Chapter 1284 - 913: The White Ape’s Handwriting

"This flame originates from the world’s barrier, not an ordinary flame; it surpasses the power of Heaven-Opening Fire Spirit." Zhang Chen showed a hint of caution in his eyes, as such flames must contain fire spirits; naturally, he must be fully prepared given the uncertainty of the opponent’s strength.

Especially since this place communicates with the Spiritual World, with its Essence Qi pouring over, Zhang Chen believes it is possible for beings beyond the Twelfth Tier to survive here.

"This flame is even fiercer than the Heaven-Opening Fire Spirit’s flame!" As soon as he stepped into the flame, Zhang Chen was stunned, his eyes filled with astonishment; the Heaven-Opening Fire Spirit already represents the pinnacle of flames, what is this flame that is fiercer?

Putting away the Heaven-Opening Fire Spirit’s bead, Zhang Chen let a ruler slide from his sleeve into his hand; the Celestial Measuring Ruler deploying the authority of fire attributes, where flames then avoided a path to let Zhang Chen pass.

While walking in the sea of fire, Zhang Chen noticed the unusual nature of the fire sea, realizing the flames consisted of countless types of fire seeds, including Three-Flavored True Flame, Nine Nether Flame, Six Ding and Six Jia Divine Fire, Great Sun True Flame, Taiyin True Flame, Heaven-Opening Flame, Qilin Fire, True Dragon Fire, and many other incredibly strong flames, forming a world entirely composed of flames.

"Years ago, when I traversed the world barrier with The Queen Mother of the West, we crossed the void and encountered numerous dangers. Yet all dangers before The Queen Mother of the West seemed insignificant, mere dust, so she passed through effortlessly, making me unaware of the real gravity of those obstacles at the time. It led to the illusion that the path was as such." Walking in the fire sea world, Zhang Chen belatedly noticed what unimaginable power The Queen Mother of the West possessed and what incredible methods she had.

However, despite the ferocity, under the authority of fire, flames can only obediently submit like tame sheep under Zhang Chen’s feet. As Zhang Chen strode boldly through the fire sea, a powerful wave suddenly assaulted him, bringing fiery waves in ambush. Zhang Chen’s authority of fire halted the attacker hidden within the flames, surprisingly a scorpion entirely made of fire.

The scorpion, a True Spirit nurtured by the flames, surpassed the Twelfth Tier in cultivation, but confronted with the authority of fire attributes, it could only be captured obediently by Zhang Chen.

"Unfortunately, fire spirits can only survive in places of fire and can’t be brought outside; otherwise, I could suppress a few fire spirits to serve as my warriors." A trace of regret appeared in Zhang Chen’s eyes.

Of course, if a fire spirit acknowledges a master and merges with someone, turning into their life-bound True Flame, they can leave the fire world. Just like Zhong Xiang, who refined a Qilin Flame and thus boisterously claimed the title of Southern Qilin.

Seemingly realizing Zhang Chen’s difficulty, the hidden fire spirits cast their divine techniques, even moving a boulder the size of a house, hurling it at Zhang Chen from afar.

"Truly troublesome." Zhang Chen, with the authority of fire attributes, doesn’t fear the fire spirits but is wary of their long-range attacks, like moving a mountain to crush people, which is why he calls upon the Celestial Measuring Ruler for protection.

These fire spirits are no pushovers, having awakened intelligence, proving tough to handle.

Seeing the mysterious power circulating around Zhang Chen, the scale on the Celestial Measuring Ruler lit up, causing slight spatial distortions around him, letting the boulder pass by him, stirring up countless fiery vortices.

"No need to entangle with them; the stones here, refined by the flames, are already as hard as an Innate Spiritual Treasure. To forcibly intercept them would be inviting trouble." Zhang Chen continues towards the depths of the fire, bothered by the fire spirits manipulating stones to pester him, yet unable to halt his progress.

The fire spirits avoid personal confrontation, merely manipulating stones for attacks. Zhang Chen only needs to activate the Fire Escape Technique, dodging their efforts with ease.

After walking for about fifteen minutes, Zhang Chen reached the end of the fire sea, encountering a realm of thunder and lightning.

The thunder realm exhibited all manner of thunderbolts flickering, from colorful thunder from ancient celestial punishments to red thunder, white thunder, and more, with innumerable colors. Faced with the overwhelming thunder, expressionless, Zhang Chen stepped right into it. Upon entering, countless bolts surged like waves towards Zhang Chen, aiming to submerge him in the thunder sea.

"Here, the thunder has transformed into liquid." Zhang Chen looked in amazement at the turbulent tides of thunder in the void, as all thunder close to him within three feet was absorbed by the Celestial Thunder Eye within his Primordial Spirit, turning all thunder into nourishment for the Celestial Thunder Eye.

With the Qi mechanism of the Celestial Thunder Eye circulating around Zhang Chen, the thunder sea seemed to undergo an unknown change; every bolt of thunder suddenly quieted down, behaving like obedient babies, remaining three丈 away without daring to approach.

Zhang Chen even saw the spirits hiding within the thunder sea, originally intent on attacking him but upon sensing the presence of the Celestial Thunder Eye’s aura, all the thunder spirits vanished into the depths of the thunder sea.

"Whether it’s the sea of fire or the sea of lightning, they’re all dimensional spaces distorted by the Feng Shui Grand Array. To the outside world, it appears to be just a passage, but once you truly step into it, you’ll realize it’s a world spanning hundreds of miles." Zhang Chen carefully sensed everything within the lightning sea, detecting some clues.

Ignoring it, Zhang Chen continued forward, until suddenly halting after walking dozens of miles, his eyes focused ahead, displaying a cautious look: World Barrier!

He finally saw the World Barrier! Not only the World Barrier of the Material Realm but also the World Barrier of the Spiritual World’s Thirty-Three Heavens. At this moment, the two barriers were forcibly adhered together by the Feng Shui Grand Array, forming a thousand-mile stretch of void filled with countless chaotic energies and Qi of Chaos circling around.

"I misunderstood. I previously thought the so-called use of Feng Shui Grand Array to tear two world barriers was to exploit the Feng Shui Grand Array to suppress the turbulent energies from the collision of worlds, using the array to constrain energies into a stable passage, allowing entry into the Spiritual World." Zhang Chen, upon seeing the two world barriers and the Feng Shui Grand Array, immediately realized his previous mistake.

The World Barrier is both invisible and visible.

Visible refers to the chaotic energy state of the World Barrier, while invisible implies that the barrier isn’t a tangible barrier, not a material barrier as imagined.

He closely observed the collisions among the three, and from traces left by the Feng Shui Grand Array, he could roughly deduce why it leaked, forming a hardship.

"The collision of the Material Realm and Spiritual World shook the Feng Shui Grand Array, causing it to fracture, with spatial power escaping, but restrained by the array’s wind and water power, creating small spaces." Zhang Chen speculated while stepping deeper into the passage.

The origin of Celestial Fire and Celestial Thunder, the World Barrier, and the energies spilling from it created myriad obstacles.

Zhang Chen once traversed the Great Thousand Worlds Barrier, a barrier encompassing tens of thousands of miles of void, within which Qi of Chaos flowed, with rivers of destiny and time, and wonders caused by the differentiated elements of earth, water, wind, and fire from the Qi of Chaos.

The collision of two world barriers impacted the chaotic zone, evolving earth, water, wind, fire within the world, resulting in the celestial fires and thunders seen here.

World Barrier remained turbulent, perpetually colliding, naturally leading to the Power of Chaos fragmenting into earth, water, wind, fire, forming unique powers, then returning to chaos to re-evolve, creating wonders.

"Quite interesting!" Zhang Chen murmured softly.

"That ancient existence probably used the Feng Shui Grand Array to break into the Spiritual World, leaving the array unattended, causing damage and leakage." Zhang Chen arrived at the edge of the lightning sea, stood at the World Barrier, gazing at the tumultuous Power of the World in the distance, silently marveling at the array’s incredibility.

The Feng Shui Grand Array is truly astonishing in its capability; it’s captivating.

After watching for a while, Zhang Chen proceeded to a leak in the Feng Shui Grand Array. Upon reaching it, he saw numerous stone tablets in the sea of lightning, whereupon a familiar Qi Mechanism flowed from them, startling Zhang Chen: "The aura of the White Ape."

Quickly, Zhang Chen approached, examined the text on the tablet, eyes filled with shock: "No mistake, it’s the aura of the White Ape!"

He meticulously studied the text though a little blurred, still could get the gist.

The tablet roughly recorded that during great changes in Heaven and Earth, Kunlun Mountain’s Five Elements Array couldn’t maintain its operation, eventually failing, leading the White Ape to gather many Innate Spirits to find solutions, culminating in an unparalleled existence opening this Feng Shui Grand Array, leading Innate Spirits into the Spiritual World seeking refuge from the catastrophe.

The later tablets weren’t left by the White Ape, but by other Innate Spirits as their final records, detailing a shocking incident when they were about to enter the Spiritual World, sadly encountering an unprecedented enemy, destroying the array, leaving only a few who managed to enter, while most Innate Spirits were buried here, their bones left by the distorting forces of earth, water, wind, and fire.