Sweat appeared on Chu Yuan's temples. The blue veins on his forehead were visibly pounding. He had not expected that the Peacock Beast King would be so fierce. He had exchanged blows with a few Beast Kings already but the difference between creatures like the Dragon Beast King and this Peacock Beast King was huge.
"Everyone, lend me a hand." Chu Yuan had been acting very calmly until this point but could no longer resist calling out.
The other four black-robed figures glanced at each other in astonishment. They all knew just how powerful Lord Chu Yuan was. He also had a wondrous treasure on him. Yet he was still not a match for the Peacock Beast King.
The Peacock Beast King seemed to have already reached the limits of power known to ancient martial art practitioners. It was very close to the legendary Devil Clan.
The four Martial Arts Grandmasters did not dare to hesitate for even a second. With a flick of their wrists, spiritual stones appeared in their hands. The next moment, the spiritual stones all disappeared as they were converted into spiritual power. They became four white dragons and entered the huge stone plate one by one.
With the influx of a large amount of spiritual power, the stone plate immediately shined brightly and changed to its previous defensive state. It shook furiously and reflected the flame phoenix back. Then, it flew up and brutally crashed towards the flame phoenix.
A huge rumble sounded.
The light coming from the flame phoenix's body was immediately dimmed by thirty percent. It also shrank significantly.
The stone plate continued to chase it. It once again crashed into the flame phoenix, which immediately shrank by a further half. Its light was dim, and its beak emitted a sad wail.
"Animal, you really think that you are so incredible," Chu Yuan said coldly. Large amounts of spiritual power surged out of his body. The huge stone plate once again shined brightly, crashing fiercely into the flame phoenix in mid-air for the third time.
Finally, the flame phoenix could not take it anymore. It exploded, becoming a mass of fiery light and gradually dissipated in the air.
The fierce Peacock Beast King spat out some blood. Its vigor instantly wilted. The seven Demonic Spiritual Treasures flew out of the scattered flames. Their lights had dimmed. They became seven fiery shadows and returned to the Peacock Beast King.
Before this, while battling the seven Martial Arts Grandmasters, the Peacock Beast King had already been wounded. Now it had even more injuries. Although there were only five black-robed figures, their combat ability seemed to be substantially more powerful than that of the seven Martial Arts Grandmasters.
Mo Wen narrowed his eyes as he stared intently at the leader of the black-robed figures. He had realized that when the black-robed figures had activated their magical treasure, they had not actually converted spiritual stones into spiritual power. Instead, they had directly released spiritual power from their bodies and injected them into the magical treasure.
Immortal cultivators!
A thought popped into Mo Wen's head. If what he suspected was true, the black-robed figures must be the immortal cultivators of legend. He had seen many immortal cultivators in the other worlds. His gut feeling was surely correct.
He had not expected that immortal cultivators would appear on this battlefield. Could it be that the news of the appearance of the spiritual fire had already drawn the attention of immortal cultivators?
The only thing that made him feel relieved was the fact that the cultivation of those immortal cultivators was not too high. They were approximately equivalent to the human Martial Arts Grandmaster realm. Compared to those immortal cultivators who had been officially inducted into the Primordial Soul realm, there was still quite a gap. If the black-robed figures were Primordial Soul realm immortal cultivators, then there would be no point in fighting anymore. Almost no one would be a match for a Primordial Soul realm immortal cultivator.
Immortal cultivators who had not entered the Primordial Soul realm might belong to one of a number of different realms. These realms were divided from one another in a similar way to the world of ancient martial art practitioners.
Among immortal cultivators, the realm below the Primordial Soul realm was the Golden Elixir realm. This seemed similar to the Golden Elixir realm of the ancient martial art practitioners, but in reality, they were essentially different. Ancient martial art practitioners used Inner Qi to coalesce a Golden Elixir, but immortal cultivators used spiritual power to do so. In other words, the Golden Elixir coalesced by immortal cultivators was the true Golden Elixir.
The Golden Elixir realm of the ancient martial art practitioners was but a realm born from imitating the immortal cultivator's Golden Elixir coalescing technique. In ancient times, among ancient martial art practitioners, the highest realm was the Embryonic Breathing realm. Only later, after imitating some of the immortal cultivator's way of Practice, did they have a Golden Elixir realm.
The immortal cultivator's Golden Elixir realm could not be taken lightly. In a one-on-one situation, they would certainly be much more powerful than ancient martial art practitioners.
"What are you all waiting for? Attack together. Kill this animal. When we do that, the main doors of the Fighting Spirit Tower will be open to you." Chu Yuan coldly shot a glance at the seven Martial Arts Grandmasters who had stopped fighting. The Peacock Beast King's power far surpassed his expectations. Even though it was severely injured right now, he did not want to face such a ferocious beast. It was because he knew that once such a monstrous beast fought to the death, there would be blood to pay.
Only by combining all of their battle power could they possibly firmly suppress this ferocious beast, causing it to not even have the chance to fight for its life.
"If you all had joined us from the start, it would not have led to so many problems now."
"We can join in, but we hope you will not play any tricks. Only after this ferocious beast is dead will anyone be able to enter the Fighting Spirit Tower. If the beast survives, no one can think of having it easy."
The seven Martial Arts Grandmasters exchanged glances and agreed to the black-robed figures' suggestion. As long as none of them played tricks, their combined power should mean it was fairly easy to kill the Peacock Beast King.
In an instant, the seven Martial Arts Grandmasters had once again surrounded the Peacock Beast King. On the other side, the five black-robed figures stopped trying to break into the Fighting Spirit Tower. Instead, they slowly surrounded the Peacock Beast King from the other side.
"I naturally want to kill this animal myself," Chu Yuan said sinisterly.
There was a long roar. It came from the Peacock Beast King's mouth. The roar was full of sorrow and fury. The next moment, with a flap of its wings, its silhouette disappeared. Then, it slipped through the crowd who had it encircled by arching its body through the air. It entered the Fighting Spirit Tower.
The dignified Peacock Beast King from the Fire Domain had chosen to escape into the Fighting Spirit Tower. The few human ancient martial art practitioners had not expected the Peacock Beast King to leave so decisively. However, there was almost no one who could stop it when it wanted to escape.
"The beast is rather smart. It knows that it will surely die if it stays," a human ancient martial art practitioner dressed in black said plainly. The speaker was the Sect Grand Elder of Huajian Sect. Earlier on, a Huajian Sect elder at the pinnacle of the Golden Elixir realm had tried to break into the tower and was killed by the Peacock Beast King. The Sect Grand Elder, therefore, harbored a good deal of hatred towards the Peacock Beast King. The elder's death was an enormous loss for Huajian Sect.
"So, even animals know which way the wind blows." Chu Yuan softly snorted. He did not say anymore. A black light gushed out from his body and enveloped the other four black-robed figures beside him. The next moment, they had covered a hundred meters, entering the Fighting Spirit Tower in the blink of an eye. With a flash, they disappeared without a trace.
The human ancient martial art practitioners had no intention of missing out on this opportunity. One by one, they too entered into the Fighting Spirit Tower. Now that the Peacock Beast King was no longer guarding the tower, the danger seemed to have passed. The other ancient martial art practitioners who had been watching from a distance flew over to the tower one by one, and within the time it took to take a few breathes, they had all sneaked into the Fighting Spirit Tower as well.
Mo Wen was not in a hurry. He was deep in thought. Only after contemplating the recent events and his next course of action did he walk up to the Fighting Spirit Tower. He entered through the only main door.
The black robed figures had given him a lot of clues.
Ghost Lair!
He had actually encountered members of the Ghost Lair again. These heretical ancient martial art practitioners had a familiar aura on them. Initially, he had been unable to recall it but had soon remembered.
Among the factions that he knew, only the mysterious heretical forces from the Ghost Lair could have such a line-up, even being able to send out immortal cultivators. Although he did not know why the members of the Ghost Lair would be interested in the spiritual fire, he knew that the road to claiming the spiritual fire had most likely gotten much more difficult.
After the Peacock Beast King released the long roar, all the Fire Domain's Beast Kings seemed to have received a signal at the exact same time. One by one, they cast aside the human ancient martial art practitioners, not bothering with them anymore. Instead, they turned and dashed in the direction of the Fighting Spirit Tower, entering one after another.
The sudden change stunned the ancient martial art practitioners who were still in the square. They did not understand why the Beast Kings had suddenly withdrawn.
The fact that the Beast Kings were no longer blocking their way was a good thing. With no further obstacles in their way, the human ancient martial art practitioners easily rushed up to the Fighting Spirit Tower and went inside.
Inside the tower, the light was different and Mo Wen felt as though he had walked into an unknown time and space.
He had always known that the Fighting Spirit Tower must contain its own universe. Otherwise, it would not have been so hard to construct. The inside of the tower was equivalent to a small Inner world. It could only be built by using the space separation techniques of a Mighty Immortal Cultivator.
Hence, Mo Wen did not panic at all. He waited quietly. The surrounding spatial energy was very stable. Reality proved that even if abandoned for tens of millions of years, this Fighting Spirit Tower was still operating in a stable manner.
However, not long after, a light finally appeared before his eyes.
Mo Wen discovered that he was standing in the sky. As he looked into the distance, he saw white clouds rolling by as far as the eye could see. It was like the Heaven's Courtyard in legends.
Underneath his feet was a very, very large black stone altar. The altar was carved with all sorts of mysterious runes. It looked ancient and complicated.
He glanced around. Aside from white clouds, there seemed to be nothing else.
"What is this place?"
A sense of doubt flashed crept into Mo Wen's mind. He had never come in contact with a Fighting Spirit Tower, so he did not know what the inside of a Fighting Spirit Tower normally looked like and what he would encounter within one.
Suddenly, he noticed that the three tail feathers inside his body were gently vibrating. They seemed to be filled with an indescribable sense of joy. Even Mo Wen could feel the Seven Star Heavenly Fire Fan's excitement. It seemed that this Fighting Spirit Tower had some connection with the Seven Star Heavenly Fire Fan's tail feathers inside of him.
Mo Wen immediately thought of the possibility that the Fighting Spirit Tower had been constructed by the Inferno Star Lord. If the ancient city had belonged to the Inferno Star Lord, then the Fighting Spirit Tower was very likely connected with him.
Mo Wen did not have time to go over it in detail. Not far in front of him, a beam of light appeared, followed by a human silhouette.
Other lights began to appear, and, one after another, more human silhouettes could be seen. They were the human ancient martial art practitioners that had come looking for the spiritual fire.
After a while, there were more than another hundred humans on the altar. They came from various sects from various large Inner worlds. They were also all top strong practitioners.
Aside from these ancient martial art practitioners, Mo Wen also discovered that slightly further away, a few huge monstrous beasts gradually appeared. He recognized all the monstrous beasts. They were the Fire Domain's Beast Kings, and the Peacock Beast King was among them.