Chapter 1663, Volcanic Crater

“It was not Sir Luo Hai,” Wei Qing shook his head with a heavy expression, “Sir Luo Hai… also fell.”

“What?”

Gasps sounded all around as everyone in the hall showed a look of shock. All of Brilliant Flame Sect’s Elders turned incredulous gazes towards Wei Qing as the words he just spoke were even more unbelievable than the fall of their Supreme Elder.

“There is no need to doubt. I have received a message from Green Mountains Star two months ago saying the statue of their Star Master shattered and Sir Luo Hai’s Soul Brand, which was encased within it, disappeared. He has indeed fallen, and considering the timing, it should have happened during the few days he went to Ice Heart Valley together with Supreme Elder.”

“Supreme Elder and even Sir Luo Hai fell… who in Ice Heart Valley has such skill?”

“That’s right, a few months later, weren’t there earth-shattering energy fluctuations emanating from Ice Heart Valley? Could they be related to that matter?”

“Could it have been Ice Heart Valley’s Ancestral Founder? This old master has heard some rumours saying she has not died.”

“How could that be? Ice Heart Valley was founded more than ten thousand years ago. If their Ancestral Founder had really not died, why has she not shown up before now?”

“What’s the point of speculating about this now? Ice Heart Valley has already reached our borders! Right now, we need to quickly devise a way of dealing with them.”

“How are we supposed to deal with them? My Brilliant Flame Sect’s Supreme Elder has already fallen, and Ice Heart Valley’s Luo Li will definitely take action personally. No one from Brilliant Flame Sect can resist her!”

“Stop with your cowardly drivel! Even if Luo Li has come personally, this old master pledges to fight! If this old master is to die here today, he will at least do so after landing a blow on her!”

…..

After learning that Chi Huo had died, the group of Elders no longer had the same carefree att.i.tudes they had before as all of them began expressing their own opinions of how to proceed with solemn expressions.

Wei Qing sat at the head of the hall without saying a word, as if he were just an outside observer.

After a long time, he raised his hand and the noisy hall instantly became silent, with everyone turning their attention towards him.

“Enough, calm down!” Wei Qing said lightly, “Ice Heart Valley is threatening our borders as we speak, and although this may be the greatest catastrophe my Brilliant Flame Sect has ever faced, if we handle this properly, we may yet emerge from this predicament intact. Luo Li is indeed an Origin King Realm master and none of us on our own are her opponent, but do not forget that they are the attackers while we are the defenders. We can take advantage of our Sect Defending Array to consume their strength, and… the rumours say that Luo Li experienced a cultivation dissonance recently and suffered backlash as a result, so she should not be able to display her full strength.”

“Exactly! What Sect Master says is correct, we are the defenders here so we have the advantage!”

“Jie Jie… don’t forget, we still have that thing as well! If we let that thing out, even Luo Li won’t get off easily!” Someone laughed strangely as a smile filled with madness filled his face.

Others also quickly realized what this old man was talking about and their expressions grew serious.

Even Wei Qing’s expression became more solemn as he pondered for a moment before saying, “Unless we have no other choice, that thing cannot be released! Transmit my orders, have all disciples prepare to meet the enemy. Today, we fight to the death!”

“Fight!” All the Elders shouted together.

….

Ice Heart Valley’s five Stars.h.i.+ps slowly sailed towards the depths of Brilliant Flame Mountain Range, approaching Brilliant Flame Sect’s headquarters at a steady pace.

Some Spirit Arrays and barriers appeared along the way to obstruct their advance, but none were able to dampen Ice Heart Valley’s momentum. Often, it only took a single volley of the Stars.h.i.+ps’ Crystal Cannons to destroy these barriers.

“Bing Long, go on ahead and announce that this Queen is only here to punish the leaders of Brilliant Flame Sect and that any disciples who leave now will not be targeted. Anyone who remains by the time my Ice Heart Valley’s Stars.h.i.+ps arrive will be considered enemies and shown no mercy,” Luo Li suddenly said.

“Yes!” Bing Long cupped her fists and flew off.

Soon, Bing Long’s Divine Sense spread out widely, conveying the message that only the Elders of Brilliant Flame Sect were targets of their a.s.sault while the common disciples were of no concern to them.

When Brilliant Flame Sect received this message, all of the Elders and leaders couldn’t help cursing Bing Long for her despicable behaviour, debasing her as a shameless and lowly s.l.u.t.

Brilliant Flame Sect had tens of thousands of disciples, and although their cohesion was not frail, not all of them would choose to die with the Sect when facing this life or death crisis. Also, Bing Long deliberately spread the news that their pillar of support, Supreme Elder Chi Huo, had fallen, causing much panic and fear amongst the Brilliant Flame Sect disciples.

It was not long before some began fleeing from Brilliant Flame Mountain Range.

Once they discovered a deserter, the higher-ups of Brilliant Flame Sect would act decisively, killing a few to warn the many.

Although this b.l.o.o.d.y and cruel method temporarily deterred most of the common disciples, more and more Brilliant Flame Sect’s people became panicked and tried to flee as time pa.s.sed.

Streams of light rose from many different places inside Brilliant Flame Sect, speeding away in all directions.

Luo Li quickly released her powerful Divine Sense to envelop all of Brilliant Flame Mountain Range.

The cultivators below the Origin Returning Realm were allowed to escape, but any Origin Realm master who tried was personally executed by Luo Li.

Any Brilliant Flame Sect cultivator that had reached the Origin Realm had the blood of countless Ice Heart Valley disciples on their hands, so Luo Li was naturally not about to let them escape.

Soon, the disciples with cultivations below the Origin Realm also discovered this situation and they immediately rejoiced, many of them ignoring the threats from their leaders and fleeing with all haste.

For a time, Brilliant Flame Sect became chaotic as even the Elders and Deacons’ b.l.o.o.d.y methods of suppression were unable to salvage the situation.

“Senior Luo Li, I’ll be going on ahead,” Yang Kai’s gaze suddenly landed on a mountain at the back of Brilliant Flame Mountain Range.

Luo Li also turned to look in that direction, understood what Yang Kai’s intentions were, and did not try to stop him, simply exhorting, “Be careful.”

Yang Kai gently nodded.

“Junior Brother, do you want me to accompany you?” Su Yan asked.

“No, you can stay here with Senior Luo Li,” Yang Kai waved his hand before disappearing from the flags.h.i.+p. When he reappeared, he was already a thousand metres away.

Luo Li’s beautiful eyes shrank slightly.

Only now did she realize how Yang Kai was able to escape from Luo Hai’s pursuit for several months.

Based on this profound Movement Skill alone, any ordinary Origin King would have no way to catch him. Even she was unable to see how he moved despite standing right next to him.

Was this the mysterious Dao of s.p.a.ce?

Luo Li wore a look of interest on her face as she took a moment to observe Yang Kai carefully, but no matter how she tried, she was unable to comprehend anything about how he used s.p.a.ce Force, simply feeling that everything around him blurred momentarily before he disappeared and reappeared.

With a slight sigh, Luo Li retracted her gaze as she confirmed that the Dao of s.p.a.ce was not something she could fathom. Immediately, she focused her attention back on Brilliant Flame Sect.

At the deepest depths of Brilliant Flame Mountain Range, there was a barren, extremely high temperature thousand-metre high mountain.

Standing at the base of this mountain and looking up, one could vaguely see a bright red light at its peak.

This volcanic crater was extremely active and the energy aura which diffused from it not only contained a potent Fire Attribute, but also an overbearing Thunder Attribute.

Inside the volcano was a hideous, suppressed aura, one that was filled with brutality and ferocity, making any who approached shudder.

“This must be it,” Yang Kai arrived at the base of the mountain and muttered thoughtfully.

This time, he did not intend to intervene in the battle between Ice Heart Valley and Brilliant Flame Sect. His only goal was Brilliant Flame Sect’s Heavenly Thunder Fire!

This was an ominous flame creature that even Luo Li feared.

According to the rumours, this creature seemed to have gained sentience and was extremely formidable.

From his Divine Sense investigation, Yang Kai determined that this entire volcanic mountain peak was covered in a powerful Spirit Array.

Yang Kai cast his gaze towards a certain spot in the sky and said with a grin, “Two friends, why show your tails while trying to conceal your heads? Why not just show yourselves openly?”

As soon as Yang Kai spoke these words, a cold snort sounded, and the air rippled as two figures appeared strangely.

It was as if they had appeared from a different world.

The two who appeared were both very old, with white hair and beards, but their cultivations were at the peak Third-Order Origin Returning Realm and the Fire Attribute Saint Qi radiating from their bodies was extremely hot. The one on the left was tall and thin while the one on the right had dark brownish-red skin. Obviously, these two held high status in Brilliant Flame Sect.

“Boy, who are you?” The skinny Elder stared at Yang Kai and asked in a cold voice.

“Don’t worry about who I am, I just came here to collect this Heavenly Thunder Fire. If two old gentlemen do not mind, could you tell me how to open the Spirit Array blocking this place?” Yang Kai smiled and asked lightly.

“Bold Junior!” The skinny Elder was furious, “You dare covet my Brilliant Flame Sect’s Heavenly Thunder Fire? Out of consideration for your young age and high cultivation, we old masters won’t embarra.s.s you and give you one chance to withdraw peacefully!”

This old man seemed somewhat easy to speak to as he did not try to immediately kill Yang Kai for trespa.s.sing into Brilliant Flame Sect’s Restricted Area.

“Old sir is quite kind!” Yang Kai raised his brow as a sarcastic grin appeared on his face. Stomping his foot lightly in the next instant, Yang Kai snickered, “Is this what old sir meant by not embarra.s.sing me?”

*Hong…*

As Yang Kai’s foot fell, the ground suddenly cracked and a fissure spread from his position towards the two old men.

From this fissure, two well-concealed wisps of Fire Attribute energy flew up from a point only a few metres away from Yang Kai.

These two wisps of Fire Attribute energy were like venomous snakes lying in wait to strike out without warning.

“Your vision isn’t bad little brat. Since you’ve already seen through everything, there’s nothing left to discuss. For trespa.s.sing into Brilliant Flame Sect’s Restricted Area, you must die!” The skinny Elder did not hesitate after Yang Kai saw through his little trick, immediately removing his hypocritical face and pus.h.i.+ng his Saint Qi, causing the wisps of Fire Attribute energy down below to transform into flame pythons that leapt towards Yang Kai.

“Paltry tricks!” Yang Kai laughed loudly as he summoned the Verdant Dragon Bone Sword into his hand and with a single swing sent out a wave of green light that easily split the terrifying flame python in half, causing it to scatter and dissipate.

[Strong!] The two old men both wore solemn expressions when they saw this display.