A Scroll of Infinite Glory

Chapter 638 The Xi Demon Array Transforms, the Divine Fire Palace

"Is that Fellow Daoist Fengming over there?"

Just as Guan Luoyang was about to rush directly into the Heavenly Palace, he heard someone shouting in the distance. Turning around, he saw eight fine horses pulling a carriage amidst the chaotic energy, with wind chimes swaying and precious pearls shining, galloping towards him.

Inside the carriage, someone lifted a corner of the snow-white curtain and peered out, exclaiming with delight, "It is Fellow Daoist Fengming! Come closer, please come in and have a chat!"

Guan Luoyang's eyes flickered slightly, and he had already sensed that there were three auras in the carriage, which corresponded exactly to the auras of three of the human holy lands he had seen before.

"I am from Jiangcheng. Not long ago, I received a message from Elder Dakong and learned about your deeds in helping the nine generations of Emperor Yao. I have been keeping an eye out for it and would like to travel with you."

The man wore a purple-gold crown and a robe with eight trigrams. He had a square face, a long beard, and bright, piercing eyes. He gracefully stepped out of the carriage and was the first to greet Guan Luoyang.

Guan Luoyang returned the greeting, and two more people emerged from the carriage: a white-clad youth holding a jade flute, who called himself Qiuhua, and an old man in blue robes with white hair and thick eyebrows, who called himself Xiaoran.

"Fellow Daoist, you have made a great name for yourself not long after arriving in the Southeast Boundary Sea. As we searched along the way, we found that many people had already interacted with you."

Xiao Ran smiled and said, "But it's fortunate that we had their guidance, which is why we were able to find you so quickly."

Guan Luoyang asked curiously, "After I arrived at the Southeast Boundary Sea, the Holy Land Lords I encountered were like hunting dogs, extremely vigilant and highly motivated. They roamed in packs of four or five, hunting in various places, and none of them were very talkative. How did you three fellow Daoists manage to obtain information from them?"

Xiao Ran laughed and said, "They've been vying for pills and treasures in various holy lands, heavenly palaces, and divine palaces. There have been frictions between them, so their attitudes are naturally not good."

"However, the three of us never met them at the place where they were fighting over the pills. We were kind and humble, and they were always willing to answer our questions when we asked them for directions."

Guan Luoyang felt something was slightly strange.

According to Elder Da Kong, the eighteen lords of the human race did not leave with any peaceful intentions.

How could there be three seemingly detached and indifferent holy lords wandering around the Southeastern Boundary Sea?

However, sensing the nascent Dao Fruit of his Vacuum Heavenly Demon, he knew that these three people had no ill intentions and were completely sincere in their actions, so he was in no hurry to ask further questions.

"The three of you have arrived at the perfect time."

Guan Luoyang said, "That heavenly palace over there seems to have some mysterious aspects. I can't see through it at all, even with my senses. It's much more advanced than the heavenly palaces and divine palaces I've seen before."

"Why don't we go explore together?"

The Holy Lord of Jiangcheng said, "I see faint traces of residual magical power around here. Someone must have just gone in. If we go in too, won't that cause a conflict?"

Lord Xiaoran nodded and said, "The Heavenly Palace is in our way. Why don't we go to the carriage and enjoy some fruits and fragrant pills while we wait for them to come out?"

The Autumn Flower Saint Lord stared at the palace and said in a deep voice, "My two elder brothers, that is the Li Huo Miao Yan Palace, which is no ordinary place."

The Holy Lord of Jiangcheng asked in surprise, "Is there any particular reason for this?"

"I once saw some records about this palace in the sacred land of Nuwa."

The Autumn Flower Saint Master explained, "The art of alchemy places great emphasis on controlling the heat. Some top-grade elixirs require extraordinary fire that even alchemy masters at the Heavenly Venerable level cannot replicate with their own magical power."

"From time immemorial, the Heavenly Court has collected many seeds of wondrous fire and stored them in this palace. Whenever they need to use them, they borrow a little fire from the seeds, refine the corresponding elixir, and then put a portion into the seeds to ensure that the fire burns eternally."

The Holy Lord of Jiangcheng was still somewhat puzzled: "Although it is not a elixir, it is still a treasure. They will definitely not let it go. What's wrong with us waiting for them to come out in the carriage?"

Before the Holy Lord of Autumn Flowers could answer, Guan Luoyang had already chuckled.

"These miraculous medicines each have their own unique effects. Once they have collected them, they can save them for the right time to use."

"But how many of them have alchemical skills high enough to use these sparks for alchemy?"

Guan Luoyang narrowed his eyes and said, "Therefore, these fire seeds are not something they will keep for long. They will probably try to refine them into their bodies on the spot to strengthen their foundation."

The Holy Lord of Autumn Flowers nodded and said, "These fire seeds each have unique effects, but as fire seeds alone, they are not enough to threaten the Lord of the Holy Land. After being captured, they are likely to be refined on the spot and used to assist themselves in comprehending the Great Dao."

Having said that, Guan Luoyang didn't linger any longer. With a swift movement, he headed straight for the Heavenly Palace.

The Holy Lord of Jiangcheng pondered, "Since that's the case, we can't use the old methods anymore. We must go inside and investigate."

The three of them merged with the carriage, transforming into a hazy, mysterious light.

It first circled the celestial palace several times to observe its details, and then left a layer of supernatural power to conceal the traces of the celestial palace before quietly flowing towards it.

The Heavenly Palace was indeed wondrous; no matter which direction you rushed from, you would always face the gate with the plaque hanging above it.

Even powerful beings at the Saint Lord level could not sense any trace of distortion or alteration in the surrounding spacetime, and the chaotic energy nearby was also completely normal.

It was as if that gate simply stood naturally before all those who wished to enter the Heavenly Palace, unrelated to changes in time and space, but rather a manifestation of a fundamental principle.

When Guan Luoyang goes all out, his magical power condenses into pure Dao spiritual light.

This Li Huo Miao Yan Palace has some characteristics of being a "pure Dao object".

Beyond this gate lies an expansive courtyard, overflowing with flowers and plants, crisscrossed by roads, flanked by large lakes, and with three palaces standing side by side ahead.

Guan Luoyang paused briefly here, using his power as a Void Demon to listen to the traces that had settled in this Heavenly Palace over the years.

There are three palaces ahead. No matter which palace you choose, after passing through it, you will see three more palaces.

If you take one of the nine palaces and pass through it, you will see that the number of palaces in that row will increase ninefold.

Choose one of the eighty-one palaces, and the number of that palace will increase eighty-one times.

And so on, endlessly.

If someone is unaware of its mysteries and insists on rushing in, even if they pass through countless palaces, they will not find the end.

This is not a simple time-space mirror or an extension of an illusion, but an array formed by the creator of the "Li Huo Miao Yan Palace" with supreme magical power. It contains the infinite Dao of the universe, and each palace is real.

Imagine there is someone with such patience that they can search through each palace one by one, and one day, without breaking the formation, they can find all the fire seeds hidden in this heavenly palace.

However, it was clear that none of the powerful individuals who had stormed into this celestial palace wanted to be fools.

Everyone tried to use their own methods to break through part of the formation in order to more efficiently find the palaces where the treasures were stored from the endless palaces.

While Guan Luoyang stopped to listen, he roughly recreated in his mind the methods they had all used.

"Although I have inherited the Fuxi Shadow Painting technique, the methods these people used to break the formation, and the underlying logic behind them, have actually broadened my horizons."

Guan Luoyang smiled, then suddenly flicked his finger, bestowing three beams of spiritual light upon the three of them, including the Holy Lord of Jiangcheng.

"This is part of the Heavenly Palace's core that I have deduced. You three fellow Daoists can use it as a reference. In addition, with this spiritual light, the four of us can contact each other at any time."

The three, including Jiang Cheng Shengzhu, originally planned to split up and seize the opportunity to obtain more fire seeds.

After receiving the spiritual light from Guan Luoyang, they compared it with their own array formation skills and found that the array solution provided by the spiritual light was much more detailed than what they had figured out themselves.

Without delay, the group immediately split up and took action.

After watching the three beams of divine light disappear into the distance, Guan Luoyang didn't move an inch, but simply stomped his foot on the spot.

In an instant, the surrounding scenery began to spin wildly. A moment later, when the scenery stabilized again, Guan Luoyang found himself inside a palace.

This is also a method of intervening in the formation, but it is not applicable to others.

Because only Guan Luoyang could, in such a short time, regard this Heavenly Palace Formation as a living thing and completely assimilate his aura with it.

The real and the empty reflect each other, their boundaries are blurred, and they flow and replace each other.

This is the only way to control some of the changes in this great formation without any forced destruction.

Inside the palace, there was only a stone platform, upon which burned a ball of cold, jade-white flame.

There is a sense of a new world emerging from the frost and cold within this flame.

The extreme of freezing is stillness; when heaven and earth are motionless, there is no life. Yet, within this ball of fire lies a contradictory vitality.

There is also a record on the stone platform.

The Divine Fire of the Cave Abyss was born between the eyebrows of the divine prince of the Ti Ting clan three calamities ago. The divine prince was killed by the Yan Emperor, and the divine fire entered the Heavenly Court. It was lost during the ancient calamity and was found a billion years ago.

The time recorded on this stone platform is calculated according to the time of the celestial and underworld realms of Taiqing Chiming, and the written record will automatically change over time.

Even after the celestial realm was out of balance and the celestial palace fell, this stone platform could still sense the flow of time in the tenth celestial realm, subtly echoing it, which was quite ingenious.

Guan Luoyang raised his hand and put the fire into his sleeve, attaching it to a corner of the Hongmeng Golden List.

Such sparks often possess a unique destiny or power in a particular realm across all the heavens and myriad worlds.

Only one of each type of fire can exist in the world. The divine fire borrowed from the source can only be used for a limited time.

If the flame were to go out, then the infinite chaos and all the myriad realms might forever lack this divine fire.

When a powerful individual refines these fire seeds, it's essentially equivalent to saying that the fire seeds have been completely extinguished and extinct.

Because those who refine these fire seeds can only comprehend certain profound principles through the process of refining the fire seeds, but they have no way to perfectly reproduce this divine fire.

If the fire seeds could be so easily reproduced after being refined, the Heavenly Court's Alchemy Department would have already distributed them, allowing more powerful individuals and alchemists to become mobile sources of divine fire. There would have been no need to preserve the fire seeds so solemnly.

Guan Luoyang did not intend to directly refine these fire seeds.

Firstly, he intended to leave these wondrous items for future generations of cultivators; secondly, for him, even without refining the fire seed, he could still deeply comprehend its mysteries.

After collecting the divine fire, he examined the palace for a moment, then took seven steps to the left, three steps forward, and stomped his foot again.

In an instant, the surrounding scenery transformed into another palace, enshrining a ball of crimson divine fire.

Bifang Death Flame. Before the ancient calamity, the Bifang God King and the Xuan Niao Dao Venerable fought for the position of the common ruler of the Immortal Spirit Clan. Bifang God King was killed by Xuan Niao. The endless Bifang divine fire accidentally condensed into a death flame, which burned on the tip of Xuan Niao's wing. Xuan Niao Dao Venerable refined it into a rare treasure. After the ancient calamity, it entered the Heavenly Court.

The Heavenly Flame of the Southern Sea. Nineteen thousand years ago, it drifted from the chaos and was captured by a celestial being of the demon race. Through this, the celestial being was invited to join the Heavenly Court's Alchemy Department, and the divine fire was offered to the Heavenly Court.

The Boundless Profound True Divine Flame. The remains of the ancient Nine-Headed God-King were unearthed by the Demonic Celestial Venerable of the Great Wilderness Old Realm 60,000 years ago. When Li Changling, the Celestial Venerable of the Fire Department, slew the demons with his sword, the blade accidentally ignited this divine flame by rubbing against the God-King's remains, and it entered the Heavenly Court.

The Heavenly Fire of the Dao. A gift from the Heavenly Emperor after the ancient calamity.

The Divine Fire of the Secret Realm. Two kalpas ago, the ancient Buddha Udumbara created a secret method in an attempt to cultivate a complete path to enlightenment. He failed, and the essence of his blood from his forehead transformed into divine fire. After the ancient kalpa, the ancient Buddha passed away, and the Buddha bestowed this divine fire upon Ksitigarbha. Nine thousand years ago, Ksitigarbha attended a grand gathering in the Heavenly Court and presented it to the Patriarch Shanlong.

The Divine Fire of the Plain King. Ten thousand years ago, when the Celestial Venerable Wenqiu was reforming the Heavenly Realm, a Heavenly Demon King blocked his path, jokingly pointing out that the Celestial Venerable was the son of the Black Emperor, the illegitimate child of the Heavenly Emperor, hence his favored status. The Heavenly Demon King questioned the Celestial Venerable three times, but the Celestial Venerable remained unmoved. The Heavenly Demon King praised him and gifted him this divine fire. The Thunder Department then gave it to the Pill Department.

The True Flame of the Sea's Demise. Born nine kalpas ago, it was found by the Good Dragon Ancestor thirty thousand years ago and entered the Heavenly Court.

Guan Luoyang repeatedly manipulated the formation; it could be said that every time the surrounding scenery changed, a spark of fire entered his sleeve.

There were only two exceptions, which were likely because the sacred fire inside the main hall had already been taken away.

When he activated the formation again, he discovered that there were seven men in black robes in the main hall, each using their supernatural powers to divide the fire seed and prepare to refine it on the spot.

Upon discovering that outsiders had intruded, the seven men simultaneously launched an attack with one of their palms.

As Guan Luoyang moved, a blurry shadow suddenly appeared beside him, expanding into an infinite void. The palm strikes of the seven powerful figures were slightly delayed by the void as they approached.

His true form leaped out and suddenly appeared on the stone platform. With a flick of his sleeve, he obtained the divine fire.

"lay down!!"

The black-robed men were furious and unleashed their full supernatural powers. In an instant, immortal energy surged, water rippled in the air, clouds and mist shifted, and seven vast heavenly gates were formed.

The seven of them seemed to be practicing techniques that focused on the Dao of True Water. With the seven Holy Lords working together to form an array, the power of this great divine ability was truly invincible.

Guan Luoyang chuckled softly, his body seemingly still standing on the stone platform, yet endless scenery flowed past him.

Countless palaces, courtyards, pavilions, and towers rolled up behind him, tumbling and changing from both sides of his body.

The eaves and beams rose and fell, and the corridors and courtyards circled around him from both sides and then merged together, disappearing into the distance in an instant, while new palaces rose from the ground, parting and merging again.

The combined attack of the seven holy masters, though ruthless and devastating, destroying countless palaces imbued with pure Daoist qualities, ultimately failed to catch up with Guan Luoyang.

However, Guan Luoyang's reckless activation of the formation also caused an unusual fluctuation deep within the Heavenly Palace.

It was a grand hall of pure blue color, but the dome, pillars and floor were slightly different shades of blue, and there were many faint patterns on the blue jade.

Inside the main hall, there are thirty-six stone platforms arranged in a circle.

At the center of these stone platforms, a ball of emerald green flame floats in the air, burning quietly.

Outside the stone platform, three figures were facing off.

One of them emitted a white light all over its body, making its face impossible to see.

One was a towering, burly man with black hair hanging down like tangled weeds, wearing a black robe and exposing his chest.

The third figure was a slightly plump old Taoist priest with snow-white eyebrows and a ruddy complexion.

This old Taoist priest was none other than the Heavenly Venerable in charge of the Alchemy Department of the Heavenly Court, the Patriarch Shanlong.

After Danbu fell, he immediately tried to sense the Li Huo Miao Yan Palace and came looking for it. Unexpectedly, he encountered several groups of Holy Lords who were audacious and coordinated closely. They didn't seem to really want to take anything from him. They would just grab something and leave, which delayed him a lot of time.

When he arrived, there were already two people vying for the most important divine fire in the Heavenly Palace.

The three were wary of each other and remained silent for a while, but unexpectedly, so many people broke in one after another.

Furthermore, a strange figure emerged who could traverse numerous formations as smoothly as drinking water or eating.

"There seem to be traces of Fuxi's painting of shadows... Is it a human? But why does it also sense the aura of the Heavenly Demon Path?"

Master Shanlong's white eyebrows twitched slightly. After weighing the options in his mind, he secretly made a hand seal.

"what?"

Far away, Guan Luoyang suddenly sensed that there was a particularly important position in the entire Heavenly Palace formation that stood out for a fleeting moment.

(End of this chapter)