Chapter 1577: Breaking the Pass (Part One)

As Shangguan Tianque was pondering, he saw a crack suddenly open at the junction between the base and the lampshade above. Instantly, a wave of heat, the same as before, blew out. This made Shangguan Tianque feel that even his eyes, as he looked over, were being scorched by the heatwave, making it impossible to look directly. However, when he had flown over, his body was already covered with a spiritual light shield.

The moment he saw the crack appear, all of Shangguan Tianque’s thoughts vanished. Without any further hesitation, he waved his hand, and a golden talisman appeared above his head. With a flicker, the talisman transformed into a huge golden bell, instantly enveloping him. Then, Shangguan Tianque turned into a streak of golden light and shot directly into the crack. The crack on the lampshade also disappeared in an instant…

And just as Shangguan Tianque entered, many people noticed that his figure did not appear very close to Master Wei. As the lampshade continued to rotate, they found that Shangguan Tianque’s figure, in a flash, appeared on the other side of the wick, opposite Master Wei.

“It seems my guess was wrong. The cracks at the north and south bases have a function similar to a fixed-point teleportation formation, teleporting one to the corresponding position.” On the high platform, Ren Yanyu, seeing Shangguan Tianque’s location with her beautiful eyes, immediately said in a low voice to Li Yan and Mu Guyue. At the same time, she let out a long sigh of relief. She had been truly afraid that Shangguan Tianque would enter too close to Master Wei. Although the gap between Late-stage Spirit Transformation and the previous two minor realms was not as huge as that in Late-stage Nascent Soul, if Shangguan Tianque were to fight Master Wei, his chances of winning were not high.

Therefore, for the second pass, they had long discussed that they would basically adopt a defensive strategy, using grand formations and magical treasures to wear down the opponent until they lost their temper.

“The Blood Lantern Sect might not be so kind. This should be the Pure Yang Hall’s idea!” On the side, Li Yan used voice transmission to say to the two. If the Blood Lantern Sect could easily crush the Broken Army Sect’s illusions, they probably wouldn’t mind. The assessment of this pass was for the Pure Yang Hall to evaluate the overall strength of the sect, not to compete on which sect was stronger. If the assessment were like that, then it would be more appropriate to say it was a choice between two.

After hearing this, Ren Yanyu also nodded in agreement. But before seeing this situation, none of them dared to make such a definite judgment.

At this time, the cultivators outside could only see the two figures occasionally appearing amidst the flickering flames, but they couldn’t hear any sound from inside. Chongyangzi shifted his gaze from the rotating lampshade and swept it towards the demonic-looking Elder Zhou and the charming Elder Fang. “For this pass, I wonder how many of them will be lost?”

“Hehehe, if these two are hopeless, then the people who follow will only have it harder. They have both already sent out the strongest people in their sects!” Elder Zhou still had a lazy look, leaning back in his chair. With two slender fingers, he was constantly twirling a lock of long hair that hung by his pale cheek, which made him look even more effeminate.

As for Elder Fang, her charming eyes, filled with moisture, were fixed on the lampshade. She didn’t speak, but in her heart, she also agreed with Elder Zhou’s words.

“This pass is actually not very difficult. According to our previous negotiations, I only allowed it to be opened to thirty percent of its power. I think both their sects can pass!” And just at this moment, Wu Gouzi suddenly interjected. A smile even appeared on his sinister face. And after he said this, the large man from the Seven Tigers Alliance sitting next to him immediately shot him a sideways glance.

“Only thirty percent? Hehehe…” He only said four words and then chuckled. He knew very well how powerful thirty percent of this Blood Pagoda Lamp was. This treasure was the foundation of the Blood Lantern Sect, passed down from generation to generation. If everything was really as Wu Gouzi said, then there would be no need to give them Evasion Talismans. The large man from the Seven Tigers Alliance couldn’t help but chuckle as well.

Chongyangzi didn’t say anything more and turned his gaze back to the Blood Pagoda Lamp. He just couldn’t help but think to himself, ‘Is Shangguan Tianque the strongest cultivator in the Broken Army Sect? Although that Li Yan has now revealed his realm, from what I can see, this kid might still be hiding his strength…’ Anyone familiar with Li Yan knew his character. Especially Chongyangzi, who knew that in the battle for the Great Nothingness Fruit, Li Yan had almost single-handedly swept through the same-level cultivators on the flying vessel, and even included Spirit Transformation cultivators.

Although Li Yan said that the female cultivator surnamed Yuan and that “Netherworld Demon Vine” were not killed by him, it was undoubtedly he who had killed the old woman surnamed He. And of the Nascent Soul cultivators who were said to have assisted him, only three survived in the end, and the other two had hidden themselves. Therefore, after looking at Li Yan’s strength on the surface, you should be prepared for the idea that it’s somewhat discounted. In Chongyangzi’s view, Shangguan Tianque was also at the Initial-stage of Spirit Transformation, but if he were to fight Li Yan, it was very likely that he would not be Li Yan’s opponent.

And at this time, the group of Spirit Transformation cultivators behind them, as well as the cultivators below the high platform, also fell silent, all of them watching the lampshade that was like a revolving scenic lantern.

Inside the Blood Pagoda Lamp, Master Wei faced the wick. Around him was a sea of fire that stretched as far as the eye could see. In the sea of fire, he could see ferocious faces. They were the faces of men and women, old and young. They were just heads composed of flames, their appearances withered, as if their essence blood had been sucked dry. From their seven orifices, long flames continuously spewed out. These flames were either thick or thin, some were pure black, some were golden-yellow, and some were red on the outside and yellow on the inside, or red on the outside and black on the inside.

The color of these heads was almost integrated with the surrounding sea of fire. Only when one was very close could one see the somewhat protruding outlines, but they appeared almost transparent. These heads, spewing long flames, emitted all sorts of ghostly wails and wolf-like howls. These sounds were either piercing or filled with resentment.

Master Wei had already shut off his auditory sense. Even with his cultivation, the influence of these sounds on him was extremely great. In just a few breaths of observation, he already felt an impulse to go berserk and kill. Looking at those heads continuously pouncing towards him in their unwillingness, each head here had the power of the Initial-stage of the Nascent Soul Realm. This undoubtedly threw Master Wei into a wave of siege by Nascent Soul Realm cultivators. Such an attack made even Master Wei’s scalp tingle. A Spirit Transformation cultivator was not invincible. A siege by so many Nascent Soul cultivators, if it were in the outside world, he could quickly kill a bloody path and flee as far as he could. But here, he could only face it.

However, after these heads attacked, the moment they came into contact with the white flames on his body, they were immediately turned into a part of the surrounding sea of fire by the white flames. Seeing this scene, Master Wei’s heart also relaxed slightly. He was very satisfied with this Exotic Fire of Heaven and Earth that he possessed. But he did not dare to drive the Exotic Fire of Heaven and Earth to devour the flames here. Firstly, the Blood Pagoda Lamp’s fierce reputation was well-known. He couldn’t guarantee that after his exotic fire devoured it, there wouldn’t be some uncontrollable consequences. Since the other party dared to bring it out, it meant they were not afraid of this.

Secondly, he was also worried about the Blood Lantern Sect. If they really didn’t understand the power of his exotic fire, it was fine for him to resist and defend here. But if it was really because of devouring that the other party’s Blood Pagoda Lamp was greatly damaged, then even if he wanted to spit it out, it would be impossible. ‘These flames, under my exotic fire, cannot pose any threat to me. I can try to break through upwards first!’ As Master Wei thought this, his figure had already flickered. In the sea of fire, he brought a ball of white flame and flew straight up!

But he did not let his guard down just because his exotic fire could easily protect him here. So, his flying speed was not very fast. These people had watched their companions turn to dust on the path of immortal cultivation one by one, while they themselves had survived. Every one of them was a deep and scheming person, and they acted with extreme caution.

Sure enough, just as he flew up about a hundred zhang, Master Wei felt the pressure above his head suddenly increase, as if he had suddenly hit an invisible membrane. And abruptly, he saw a flaming head fly out from the wick. This head was obviously a circle larger than the heads in the surrounding sea of fire. Within the seven orifices of this head, there were actually much fewer flames. They were no longer spewing out in long streams, but were only shooting out slightly, and the length of the flames was only about a foot or so.

After that head flew out, when it was about five zhang away from Master Wei, it hovered among the sea of fire heads. And the other heads in the sea of fire, at this moment, as if afraid of it, immediately scattered to the surroundings, leaving a space for it. But those sea of fire heads only moved a little further away from this head, and still continuously attacked Master Wei from around this larger head. But they were all continuously integrated into the surrounding sea of fire by the white flames on Master Wei’s body.

And that larger head did not immediately attack Master Wei, but its pair of fire-spewing eyes just stared at him. And just as the other looked over, Master Wei, at that moment, as if from the flickering flames spewing from the other’s deep eye sockets, saw a pair of pale red eyes. The moment Master Wei saw those eyes, his body shook violently.

At this moment, he felt that the blood in his entire body was actually converging towards his own eyes, as if it was about to shoot out from his eyes and into the large open mouth in front of the head. “Blood devouring!”

Master Wei was startled and cried out in his heart that something was wrong. In an instant, his entire body’s Spirit Power circulated rapidly like a pinwheel. Only then did he forcefully suppress the various discomforts in his body, and the restless blood finally slowly calmed down. And when he looked at the other party again, he found that the other’s large mouth was just open, and from the dark mouth, flames were flickering randomly. It was as if the scene he had just sensed was just an illusion.

But Master Wei knew that this was definitely not an illusion. The blood light that this Blood Pagoda Lamp was said to shoot out could devour a person’s essence blood. The scene just now seemed as if his blood was out of his control. And just at this moment, the hovering head suddenly moved and let out a “gaga” strange laugh. It was just that Master Wei had closed his auditory sense, so he could only sense it with his Divine Sense.

With a strange laugh, this head flickered. A distance of five zhang, he reached Master Wei in an instant. The next moment, with only a layer of white flame separating them, the man and the head were already face to face. This scene was extremely strange. Then, the flames in its mouth suddenly swelled and shot towards Master Wei’s head. But in the next moment, it was also blocked by the white exotic fire on Master Wei’s body.

“Crack, crack, crack…” A series of cracking sounds came out. At this moment, the flames emitted by the man and the head were no longer ethereal. The flames spewed out by that head were actually like a substantial flame spear, stabbing straight over. And the white flames on Master Wei’s body also turned into a substantial shield at this time.

“Boom!” The two instantly collided…