Chapter 878: Defying the Heavens (1/2)
Dread flashed through Darkriver’s face. He ducked his head, seemingly too afraid to utter a word. Crimson flames and thick venom, though, burned deep within his eyes. Leize looked at him with derision, feigning ignorance of the other’s true intentions.
……
Lu Yun continued making his way to the heart of the fiery sea, hellfire serving as his staircase. Finally, he came face to face with the torch dragon in its infancy.
“The torch dragon is so powerful...” The little fox goggled at the dragon below. “It wasn’t this powerful last time I saw this silly dragon!”
“What?” Lu Yun paused. “Have you met the torch dragon before?”
“It’s the dragon beneath the Xuan Yuan Tomb!” said the little fox. “It’s the first torch dragon to ever be born into this world! When I time-travelled to the eve of Emperors Fall, I used a little trick and trapped it in the tomb to keep it alive. It was only in the empyrean realm then, so how...”
“It was in the empyrean realm when you encountered it?” Lu Yun started. “It was in the human king realm when I met it.”
The little fox was stunned as well. Though the torch dragon was still an embryo, it radiated power greater than even Darkriver! Once it was born from the flames of hell, it would very likely rival Leize and Taiyi.
“This dragon is too heaven-defying for the world to tolerate it. Born in the Sea of Hellfire, it will absorb the flames’ power and acquire the ability to control yin and yang… But it’s unlikely to survive its birth.” Lu Yun considered the unborn torch dragon, deep in thought.
The embryo was formed from concentrated hellfire; he could see the faint figure of a dragon twisting through the light of the flames. Once the torch dragon was born, the torch above its head would burn with hellfire.
However, a being that rivaled Taiyi and Leize while wielding the tremendous power to reverse yin and yang would never be allowed to walk the world. Lu Yun was certain that heavenly tribulations would strike it dead the moment it formed physical shape, or trouble from the living would come knocking.
This torch dragon wasn’t supposed to exist.
“Humanity’s foundations are still too shallow,” Lu Yun muttered. “I alone won’t be enough to raise it upwards. Fuxi has entered the chaos while Wahuang guards Mount Buzhou… The great Leize and Huaxu are too important to take a stand for the human race. Humans need a powerful guardian to keep those with malicious intentions at bay!”
There was something he’d left unspoken—according to Fuxi, both Leize and Huaxu were gravely injured. They might not even be able to protect themselves.
The little fox gaped at Lu Yun. “In the future, the torch dragons will die with the human race. The guardians go down with their wards… Is that due to your doing?”
Lu Yun rubbed his nose. “I’d thought that would be Tianqi’s handiwork, but he isn’t powerful enough yet. I guess it must have been me.”
“What are you going to do?” The little fox popped out from Lu Yun’s arms and added conspiratorially, “That silly dragon isn’t really what you’d call quick-witted. Do you break its brains?”
Lu Yun suppressed an eyeroll. “It’s only pretending to be a fool, there’s nothing wrong with its brains!”
The torch dragon had yet to gain its physical form or develop intelligence. If it hadn’t been born into the Sea of Hellfire, it would’ve long been possessed by other living souls, or been robbed of its chance at living.
“Here, nothing can rival me.” Lu Yun scanned the surroundings, his eyes bright with confidence.
He had access to his death arts in the Sea of Hellfire and he could derive countless combat arts with hellfire as their basis. The fires here burned at their greatest intensity. If released, they would be able to burn down the heavens, turning the great wilderness and even the cosmos outside into seas of flame!
Hellfire was the most powerful fire in all worlds, barring none.