Chapter 560

BOOM!

A fire dragon roared toward him, its terrifying flames warping the air; Lin Chen flicked his finger, sending a pinpoint gust that split the dragon cleanly in two.

But Lin Chen didn’t pause—he fired off several more finger strikes, and the surrounding fire dragons likewise shattered.

“Six fire dragons the moment I landed?”

Lin Chen looked around; fire clusters floated everywhere in the air—just moments ago, these clusters had sensed him and launched their attacks.

The Sacred Flame Realm is dangerous—he’d already heard from Zhao Haoyang before entering—but not this dangerous.

The Sacred Flame Realm is vast; every entrant is teleported to a different location, but according to Zhao Haoyang, anyone who reached the Second Stage of Primordial should still be able to handle it.

Yet those six fire dragons each possessed power equal to or exceeding that of a Second Stage Primordial cultivator; a typical Second Stage cultivator caught off-guard might not survive.

“Could this be why the Sacred Flame Realm’s disciples haven’t returned?”

Lin Chen pondered, then dismissed the thought—even if Second Stage cultivators struggled to cope, it wouldn’t mean certain death. Besides, the Wan Huozong disciples who entered were all at least Second Stage, but not all were Second Stage—many were Third Stage.

As a supreme sect, Wan Huozong had about a dozen disciples under thirty who had reached the Third Stage of Primordial.

These disciples wouldn’t face immediate peril upon entry—so something else must have changed in the Sacred Flame Realm.

As Lin Chen thought, his body suddenly twisted, reaching out through the air toward the left; a streak of green light writhed in his palm, and as it struggled, waves of flame consumed his hand.

Unfortunately, the flames inflicted not a single scratch on Lin Chen.

After a few breaths, the flames vanished; Lin Chen gazed at the green glass bead in his palm, within which fire currents flowed.

Fire Source Pearl.

A unique treasure of the Sacred Flame Realm, forged by fire spirits.

A fire spirit is a special entity—more advanced than ordinary flame, yet still short of becoming a Primordial Flame.

According to Wan Huozong’s description: not all fire spirits become Primordial Flames, but every Primordial Flame was once a fire spirit.

This item is used to elevate the rank of a Primordial Flame and has become Wan Huozong disciples’ primary acquisition recently.

There are only two ways to enhance a Primordial Flame’s power: one is to absorb ambient energy naturally—but that process takes centuries, long enough to outlive any cultivator.

The other is to feed it energy—such as letting it devour weaker Primordial Flames—but this carries risk, and Primordial Flames are too precious; even Wan Huozong cannot afford to sacrifice one to feed another.

Thus, Fire Source Pearls, capable of raising a Primordial Flame’s rank, are exceedingly rare.

One hundred Fire Source Pearls can elevate a Primordial Flame by one rank.

But for Lin Chen, to raise his own Primordial Flame by one rank, he’d need a thousand Fire Source Pearls.

Because he doesn’t possess a single Primordial Flame—he fused four into one new Primordial Flame, whose innate power already surpasses any single one, making advancement far harder.

He tucked the Fire Source Pearl away, chose a direction, and moved forward.

Among the fire clusters, Lin Chen did not slow his pace, nor did he deliberately collect Fire Source Pearls.

It wasn’t that he didn’t want them—it was a matter of personal principle.

He entered the Sacred Flame Realm under the pretense that Elder Zhuang had sent him to locate Wan Huozong’s missing disciples; as the saying goes, entrusted with a task, one must fulfill it faithfully.

Elder Zhuang had treated him well; he couldn’t make Elder Zhuang look foolish.

First, find the whereabouts of Wan Huozong’s disciples; then consider his own interests.

One day, two days…

For five straight days, Lin Chen kept moving but found no trace of Wan Huozong disciples—yet he’d gathered over thirty Fire Source Pearls.

All were captured and refined during his journey, when fire spirits had ambushed him.

“Did I take the wrong direction?”

After five days without sighting any disciples, Lin Chen considered changing course—then, as he hesitated, his eyes suddenly locked onto the left-front.

…

“Brother, you go first—I’ll hold off these beasts!”

“Brother, you go—I’ll stay.”

Two young men were frantically fleeing; behind them, five or six fire dragons roared in pursuit. Their clothes were torn, and the distance between them and the dragons was closing rapidly—by this rate, they’d be caught in moments.

To survive, one must stay behind to block the fire dragons.

“Brother, you’re stronger than me—you have a better chance of escaping. Only by reporting the situation in the Sacred Flame Realm to the Elders can our other brothers be saved.”

The one called Brother clenched his teeth—he knew his brother was right. His brother, a Second Stage cultivator, might evade danger temporarily but wouldn’t likely escape. Yet abandoning him? He simply couldn’t.

“Brother, don’t forget the others!”

Hearing this, the young man trembled—both he and his brother carried the hopes of their other brothers.

“Brother, take care!”

The young man gave his brother one last long look, then finally stopped hesitating—his body surged forward like a streak of rainbow light. But before he’d flown ten zhang, a wall of fire appeared before him.

Not just one—walls of fire now rose on all three other sides, sealing off the entire space.

“We can’t escape!”

Seeing the walls, the young man’s face darkened with despair; he turned back and saw the same expression in his brother’s eyes.

They had once watched several senior brothers trapped by such walls, perishing in their flames.

“Brother, I’m useless. Master told me to protect you in the Sacred Flame Realm—I failed.”

The young man stopped running, returning to his brother’s side. Thinking of Master’s final words before entering, shame filled his face.

“How could it be your fault? This turn of events was unforeseen by anyone—even Brother Chen fell.”

The younger brother shook his head. Brother Chen, a top-tier Third Stage cultivator, hadn’t survived—how could their brother, who’d only just entered the Third Stage, be expected to?

“Brother, can I ask you one thing?”

“What is it?”

“Before the fire wall reaches us, end me quickly—I don’t want to endure the agony of being burned alive.”

He’d seen it firsthand—the brothers who could endure the torment of Primordial Flames ravaging their bodies had screamed in agony when the fire walls consumed them.

He didn’t want to suffer that.

“Alright.”

After a long pause, Zhang Qing softly agreed. The fire wall was now only ten zhang away.

“Brother!”

“Brother!”

As the two brothers locked eyes in silent farewell, a voice rang out.

“Excuse me—are you both disciples of Wan Huozong?”

At the sound, Zhang Qing instantly turned right—and saw the fire wall on that side had vanished. A young man stood there.

“You’re… Lin Chen?”

Recognizing the young man’s face, Zhang Qing blurted out.

“Yes, it’s me.”

Lin Chen nodded and explained: “Wan Huozong disciples have been missing too long in the Sacred Flame Realm. I was entrusted by your sect’s Elder to come in and investigate.”

Hearing this, Zhang Qing understood—he recognized Lin Chen. He’d been watching the crowd when Lin Chen fought Zhao Haoyang; his face was unforgettable.