Undead Phoenix

As the woman in red spoke, a yellow light burst forth from the ring and covered the area beneath them. In an instant, the entire world suddenly fell silent.

The sound of killing, screaming, and explosions all disappeared. Even the sound of the gentle breeze completely disappeared. It was as if they had suddenly been transported from an incredibly raucous world into a completely silent world.

It wasn’t just sound that disappeared. All of the people, Fairies, pets, weapons, arrows, magic attacks, rocks, and dust froze in place as time passed. This sort of strange scene continued to last, and not a single thing moved.

It was as if time had been stopped…

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Stopping time was something that only appeared in stories, and it was something so against nature and the natural order of things that it should have been impossible. However, this was the terrifying reality. After all, the entirety of Ling Tian City, as well as the 30 kilometres around it, had truly been frozen in time.

Control over time was one of the heaven-defying abilities of the western godly item [Lachesis], and it was the only item capable of standing on the same level as the [Lunar Scourge]. While most of the Lunar Scourge’s abilities were focused on fighting and destruction, Lachesis’ abilities were more focused on control… control over all elemental essence, order, and fate in the world.

After the world below them had fallen completely silent, the woman in red pulled her hand back as the yellow ring lost its lustre and became dim. The woman’s face also became incredibly pale, and her body swayed, almost falling.

“Ah… big sis!” Yola cried out as she hurriedly caught the woman. “A-Are you alright?”

“I’m… fine…” The woman in red replied, a trace of weakness in her voice as her face remained abnormally pale. She looked below as she softly said, “I wanted to use the Time Barrier to give him a surprise, but it looks like this surprise will have to wait for a few months… after casting such a large Time Barrier… the cost was much greater than I expected… I’m fine though, and I just need to rest for a while.”

The woman stretched out her right hand with great difficulty and said with a soft voice to the 3 different-coloured rings, “Mo’Er, come out.”

As she called out, the 3 rings simultaneously flashed with light as an orb of red, yellow, and blue light appeared. After spinning around a few times, the light dimmed and dissipated as a petite girl appeared on her hand!

The girl’s eyes were like stars, and she had flawless, white skin. Her hair and dress were red, yellow, and blue, and when looking closely, one would find that the girl looked about 10 years old, but was only 20 centimetres tall. She had no shoes on her pure-white feet as she stood on the woman in red’s hand. Looking at the woman, her dark eyes, which looked like stars twinkling, blinked before saying with a worried expression, “Master, you seem so tired. It’s not good for you to cast such a large Time Barrier.”

“I know; I won’t do it in the future.” While looking at the small girl, the woman in red did not seem as cold and proud, and her gaze and expression became warmer and gentler. “As such, I need Mo’Er to help me now.”

“Ahh… got it.”

The pocket-sized girl referred to as ‘Mo’Er’ nodded and floated down from the woman’s hand. She then cutely shouted as her body started to spin and shot out a 3-coloured light. The light gradually expanded until it became… a gigantic pterosaur!!

It was nearly 10 metres long, and it had well-defined horns on its head. Its eyes were a deep yellow colour, and they could strike terror into anyone’s heart. Its 10 metre long body was a flame-red colour, while its demonic-looking wings were blue and incredibly wide. They looked similar to a bat’s wings, but when they were spread, they were even larger than its body. It softly beat its gigantic wings, and it came to where the woman in red and Yola were, effortlessly remaining in the air as the woman in red and Yola stepped onto its back.

Naturally, the woman wouldn’t have summoned this 3-coloured Pterosaur before because of how big it was. Once it appeared, it would definitely give her and Yola away. However, now that those below them had been frozen in time, no one would discover the 3-coloured pterosaur. Sitting on the pterosaur’s back, the woman in red gradually recovered, and she looked into the distance as she said in a low voice, “If you’re able to get back before the Time Barrier disappears, I want to see how you will deal with this impossible situation. If you can once again salvage this situation, I’ll have lost my confidence in beating you.”

……………………………..

Underworld, Underworld Volcano.

In the Underworld Royal City, one could only see the fiery sky, and only after going near it would one realise how terrifying the sea of flames was. When Ling Chen was still 3 kilometres away, his entire person had been dyed with a red light. The flames from the Underworld Volcano rushed to the sky – and this was no exaggeration at all. The flames were so ferocious and berserk that they extended up as far as the eye could see, and it was to the point that they really were in the sky.

With Xi Ling, Ling Chen was not afraid of the flames or heat at all. However, as he travelled over the incredibly red ground, he could tell that the temperature was high to an unimaginable degree. Xiao Hui and Leng’Er had returned to the Pet Space, and Xi Ling was in her humanoid form beside Ling Chen, looking at the pillars of flames as a strange light flickered within her eye.

“Xi Ling, is that voice still calling you?” Ling Chen asked.

“Mm…” Xi Ling nodded. “And it sounds closer and closer.”

“What sort of voice is it?” Ling Chen asked.

“I’m not sure…” Xi Ling gently shook her head. “It sounds like a soul, and I’m unable to properly describe it. It’s just that… it sounds quite familiar… and it has a very, very special feeling to it…”

They started to walk slower as Ling Chen and Xi Ling came closer and closer to the Underworld Volcano’s boundary. In actuality, this place wasn’t so much a ‘volcano’ as a ‘sea of flames’. Continuing forwards, the ground became a pure crimson red colour, and it had become soft. As they walked over it, they left footprints behind. Looking ahead, Ling Chen slightly frowned… When he had first come here, the temperature had already been extremely terrifying. Even the Lava Purgatory that the Vermillion Bird resided in hadn’t been so intense! After the Phoenix Clan went extinct and the Golden Crow disappeared, the Vermillion Bird was the sovereign of flames, yet the flames here were even hotter than in the Lava Purgatory, and flames should not exist in the Underworld… just what was going on?

Moreover, even though Ling Chen himself didn’t fear the flames or the heat, it was still possible for his equipment to slowly melt because of the high temperature.

“Ahh!!” At that moment, Xi Ling suddenly cried out and looked upwards. Seeing this, Ling Chen also quickly looked up. In that moment, he also nearly cried out… because within his gaze, the pillar of flames suddenly twisted and formed an incredibly large dragon-shaped flame, which rushed towards Ling Chen and Xi Ling… Ling Chen and Xi Ling were completely covered by the blazing, crimson fire, and the only thing they could see was fire.

“Fudge!!” Although he knew that he wouldn’t be injured by the flames, it was still a shocking scene that was almost enough to scare his soul out of his body. Ling Chen only had time to curse, and he couldn’t even evade as both he and Xi Ling were devoured by the flames.

…………….

When Xi Ling opened her eyes, although her surroundings were blisteringly hot, she only felt a gentle warmth. Only flames existed above, below, and to her sides, and it was as if she had entered a world made purely of flames. What’s more, Ling Chen was gone from her side.

“Master… Where are you, master?” Xi Ling anxiously called out as she hurriedly ran around within the sea of flames, trying to find Ling Chen.

“Don’t worry, he’s receiving the Phoenix God Heavenly Flames’ blessings, which are incredibly beneficial to him. How could I harm the human you follow? I’m only giving him some more power to protect himself and you.”

A mighty, yet gentle, ancient voice sounded out from within the sea of flames. Xi Ling looked around her as she asked in confusion, “Who are you? Was it you who called me here?”

“Yes. Child… I didn’t wait 10,000 years for nothing; you’ve finally come. 10,000 years… it’s been a whole 10,000 years… you’ve already grown up… wonderful.” There was a mix of emotions within the ancient voice: relief, joy, melancholy, sorrow…

“You still haven’t told me who you are!” After Xi Ling calmed down, she did not try to find the origin of the voice anymore. “You mentioned the Phoenix God Heavenly Flames just then. Those are the extreme flames that only the Phoenix Clan’s Royal Clan possesses. Could you be a Phoenix? But didn’t the Phoenixes go extinct a long time ago?”

“Haha, that’s right, I’m indeed a Phoenix,” The ancient voice acknowledged this before deeply sighing, “and the Phoenix Clan has indeed perished. A long, long, time ago, the entire Phoenix Clan perished, while I’m just an Undead Phoenix that has also been dead for many years. I’ve relied on the Underworld’s deathly aura to keep the remainder of my soul and power intact.”

“Undead… Phoenix?” Xi Ling muttered in shock. Undead feared fire, so as an Undead, the Phoenix must have a Darkness attribute. It wasn’t that Darkness and Fire couldn’t co-exist, but that Darkness’ sub-branch Undead type was extremely weak towards Fire types, so it was illogical that an Undead creature could possess a Fire attribute. This voice had claimed that it was an Undead Phoenix, and living in this sea of flames was evidence that its control over fire was extremely powerful. However, it was an extremely unnatural existence.