Chapter 7252 A Secret

A giant black flame dragon filled with unmatched curse energy coiled around Long Chen. It felt like it had come from the depths of hell, carrying the hatred and resentment of all the denizens of hell with it. As it burned around Long Chen, it looked like a massive hole in the very fabric of existence.

All life was extinguished. Plants and trees withered. Even the sky and earth had their vitality sucked away. Long Chen’s astral energy surged out of him, forming a barrier around him, yet this terrifying curse was actually corroding his defenses!

Long Chen couldn’t help being alarmed now. This curse energy was so terrifying that his astral energy was utterly ineffective against it.

Huh? This curse energy...

Long Chen’s eyes suddenly narrowed. He formed a one-handed seal. The golden lotus swayed, and its divine radiance grew. He was using its core energy.

Golden light shone on the black dragon, forcing it back and creating a barrier around Long Chen. As expected, the Golden Virtue Lotus’s divine radiance was the bane of all evil. But what shocked Long Chen was that purifying this black dragon was rapidly consuming its power. Worst of all, specks of darkness appeared on the Golden Virtue Lotus, even as it purified the black dragon.

“Long Chen, you’ve ruined all my hard work! I will definitely kill you!”

The woman’s howl rang out once more. Pure, unadulterated hatred flashed in the black dragon’s eyes—that woman’s eyes!

“Your hard work? Since when did killing innocent beings count as hard work?” snorted Long Chen.

This woman’s terrifying strength was built around the lives of countless others. The Cult of Mara was an incredibly evil organization that had offered up the flesh and souls of countless people to her. In truth, what the world knew of their evil was barely the tip of the iceberg.

That black dragon crazily battered the barrier. Its mouth was constantly spitting out corrosive liquid. The golden light coming from Long Chen was being corrupted.

Her venomous voice rang out once more. “I don’t know what this lotus of yours is, but once it’s infected by my curse energy, it will wither, and then you will follow me in death! I will drag you into the depths of hell and torment you for an eternity!”

She was clearly very resentful about this. She had great aspirations. She had dreamed of reaching the pinnacle of the nine heavens and ten lands, yet her ambitions had been destroyed in the blink of an eye because of Long Chen. How could she not be resentful?

“Let’s put aside the matter of eternal torment for a moment. When did you join forces with the Yan Xu line?” asked Long Chen.

That black dragon clearly twitched when she heard Long Chen’s words.

“What the hell are you even talking about?! Die!”

The black dragon attacked ferociously. More corrosive liquid flew out of its mouth, this time mixed with eyeless maggots that ferociously chomped down onto Long Chen’s barrier. The barrier’s power was rapidly used up, and it began to crack. Sinister black mouths were slowly pressing closer, and a disgusting stench wafted over him.

But Long Chen raised his hand, and a black flame lotus rapidly grew above his palm. The maggots were instantly enveloped by these black flames, and they screeched in pain as they were burned.

“How can you possess the Yan Xu Flame?!”

“Do you still not understand? Your Cult of Mara really is a pack of fools!” Long Chen didn’t reply directly. Instead, he smiled slyly, his voice filled with mockery.

Just then, Huo Linger’s Yan Xu Flame spread and formed a giant flame lotus that locked down heaven and earth.

“This is impossible!” roared the woman.

Long Chen suddenly had a thought and sneered, “What is impossible about it? Your Cult of Mara has simply disappointed Lord Yan Xu too much.”

“You... you’re from the Yan Xu line?! But why...?!” She screamed in terror.

Obviously, Long Chen had no idea how to respond, so he did what he did best. He simply sneered, “If we counted on your Cult of Mara, we’d be waiting long past the time we needed you to finish!”

“No, that’s impossible! The Cult of Mara is Lord Yan Xu’s most loyal subordinate! Lord Yan Xu wouldn’t treat us like this!” she howled.

Long Chen’s heart thudded. Yan Xu had taken control of the Cult of Mara! Furthermore, from the way she talked about it, the Cult of Mara was merely one of Yan Xu’s dogs. He truly had not expected Yan Xu’s reach to be this terrifying. Even a supreme overlord like the Cult of Mara was willing to just be one of his fangs!

However, his expression didn’t betray his inner thoughts. “What use is loyalty? Why don’t you ask yourself if you’ve made any decent contributions recently?”

The woman cried out, “We’ve been working hard on growing! We already have five people who have condensed Yan Xu Dao-seeds!”

Yan Xu Dao-seeds? Long Chen was startled. It seemed that Yan Xu was using his own energy to create a group of loyal pawns!

He instantly realized that the reason she was so strong was that her Grand Dao seed came from Yan Xu’s core energy. Yan Xu was a Heavenly Flame, a part of the Heavenly Daos. That was why she was able to condense a Dao-seed so quickly. In fact, she was the only person he knew other than himself who had condensed a Grand Dao seed in his generation.

“What use are five fools? You’ve already been exposed, but you didn’t even realize it.” Long Chen cut her off. That way, she wouldn’t have enough time to think, and it would appear as if Long Chen already knew everything.

“I understand. Yan Xu abandoned us! He decided to support you, and use your hands to end us. Our blood will be the foundation upon which you stand to reach the peak of the nine heavens... Hahaha, what deep scheming! How ruthless!” The woman’s voice was full of despair.

“As pawns, you must be ready to be sacrificed. You are nothing more than a stepping stone. That’s all you’re worth, so you better get used to the idea,” said Long Chen apathetically.

“Hahaha, that’s right, we’re pawns. But how are you any better? Aren’t you also a pawn? No matter how high of a position you reach, you will be sacrificed...” The woman started to laugh. It sounded as if she had gone crazy.

“What do you mean?” Long Chen’s expression changed.

“This Yan Xu Dao-seed contains dark energy. In the future, you will also be sacrificed and consumed—AAAHHH!!!”

At this point, it seemed as if she had triggered some kind of taboo. She let out a shriek, and the black dragon and maggots blew apart. Terrifying dark energy swarmed Long Chen.