143: Dangerous journey in the Flame Realm, the secret of heaven comes again

In the battle on the endless ice plain, although Xiao Chen severely wounded the Soul Hall's Ice Prison Squad, he also paid a heavy price.

Forcibly burning his star origin and dragon phoenix essence blood to clash head-on with the three Heavenly Venerates' ultimate attacks resulted in damaged meridians, near-depleted Dou Qi, and immense consumption of his Soul Power.

What was worse, the entrance to the Ancient World had closed, Feng Xian was trapped inside, his own whereabouts were exposed, and the road ahead was fraught with danger.

He endured his injuries and weakness, concealed his aura, and trekked laboriously through the vast ice plain for several days, finally finding a relatively safe ice cave.

He set up a concealment barrier and began to heal his injuries with all his might.

"Heavenly Secret Pavilion... this debt, I will settle it sooner or later!" Xiao Chen sat cross-legged, swallowing several healing pills and spiritual liquid to restore his Soul Power, a cold glint flashing in his eyes.

Although the strange karmic thread had dissipated, the feeling of being unable to control himself was deeply ingrained in his memory.

He knew that the threat of the Heavenly Secret Pavilion was far more terrifying than the overt attacks of the Soul Hall.

He looked inward, carefully examining his body.

The cracks in his meridians were slowly healing under the nourishment of the medicinal pills and Power of Starlight, and the star furnace in his Qi Sea began to operate again, but at a slow pace.

The loss of dragon phoenix essence blood would be difficult to replenish in a short time.

The only fortunate thing was that his Heavenly Realm Soul foundation was stable and not fundamentally damaged.

"I must recover my strength as soon as possible and head to the Yan Realm." Xiao Chen suppressed the distracting thoughts in his mind and fully circulated the Heaven Burning Furnace Art and the Star God Contemplation Method, guiding the medicinal power to repair his body.

Half a month later, inside the ice cave, Xiao Chen slowly opened his eyes, his gaze sharp yet contained, and his aura was stable.

His injuries had recovered by seventy to eighty percent, and his Dou Qi had also recovered by more than half.

Although his dragon phoenix essence blood had not fully recovered, it no longer affected his combat ability.

"It's time to set off." He rose to his feet, removed the barrier, identified the direction, and his figure merged into space, speeding towards the molten fire domain to the south.

This time, he was even more cautious, raising his Heavenly Realm Soul perception to the extreme, constantly wary of potential ambushes.

He bypassed all known Soul Hall strongholds and large cities, choosing to travel through desolate and uninhabited dangerous areas.

However, the hidden manipulations of the Heavenly Secret Pavilion were impossible to guard against.

On this day, Xiao Chen passed through an ancient battlefield relic called "Burial God Abyss."

This place was once an important battlefield in an ancient war, with countless bones buried underground, resentment soaring to the sky, and an extremely unstable spatial structure.

Spatial storms and vengeful spirits frequently appeared, and ordinary Dou Zun would not dare to venture deep easily.

Xiao Chen originally intended to bypass it, but in his Soul Perception, he faintly detected a faint spatial fluctuation deep within the Burial God Abyss, which bore some resemblance to the characteristics of the Yan Realm entrance described in the jade slip given by Xuan Kongzi.

"Could the Yan Realm entrance appear in such a place?" Xiao Chen was puzzled, but thinking that the Yan Realm was located in the harsh environment of the molten fire domain, it was not impossible for its entrance to appear in a dangerous place like the Burial God Abyss.

He hesitated for a moment and decided to take the risk and investigate.

He restrained all his aura, sneaking into the Burial God Abyss like a ghost.

The abyss was dimly lit, with howling winds, and the ground was littered with countless broken weapons and huge skeletons.

The air was filled with a nauseating stench of decay and dense resentment.

Spatial cracks were spread like a spider web, appearing and disappearing, emitting destructive fluctuations.

Xiao Chen carefully moved through the cracks, his Soul Perception meticulously searching for the source of that spatial fluctuation.

The deeper he went, the heavier the resentment, and even invisible resentful impacts began to directly attack his soul!

If not for his powerful Heavenly Realm Soul, he would have lost control of his mind long ago.

Suddenly, not far in front of him, space twisted, and a fiery red spatial vortex, just large enough for one person to pass through and emitting a scorching aura, slowly appeared!

Around the vortex, faint flame runes flowed, highly consistent with the characteristics of the Yan Realm entrance recorded in the jade slip!

"Yan Realm entrance!" Xiao Chen's heart rejoiced, but then a strong sense of warning arose!

His Heavenly Realm Soul keenly captured that the timing and location of this entrance's appearance were too coincidental!

It was as if... it had been deliberately guided here by someone!

"It's a trap!" Xiao Chen's figure retreated rapidly, while his Soul Power swept towards the surrounding void with all its might!

"Heh heh... your reaction is quite fast." A soft, feminine laugh echoed out of thin air.

Beside the entrance, in the void, a figure dressed in a black and white Bagua Daoist robe, with a blurred face that seemed to merge with the surroundings, slowly emerged.

His aura was elusive and hard to grasp, but the feeling he gave Xiao Chen was even more dangerous than the previous Five-Star Dou Zun!

"A person from the Heavenly Secret Pavilion!" Xiao Chen's eyes turned cold, and the phantom of his dark gold battle axe instantly condensed in his hand.

The opponent was indeed haunting him!

"This Venerable, the Chess Player of the Heavenly Secret Pavilion, you may call me... Mysterious Mechanism." The Daoist robed figure chuckled softly, playing with a black and white chess piece in his hand.

On the chess piece, the power of karma flowed.

"Xiao Chen, your fate trajectory has already deviated from its predetermined path.

This Venerable's purpose in coming here is to... set things right for you."

"Playing tricks!" Xiao Chen roared, a Void Breaking axe aura fiercely striking out, aiming directly for Xuan Jizi's face!

He didn't want to waste words; he attacked directly!

However, a bizarre scene occurred!

The axe aura reached about ten feet in front of Xuan Jizi, but it seemed to strike an invisible quagmire, its speed plummeting, its power rapidly dissipating, and finally, it vanished silently!

Xuan Jizi didn't even move!

"How can fate be broken by brute force?" Xuan Jizi shook his head and chuckled, flicking the chess piece with his fingertip.

"Buzz!"

The space around Xiao Chen suddenly solidified!

It was as if countless invisible karmic threads extended from the void, binding him tightly!

He felt that his Dou Qi circulation, Soul Perception, and even his speed of thought were greatly interfered with and delayed!

It was as if an invisible large hand was altering the rules around him!

"This is... altering karma?!" Xiao Chen was horrified!

The methods of the Heavenly Secret Pavilion were unexpectedly bizarre to this extent!

This was no longer a simple attack, but a direct interference with the laws of heaven and earth!

"Struggle, the more you struggle, the tighter the noose of fate will become." Xuan Jizi watched like a spectator, flicking his fingertips repeatedly, sending out black and white chess pieces that transformed into ripples of fate, continuously interfering with Xiao Chen's actions.

At the same time, the resentment within the Burial God Abyss seemed to be guided, transforming into countless vengeful spirits and specters, howling as they pounced on Xiao Chen!

Even more terrifyingly, the surrounding spatial cracks also began to run wild, cutting at him like blades!

The right time, the right place, and the right people seemed to be all against Xiao Chen!

He had fallen into an unprecedented desperate situation!

"Bastard!" Xiao Chen roared, his Heavenly Realm Soul Power frantically impacting the binds of the karmic threads, his Star Immortal Body shining brightly with golden light, resisting the attacks of the vengeful spirits and spatial cracks!

But he felt as if he were a moth caught in a spider web, the more he struggled, the tighter the binds became!

The opponent's attacks were not directly fatal, but like boiling a frog in warm water, they aimed to slowly exhaust him to death!

"I can't let this continue!" Xiao Chen's eyes were resolute.

He knew that he had to break this bizarre situation!

He bit the tip of his tongue fiercely, spraying essence blood onto his battle axe, while frantically activating the star origin imprint between his eyebrows!

"star origin, defy fate! Heaven Opening Axe Intent, sever karma and causality! Break for me!"

He no longer tried to attack Xuan Jizi, but instead gathered all his power onto the axe blade, striking out with an axe at the invisible karmic threads Entangle itself of invisible Causal Line that entangled him!

He wanted to break the law with force, to forcibly sever this bondage of fate!

"Sizzle—!"

A sound like something being severed echoed on the soul level!

The karmic threads entwining his body suddenly loosened!

Xiao Chen felt his body lighten, and his movements became free again!

"Oh? You can even sever this Venerable's primary karmic lock? How interesting." A hint of surprise flashed in Xuan Jizi's eyes, but it immediately turned into a deeper amusement, "However, the game has just begun."

He flicked his sleeve, and more black and white chess pieces flew out, interweaving in the air to form a complex board of destiny!

Within the chessboard, Xiao Chen seemed to see various scenes of his past, present, and future flickering, his fate trajectory constantly being deduced and modified!

"The game of destiny, once a piece is played, there is no regret! Xiao Chen, let's see how long you can last!" Xuan Jizi's voice was ethereal, like the sound of the Heavenly Dao.

Xiao Chen's expression became extremely solemn.

He knew that this was no longer an ordinary battle, but a clash of Dao and Law!

The opponent was using his "Dao of Destiny" to suppress his "Dao of Power"!

If he couldn't break the opponent's Dao Heart, he would surely die today!

He took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down.

His soul sank into his sea of consciousness, observing the artistic conception of the nine ancestral statues, especially the supreme artistic conception of "opening chaos and establishing order" within the Heaven Opening Axe Intent.

"My Dao is the Dao of creation, the Dao of self-improvement! How can others tamper with my destiny?!" Xiao Chen's eyes burst forth with brilliant light, and a powerful, unyielding will, proclaiming that his destiny was his own and not dictated by heaven, soared into the sky!

"Destiny is like a chessboard? Then I'll cleave this chessboard with an axe!

Karma is like a net? Then I'll burn this spider web!

My Dao, I alone am supreme!"

He roared, no longer paying attention to the surrounding interference, and gathered all his mind and will into the battle axe in his hand!

Power of Starlight, dragon phoenix essence blood, Heaven Opening Axe Intent, heaven burning furnace... all powers perfectly fused, transforming into an axe of will, pure to the extreme!

This axe no longer pursued form, no longer pursued power, but only pursued the invincible belief of severing all shackles and carving out his own path!

"Slash!"

The axe of will struck out silently, without light, without fluctuation, yet it directly cleaved into that invisible board of destiny!

"Crack!"

A sound like shattering glass echoed!

Xuan Jizi's face changed drastically for the first time!

The black and white chess pieces in his hand instantly dimmed!

That board of destiny was actually cleaved open by Xiao Chen's axe, imbued with invincible belief!

The chessboard collapsed, and karma was thrown into chaos!

"Pfft!" Xuan Jizi's body shook violently, and he spat out a mouthful of blood, his eyes filled with disbelief!

"Belief cuts destiny?! You... you actually touched the threshold of defying heaven and changing fate?!"

Seizing this opportune moment, Xiao Chen's figure retreated rapidly, rushing towards the fiery red spatial vortex without hesitation!

He knew that this entrance was likely also a trap, but he had no other choice at this moment!

"Trying to leave? It's not that easy!" Xuan Jizi suppressed his injuries, his eyes blazing with killing intent, and he formed hand seals, intending to completely detonate the resentment and spatial cracks of the Burial God Abyss to bury Xiao Chen!

However, at this critical juncture!

"Buzz—!"

The Yan Realm entrance vortex suddenly vibrated violently, and an overwhelmingly domineering and terrifying flame energy, capable of burning all directions, erupted from within!

A giant flame palm, as red as blood, tore through space and slammed fiercely towards Xuan Jizi!

"You scoundrels from the Heavenly Secret Pavilion, dare to act wildly at the entrance of my Yan Realm? Get lost!"

A rough and wild voice exploded like thunder!

Xuan Jizi's face changed again, and he had to abandon his pursuit of Xiao Chen, fully resisting the giant flame palm!

"Boom!"

The palm prints collided, and an energy storm swept through!

Xuan Jizi grunted, flying backward, clearly having suffered a loss!

"A Yan Clan powerhouse?!" Xiao Chen was both surprised and delighted, seizing this fleeting opportunity, his figure flashed, and he plunged into the Yan Realm entrance vortex!

The vortex quickly closed, isolating the outside disturbances.

Xuan Jizi stabilized his figure, looking at the vanished entrance, his face as dark as water.

He wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, a calculating glint flashing in his eyes.

"The Yan Clan interfered... the plan has changed.

However, since the chess piece has entered the game, he can't help himself.

Yan Realm... heh heh, it's a good opportunity to kill with a borrowed knife."

His figure slowly dissipated, and the Burial God Abyss returned to its deathly silence.

And Xiao Chen, on the other hand, felt himself pass through a scorching hot passage and fall into a world of flames.