The surrounding Bai Yijun and Zhuge Fan were stunned by what they heard. He couldn't help but be surprised, looking at the Blazing Phoenix with some shock, never imagining that its two disciples would both be such peerless, epic existences.

A hint of joy bloomed in Bai Yijun’s heart. She glanced at Ye Chen and whispered, "I'll be waiting for you!"

Ye Chen nodded heavily.

Although separation was always reluctant, he knew that only by becoming sufficiently powerful could he defend his love!

Strength was a man's foundation!

White Dragon walked up to Ye Chen's figure, tutting in admiration. "As expected of the one I once followed. Even falling into a pit grants such a grand opportunity. Keep it up, we’ll be waiting outside for you. Just try to get out sooner rather than later; I know you’re a smart man."

Zhuge Fan also squeezed forward, grinning. "Brother Ye, you must work hard! When you come out, we’ll level the entire Dark Great World together—hmph! They dared to bring Dark Creatures to Earth in the first place!"

Yue Heng stood by the side, shaking his head with a sigh. "I thought I was finally catching up to you, but now the gap has widened again. Ah, life is as lonely as a great avalanche…"

Ye Chen rolled his eyes at him, then clapped Zhuge Fan on the shoulder, smiling faintly. "I’ll be out as soon as I can."

"Alright, work hard now," White Dragon said, waving cheerfully. He then led Yue Ling and Zhuge Fan and the others toward the exit. With Ye Chen gone, he had naturally become the de facto leader among them.

Ye Chen watched them leave. Bai Yijun was the last to go. Her snow-white, slender form stood beside the fiery gate. The intensely burning flames framed her exquisitely delicate countenance, carved as if from ice and snow, beautiful to the point of perfection. Only when the gate finally closed were the gazes of the two severed.

Ye Chen gazed for a long moment before slowly withdrawing his sight, turning back to face the Blazing Phoenix.

"My power is dwindling. Conversing with you through the seal is draining. I’ll be brief," the Blazing Phoenix spoke quickly. "I need you to complete three trial tasks before I can release you. Otherwise, if you encounter descendants of the Eight Great Families from back then and they sense the fiery aura on you, they will undoubtedly kill you at any cost."

Ye Chen listened quietly.

"For these three trials, the first is the [Flame Divine Body]. You must remain calmly within my flame’s temperature without operating the power within your body, relying solely on your physical flesh to resist."

"Once you complete the first trial, I will impart my unique secret manuals: [Fire Phoenix Nirvana] and [World-Burning Incineration]. The first set will help you evade disaster; if you encounter a powerful enemy, you can burn your life force to fight. For every ten thousand years of life force burned, your strength will increase by a hundredfold!"

Ye Chen paused sharply. The secret tome of the Earth's Blood also involved burning life force, but burning ten thousand years of life only granted a hundredfold increase in power! While the difference seemed to be just one zero, shrinking that gap, even by half, required exponentially greater difficulty!

"As for the [World-Burning Incineration] manual, it is for cultivating flames capable of incinerating everything. In battle, you can destroy any enemy whose strength does not vastly exceed your own."

The Blazing Phoenix continued slowly, "These two sets of manuals were dissected from my innate talents. A creature like me is uniquely favored, endowed with too many gifts. If an ordinary person tried to comprehend and create these two manuals on their own, who knows how much time and effort it would take. I could perform them from the moment I was born." It stated this without a trace of arrogance, as if merely recounting a simple fact.

"Once you master both these manuals, you will possess sufficient strength to protect yourself outside. My disciple cannot tarnish my reputation," the Blazing Phoenix stated calmly.

Ye Chen nodded and asked, "And the third trial?"

"You will know when you have completed the first two," the Blazing Phoenix replied with a slight smile.

Ye Chen inwardly rolled his eyes but offered no outward dissent, merely nodding before asking, "How do I begin the first trial?"

"You’re more eager than I am," the Blazing Phoenix chuckled lightly. "This is simple. This space is folded; it is not as small as it appears. It actually covers a considerable area. I will release flames of varying degrees here, from low to high temperature. You will slowly adapt."

Ye Chen nodded. "Begin."

The Blazing Phoenix wasted no more words. It opened its sharp beak and inhaled, as if a black hole resided within; it swallowed all the flames in the space, revealing a vast expanse of scorched earth. A searing temperature permeated the scorched ground, carrying a dry, burning sensation.

Whoosh!

The Blazing Phoenix exhaled, spitting out a small cluster of blood-red flames. It struck the scorched earth like a fireball and rapidly spread into a massive sea of blazing fire. The mighty flames expanded with incredible speed, instantly filling the entire space with their crimson hue.

Ye Chen immediately felt an intense, boiling-water-like heat enveloping his entire body. His skin felt as if it were about to burst into flames, agonizing in the searing fire.

Hot! Hot! Hot!

An indescribable, searing heat crawled over every inch of his body. It felt as if his hair and eyebrows were about to ignite, and even his pupils seemed on the verge of turning to flame. Everything about him felt pierced by fire—even his internal organs, lungs and liver, were burning; his very blood was ablaze. Everything was combusting fiercely!

"Aaaahhh…" Ye Chen roared in pain. His entire head of hair seemed ready to turn to fire. The intense scorching felt like being roasted alive, an unimaginable agony pulling at every nerve in his body. His skin felt like it was being rendered into oil and water.

This was literal immolation!

In the midst of this violent pain, Ye Chen’s mind went blank. When a person truly faces immense suffering, their mind clouds over. Countless voices seemed to scream in agony within his head, "Pain! Pain! Pain!"

Under the erosive agony, Ye Chen’s last sliver of clear consciousness rapidly activated the energy within him, erecting a massive Wind Barrier around his body to push the flames outward and isolate them. Inside, he swiftly deployed the Ice and Snow Esoterica, conjuring countless shards of frost from thin air.

As soon as the ice materialized, it melted into steam, creating a thick fog. Yet, in less than a few seconds, it vanished entirely, evaporated completely.

Despite this, the intense burning sensation finally subsided slightly. Ye Chen took a breath, drenched in sweat as if after a massive battle, his limbs weak. He looked down at his body and discovered that several layers of skin on the outside had long since been burned away, leaving behind patches of scorched blackness and dryness, his flesh crisscrossed with wounds resembling cracked, arid farmland.

This was the terror of just this single type of flame. If the temperature were adjusted to the highest setting, it would likely reduce his entire body to ashes in an instant.

Ye Chen gained a clearer understanding of the Blazing Phoenix’s true strength, but now was not the time for deep thought. He adjusted his body slightly and then slowly began to shrink the size of the Wind Barrier. As the barrier contracted, the flames crept closer, the searing sensation climbing and intensifying.

Ye Chen clenched his teeth, sweat pouring down his forehead. But the moment it emerged, it evaporated instantly. Even the blood inside him felt as if it were drying up.

In the dense flames, Ye Chen was like a tiny mouse in a hot oil pan, enduring suffering incomprehensible to ordinary people.

In this world of fire, there was no sense of time, and Ye Chen had no capacity to concern himself with it now. His sole thought was to speed up, to go faster! Every time he felt slightly adapted, he would rapidly decrease the distance of the Wind Barrier. This cycle repeated. His long hair began to burn away automatically under the flames, and the fine hairs and eyebrows on his body were all incinerated.

However, for someone with Ye Chen’s physique, regrowing hair was as simple as drinking water. He only needed to mobilize internal power, concentrating his life force toward his scalp to rapidly sprout thick locks again.

Ye Chen stood in the sea of fire, slowly closing his eyes, his mind completely immersed within himself, feeling the temperature of his internal organs, and then gradually shrinking the Wind Barrier.

Finally, after an unknown length of time, he felt that he could stand in the intense flames without needing the protection of the Wind Barrier. He dispelled the barrier and stood directly within the fire, allowing the flames to engulf his body and burn every pore and patch of skin.

Initially, Ye Chen was uncomfortable, but after an indeterminable period, he gradually acclimated. He could almost feel the gentleness of the flames, as if they were ethereal mist, something he could reach out and touch, soft as water vapor.

He knew naturally that reaching this stage had cost him countless life force and sweat to temper his body to the point where it could effortlessly withstand such fierce flames. It was a complete metamorphosis.

The Blazing Phoenix watched him from within the black iron pillar cell. Its gaze couldn't help but reveal admiration. It then opened its beak and inhaled, swallowing the crimson flames. After that, it spewed out a patch of blue fire.

The temperature of this blue fire was more than ten times that of the crimson flames.

Ye Chen immediately felt as if his body were about to combust, the intense pain nearly incinerating him to dust in an instant. Terrified, he hastily erected the Wind Barrier and quickly lowered the temperature, but the violent agony still permeated his entire body.

He did not ask the Blazing Phoenix to withdraw the intense blue flames. Instead, he gritted his teeth, desperately maintaining the Wind Barrier, while extensively deploying the Ice and Snow Esoterica within its confines.

In this process, his mastery over the Ice and Snow Esoterica grew even more proficient.