He watched the phoenix descend and felt a sense of helplessness as a bitter smile crept upon his face.

　　‘I was given another chance to live, and I’ve only awakened for a very short time…but I’m going to be dead again. And this time, my soul will be completely burned off, so it is very likely that I won’t be able to reincarnate again.’

　　As he felt a bitter taste at the back of his throat, the phoenix landed on him, sending sparks all over the world. His soul began to burn amidst the roaring flames, and his consciousness gradually faded away.

　　…

　　At that moment, a faint phoenix cry rang out from the bottom of his heart. His vague consciousness was afloat, drifting into a great distance with the cry. Strange images appeared in his mind, and he felt he had turned into a phoenix, soaring in the sky.

　　The world in his eyes seemed to be the Heavenly Martial Continent, but there were minor differences. He could see much further than he usually did, and he felt he could see the edge of the world with just a blink of the eye.

　　“This…”

　　Beneath him, or the phoenix, was an endless stretch of mountains with terrifyingly rich energy. He was shocked; he knew the mountains with only a glance. Although its energy was not as rich as what he saw now, he would never forget this place, where he died in his previous life—Tiandang Mountains.

　　As the phoenix wheeled above the mountains, bits of memory locked in his mind slowly returned to him. He could hardly calm down, with what happened in his previous life surfaced back up, which seemed to wake him up.

　　“I thought I was dead? Why is my consciousness still existing? What I am looking at right now should be the phoenix’s memory.

　　“Well, since there’s nothing I can do, I’ll just follow it and have a look at the ancient Heavenly Martial Continent.”

　　Yunxiao recalled of the state he was in now, and that calmed him down instantly. He threw away all the distracting thoughts and focused his attention on the things in the phoenix’s eyes.

　　Suddenly, a light beam shot out of Tiandang Mountains, towering into the sky. It was followed by another, located in different angles, then another. Soon, a total of six light beams rose from within the mountains, stabbing straight into the clouds, each separated by a distance of about a thousand miles.

　　The six light beams formed a circle around the phoenix, trapping it within. With their appearance, the whole mountain began to shake violently. Flocks of birds took to the air in panic and packs of animals ran wildly through the forest, and even natural Primordial Qi seemed to recede rapidly. Gradually, an evil aura began to spread out.

　　Rumble!

　　A muffled roar rang out of the mountains as streams of black aura began to emerge and spread, dispersing the rich Primordial Qi in the air. Then, all of a sudden, a huge monster appeared out of those black streams, with only its upper body in corporeal form, and its lower body composed entirely of dark gases. No sooner had it taken shape that it looked up at the True Spirited Fire Phoenix in the sky.

　　Yunxiao was shocked when he saw the monster. It looked exactly the same as some ancient drawings he saw in Tiandang Mountains. According to the text accompanying the drawings, the monster was called Blackfire Fiend.

　　“ROARRRRRR!”

　　The Blackfire Fiend’s upper body puffed up suddenly, and then it roared. In the blink of an eye, the void around it shattered to pieces like a mirror while the sky was filled with long rifts and dark holes. Meanwhile, a strong sound wave blasted toward the phoenix.

　　…

　　The fire phoenix let out a long cry and made a graceful turn, before spitting out a stream of flame. The sky turned red in an instant as a sea of fire poured down and crashed into the approaching sound wave.

　　Rumble!

　　The impact of the two forces ripped the sky in half; a long black rift appeared, filled with all kinds of negative cosmic energy, devouring everything around them.

　　Yunxiao was completely awestruck. He was once an existence who stood at the pinnacle of Heavenly Martial Continent, and yet, he had never seen a battle that could shatter the void with just one attack.

　　The story of how he had almost collapsed the Holy City when he and Martial Sovereign Tyrant fought each other for the rank on the Heaven and Earth Power Chart was already passed around like a legend. But, compared to what he saw now, it was like child’s play.

　　Although he had lost his body, he still swallowed reflexively. That was not the only thing that shocked him. He wondered what kind of a monster was this Blackfire Fiend. Since it was strong enough to fight a True Spirit, why had he never read about it in books and records?

　　When he first saw its drawing on a cliff wall, he had thought it was just a totem of some ancient tribes, perhaps a stronger demon beast. But, when he finally saw it now, he realized how wrong he was.

　　This Blackfire Fiend also had the power of the Ten Worlds realm.

　　“ROARRRRRR!”

　　The black monster seemed unhappy when it saw the phoenix block its attack. It roared and rushed straight up. The black gases that formed its lower body stretched thinner like a rope that was pulling at it.

　　The two mighty experts of the Ten Worlds realm caught each other in a fierce battle, filling the sky with streams of red flame and plumes of black gas that tangled together. Soon, the bright clear sky grew dark, the void within ten thousand miles around was riddled with black rifts, and everything within a hundred miles was shattered to pieces. Huge black holes were crazily devouring all kinds of energy. Under such a chaotic environment, the two experts continued to fight crazily.

　　The fire phoenix’s attacks were all about dexterity. It flew gracefully over the black holes, constantly breathing True Flames.

　　The Blackfire Fiend, on the other hand, kept chasing and attacking the phoenix with plumes of black gas ejected from its hands. Yunxiao squinted at the black gas for some time, but he could not figure out what it was, and why it could resist the True Flame.

　　The more they fought, the fiercer they became, and like that they fought for seven days and seven nights in the sky. Eventually, they became weaker, and the broken sky began to heal itself.

　　Yunxiao’s consciousness was with the phoenix, so he knew that it was already at the end of its tether, and it was barely fighting with its life. As for the Blackfire Fiend, he guessed it was not much better, because its black gases had turned extremely faint. Their wounds were even more appalling; the phoenix’s crimson body was covered in black specks, almost turning it into a black phoenix, while the Blackfire Fiend was all red from the burning.

　　Eventually, the Blackfire Fiend was the first to exhaust all its power. After letting out a few furious roars, it fell from the sky rapidly, the black gases that formed its lower body shrinking and retreating into Tiandang Mountains. Then, natural Primordial Qi began to pour into the mountains once again from all directions.

　　At that moment, the six towering light beams grew thinner, and then dissolved into light dots and vanished. Apart from numerous black holes, the sky fell calm and silent.

　　Dragging its seriously wounded body, the fire phoenix gave a sad cry and flew into the distance. Yunxiao could clearly feel that its life force was draining rapidly, and the black gas was wreaking havoc in it, crazily devouring its vitality.

　　After flying for a long time, the phoenix could no longer continue, falling headfirst to the ground. Yunxiao’s consciousness ended at that moment, and his world turned black.

　　“So, that is the fire phoenix’s memory before it died. It is said that a phoenix can be reincarnated, but why didn’t it?” Yunxiao was puzzled, but there were other questions that confused him even more. “What is happening to me now? I can’t feel my body and soul, but why can my consciousness still exist?”

　　Even then, a ball of flame leaped up in the darkness, gradually consuming his consciousness. He knew it was the phoenix’s natal true flame. Although wreathed in flames, instead of burning off, his consciousness became clearer.

　　“What is this?” He ‘stared’ in horror at the swaying figure that gradually emerged in the flames, which was his soul-form.

　　At last, he felt his soul, and his consciousness finally had an embodiment. Slowly he opened his eyes, and he saw that he was still inside the Divine Realm Tablet.

　　The Phoenix True Flame was still burning over his soul, but he did not have any discomfort. Instead, he felt more and more comfortable. After some moments, the flame concentrated and flew into his soul, drawing all the flames that veiled the sky into it and forming into a mark of a fire cloud on his forehead.

　　“My soul is rebuilt!”

　　Yunxiao was shocked as he felt the brand-new soul-form, and a mighty, surging power that was circulating in it.

　　“Third-tier…I’ve reached the level of a third-tier alchemist!” His jaws almost dropped to the ground as he murmured, “Not only that, the energy in my soul is so vast that it seems to be endless!”

　　He looked up slightly. The sky in the Divine Realm Tablet was bright and clear. Then, he sat cross-legged down, trying to sense his connection with the outside world. When his soul fled into here, his fleshly body had burned to ashes in the flames. Soon, a strange expression crept up his face.

　　Inside the fire phoenix’s space of consciousness, Yunxiao was sitting cross-legged on the ground. His body was flashing brilliantly, transparent, with every blood vessel visible. It was the Tyrant Body Tempering Technique’s Glazed Body.

　　His eyes flicked open suddenly, and they were filled with amazement. Carefully, he inspected his body and found that not only was he not wounded, but his flesh was also at least a few times stronger than before.

　　“My body is rebuilt as well!” Yunxiao was both surprised and glad. The rushing Primordial Qi in his body told him that he was now a three-stars Martial Master!

　　He had advanced three stars in a row!

　　His heart was filled with great joy in an instant. “It turns out that the phoenix flame was not trying to kill me, but making me reincarnate!”

　　He jumped to his feet, and a mark of a fire cloud emerged on his forehead. At a careful glance, inside the mark was a sea of fire.

　　“I wonder if it is a fortune or a disaster to have the Phoenix True Flame in my soul. It is way too strong for me to control now. I think I can only use it when I am back to the peak-level of the Nine Heavens realm.”

　　He sighed, but in the next moment, the corner of his mouth curved upward into a smile. “However, protected by the flame, who in this world can hurt my soul, when all the True Spirits are long gone?” he said to himself proudly.