Chapter 105 - A World of Consciousness

“Raise!” Huyan Ming cried in a soft voice. He was more nervous than anyone else, as he was now at the last phase of cracking the formation. His forehead was already covered with sweat. With the last incantation gesture sent into it, all the tadpole texts on the wall finally turned silver, and then they flew out of the rock one after another, forming into chains in the air before gradually fading away.

The fire phoenix pattern trapped in the middle of the wall was finally released, and it flew straight out of the rock and soared into the air. Immediately, the whole sky turned red, with a crimson phoenix dancing gracefully in the center of it.

“True Spirited Fire Phoenix…A True Spirited Fire Phoenix!” Qi Zhenzi murmured in excitement as he stared at the phoenix in the sky.

Shocked, Huyan Ming and the others looked up as well. Could it really be a living phoenix? But, that was ridiculous, wasn’t that?

Yunxiao, on the other hand, was on his guard. He knew that thing in the sky was just the remnant of a phoenix’s consciousness, and it would vanish soon after it was released. The real treasure was likely to appear at any time after that.

Suddenly, the fire phoenix let out a long cry and plunged headfirst toward the ground. Wherever it passed, the world was set ablaze, and the sky turned red with all the burning. It seemed the whole world had turned into a burning hell.

“Not good! It is coming at us!” Qi Zhenzi was greatly terrified. The mighty pressure of a True Spirit pressed down on him and rendered him motionless. A fear of being powerless rose from the depths of his heart, and he even felt like kneeling and worshipping the phoenix.

Sun Xiumei was the first to give in to the pressure. She dropped to her knees and crouched on the ground, shaking violently. After that, the others, including Song Chengtian and Yi Xiaoshan, did the same.

Boom!

The phoenix finally fell on them, enveloping everyone in a burning hell instantly and turning the whole world around them into a sea of fire.

A short while later, everyone was shocked to find that they were still alive, and although the flames around them emanated a deadly temperature, their bodies were not burned at all, and they did not feel any pain.

“This… this…” Huyan Ming was awestruck. “This is just the remnant of a fire phoenix’s consciousness? So, it means…we should be inside the memory fragment of a fire phoenix’s consciousness now? Heaven! I can’t believe a consciousness world can be materialized! What kind of existences are those ancient True Spirits?”

Yunxiao was flabbergasted as well. As a ninth-tier alchemist in his previous life, his soul power was so strong that few in the whole Heavenly Martial Continent could surpass him. However, he could sense through the fire phoenix’s remnant consciousness that its soul power was far greater than his in his previous life!

“What exactly does this fire phoenix want? There must be a reason why it brings us into its consciousness.” Just when everyone was panicked and at a loss, the sea of fire around them gradually faded away, revealing a boundless desert.

“This place…” Yunxiao felt the sky looking a bit strange, and when he sensed that the Primordial Qi in the surroundings was ten times richer than usual, he cried out in terror, “Could this be the Heavenly Martial Continent of ancient times?”

“What?” Qi Zhenzi was stunned when he heard that. “Are we back in the ancient times?”

Huyan Ming gave Yunxiao a surprised look, then glared contemptuously at Qi Zhenzi and sneered. “We are inside the fire phoenix’s consciousness, and this is the land of ancient times remaining in it. We are not back in ancient times.”

Qi Zhenzi choked back his anger and asked with a dark voice, “So what now? How can we get out of here?”

“Get out?” Huyan Ming laughed. “If I am not mistaken, the treasure should be in this consciousness. I’ve finally come in here after all the hard work, so how can I leave just like this?”

In this world constructed entirely by consciousness, the strength of an individual’s consciousness could transform the whole world!

As a fourth-tier alchemist, Huyan Ming’s soul power was far greater than Qi Zhenzi and others. He felt extremely comfortable here like a fish in the water; therefore, he thought nothing of others.

“Where exactly is the treasure?”

Everyone was glancing around, but apart from the boundless desert, there was nothing else in sight.

Huyan Ming was also searching by sending his divine sense out in all directions. If truth be told, he was not very sure about his guess. After all, it was the first time he had ever experienced something like this, and it was inevitable for him to feel uneasy.

“What are you looking at, boy?” Yi Xiaoshan suddenly asked as he fixed his eyes at Yunxiao. Hearing his voice, everyone turned and looked over.

Yunxiao was staring up into the sky, his face full of doubts.

“Oh! The sky!”

Everyone looked up and saw a giant phoenix shadow, with a bright flame throbbing at its center.

“That is…the flame of the phoenix?” Huyan Ming was shocked, and then he went wild with excitement. “I see! The so-called treasure must be this flame of the phoenix!”

As an alchemist, his desire for all kinds of strange flames was stronger than anyone else’s.

The phoenix was an ancient True Spirit, and no one could estimate how strong its flame was. Although the others did not have to refine items, if they could get the flame, it should still bring great benefits to their cultivation of martial arts. For a moment, everyone was very excited.

Yunxiao gave them an indifferent look and sneered. “Why are you all looking excited like monkeys? The flame is ten thousand miles away from the ground, so how are you going to get it? Even if you can fly, we don’t know if there’s any difference between the void here and that of the outside. Also, this world of consciousness might collapse at any time, and we have no idea if we would be alive after it collapses.”

His words immediately dampened everyone’s enthusiasm like a bucket of cold water.

‘He’s right. We don’t know how to get out of here, not to mention whether we can get the phoenix flame. Would I be alive if this world collapsed?’ Suddenly, they were at a loss of what to do.

Yunxiao sneered in his heart and squinted up at the sky. The phoenix shadow was falling at a great speed, but because it was too far away, it looked like it was not moving at all.

His eyes were filled with greed and excitement that could not be concealed. At a glance, he immediately felt that the flame in the shadow was unimaginably powerful, and he knew it was not an ordinary phoenix flame. In fact, he was sure that it was the natal true flame of a True Spirited Fire Phoenix!

Legend had it that all ancient True Spirits were existences of the Ten Worlds realm, and the natal flame of a fire phoenix was condensed of its origin essence. Ignoring its power, which was certainly great, just the essence of the Ten Worlds realm contained in it was more than enough to make all the Martial Sovereigns in Heavenly Martial Continent go wild!

Huyan Ming’s eyelids suddenly twitched as he cried out in alarm, “Look, the shadow seems to be slowly descending!”

The others’ divine sense was nowhere near as good as that of Yunxiao and Huyan Ming, so it took them a little while more to discover that. All the same, they were extremely happy, and Qi Zhenzi announced in high spirits, “Let’s put aside how are we going to leave this place now and get the phoenix flame first!”

Face slightly tensed, Huyan Ming said in a cold voice, “There’s still some time before the shadow lands. Let’s discuss how we are going to share the flame.”

All eyes rested on Qi Zhenzi at the same time. Although he was their Uncle-Master, everyone was an enemy in the face of such a precious treasure, not to mention his cultivation base was the strongest among them.

Meanwhile, Huyan Ming was sneering in his mind. ‘They don’t know that the strength of the soul in this world of consciousness could make up for the lack of cultivation base. If a fight were to break out later, I’ll be the strongest one!’

When he saw everyone looking at him, Qi Zhenzi laughed and said, “My dear Disciple-Nephews, are you worried that I’ll pocket the treasure without sharing with you? Rest assured, you will get a fair share of it.”

Song Chengtian snorted coldly. “We don’t know yet the volume of the flame and whether it can be divided. What’s your suggestion, Uncle-Master?”

“If the flame can be divided, I’ll get two parts and each of you one part. What do you think?”

“Hmph!” Huyan Ming sneered. “You have a big appetite, Uncle-Master! It was me who had worked so hard to crack the formation, and all you did was push me from the side. And yet, you want to take two parts?”

Qi Zhenzi’s face grew cold. “Oh, it seems Disciple-Nephew Huyan is not happy? Tell me, does any one of you dare to handle such a major operation? Had it not been because of me, you would all have long been killed by Tianshui! Not to mention that I’m the one who found the clue of this treasure in books and records. So, why can’t I take two parts?”

Huyan Ming smiled and said, “I have no objection to that, if only I take two parts as well.”

Song Chengtian snorted again. “You want to take two parts as well? Then what about Senior Brother Yi and me?”

Yi Xiaoshan nodded and said, “I have no problem with Uncle-Master taking two parts, but if you also want to take two parts…”

“What if I really do?”

A cold look flashed across Song Chengtian’s face. “Defeat both of us, then we’ll give it to you!” he said with a grim grin.

“If that’s what you want,” Huyan Ming said in a cold voice, “Fight me together, both of you!”

“Together?” Song Chengtian was taken aback, but then he burst out laughing. “Hah! Huyan Ming, are you out of your mind? You, a Martial Lord, want to fight two Martial Kings at the same time?”

“You are wasting my time!” Huyan Ming pointed a finger at the sky and said, “If you don’t want to attack first, I will! Come, thunder!”

The whole world of consciousness shook as a thunderbolt as thick as a bowl materialized in the void and smashed down hard.

Boom!

The thunderbolt landed next to both men. They avoided it by jumping lightly to the side, but their eyes were filled with shock and incredulity. Although it could not hurt them, the thunderbolt was as strong as any attack unleashed by a genuine Martial King!

Qi Zhenzi’s pupils constricted. He did not sense any fluctuation of Primordial Qi from Huyan Ming just now, but how was that even possible?

“Haha!” Huyan Ming laughed wildly, his face full of excitement and disdain. “Have you forgotten? This is not the real world, but the fire phoenix’s space of consciousness! Everything here is a condensation of consciousness. Whoever has a stronger divine sense would have a greater degree of control over the space to do whatever he wants! In other words, I, Huyan Ming, am the strongest man in this world!”

A flicker of determination flashed across his face as his soul power spread out crazily. As if triggered by the power, the sky began to slowly distort and change, and in the blink of an eye, the boundless desert began to slowly turn green, with patches of grass and flowers growing out here and there.