"Yo," said White Dragon, looking at the Azure-Scaled Dragon with interest. "It's actually the Azure-Scaled Dragon, the most powerful among the Four Great Beast Kings of the land. It should have sensed our presence long ago. Why wait here? Does it want to devour us?"

If one only observed his casual, jesting expression, no one would imagine he was speaking to a beast so terrifying it defied description.

Ye Chen frowned, then lowered his posture and swooped toward the Azure-Scaled Dragon. He looked down upon it from above. The crisp sea wind, slightly damp, whipped at his clothes, fluttering in the air. In comparison to the beast's massive head, his body appeared minuscule, almost invisible.

Strangely, as the Azure-Scaled Dragon observed Ye Chen up close, the eyes embedded within its dense green scales held no trace of ferocity or violence; instead, they were as warm and lustrous as fine jade. It then opened its maw and spoke in human language: "I was commanded by my Master to specifically meet and guide you. Please mount upon me; I shall take you to see the Master."

"Master?" Ye Chen’s gaze flickered. After a moment of contemplation, he said no more, instantly flashing over and standing atop the Azure-Scaled Dragon’s head.

White Dragon and the others were also somewhat startled. They never expected the Four Great Beast Kings, which the mayor’s memory held in such terror and dread, to utter the word "Master." Could there be an existence even stronger than it?

Without asking further, they followed Ye Chen onto its head. Confidence stemmed from skill—they were certain that on Earth, no danger could pose a real threat to them.

Once all of them were standing on the beast's head, the coiled body unfolded, and it swiftly began swimming back the way they came. Its body traversed mountains and crossed ridges through the jungle, yet its head remained perfectly stable, so Ye Chen and the others standing atop it felt no jarring movement.

"That mayor, as the head of a base city, should know quite a bit. How come we never heard of the Four Great Beast Kings having a Master in his memories?" White Dragon mumbled.

Yue Heng shrugged. "In those memories, even the Four Great Beast Kings were scarcely mentioned, let alone their Master. If this Master truly exists, he must be an extremely powerful monster, yet one posing no threat to humanity. Otherwise, given the current state of humanity on Earth, this Azure-Scaled Dragon could have wiped us out instantly."

"Indeed," Zhuge Fan nodded in agreement.

All of them could sense that the Azure-Scaled Dragon beneath them possessed strength at the level of the Pseudo-God Realm!

In the ancient world, this level of power was but a tiny drop of water, but on Earth, it represented the absolute sovereign, the supreme overlord of the land!

While they were speaking, the Azure-Scaled Dragon brought them to the central area of the land. Looking out from the dragon’s head, they saw a magnificent palace ablaze with soaring firelight. It loomed grandly over the vast, open wilderness, where countless unceasing flames burned, sending a wave of heat rushing toward them, like boiling water.

Ye Chen stared at the spectacle, his brow slowly furrowing. His gaze flickered, and suddenly he felt a surge within his body—as if the blood throughout his entire frame was accelerating, gradually boiling from his heart outward through his limbs. His forehead, between his brows, carried a hot, searing sensation.

The Azure-Scaled Dragon brought them before the fiery palace and stopped. It lowered its great head, as if paying homage to the blaze, and announced, "Master, I have brought them all."

After a pause, a voice echoed from within the palace—an ancient, full tone layered with infinite weariness and commanding authority. "Go down."

The reverence in the Azure-Scaled Dragon’s eyes deepened. It nodded, set Ye Chen and the others down, and then swiftly departed.

Standing before the fiery palace, Ye Chen looked up at its majestic and magnificent structure, his brow gently furrowed. Though many questions churned in his mind, he remained silent.

He knew the being within would reveal the answers itself.

The voice returned from inside the palace, the same ancient, full tone burdened with fatigue and authority. "You must be filled with astonishment. There is the scent of my feathers upon you; you must be descendants of Tianyan..."

As its voice fell, Yue Ling’s body suddenly glowed with a thick radiance, like mist or blood. Then, from within her clothing, a burst of fiery light erupted—a vivid, blood-red token, which was naturally the Divine Fire Token.

This token blazed with intense scarlet light, then slowly seemed to melt, transforming into a sharp, bright red feather. It drifted inward toward the fiery palace, vanishing from sight.

Shock was undisguised in Yue Ling’s eyes as she stared at the palace, exclaiming in disbelief, "You, you are the Fire-Blood Phoenix!!"

Hearing this, everyone except Bai Yijun—Ye Chen and White Dragon included—felt a jolt run through them. Ye Chen recalled from his awakened memories that in this world, only one being could be called the Fire-Blood Phoenix: the mount of the Yan God, one of the Nine Great Heavenly Gods who were the strongest in the ancient world!

Could the being sealed within this fiery palace be the mount of the Yan God?

Ye Chen found it difficult to believe.

What manner of creature was the Fire-Blood Phoenix? It was a unique, singular entity, born of supreme fortune. Across the countless eons of the ancient world, only one Fire-Blood Phoenix had ever been nurtured—the very essence of fire, capable of incinerating all things under heaven!

There was nothing the Fire-Blood Phoenix could not burn!

If a true Fire-Blood Phoenix manifested here, the entire Earth would instantaneously be reduced to ash. The intense thermal radiation emanating from the phoenix alone would be enough to shame the sun into exploding.

While they remained in shock, the ancient voice from within the palace sighed softly and spoke, "That name... I have not heard it for a very, very long time. I am almost forgetting it myself..."

White Dragon retorted fiercely, "Impossible. How could you be the Fire-Blood Phoenix? What an incomparably powerful creature! How could it be on Earth?"

Yue Heng and Zhuge Fan also narrowed their gazes, fixing them upon the fiery palace.

After a moment of silence, the palace spoke slowly, "You speak correctly... However, the 'I' of today is not the 'I' of those days. You may enter the palace to know everything. I will temporarily withdraw the flames, otherwise, though this fire spills from my own body and cannot be extinguished, it will cling to you and burn endlessly." The voice carried a profound sense of desolation and sorrow.

White Dragon sneered, "Trying to trick us inside? Who would fall for that? I know what you have in there. Just shatter this palace, and we'll see easily enough."

The ancient voice was silent for a beat, then responded, "This palace cannot be broken. You are welcome to try."

"Fine!" The moment White Dragon uttered the word "Fine," he unleashed a punch. The very void seemed on the verge of snowing heavily, and the air rapidly froze at a visible rate. A chilling, icy fist shot out, slamming violently against the fiery palace.

Boom!

The entire continental plate shuddered violently, as if the entire Earth itself was trembling. Turbulent waves surged up from the surrounding seas, rising to tremendous heights, seemingly threatening to swallow the entire landmass.

At that moment, a clear, piercing roar erupted from the ocean, a sound wave like a massive drum rolling across the air. Then, those towering, surging waves were abruptly drawn back, and the sea surface calmed. Ye Chen and the others paid no heed to this commotion, their eyes fixed intently on the point where the icy fist had struck. Under the palace's scorching flames, the icy fist slowly incinerated, turning into mist. Yet, the palace wall remained completely intact, showing not even the slightest indentation.

White Dragon retracted his fist, his eyes filled with shock. "How is this possible!" Although he had only exerted two-tenths of his power in that punch, it was more than enough to obliterate a peak Divine Emperor. Yet, it couldn't even scratch this fiery palace.

"Stop wasting your effort. Otherwise, it will trigger changes in the Earth's crust, and volcanoes will erupt again," the ancient voice sighed wearily.

Ye Chen frowned, falling silent for a moment. Then, he walked up to the fiery palace. A whirlwind spun around his palm, sweeping away the flames clinging to the wall, revealing the smooth, yet intensely hot, surface of a metal plate.

He placed his palm upon it. The searing heat burned his palm like fire, but immediately, an icy, snow-like coolness erupted from his palm, enveloping his entire hand. His arm appeared encased in crystal, and in his palm, a miniature hurricane condensed, pressing sharply against the palace wall.

The whirlwind rotated continuously, but even under Ye Chen’s immense pressure, the palace wall sustained no damage whatsoever.

Ye Chen was secretly astonished. His current control over the Wind Elemental Source Power was certainly at the peak of the Void Heaven Realm, yet he couldn't even mar this palace. This confirmed that a Fire-Blood Phoenix was indeed inside!

Ye Chen stepped back, looking up at the fiery palace, and asked, "Senior Fire-Blood Phoenix, why are you confined within this structure?"

"How do you know I am confined?" the Fire-Blood Phoenix within the palace countered.

Ye Chen’s lips curved slightly. "With the strength of a Fire-Blood Phoenix, if you weren't imprisoned, why would you deign to remain in such a barren place?"

The Fire-Blood Phoenix fell silent for a moment, then slowly replied, "You speak correctly. I am indeed constrained by others, and... I have been trapped for a very, very long time."

Ye Chen frowned suddenly. "The one who trapped you—was it one of the Nine Great Heavenly Gods from that era, or perhaps the patriarchs of the Eight Great Families?"

"No," the Fire-Blood Phoenix sighed, speaking slowly. "The only being in this world capable of trapping me... is myself."

"Yourself?"

Ye Chen and White Dragon, along with the others, were momentarily stunned. The ancient voice’s tone conveyed such profound weariness and resignation that it clearly implied he was trapped against his will. If he could have broken free, he surely would have done so long ago. They had assumed it was a seal jointly imposed by the Eight Great Families back then that had suppressed him.