Zhang Fei - The Abandoned Son

"Princess." All the members of the Phoenix Clan immediately greeted her as soon as Feng Yao walked in.

An old woman approached Feng Yao. "Why did you come to this realm without telling us first, Princess?"

"Feng Haiyan, I came to drop off a friend who wants to look for the Earth Flame." The old woman and the others were surprised by Feng Yao's answer. "Do you have any information about all those people?"

"Yes." Feng Haiyan informed Feng Yao about the people, particularly those of significant status and notable strength. "Princess, we detected the presence of five people we have never seen before, and their strength is much higher than it looks from the outside. Furthermore, the Qi in their bodies is slightly different from that of ordinary cultivators, but I cannot discern where the difference lies."

Feng Yao nodded in understanding. "Their Qi is slightly mixed with the Celestial Qi, but it's barely noticeable because it no longer exists in the upper realm, and it is just a leftover from the past."

"What do you mean by the Celestial Qi, Princess?" An old man asked her.

Feng Yao did not want to explain it to the old man and instead used her senses to search for the five people Feng Haiyan was referring to. "They are cultivators from the Sovereign Heaven Realm, but it is unusual for them to leave their realm and appear in front of so many people."

"The Sovereign Heaven Realm?"

"That's right, Feng Zhennan." Feng Yao nodded at them. "The Sovereign Heaven Realm is located near the wall of the universe, and it is the oldest planet in the upper realms. However, their realm is covered by a special formation, so not many people know about it, including the Nameless One."

Feng Zhennan and Feng Haiyan exchanged glances in disbelief, especially since the Nameless One was the strongest in their eyes.

"The Nameless One is known as the strongest because those stronger than him almost never appear on the surface, just like our ancestors and the ancestors of the other mythical beast races. People in the Sovereign Heaven Realm are much stronger than them, and they are the true rulers of the upper realms." Feng Yao then walked away, followed by the two. "Assign some people to monitor my friend, instruct them not to intervene, and allow him to attempt obtaining the Earth Flame on his own."

After instructing several people, Feng Haiyan proceeded to question Feng Yao. "Are you sure your friend will succeed in getting the Earth Flame, Princess?"

"For hundreds of thousands of years, many fire cultivators have wanted to obtain it, but no one has succeeded." Feng Zhennan added.

Feng Yao simply smiled. "Instead of thinking about my friend, you two should prepare to return to the Phoenix Realm, especially since this realm will no longer be useful after the Earth Flame disappears."

"The Earth Flame is this realm's lifeblood, and all fire elements will vanish with it." Feng Zhennan and Feng Haiyan murmured. "Since you believe your friend will succeed in obtaining the Earth Flame, we will prepare for our clan's return now, Princess."

"Yes."

After they left, Feng Yao stood by the window and looked towards the Hellblaze Volcano. "Zhang Fei, the five people from the Sovereign Heaven Realm will be your toughest opponents in obtaining the Earth Flame, but I believe you will find a way to deal with them."

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[Daily Quest: Absorb 100,000 demon auras.]

[Status: Done.]

[Reward: 100 advanced demon cores sent to the inventory.]

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[Daily Quest: Absorb 100,000 Qi.]

[Status: Done.]

[Reward: 100 purple jewels sent to the inventory.]

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[Ding]

[Mapping of the area of ​​​​the Scorching Earth Realm has been completed; the host can check the entire area via the map.]

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As soon as the system finished mapping the realm, Zhang Fei [4] immediately jumped down and entered an invisible state. He rushed to climb the Hellblaze Volcano, but he felt a strong gravitational pull from below. "Oh? They can't fly and must climb manually because this mountain has heavier gravity than other areas. Unfortunately, this gravity is light compared to the sixteen times heavier gravity in my training space, so it's not a big deal for me."

While paying attention to the map to avoid those people, Zhang Fei [4] used his teleportation again and again. The Hellblaze Volcano itself is very tall and wide, but the entire area is filled with people of various races, from humans to demons, beasts, and natural races.

In a few minutes, Zhang Fei [4] had already reached the location of Lan Huoyan and the Skyflame Wolf members, who seemed to have difficulty moving because the gravity was getting heavier the higher they went up.

Zhang Fei [4] did not stop to help them and continued his journey, and he came across people from several mythical beast clans, such as the Dragon Clan and the Phoenix Clan. He also encountered several demons with fire elements, and their conditions were slightly better than those of several human cultivators not far from them.

Boom

A giant explosion suddenly sounded from a distant area, causing the people who were climbing to immediately stop and turn their attention toward that location, including Zhang Fei [4]. Since the mountain's gravity was already holding them back, it was rare for races to clash; they were usually focused on reaching the top.

Through his map, Zhang Fei [4] could see that there was a clash between several groups in that area, and the majority of them were demons because their names on the map were black. However, he saw five green human names in that area, and they overwhelmed the demons.

Intrigued by that, Zhang Fei [4] decided to go to that area and check out their fight.

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To Zhang Fei [4]'s surprise, the five humans were able to move freely and fluidly under the strong pull of gravity, indicating that they had trained in stronger gravity before.

Based on the system scan, Zhang Fei [4] discovered that they came from the same Yuan Clan. The three men are Yuan Tianxie, Yuan Tianjie, and Yuan Tiankong. The other two are women, Yuan Tianling and Yuan Tianhua. 'What the hell with their names? They are like quintuplets with different last names!'

[Master, these five people seem to come from the Ancient Heaven Realm, especially since the system detected a slightly different Qi in their bodies.]

Zhang Fei [4] himself had already guessed their identities, especially since Xia Tian had once told him that the gravity in the Ancient Heaven Realm was five times heavier than all the planets in the upper realms. Since they could move so smoothly and freely, they were definitely cultivators of that realm.

Before long, they had killed dozens of demons, but Yuan Tianxie suddenly shot a small dagger at Zhang Fei [4]. "Come out!"

Zhang Fei [4] caught the dagger and canceled his invisibility. "Senior Brothers and Senior Sisters, I was just curious about your battle with these demons, so I decided to take a look."

"A scarlet fox race?" Zhang Fei [4]'s disguised form made them guess wrong.

Zhang Fei [4] jumped down and returned the dagger to Yuan Tianxie. "You are right; I am indeed a scarlet fox race, and I came here alone."

"Are you crazy? There are so many powerful cultivators here, and they can all kill you easily." Yuan Tianjie pointed at the pile of demon corpses. "You're lucky we killed them, or they would have eaten you alive."

"Senior Brother, I am indeed weak, but I have good escaping abilities, and I am sure they will not be able to catch me." Zhang Fei [4]'s answer caused them to scowl at him. "Since your fight is over, I will continue my journey."

"Wait a minute." Yuan Tianling stopped him. "How about you join us, little fox?"

Zhang Fei [4]'s lips twitched. "Senior Sister, I'm not a little fox, but I'm a grown-up fox."

"Hehe." Yuan Tianling chuckled. "Even though you are an adult, you are still a child compared to us, so I will call you little fox."

"My name is Zhang Xiaolong, and I appreciate your offer, Senior Sister. However, I am not accustomed to living in a crowd, so I plan to travel alone." After he said that, Zhang Fei [4] immediately ran off at high speed, leaving the five people dumbfounded.

A few moments later, Yuan Tianhua posed the question. "How can that little fox run that fast? Even if I use my high speed, I may not be able to catch up with him."

"Let alone you; I'm not confident that I can catch up with him." With a serious expression, Yuan Tianxie spoke. "As our master often says, there are so many hidden dragons in this universe, and that kid is one of them."

"What if we chase him?" Yuan Tiankong asked.

"I agree!" Yuan Tianling was the first to answer. "I want that little fox, so we have to chase him, and I will bring him back to our realm."

Yuan Tianxie and the others smiled in amusement, seeing the eagerness on Yuan Tianling's face. "All right, we will chase that little fox, but you can't force him to go with us. If our master finds out that you took him by force, he will punish you. Additionally, we must kill all the demons we encounter without leaving any of them, or they will become an unexpected threat to us."

"Let's go!" Yun Tianling immediately ran in the direction Zhang Fei [4] had gone.

Yun Tianhua and the others let out soft gasps, and they hurriedly followed behind Yun Tianling.

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[Master, they are chasing behind you.]

'They obviously don't have any bad intentions, and they're just hostile toward the demons, so it doesn't matter if they follow me.'

[They don't have any evil intentions right now, but they might turn hostile if you get the Earth Flame, so you should still be careful of them.]

'Yeah, you're right.' Zhang Fei [4] then accelerated his speed, but the mountain suddenly shook violently, causing him to lose his balance slightly.

*Rumble... Rumble...*

Several lava pillars shot out of the ground before shooting lava balls in various directions. Instead of dodging them, Zhang Fei [4] punched the lava balls that were heading towards him, making them splash all around him.

Zhang Fei [4] then summoned the salamander out, and it helped him deal with those lava balls while absorbing the fire element in their area.

*Scree*

"Hmm?" Zhang Fei [4] looked up at the mountain peak and saw several giant lava birds flying out of the volcano. They immediately sprayed lava balls toward the people climbing the mountain, including him. "I think the spirit inside the Earth Flame is controlling them."

As one of the lava balls headed towards him, Zhang Fei [4] immediately took out the moonlit whisper sword and channeled his ice element into it before slashing it out. However, his ice sword qi disappeared as soon as the two collided with each other, and the lava ball continued flying towards him.

Zhang Fei [4] wanted to attack again, but the fire salamander suddenly jumped up with its mouth wide open, and it immediately devoured the lava ball before belching. "Burp."

"Haha." Zhang Fei [4] laughed at that. "Huo Yan! Another two lava balls are heading this way."

The fire salamander looked at the two lava balls with a disgusted look, and it shot out two fireballs towards them, which immediately collided with each other and produced a loud explosion.

Seeing that its attack failed, one of the giant lava birds dived sharply towards Zhang Fei [4] and the fire salamander, but both of them attacked it simultaneously. A fireball and the hellflame frost lotus shot towards the giant lava bird.

The giant lava bird let out a long screech after being hit by the salamander's attack, followed by an explosion from the hellflame frost lotus, which instantly killed it.

"Hmm?" Zhang Fei [4] saw a red crystal coming out of the bird's body, and he immediately flew over to grab it. Since he had never seen the crystal, he stored it in the inventory straight away.

[Obtained 1 Lava Heart Crystal.]

[The Lava Heart Crystal is a fiery gemstone forged in the depths of volcanoes where the qi's veins flow with molten spirit fire; it is infused with the condensed essence of both lava and terrestrial fire qi.]

"What's the use of this crystal, Mei?"

[Master, you can use it for many things, from forging and alchemy to increasing your fire element.]

Zhang Fei [4] nodded in understanding. "No wonder fire cultivators like this realm; this realm offers many resources that can aid their growth. I think I should bring Feltia [2] here, and my fire elemental law will break through to the half-perfection stage sooner."

[Master, the best place to do that is inside the volcano, so you should focus on getting up there first.]

Despite this, Zhang Fei [4] still opened the portal leading to the Phoenix Realm, and Feltia [2] walked out from inside in half red fox form. Wasting no time, the two ran towards the top, followed by the fire salamander.

Their journey was not easy, as they had to deal with repeated disturbances emerging from the ground, and those giant lava birds kept coming out from inside the volcano to attack the mountain climbers, even though all the powerful cultivators present there repeatedly killed them.

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Quite far behind them, the five cultivators from the Ancient Heaven Realm continued to follow them, but they felt that Zhang Fei [4] was still too far away from them.

"Do you think the previous attack belonged to that little fox? How did he use ice and fire elements together?" Yuan Tianhua asked them.

Yuan Tianxie nodded at her. "Based on the distance, I'm sure that attack belonged to that little fox, but I couldn't sense any ice elements in his body before. However, his fire element seemed to have reached the peak rank, and it was inversely proportional to his low cultivation."

"Brother, that little fox also understands the fire elemental law, and his level seems to have reached the intermediate stage or above." Yuan Tianjie spoke.

"I agree with you, Brother." Yuan Tiankong suddenly shouted to warn them. "Be careful! Something powerful will appear soon!"

A few moments later, hundreds of lava beasts flew out of the volcano, and they immediately attacked the cultivators climbing the mountain.

Quite far ahead of them, Yuan Tianxie and the others saw a giant Hellflame Frost Lotus flying toward those lava beasts, and it immediately exploded after reaching a sufficient height, wiping out quite a number of them.

"Hehehe!" Yuan Tianling suddenly laughed loudly. "That little fox is truly amazing! I've never met a living creature that can combine fire and ice elements before! I'm getting more and more eager to get him and bring him home with us!"

"Unfortunately, your wish is not easy, Tianling." Yuan Tianxie pointed in several directions, where quite a few people flew towards Zhang Fei [4]'s location. "That little fox was too careless to use such a technique in front of so many people, and his action attracted everyone's attention to him."

"Humph!" Yuan Tianling snorted. "If they dare to stop me from getting that little fox, and if they dare to hurt her, I will use a bit of my Sky Flame to wipe out their souls, so they will never be able to reincarnate again."

The other four sighed heavily after Yuan Tianling said that, and Yuan Tianxie asked them to move faster so that they could catch up to Zhang Fei [4] before those people.

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[Master, dozens of people are moving towards here from several directions, and most of them are demons.] Mei warned him.

"Demons, huh?" Zhang Fei [4] muttered as he smirked, and Feltia [2] immediately moved away from him before entering an invisible state. "How much demon essence do I need to reach the Emperor Rank?"

[Nine hundred million, Master.]

Zhang Fei [4] exhaled heavily. "Since I can't absorb their cultivation, I have to find a way to cripple them, and I'll absorb their demon essence."

- To Be Continued -