Chapter 2606: Phoenix Flower Obtained

Ye Chen laughed, "What great fortune, truly great fortune."

He couldn't help but lick his lips, just as Si Ming had said in the past: in Bu Zhou Shan, there truly were materials for refining the Jiu Zhuan Huan Hun Dan.

He had the Qilin Guo, Yin Ming had the Long Xian Cao, and Bu Zhou Shan had the Feng Huang Hua.

As for the remaining materials, Kunlun Laodao had them all. So, the ingredients for one Jiu Zhuan Huan Hun Dan were all accounted for.

He just needed to return to Zhu Tian, extract the Hun Dun Huo, and he could start refining it. Reviving a Hong Huang great god was just a matter of time.

"That wicked woman might just give me a kiss out of excitement."

Ye Chen stroked his chin.

But that thought quickly vanished.

When the evil spirits got excited, he didn't know if they'd kiss anyone, but they would definitely attack.

He still remembered those years when he was incarnated into the mortal world—that crazy woman would come looking for him every few days and give him a thorough beating. It was a lifelong trauma.

Clang!

The phoenix's cry rang out again, interrupting his thoughts.

Collecting himself, he narrowed his eyes slightly, but what he was looking at wasn't the Feng Huang Hua—it was the corpses scattered around the valley.

Clearly, they were the remains of treasure seekers.

He certainly wasn't the first person to discover the Feng Huang Hua; other treasure hunters had probably seen it too, and now they were all lying there.

Without needing to test it himself, he knew that the area around the Feng Huang Hua was full of dangers. Anyone who tried to take it had likely met a terrible end.

Unfortunately, after observing for a long time, he still couldn't see any clues.

The valley was eerily silent, shrouded in misty fog, and the stillness was almost unnatural. The quieter it was, the more abnormal it seemed.

Suddenly, Ye Chen created a clone.

The clone understood his intent and leaped forward with an air of dominance, stepping into the valley.

But before it even landed, it was obliterated into ashes—not even a scream escaped.

Ye Chen furrowed his brows slightly and summoned a second clone.

Thud!

Like the first one, the second clone was struck down by some invisible force the moment it entered the valley.

Ye Chen said nothing and produced a third clone.

This clone met the same fate: as soon as its foot touched the ground, it vanished into smoke.

At that point, Ye Chen stopped summoning clones.

After the three clones were destroyed, he had figured it out—the valley wasn't just full of evil spirits; there was also a domineering, naturally formed array.

With that in mind, he stepped into the valley.

The moment he entered, winds howled and clouds churned, the ground was littered with corpses, and the void flashed with lightning and thunder, like a realm of death.

Roar!

As soon as Ye Chen steadied his footing, evil spirits materialized, each with three heads and six arms, radiating chilling malice and evil intent as they roared and lunged at him.

Ye Chen took a powerful step forward and swung his staff, smashing one evil spirit.

The evil spirit howled in agony but grew furious, sprouting two more heads in its roar—one spitting flames, the other shooting thunder from its eyes.

Ye Chen snorted coldly and swung his staff again, obliterating the evil spirit completely.

Unfortunately, it didn't die; it reformed its shape.

Not only that, more evil spirits crawled out from the ground, their bodies covered in scales, their faces grotesque and sinister, and their numbers vast.

On top of that, bolts of lightning struck from the air, overwhelmingly powerful.

This so-called lightning and thunder came from the naturally formed array in the valley—the lightning was its attack, carrying destructive force that could instantly reduce an ordinary quasi-emperor to ashes with a single strike.

Ye Chen transformed his origin into armor to withstand the thunder.

He had no intention of lingering in battle; he charged straight for the Feng Huang Hua. Once he obtained that immortal material, he could retreat. There was no need to fight the evil spirits to the death.

Clang! Boom! Clang!

The heavenly lightning was ferocious, but Ye Chen's origin armor was no pushover—every bolt sparked brightly off his body.

Roar! Roar! Roar!

The evil spirits howled, swarming in groups—some spewing vortices, others wielding war spears, and still others disrupting his mind. They were all quite the adversaries.

"Get back!"

Ye Chen roared furiously, swinging his staff to send a swarm flying. Divine light burst from his body as one sacred artifact after another manifested and self-destructed.

Boom! Bang! Boom!

The once-quiet valley echoed with thunderous explosions. The self-destruction of sacred weapons was incredibly domineering, blasting a path through for Ye Chen.

This only drew more evil spirits, like swarms of fierce ghosts crawling from the ground, covering the mountains and fields, enough to make one's scalp tingle.

"Anyone who blocks me dies."

Ye Chen shouted fiercely, gripping his blood-stained iron staff and fighting with wide swings.

Awkwardly, the evil spirits showed no respect. He might not have called out, but once he did, they surged toward him en masse.

Seeing how uncooperative the evil spirits were, Young Master Ye stopped making a fuss.

Roar! Roar! Roar!

Even if he stayed quiet, the evil spirits didn't. Every time one charged, it let out a mind-disrupting roar, like funeral bells from the nine underworlds echoing endlessly in his divine sea.

Ye Chen's steps didn't falter, but his face grew even darker.

If he were at his peak, he wouldn't fear the evil spirits.

The problem was, he was injured and inherently suppressed by the heavenly realm. Many of his emperor-level immortal techniques, like the Emperor Dao Black Shore, were unreliable at best.

Now, entering Bu Zhou Shan added another layer of restriction—his combat power was greatly diminished, and those unreliable techniques simply stopped working altogether.

He couldn't fly or escape; he had to fight head-on.

Boom! Bang! Boom!

Amid the thunderous roars, the lightning strikes grew more intense. Even with Ye Chen's sturdy origin armor, it was left riddled with holes.

Ye Chen ignored it, offering his essence blood as a sacrifice, his vital energy surging like a sea. Every strand of essence exuded origin essence, and his entire body burned like fire.

Roar!

An evil spirit pounced, opening its maw wide and forming a vortex to swallow Ye Chen whole, without even chewing.

But swallowing Young Master Ye whole was a bad move—it only took an instant for him to tear through the evil spirit's body and leap out like a true dragon, only to collide with an incoming lightning bolt, staggering his form.

This lightning was clearly different—more terrifying than any before.

Or perhaps, the longer he stayed in the valley, the more fearsome the lightning became. Even the tenth emperor of Great Chu, who had endured strikes all the way, couldn't handle it anymore.

This stagger allowed countless evil spirits to swarm him, blotting out the sky and engulfing Ye Chen.

"Back off!"

Ye Chen's shout was resolute as his staff grew enormous, sweeping away a horde with one swing.

Whoosh!

The sound of chains clashing arose as black rune chains manifested, slithering like snakes to entwine Ye Chen. They were formed from evil and malicious thoughts, carrying attacking power and the ability to devour living beings.

Ye Chen didn't dare be careless—these evil and malicious thoughts were formless forces, similar to baleful karma, faith power, and Buddhist Nian Li, capable of harming invisibly.

The valley was dim and chaotic.

Lightning raged from above, evil spirits surged from below, and chains of thought whipped through the air. Ye Chen bled with every step forward.

The distance of a thousand zhang, which seemed short in his eyes, now felt incredibly far.

Ahead, more evil spirits appeared, a dark mass with blood-red eyes glowing sinisterly, their twisted forms resembling ghosts.

"Make way!"

Ye Chen went all out, sacrificing a quasi-emperor weapon and plunging into the sea of evil spirits.

Boom!

The quasi-emperor weapon self-destructed, sending evil spirits flying everywhere.

Ye Chen moved like a startled swan, darting toward the Feng Huang Hua. Though many evil spirits were destroyed, they would regenerate— as long as the evil and malicious thoughts persisted, so would they.

Roar! Roar!

Violent howls erupted again as even more evil spirits charged, not to guard the Feng Huang Hua, but to devour any living being that entered the valley.

And Ye Chen was that living being.

"Back off!"

Ye Chen didn't know how many times he'd shouted that word. Rolling immortal fire transformed into a sea of flames, devouring everything in its path.

The evil spirits' howls grew even more pitiful.

As creatures of ultimate yin, they were naturally restrained by the pure yang of immortal fire.

But while the immortal fire was strong, the yin evil thoughts and malicious intent here were equally chilling and overwhelming. The roaring sea of flames was soon extinguished.

Pure yang could restrain ultimate yin.

Ultimate yin could also restrain pure yang.

Thud!

Blood sprayed as Ye Chen was pierced through the chest by a dark beam from an evil spirit's mouth. Before he could steady himself, another evil spirit slashed a bloody gash across his back, exposing bone and muscle in a gruesome sight.

Ye Chen gritted his teeth and waved his hand repeatedly, sacrificing one quasi-emperor weapon after another.

Boom! Bang! Boom!

Thunder roared as the quasi-emperor artifacts exploded with tremendous force, sending evil spirits flying and shaking the very heavens and earth.

Due to Ye Chen's frenzy, he blasted open a bloody path. The evil spirits' howls were so eerie that even his mind nearly faltered.

"What's going on? Such a huge commotion."

"There must be some extraordinary treasure."

"I say, we should get out of here!"

In Bu Zhou Shan, Ye Chen wasn't the only one; many cultivators had come to seek treasures. Hearing the noise, they all looked up curiously, their brows furrowed.

Some had already followed the sound to its source.

It wasn't long before the thunderous booms faded.

The dark valley no longer had flashing lightning or evil spirits; it had returned to calm, everything as before.

As for the Feng Huang Hua growing deep within, it was now gone.

On the scorched, dark earth, Ye Chen clutched the Feng Huang Hua in one hand and gripped his black gold staff in the other, staggering step by step. His face was pale, and every footprint behind him was stained with blood, starkly vivid.

He had obtained the Feng Huang Hua, but at a heavy cost.

There were too many evil spirits in the valley, and each one's strength was on par with a quasi-emperor at the eighth heaven, bolstered by their powerful evil and malicious thoughts.

Managing to snatch the Feng Huang Hua from such a force made him quite the talent.

Compared to those buried in the valley, he was fortunate, but the price for one Feng Huang Hua was devastating—he didn't know how many artifacts he'd destroyed, including several quasi-emperor weapons.

"That wicked one, when I get back, you have to reimburse me."

Ye Chen stowed the Feng Huang Hua and wiped away the fresh blood fiercely. Though gravely injured, he laughed with delight.

It was almost complete—the refining materials were nearly gathered. Once he got the Long Xian Cao and seized from Kunlun Laodao, his mission would be fulfilled.

In the mountains, he paused and sat wearily on a rock, pulling out his wine flask.

Ah!

Screams rang out again, right on cue, startling Ye Chen and making him spit out the wine he'd just drunk.

Once more, he stood on the rock and gazed into the distance.

Ever since arriving in Bu Zhou Shan, those dramatic screams had echoed from time to time, from deeper within—he didn't know if it was a person or a ghost.

As he watched, a profound dao heavenly sound resonated, ethereal and mysterious.

Because of that sound, Bu Zhou Shan took on an extraordinary air. Sprouts broke through the scorched earth everywhere, and the whole world seemed to gain a touch of vitality.

"The Wuzi Tian Shu."

Ye Chen murmured softly, flask in hand, and instinctively stood up, staring blankly into the depths. He didn't see the Wuzi Tian Shu, but he recognized its dao heavenly sound.

PS: Wish book friend Xiao A Xi a happy birthday!

Wish book friend Wangqing's mother a happy birthday!