Firmament Sword

At that moment, Du Qingteng over there suddenly let out a loud roar. He shot to his feet, let out a sharp breath, and roared with laughter, ”HAHAHA! From now on, Master Du is the number one fire-wielder on Weiyu Mountain! Even the old ancestor... his flames aren’t as pure as mine!”

As he spoke, Du Qingteng bowed to Lan again. But before he did, he stood there stunned for a good while, finding it hard to believe that the perfect woman before him was the same Blue Flame Maiden from just a moment ago.

”Senior, this junior, Du Qingteng, once again thanks you for your gracious gift of the flame!”

”It’s nothing, just a small matter,” the young woman said, waving her hand dismissively.

But Du Qingteng said excitedly, ”It may be a small matter to you, Senior, but to this junior, it is a tremendous blessing!”

Then, Du Qingteng looked at Xu Luo. ”Boss, you might not know this, but the blessing Senior Fire Spirit has given me is like being reborn!”

”...” Xu Luo understood clearly that the ecstatic Du Qingteng was eager to express his excitement, so he smiled and looked at him. ”Oh? Is this flame that special?”

”What do you mean ’that special’? You’re insulting my Celestial Blue Fire!” Du Qingteng retorted excitedly. ”The Celestial Blue Fire... is one of the world’s top-tier flames to begin with!”

”But even among Celestial Blue Fires, there are different grades. The highest grade of all is the pure kind, the kind... with absolutely no impurities!”

”Weiyu Mountain focuses primarily on Fire Element Techniques, so many of our seniors possess all sorts of flames. The most powerful one belongs to the most ancient ancestor of Weiyu Mountain today.”

”His flame is the Earth Core Fire, which is as renowned as the Celestial Blue Fire. However, his Earth Core Fire... is merely a low-grade Earth Core Fire.”

”My Guardian, Ding Lie, is incredibly powerful, yet his flame is just a Polar Fire, which is a step below the top tier!”

”Only my flame... HAHAHA, is a top-tier Celestial Blue Fire, and the purest kind at that!”

Du Qingteng was too excited to stop, waving his arms and legs around like a child who had just found a treasure.

Master Mao was a legendary master of ruining the mood. He chimed in from the side with a sudden remark, ”Your flame is so awesome, but its owner is going to be with Xiaoluozi from now on. Doesn’t that make him even more awesome?”

”...” Du Qingteng’s mouth twitched violently. He glanced weakly at Xu Luo and said, ”I never compare myself to freaks.”

Xu Luo couldn’t help but roll his eyes. ’What did I do to deserve this?’ he thought.

At that moment, Du Qingteng looked cautiously at Lan and said, ”Senior, years ago, I heard a story from my master. I don’t know if it’s true.”

With that, Du Qingteng recounted the story he had heard from his master all those years ago.

After listening, Lan said faintly, ”That is just a legend.”

Du Qingteng was at a loss for words. He then looked pitifully at Xu Luo. For someone who practiced Fire Element Techniques, such a legend held an immense attraction.

Xu Luo looked at Lan and said, ”I’d like to know, too. Wasn’t I just asking you what the deal with these ancient ruins was?”

”This place was once a world, a world similar to the Divine Domain outside. This world was composed of a single continent, but its area was a million times larger than what you see today!”

HISS!

Both Xu Luo and Du Qingteng couldn’t help but suck in a sharp breath.

The world within these ancient ruins was already massive, and it contained all sorts of independent spaces, which was why Du Qingteng had judged it to be a shattered world.

But none of them could imagine what this already enormous Ancient Ruins World would look like if it were a million times larger...

”Back when this world was at its most glorious and prosperous peak, the Divine Domain... had only just begun to form,” Lan said nonchalantly.

”Later, the most powerful race in this world waged endless wars, seeking to unify the entire continent.”

”War broke out everywhere. The weaker races began to flee constantly... they were hunted, and then they fled again.”

”One of those small races, with a population of about thirty million, was once a small kingdom. After their kingdom fell, only a few hundred thousand of them were left. They retreated into a vast mountain range, and there, they discovered a cluster of Celestial Blue Fire.”

”It was an accident. A cluster of my flame that I had lost there. Perhaps it was carelessness, or perhaps... it was fate.”

The perfect young woman spoke faintly, her voice calm, as if she were narrating someone else’s story.

But to Xu Luo and Du Qingteng, her words carried a sense of immense antiquity. ’The Divine Domain had only just begun to form back then. Just how many years ago was that?’ they thought.

Lan continued, ”Later, that weak race was discovered by the Lord of the Continent. At the same time, he also discovered their cluster of pure Celestial Blue Fire. So, the Lord of the Continent demanded that the weak race hand over the Celestial Blue Fire, and in return... he would spare their lives.”

”But the weak race refused. Though the continent was vast, there was no longer a place for them. If they also handed over the Celestial Blue Fire, they would lose all ability to resist!”

”And so, that powerful race dispatched an army of a million...”

As Lan spoke, she pointed a finger at the Iron Dolls. ”These things. Every single one of them possesses the power of the Venerable Peak.”

Xu Luo, Du Qingteng, and Master Mao glanced at the millions of Iron Dolls surrounding them on all sides, and their scalps suddenly tingled with numbness.

Du Qingteng’s mouth twitched violently as he muttered, ”Gods... millions of Venerable Peak Iron Dolls that feel no fear... no pain. Forget attacking a human faction, even if they entered a Divine Domain Forbidden Area... they’d probably just steamroll it, wouldn’t they?”

Lan glanced at Du Qingteng and said, ”That’s impossible! You’re too naive!”

Du Qingteng immediately shut his mouth.

This young woman could act cute and naive in front of Xu Luo, but when facing him, she was like a goddess.

When she fully released her astonishing aura, forget him—even the ancestor of Weiyu Mountain would probably have to bow in formal worship upon seeing her!

Lan said, ”Puppets are puppets, after all. What does it matter if there are a million of them? At the time, I just burned the person commanding these puppets to death with a single burst of fire, and they all ended up like this.”

”...” Xu Luo and Du Qingteng both stared at Lan, completely speechless.

The expression on Lan’s face was placid, as if she were speaking of something utterly trivial.

’Someone who could command an army of a million Iron Dolls... definitely wasn’t an ordinary person. How powerful must his Spiritual Power have been? How many people must have been protecting him?’

’And a person like that was directly burned to death by Lan with a single burst of fire...’

Du Qingteng felt like he was about to faint. He suddenly recalled Master Mao’s words and realized that blasted cat hadn’t been wrong: he himself was about to pass out from excitement just from obtaining a flawless cluster of Celestial Blue Fire. But Luo Tian... he had gotten the Celestial Blue Fire Spirit itself!

’This unfair, bleak world... where can you even go to find justice!’

Xu Luo looked at Lan and asked, ”That commander back then... what was his realm?”

”Probably a Saint Venerable...” Lan said, a little uncertain. ”He shouldn’t have been a Great Venerable. If he were a Great Venerable... he wouldn’t have been so easy for me to burn to death.”

”Saint Venerable... Great Venerable...”

The two brothers, Xu Luo and Du Qingteng, exchanged a glance, and both saw the thread of horror in the other’s eyes.

’These two realms... they had never even heard of them!’

Because in the entire Divine Domain today, the strongest ruling class was more or less at the Venerable Realm. It was the experts of this realm who controlled Jiuzhou.

Above the Venerable was the Celestial Venerable, but those who reached the Celestial Venerable Realm rarely appeared before the world.

This time, for instance, these ancient ruins had revealed too much unusual information, which was what drew so many Celestial Venerables to appear with their juniors.

Ordinarily, seeing so many Celestial Venerables would be a near-impossible feat.

But from Lan, they hadn’t heard the term ”Celestial Venerable” at all. She had jumped straight to Saint Venerable and Great Venerable!

”What... what kind of realms are those? Could it be... that in this world back then, the ranks for Cultivators had different names?” Du Qingteng asked.

Lan glanced at Du Qingteng. ”Saint, Great Saint, Venerable, Celestial Venerable, Saint Venerable, Great Venerable, Saint Emperor... Is there anything strange about that? Isn’t it the same in the Divine Domain now?”

”Gods...” Du Qingteng felt the urge to faint.

The Blue Goddess’s explanation completely dispelled all his doubts, but an even greater shock followed. A being who could casually burn to death an expert above the Celestial Venerable Realm... she... just how powerful must she be?

”So are you... at the Great Venerable Realm now?” Xu Luo asked Lan directly.

”I once was.” Lan was very calm, showing no sense of loss.

Neither Xu Luo nor Du Qingteng asked any more questions, afraid of touching upon memories Lan was unwilling to recall.

After all, to have lived from that era all the way to the present day with her memories intact was in itself an astonishing feat, something almost unbelievable!

”So there are actually so many tiers above Celestial Venerable. It’s truly... shocking!” Du Qingteng muttered, then gave a bitter smile. ”I always thought I was just one step away from being a top-tier expert. Only now do I realize how shallow I was.”

”You’ve never even heard of the realms above Celestial Venerable?” Lan looked at Du Qingteng, a little surprised. Then, as if remembering something, she murmured, ”Could it be... after all these years, that group of people are still so domineering? How outrageous!”

”Domineering in what way?” Xu Luo asked.

Lan glanced at Xu Luo, then said, ”This matter... it’s better that you don’t know for now. And don’t worry about anything. If they really come, I’ll burn anyone who dares to hurt you to death!”

”Right, we got sidetracked. What happened later? Senior, you killed their commander, and then what?” Du Qingteng looked at Lan with a curious expression, looking for all the world like a diligent and studious elementary schooler.

If anyone from Weiyu Mountain saw him, they would definitely be astonished. The Du Qingteng who never paid attention in lectures was actually having a day as a model student?