The Great Ruler (Web Novel)

Shua!

Just as Mu Chen dashed to the Undying Bird Statue, Zong Qingfeng and Lu Hou in the other two squares also charged towards the other two statues at the end of the stone steps. They had undergone countless fierce battles before they could get here safely. Now, it was the time of harvest.

Numerous gazes watched as the three figures dashed towards the statues. Their eyes were red and filled with passion. The Inherited Blood Essence of the Sovereign Divine Beasts… Anyone who obtained it could refine one's bloodline, and it would allow them to have a smoother cultivation process. There was even the possibility of cultivating up to Earthly Sovereign in the future.

However, it was a pity that the three Inherited Blood Essences were distributed among the strongest candidates. They could only watch as the precious treasures were taken away.

Everyone watched as Mu Chen showed up at the end of the stone steps. He landed in front of the stone statue and narrowed his eyes. The ancient and mottled stone statue was thousands of feet tall and had traces that could only have been left by time. The pair of wings was spread out, blocking the sun. A blazing fire burned day and night on the statue's body. Even though it had been dead for millions of years, it still seemed to be full of vitality.

Mu Chen looked solemn. He could still feel the indescribable oppression from the stone statue in front of him. The oppression seemed to hit him straight in the heart as he suddenly felt it. Anyone with a weak mind would have just crumpled down to their knees at the mightiness of the Sovereign Divine Beast and the domination from the Heavenly Sovereign.

"Huh?" When Mu Chen felt the vague oppression the stone statue exuded, his eyes narrowed. A fire suddenly ignited brightly on the stone statue's body. The fire was rather peculiar with faint crystal-like colors. It oozed out a vast amount of seemingly endless vitality.

"It's the top-notch Undying Flame!" Mu Chen identified the crystal-like flame very quickly. Previously, when he bonded his bloodline with Nine Nether's, he had received the Undying Flame from Nine Nether. He had used it to refine his spiritual energy after entering the sovereign level. As such, the fluctuation was familiar to him.

Even his spiritual energy also contained some Undying Flame. That was where the familiarity came from. However, the crystal-like Undying Flame appeared to be the highest grade. This flame was stronger than Nine Nether's purple Undying Flame multiple times over.

As soon as the flame was ignited, Mu Chen sensed movement from the stone statue. With astonishment, he saw the Primordial Undying Bird suddenly open its eyes. There were no eyeballs in the bird's eye sockets, but after it opened its eyes, the violent Undying Flame swept out like a fire pillar and encompassed Mu Chen.

Ah!

Mu Chen's face twisted immediately as soon as the crystal-like fire touched him. An indescribable burning sensation manifested in every part of his body. The burn almost caused him to faint.

Luckily, his willpower was strong enough to withstand the agony. He circulated the Dragon-Phoenix Body at once. The cries of the dragon and phoenix resounded, shaking his body to defend against the heat from the blazing Undying Flame. Golden radiance surfaced on his body. The real dragon and real phoenix spirits activated, absorbing the Undying Flame to protect Mu Chen from the burn.

Despite the layers of protection he had, Mu Chen's skin surface quickly burned up, exposing his flesh and blood. From afar, it looked like he was being burned and destroyed by the blazing Undying Flame.

The sudden event caused the expressions of those top powers on the altar to change significantly. Slight horror could be seen in their eyes. Apparently, they could feel the mightiness of the Undying Flame.

Mu Chen wasn't the only one facing this situation. The same was the case for the Myriad Spiritual Bird stone statue and the Desolated Beast stone statue. The Myriad Spiritual Bird stone statue gave off shining brilliance as the seemingly crisp, clear cry of a bird resounded. The brilliance encompassed Zong Qingfeng, forcing him to kneel on the ground with all his bones cracking. The Desolated Beast stone statue was even more frightening. It stretched out its gigantic leg and stomped on Lu Hou.

After witnessing these events, everyone finally understood that these must be the last tests put up by the Sovereign Beasts. Only if the candidates passed the tests, could they obtain the Inherited Blood Essences.

However, it seemed like Lu Hou and Zong Qingfeng's tests were the most relaxed among the three. On second thought, it made sense. After all, they possessed the body of a Divine Beast. Moreover, their races were related to the Myriad Spiritual Bird and Desolated Beast. Hence, such tests would not be too hard. However, Mu Chen was considered to be very unlucky.

The crystal-like flame displayed all its mightiness without any reservations. Mu Chen was severely burned with his flesh torn apart. It did not seem to be a test. In fact, it looked like the fire was repelling people not of the same clan.

"Hmph, a shameless lad. How dare a human being touch a thing from the Divine Beast?" Bai Bin and the rest of the people heaved a sigh of relief when they saw it. Mockery surged in their eyes. Previously, they had been shamed by Mu Chen. Now, they finally had their revenge.

Nine Nether watched as Mu Chen suffered in the Undying Flame. Her expression changed. She knew that such a test was designed to examine identity. The Primordial Undying Bird did not want its Inherited Blood Essence to be passed down to someone without any relation to it.

"Nine Nether, what should we do?" Ink Ring asked in haste. The Undying Flame encompassing Mu Chen was growing stronger by the minute. It seemed like the fire would only stop after Mu Chen was wiped out.

Thoughts flashed across her mind. Nine Nether bit her teeth and curled her fingers. She slit her wrist and traces of blood welled up. The next moment, fresh blood spurted out like blood pillars. With her finger pointing, the fresh blood spurted out and rained on Mu Chen. Nine Nether shared the same bloodline as the Undying Bird. The fresh blood pouring on Mu Chen should be of some help to him.

Her prediction was right. Even though Mu Chen was soaked in blood, the crystal-like flame on his body weakened gradually as her blood drizzled. The searing pain from the fire also slowly dissipated, and Mu Chen gradually recovered. He looked at the weakened flame and suddenly had an idea.

The Undying Flame was a fierce yet purified highest-class flame. Accompanied by a vast amount of vitality, Mu Chen's spiritual energy would be able to regenerate if he could refine and absorb the flame into his spiritual energy. The flame would take his spiritual energy to the next level. Since the flame had brought him such a painful experience, Mu Chen wanted to take back some gains from it. It would be too wasteful if it were just extinguished.

Mu Chen did not hesitate. The suction in his body surged, drawing all the crystal-like flame into his body by force and infusing into his Sovereign Sea. As the Undying Flame entered his Sovereign Sea, the vast spiritual energy became heated and boiled up. However, Mu Chen was not afraid at all. He circulated the spiritual energy, forming torrents to wash the crystal-like flame into the sea of spiritual energy. The flame was gradually refined after continuous burning in the Sovereign Sea.

When the Undying Flame had finally lost all its power, his spiritual energy in the Sovereign Sea was raised by a grade. This had without a doubt increased his combat strength exponentially.

The crystal-like flame on Mu Chen's body slowly extinguished in front of the stone statue. Finally, it was all gone, leaving a golden radiance on his body's surface. The burned flesh was also quickly healed under the circulation of the Dragon-Phoenix body. His fair skin was even more radiant, as his body contained explosive power.

Mu Chen released his clenched fist and made a gesture of appreciation to the pale-looking Nine Nether. If it were not for Nine Nether bathing him with her fresh blood, he might be burning in hell right now.

"That slut!" Bai Bin was outraged. He was hoping that the fire would burn Mu Chen to death so that he could jump out and snatch the Inherited Blood Essence of Undying Bird. Who knew that Nine Nether would rescue him, helping him to block the burning from the Undying Flame? His hopes were utterly dashed.

However, judging from the situation now, there was nothing more he could do except swallow his anger. He dared not even cast a vicious look at Mu Chen because he was afraid of being spotted.

When the last Undying Flame extinguished, the Undying Bird statue released bright brilliance once again. Mu Chen put up his guard and stepped back. He exercised caution and waited in case the stone statue tried to shame him again. Luckily, there was nothing exceptional happening except some bright colors appearing in the Undying Bird's empty eye sockets.

The bird lowered its eyes as if it were staring at Mu Chen. The sharp beak slowly grew bigger, and endless bright rays exploded from its mouth. Bright, red lights finally gathered and formed into a precious red stone. A mini Undying Bird seemed to be flying within the precious stone.

Given his strong mindpower, Mu Chen could not help feeling excited when he saw the precious red stone, as he knew that must be the Inherited Blood Essence of the Undying Bird.

As long as he had the precious stone, Nine Nether could perfect her bloodline. With enough luck, she might evolve into the real Primordial Undying Bird, which was comparable to a Heavenly Sovereign!

Mu Chen reached out both his hands carefully and held the precious red stone. Finally, he could let go of the burden in his heart and heave a sigh of relief. The Inherited Blood Essence was finally his!