In just a few seconds, the spatial distortion took all the disciples to a hidden and secret spot in the world. When the world stopped spinning around them, Alm and Bruno felt like they had stepped into an oven.
Waves of heat surrounded them from all sides, so intense that a regular person would catch fire just from breathing the scorching air.
They saw a vast sea of lava. In the distance, mountains rose that looked more like islands floating in the glowing lava. Everything around was saturated with incredibly dense fire energy and laws.
As they looked around, they realized they were on top of one of those mountains, completely made of volcanic rocks. The surface was marked with fine cracks, almost like a honeycomb, a result of the constant action of the flames that corroded it. A burnt smell hung in the air. From up high, what they saw below wasn’t a sea but a true swamp of lava.
This was a planet completely ruled by fire laws. To ensure fairness in the competition, each disciple was transported to a random region.
Unlike Pristine or Gloom, this place, where the Fire Phoenix Yang was sealed, couldn’t support ordinary life. The fire laws were extremely destructive to any form of regular life, making it impossible for vegetation to grow.
However, after the creation of the Phoenix Cry sect and taking on the responsibility of guarding this inhospitable territory, they gathered beasts capable of thriving in these conditions from all over the universe and confined them there.
From what Alm and Bruno gathered, the Phoenix Cry sect had deep control over the formation sealing the Phoenix. This was probably due to the weakened state of the beast when it was imprisoned, allowing the formation to be more dominant.
This allowed the Phoenix bloodline to flow throughout the planet, enabling all the beasts there to absorb that energy. The alchemists, in turn, only had gains to make.
Due to their great resistance to fire laws, even an inexperienced alchemist could defeat some of those beasts and absorb their bloodline.
All the competition participants had prepared pills to boost their fire resistance, along with others infused with Yin laws, capable of dealing significant damage to the beasts—pills that weren’t hard for them to make.
Alm and Bruno didn’t hesitate to move. The goal was clear: the Central Lotus. On this fiery planet, there were nine standout points—huge mountains that looked like fire lotuses floating in the lava. Those were the nine seals.
The Central Lotus, the largest and most impressive of all, could be felt from afar, thanks to the absurd intensity of fire laws in that region. There, clearly lay the true body of the sealed Phoenix.
Half a day after a quick trip, they finally spotted the Central Lotus. Along the way, they encountered several fire beasts, but with the tattoos, they didn’t last even a second.
Alm and Bruno sensed the primordial bloodline in the beasts, but it was as subtle as a Yinblood Jewel. They decided to ignore it and continue toward their goal, aware that time was limited.
An hour later, just before reaching their destination, they stopped and turned, noticing a figure flying toward them. It was Almin, approaching rapidly.
When he arrived, he smiled a bit awkwardly. "It’s strange to see you like this now... I think I got used to that huge form."
Alm just huffed, dryly. "I had to come early, but now I have to free the beast. Things are going to get complicated in the sect after this, and it’s hard to say if they’ll survive the heroes’ fury and investigation."
Almin tensed up, looking into their eyes, clenching his fists, and said, "This sect is definitely corrupt and problematic. But unlike the evil cultivators, there are many good people trying to make things better here."
"Yeah, I’ve seen it all. I know you’ve grown attached to them, and this place still has a lot to offer you. But I don’t have a choice. Our time is limited, and I need to do this," Alm replied, regretfully. "Now, tell me, what was your plan to revive Lyra?"
Almin nodded and pulled something from his inventory. It was a pill surrounded by golden runes, and when it appeared, the whole environment filled with an oppressive sensation.
Alm and Bruno recognized the golden runes. They were identical to the ones used to seal the pill they made, preventing a tribulation from falling on them. They focused, and just feeling its fluctuations made their eyes narrow; an intense sense of danger emanated from it.
"What the hell is this?!" Alm exclaimed.
Almin sighed. "It’s an Unmatched Pill I managed to create recently, thanks to the new level of the Dao of the God of Alchemy. It’s something unprecedented, made by me; I called it the Chaotic Rebirth Pill."
Alm and Bruno’s eyes widened as they felt the laws contained within the pill. High-level fire laws and a significant amount of chaos laws were sealed inside.
Almin explained the concept of the pill. He had used his two internal runes, the fire rune from the Behemoth seal and the chaos rune he got from the other universe.
"This pill takes advantage of the chaos law’s ability to transform into anything. Its effect is to perfectly merge with the user’s body, making its properties become one with the body; it should feel like you were born with it. But what will merge hasn’t been added yet."
"I planned to use the Phoenix bloodline from this place to complete the pill. That way, Lyra could perfectly merge with the bloodline, as if she were born with it. Then, I would negotiate with the Phoenix to use its nirvanic flames on her. With a pure and natural bloodline in her body, rebirth would be perfect and simple for the Phoenix," Almin finished.
Even though humans can perfectly merge with a bloodline, they’d still remain human, and there’s a limit to how much they can integrate with something external. But someone born with a bloodline is a whole different story.
The whale, for example, was born partially Behemoth, which allowed it to merge with the beast’s marrow without any difficulties. Its body, generated in the womb, was already fully adapted to the bloodline, ensuring that there would be no rejection. The limit of its bloodline could reach 90% Behemoth without any problems. Ruri, who was born as a pure human, even possessing the bloodline of scales, would always remain human, and her fusion wouldn’t exceed 49%.
Almin’s pill was something scary and unbelievable. Its name wasn’t just for show; it allowed a person to be reborn, and thanks to the laws of chaos, their body would be reconstructed as if they were born with that bloodline. The effect was unmatched. But this would only work with common bloodlines.
Bruno quickly said, "Wait, that’s a primordial bloodline. The laws of chaos can theoretically alter someone’s natural bloodline, but a primordial bloodline is on a completely different level."
"Exactly," Almin agreed. "It’s incomplete. It’d take a massive amount of energy to finish the process. That’s why my plan is to use the heavens themselves to get it done."
Alm and Bruno looked at the sealed pill and began to understand. "Interesting... who’d you use for this?"
"The leader of the sect," Almin replied, a bit sheepishly.
He explained that the sect leader always secretly protected him. So, on purpose, Almin created the pill, and when the tribulation started, he tried to forcefully seal it, putting himself in a life-or-death situation.
The sect leader came to save him, but things were critical. To save him, the leader had to use his own cultivation, marking him by the heavenly laws. The result was a tribulation that maxed out the levels, aiming to kill him.
That’s when Alm and Bruno understood. Zemuo had saved himself from the deadly meeting where Alci killed several High Elders because the sect leader urgently summoned him to deal with this situation.
Almin confirmed: the leader gathered a handful of trusted people, and they all used a joint technique to seal the pill. In the end, it was Almin who saved Zemuo.
Now, when Almin released the seal, the tribulation, which had been interrupted at the highest level, would restart. It had the power to kill a cultivator at the peak of divine cultivation. The force from the heavens would be the main ingredient to complete the pill.
"Alright, that should be enough. But how would you survive the tribulation and finish the process?" Bruno asked.
Almin looked at him, a bit awkward. "My brother said I should negotiate, and when I had enough benefits, you could come and save the beast. That wouldn’t be a big deal for you, right?"
Alm and Bruno sighed. In the end, the sect leader was used, the heavenly laws too, and even they were involved in the plan.
"Age has done you good," Alm commented, satisfied. "You’ve stopped being a coward and learned to use all the resources at your disposal, even the people necessary to achieve your goals."
Bruno thought about it for a bit but didn’t see anything wrong. After all, this was only possible because Almin created an unmatched pill, unique in the world. He learned to use the Chaos rune by himself and figured everything out on his own.
If they hadn’t gotten involved so quickly, the plan might’ve flowed normally. Almin would gather as much Phoenix bloodline as possible and then reach out to her. Surely some fragment of the Phoenix’s will would be around, and with Almin’s powerful soul, finding it wouldn’t be impossible.
After negotiating other gains and preparing everything, it would just be a matter of contacting them to free her. The problem would fall on Alm and Bruno, who would have to deal with a powerful tribulation and then escape the heroes after breaking the seals. As for breaking into the planet’s formation, Almin was sure Ruri would figure it out.
"Well, unfortunately, the heavens didn’t allow that to happen," Bruno said calmly. "We can’t survive this tribulation right now. But don’t worry, I’ll find a way to revive Lyra. In fact, I could’ve done that before. But you still needed to prove you became someone capable of taking care of her; it was a test to show you’ve grown."
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Almin’s loyalty was never in question, but being loyal and being reliable were two different things. Almin, after breaking mentally and becoming a young master, proved to be unstable. Not that Alm and Bruno were examples of stability; maybe that’s a family trait... but now Almin had shown himself to be reliable, able to act effectively on his own.
"I’ll first go to where the main body is sealed. Then I’ll break all nine seals at once. This body will disappear, and I’ll complete my goal. When everything is at least somewhat stabilized, come back to my sect."
Bruno spoke calmly, and Almin nodded in understanding. Indeed, they got there really quickly, and there was no other way. "But... the warning from the new vice-leader is really weird. Something might be off in the central lotus," Almin commented, thinking.
"I’ll find out what’s going on. But regardless, the plans won’t..." Bruno trailed off, sensing Alm’s dark aura. "I’m not cursing anything. It shouldn’t be anything too serious."
Almin also felt the weight of those words, which sounded like a challenge to the heavenly laws. However, he didn’t say anything and watched Raoni turn and head toward the location.
Alm and Bruno moved quickly. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. The massive red mountain was getting closer, but they soon noticed something strange: everything was empty and silent, without any sign of life.
’This should be the most dangerous place, where the most powerful beasts live,’ Bruno thought.
Less than two hundred meters from the mountain, they stopped in midair and felt an invisible barrier in front of them. As expected, the central area wouldn’t be unprotected.
They both focused on activating their tattoos, trying to feel the laws of the barrier. It shouldn’t be too complicated...
Suddenly, both Alm and Bruno’s eyes widened.
Alm instantly turned off his Yin tattoo upon sensing imminent danger.
’Fuck.’ Alm spat, stunned.
Bruno couldn’t believe what he felt. He maxed out his Yang tattoo and reached out to touch something invisible. Using the purest Yang he could, he touched the barrier, which subtly synced with him.
Then, the entire circular area around the center pulsed. It was like a white sun was born there, shining for a second before disappearing.
But... all the beasts on the planet froze in fear and endless dread.
The disciples also felt something, but since almost all of them were human, it was just a fleeting oppressive sensation. Alm and Bruno, however, were completely in shock.
"Shit, I can’t believe it..." Bruno murmured, dazed, confirming something terrifying. "On the other side... is... the true Dragon of Chaos Yang..."