cangyue, you’re really too naive.”

When the Nethergod heard all this, the fury in her eyes faded away. The flames continued to get closer. They were about to envelop the entire tower, but a faint smile appeared on her face.

“Karmic flames. The flames of karma. The cycle of karma purifies all things. Even after so many years of overseeing the Netherworld, I still didn’t understand the true essence of the karmic hell flames. The karma that I set into motion back then is the karma I am reaping now.” The faint smile on the Nethergod’s face gave Long Chen the same feeling as Leng Yueyan.

She was no longer an arrogant god, no longer cold and emotionless. She now seemed free.

The Nethergod smiled at Leng Yueyan. “Back then, I was single-mindedly focused on perfection. I kept feeling like I had a hint of goodness wrecking my thoughts, creating contradictions within me. I sent you to a different world so that your experiences could erase that trace of goodness. That way, I could reach a perfect state of heart and break through my current shackles to higher realms. I didn’t expect to meet my retribution in the end. All this karma was created by me and must be accepted by me.”

Leng Yueyan looked at her with a complicated expression. “It truly must be accepted by you. You cannot blame anyone else. I don’t resent you for it though. You are me, and I am you.”

The Nethergod looked at the Nethergod Order in Leng Yueyan’s hand. She shook her head. “I find it hard to believe that my clone would love someone, and a mortal at that.”

Leng Yueyan smiled. She looked at Long Chen anxiously, then turned back to the Nethergod. “You’re once more starting a contradiction. If I didn’t love him, how could you use him to draw me out? Ever since you separated me from your soul, your intelligence has been dropping. You were unable to sense it since you are the ruler of this world. But if you had met a real opponent, you would have been killed. I tricked the Nethergod Order out of you to help Long Chen and the Dragonblood Legion pass this tribulation. That way, even if I die, I will have repaid the debt I owe him.”

Leng Yueyan turned to Long Chen emotionally. However, she was surprised to see him staring at the sea of flames furiously. There were veins popping on his forehead. She didn’t know what he was thinking.

“Long Chen, don’t be afraid. You and your lovers will be fine. You’ll be able to pass safely and live good lives in the other world…” Leng Yueyan thought that Long Chen was still trying to resolve their current crisis. He was unaware that even the god of the Netherworld had already accepted her fate.

“No, you can’t die, neither of you. There must be a way.” Ideas popped into Long Chen’s eyes and deflated just as quickly.

His intuition was telling him that he could resolve this predicament, but he was unable to figure out how.

The sea of flames was about to overwhelm them in a few more seconds. Leng Yueyan and Ming Cangyue would both die then. He was unable to accept such a result.

However, at this critical moment, his head had stopped working. He was unable to think through the problem clearly, making him feel like tearing open his head.

Leng Yueyan knew that Long Chen wasn’t so panicked because of his own life, but because of them, making her even more emotional. “Long Chen, thank you. Although my life was short, having met you during this short time made it worth it. Take care.”

Leng Yueyan raised her hand. The Nethergod Order shone, enveloping Long Chen in light.

The Nethergod Order was the only thing capable of influencing the laws of the Netherworld. Using it, Ming Cangyue had brought Long Chen to the Nethergod Palace instead of where he should have gone for his breakthrough. Now, Leng Yueyan was able to send Long Chen through to where he should be.

Furthermore, Leng Yueyan was planning on fulfilling Long Chen’s wish and allowing all the Dragonblood warriors to pass smoothly.

By drawing Long Chen here, the Nethergod would have to face a curse from the Netherworld for interfering with its laws. However, that level of curse was within the acceptable range.

However, to use it to allow over ten thousand people to cheat their way through this tribulation would result in a terrifying curse. That curse was something not even a Nethergod could endure.

Since they were about to die, she didn’t care about this curse. Emotions flowed within Leng Yueyan’s eyes.

“Long Chen, goodbye forever.”

In her final moments, Leng Yueyan made her choice.

The Nethergod Order shook. The nine-colored whirlpool flowed, sending Long Chen away.

Suddenly, Long Chen jumped out of the light, diving into the sea of karmic hell flames.

Leng Yueyan and Ming Cangyue both shouted at the same time. Even the Nethergod was stunned, not knowing what Long Chen was doing. This was clearly suicide.

Leng Yueyan had opened a path for him to leave, even letting the Dragonblood Legion pass through the Netherworld. The Nethergod could have stopped her, but she had given up.

Perhaps while facing death, she had finally broken the knot in her heart. No longer hating, she chose to accept reality.

Although she didn’t feel much toward Long Chen, she was affected by Leng Yueyan’s emotions. Inside, she hoped for Long Chen to survive, so she hadn’t interfered with Leng Yueyan’s actions.

However, for Long Chen to jump into the karmic hell flames, even she was unable to react. The Nethergod Order could control everything within the Netherworld, but not the eighteen levels of Purgatory. The laws there were not under her control. That was precisely why Leng Yueyan had drawn the karmic hell flames here to face her end together with Ming Cangyue.

“Long Chen…!” Leng Yueyan let out a mournful cry. She was ready to face death, but she didn’t want to see Long Chen die. It was too late though. Long Chen had been devoured by the karmic hell flames. Let alone a mortal, even a god wouldn’t be able to last long.

Leng Yueyan wiped away her tears. A warm smile appeared on her face. “Long Chen, you want to accompany me in death? Then I’ll accompany you.” She prepared to jump in as well.

Just at this moment, a heaven-shaking will erupted from within the sea of flames.