Standing a hundred meters away, Ming Qi, watching the blazing cliffs, could clearly feel an unprecedented surge of heat, instantly filling the surrounding space.
Mighty currents of heat washed over him like a flood, shattering everything in their path and reducing it to dust.
Amid the blazing flames, the massive cliff, originally hundreds of meters high, collapsed beneath the intense flames, revealing a cavern brimming with flames.
The blazing Fire Emperor Sword hovered at the cave's entrance, seemingly awaiting something.
Ming Qi activated his Flame Battle Body and cautiously stepped forward, reaching out to remove the Fire Emperor Sword before stepping into the cavern.
The entire cavern seemed as if cast from a raging fire. The intense heat was almost unbearable for Ming Qi, but with his Flame Battle Body and his mastery of the elemental power of fire, he was able to withstand the intense heat and avoid being incinerated. Ming Qi was well aware that even a Martial Saint would be severely injured if he entered this cave alone without mastering the power of the fire element and achieving a certain degree of control.
For the flames here were beyond the realm of ordinary flames; the fire element existed in a concentrated form of energy at a higher level.
The entire fire cave was not large, roughly the size of three or four houses, and was completely empty. However, at the very front, a figure sat remarkably upright!
The figure stood with his back to the cave entrance, his fiery red robes strikingly dazzling. His stillness, unmoving, filled Ming Qi with uncertainty, and he hesitated for a moment whether he should approach to investigate.
Below him, a magic circle formed from the power of fire was clearly visible, emitting a dazzling red light.
After a moment of contemplation, he cautiously took a step forward. Unexpectedly, just as he touched the outline of the fiery red magic circle, a loud buzzing sound suddenly emanated from his consciousness, and then, as if something shattered, his entire mind completely sank into a void.
His eyes suddenly went dark, but before he could react, he felt a flash of light before his vision returned.
Only after regaining his sight did Ming Qi realize to his astonishment that the ground beneath his feet and the surroundings had completely changed. It was no longer the flame-filled cavern from before!
The surroundings were empty, with even white clouds drifting. He tried to stretch his hands and legs, but received no response at all, as if he had no body. Such seemingly simple and basic movements were simply impossible!
What was going on?
Ming Qi was startled. Just as he came to his senses, a voice suddenly rang in his ears.
"This is a battlefield. Look carefully. Take note of every person who appears on it!"
The voice sounded old yet commanding. Just by listening to it, one could sense it belonged to a peerless powerhouse.
Ming Qi opened his mouth to ask who was speaking, but was horrified to discover he couldn't utter a single word!
Instinctively, he looked down and saw a group of people battling in the ethereal void, unleashing powerful magic. A red-robed figure stood out clearly among them.
Ming Qi was startled. Wasn't this the same red-robed figure he had seen earlier in the Flame Cave? Had he entered his consciousness? Or was there something else going on?
Just as Ming Qi was utterly astonished, he suddenly realized another red-robed figure had appeared before him, gazing at the battle below! This suddenly appearing red-robed figure was identical to the ones seen on the battlefield below and in the Flame Cave!
"You must watch carefully, because in the future you will have to kill them all, one by one!"
Ming Qi couldn't answer; he couldn't speak at all. But what completely baffled him was that, unable to speak or move, he could clearly see the battle below, even every single one of them!
Such a mysterious experience left Ming Qi somewhat dazed, but he also had a vague suspicion.
Having heard the legend of the Fire Emperor Sword, it seemed that this red-robed figure was deeply connected to the legendary Holy Flame Martial Emperor. It was even possible that this red-robed figure was the original Holy Flame Martial Emperor!
The red-robed figure fell silent, silently watching the battle below.
The battle below was intense, with five or six men surrounding the red-robed figure. Then, a magical technique unfolded with the power to move mountains and fill the sea, leaving Ming Qi dazzled.
However, the red-robed figure was ultimately outnumbered and defeated soon after the battle began. Under siege from six men, he was forced to flee.
A fiery cloud suddenly erupted in the sky, quickly engulfing the red-robed figure, who vanished from the battlefield in the blink of an eye.
Ming Qi's gaze lingered on the six figures for a few seconds before shifting to the fleeing red-robed figure.
The red-robed figure flew away, covering distances of thousands, even tens of thousands, in the blink of an eye. He continued to flee for an hour or two before finally landing shakily.
It was a vast island. He swiftly approached a precipice, then extended his right hand, revealing a crimson longsword.
The sight of this sword startled Ming Qi. The red-robed figure was the Fire Emperor Sword!
From this, he concluded with certainty that the red-robed figure was the former Saint Flame Martial Emperor, who, for unknown reasons, had been surrounded and attacked by six masters of the same rank, leading to this earth-shattering battle.
The Holy Flame Emperor soared into the air, his Fire Emperor Sword instantly wielding hundreds of sword energies, all of which descended upon the towering cliff face. Instantly, the entire cliff face was covered in a dense web of sword marks.
Ming Qi recognized these marks; they were the same ones he had seen on the cliff face moments earlier.
It seemed as if these were a series of memories left behind by the Holy Flame Emperor, but he had no idea why they had suddenly reappeared in his vision. Even more bizarre was the fact that he was in such a strange spatial state.
When the cliff face was covered in sword blades, the Holy Flame Emperor suddenly thrust his finger into the air, and the massive rock face, a thousand-foot-tall cliff, suddenly split in a straight line from the side, as if it had been cut by a single sword.
Having slashed through the cliff face, the Holy Flame Emperor carved a cave behind it. Then, with a powerful swing of his right hand, he rapidly chanted an incomprehensible incantation, and the Fire Emperor Sword flew through the air, transforming into a fiery red meteor and soaring into the distance.
Song Tingfeng was even more shocked by this scene. The Fire Emperor Sword was discovered on the Blazing Wasteland. The distance from the Blazing Wasteland to this unnamed island in the Red Flame Sea was more than a hundred thousand or a million miles!
But no matter how far the distance was, it was just a casual throw from the Holy Flame Emperor!