Chapter 98: Chapter 33 Queen Mother Divine Palace, Golden Armored Warriors
Jiang Yuhuan and Hu Bugui led the way, with Qiu Changtian and Xu Yinglian following, as they squeezed into the crevice.

Strangely, from the outside, the crevice appeared to narrow the further one looked inside; but once they actually entered, after a few steps, the space ahead opened up increasingly wider.

After walking dozens of steps, they suddenly came onto a bright open space, standing atop a clifftop platform, having emerged from a cave.

Before them, a vast sea of clouds stretched out, with white mist swirling like tides. There was no sun in the sky, yet it was as bright as daytime.

An Iron Chain Long Bridge extended from the platform towards the distance. Just as Jiang Hu had mentioned, one could see at a distance the dome of an Immortal Palace, standing majestic and magnificent atop the sea of clouds, irresistibly stirring one’s longing.

In front of the long bridge, a golden-armored and silver-robed Divine General stood silently, his eyes firmly shut, immovable. The long sword in his hand rested on the ground, as if it had taken root.

All four involuntarily stopped in their tracks, their gaze fixed on the golden-armored figure.

Here, Sword Control was impossible, and the only way to continue forward was to cross the Iron Chain Long Bridge—however, to do so, they would evidently need to confront the golden-armored Divine General.

As Qiu Changtian stared intently for a moment and was about to speak, he suddenly heard the Kunlun Mirror in his Sea of Consciousness exclaim in shock:

“The Divine Palace of the Queen Mother of the West?”

The Mirror paused, then added:

“Ah, it’s the Divine Flame Path.”

“The Divine Flame Path?” Qiu Changtian asked.

“To become gods through the power of incense and wishes, that is the Divine Flame Path.” the Kunlun Mirror answered.

“Now that you mention it, I have heard of it.” Qiu Changtian replied in surprise, “An offshoot of the Ancient Human Cult, the Divine Flame Path, inheriting the concept of ‘Non-Action’ from the Supreme Old Lord.”

“Claiming not to practice Breathing, Qi Refinement, or any Cultivation Method, they gather the power of wishes, sitting in meditation to become gods… However, it seems their lineage has since perished.”

“When the path forward is severed with a single cut, doesn’t that mean extinction?” the Kunlun Mirror remarked, suddenly recalling something, it said with gravity, “Since it’s constructed to mimic the Divine Palace of the Queen Mother of the West, this secret realm must be the lost ground of the Ancient Divine Flame Path, not a place for disciples of the Foundation Establishment Rank to intrude upon.”

“Ah Jing speaks truthfully.” Qiu Changtian cleared his throat as if he had just noticed something, and with a frown he exclaimed, “Eh?”

“Senior Brother Qiu, what’s wrong?” Jiang Yuhuan asked in a hushed voice.

“If my memory serves me right, this should be the secret realm of the Divine Fire Cult.” Qiu Changtian replied.

“The Divine Fire Cult?” Everyone was taken aback and speechless, only to hear Xu Yinglian say, “That bunch who play at being gods and ghosts with the Divine Flame Path?”

“Indeed.” Seeing that Jiang and Hu were still puzzled, Qiu Changtian explained, “This path is an offshoot of the Ancient Human Cult. They preach not about practicing Breathing or Qi Refinement, instead focusing on saving the world and the people, spreading beliefs, and relying on the collective wish power of the masses to become gods.”

“Can that really work?” Hu Bugui laughed, “Just like local deities in temples who, receiving incense and worship from people, ascend smoothly to immortality?”

“No one knows the specifics of their cultivation method, because the Divine Fire Path’s teachings perished ten thousand years ago.” Xu Yinglian added, “According to Senior Brother, this guardian of the bridge dressed in golden robes must be the ‘Golden-armored Divine General’ of the Divine Fire Path, each of whom possesses strength comparable to a Golden Core Rank.”

“Power of the Golden Core Rank…” Jiang Yuhuan and Hu Bugui looked at each other with apprehension visible on both faces.

Beforehand, when they had entered the secret realm and witnessed the formidable Divine General guarding the bridge, they dared not test him and left the realm to seek reinforcements.

Now it seemed fortunate that they hadn’t acted impulsively, for otherwise, they might have been struck down by the Divine General.

“In that case, shouldn’t we return to the Sect and ask the Elders to deal with it?” Jiang Yuhuan suggested tentatively.

“It should be so,” Qiu Changtian said with a smile.

Although he possessed a trump card like the ‘Immortal Capital Thunder’, tailor-made to overcome wish-powered Immortal Gods, he didn’t want to risk a forceful encounter with a Divine General in an unfamiliar realm—not knowing what lay beyond even if he defeated the opponent.

Consequently, everyone turned around to crawl back into the cave. After retracing dozens of steps, they faced a dead end.

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Everyone: ?

“How could it be a dead end?” Jiang and Hu were both shocked and pale, they quickly used their Flying Swords to cut the rock wall in front of them, trying to dig out an entrance.

Of course, behind the rock wall was still the rock wall.

“You two stop digging,” Qiu Changtian couldn’t bear to watch and began to persuade, “It’s likely not a mechanism that has sealed the entrance, but rather some changes in the secret realm’s restrictions that have trapped us inside.”

To the side, Xu Yinglian raised her eyebrows. Her senior brother really was used to being invincible, even describing being trapped by restrictions as something so trivial, truly befitting of a senior brother.

[Invincible Character Setting, Synchronization Value +1]

Caught off guard, Qiu Changtian turned to look at Xu Yinglian, while Jiang and Hu, upon hearing “trapped inside the secret realm,” couldn’t keep calm and immediately drove their Flying Swords at full force, turned into crazy excavators, and began to madly continue digging at the rock wall.

Seeing that persuasion was futile, Qiu Changtian could only make eye contact with Xu Yinglian, signaling her to leave with him.

The two of them walked out of the cave again and returned to the cliff platform by the sea of clouds. They saw the majestic golden-armored warrior standing nearby, and the slow and rolling sea of clouds in the distance looked seemingly open but also gave a strange feeling of narrowness and oppressiveness.

“What does senior brother plan to do?” Seeing he was composed and not panicked, Xu Yinglian lowered her voice and asked.

The reason why Qiu Changtian wasn’t panicked was, of course, that the Kunlun Mirror could teleport him out of the secret realm at any time, after which he could find his master to come back and save his junior sister.

Ah Jing, forever divine!

Of course, doing so carried a great risk of being exposed.

Let alone his junior sister, even his master would certainly ask,

How did you escape from that secret realm?

If it really came down to a life-and-death crisis, then there would be no other choice; but as long as there was a way, it was better not to use Ah Jing, this ultimate weapon.

After careful consideration, Qiu Changtian spoke with determined confidence:

“From the perspective of the designer of the restrictions, if an entrance is suddenly sealed, it is definitely for the purpose of trapping people.”

“Merely staying at the entrance won’t lift the restrictions. We can’t stay put, we have to move.”

“As for where to go, we don’t seem to have much choice, do we?”

“Indeed,” Xu Yinglian looked toward the Iron Chain Long Bridge ahead, “but this golden-armored warrior…”

“According to records, the reason why the golden-armored warrior is ‘comparable to a Golden Core True Person’ is because he is impervious to sword and spear, extremely fierce, and hard to kill without Golden Core Rank methods, not that he actually has the strength of the Golden Core Rank.” Qiu Changtian pondered for a moment and slowly said, “Maybe we can test the waters with an attack…”

Before he could finish, the golden-armored warrior suddenly opened his eyes, drew his sword, and despite Qiu Changtian and Xu Yinglian swiftly adopting an attack stance, he ignored them and strode toward the inside of the cave.

With Qiu Changtian’s experience and Xu Yinglian’s Seven Orifices Exquisite Heart, how could they not see that this was because Jiang and Hu inside had dug too greedily, triggering the restrictions’ countermeasures? They quickly, and simultaneously, shut their mouths, fearful of attracting the golden-armored warrior’s animosity.

Once the warrior entered the cave, Qiu Changtian suddenly came to his senses, grabbed his junior sister’s hand urgently, and said:

“Let’s go!”

Xu Yinglian also realized, and taking advantage of the golden-armored warrior’s entry into the cave, she immediately followed Qiu Changtian onto the Iron Chain Long Bridge.

Because they couldn’t use Sword Control within the secret realm, the two could only run wildly along the bridge.

The iron chains shook violently, and the planks underfoot trembled nonstop, coupled with the deep and endless sea of clouds on both sides, giving a foreboding sensation of “stepping onto a road of no return.”

After dashing out for roughly a few hundred meters, they suddenly heard a brief scream from behind.

Jiang and Hu in the cave had likely met their end.

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