Chapter 511: Heavenly Dao Wooden Man, A Stratified Gap

Space shattered without a sound. A middle-aged man with a cold expression traversed the starry sky and arrived on Red Meteor.

However, his point of arrival seemed to be… problematic. The moment he emerged, he was met with a surging heatwave washing over him.

He was an avatar of the Celestial Pavilion Leader, Celestial Dao.

He had been dispatched to Red Meteor to investigate why the Celestial Pavilion had lost contact and to uncover the truth behind the deaths of three of its members.

“Shattering the void?” Xu Ziyang looked at the newcomer, a mix of brutality and confusion in his voice.

He had been on the verge of killing Zuo Fan, but this middle-aged man had come out of nowhere and interfered, actually managing to block his fatal strike.

Celestial Dao’s gaze fell coldly upon Xu Ziyang. He could sense the terrifying energy contained within the other’s body—an energy that, if fully unleashed, would cause the entire planet’s ecosystem to collapse.

Yet, all this immense energy was completely restrained within this bizarre life-form’s body, a balance that seemed incredibly fragile.

“Who are you?” Xu Ziyang sensed the meaning behind Celestial Dao’s gaze, and it annoyed him.

At this level of power, one’s perception naturally became extremely sharp.

Celestial Dao ignored Xu Ziyang, his gaze instead falling upon Zuo Fan. He could sense the aura of a Pure Yang Fire Seed coming from him.

More importantly, he also saw something familiar about the other man.

One of the five most powerful Spirit Masters who invaded their universe back then had also possessed a Pure Yang Fire Seed.

“A Pure Yang Fire Seed on the verge of reaching its complete form. If I had arrived any later, you might have actually succeeded.” Looking at Zuo Fan, Celestial Dao attacked without a shred of hesitation.

BOOM!

The attack landed right in front of Zuo Fan but stopped dead in its tracks.

It wasn’t because Celestial Dao had shown mercy, but because Xu Ziyang had yanked Zuo Fan back from behind.

“You… dare… ignore me!” Xu Ziyang’s rage materialized, spreading over Celestial Dao’s body.

Then, with a sudden burst of force, he spun around and slammed Celestial Dao into the ground.

Zuo Fan’s strength was no match for Xu Ziyang’s, so he couldn’t react to Celestial Dao’s attack at all. Xu Ziyang, on the other hand, was fast enough to keep up.

It was a struggle, but he was, after all, the product of a higher-level modification. His power was not to be underestimated.

Celestial Dao slowly got to his feet. Reaching out, he broke one of Xu Ziyang’s arms with a sharp CRACK.

The flames from the broken arm instantly engulfed Celestial Dao’s body, burning away his facade and revealing his true form.

It was a lifelike wooden man, with no seams or joints on its body, as if it had grown that way naturally.

This sight brought looks of surprise to the faces of both Xu Ziyang and Zuo Fan.

Especially for Xu Ziyang. He had seen his share of incredible things, but this was a first.

“A piece of wood that doesn’t fear fire… what the hell are you?” Xu Ziyang asked with a frown. As he spoke, his broken arm regenerated.

To him, an injury like this was nothing. He was, after all, a complete Flame Demon.

The nine Red Dragons on his back suddenly struck, transforming into nine terrifying vortexes of fire that sought to swallow his opponent whole.

However, the Heavenly Dao Wooden Man merely glanced at the fiery vortexes. With a wave of its hand, it shattered them and simultaneously extinguished all the flames covering its body.

“What you are using is not a Spiritual Technique at all,” the Heavenly Dao Wooden Man said gravely, looking at Xu Ziyang.

But Xu Ziyang couldn’t care less what the Heavenly Dao Wooden Man meant; he was now even more determined to kill it.

The hatred that had been directed at Zuo Fan was now completely focused on the Heavenly Dao Wooden Man.

This was excellent news for Zuo Fan. Though he was also confused by the Heavenly Dao Wooden Man, he seized the opportunity and immediately turned to flee.

Xu Ziyang ignored this, but the Heavenly Dao Wooden Man had been watching Zuo Fan the entire time. The moment Zuo Fan made to flee, it moved to intercept him.

But Xu Ziyang was also watching the Heavenly Dao Wooden Man, his hatred for it now far surpassing any he felt for Zuo Fan.

And so, Xu Ziyang blocked its path.

“Lights… of a Myriad Homes!”

This time, Xu Ziyang opened with the strongest move in the Innate Li Fire Sword Technique.

A slender line of fire appeared, blocking the Heavenly Dao Wooden Man’s path.

The line of fire was not very long—just enough to block the path—and it appeared to be nothing more than a thin thread.

But the Heavenly Dao Wooden Man halted without hesitation and began to back away.

It could see that this line of fire was only the beginning; it contained a rampaging power sufficient to destroy it, and that power was already beginning to erupt.

In the next instant, the line of fire began to spread and expand, becoming like the view of a bustling, brightly lit metropolis from across a river.

The image that greeted the eyes was not one of splendor or prosperity, but one of simple, unassuming warmth.

The Heavenly Dao Wooden Man was not fooled by this warmth. Beneath it, a turbulent torrent of Flame surged forth.

“Such speed,” the Heavenly Dao Wooden Man whispered. Then, the Lights of a Myriad Homes engulfed it.

“Die, wooden man! Burn to ashes in the fire!” Xu Ziyang’s roar followed close behind. He charged into the inferno, wielding two Li Huo Giant Swords, right on the heels of his own attack.

New shoots sprouted from the Heavenly Dao Wooden Man’s body. Growing at an incredible speed within the flames, they transformed it into a towering, humanoid tree in just an instant.

A wooden hand reached out and effortlessly swatted Xu Ziyang, slamming him into the ground before his attack could even connect with the Heavenly Dao Wooden Man.

However, the power of the Lights of a Myriad Homes did not diminish in the slightest; on the contrary, it blazed fiercely up the Heavenly Dao Wooden Man’s body.

The newly sprouted branches were burned to ash and fell away.

The Heavenly Dao Wooden Man could not break free from the sword technique’s burning grasp. It could only wait for the energy within the flames to dissipate, at which point they would become mere mortal fire and extinguish on their own.

Meanwhile, its gaze grew grave.

This was for no other reason than Zuo Fan’s escape. He had fled with incredible speed, and now, even if the wooden man wanted to find him, it couldn’t pick up his trail.

A flicker of anger appeared in its wooden eyes. If not for this bastard constantly getting in its way, it would have already killed the possessor of the Pure Yang Fire Seed.

Now that he had escaped, it would likely stimulate the Pure Yang Fire Seed, forcing it to mature rapidly. When that happened, both killing and capturing him would be far more difficult than it was now.

It was even possible that the power of this wooden man avatar would no longer be sufficient.

Even if this Five Elements Spiritual Treasure no longer possessed the power it once had, it still couldn’t be underestimated. It was, after all, a supreme treasure of the Spirit Masters.

It was innately endowed with many extraordinary abilities.

“Hahaha! Now *that’s* what I’m talking about! Awesome!”

From beneath the wooden hand, scattered flames squeezed out and reformed into Xu Ziyang. Fearless, he once again lunged at the Heavenly Dao Wooden Man.

“Wooden man, take another ‘Lights of a Myriad Homes’!” Xu Ziyang’s voice was tinged with madness.

This time, however, the Heavenly Dao Wooden Man unleashed its full fury upon him, even though the flames on its own body had yet to be extinguished.

—————–

‘This world is a complete mess. Now there are even living wooden men.’ Zuo Fan sprinted madly, his mind a chaotic storm of thoughts, but he didn’t dare stop for even a second.

‘Still, I have to thank that wooden man. If it hadn’t shown up, Xu Ziyang would have killed me. I wouldn’t have had any chance to escape.’

‘There are just so many monsters. That wooden man is even stronger than Xu Ziyang, and it seems to have a massive grudge against me.’

Zuo Fan felt nothing but bitterness. ‘Ever since I started to rise in power, I’ve made enemies everywhere, each one stronger than the last.’

‘Xu Ziyang wanting to kill me is just pure slaughterlust, there’s no personal enmity. It’s more like a hunting instinct. After all, he doesn’t just want to kill me; he wants to kill everyone.’

‘An equal-opportunity killer.’

‘But that wooden man is different. Its hostility towards me is practically overflowing.’

‘It can’t be because I chopped down its parents to build a house or used its grandparents as firewood, can it?’ Zuo Fan felt helpless.

‘It’s not like I’ve never chopped wood or started fires. Back on Azure Flame Peak, I was assigned all sorts of chores.’

‘But I didn’t do those chores for long. They were mostly to temper our physical bodies anyway.’

‘That monster is definitely bad news. I hope Xu Ziyang can kill it… well, it’d be good enough if Xu Ziyang just doesn’t get himself killed.’ Zuo Fan would much rather face Xu Ziyang than that bizarre wooden man.

‘But thinking about the wooden man’s power… I’m not so sure.’

‘Back in the day, I never saw a Spirit Master with this much combat power…’ Zuo Fan reminisced. Ever since he had obtained Qi Suian’s ancestral Spiritual Technique, the world had changed day by day.

‘Take the Sect Leaders once hailed as the nine strongest experts in the world. Except for Xu Ziyang, if you put the other eight up against the opponents I’ve been facing, they wouldn’t even qualify as cannon fodder.’

‘If I told anyone, probably no one would believe me.’

‘But that’s the reality of it. And it’s not just Xu Ziyang, the Red Dragon Flame Demon. There are also the Seven Kills Disciples. *They’re* the biggest threat.’

‘Not only are there a lot of them, but they grow stronger so quickly. The sects are already in a precarious position.’

‘I don’t know where it all went wrong, for the world to be drowning in blood and overrun by all these monsters.’

‘It was so peaceful before all this.’ After fleeing for some time, Zuo Fan scanned his surroundings and finally stopped for a rest.

He had nearly died moments ago and had only barely recovered. In his desperate bid to survive, he hadn’t dared to rest, so both his stamina and his injuries were in a severe state.

If he didn’t rest now, Zuo Fan figured he would literally run himself to death.

‘These injuries are serious. It’s going to take quite some time to recover.’ He looked down at the wound on his chest.

Although his flesh and organs had already regenerated, the Red Dragon Flame Demon Fire left behind by Xu Ziyang was still coiled within him, merely suppressed and slowly being worn down by his own Fire Elemental Flame Demon Fire.

Only when it was completely ground down would his injuries truly be healed. Otherwise, it would continuously burn his body and soul, consuming his Spiritual Power.

His opponent was stronger than him, so there was no way to purge the fire instantly. He could only wear it down slowly over time.

‘It will take at least three days.’ Zuo Fan made a quick estimate of the time required.