Chapter 1007: Beneath the Volcano

Sure, here’s the translation:

Perfection is the realm that countless Quasi-Saints strive for tirelessly.

As descendants of Saints, the Central Continent Five Emperors naturally have an understanding of Perfection. It can even be said that the holding of the battle for tombs is greatly related to the elusive concept of Perfection.

The thoughts of Saints transform into mountains with Twelve Tomb Veins. The Tomb Veins harbor the remnants of Perfection Dao Thoughts left by Saints after their demise. These Perfect Dao Thoughts are considered a great blessing and fortune for any master of the second step!

One of the benefits of Perfect Dao Thoughts is that they assist masters in perfecting Divine Skills and Cultivation Techniques, making them gradually reach perfection. Emperor Lou Tuo once paid a great price to gain the opportunity to cultivate in the Holy Mountain Tomb Vein, where he perfected numerous Divine Skills. This is why his Illusory Art always carries a vague sense of perfection.

This point can usually only be discerned by those Immortal Emperors who have a deep understanding of the concept of Perfection.

Yet Ning Fan saw through this point and drew a circle with a gap on the answer scroll!

"If this child drew such a circle by chance, then let it be, but if not, then his insight is truly terrifying! Not only can he see Perfection in Fellow Lou Tuo’s Illusory Art, but he also discerns that the Perfection is merely superficial and still has defects, resembling only in form. Thus, the circle drawn by this child has a gap, symbolizing this matter! We are not masters of the third step; even if we gain insights from the Holy Mountain Tomb Veins, how can we cultivate true Perfection? At most, we can only imbue Divine Skills with a false sense of Perfection, but even a semblance is extremely difficult to achieve... This child, I want him! As the first disciple of my Emperor Foqi, none but this person should be." Emperor Foqi’s eyes shone brightly.

The reason why the Central Continent Five Emperors attach such importance to the first round of the battle for tombs is merely to discover some good material from various grasslands. Now that a remarkable master like Ning Fan has emerged, Emperor Foqi naturally does not plan to let him go, already moved by the thought of recruiting him as a disciple, and once recruited, will certainly be cultivated as the first disciple!

Great Emperor Tiandu took the answer scroll and repeatedly looked at the gap circle on the skin scroll, finding it more and more astonishing.

His understanding of the concept of Perfection surpasses the other Three Emperors, enabling him to see things that the other Three Emperors cannot.

The gap circle on the scroll is not merely simple scribbling; surprisingly, a trace of Ning Fan’s insights is hidden within each stroke.

Great Emperor Tiandu held the scroll in one hand and traced the circle drawn by Ning Fan with his other index finger, focusing his heart and spirit with unprecedented intensity. Gradually, he unexpectedly felt an overwhelming aura from the gap circle, caught off guard, causing both hands to tremble and almost unable to hold the answer scroll.

"Imitation! This child has integrated a trace of imitation of Perfection into this circle! Is it imitated from Lou Tuo’s Illusory Art?"

Merely seeing through Perfection might seem like cheating or coincidence, yet if one can achieve even slight imitation, that child is indeed terrifying—even if that child’s imitation is crude and clumsy. However, one must realize that this child only took one day to imitate a trace of Perfection!

Just one day!

The thoughts of Saint’s Perfection aren’t that easy to imitate! Great Emperor Tiandu reflected that before breaking into Immortal Emperor, he couldn’t even perceive the sense of Perfection. Even after advancing to Immortal Emperor, he spent endless years imitating those Perfect Dao Thoughts... Ning Fan’s understanding of Perfection certainly falls behind his, but to achieve slight imitation in just one day, such aptitude is truly astonishing.

"This child is no ordinary person!" Great Emperor Tiandu praised.

"Oh? Seems like you’re quite satisfied with this child too. Might you end up competing with me for this disciple?" Emperor Foqi chuckled evilly.

"Compete if you must, why not! You should know that if this child can see Perfection before entering Immortal Emperor, it means something! Thus, even someone like me cannot help but value this child." As Great Emperor Tiandu’s words fell, the faces of other Three Emperors turned serious.

Throughout the entire history of Dabei, only three people have seen Perfection before entering Immortal Emperor!

The first person defected to Three Flames, became the leader of Vacant Flame, striking fear in many Immortal Emperors of the Holy Mountain; the second person infiltrated the Sacred Tomb, becoming the first successful tomb raider since ancient times, whereabouts remain unknown; the third person sits before the Ancient Holy Stone Thrones, comprehending Ten Thousand Chants Decay... The fourth person is Ning Fan!

Besides that, Great Emperor Tiandu didn’t mention: even those three didn’t manage to imitate a trace of clumsy Perfection before entering Immortal Emperor in one day, but Ning Fan did—this indicates only one thing!

Ning Fan’s aptitude surpasses those three! Though presently obscure, he is highly likely to achieve accomplishments beyond those three!

In light of this, even the not-so-fond-of-accepting disciples Great Emperor Tiandu couldn’t help but entertain the idea of taking disciples—they plan to contest with Emperor Foqi.

"It seems claiming this disciple won’t be easy. Back then, that person sitting at the Ancient Holy Stone Thrones seemed to get a score of three thousand in the written test. In my opinion, this child should also get three thousand considering precedent." Emperor Foqi said.

"Three thousand, this might work." Great Emperor Tiandu slightly nodded but noticed Emperor Bone Spirit and Emperor Lou Tuo’s peculiar expressions, prompting curiosity.

"Why don’t the two friends speak? Do you think the grade of three thousand is too high?"

"Great Emperor Tiandu hasn’t visited the Southern Frontier; some matters might be unknown. This Ning Fan, it turns out, is not a local master of the Tamu Clan but an outsider. Do you still think the grade of three thousand is high?" Mentioning the term ’outsider,’ Emperor Lou Tuo spoke with considerable disdain. Upon this statement, the situation suddenly went cold.

Outsider... This child is unexpectedly an outsider...

"Is he truly an outsider?" Great Emperor Tiandu spoke with a cold tone.

"Absolutely true; if not for this, I, Bone Spirit, would also be willing to recruit this disciple. What a pity, such good material, yet not of our tribe..." Emperor Bone Spirit shook his head repeatedly.

The situation fell into silence.

Great Emperor Tiandu tossed Ning Fan’s answer scroll onto the desk before him, and the other emperors showed no further interest in looking at the scroll.

"How should this child’s grade be decided?" Emperor Bone Spirit inquired.

"Any score will do. Since this child isn’t a master of Dabei’s cultivations, his score isn’t crucial—I have no interest in intervening. As for the martial test, it requires no input from us Immortal Emperors. I have a batch of expensive pills close to completion, so I’ll go check on the fire; fellow Daoists may do as you please." Great Emperor Tiandu remarked indifferently and turned to leave.

"What a pity, what a pity... I will take my leave first too. I’ll leave this child’s grade to Fellow Bone Spirit and Fellow Lou Tuo to decide." Emperor Foqi said with significant meaning, casting a meaningful glance at Lou Tuo, and left Tiandu Peak with numerous disciples.

"Since Fellow Tiandu and Fellow Foqi left, I shall do the same. This child’s grade, I’ll leave to Fellow Lou Tuo to decide alone. You must know, this child this time brought a rare Medicine Soul to our Dabei, deserving certain respect. Fellow Lou Tuo, when setting the grade, try to put aside biases against outsiders or the Tamu Clan and give a fair score." As Emperor Bone Spirit’s words fell, Emperor Lou Tuo coldly snorted.

"I don’t need you, Daoist friend, to remind me how to act."

"That’s for the best."

Emperor Gulng left with his disciples. Only Emperor Lou Tuo and his apprentices, along with a few guards from Tian Du Peak, remained here.

"How many points is the Ancestor planning to give this child?" A short cultivator among Lou Tuo’s disciples suddenly asked.

"A mere foreign cultivator naturally cannot get too high a score. Hehe, the points aren’t the main focus. We should take this kid’s bone token as well! I can’t interfere with the martial test results, but there are plenty of ways to make sure the Tamu Clan cannot rise again."

Emperor Lou Tuo sneered coldly.

...

Time passed bit by bit; it’s been two hours since the literary test ended, yet Ning Fan’s results still hadn’t come out.

Voices of speculation occasionally emerged around, guessing at the reasons behind this. Ning Fan wasn’t concerned with any of it.

Ning Fan stood alone on the grassland, sometimes looking at the sky, sometimes at the ground, and at times at the wild grasses bowing to the wind, his expression contemplative.

Even without using the Tianren Eye Technique, his innate gift from the Fu Li race was enough to discern that the blazing fire was merely an illusion. The illusion isn’t the key; the crucial part is that scene, which indeed contains unfathomable mysteries, embedded with a hint of perfection.

The wildfires won’t destroy it completely, and in spring, the breeze brings life again...

"The beauty of grass lies in resilience, flexibility, adaptation to circumstances, and gathering strength into the earth. Resilience prevents bending, flexibility prevents harm, adapting avoids disaster, and gathering strength means dying without decay. The wildfires won’t destroy them not because the grass is stronger than the fire, but because it knows to evade and preserve strength. Though the fire is fierce, its flaw is evident; it strikes fiercely but cannot sustain, eventually dying out. The grass, though weak, can root into the ground, borrowing its strength, surviving. Once the fire disappears, the grass regains—"

"If one can speak to the nature of grass, it might be the best answer in the eyes of the questioner. If one can identify the transformations among the Dao, though not as telling, it would also achieve a good score."

When Sorcerer Minghai submitted his paper, though Ning Fan had not opened his eyes, he sensed and observed his answer with his spirit sense. Sorcerer Minghai’s answer was only tangentially related to Dao transformations and scored four hundred points. If he had identified the full transformation of the Dao, a higher score was assured; and if speaking to the grass’s nature, it would be higher still.

"My answer is neither the nature of the grass nor the transformations of the Dao, but... perfection..."

Ning Fan’s gaze sharpened.

He had tasted the Clear Water Wine of Tantai Weiyu and sensed the perfection in that wine, and in that scene of blazing wildfires, Ning Fan similarly detected a shred of perfection within!

It wasn’t that the caster had reached the Third Step Perfect Realm but had imitated it from elsewhere; it was a false perfection with significant flaws, like a broken circle, far from perfect. It simply couldn’t compare to the perfection within the Clear Water Wine.

Ning Fan drew a broken circle on his paper to hint at this point. In this place, which is Dabei, the abode of Saint descendants, the questioner who could imitate a shred of perfection surely understood the essence of the word perfection. The cunning Central Continent Five Emperors would surely grasp the implication of the broken circle.

Being able to perceive the unique perfection of the Third Step Saints should merit a score better than the perceptions of great nature or Dao transformations.

And Ning Fan attempted to imitate a shred of perfection within the broken circle. Perfection isn’t something easily mimicked; even with Ning Fan’s insight at the Second Realm of Tianren, he could only copy an extremely crude piece.

But unexpectedly, just imitating that crude piece of perfection, his refinement in illusions showed slight improvement!

The shred of perfection integrated into the illusion was Emperor Lou Tuo’s lengthy cultivation, which significantly reduced the flaws in his illusions, making them more real, more perfect. Ning Fan’s imitation only slightly enhanced the illusion’s power; yet even so, it was quite a harvest.

"Regrettably, the perfection I imitate is itself an imitation by others, and due to my lack of understanding, my secondary imitation naturally has more flaws... Perfection is far beyond my current grasp." Ning Fan mused with a hint of regret.

Xianyu Chun, seeing Ning Fan lost in thought, dared not interrupt and stood respectfully to the side, with those unaware might truly think Xianyu Chun was Ning Fan’s disciple.

After an indefinite time amid discussion, sudden cracking noises resounded, drawing everyone’s attention.

They saw the beast-faced groove on Ning Fan’s bone desk suddenly open. The southern frontier originally didn’t care about the civil test scores, but today, every cultivator here was curious about Ning Fan’s score.

Xianyu Chun was the first to dart forward, grabbed the bone token, unable to contain his excitement, but upon seeing the score, he was immediately dumbfounded, "How is this possible..."

Ning Fan’s civil test result was shockingly zero points!

An uproar erupted all around; after waiting an hour, they’d received such a result, and those already unfriendly toward the Tamu Clan secretly sneered.

"This person, a reputed Eternal Immortal Venerable, can’t even earn a single point! Of course, it’s also possible that someone among the Five Emperors obstructed, erasing his civil test results. Could it then be the work of Emperor Lou Tuo? Considering how Emperor Lou Tuo neither likes the Tamu Clan nor foreign cultivators..." The White Ghost Sorcerer from the White Ghost Sect secretly speculated, further resolving to humiliate the Tamu Clan in the martial test to win Emperor Lou Tuo’s favor.

Nan Zhilong breathed a sigh of relief, then burst into loud laughter, "That’s the consequence of offending Emperor Lou Tuo. Even as an Eternal Immortal Venerable, don’t dream of standing up for the Tamu Clan."

Sorcerer Minghai sighed secretly; if the Zhongzhou Pagoda Emperor had intervened, no insight would help. Otherwise, with this Immortal Venerable’s Dao understanding, the score couldn’t have been low...

Thus, as the civil test scores were tallied, the Tamu Clan scored a total of 1 point, temporarily ranking last.

The second last, the Hanzhen Clan, scored 4 points in the civil test. Each Hanzhen Clan cultivator looked at their Tamu counterparts with schadenfreude.

"Master, this score must be wrong; you couldn’t have no result..." Xianyu Chun couldn’t believe it.

"No matter, give me the bone token!" Ning Fan said nonchalantly, though his eyes showed a hint of coldness. Receiving the bone token, he glanced at the score.

Zero points... haha, what a score of zero!

His results couldn’t possibly be just that. If it were a zero, the Central Continent Five Emperors wouldn’t have delayed for an hour before reluctantly giving the score. There must be some inside story to this, perhaps Emperor Lou Tuo is behind it, or maybe his identity as an outsider caused trouble, or it could be both...

Though this is indeed unfair, he is an outsider to begin with, and has no grounds to oppose it.

Unable to oppose it doesn’t mean he has to silently accept it all. Ning Fan suppresses the negative emotions in his heart with great effort. Logic tells him that he still has the martial arts test to score. The martial arts test doesn’t require the Central Continent Emperors to decide the score, the score depends entirely on personal strength, so even the Central Continent Five Emperors cannot intervene here.

But his heart couldn’t calm down!

"Hmm? This is..."

Ning Fan suddenly felt a chill in his heart, a sense of alertness arose abruptly. Without any hesitation, he threw the token away, and withdrew without a word, while his spirit sense locked onto the token as if facing a formidable enemy!

On the surface of the token, there was a grain of dust, a grayish-blue dust!

Even though it is just a grain of dust, it attracted Ning Fan’s alertness, this dust is problematic!

The exam papers used in this test are known as the Manifestation Roll, the token is called the Manifestation Tile, they are special magic artifacts, capable of using the teleportation formation in the beast face groove to directly teleport to Zhongzhou Tiandu Peak.

Ning Fan was very certain that before putting the token into the beast face groove, it hadn’t gotten this dangerous dust. If it weren’t for his extraordinary perception, he wouldn’t have noticed it at all!

Just as Ning Fan let go, a sudden change happened!

The token, thrown far by Ning Fan, suddenly burst forth a ray of grayish-blue fire, rushing directly at Ning Fan’s retreating chest. Its speed was inconceivable, unavoidable. That grayish-blue substance was nothing other than a grain of dust, seemingly without weight, but upon hitting Ning Fan, it was indescribably heavy, as if possessing the force of a mountain collapsing, generating a deafening blast that sent Ning Fan flying backwards. The shockwave it generated was so strong that countless cultivators from Dabei Clan couldn’t stand still, utterly stunned!

"What happened, did that outsider named Ning get attacked by something! That terrifying shockwave, what exactly is it!"

"That grayish-blue glow looks so familiar, could it be..."

"Impossible! Stony Flame masters can’t leave the Fierce Realm by even half a step, could it be a Stony Flame master infiltrated the Dabei Grassland! Otherwise, why would the Stony Flame Divine Ability appear here!"

"Even though this outsider named Ning is limited in cultivation, ordinary Stony Flame abilities can’t repel him! Who attacked, and what cultivation level do they have! Just the aftermath alone has affected no less than a hundred people."

The place instantly fell into chaos!

Each of the old monsters’ expressions changed dramatically, frantically releasing their spirit senses to search the grassland, attempting to find the assailant, but were utterly unable to locate the culprit.

Some straight-tempered cultivators from Dabei Clan wanted to help Ning Fan resist the grayish-blue light flow but were repelled by wave after wave of shockwaves before they could even get close.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The speed of the grayish-blue dust was too fast, hitting Ning Fan repeatedly. The collision force was such that even with his strong physical defense, Ning Fan couldn’t completely withstand it, getting knocked flying by that grain of dust time and again. He had no choice but to secretly activate a sliver of body-protecting golden light from the God-Extinguishing Shield to completely neutralize the impact force.

Even so, Ning Fan was still knocked out a great distance by that individual grain of dust, unwittingly getting separated from the crowd.

Once he was distanced from the crowd, the grayish-blue dust suddenly hovered above Ning Fan, expanding in the wind, in an instant turning into a grayish-blue mountain peak. The peak wasn’t covered with vegetation, only blue stones, and its top had an opening, with gray fire burning in its belly, it was actually a volcano. The mountain peak kept hovering, its force growing, seemingly connected to the local mountains, then with a booming sound, it plummeted towards Ning Fan below, its speed such that it fell on the grassland as if in a blink of an eye!

Rumble!

The entire grassland shook violently like an earthquake for a long time before calming down.

And Ning Fan had been suppressed by the mountain!

The cultivators from Dabei Clan gasped, finally seeing the true appearance of the mountain peak!

"A Blue Stone Grey Flame Volcano... this is definitely a Stony Flame Divine Ability, there’s no mistake about it! Could it be a Stony Flame cultivator has really suppressed that outsider named Ning!"

"There’s no sign of a Stony Flame cultivator here. Logically, Stony Flame cultivators absolutely can’t leave the Fierce Realm... perhaps a Stony Flame old monster used a medium to cast across the realm and suppressed him!"

"This matter must be immediately reported to Central Continent! As for the martial test... I don’t know if it can continue, we have to listen to Central Continent’s decision."

"As for that outsider named Ning..."

Some Southern Frontier cultivators started deploying secret techniques to report the incident to Central Continent. The Corpse Demon Elder also reported the matter, receiving the response that the martial test would continue as scheduled, come rain or shine...

The Corpse Demon Elder descended with a solemn expression at the foot of the Blue Stone Volcano, trying to activate a Divine Skill, wanting to break open the volcano to release Ning Fan who was suppressed by the mountain, but was shocked to find that with his Shattered Thought Early Stage cultivation, he simply couldn’t achieve it!

"The suppressor is at least a Stony Flame Immortal King, possibly higher!" The Corpse Demon Elder was secretly astonished, why would a Stony Flame Immortal King suppress an outsider? Logically, Three-Flames Cultivators aren’t opposed to outsiders, why would they do such a thing? Could there be some hidden agenda...

"May I ask the envoy, how should we handle the martial test, should it be temporarily suspended and held another day?" Some tribal chiefs inquired.

"No need! Everything proceeds as usual, there can be no mistakes!" The Corpse Demon Elder replied.

"Our tribe’s contestant, the foreign cultivator, is still suppressed under this mountain, we implore the envoy to lend a hand and rescue him!" pleaded Tamu Clan Chief Tageli.

"I can’t rescue him! We’ll have to wait for people from Central Continent to come to the rescue, which will take at least three to five days." The Corpse Demon Elder said indifferently.

"What! We have to wait three to five days! If I’m not mistaken, this volcano is specifically used by the Stone Flame Clan to suppress enemies! If those suppressed can’t be rescued in time, they might be injured by the scorching heat from the mountain! And since this person is a competitor of our Tamu tribe, if he misses the martial test, our Tamu Clan has almost no chance of victory..."

"After one incense stick time, the martial trial begins! This person being trapped here is already determined, unless he can escape this mountain before the trial ends, he absolutely cannot participate in the trial. According to the rules of the tomb-seizing battle, only the masters who are on the list before the small competition can participate in the martial trial. This means that after this person is absent, your Tamu Clan can only participate with 19 people, and no other person is allowed to take his place."

The Corpse Demon Elder finished speaking and ignored Tageli, instead, he began to use his divine skills to set up the martial trial venue.

...

Ning Fan was still slightly dizzy, managing only with difficulty to dispel the sensation of dizziness from his mind.

Before him, was a space of grey-blue stone walls, an extremely narrow space located within the volcano’s belly. The air was hot and stifling, with whistling grey-blue smoke blowing through.

Ning Fan’s heart turned cold, he had been ambushed and suppressed!

This was a very high-level suppression divine skill, and the person who performed it was definitely of no less cultivation than an Immortal Emperor! If not for that, Ning Fan could never have been unable to escape, directly suppressed beneath this mountain!

This scene is just like the day he was suppressed by Great Emperor Chonghe with a single hand, unable to resist, the disparity so massive!

"The one suppressing me must be at least an Immortal Emperor! Yet there’s one thing that makes me curious. Which Immortal Emperor attacked me..."

As Ning Fan was guessing, the silent stone wall space suddenly echoed with an indifferent voice.

"You travel with the Five-Color Medicine Soul, and I am restricted by the rules of the Holy Mountain to not kill you, but I can trap you here, forcing you to submit. If you do not wish to die, then break free from the Punishing Ring, and escape this mountain with your Immortal Venerable cultivation!"

This voice was sometimes deep and heavy, sometimes soft and eerie, unpredictable. It seemed to be masked somehow, making it impossible to discern the speaker, yet it undoubtedly possessed the cultivation of an Immortal Emperor. After one voice, there were no more sounds.

Ning Fan’s face was ashen, first the Great Emperor of Zhongzhou erased his record, and now he was plotted against, trapped inside the volcano’s belly. Despite his deep and enduring disposition, he could not help but feel a surge of anger.

He quickly moved, trying to break through the stone wall and escape, but upon contact, flaming cracks immediately appeared on the wall, spreading out to form formation patterns, an incredibly strong restrictive force repelling Ning Fan, preventing him from approaching the stone wall.

"This formation is indeed profound, but it’s not enough to trap me, Ning!"

Ning Fan’s momentum changed abruptly, the anger in his eyes vanished, replaced by an extreme calmness and profundity. His gaze was as deep as the vast night sky, under which all the grand affairs of the world seemed unable to escape his eyes.

He had actually activated the Ancestral Demon of the East’s ultimate skill — the Momentum Character Secret!

The stone wall and the smoke, under Ning Fan’s eyes, transformed into intersecting lines of grand momentum, and the complex formation patterns on the stone wall gradually became clear in his sight. After an unknown period, Ning Fan suddenly took a step forward, leaving a golden flame footprint on the stone floor. This step was indescribably miraculous, causing chaos within the momentum here, and as the momentum fell into disarray, the formation naturally became unsustainable. Ning Fan continued stepping forward mysteriously, each step conjuring fierce winds, and after nine steps, the stone wall emitted cracking sounds, with the formation patterns showing signs of damage.

"Oh? So even with the casual use of my learned Suppressing Demon Volcano divine skill, I can’t trap this child?" Far away in the Middle State, Emperor Lou Tuo suddenly exclaimed softly.

At this moment, he was already heading back to his cave dwelling with his disciples after leaving Tiandu Peak. Upon sensing that Ning Fan was nearing breaking the volcanic suppression, he no longer rushed on his journey but found a random grassland, opened a temporary underground cave, and began chanting and casting spells across regions.

In the space within the mountain’s belly, layers of the stone wall peeled away, as Ning Fan continued to dismantle its formation.

Suddenly, a red and white combined flame burst out from the stone wall in front of Ning Fan, dashing straight towards his face!

Ning Fan’s gaze instantly focused, this red and white flame was incredibly formidable, its grade reaching the innate level, seemingly the innate true fire painstakingly cultivated over many years by the person who attacked! Just the scorching heat rushing in could already cause Ning Fan pain from burns, and if burned directly by this fire, with his currently restricted cultivation, he might not avoid severe injuries!

Ning Fan dared not underestimate this fire, retreating while spitting out his own demon fire, attempting to resist it. In just a few face-offs, Ning Fan’s demon fire retreated steadily.

The innate true fire, after defeating the demon fire, did not continue attacking Ning Fan. Instead, it sealed off the stone wall space completely, seemingly wanting to trap Ning Fan there utterly.

Ning Fan tried several times but could not break through the sea of flames blockade. Far away in the Middle State, Emperor Lou Tuo revealed a satisfied smile.

"This way, this child will miss the martial trial..."

Ning Fan had entered Dabei with a rare Medicine Soul. According to the Holy Mountain’s rules, Emperor Lou Tuo could not take Ning Fan’s life. He disliked the Tamu Clan and despised external cultivators, and now that Ning Fan wanted to stand up for the Tamu Clan, he naturally aimed to suppress him. With his cultivation, he only needed to manipulate slightly to trap Ning Fan for several days. After a few days, even if Ning Fan were rescued, he would have missed the martial trial, and without Ning Fan, the Tamu Clan would still never rise in the Southern Frontier...

Of course, if Ning Fan was driven to desperation and directly destroyed the Punishing Ring to restore his cultivation and escape from the volcano’s belly, that would be even better. As an external cultivator, if he broke the Punishing Ring after accepting it, it would be an unforgivable crime, and he would be hunted by the Central Continent’s Five Emperors! At that time, even if this child carried a rare Medicine Soul, his life could not be preserved.

As for the Tamu Clan, they were Ning Fan’s guarantors. If Ning Fan destroyed the Punishing Ring without permission, the Tamu Clan would also suffer from the crime by association...

"Feng’er, the Tamu Clan killed you, and restricted by my status, I cannot wash the Tamu Clan with blood to avenge you. The only thing I can do is ensure the Tamu Clan’s eternal downfall. Master is sorry..."

Emperor Lou Tuo’s face showed a moment of heartache, then reverted to the usual gloom.

Those disciples, however, gazed ardently at Emperor Lou Tuo. Emperor Lou Tuo was undoubtedly not a good person, but uniquely, he displayed the most favoritism towards his disciples. Therefore, among the Central Continent’s Five Emperors, he had won the most disciples’ hearts as a Great Emperor.

"Let’s go, that boy can’t escape the suppression of this old man!"

With a chuckle, Emperor Lou Tuo led a group of disciples away.

Trapped inside the mountain’s belly, Ning Fan glared at the innate true fire surrounding him, a fierce determination in his eyes, as the Phoenix Yin-Yang power secretly moved within him.

"Since I cannot break through the sea of fire, there’s no need to try, I’ll simply devour these innate true fires!"

He had never been one to take things lying down, and in this place of necessary compromises, he certainly wouldn’t be!