Overlord of the Wilderness

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The cyan flame that was the Ancient Fire Spirit hadn’t even gotten close, yet a familiar and noble power was already rushing toward him!

’This power is the power of an Ancient Phoenix! This is the purest form of Phoenix Power!’

Zhaang Ye’s heart shuddered as he sensed this aura. The Ancient Fire Spirit was formed from the blood of an Ancient Phoenix and had inherited its power. Although the Ancient Fire Spirit had already abandoned most of its power, the Ancient Phoenix Power it contained was far purer, nobler, and more potent than the one in Zhaang Ye’s body!

CRACKLE!

The Ancient Fire Spirit had only just drawn near when Zhaang Ye’s hair and clothes suddenly burst into flames. Zhaang Ye felt as if he were a piece of dry tinder that had just been ignited by the Ancient Fire Spirit!

’What terrifying Phoenix Power! Just a wisp of its leaked power was enough to ignite my clothes and hair. It’s too incredible, just too incredible!’

Zhaang Ye was horrified. The Celestial River Righteous Qi in his body suddenly erupted, covering him in a dense golden light that extinguished the flames. And in that same instant, the cyan flame arrived!

”Quick, take me into your Small Space and run!”

The Ancient Fire Spirit started shouting before it even drew near.

”In!”

With a loud shout, Zhaang Ye abruptly pulled the cyan flame that was the Ancient Fire Spirit into his Small Space. Then, his figure turned into a streak of light, and he shot out of the Spatial Array at full speed.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

As Zhaang Ye took off, the massive volcano, now without the Ancient Fire Spirit’s control, instantly went berserk. Crimson magma erupted frantically, and a boundless power shook the Spatial Array. Spatial rifts appeared in the void, and dense Space Storms abruptly materialized!

HSSSSS!

Several terrifying Space Storms suddenly appeared beside Zhaang Ye. They were like horrifying beasts, like sharp blades. Although Zhaang Ye was extremely familiar with Space Storms, he couldn’t possibly dodge them all while flying at such high speed. After flying for just over a thousand feet, he felt an intense pain in his shoulder, thigh, and buttocks!

’What terrifying Space Storms! I’ve been cut!’ Enduring the intense pain, Zhaang Ye executed his Body Technique at full speed. In just the span of two blinks, he shot out of the Spatial Array. Once free of the array, Zhaang Ye’s speed increased even further. He was like a blade flying through the void, covering dozens of miles in an instant!

WHOOSH!

Zhaang Ye’s figure appeared a thousand li from the volcano, dripping with blood, his face pale. He looked back to see the volcano, now a thousand li away, shaking violently. Within a five-hundred-li radius of the volcano, there were pitch-black Space Storms everywhere, and dark spatial rifts laced with lightning appeared from time to time!

Seeing this terrifying scene, Zhaang Ye didn’t dare linger for a moment. He desperately used his Body Technique, flying until he was fifty thousand li away before he finally breathed a sigh of relief and slowly landed on a small volcano.

Only then did Zhaang Ye feel the excruciating pain wracking his entire body. Half of his Celestial River Righteous Qi was depleted, and his breathing had become ragged.

Zhaang Ye checked his body. On his shoulder, a chunk of muscle weighing two or three pounds was gone, leaving a gruesome wound that exposed stark white bone and bluish tendons.

On his buttocks and thigh, more than ten pounds of muscle had vanished without a trace, exposing tendons as thick as a little finger and a patch of white bone. When the wind blew, the pain pierced him to the very soul.

’What terrifying Space Storms! A single light graze devoured more than twenty pounds of my flesh! If a Space Storm had hit my whole body, I would have been annihilated completely!’

Looking at the wound on his shoulder, Zhaang Ye couldn’t help but feel a secret sense of relief. That was far too dangerous. If he had been even a fraction slower, he would have been turned to ash. Fortunately, he had comprehended the Wind Realm and, while inside the Spatial Array, had successfully managed to merge it perfectly into his Cloud-Breaking Slash, allowing him to escape quickly and save his life.

Zhaang Ye’s Spiritual Sense probed into his Small Space. He saw the flame that was the Ancient Fire Spirit quietly floating within, like a small, cyan sun.

Zhaang Ye said, ”We’ve left the Spatial Array now. You can come out.”

The Ancient Fire Spirit thought for a moment, then said, ”No. I have a feeling that if I leave this Small Space, I might run into danger. I’d like to stay in here for a while.”

Zhaang Ye shook his head. ”Suit yourself. I’m injured right now, so I need to heal first anyway. If you want to come out, just let me know.”

After saying this, Zhaang Ye’s Heart Spirit stirred, and he retrieved a vial of Healing Elixirs from his Small Space. He swallowed one and began to treat his injuries.

If an ordinary person had lost over twenty pounds of flesh, they would have likely fainted on the spot and might not have even survived. But to Zhaang Ye, this was just an external wound, nothing more.

On the small volcano, Zhaang Ye took Elixirs while circulating his Cultivation Technique for Healing. In just nine days, he had regenerated the twenty-odd pounds of flesh he had lost.

Once his injuries had recovered, Zhaang Ye didn’t linger any longer and flew out of the Ten Thousand Volcanoes in one go. The moment Zhaang Ye arrived amid the lush green landscape outside the Ten Thousand Volcanoes, the Ancient Fire Spirit in his Small Space became excited. ”So pretty! This world is so beautiful! I’ve never seen anything like it! Let me out, quick!”

With a slight stir of his Heart Spirit, Zhaang Ye let the Ancient Fire Spirit float out of the Small Space and hover in the air.

”Wow, I finally left the volcanoes! I’m finally in the outside world! What are these? Are they trees and flowers? And what’s this? Is it a river? This is so magical!”

The Ancient Fire Spirit trembled with excitement as it saw this world, so completely different from the volcanoes. It chattered nonstop as it flew back and forth through the air.

Zhaang Ye smiled faintly and was about to answer when he suddenly felt the sky darken. A layer of dark clouds had silently appeared in the previously clear sky. The clouds were black and oppressive, seeming to hang so low they were about to press down on his head.

’There’s something strange about these clouds!’ Zhaang Ye extended his Spiritual Sense, intending to scan them. To his horror, he found that his normally all-penetrating Spiritual Sense couldn’t pierce the clouds at all. Something vast and majestic seemed to be brewing within them, and Zhaang Ye couldn’t see through them in the slightest!

Startled, Zhaang Ye said to the Ancient Fire Spirit, ”Let’s go, now! There’s something strange about these clouds. It looks like Thunder Power is brewing inside them. We need to get out of here immediately!”

The Ancient Fire Spirit also sensed the danger and flew toward Zhaang Ye at full speed. Zhaang Ye stretched out his arm, about to pull the spirit back into his Small Space, when the world suddenly turned a searing white. Two arm-sized bolts of lightning struck down without a sound!

BOOM! BOOM!

One of the bolts struck Zhaang Ye, while the other hit the Ancient Fire Spirit. Caught off guard, Zhaang Ye took a direct hit and was sent flying. His entire body was charred black, and he spat mouthfuls of blood!

A single, simple strike had left Zhaang Ye charred on the outside and tender within. The terrifying power contained in the lightning had damaged his internal organs, and his muscles even gave off the faint aroma of cooked meat.

”Heavens, what’s going on? Why are we being struck by lightning for no reason?” Zhaang Ye cried out in pain. He looked over at the Ancient Fire Spirit and saw that its flame had grown faint; clearly, it wasn’t faring well either.

The Celestial River Righteous Qi in Zhaang Ye’s body surged out, forming a thick layer of golden light around him. He then reached out, intending to grab the Ancient Fire Spirit and escape the strange clouds. But at that exact moment, the world turned a searing white again as two more bolts of lightning struck down!

These bolts were even thicker than an adult’s arm, and their power was far greater than the last!

BOOM! BOOM!

Zhaang Ye and the Ancient Fire Spirit each took another hit. Although Zhaang Ye was prepared this time and had already circulated his Celestial River Righteous Qi, it still wasn’t enough to face such a terrifying bolt of lightning. His Celestial River Righteous Qi blocked most of the strike’s power, but a small portion of the Power of thunder and lightning still slammed into his body.

PTUI!

Zhaang Ye was blasted into the ground. That majestic and utterly terrifying Power of thunder and lightning penetrated every cell in his body, wreaking havoc. Even with his powerful physique, Zhaang Ye sprayed blood wildly and suffered grievous injuries under its destructive force.

Arcs of electricity flickered across Zhaang Ye’s body, but his mind was exceptionally clear. He looked up at the dark clouds, and a realization suddenly dawned on him. He groaned, ”I get it, I get it! This is a Celestial Tribulation—the Ancient Fire Spirit’s Celestial Tribulation! Heavens, because I took the Ancient Fire Spirit into my Small Space, I was tainted by its aura, so the tribulation is striking me too!”

In the Barbaric World, when anomalous beings gain sapience, they must face a Celestial Tribulation. The Ancient Fire Spirit was formed from Phoenix Blood, an anomalous being born by chance. If it had stayed hidden quietly in the volcano under the protection of the Spatial Array, the Celestial Tribulation wouldn’t have found it. Likewise, if it had remained quietly in Zhaang Ye’s Small Space, the tribulation would not have descended.

Now that the Ancient Fire Spirit had flown out of Zhaang Ye’s Small Space, its peculiar aura had immediately triggered a response from the heavens and earth, swiftly summoning its Celestial Tribulation. And because the tribulation sensed the spirit’s aura on Zhaang Ye, it was striking him too!

”Waaah! It hurts so much! The pain is killing me!” After being hit by two bolts of lightning, the Ancient Fire Spirit’s cyan flame had become even more faint, and it was wailing like a small child.

Zhaang Ye was about to offer a word of comfort when a loud CRACK suddenly echoed from the sky.

CRACKLE!

Before Zhaang Ye’s horrified eyes, the dark clouds in the sky shot out two more bolts of lightning. These bolts were as thick as a grown man’s thigh and struck straight down toward Zhaang Ye and the Ancient Fire Spirit with boundless might.

”Heavens!”

Terrified out of his wits, Zhaang Ye’s Heart Spirit stirred. The Punishment Whip appeared in his hand, transforming into a long rainbow of light that shot straight toward the lightning in the sky to meet it head-on! (To be continued. If you like this work, please come to Qidian.com to vote with Recommendation Tickets and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation.)