Chapter 569: Gray Lin Chen

In endless darkness, Lin Chen’s body darted through black smoke, while flames and thunderbolts struck repeatedly—each one swallowed the moment it touched him.

Under the black smoke’s control, Lin Chen’s entire body moved steadily in one direction.

……

At the end of the darkness floated an ancient golden lantern.

Its body glowed with a dim gold sheen, engraved with countless runes that resonated in harmony with the pure white flame flickering at its wick.

The base of the lantern was inlaid with nine coiled dragon carvings, each dragon’s mouth holding strands of pale gold energy.

Yan Feng stared at the ancient lantern, his face flushed with excitement.

His mission was to prevent anyone from taking the treasure—but if an opportunity arose, he would take it himself.

The treasure was this very lantern before him!

This lantern’s origins were extraordinary.

During the demonic calamity, no method could eradicate the demon, until the then-Grand Master of Qianji Sect forged it personally, blessed with the imperial divine seal’s fortune, and finally refined by the ancestral master of Wan Huozong using primordial fire.

There was only ever one such lantern—none could ever be made again.

Had the demon not threatened Yan Huang Dynasty, bringing it to the brink of collapse, the imperial house would never have risked the divine seal’s fortune.

Had the situation not been desperate, the Qianji Sect’s Grand Master would never have expended countless precious materials to forge it.

Had the ancestral master of Wan Huozong—not a being with unparalleled talent in fire refinement—not been alive, it could never have been condensed.

This is why the lantern resides in the Sacred Flame Hall.

The reason this matter is taboo within Yan Huang Dynasty, known to so few, is not only because the demon’s existence stirs unrest, but also because it is an embarrassment to the imperial house.

As rulers of Yan Huang Dynasty, the imperial house was powerless against the demon, forced to rely on the Qianji Sect’s Grand Master and Wan Huozong’s ancestral master to suppress it—word of this would tarnish their honor.

Even within Wan Huozong and Qianji Sect, only the Supreme Elders and Grand Masters of each generation knew the truth—not even the Elders were aware, and the same held true for Qianji Sect.

Yan Feng gripped another jade pendant in his hand; it blazed with brilliant golden light, sweeping toward the ancient lantern.

As the golden light touched the lantern, the lantern itself began radiating golden light, responding in harmony with the pendant.

Seeing this, Yan Feng’s face lit up with joy—he only needed to take the next step to draw the lantern to himself.

But his smile had not yet settled when a strand of black thread flickered from the lantern’s pure white flame; the moment it appeared, the white flame sensed something, surging violently and swallowing the pendant’s golden light whole.

BOOM!

Yan Feng snatched back the pendant and retreated, stopping only after fleeing dozens of zhang away, his heart still pounding.

Before him, the white flame burned furiously at the black thread—but the thread clung like a malignant growth, stubbornly surviving despite the inferno.

“After all these years, the demon still hasn’t perished?”

Yan Feng’s eyes held disbelief. Tens of thousands of years had passed; logically, the demon should have been crushed long ago—that was the elders’ conclusion.

Dongfang Canglang’s decision to send someone here must have assumed the demon was utterly extinguished.

But the appearance of this black thread meant the demon was not fully destroyed—he could not take the lantern, nor should he try.

“Fine. If I can’t take it, neither can Dongfang Canglang. That fulfills the elders’ orders.”

After a long silence, Yan Feng gave one final, deep look at the raging white flame. The demon was no trivial threat; since its survival was confirmed, this place was no longer safe to linger.

Yan Feng turned and left. One hour after his departure, a figure sped through the darkness opposite him.

Lin Chen’s body, under the black smoke’s control, drifted to a hundred zhang from the ancient lantern.

Three breaths later, his body rose upright under the smoke’s command, staring at the lantern ahead, a strangely eerie smile curling on his lips.

“Still alive after all these years? Perfect… it’s lucky for me.”

Lin Chen whispered, his voice cold as if rising from the deepest abyss; his skin turned gray as he reached out a hand toward the lantern.

The lantern sensed the threat and flared again—its fire coalesced into a silver-bodied, golden-clawed fire dragon, its massive eyes radiating absolute dominance.

BOOM!

The fire dragon collided with the descending gray giant hand; invisible energy waves caused the black space before them to collapse visibly.

“Had the ancestral master of Wan Huozong still lived, I might not have been able to overcome you—but now, you’re not worthy.”

Gray Lin Chen sneered, a gray glow flashing in his third eye.

“Above, it connects to the Heavenly Ruins, reflecting the stars of the heavens as the Canglan Eye; below, it reaches the Nine Heavens, storing eons of calamity as the Key of Rebirth—this is the true Canglan Eye.”

Gray Lin Chen spoke as if to himself—or perhaps to someone else.

The gray light shot forth, and where it passed, the black space twisted into a vortex—a long, spiraling whirlpool hurtling straight toward the lantern.

The lantern shuddered violently; this time, three fire dragons formed—but beneath the gray vortex, all were sucked in.

Under the vortex’s influence, the lantern’s flame weakened, and within it, several strands of black thread slipped free, vanishing seamlessly into the darkness.