The Legend of the Great Desolation: I Am the Fortress

Chapter 225 Demon Subduing Mutation
"Ok?"

Lei Zhan was taken aback, his gaze falling on the solemn face of the Nine Flames Ancestral Immortal, and he asked curiously:

"What is the meaning of this, Fellow Daoist Jiu Yan?"

"The Flame Demon actually only appears in the deepest part of the Ice Demon Valley." The Nine Flames Ancestral God recalled this long-sealed information and said softly:

"The Ice Demon Valley is not actually only inhabited by Ice Demons and the Ice Demon Lord. It's just that for countless ages, it has been the Ice Demon Lord and the Ice Demons he leads that have attacked our world, so over time it has simply come to be called 'Ice Demon Valley'."

“This…” Lei Zhan’s heart stirred.

“The Ice Demon Valley is actually like a tower with many ‘floors,’ except that this tower is downward.” Nine Flames Ancestral Immortal paused. “Generally, if you want to leave the Earth’s core world, you need to have enough strength to fight your way to the depths of the Ice Demon Valley and defeat the Ice Demon Lord on the thirty-sixth floor before you can choose to leave directly.”

"Over the long course of time, many incredibly powerful ancestral gods and immortals have been born in my inner world. After defeating the Ice Demon Lord, they also discovered that there were 'floors' deeper within this Ice Demon Valley."

"And in the thirty-seventh level and deeper, there are these fire demons. However, the fire demons deep in the Ice Demon Valley seem to be even more powerful, and very few cultivators are able to continue down. Over time, they have been selectively forgotten."

"Beyond the thirty-sixth floor... are there even more powerful beings?" Lei Zhan's heart stirred, and he asked curiously:
"With the help of the Demon Subduing Palace over these long years, the number of magical techniques, secret arts, and magical treasures here is as numerous as the stars. Could it be that after endless years, no one has been able to reach the end of the Ice Demon Valley?"

"For example... a world god, a primordial immortal?"

"Hmm?" Nine Flames Ancestral Immortal was taken aback, remained silent for a long time, and then shook his head and said, "This is all I know about such secrets. Even the fact that there is another world beyond the thirty-sixth level of Ice Demon Valley was something I learned by chance."

"Our generation of ancestral gods and immortals even needed the help of Fellow Daoist Fuxi and Fellow Daoist Tathagata to resist the invasion of the Ice Demon. Perhaps after endless years, when our strength has increased to a certain level, we will have the opportunity to uncover the secret hidden behind this!"

Nine Flames Ancestral Immortal paused, his voice filled with helplessness.

Through generations of nurturing and growth, the earliest among them to break through to become Ancestral Gods and Ancestral Immortals were only a few million years old, and the most powerful were merely the Ancestral Gods like the One Who Abandoned Fire, which is the strength of top-tier Ancestral Gods. To possess the strength to explore the secrets of the Ice Demon Valley, one would probably need at least the strength of a top-tier Ancestral God or at least be comparable to a peak Ancestral God.

"Sigh..." Lei Zhan shook his head helplessly, thinking of the ancestral gods and immortals he had met before, and all his emotions could only turn into a long sigh in the end.

Ancestral gods and immortals from the Earth's core world, such as the Abandoned Fire Ancestral God and the Nine Flames Ancestral Immortal, were actually quite ordinary in terms of strength and talent.

At least, none of them are as good as the immortals and demons born in the Three Realms. Great beings in the Three Realms such as Nuwa, the Three Pure Ones, Suirenshi, and Houyi are all incredibly powerful. Even without a path, they can still forge a way forward from nothing.

Lei Zhan muttered to himself, "Compared to the two, the creatures in the Earth's core do indeed seem insignificant. However... the Supreme God Crystal is too important, especially since it's a chaotic world formed by the collision of two Supreme God Crystals. A genius born from the Three Realms alone can rival an entire Great Mo Domain."

Suppressing his thoughts, Lei Zhan looked at the Nine Flames Ancestor Immortal and said, "Thank you for clearing up my doubts, Fellow Daoist Nine Flames. If it weren't for you, I probably wouldn't have known about this information."

"It's a trivial matter." Nine Flames Ancestral Immortal shook his head and said, "Knowing this information is just wishful thinking if you don't have the strength."

"Fellow Daoist Jiu Yan" Lei Zhan said without hesitation, "Then I will go and challenge the Demon-Subduing Palace first."

"Hmm." Nine Flames Ancestral Immortal didn't mind and said with a smile, "Fellow Daoist, please go ahead. With your talent, you are very likely to uncover the secrets behind Ice Demon Valley in the future."

"Haha." Lei Zhan glanced at Nine Flames Ancestral Immortal, "Fellow Daoist, you flatter me too much."

As soon as he finished speaking, Lei Zhan communicated with the will of the Demon Subduing Palace, and with a "whoosh," his figure disappeared directly from the main hall.

……

This is a world radiating endless flames, and you can even see some lava volcanoes.

Wow~~~
As time and space shifted, a young man dressed in a golden robe appeared high in the sky.

"Hmm? The world that has evolved within the Demon Subduing Palace has indeed changed!" Lei Zhan looked around, his brows furrowing slightly.

On his first visit, Lei Zhan entered a world similar to the endless ice sea outside, a vast ice field.

Now, however, they were directly transported into this unfamiliar world of fire.

"And it feels to me that this inner world is increasingly resembling a test left behind by powerful beings," Lei Zhan thought to himself. "Whether it's the Demon-Subduing Palace or the Ice Demon Valley, they all seem to be part of the test."

The so-called tests are actually a kind of selection, selecting those with extraordinary talent who meet the wishes of the powerful.

You should know that those powerful beings are extremely proud. Ordinary cultivators have no right to even try to covet their treasures or inheritances.

Generally, only exceptionally talented cultivators with enough good fortune can pass through numerous trials and selections and ultimately become the winners.

"A powerful figure who could leave behind such a grand legacy must be at least an ancient Dao Lord of Life and Death, judging by the vast supernatural powers, magical treasures, and magical artifacts of the Demon Subduing Palace. I wonder if I, Lei Zhan, will ever have the chance to catch the eye of that powerful figure..." Lei Zhan pondered to himself.

Lei Zhan's thoughts were not unfounded.

Leaving aside other matters, let's take the protective divine power "Golden Statue" that Lei Zhan exchanged for as an example. If a cultivator wants to obtain this divine power through purchase, just by cultivating it himself and only buying the lower part, he would have to spend 200,000 cubic units of Chaos Spirit Liquid.

Such a high price could be exchanged for several mid-grade weapons, even if they were extremely precious eternal divine weapons.

The powerful being who created the inner world could place a complete copy of the "Golden Image" divine power within the Demon Subduing Palace, and this divine power could be widely disseminated throughout the inner world. The cost of using it to cultivate cultivators would be ten times higher.

The "Golden Image" supernatural power is just one of the many supernatural powers and methods in the Demon Subduing Palace.

"Buzz buzz buzz~~~" Just as Lei Zhan was pondering, the entire world of flames began to tremble.

Within the surrounding vast expanse, one could see with the naked eye an endless convergence of heaven and earth power, forming enormous vortexes.

Within these countless vortexes, one can vaguely see fiery demons with flowing magma on their bodies.

"It's the aura of living beings!"

"Living beings! Living beings! It's been so long since I've smelled that life force emanating from those creatures!"

"How dare you trespass into our Fire Valley? You're really asking for trouble."

"Kill! Kill! Kill!"

With a thought, Lei Zhan's consciousness enveloped the entire world of flames. The flame demons immediately sensed Lei Zhan's presence and gathered around him.

These fire demons were almost identical to the ice demons Lei Zhan had seen, except that their armor was covered by thick lava, and each of them had flames swirling in their eyes, making them incredibly ferocious.

"die!"

Lei Zhan glanced around.

Wow~~~
All that could be seen were streams of water and fire churning.

The two ancestral fires, the Golden Flame of the Sun and the Profound Water of the Moon, surged forth, forming a vast domain of water and fire, like a terrifying wheel, frantically annihilating all the flame demons that charged towards them.

The fire demons were terrified. Could a true god or immortal directly control the power of ancestral water and ancestral fire? And the power of this secret technique for controlling water and fire was simply unbelievable.

Lei Zhan watched as the fire demons showed expressions of terror before being easily strangled and annihilated, yet he remained calm.

While exchanging pleasantries with the Nine Flames Ancestor Immortal in the main hall of the Demon Subduing Palace, his 'insights' were unmistakable.

When he used the black bead to achieve a great enlightenment, he not only perfectly combined the origin of time and space with the origin of space to form the fifth level of time and space power, but also, after failing to deduce the supernatural power "Star Picking Hand", he directly used the effect of the black bead to improve a method of cultivating qi, "Yin Yang Life and Death Wheel".

The original intention behind creating this secret technique was to allow Lei Zhan's Qi cultivation methods to rival the most powerful supernatural abilities. Having combined numerous insights into the Dao with the power of ancestral water and ancestral fire, it already possesses extremely terrifying power.

Later, during the sweep of the world's prisons, the Water Violet Immortal of the Nine Directions Chaos Kingdom obtained a top-tier water and fire secret technique called "Water and Fire Domain".

This secret technique shares many similarities with the Yin-Yang Life and Death Wheel, and this time the power of the black bead is used for deduction.

Just like when the "New Nine Directions Qi Cultivation Method" was perfected, it brought about a qualitative change to the Qi cultivation method, which was originally a second-class Golden Elixir method.

The same applies to the Yin-Yang Life and Death Wheel. In the process of its deduction and creation, Lei Zhan incorporated the principles of time and space, combined with secret techniques such as the Annihilation of Time and Space, and at the same time made the power of the Yin-Yang Life and Death Wheel even more powerful.

It should be noted that the original Immortal Shui Jin could only control true water and true fire. However, with this "Domain of Water and Fire" secret technique, she could barely rival Lei Zhan's Golden Flame of the Sun and Profound Water of the Moon. Furthermore, the fact that Immortal Shui Jin could establish the name "Empress Jin" in a place like the Nine Directions Chaos Kingdom, where true gods and immortals were as numerous as hairs on a cow, demonstrates the power of this secret technique.

"Rumble~~~"

The terrifying golden flames of the sun and the mysterious waters of the moon swept across the land, easily annihilating any fire demons that dared to charge forward.

These fire demons never had a chance to turn into magma and eventually coalesce into even more terrifying fire demons before being crushed.

Lei Zhan manipulated water and fire, frantically annihilating the fire demon, who was also at the level of a true god or immortal.

It's very easy.

Lei Zhan didn't even get close to fight; he swept through the enemy lines with his Yin-Yang Life and Death Wheel.

……

Spacetime transformation.

"it's over?"

Lei Zhan suddenly appeared in the main hall with a smile on his face. He looked around and saw that the hall was empty, and even the Nine Flames Ancestral Immortal had not left.

In that world of flames, Lei Zhan didn't even use his full strength. He easily annihilated a large number of fire demons with just the golden flames of the sun and the mysterious water of the moon.

Even the more powerful Flame Demon Lord that appeared last was easily overwhelmed.

"Huh?" Lei Zhan looked at Jiu Yan Ancestral Immortal and asked, "Fellow Daoist Jiu Yan hasn't left yet?"

"Fellow Daoist Jiu Yan!"

Nine Flame Ancestral Immortal stared blankly at the distant wall, as if waking from a deep dream, then turned to look at Lei Zhan, lost in thought:
"Fellow Daoist, you're out already?"

……

(End of this chapter)