Against The Heavens 77 Flame Step.

"This should be the center of the palace."

The grand hall stretched out a few hundred meters in each direction, statues of heroic people and ferocious Demonic beasts spread around as decorations. There were a few large pots spread around the corners of the room, contorted trees that had yellow and red leaves growing out from the pots.

At the very center of the room stood six ashen pillars, each around one meter thick and ten meters tall. A faint gray mist seeped out from the pillars, a low howling sound barely audible as one got closer to the pillars. Each of the pillars was engraved with a myriad of faces, most belonging to various types of Demonic beasts, but there was one that was engraved with a shrieking human face. Strangely enough, as Li Yang looked at the face, it moved slightly, seemingly trying to say something.

Li Yang could easily guess what these pillars were, they were the Soul Storing Pillars of this sect. These types of pillars were exactly what they sounded like, a place where one could store the souls of living beings. Depending on who set up the pillar, the souls stored inside it would experience either heaven or h.e.l.l, purifying them or turning them into vengeful wraiths. Li Yang glanced at the six pillars, his eyes settling on the one with the human face.

"The pillar with the human face...this one?"

Gao Gang said that the entrance to the treasury was located beneath the pillar with the human face, so it should be the one he was looking at. He didn't know if there were any traps or the like, so instead of walking closer to the pillar, he backed up a bit, raising his right arm.

A crimson light, an azure light, and an icy blue light gathered above his palm. The icy blue light turned into a hollow spear of ice, the azure light filling the handle of the spear with lightning, and the crimson light filling the tip of the spear with blazing flames. After forming the spear, Li Yang grabbed it and gave it a jerk, sending it soaring through the air like a blur.

The tip of the spear hit the Soul Storing Pillar, shattering and unleas.h.i.+ng the stored up flames. The flames melted the rest of the spear, unleas.h.i.+ng a scalding blast of steam and releasing the stored up lightning. The fire and steam mixed with the lightning, the three different forces immediately trying to extinguish the others, resulting in a loud and uncontrollable explosion.

All six Soul Storing Pillars were shattered under the force of the explosion, the lightning extinguis.h.i.+ng the souls that were stored within it, returning them to the cycle of reincarnation. A large hole appeared in the ground, revealing a staircase that descended into the darkness. Looking at the staircase and the hole, Li Yang's eyebrows furrowed slightly.

"No traps? Were they really that confident in their own strength?"

The explosion hadn't set off any arrays, nor revealed any traps, had they not set up anything to protect their treasury? Li Yang raised his arm, creating nine orbs of ice and tossing them at the hole. Only after all nine orbs fell down the stairs without anything happening did Li Yang feel that it was safe to step forward and descend down the stairs.

He lit up the path in front of him using a few floating orbs of fire, carefully examining the walls and steps as he made his way down. But even when he reached the bottom of the stairs and arrived in a round cavern, there were still no signs of any arrays or any traps.

The cavern was filled with wooden shelves that were neatly lined up, small notes pasted onto the sides of the shelves detailing what sort of items were stored on the shelves. Other than the books that were placed in the back of the cavern, everything else was placed in small boxes that were made out of either wood or crystal, it was far neater than Li Yang had expected from a sect like this. Looking at the fully stocked treasury, Li Yang was pleasantly surprised.

"Huh, there are more things here than I thought there would be, seems like the leaders of the sect didn't have the time to empty it before they started trying to flee."

He had expected the treasury to either have been emptied or for all the most valuable items to have already been taken. But now it seemed like none of the sect leaders had the time to empty it before Xiang Wuying and the others started their attack on the palace. Li Yang once again took a few steps backward, creating a few orbs of ice and tossing them at some of the shelves. Only when several boxes were knocked down and nothing happened did he step forward, chuckling lightly.

"Well, since they wish to hand me such a gift, how could I possibly reject?"

He quickly swept through the entire treasury, storing everything into his interspatial ring. Even the herbs or items that were useless to him were taken, after all, you'd never know when you would need them. And even if he didn't end up needing them, he could give them to others if he felt like it.

After he stored away everything and made sure he hadn't overlooked anything, he picked out a that was bound in gray leather. But just as he wanted to start reading it, the white paper talisman that Xiang Wuying had given him lit up with a blinding light, flying out of his interspatial ring and turning into a line of light as it shot into the distance. Looking at the scene, Li Yang couldn't help but click his tongue in slight annoyance.

"Tch, can't even let me check through the books in peace? Oh well, time to work."

It was clear that someone had encountered the sect leader and was notifying the others of his location. This meant that everyone had to rush over there so that they could deal with the sect leader, preventing any accidents from happening. Li Yang put away the book and left the treasury, following the line of light that his talisman had turned into.

The line of light led Li Yang towards the back of the palace, so Li Yang guessed that the sect leader tried to stealthily escape once he noticed that an array had been set up around his palace. Li Yang only had to run after the talisman for a little over a minute before it finally stopped flying.

A short distance ahead of him, the muscular yet short Xiang Wuying, as well as the three other disciples, had surrounded the square-faced sect leader, Teng Jiang, as well as the second sect vice-leader, Gao He. The area around them looked like it used to be a hallway, but the walls and ceiling had already been shattered by battle, creating an open area covered in rubble and flames. Noticing that Li Yang was arriving, the strangely feminine Yu Chao quickly called out to him, waving his hand in a dismissive manner.

"Junior Brother Yang, you just stay back and try to not interfere."

Li Yang's cultivation was just too low, so Yu Chao was worried that Li Yang would just die if he were to try and join in on the battle. But contrary to Yu Chao's dismissive manner, Xiang Wuying gave Li Yang a deep look.

"Junior Brother Yang, can I trust you to provide us with a bit of a.s.sistance and making sure that they don't get to escape?"

Yu Chao and the others didn't know, but as the one who directed from which direction everyone entered the palace, Xiang Wuying knew that it was Li Yang who had entered the palace from the same direction as that horrifying bolt of lightning. There was also the fact that the other sect vice-leader wasn't responding to the calls of Teng Jiang and Gao He, so Xiang Wuying guessed that Li Yang might have actually killed him already.

He didn't know if it was truly Li Yang who launched that attack, or how he might have done it, nor did he care, all that mattered was that it was rather likely that Li Yang could launch an attack like that. If Li Yang was truly capable of launching an attack like that, Xiang Wuying found that it made more sense that he would be accepted as an outer disciple despite his low cultivation.

Li Yang could mostly tell what Xiang Wuying was thinking, but he wasn't too bothered by it. After all, even if Xiang Wuying was going to accuse him of something, he had no proof. Li Yang took up position a bit behind Xiang Wuying and the others, giving a slight nod of his head.

"Leave it to me."

If it was just providing support and being a nuisance to Teng Jiang and Gao He, that was something Li Yang was quite capable of. Xiang Wuying gave a light nod of his head, turning back to face the two enemies. He took a step forward, the wind around him starting to pick up in strength, a low bell-like sound ringing through the area.

Xiang Wuying was going to be the main attacker, with Yu Chao and the two others only serving as backup for him, tying down Gao He and interrupting Teng Jiang whenever Xiang Wuying pulled back.

Battle quickly broke out, with Xiang Wuying clearly having the upper hand most of the time. The two laws he specialized in seemed to be wind and sound. He used the wind to lighten his own body and increase his speed, as well as using it to control several small daggers that he threw around, allowing him to attack from all angles. He also used the wind to move around some of the flames in the surroundings, throwing them at Teng Jiang.

His law of sound seemed to be what he used for most of his attacks, using two different versions at once. One version came in the form of the sound of a bell, resounding in the ears of his enemies and messing with their vestibular system and throwing them off balance. The other version only produced a low grating sound and focused completely on the vibrations of the sound, each of Xiang Wuying's attacks penetrating their defenses and piercing deep into their bodies, attacking their bones.

Even Li Yang could not help but let out a slight sigh of praise when he saw Xiang Wuying's control. Not only did he control two laws at once, but he also controlled several weapons at the same time, as well as using two different versions of one of his laws. His control had already reached a very exquisite point.

If Li Yang were to compare it with himself, he would have to admit that while his control over lightning was great, he was still rather lacking when it came to his control over fire and ice, often only using the elements in their raw form.

The battle continued to drag on, Gao He's situation slowly getting worse as he had to face the attacks of three different people. And right after Gao He blocked an attack and had to take a step back to disperse the remaining force, Li Yang saw his chance and took action. A small part of the ground beneath Gao He froze, a layer of ice appearing at the spot where he was about to lower his foot.

Since he had to still disperse the force of the previous attack, he failed to properly react, his foot sliding on the ice and resulting in him completely losing his balance. Yu Chao and the two others saw their chance, stepping forward and unleas.h.i.+ng their strongest attacks to finish Gao He.

Teng Jiang wanted to go and help Gao He, as he knew that he would be doomed if he had to face everyone alone, but just as he raised his left foot to step towards Gao He, a small pillar of ice rose up from beneath his right foot. If he continued with his step, the pillar of ice beneath his other foot would cause him to fall forwards, opening his back for Xiang Wuying.

Because of that, Teng Jiang was forced to awkwardly put strength into his right foot and jump backward. There was no one to help Gao He, so he had to bear the three attacks with his flesh, his body torn apart by the attacks. Teng Jiang's glaring eyes landed on the calm and casual Li Yang, who had yet to take a single step.

"You!"

Teng Jiang had seen what laws the other people here used, and none of them used ice, so the only one who could have acted just now was Li Yang. Teng Jiang's situation immediately grew worse with the death of Gao He, Yu Chao and the two disciples joining up with Xiang Wuying to deal with Teng Jiang.

But Teng Jiang was still someone at the late stage of the Ascending Heaven realm, so he wasn't completely helpless. He also specialized in laws that were well suited to defense, the law of stone and the law of water, so when he focused fully on defense and backing up, he was able to last for quite some time.

After a bit more time pa.s.sed, Xiang Wuying and the three others each launched their attacks at the same time, spreading them out so that it would be hard for Teng Jiang to block them all. This was the time Li Yang decided to make another move. A flash of fire and a flash of lightning appeared in front of Teng Jiang, right in front of his eyes.

Both lightning and fire were very bright elements, so when they appeared in a flash, Teng Jiang was temporarily blinded, preventing him from seeing exactly from where the four attacks were coming. He could only grit his teeth, setting up his strongest defense and cursing at Li Yang.

"Little b.a.s.t.a.r.d, if I get my hands on you, I'll rip you apart!"

Li Yang simply continued to observe the battle calmly, not the slightest bit bothered by Teng Jiang's curses. Compared to some other curses that had been shouted at him in the past, Teng Jiang's were like a pleasant lullaby.

As the battle dragged on a bit longer, Teng Jiang launched a few attacks of his own when he saw an opening. Yu Chao and the muscular woman, Deng Guo were the first to be hit by his attacks. Yu Chao's right wrist was shattered by a clench of Teng Jiang's fist, and Deng Guo's right foot was pierced through by a few thin streams of water that Teng Jiang sent out from beneath his foot as he punched at Xiang Wuying to distract him. Xiang Wuying was also hit by several attacks, but he was able to simply shrug off most of them, causing Li Yang to rub his chin slightly.

"Hmm, seems like this Wuying has already attempted his Body Rebirth Tribulation. He should have failed it, but it still strengthened him quite a bit."

After the Ascending Heaven realm came the Immortal Rebirth realm, in which one had to resist three different tribulations. The first one would destroy and rebuild your body, making it stronger and more vigorous than before. The second would completely disintegrate all your Qi and runes, rebuilding them stronger and purer than before if you managed to resist it. And the final one would shatter your soul and mind, rebuilding them and turning them corporeal if you managed to resist the tribulation.

Xiang Wuying had clearly failed his Body Rebirth Tribulation, but he must have survived it, his body growing a bit stronger thanks to it. Li Yang guessed that if Xiang Wuying were to attempt the tribulation again as he was now, he would have a 60% chance of pa.s.sing through it.

The battle continued to drag on for a bit longer, more and more wounds acc.u.mulating on Teng Jiang's body. His expression had already turned exceedingly gloomy as he realized that there was no chance of him surviving past the day. He wanted to at least drag Xiang Wuying or one of the other disciples with him to the grave, but they were all taking great care to not give him any chance.

In the end, his eyes fell on the calm, and seemingly weakest, Li Yang. A grim grin appeared on his face as he suddenly dashed forward, ignoring the attacks that landed on his body. Streams of water and sharp fragments of stones started to spin around him, turning him into a deadly juggernaut as he dashed at Li Yang. While das.h.i.+ng, he also caused the stone beneath Li Yang to cave in, sealing his feet in the ground to prevent his escape.

"Junior Brother Yang, watch out!"

Xiang Wuying called out a warning, but even he realized that he couldn't stop the wildly charging Teng Jiang. But despite the apparent crisis in front of him, Li Yang still kept his calm expression. Each of Teng Jiang's steps shattered the stone beneath him, so trying to make him slip on a sheet of ice wouldn't work, he would just crush the ice. Teng Jiang quickly reached Li Yang, his grim smile looking exceedingly unsightly.

But just as he was about to crash into and crush Li Yang, a pillar of flames rose up around Li Yang, Teng Jiang charging right through the pillar of flames. But as he charged through the pillar of flames, his expression couldn't help but distort in pain and confusion, a dumbfounded exclamation escaping his lips.

"Wha...?"

The pillar of flames vanished, revealing a thick spike of ice jutting out from the ground, piercing into Teng Jiang's abdomen. Had Li Yang tried to attack him normally with such a spike of ice, he would likely be unable to penetrate Teng Jiang's defenses. But Teng Jiang had abandoned all defense and charged at Li Yang with all his might, it was his own momentum that drove the spike into his body.

But that Wasnt even the part that confused Teng Jiang, what confused him was that Li Yang had completely vanished. Xiang Wuying and the others were also completely shocked, especially when they saw a pale-faced and now red-robed Li Yang walk out of a cl.u.s.ter of flames that was located a few meters to the right of Teng Jiang.

This cl.u.s.ter of flames had been burning there even before Li Yang had arrived at this location, so none of them understood how he had suddenly appeared there. But despite his shock, Xiang Wuying quickly regained himself. He ran up to Teng Jiang and took the chance now that he was wounded, decapitating him with a single thick blade of wind. After making sure that Teng Jiang was dead, as well as picking up his interspatial ring, he walked over to Li Yang.

"Junior Brother Yang, are you fine?"

Other than his face being pale and his body almost devoid of Qi, Li Yang didn't seem to have any other wounds. Xiang Wuying tried to give it some more thought, but he simply couldn't figure out what Li Yang had done. Li Yang took a deep breath, giving a light wave of his hand to show that he was fine.

"Yeah... just a bit tired after using this secret technique."

What Li Yang had used just now couldn't exactly be called a secret technique, it was a special utilization of the laws. Back when he first entered the hidden realm that Zhao Feng and the others had left behind, he completed the first trial, his entire body disintegrating and then being recreated by fire. Thanks to this, his body now not only had a strong affinity for the law of fire, but it was also made up of flames, allowing him to recreate a technique he once used in his past life. Back then he called it Lightning Step, but this version was better suited to be called Flame Step.

He disintegrated his entire body using flames, turning himself into a living ball of heat. He then spread this heat around, connecting it with the flames in the surrounding, and using those flames to rebuild his body. It was surprisingly simple, but the amount of Qi it required to not only keep himself intact and move, but also to rebuild his body was almost unG.o.dly. Just these few meters he moved now cost him nearly 99% of the Qi in his body.

Xiang Wuying gave a nod of his head, not pursuing it further as he took a pill out from his interspatial ring.

"Alright, take this pill and restore your energy. We'll clear out the last few remaining survivors and then return to the clan."

Gao He and Teng Jiang were dead, and thanks to Li Yang's display, Xiang Wuying was now even more convinced that the last of the sect leaders had been killed by him. So once they cleaned up the last few disciples, they could return to the sect. The only one of the three other disciples that didn't have any wounds, Huang Yong, couldn't help but call out after he heard Xiang Wuying's words.

"Return to the clan? Senior Brother Wuying, are we not going to look for the sect treasury?"

For a sect like this, their treasury must contain a few juicy items, so Yu Chao and the others were looking forward to looting it. But Xiang Wuying merely gave a light shrug of his shoulders, taking out a gray slip of jade from Teng Jiang's interspatial ring.

"There's no point. We now have proof that these people were sent by the Puppet G.o.d Sect, so they are unlikely to have a treasury, it's more likely that they sent all their resources right back to the Puppet G.o.d Sect."

As he spoke, he sent a very stealthy glance at Li Yang, causing Li Yang to put on a somewhat awkward smile. It seemed like Xiang Wuying had already guessed from the direction that Li Yang came from that he might have already looted the treasury. But since Li Yang had been very useful, it didn't seem like he planned on telling the others. Huang Yong wasn't entirely convinced, but facing one of the top five outer disciples, he could only nod his head.

"This... As you say, Senior Brother Wuying."