A quarter-hour later.
Nie Tian’s connections to the Flame Dragon Armor, both soul and bloodline, were completely cut off.
His face grew very sullen.
He stared at the inside of the volcano for a long while before saying, “Pang Bo left those fiery spell formations. Are you sure no one in the fire element sect other than Senior Shao can get past them, not even your soul awareness?”
Peng Yan and the other elders looked rather embarrassed as they nodded slightly.
“I can’t sense the existence of the Flame Dragon Armor anymore,” Nie Tian said with a grim face. “However, the spatial fluctuations coming from down there are becoming stronger and stronger. What if Pang Chicheng is actually practicing secret incantations down there, and has intercepted the Flame Dragon Armor?”
“Umm...” Li Yu smiled bitterly.
“What if I go down there myself?” Nie Tian asked.
Huang Jinnan’s expression flickered as he said anxiously, “What? That would be an unwise thing to do. I just made an attempt with a wisp of my spiritual power, and I suffered a strong backlash. You’ve got to know that those fiery spell formations were created by an extremely talented former sectmaster of our sect, who was at the late God domain before he reached the end of his lifespan and passed away!”
Hou Chulan, Pu Yangbai, and Lin Yaoyao also chimed in, joining his effort to dissuade Nie Tian.
In his time, Pang Bo had truly stood at the peak of human cultivation. Not only had his words held enormous weight in the Five Elements Sect, but as a peak human expert, he had killed tenth grade outsider grand monarchs.
How could the spell formations carved by such an expert to protect his private cultivation location be so easily breached?
Nie Tian fixed his eyes on Peng Yan and asked, “Do you mind if I give it a shot? You should know what it’ll mean to your sect if Pang Chicheng is actually in there.”
Face grim, Peng Yan said, “I’m just afraid that you’ll die in there.”
“That’s not your concern.” With these words, Nie Tian quickly nodded towards Lou Hongyan before jumping off his Star Boat, aiming for the lava lake.
A wisp of his soul will first shot out like a lightning bolt.
A small fiery spell formation on the crimson inside of the crater suddenly morphed into what looked like a blazing eye, which thrummed with terrifying power that could burn any soul will to ashes!
Nie Tian’s wisp of soul will barely fell a few meters into the crater when it burst into flames with a boom.
He experienced a nip in his mind, and knew that his wisp of soul will had been eliminated, along with the aura he had vested it with.
“A late God domain expert who practiced fire incantations... Given my attainments, it’s almost impossible for me to break the spell formation he left behind.
“So...”
As his train of thought came to this point, he sent a wisp of soul will into his flame power core to summon the flame spark.
An orange-red sphere that seemed to burn like the sun unfolded to envelop him.
An independent fire domain!
Without stimulating his star and wood power cores, he stimulated only his flame power core and the flame spark within it. By doing this, he formed a domain that looked like a sphere of burning sunglow.
The flame spark’s unique aura vested his flame domain with endless mystery.
“Hmm?!”
Peng Yan and the other elders of the fire element sect all raised their eyebrows, surprised looks filling their eyes.
All of them were Saint domain experts that practiced fire incantations. However, they were deeply amazed by Nie Tian’s flame domain, which he had formed independently with his flame power core.
They didn’t expect that Nie Tian’s flame domain could actually affect them and make their flame auras flow uncontrollably towards him.
In fact, not only them, but rich and pure flame power was also being attracted to him from every corner of the Realm of Fire Spirit.
Peng Yan’s expression flickered with astonishment. “There must be a Heaven Nourished grade fire-attributed treasure inside his flame domain!”
After taking a moment to sense Nie Tian’s flame domain with rapt attention, he added, “A Heaven Nourished grade fire-attributed treasure! This aura seems to belong to the Origin of All Flames, and is very similar to that of the Divine Flame that appeared in the Domain of Flame’s End. Our sectmaster himself went there several times just to find that Divine Flame, but even he failed to locate it every time!”
Li Yu chimed in. “The Divine Flame that could burn down an entire domain and cause fundamental changes to all of its realms... No wonder it’s so extraordinary!”
The elders of the fire element sect then started discussing among themselves while they were still within Nie Tian’s earshot, as if they didn’t think it was inappropriate.
“Is that aura he exudes really from the Divine Flame that devastated the Domain of Flame’s End?”
“This is odd... so odd!”
“Don’t tell me that he can actually enter and investigate inside the volcano to see if there’s a teleportation portal or any sign of Pang Chicheng there.”
Nie Tian, however, who was the focus of their discussion, slowly descended into the volcano, enveloped in his flame domain.
FIZZ! FIZZ! FIZZ!
Hundreds of fiery spell formations on the crimson inside of the volcano that had been vested with different wonders of fire seemed to be stimulated, as they all burst into flames at the same time.
Spell formations of different shapes and colors started transforming. Some morphed into flame phoenixes. Some morphed into flame qilins, while others took the form of Heaven Flame Beasts.
Some even transformed into blazing soul-form beings that floated in midair and eyed Nie Tian.
In the next moment, flame power that contained endless wonders burst forth, along with a soul-piercing power. They all had the same target: Nie Tian.
BZZZ! BZZZ!
Sparks sputtered off the outermost part of Nie Tian’s flame domain as dazzling fiery light attacked his flame domain from all directions in an attempt to burn it to ashes.
“This won’t do! He’s going to be overpowered!” With this thought, Huang Jinnan exclaimed, “Nie Tian! Come back! Your strength and cultivation base won’t allow you to contend against those fiery spell formations!”
Hou Chulan also cried out, “Come back now, Nie Tian!”
Peng Yan and the other elders’ faces turned pale with fright as soon as they sensed the might of the fiery spell formations on the crimson inside of the crater multiply by the second. All of them were convinced that Nie Tian was going to be burned to death.
“This Son of the Stars is just too stubborn! If he dies in our sect, how will we explain it to the Ancient Fragmentary Star Palace?”
It seemed to them that Nie Tian’s flame domain could be melted and burned to ashes at any moment now.
SHEW!
All of a sudden, a streak of unusual spatial light shot from under the lava lake and wrapped around Nie Tian like a colorful ribbon.
In the next moment, the power that the fiery spell formations had sent after his body and soul vanished completely.
At the same time, Nie Tian was carried into the lava lake and disappeared.
“D-did a streak of spatial light just wrap around Nie Tian and drag him down?” Huang Jinnan exclaimed in shock, “Is he going to be okay?”
“There are such unusual spatial fluctuations inside this volcano, and it’s vested with such terrifying fiery spell formations,” Hou Chulan said with a stern expression. “Why didn’t Martial Uncle Shao conduct a thorough investigation of it? Did he let Pang Chicheng off intentionally?”
“If that’s the case, that senior martial sister of mine died, and the one who’s responsible went unpunished?” Lin Yaoyao said angrily.
Huang Jinnan and Lou Hongyan also fixed their eyes on Peng Yan and the other elders of the fire element sect, their eyes filled with suspicion and discontent.
“I’m not in a place to ask about that.” With these words, Peng Yan cast his eyes down in hesitation. Seconds later, he turned to Lou Hongyan and said, “Your master had his scruples. After all, our former sectmaster took him into our sect and taught him with all his heart. Perhaps it’s his gratitude towards him that made him reluctant to dig into this place, even though he must be aware of its abnormality.”