Chapter 1578: Breaking the Pass (Part Two)

On the other side, Shangguan Tianque was not having as easy a time as Master Wei! He had only observed at the bottom of the lampshade for about three breaths before he began to rise into the air and fly upwards.

After he entered, although he was protected by the golden bell talisman and his protective light shield, waves of scorching heat still continuously invaded. This made it impossible for him to breathe; all he could inhale were streams of fire. Thus, Shangguan Tianque could only hold his breath and directly use his spiritual power to circulate throughout his body to supply its needs.

And those endless flame heads also attacked continuously. Seeing this, his scalp also tingled. He could only raise his hand and cast one cultivation manual after another. These manuals of his were not for attacking, but for controlling the surrounding flames, causing the attack direction of these flying heads to deviate. With his mastery of the fire-system laws, he could see that these heads were riding the momentum of the surrounding flames, like riding the wind and breaking the waves, converging on him.

And what he had to do was to divert these seas of fire, to open up a space for himself with his arts, so that these attacks would slide past him. Otherwise, if he were to fight them head-on, he was not like Master Wei, who had an exotic fire. He could only rely on himself for defense. And how much Spirit Power did he have to contend with these endless flames! He could not continue to observe here. Every breath, he had to divert the surrounding sea of fire, and his talismans and Spirit Power were also constantly being consumed.

He had three more defensive magical treasures in his storage ring, but that was no reason to waste time here. Thus, while pinching cultivation manuals and diverting those flame heads, he also flew continuously upwards. However, his speed was obviously much faster than Master Wei’s. Shangguan Tianque also knew that this was a risky move, but he could not let his Spirit Power be consumed. He could only break through upwards as quickly as possible.

He also had good Spirit Power recovery pills, but those things were not candy and could not be eaten too much. If they could not be refined in time, the pill poison would make his meridians more and more fragile, and the circulation of his Spirit Power would also become slower and slower.

Shangguan Tianque continued to advance while using his fire control art to divert the sea of fire. Soon, he had reached the hundred-zhang mark. Like Master Wei, he also chose to face the wick. Because in the entire lampshade, all the powerful attacks came from the wick. They couldn’t just leave their backs to the strongest attack here.

Just as Shangguan Tianque flew to the hundred-zhang mark, a head that was a circle larger than the swarming heads in the surrounding sea of fire suddenly flew out. Then, after the head flew closer, its pair of spectral eyes looked at him…

The entire plaza and the high platform, all eyes were fixed on the high altitude. They continuously saw the figures of the two inside the lamp, coming and going like a revolving scenic lantern. Since the Divine Sense could only detect outside the lampshade, and inside were all sorts of flickering flames, although they could also see the figures of the two clearly, the figures of Master Wei and Shangguan Tianque were flickering in and out of view in a sea of flames. The figures of the two had become a white dot and a golden light spot respectively.

Those heads that were floating and sinking in the sea of fire, almost the same as the surrounding sea of fire, even those Foundation Establishment cultivators could no longer see clearly, let alone the Qi Condensation stage junior cultivators. So, just as Li Yan had guessed, many disciples of the Blood Lantern Sect were looking there with some confusion. What they saw was a churning sea of fire, and flames constantly swaying everywhere. They just saw two light spots, passing through the sea of fire, continuously ascending. Occasionally, they would stop, as if attacking something. But as for what they were attacking, they had no idea at all! And these people were deliberately brought over by the Blood Lantern Sect to disgust the Broken Army Sect.

“Why is the Great Elder’s speed slower than that Shangguan Tianque?” At the location of the Bright Flame Sect, the Spirit Transformation Realm old man said with a frown. He felt that this shouldn’t be the case.

At this time, Master Wei had only just reached the two-hundred-zhang mark, but he had stopped again. But on the other side, Shangguan Tianque had already reached a distance of about two hundred and thirty zhang. They had also seen that every hundred zhang, these two would stop, and a different, huge head would appear there. And the two could no longer break through upwards while escaping as before, but had to kill that head. So, it was possible that every hundred zhang, there would be a checkpoint-like existence, which would certainly not be easy to pass.

“The Great Elder is doing this to be steady!” Another young Spirit Transformation cultivator stared at the lampshade and expressed his opinion.

“Actually, there’s no need for this. After scouting and getting familiar with it, he could have proceeded all the way. If the other side breaks through first, the Bright Flame Sect will still lose some face,” the old woman’s character was a bit fiery. She still felt that Master Wei’s breakthrough was too conservative and unnecessary.

“I think that a faster speed may lead to faster consumption. If that Shangguan Tianque can still maintain this distance in the last thirty percent, then he is a true expert. Otherwise, he is now having a hard time defending against the attacks in the sea of fire, so he can only consume a large amount of Spirit Power to try and pass quickly!” Han Zhumei’s beautiful eyes were also staring at the revolving scenic lantern-like duo, watching the two colored light spots fly up, sometimes fast, sometimes slow, but she said such a thing.

On the Broken Army Sect’s side, Ren Yanyu’s face was filled with anticipation. Seeing Shangguan Tianque leading all the way, she naturally hoped that he could break through the pass quickly and successfully. But she was also quick-witted and guessed that Shangguan Tianque might be struggling. Just looking at the overwhelming sea of fire heads, with her understanding of Shangguan Tianque’s cultivation method, she knew that his method of diverting the flames consumed a lot of Spirit Power.

She saw that at this time, Shangguan Tianque had already flown to a distance of three hundred zhang, but after arriving here, the time he stayed there was longer than the time it took for the first two hundred zhang combined. It was obvious that he had encountered stronger suppression there. And at this time, Master Wei had also almost flown to a distance of three hundred zhang.

“Every hundred zhang, it seems there’s something pressing down from above the sea of fire? This prevents them from continuing to fly and forces them to stop and fight…” Li Yan stood there, carefully staring at the sea of fire inside the lampshade. This view, after the two inside had stopped at the hundred-zhang mark, Ren Yanyu and the other two had discussed. But they just didn’t know what the restriction was. Was it related to the larger head that appeared, or did the Blood Pagoda Lamp imprison that space? Different methods would naturally lead to different ways of breaking through the pass.

Although Mu Guyue was also looking there, no one could read her thoughts. She had always been in that cold and proud state. Regarding the Blood Pagoda Lamp, while listening to the two discuss, she was also thinking of countermeasures.

On the high platform, the few Void Refining cultivators also had different expressions. To ensure the fairness of the assessment, no one’s Divine Sense was allowed to enter the lampshade. Wu Gouzi saw that Shangguan Tianque had been suppressed for forty breaths after breaking through to three hundred zhang with that speed before he could continue to break through. A smile appeared on his face. “It’s possible for that Master Wei to break through. As for Shangguan Tianque… it would be good if he can break through halfway. Just a few Initial-stage Spirit Transformation cultivators, and they want to promote their sect. They really don’t know the immensity of heaven and earth…”

And just as his thoughts were turning, although Master Wei arrived at three hundred zhang later, he only used more than twenty breaths before he continued to fly upwards again. And the distance between him and Shangguan Tianque’s current ascent on the other side was also getting closer and closer.

After three hundred zhang, it was not just difficult to break through every hundred zhang. The number of heads in the sea of fire began to decrease, and mixed in were all sorts of strange-shaped demonic beast figures condensed from flames. The attack power of a single demonic beast was often the sum of the power of four or five heads. And the higher up, the more demonic beasts there were, and the number of heads continuously decreased.

During their breakthrough, those heads continuously fell from above their heads, roaring as they pounced on the two. At this time, even if both of them had closed their auditory sense, the sound waves already had substance. Coupled with the various physical attacks of these demonic beasts, the two were caught in a bitter battle. But fortunately, after breaking through a hundred zhang, the attacks below would disappear, and only the heads and demonic beasts in the current area would appear. Otherwise, as they ascended, wouldn’t these heads and demonic beasts gather more and more? That would be simply unbearable for the two of them. So every hundred zhang, they only needed to consider how to cross this distance…

Time passed continuously. Soon, an hour and a half had already passed. Inside the lampshade, Shangguan Tianque was already sweating profusely. At this time, he had already risen to nearly six hundred zhang. The golden bell talisman on his body had already exhausted its power an hour ago. Now, a patch of red cloud had appeared outside his body, almost the same as the surrounding flames. This made his figure even more blurry to outsiders. This was the third magical treasure he had brought out, named “Crimson Cloud.”

Shangguan Tianque, who was inside, although protected by the Crimson Cloud, still had wisps of green smoke rising from his body from time to time. “Hiss, hiss, hiss…” A continuous sound was endless. Shangguan Tianque only felt that his mouth was dry and his tongue was parched. Although he used his Spirit Power, he had also suppressed the blood in his body.

“The Blood Pagoda Lamp is indeed unfathomable!” he thought to himself. Shangguan Tianque now, every time he received a demonic beast’s attack, not only consumed Spirit Power, but it also seemed as if his blood was being burned at the same time. And those demonic beasts were getting stronger and stronger. After five hundred zhang, there were no more heads, and all that appeared were demonic beasts.

At the same time, the demonic beasts here had also become scarcer. Often, only one would appear after rising about ten zhang. But the strength of these demonic beasts had already reached the Late-stage of Nascent Soul, which made it rather difficult for him to kill them now. This was not because his cultivation was a problem, but because continuing like this without rest, he still had to divert at least twenty to thirty percent of his Spirit Power for defense. Not to mention diverting those attacks, even his internal organs would turn into a pile of fly ash in a very short time, which would consume a huge amount of his energy.

This was still with his excellent fire control art. Without taking a direct hit, he had controlled those flames all the way, diverting them from both sides. And the heads and demonic beasts in the sea of fire seemed to only be able to attack with fire. Under the control of his art, they could only roar and watch helplessly as he slipped past them. This was how he had broken through to this point. Otherwise, under that tide-like attack, his Spirit Power would have been consumed even more severely. His meridians might have already been unable to withstand the erosion of the pill poison.

But after encountering these demonic beasts, the situation had changed. It was best for him to kill them on the spot. Otherwise, within a hundred zhang, they would come again on the fire, following him all the way up. Then, they would gather more and more behind him, until he could break through the current hundred zhang, and these demonic beasts would disappear.

Every hundred zhang, there seemed to be a layer of membrane there, which could not be broken through directly. He had tried to attack it with his arts, but it had no effect. Only after defeating the special head or demonic beast that came out from the wick would the invisible suppression above disappear. His exquisite fire control art could not play any role in this situation.

Shangguan Tianque, at a distance of just under six hundred zhang, had already swallowed three bottles of medicinal pills. At this moment, his meridians were in a state of sore, throbbing, and unbearable pain, with waves of severe pain. Especially whenever his Spirit Power was called upon and needed to pass through quickly, the pain would cause sweat to continuously bead on Shangguan Tianque’s forehead. The green smoke now rising from his body was the result of him diverting another portion of his Spirit Power to continuously heal himself.

He had a feeling that in the attacks of these heads and demonic beasts, no matter what method he used to receive the attack, his own blood seemed to be invisibly lost. This also made him feel that the life force in his body was quietly slipping away. If he didn’t replenish his life force for a period of time, he might unknowingly turn into a dried corpse.

The wood-attribute healing arts continuously flashed with circles of emerald green on his body, giving Shangguan Tianque a sense of vitality from time to time. But then, in a series of “hissing” sounds, it turned into wisps of green smoke and dissipated, and his aura weakened again. This made him look at this moment as if the fire of his life was flickering, unable to maintain a balance.

“Clang, clang!” With two more high-pitched, crisp cries, a fiery red phoenix with a long tail feather suddenly flew out from the wick. It was flapping its wide wings, hovering in the sea of fire, as if reborn from the fire. Following its high-pitched cry, two balls of dark red fire shot out from its wings, hitting Shangguan Tianque.

“This is a Spirit Transformation Realm demonic beast!” In an instant, Shangguan Tianque felt an attack from the same level…