Undaunted by the threat, Li Qiye smiled and said: “Everlasting is nothing in my eyes, not worth mentioning. Offend me and even if you’re the son of a True Immortal, I’ll kill eradicate you. Come on now, be a good boy and start eating.”

This was definitely a declaration of war towards Everlasting, at least in the eyes of the crowd. If his words were heard by a big shot from Everlasting, that kingdom would never be able to swallow this anger.

Li Qiye grabbed the youth’s hair and sealed his body before forcing his mouth opened. He then lowered the youth’s head to the ground and started going in a circle around the mud with him, treating his teeth like a plow.

Of course, his teeth weren’t as tough as a plow so after a full round, his front teeth were broken. Blood and mud filled his mouth.

“A man takes responsibility for his words. Since you have lost, I must force you to have your fill.” Li Qiye dropped him and picked up a handful of soil and stuffed it into his mouth.

He was forceful enough to cause the boy’s eyes to go white, unable to breathe. He finally stopped when it was completely filled and patted his hands: “Alright, this is enough. I’ll spare your dog life for now. Provoke me again and I’ll flay you.”

Wu Lian was unable to speak and could only glare back while panting. The spectators were dumbstruck by this scene, thinking that this youth was so ruthless. This public humiliation was worse than just killing the boy.

“Alright, the show is over, time to go.” Li Qiye wiped his hands clean and tidied his clothes before leaving.

Song Yuhao had the wits to follow Li Qiye and shouted: “Benefactor, please let me have your name!”

“No big deal, don’t worry about it.” Li Qiye left too quickly and Yuhao couldn’t catch up.

He stood there in a daze. After a long time, he realized something and quickly left. His mother was still waiting for him back home.

Meanwhile, the disciples from Wu took a while before removing all the mud and soil from his mouth and throat.

“Useless idiots!” He slapped these disciples, deciding to vent his rage on them instead.

“Little animal! I swear to never share the same sky with you! I won’t forgive you for this!” Wu Lian stared towards the direction of Li Qiye and roared. His eyes were engulfed with hatred, wanting nothing more than to tear the guy to pieces.

The spectators realized that a feud had been created on this day.

***

Li Qiye continued for the deeper regions. The flame from the source became stronger and stronger, nearly to an unbearable level.

Because of this, fewer people were around along the way. After reaching a certain depth, even a True God could be burnt to ashes.

He was holding something now - Heaven Reckon Ruler, the one he got from the golden shrine.

This was a heaven-defying treasure from its own epoch and had an amazing origin. It wasn’t meant for combat but was magical enough, capable of measuring the heaven and earth, the past and future, even the wills of the heaven...

The tip was glowing and pointing towards a particular direction and kept on making adjustment as he walked around. It bent to his whim, capable of pointing him towards his desired destination. Just like that, he was heading for the hiding location of the treasure in the land of the fire source.

Few items in this world could hide from the calculation of this ruler as long as the user wished so. It meant that it could provide an answer to the location of any treasure or secret.

The flame on his body still intensified. At this point, one could no longer see his features, only that he was a walking flame.

The ruler eventually led him to a place with an ocean of surging magma. The heat here made intruders feel as if they could be rendered to ashes at any moment. It was hot enough to instantly melt the weapon at the True God level.

Li Qiye didn’t think twice before jumping into the magma and was submerged. Though the heat was impressive, it had no effect on him. Remember, Li Qiye had experienced the sea of tribulation before and its terrifying lightning currents. This was nothing to him.

He continued to sink towards the seemingly bottomless ocean. After a while, he eventually reached a layer of pure water.

“Splash!” A refreshing and cool feeling permeated throughout his body. It was quite unbelievable to find such clear water beneath the ocean of magma above.

During this comfortable descend, he found many creatures living beneath. Some fish swam around him; water plants and other vegetation could be seen; spiral shells and conch were playing...

This was an incredible world existing beneath the all-melting magma, a paradise for aquatic life.

The temperature of this water gradually decreased. The cool temperature turned chilling then freezing. Once it reached a serious level, Li Qiye turned ablaze. It was the flame he has been gathering ever since he came to this land.

It danced around his body like a playful spirit and chased away the coldness to protect him.

The colder the water, the more powerful and bigger the flame. The intense drop of temperature wasn’t enough to extinguish the flame on his body. The two of them canceled out each other.

Just like that, his feet eventually made contact with the bottom.

The glow on the ruler became brighter as if the item he was searching for was right here.

“Whoosh!” The flame on his body surged like a tsunami into the ground. It seemed excited and happy as if it was coming home.

Strange enough, he didn’t feel cold this time around despite the flame leaving him.