Chapter 1193: Lieyan Yang's Test
An abyss passageway could be found at the center of the Extreme Flame Abyss.
Lieyan Wang and the ten-man squad led by Gan Xing arrived at the agreed meeting spot.
Qin Lie didn't stand out because he was just another red-hair in a group of people with red hairs.
"We will wait here for a moment," Lieyan Wang said indifferently.
"Gan Xing, is he that mixed-blood from Spirit Realm you talked about?"
A brawny rank seven youngster stared at Qin Lie without attempting to hide himself.
Four rank seven God Race warriors were surrounding him. They seemed to see him as their leader.
"Are you trying to say something, Nan Qi?" Liu Yang asked.
"That's right. He's Qin Lie from Spirit Realm, and he'll be joining us in our venture into the secret realm just like the rest of you." Gan Xing didn't sidestep his question. He revealed Qin Lie's identity first before introducing him, "Nan Qi is the captain of another squad. Since the participation requirement is for all of us to be at rank seven at minimum, I had invited Nan Qi and his group to join us and form a powerful ten-man squad."
Qin Lie shot an indifferent glance towards Nan Qi's direction before nodding and letting out an indifferent "oh".
Technically, Gan Xing himself, Yan Feng, Wu Sha, and Liu Yang were the only pure-blooded rank seven bloodline warriors on Gan Xing's side. On the other hand, Nan Qi easily outdid them by gathering five rank seven bloodline warriors including himself.
Therefore, it wasn't unthinkable their ten-man squad could be stronger if it was led by Nan Qi instead of Gan Xing.
This also meant that there were two factions in their temporary squad—five on Gan Xing's side, and five on Nan Qi's side.
"Is it really okay to have a mixed-blood in our midst? After all he's from Spirit Realm, a realm we're about to invade… and he's half human." Nan Qi frowned. "Gan Xing, I told you since the beginning that I have one more rank seven bloodline warrior in my squad. I think that brother of mine is more suitable than him."
He had just recently learned of Qin Lie's identity. He had already found Qin Lie's presence very strange at the time.
Thanks to the elders' embellishments, the human race of Spirit Realm had been labeled as a despicable, treacherous, cunning, evil, and lowly race.
The seniors of the Blaze Family practically had nothing good to say when the human race of Spirit Realm was brought into question. In fact, they only abuses to offer most of the time.
That was why the new generation of Blaze Family youngsters felt no good will towards humans whatsoever.
Nan Qi and his people naturally didn't want to trust Qin Lie or acknowledge his participation.
"We all trust him!" Liu Yang snorted.
Nan Qi turned to looked at the others.
Wu Sha and Yan Feng nodded in agreement. It was a clear sign that they acknowledged Qin Lie.
Nan Qi was surprised by this.
He knew Gan Xing, Yan Feng, and his squadmates quite well. They interacted with each other quite often and had maintained a good relationship so far.
That was why Gan Xing had sought him out and invited him to the Darkness Abyss.
It was also why Nan Qi himself and his brothers had no qualms with Gan Xing's squad whatsoever. The only one he was wary of was Qin Lie, who had popped out of nowhere.
"It's just a thought. It's fine as long as you trust him." He didn't bother himself with Qin Lie's identity any further seeing that all four members of Gan Xing's squad all supported the latter. "I just want to increase our strength as much as possible. From what I gathered, Xuan Luo of the Profound Ice Family, Ming Xu of the Light Family, and Hao Jie of the Bloodthirst Family are all venturing into that secret realm."
"Xuan Luo!"
"Ming Xu!"
"Hao Jie!"
Wu Sha, Yan Feng, and Liu Yang suddenly turned serious all of a sudden.
Even Gan Xing was frowning as he yelled at Lieyan Wang in the distance, "Uncle, is Xuan Luo, Ming Xu, and Hao Jie heading to the secret realm too?"
Lieyan Wang was thinking about something next to the abyss passageway when Gan Xing's shout jolted him out of his thoughts. He slapped his head and said, "I nearly forgot to tell you this, but yes, the Profound Ice Family, Light Family, and Bloodthirst Family have given up a couple of territories to the Darkness Family so they may send a squad into that secret realm. Haha, this is good news though. We all belong to the same race, so we're not obviously going to fight each other to the death. At worst, the families will be competing against one another."
A pause later, his expression turned serious, "Their participation will improve our overall strength as well!"
"I know that look on your face, uncle. You have worse news to share with us, don't you?" Gan Xing asked while feeling a headache.
Lieyan Wang let out a dry laugh before answering, "You actually noticed? Heh, you're right. We're not the only ones who'll be exploring that secret realm. There'll be high rank Abyss Devils from other Abyss levels… and perhaps powerful races such as the Soul Race and the Spirit Race as well."
"Why did it turn out like this?" Gan Xing asked with a bitter smile.
"The Great Lords of the Abyss who lost to the Darkness Family are the reason behind all this. They didn't just leak the news, they even gave up the exact spatial coordinates of that secret realm. They're clearly trying to screw with us," Lieyan Wang said helplessly.
"This expedition is going to be a lively one, isn't it?" Liu Yang looked astonished.
"Hehe, it's as you say." Lieyan Wang laughed without a care.
Even Qin Lie who was silent all this time was astonished by this news.
Abyss Devils from other Abyss levels, powerful rank seven bloodline warriors from other God Race families and even powerful races such as the Soul Race and the Spirit Race might be entering this secret realm as well.
What on earth is that secret realm hiding? What exactly is attracting all these beings?
Suddenly, he felt a lot more motivated than he was before.
He knew that there were countless powerful races in the galaxy. The four great transcendent bloodline races were powerful, but some of the inferior races weren't too far behind.
Just like them, these inferior races had ventured into the Abyss, used it as a natural farm and fought there to increase their strength.
Since the Great Lords of Darkness Abyss had willingly divulged the exact location of that secret realm—a secret realm that was over a million years old—all kinds of powerful races were attracted to that place.
This was turning out to be a clash between the rank seven descendants of many powerful races.
"Swoosh!"
A fiery meteor abruptly fell from the sky.
It slowed its descent and transformed into Lieyan Yang just before it hit the ground.
"Big brother." Lieyan Wang smiled.
"Uncle." Gan Xing also greeted him smilingly.
"Is everyone here?" The unsmiling Lieyan Yang swept a serious gaze across everyone's faces before stopping at Qin Lie. "Are you Qin Lie?"
Qin Lie nodded before bowing respectfully.
"Show me your bloodline ability!"
Lieyan Yang narrowed his eyes as a fiery dot suddenly appeared on his glabella. The fire abruptly transformed into a fiery mark that was unique to the Blaze Family—clouds made of literal fire.
Qin Lie had seen this mark many times on the Flesh Filling Tombstone.
The fiery mark the size of a fingernail flew out of Lieyan Yang's glabella and transformed into a sky of burning clouds.
The burning clouds that seemed to shroud the sky itself pushed down on Qin Lie bit by bit.
In that instant, Qin Lie felt like a thousand mountains were falling from the sky and threatening to crush him to bits.
"Flame World! Ignition!"
He immediately unleashed the Blaze Family's unique bloodline latent abilities.
His fiery red hair grew visibly longer like wild grass.
The Flame World swiftly took form in a circle about thirty meters around him. It encapsulated him like like a bright red energy shield and resisted the descending mark.
"Sizzzz!"
Dazzling flames burst out of the top of Qin Lie's Flame World like the prettiest, most colorful fireworks.
Inside the shield, Qin Lie's red hair could be seen penetrating the ground like thorns.
As Qin Lie continued to burn his blood, he bled a little around the corner of his eyes. His entire body was burning with imperishable flames of the wildest, most violent and unrelenting kind.
He had transformed into a literal fire man.
Beside the abyss passageway, the old and the young of the Blaze Family all stared at Qin Lie in concentration.
The Lieyan brothers, Lieyan Yang, and Lieyan Wang watched Qin Lie seriously. A strange color that looked like the color of molten lava rotated slowly in their pupils.
Nan Qi and his squadmates were frowning deeply, but they held back their curiosity and surprise and kept their silence.
Suddenly, strange, crackling noises could be heard from Qin Lie's bones.
Lightning began to appear all over his body.
At the same time, his shirt burst apart and revealed his upper torso. The two hearts inside Qin Lie's chest beat rapidly like they were about to explode any moment.
A power more turbulent than before burst out of his body again like an erupting volcano.
The explosion actually stopped the descending clouds in their tracks for a second. An exclamation of surprise escaped Lieyan Yang's lips.
"Big brother! This is enough!" Lieyan Wang suddenly spoke up.
"Sizzzzz!"
The fiery mark that was so big it shrouded the sky abruptly shrank back to the size of a fingernail in just a dozen or so seconds. Then, it vanished behind Lieyan Yang's glabella.
The terrifying pressure that felt like the sky itself was falling vanished into nothingness.
Qin Lie panted as he growled repeatedly like a terribly wounded beast. It looked like he was trying to vent the extraordinary reactions still happening inside his body.
Finally, his wildly beating hearts slowed down a series of growls later.
"So, what do you think, big brother?" Lieyan Wang chuckled.
Lieyan Yang stared at Qin Lie steadily before giving him a nod, "He's worthy. You were right to recruit him at the cost of some favors."
Lieyan Wang let out a strange laugh in response.
"As for you!" Lieyan Yang abruptly trained his gaze onto Gan Xing and Nan Qi. He let out a cold snort before he scolded them angrily, "Not only is his bloodline purer than yours, his bloodline abilities are stronger as well! This is just shameful!"
Both Gan Xing and Nan Qi bowed their heads embarrassedly and kept quiet.
"It's time to send you trash into the Darkness Abyss! I'm honestly not expecting anything from the lot of you, just make sure you don't embarrass the family!"
Lieyan Yang angrily led the group of youngsters towards the abyss passageway.