Chapter 253: Battling the Flame Emperor, Green Lotus Burying Sky

stone stele Space.

Zhou Chen stood in the void, surrounded by darkness, with only a massive golden stone stele floating in the distance.

Countless names were densely carved upon the stone stele, each one shimmering with golden light.

"Welcome to the chaos heaven tablet."

An ancient voice rang out: "You will challenge the phantoms of prodigies from past and present. You will be ranked according to your performance and combat power; the higher the ranking, the more generous the rewards."

"Each challenge will match you against an opponent ranked higher than you. Upon victory, you will obtain the opponent's rank."

The voice continued: "You may choose to continue challenging, or you may choose to withdraw. Each person has only one challenge opportunity, lasting for one hour."

"Begin."

Zhou Chen rolled his wrists, Battle Intent flashing in his eyes.

[Name: Zhou Chen.]

[Rank: 6,761st]

The chaos heaven tablet clearly recognized him; Zhou Chen's previous ranking record was revealed on a light screen.

"I'm ready, let's get started."

Zhou Chen flexed his wrists and said calmly.

The next second, a figure appeared in the void.

It was a young man dressed in white robes, his entire body radiating a terrifying Sword Intent.

"Ancient Sword Cultivator, ranked 6,760th — Wu Xin!"

The youth didn't waste a single word; the moment he saw Zhou Chen, he drew his sword, and a terrifying Sword Qi swept forward.

"Hahaha, good timing!"

Zhou Chen laughed loudly as an illusory image of an azure lotus instantly unfolded in the void. He met the attack with the first form of the Azure Lotus Sword Scripture!

Rumble!

The two Sword Qis collided in the void, producing a violent explosion. When the dust settled, only Zhou Chen's figure remained in the void, completely unharmed.

An instant kill.

[Zhou Chen: Rank 6,760th.]

Zhou Chen's rank on the golden stone stele rose by one position.

"Continue the challenge."

Zhou Chen murmured to himself.

Another figure appeared in the void.

This was a middle-aged man in green robes, holding a long spear, his Aura powerful.

"Challenge continued successfully. Ancient Spear Cultivator, ranked 3,000th — Sha Pojun!"

The man also said nothing, thrusting his spear directly at Zhou Chen.

Screech.

A whistling sound followed as the void was torn asunder.

A cold glint arrived first, followed by spear light like a Dragon.

"Good timing!"

Zhou Chen drew his sword, executing the second form of the Azure Lotus Sword Scripture — Azure Lotus Cleaving the Heavens!

A mass of shimmering cyan Chaos Spiritual Energy erupted from Zhou Chen's body, and in an instant, an unparalleled sword light appeared in the air.

The cyan sword shadow transformed into a lotus, carrying the momentum of cleaving the heavens, instantly shredding the spear light.

"What?!"

Pojun's eyes widened, but before he could react, Zhou Chen's sword had already arrived.

A single strike to the throat!

Pojun's figure turned into points of light and dissipated into the void.

An instant kill.

[Challenge successful! Rank increased to 3,000th.]

"Next."

Zhou Chen said coldly.

Another figure appeared in the void.

This time it was a woman in battle armor, holding a war saber, her Aura like a rainbow.

"Ancient Saber Cultivator, ranked 1,500th — Xue Ren!"

The woman swung her saber, and blood-colored Saber Qi swept forth.

Zhou Chen neither dodged nor avoided it, continuing with the second form of the Azure Lotus Sword Scripture — Azure Lotus Cleaving the Heavens!

The sword light soared into the sky, directly splitting the blood-colored Saber Qi and striking the woman.

The woman's figure likewise transformed into starlight and vanished.

[Challenge successful! Rank increased to 1,500th.]

"Continue to the next."

The Battle Intent in Zhou Chen's eyes grew stronger and stronger.

Next, he fought dozens of matches in a row, each one an instant kill!

His rank rapidly rose from 1,500 to 800, 500, 300…

Zhou Chen fought with increasing vigor, each move cleanly and decisively killing his opponents without any hesitation.

Within the same Realm, these prodigies were almost never a match for Zhou Chen for even a single exchange.

It wasn't that they were too weak, but that Zhou Chen was too strong.

Back in the Southern Region, Zhou Chen's rank was still over six thousand, but now the situation had completely reversed.

The Azure Lotus Dao Body, the Pluto Seal, the Azure Lotus Sword Scripture, the Nine Firmament Spirit Refining Art… every Cultivation Technique had almost reached the highest level of the Heaven Chosen Continent.

Not to mention he had established the legendary supreme Foundation—a Tenth-grade Dao Foundation—and possessed a chaos dao infant.

If Liu Qingtian were to learn of his future achievements, he would probably regret his actions until his legs broke from slapping them in frustration.

In the world of the Heaven Chosen Continent, a Cultivator's descendants could multiply at will, but the chance for a Sect to rise to prominence might only come once in ten thousand years.

Finally, Zhou Chen's rank reached 69th.

"Ancient Emperor Cultivator, ranked 68th — Flame Emperor!"

A majestic figure slowly appeared in the void.

Zhou Chen also adopted a serious expression. The man before him wore a fire-robe with python patterns and was surrounded by terrifying flames, each flicker of fire containing the power to destroy heaven and earth.

"The prodigies of this generation are interesting. A mere Quasi-Emperor Realm, yet you dare to challenge this seat?"

The Flame Emperor spoke with a faint sigh of emotion, then waved his hand. The flames transformed into a sea of fire, sweeping toward Zhou Chen.

"The Flame Emperor, huh…"

Zhou Chen narrowed his eyes, a strong Battle Intent flashing within them.

Zhou Chen had heard a bit about him; this Flame Emperor had fused with the exotic fires of heaven and earth, forcefully carving out an unusual Imperial Road.

Burning mountains and boiling seas, he had suppressed an entire era.

"Azure Lotus Sword Domain!"

Zhou Chen summoned the Sword Domain of the Azure Lotus Sword Scripture. Countless Sword Qis condensed into azure lotuses, firmly blocking the sea of fire.

"Somewhat interesting."

The Flame Emperor gave a faint smile, the exotic fires around him becoming even more intense: "But it's not enough!"

He struck out with a palm, and the exotic fires condensed into a fire Dragon that roared as it charged at Zhou Chen, a violent Aura erupting from its body.

A wave of intense incinerating intent permeated the surroundings.

This was… the Perfection of the Fire Concept!

Zhou Chen's pupils constricted slightly; he did not dare to be careless.

"Azure Lotus Primordial Slash!"

Perfection of Slaughter Sword Intent!

Perfection of the Great River Concept!

An illusory image of an azure lotus suddenly appeared between heaven and earth.

Whoosh.

The azure lotus split in two, like a bolt of cyan lightning. It instantly transformed into two streaks of black and white light that constantly intertwined and flowed around each other above Zhou Chen's head.

Rumble.

The fire Dragon instantly arrived before Zhou Chen, colliding violently with the black and white light.

A massive explosion swallowed everything.

However, under the fierce attack of the black and white light, the fire Dragon lost all ability to resist.

After a short period, the Dragon of exotic fire was completely destroyed, vanishing from the world.

There were no further disturbances.

When Zhou Chen could see clearly again, he saw the Flame Emperor looking at him with a very appreciative gaze.

"Tsk tsk, young man, to be able to reach this level at your age is remarkable. However, it's time to end this. Let this old man see your true strength."

"Red Heart Burning the Heavens."

As soon as he finished speaking, Dragons of exotic fire emerged behind the Flame Emperor once again.

One, two… thousands of them, densely packed, enough to make one's scalp tingle.

Zhou Chen looked at the scene before him expressionlessly. Although he was mentally prepared, he couldn't help but take a sharp breath.

As expected, an ancient geezer wouldn't be so easy to defeat.

Zhou Chen was not discouraged, quickly condensing the Chaos Spiritual Energy within his body.

"Senior, please watch closely. Green Lotus… Burying Sky."