Rise of the Demon God

Long Chen finished a direction and started flying. Xun remained behind him, with Zhu Chang taking the back to protect Xun and keep himself hidden to some extent. 

As they flew through the green fields, Long Chen noticed someone in the distance. It was the first time he had seen someone here, and that person did have different features than Zhu Chang and the Black Tortoise. 

It assured Long Chen that this place was truly not the one where he had entered the tomb. 

He stopped flying. "I see someone. It's a girl, looks to be the same age as us. White hair and light blue eyes. She is dressed in a white gown. Any insights?"

"Let me see. These characteristics do remind me of someone though." Zhu Chang flew closer to Long Chen and looked at the girl in the distance.

"It's her. This doesn't make sense either though. How is this possible?"

"You recognize her?" Long Chen asked.

"Yeah. She is the Ice Phoenix Heir. The only daughter of the queen and the future Queen herself. What are you doing here?" Zhu Chang let out, frowning. 

"Is this place not her home?" Long Chen asked. 

"Why would this place be so warm if this was the realm of Snow Phoenix. It's a different place," Zhu Chang said, frowning. 

"Shall we go talk to her?" Long Chen asked. 

"I don't know. She isn't too fond of me after our first meeting," Zhu Chang smiled wryly. 

"What happened in the last meeting? What did you do?"

"I didn't do anything. I just fought her, giving it my all. It was the last tournament where I was matched against her. I defeated her," Zhu Chang said, sighing. 

He took a deep breath. "Then again, she is alone. We can certainly make her answer. If there comes a need, we can even force her."

"Let's wait for a second though. It looks like she is looking for something. We should first see what she is looking for," Long Chen reminded Zhu Chang, stopping him.

The two of them could see the girl digging the ground for something. 

The girl had already dug most of the land. Craters could be seen all around the field.

After digging for a little, the girl stopped and flew out of the crater, landing on the ground. 

She had a key in her hand, which was shining in a golden light. 

"I don't know why she is here, but that golden key must be related to it. If we need answers from her, what greater motivation than the key?"

Long Chen smiled. 

Now that he knew how to gain the leverage on the girl, he teleported right before the Ice Phoenix. 

"Huh? What?"

The Ice Phoenix hadn't expected anyone else to be near her, which made her lower her guard. As soon as Long Chen appeared before her, she found herself extremely surprised. 

Before she could understand the situation, she saw the dark eyes of a man which disappeared. The man had left just as fast as he came, but he didn't leave alone. He left with the key. 

"Thief! Return the key!" She yelled as thousands of crystal shards appeared around her, shooting in every direction. 

By the time, Long Chen had already appeared beside Zhu Chang, who cast her Barrier to protect themselves. 

"The last time I saw her this crazy was when I defeated her. The key must be really important for her," Zhu Chang commented, smiling. 

"Seems to be that way. It's very good as well. The more precious this key, the more she'll be willing to answer us," Long Chen said. 

"Unless she goes crazy enough to stop caring about the key and comes at us to kill us all," Xun said, smiling wryly. 

"Well, she won't be able to kill us, don't worry. She isn't that strong," Zhu Chang replied, laughing. 

The Ice Phoenix flew high in the sky and looked around. Before long, she noticed Long Chen and Zhu Chang talking amongst themselves in the distance. 

"Zhu Chang! So it's you who is behind this! How far have you fallen! Now you've come down to stealing?" 

"Yui Ling, you're here as well. What a surprise," Zhu Chang replied. "Anyway, my memory is slightly weak. What was the name of this place again?"

"Stop antagonizing me! Just because you won last time, you think you can do anything? You think you can bully me in the Origin Temple? You've gone insane! If you don't return the key, you'll see my wrath!"

"Wrath? I don't really care about your wrath, but to call this place the Origin Temple? It's just a piece of land. Where do you see the Origin Temple?" Zhu Chang asked, but soon he became serious as he thought of something. 

"Unless this truly is the Origin Temple? I always assumed it was going to be like other Temples, just on a more mythical scale, but to be an entire realm?" He frowned. 

"Ah, so this place is the Realm of Origin Temple. No wonder..." Xun also understood some things. 

This time, it was Long Chen's turn to be left confused. "Do I need to ask, or you'll explain on your own?"

"Origin Temple is the place where the Origin Beasts came to life. The first two Godly Ancestor Beasts, from whom all the other beasts came... It was said that the two Ancestor Beasts used to live here in harmony."

"That was the case until the Two Ancestor Gods who made the two beasts became enemies and started fighting. They disappeared, but the Ancestor Beasts continued their battles for millions of years before they disappeared as well."

"The Origin Temple is like their first home. If this is the place, we certainly came to an important site, but it might turn out to be really bad because this place is related to... Anything can happen here."

"The First Ancestral Beast..." Long Chen said, frowning. 

He subtly looked towards his storage ring. "The enemies of Ancestral Myriad Beast, also known as..."

"Yeah. we need to be careful here," Xun told Long Chen. "This is a very important place. And it certainly must contain many treasures, but it'll have just as many dangers."

Long Chen and Xun were immersed in their conversation while Zhu Chang continued his own with the Ice Phoenix. 

"Is this truly the Origin Temple? The Holy Ground? How did you come here? And why were you digging the ground?" Zhu Chang asked. 

"Do you really not know? Did your father not send you?" Yui Ling asked, frowning. "Are you here without his permission?"