Shen Yi turned and glanced at the direction of Zi Yan beside him and asked with a smile, "Are you ready to meet your father?"
Zi Yan was startled, and then excitement covered her face. She asked, "My father is here?"
Shen Yi nodded, and then he walked forward toward the seal, saying, "Follow me."
Immediately the seal layer blurred, and both of their figures passed through it; they appeared in a complete red atmosphere filled with flames and magma burning below them, and the temperature around them rose like a tide.
Sizzling!
Roar!!
Immediately a berserk beast roar sounded along with golden-red flame waves enraged toward them from the surroundings.
"Ohh, an angry baby."
Shen Yi muttered thoughtfully as he raised the finger toward the magma below.
Immediately an invisible lightning flashed and disappeared inside the magma.
"Is this the flame?"
Zi Yan asked curiously, looking at the red dragon emerging out from the magma, but strangely the dragon was floating toward them without any anger or berserk mode like before, instead releasing fearful emotion.
Slowly the red dragon flew and appeared in front of them, coiling in only a ten-meter space, as there is an invisible domain of lightning around him in a ten-meter range. It felt like annihilation and threat.
"How can a flame release such emotion?" Zi Yan asked doubtfully, observing the flame in front of her.
Shen Yi walked forward in the void while speaking, "It is a heavenly flame that has been trapped for thousands of years; the spiritual birth is normal."
Then he glanced at her and added, "Let's wait here for a while; first let me refine my weapon using this flame, and then we will move forward.
Zi Yan nodded calmly and then flew back, sitting down cross-legged and closing her eyes, while Shen Yi glanced at the direction of the fallen heart flame trapped in his soul lightning domain.
Now his soul realm has reached the High Heavenly state, just a point away from the Top Heavenly state; probably after breaking through the Half Saint realm, he will reach it.
While his high heavenly state spiritual power is enough to rival the one-star dou saint,
"Let's begin; now my soul strength is enough to melt all these materials."
Shen Yi muttered thoughtfully, and then he released the items one by one.
First the wind-lightning wings, then the thunder hell crystal, the heaven ruin stone, the void crystal, the soul jade, and the starfall thunder debris.
He then threw these treasures toward the fallen heart flame, urging it to melt them, while he empowered the flame with his spiritual power.
Immediately the fallen heart flame started burning all of the items with the highest temperature as if understanding the assignment.
As time passed, these materials melted from low rank to high rank.
Shen Yi raised his brow, feeling the melting point of each higher-rank treasure is countless times higher than the lower rank.
He glanced at Zi Yan and spoke calmly, "It will take a while, a few months or even a year. Let's go; we should move forward. I will take the flame along with me below."
Zi Yan opened her eyes and then stood up and immediately nodded calmly, "It's alright."
Shen Yi smiled, noticing a light nervousness in her expression, then he turned around and flew toward the magma below.
The void lightning flashed in front of them, tearing the magma away and clearing the path in front of them as they passed through the magma.
Upon venturing into the magma zone,
Zi Yan immediately stopped, and she exclaimed vigilantly, "Be careful, I can sense countless creatures hidden around us… They are looking at us."
Then she relaxed and added, "They are weak but too many."
As they stopped, many red lizards and serpents were revealed crawling toward them through magma.
Shen Yi smiled, looking at these creatures around, and then he waved his hand, releasing the soul lightning. "Don't worry, they are no threat to us; they are just lizard/serpent-type magical beasts, born from the fire attribute energy. Let's move forward."
Immediately the flame lizards and serpents halted when lightning touched them; the next moment their figures dissipated and merged with the magma around.
Both of them then moved forward once again.
The deeper they went, the stronger the creatures became. Many were half-spirit, half-beast, naturally formed by the fusion of magma essence and beast remnants over countless years.
Shen Yi annihilated all of them with a wave of his hand, as the soul thunder is the nemesis of such creatures.
After destroying them, only flame and magma remained, which remerged with the surrounding atmosphere.
At certain depths, there were powerful flame beast leaders—often equivalent to Dou Huang/Dou Zong-level beasts.
These weren't just magma animals but true magical beasts that had lived near the Fallen Heart Flame for centuries, mutating into terrifying forms.
Only dou zong level beasts could endure the first few attacks of soul thunder, but still they couldn't resist it for long, and their souls were annihilated.
All the way Zi Yan followed him like a bystander without moving a muscle; finally, they reached a huge empty void below the magma.
Shen Yi stopped at the entrance point of the void and started looking at the direction of darkness below, and he spoke calmly,
"Senior, show yourself; look who is here to meet you."
Zi Yan also walked forward from behind and started looking around in the darkness with a little nervous expression on her face.
As time passed, they didn't receive any response.
Shen Yi's mouth twitched. 'This guy is afraid and hiding like a mouse in front of his daughter… Who will believe that he is the strongest expert in this world? Anyway, I know a way to bring him out.'
He thought to himself playfully and then emitted a sigh.
"Sigh! Zi Yan, I am sorry; it seems I was mistaken. Your father isn't here… Let's go; we should find him in some other places."
Zi Yan beside him was startled, and then suddenly her excitement disappeared and her expression became a little down; still, she nodded and spoke, "It's alright, Brother Shen Yi."
Just as they turned around and were about to leave,
"Wait…" A majestic voice sounded, and two pairs of human-like eyes snapped open, releasing purple flares in the void, illuminating it completely.
A majestic middle-aged humanoid figure was revealed with a golden twisted horn on his head; wearing a purple and gold robe, lengthy hair, and a dark beard added more domineering aura to his personality.
He is the missing emperor of the Void Ancient Dragon Clan, the dragon emperor Zhu Kun.
The next moment, Shen Yi became speechless, looking at his eyes, which were wet and had tears condensed in them.
At the same time, Zi Yan beside him started crying loudly, "ahhhh…"
...