Ye Chen’s steps came to an abrupt halt.
He was a cautious person. After digging out the Blackcloud Heavenly Flame, he had already used his spiritual power to scan the entire underground palace thoroughly—especially the area beneath the flame. He was sure there were no other treasures left.
If anyone else had claimed something was still below, Ye Chen would’ve dismissed it immediately. But since it was Qing’er who said it, he believed her completely.
Ye Chen drew the spiritual sword he had just sheathed and continued digging down.
After digging a few dozen more meters, he really did find something in the dry soil.
To be precise, it was an egg!
The egg was entirely fiery red, about the size of a palm, and at first glance, seemed unremarkable.
Ye Chen instinctively released his spiritual power to probe it, but was shocked to find that its eggshell was like a divine-level shielding formation. His spiritual power couldn’t penetrate it—no, it couldn’t even get close before dissolving automatically.
“What kind of egg is this terrifying? Could it be that the most heaven-defying opportunity in this underground palace isn’t the Blackcloud Heavenly Flame—but this mysterious egg?”
Ye Chen instinctively tried to put the egg into his storage to see what kind of creature it would hatch in the future.
To his surprise, this palm-sized egg felt like it weighed a billion tons—he couldn’t even lift it.
He tried both his spatial ring and his universe pouch, attempting to store it, but both failed.
“The same ring and pouch that easily stored the Blackcloud Heavenly Flame can’t even take this egg? Looks like the true heaven-defying opportunity in this palace… is really this egg.”
Ye Chen knew that only supreme treasures or truly heaven-defying items couldn’t be stored in space-based artifacts.
He furrowed his brows. The egg, clearly an extraordinary item, was right before his eyes, yet he couldn’t take it with him.
The feeling of seeing something you couldn’t have—it was infuriating.
Especially since Qing’er seemed to really like this egg.
“Qing’er, this egg is indeed unusual, but… we may not be able to take it with us,” Ye Chen said apologetically.
Before he could finish, his expression changed drastically.
Right before his eyes, Qing’er stepped forward and reached out toward the egg.
The egg seemed to have a will of its own—it leapt up eagerly and landed right in Qing’er’s hands.
Ye Chen asked, “Qing’er, how did you do that?”
Qing’er replied, “I felt strangely close to the egg, so I tried reaching for it, and it just jumped into my hands.”
Ye Chen: …
Qing’er gently stroked the egg, and after a while, she carefully placed it into her pocket. She was also very curious to see what kind of creature would hatch from it. This chapter is updated first at g.com.
With that matter settled, Ye Chen glanced around the palace. Besides the beast flame, the Blackcloud Heavenly Flame, and the egg, the only valuable items left were the luminous pearls embedded in the walls.
He gathered up all the luminous pearls, then took Qing’er’s hand, satisfied and ready to leave.
At the end of the palace was a door.
Ye Chen gently pushed it open. With a creaking sound, the door slowly opened, and sunlight from outside filtered in through the widening gap.
Warm sunlight fell across Ye Chen’s ink-black hair and sharply defined face… but the moment it touched the spatial ring on his hand—an anomaly occurred.
Boom boom boom…
The Blackcloud Heavenly Flame inside his ring suddenly began to rage violently.
At this rate, it would soon explode.
Ye Chen’s expression changed drastically. He had no time to wonder why the heavenly flame had gone berserk. He had to absorb it before it blew up.
“With my current cultivation, martial meridians, and physical strength, fusing with a heavenly flame is extremely difficult. There’s even a risk of my body exploding… but letting it detonate would be far too wasteful.”
Ye Chen decided to take the risk.
He took out the heavenly flame, then released all his spiritual power, forming a nearly tangible hand to forcibly drag the flame into his body.
Boom boom boom…
The heavenly flame, sensing Ye Chen’s weak cultivation, was dissatisfied and tried to break free violently.
Ye Chen continued pouring out spiritual power, sealing off his body while trying to suppress the heavenly flame inside and forcibly integrate it.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The clash of the heavenly flame and spiritual power caused intense shockwaves, tearing the underground palace apart.
Not just the palace—even the entire mountain began trembling, on the verge of collapse.
RUMBLE!
Several breaths later, the mountain could no longer withstand the tremors and completely crumbled into ruins.
Ye Chen went all out, his spiritual power pouring forth like a breached dam, locking the heavenly flame tightly inside. Find the original chapter at novelping.com.
But the next phase—fusing the heavenly flame—was even harder, and it would take an unknown amount of time.
“You bastard… so it really was you who got into the mountain first!” a voice roared in rage.
It was Lin Tian—still fuming with resentment and refusing to leave—standing outside the now-collapsed mountain.
Upon seeing Ye Chen, Lin Tian’s face twisted with fury again.
Ye Chen glanced at Lin Tian. If he weren’t fully focused on fusing the heavenly flame—where a single misstep could mean eternal doom—he would’ve drawn his sword already.
Lin Tian also noticed that Ye Chen was fusing a powerful energy, one that was clearly fire-type. He exploded with anger. “What?! You even stole the beast flame that should’ve been mine—and you’re fusing it into your body?”
Just earlier, the remnant soul had informed him that the heaven-defying opportunity hidden within the mountain was a beast flame extracted from an 8th grade fire-type profound beast.
To have such a fortune snatched away made him furious.
And seeing that the person who took it was his sworn enemy Ye Chen made it even worse.
“I’ll kill you. No—I’ll tear you to pieces!”
Lin Tian’s eyes were bloodshot as he drew his sword and charged at Ye Chen.
“You’re not allowed to touch my brother.”
At the critical moment, Qing’er stepped forward and stood in front of Ye Chen.
Lin Tian let out a cold snort. In his eyes, Qing’er was just a five-year-old child—likely without even awakened martial meridians.
Since she insisted on dying, he would help fulfill her wish.
Swish!
His sword stabbed forth without pause, aiming to pierce through Qing’er first, then Ye Chen, taking them both down in one strike.
“She’s only five, still just a child!” the remnant soul couldn’t help but cry out.
But Lin Tian didn’t care. Anyone who stood in his way—man, woman, young or old—had to die.
However…
When his sure-kill sword struck Qing’er, the expected scene of it piercing through her chest never happened.
On the contrary, Lin Tian felt like he had struck not flesh and blood—but an indestructible wall of steel.
Immovable! Indestructible!