Chapter 594: First Arrival in the Ancient Domain

After Lin Xuan left, he first recalled all his statues. Several had been destroyed, and the ones that returned were heavily damaged and quite battered.

This wasn’t a major issue in his eyes. He had plenty of Thousand-Year Five-Colored Spirit Wood; he’d obtained a great deal of it from the Divine Martial Hall last time, so he wasn’t worried about using it up. What mattered most was that the results were very satisfying. The statues were extremely useful, especially when he was out in the open and could unleash them without any reservations.

‘If I could use these statues in a tournament, I would’ve crushed my opponents long ago.’ Of course, summoning them was impossible under such circumstances. Out here, however, it was a different story. When it came to a group fight, he had absolutely nothing to fear!

The more souls he collected, the more he could summon—he had more than enough Five-Colored Spirit Wood, anyway. The only bottleneck was that his Cultivation was stuck at the Peak of Spirit Pill Stage. When facing opponents at the Core Formation Stage Level, he was somewhat powerless.

‘To make statues at the Core Formation Stage Level, I’d need to find ten-thousand-year-grade Five-Colored Spirit Wood.’ What a prospect. Ten thousand years was an incredibly long time. ‘I probably don’t need it to be quite that old,’ he mused. ‘Five-thousand-year-grade should be the minimum.’

However, Lin Xuan wasn’t counting on this entirely. ‘Instead of relying on the statues, it’s better to just focus on getting stronger myself. That’s the best way.’

He then quickly set off toward the Phoenix Ancient Domain, moving at a moderate pace while carefully concealing his aura. Anything could happen at any moment in such a chaotic region, so he had to be cautious. Unless his Cultivation broke through to the Void Spirit Stage, he wouldn’t dare to move about recklessly.

After more than a week of travel, he finally reached the Phoenix Ancient Domain. His progress was slow without a Phoenix to ride, but for the sake of safety, he had chosen to travel on foot to avoid encountering other Demon Beasts.

His decision proved to be the right one. He encountered many powerful Demon Beasts along the way, including several at the Core Formation Stage. If not for his top-tier aura concealment skills, he would have surely been discovered.

Riding a Phoenix would have made him far too conspicuous and would have immediately drawn the attention of the Phoenix Race. A member of their proud race being used as a human’s mount? How could they not be enraged?

‘So this is the Phoenix Ancient Domain? It really is different from other regions.’

Lin Xuan looked ahead and could easily distinguish the border of the Phoenix Ancient Domain. The distant forest gave way to a vast expanse of Parasol Trees. A huge swath of them was golden-yellow, with some interspersed with red, creating a beautiful vista.

Besides the vast expanse of Parasol Trees, the temperature here was noticeably a little warmer than the outside regions, though only by a small margin. Otherwise, there wasn’t much difference. There were no massive volcanoes nearby, although he could make out a few in the far distance.

The concentration of Fire Elemental Power here was quite high, making it very suitable for the Cultivation of the Phoenix Race. Even though it was the Phoenix Ancient Domain, that didn’t mean Phoenixes were a common sight. Their numbers weren’t massive, but they weren’t small either. The main reason was the sheer size of the territory; one certainly wouldn’t see the sky filled with soaring Phoenixes. That would be an unbelievable spectacle.

‘I wonder where Bingxin is…’

Lin Xuan’s brows furrowed. He had no idea where Bingxin was, so his best bet was to head to the Phoenix Ruins first. Perhaps he could find some clues there.

Just as he was about to move forward, his ears twitched. He immediately ducked behind a thick Parasol Tree, completely concealing his aura and even holding his breath.

A moment later, two figures flew over from the distance. Both had Phoenix Wings sprouting from their backs, and with gentle flaps, they soared rapidly in his direction. Upon reaching the edge of this area, they descended from the sky. It was a man and a woman, both members of the Phoenix Race.

As they landed, their Phoenix Wings retracted. The pair glanced around, apparently checking their surroundings.

Hiding nearby, Lin Xuan secretly sized them up. Both were at the Spirit Pill Stage, yet they were able to manifest Phoenix Wings. ‘They’re undoubtedly from the Phoenix Race,’ he thought. They weren’t flying in their full Phoenix forms; it seemed that after evolving, they no longer needed to.

This meant that even without reaching the Core Formation Stage, they could manifest Phoenix Wings for flight with almost no energy consumption. It was an innate gift that many other races couldn’t hope to match, and their speed was astonishing.

“Huh? Someone was just here…” Xie Ling’s delicate brows knitted together as she followed the faint trail of aura with her gaze, looking directly toward where Lin Xuan was hiding.

Lin Xuan’s heart skipped a beat. ‘I didn’t expect them to have such a keen ability to track auras.’ Although he had been extremely careful to hide his presence, he had inevitably left a faint trace behind. It wouldn’t last forever, but it would linger for a short time.

“Who’s there!” The other youth, Yan Cheng, glared sharply at the Parasol Tree concealing Lin Xuan. His aura exploded, and Phoenix Fire instantly engulfed his body as he adopted a combat stance.

Xie Ling, at his side, also went on high alert. Her Phoenix Fire erupted as she stared warily at the Parasol Tree where Lin Xuan was hiding.

‘The Phoenix Race’s tracking abilities really are top-notch…’ Lin Xuan shook his head, not expecting to be found out. He didn’t panic, however. A flash of inspiration struck, and he instantly came up with a plan.

He immediately let the Phoenix soul possess him, and his entire aura transformed. He then walked out from behind the tree and said with a smile, “I’m one of your own, stand down.”

“One of our own?” Xie Ling and Yan Cheng sized Lin Xuan up for a moment before sighing in relief. “Yes, he’s one of the Phoenix Race, not from that Mutant Sect. He’s clean.”

‘Mutant Sect?’

Lin Xuan instantly understood. The “Mutant Sect” must refer to those like Bingxin—an Ice and Fire Phoenix, not considered a true Phoenix at all. Furthermore, she was half-human. It seemed this was utterly unacceptable to the Phoenix Race.

He had actually learned a little about this from the Phoenix soul he possessed. After all, the soul had been fragmented for so long; it was a miracle any information remained at all.

In short, the Mutant Sect was not tolerated; they were completely rejected. The hostility toward them was so extreme that it could be said they were as incompatible as fire and water.

With that, they truly did retract their combative auras, accepting Lin Xuan as one of their own.

“Who are you? Why haven’t we seen you before?” Xie Ling had retracted her aura, but she hadn’t completely let her guard down, her eyes scanning Lin Xuan as she questioned him.

“Well… Senior Sister, I’ve been wandering the outside world for a very long time and have only just returned,” Lin Xuan said, quickly fabricating an excuse. “It’s perfectly normal that you two, Senior Brother and Senior Sister, haven’t seen me before.” Now that the Phoenix Race was having some problems, it was normal for some members to have been away for a long time and not returned.

‘I can only hope this excuse is enough to fool them. If it isn’t, I’ll have no choice but to subdue them by force.’