"If I can save you from the curse of your Phoenix God, what can you do for me in return?" His eyes glistened with amusement while stroking his chin. No trace of arrogance, no trace of conceit, yet the words echoed throughout the bodies and minds of those from the Phoenix Clan Members.

This man talked as if there longtime wish is as simple as waving his hand, even though some them are a bit doubtful with his words they couldn't just shrugg it off after witnessing what this man could do.

Baichuan's body trembled with excitement for awhile yet he held it back and inquired about the deal; as if waiting for this question the corner of his mouth quirked up and replied: "As the legend goes, when the Phoenix ressurects from the ashes, their rise is unstoppable. How about creating this legend with me?"

After their ancestor commited an unforgivable sin, all of them who were the descendants suffered as well. Every single day they would always pray that the phoenix god would remove the curse yet nothing happened. They were doomed to suffer for a hundred years while hiding at center of this Ten Thousand Beast Mountain, the words "resurrection from ashes" struck a chord in their hearts, their blood boiling with fighting spirit. They wanted to be known by everyone and completely wash away the shame that their ancestor caused. Hope rises like a phoenix from the ashes of shattered dream.

Those words of his ignited an undying flame in the hearts of phoenix clan members. Everyone were excited even Baichuan yet he held it back, though his burning eyes can't be hidden from Hannya's watchful eyes. He knew that his words had established into their hearts, sooner or later they would accept his rule.

Just as expected Baichuan replied: "If you can really remove the curse then we shall follow your every orders without question. We shall become your blade and shield in time of your needs."

Hannya uncrossed his legs and stood up.

"Until today, your clan has deteriorated to how you are currently; even a small group of mercenaries can corner all of you to such a point of despair."

Everyone shook and in their eyes there tinged too much unwillingness and helpless frustration yet hidden under those emotions is a burning flame.

"Now, it's time for you all to rise. Become the Ruler of the blazing sun and blue skies, the bearer of the inferno that burns away impurity." He walked towards Baichuan and like a devil whispers: "Now open the Sacred Grounds so I can free you from the curse."

Though Hannya haven't realize it yet but his plain personality is slowly fusing with his original persona. As long as he keeps on using the powers of left eye, there would come a day where he will become the same person he used to be.

Baichuan hesitated for awhile yet gritted his decision and decided to follow. They are now at the point of no return; everything that they discussed was originally a clan secret that could not be revealed to outsiders, but being forced to such a miserable state today, the so-called bloodlines and the so-called clan secrets had already lost it's secrecy.

"After the bloodline's curse fell upon us, nobody had ever passed the trial again. Nobody could even pass through the first stage of the trial. After all, with only the strength of the tenth level of the Elementary Profound Realm, how could we withstand the trial of the Phoenix's flames? And all these years, some clansmen who wanted to forcefully pass the trial have even died inside, never to come back again. Even though I can't sense to what extent your strength has reached I can tell that you're strong. We shall await your return." Feng Baichuan then quickly went in front of the sigil, bit his finger, and dripped his blood on the sigil.

Immediately, the faintly-glowing sigil suddenly glowed bright red before vanishing on the spot to reveal a mysterious entrance.

Baichuan guided Hannya to the entrance

As soon as they got in he saw a large stone chamber was unnaturally spacious and measured at least a hundred meters long and wide. Both sides of the stone chamber had very long stone stairs and it seemed as if there was another floor above. There was a long walkway to the front of the stone chamber which was approximately a few dozen meters in length. At the end of the hall, there was a gently rotating red-colored seal formation that was identical to the seal outside.

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As they reached the seal Baichuan bit open his finger, and dripped a drop of blood onto the seal formation. Instantaneously, a red light flashed through the seal formation, then vanished while spinning quickly. In front of them, a dark red colored bizarre entrance appeared. As if it was a terrifying bottomless abyss, it was pitch black inside the entrance and no signs of existence could be seen.

"You should go back and await for my return." He the entered.

The moment he stepped inside the entrance, the scene before him suddenly distorted. Right after, he felt the sky and ground spin, as if his body was sent flying by a storm. He closed his eyes while feeling the changes. Only after a long time, did that weightless feeling finally disappear slowly. When he opened his eyes, he only saw a pitch black darkness.

Hannya's red and golden eyes shone in darkness, if it were someone else they would only be able to see the darkness, yet with Hannya's enhancement he could still see, he only stood without making any movements as if waiting for something..

Not long after lines of narrow golden light suddenly appeared in the pitch black darkness before him. Immediately after, the two narrow lines of golden luminance slowly opened like a pair of slightly narrowed eyes.

With a face devoid of expression he stared the pair of eyes! A pair of incomparably gigantic golden eyes that was embedded inside the pitch black space.

"Greetings. Welcome to the trial grounds. You are the first challenger without the phoenix bloodline in these past thousand years."

A dignified voice resounded within his mind; from the timbre of the voice, it was clearly a female voice. A lopsided grin emerged in Hannya's expressionless face.

"You've come remnant soul of the Phoenix."

"You knew? You're an interesting one." There's a tinge of surprise in her voice.

"Are you ready?"

"Yes, Let's do this." Hannya replied with a bit of excitement.

"Very good, the trial has three stages in total, respectively: First stage: Purgatory Flame Demon; second stage: Arrows of the Phoenix; third stage: Corruption of the Heart's Flame. If you wish to forfeit during the trial, you may shout out at anytime and I'll immediately let you leave the trial grounds. You may die if you forcibly endure the trial…. I wish you success."

"You can remove the ability to forfeit since I don't need such option." With an arrogant tone Hannya spoke.

"If you have that much confidence then show me what you can do."

Just as the Spirit of the Phoenix's voice faded, the pair of golden eyes slowly disappeared inside the world of pitch black darkness.

Yet the world before Hannya's eyes spun once again. Moments later, the darkness entirely disappeared, and the world around him impressively transformed into a field of deep red.

The ground under his feet appeared to be a deep red color; as if it was paved by terrifying red-hot steel. The ground was uneven; disorderly boulders were scattered around and mountains of varying heights were layered one after another. Even the mountain's surface was crimson, as if it could spew out flames which could reach the heavens at any time. Looking upwards, the sky was also a field of deep red.

"So this is the first trial. It looks like lava purgatory."

the wind here was scorching hot as the air's temperature reached a terrifying level. He involuntarily let out a small groan as the heat slowly burning his skin. Even with fear coated around his body it still couldn't completely defend him, even though he was in this situation he still remained calm.

[Ding! Congratulation Host for gaining Heat Resistance]

His lips curled into a faint smile, just like what he expected, under special circumstances the system would help his body adjust using different methods depending on the situation.

[Heat Resistance level has risen]

[Heat Resistance level has risen]

[Heat Resistance level has risen]

[Heat Resistance level has risen]

A series of notification rang in Hannya's mind while the burn marks in his body started to reginerate. As the time passed, he started to get used to the heat.

Hannya then started to trudge ahead, a moment later he stopped in his tracks as he noticed that the sounds of churning magma started to intensified.

He gaze towards the lava pool ahead; the red lava emanated a shockingly high temperature. The lava churned violently, rose higher and higher, and grew fiercer by the moment…. Suddenly, the pool overflowed and a large chunk of lava savagely broke loose with a deafening sound. A gigantic body covered in flames rose high from the lava and landed in front of Hannya.

This was a flame beast whose entire body was on fire. It was a whole thirty-three meters tall, had a body that was burning entirely in red-hot flames, and had two ferocious eyes on either side of its head. Atop its head, there were also two horns of fire that were ten metres long and a golden mark that seemed to shine from the middle of these horns.