Chapter 1023 Sucking Fires
Li Mu didn’t show his strength before. At that time, his cultivation was only around the King Realm. But now, he had reached the first stage of the Great Way Realm. Had he deliberately hidden his strength before? They didn’t expect Li Mu to break through two big realms in less than four hours.

Moreover, the cultivation at the first stage of the Great Way Realm was not high.

The three Sword Envoys were all in the Way Sage Realm.

In their eyes, the first stage of the Great Way Realm was not worth mentioning.

However, although Li Mu was at the first stage of the Great Way Realm, which was not worth mentioning in their eyes, he killed the Black and White Demons in the Way Sage Realm with only two moves. The people in the Great Way Realm shouldn’t have such a high combat capability. It was so strange.

Song Bie, Ying Bing, and Li Shang all subconsciously thought that maybe their Chief was still hiding his cultivation.

In any case, the three of them were excited.

It was a good thing that the Inquisition had a powerful new Chief.

Moreover, the new Chief had just saved their lives. The grace of saving their lives was not something to be trifled with. At the very least, they had to be more respectful to the new Chief in the future.

“Where are the others?” Li Mu put away his broadsword, stood still, and asked them.

Song Bie came to his senses from the shock and quickly said, “Chief, when the three of us came out, we didn’t see Mr. Zhuge and senior Sword Fanatic. Maybe they are still in the Flame Pool Palace.”

Li Mu nodded.

The Sword Fanatic was unreliable, but Zhuge Yun was a wise man and considered everything thoroughly. If they had come out of the Flame Pool Palace, they would leave someone to tell the specific situation to the people who came out later.

Since there was no one else, it meant that except for Li Mu and the other three, the others were still in the Flame Pool Palace.

After asking a few more questions, Li Mu learned that Song Bie and the other two were just lucky to come out, and they didn’t find any secret of the Flame Pool Palace.

Li Mu thought for a moment and decided that he couldn’t wait like this.

He wanted to go in, find them, and take them out.

With the Natural Qi of the Emperors’ Fire, Li Mu was now immune to all flames. He could walk casually in the Flame Pool Palace as easily as walking on firm ground.

However, just as Li Mu was about to enter the Flame Pool Palace, several figures suddenly flew out of the palace.

“Ha… We’re finally out.”

“Eh? Young Master, it turns out that you’ve already come out.”

“Your honor.”

The Sword Fanatic, Zhuge Yun, Qing Feng, Ming Yue, and Caicai had all come out.

Li Mu took a closer look and found except for Yuan Hou, the others had all come out.

“We didn’t have any adventures. We just let the white shales float and came out,” Ming Yue said. “It was not dangerous. The space in this palace was too big. I couldn’t distinguish the directions inside. The white shale floated very slowly. It was too difficult and boring for me to hold on for several hours.”

The other people’s experience was about the same. After drifting on the white shales for a while, they were taken to the gate of the Flame Pool Palace and escaped safely.

“Maybe Brother Yuan took a detour and wasted some time,” Ming Yue said. “Let’s wait a little longer. Maybe he will come out soon.”

They waited for another half an hour, but Yuan Hou hadn’t come out.

The Sword Fanatic and Zhuge Yun looked at Li Mu several times with doubt in their eyes.

The two of them had the highest cultivation levels. Therefore, they could see some changes had taken place in Li Mu. His realm had increased significantly.

Moreover, there was a kind of threat that they couldn’t tell clearly swirled. Compared with before, if they closed their eyes and didn’t look at Li Mu, Li Mu seemed to have changed into another person.

However, none of them asked.

Everyone had their own fate, so it was not good for them to ask Li Mu about it.

Another 10 minutes passed.

Li Mu thought for a moment, shook his head, and said, “We can’t wait like this. Some people have rushed to the next palace, and we don’t have much time. We can’t delay the important event. I’ll go in again to find Yuan Hou. You go to the next palace with senior Zhuge and senior Sword Fanatic. When I find Yuan Hou, I’ll go to find you with him.”

He would not leave Yuan Hou behind.

The Sword Fanatic wanted to stay with Li Mu, but Li Mu politely refused.

Seeing that Li Mu attached so much importance to an attendant, Song Bie and the other two Sword Envoys had a better impression of Li Mu. What they feared most was to meet a superior who didn’t treat his subordinates as human beings. They didn’t want to be abandoned. Fortunately, Li Mu was obviously not such a superior.

The three of them also wanted to stay and protect Li Mu. But in the end, they were directly persuaded to leave by Li Mu in the way of orders.

According to Li Mu’s plan, they followed Zhuge Yun and Sword Fanatic to the next palace.

After the crowd left, Li Mu went back to the Flame Pool Palace to look for Yuan Hou.

In the Flame Pool Palace, the sea of fire was hot.

Li Mu ran his Natural Qi of the Emperors’ Fire and wrapped it around his body. He flew freely on his broadsword in such a sea of fire.

Ming Yue was right. In addition to all kinds of Divine Fires and strange fires, there was a tactical deployment blocking the directions. It was difficult to distinguish the directions. Li Mu rode on the broadsword at an extremely fast speed, but he couldn’t find Yuan Hou as if flying in the vast starry sky.

“Could it be that he has encountered misfortune?”

Li Mu had a bad feeling.

But he was unwilling to give up.

“There are too many flames here. The Divine Fires are burning, and the hot mist is blocking my sight. It’s not easy to find him. If there’s a way to collect all the flames here or draw them away, it’ll be much more convenient to find him.”

Li Mu thought to himself.

However, it was very difficult to collect all the flames here.

Even the Sword Fanatic and Zhuge Yun couldn’t do that. Li Mu knew that no matter how powerful his Natural Qi of the Emperors’ Fire was, it was difficult for him to collect these flames.

However, his eyes fell on the bronze Gourd Used for Nourishing Weapons.

“Even the Emperors’ Fire can’t burn this gourd. Maybe it can hold the fires here. After all, the Darkest Soul-devouring Fires used to be stored in it.”

Thinking of this, Li Mu was eager to have a try.

He took out the Gourd Used for Nourishing Weapons. He took out all the weapons inside and put them in another place. Then, he raised the gourd and pointed its mouth at the flames below.

Li Mu was about to try to activate the gourd with his Natural Qi of the Emperors’ Fire. However, he didn’t expect that a suction force would automatically surge out of the bronze Gourd Used for Nourishing Weapons. The Divine Fires of the sea of fire below were directly sucked into the gourd.

“Is the Gourd Used for Nourishing Weapons actively absorbing fire?”

Li Mu was pleasantly surprised.

The Sword Savant said the gourd was a natural item used for nourishing weapons. But now, it didn’t seem to be so simple. It was not afraid of the colorful Emperors’ Fire and absorbed all kinds of Divine Fires and strange fires in the Flame Pool Palace. It was really a divine artifact.

However, as time went by, Li Mu became more and more surprised.

The bronze gourd was like a drunkard who was addicted to alcohol. It crazily swallowed the flames in the Flame Pool Palace fast. It was so fast that Li Mu couldn’t control it at all. When it sucked the fires quickly, it trembled slightly. Li Mu wanted to take it back several times, but he couldn’t.

In the blink of an eye, as far as his eyes could see, the surging sea of fire had been all sucked by the bronze gourd. All the flames disappeared, revealing the black ground with strange lines of Emperors’ Fire flickering on it.

However, it didn’t stop.

The bronze gourd continued. It flew up, dragged Li Mu, and flew in the other directions of the Flame Pool Palace. Then, it began to swallow madly. Wherever it passed, all the flames were absorbed by it.

In the process, Li Mu gradually knew some skills of controlling the bronze gourd.

About an hour later, Li Mu stood in the middle of the Flame Pool Palace without flames.

Yes. All kinds of Divine Fires and strange fires in the Flame Pool Palace had been absorbed by the bronze gourd, leaving no trace behind.

Li Mu never expected it at first.

After the Divine Fires and strange fires of the Flame Pool Palace were all sucked away, the power which had stopped people to distinguish the directions also dissipated. The palace revealed its original appearance. It was only an area of about 100 acres. There were no stone pillars but the round dome and the black ground. It was spacious and empty, but it was undoubtedly much smaller than the large space before. Before the fires were sucked, Li Mu had to use two hours to find a way to get out.

Of course, that was not the most troublesome.

What made Li Mu feel unacceptable was that all the flames had been sucked away, and everything in the palace was clear at a glance. Even so, he still couldn’t find Yuan Hou.

In this case, there was only one possibility.

Yuan Hou was dead.

He might have fallen into the sea of fire and been burned to ashes, so there was no trace left.

“What the hell is going on?”

Yuan Hou was wrapped in flames. Gradually, he felt the surrounding flames seem to have changed. The heat that he could gradually withstand gradually became violent again. It seemed that some kind of power had squeezed all the flames together. They surged wildly and spread to his body.

The two golden coiling dragons transformed from the divine weapon, Heavenly Exclamation, swam wildly. The protective golden light burst out, accompanied by strange dragon roars.

Yuan Hou roared.

He felt something in his blood vessels seemed to have been ignited, and his blood was burning like a fierce flame. It flowed along the blood vessels to his heart, limbs, and head. Then his whole body was on fire.

The feeling of burning had nothing to do with the flames outside.

It was a kind of power from his own body.

It was a kind of power that had been dormant for a long time and now ignited.

Under the burning of this power, the power of the wildly surging flames outside could no longer make Yuan Hou feel pain. In a trance, he saw a strange scene in his mind. It was a scene of the end of the world collapsing. The sky fire poured down, the underground water gushed, and a destructive chaotic layer of ashes spread all over the void. A giant golden ape tens of thousands of meters tall was shining with golden light like an eternal demon. It stood between the sky and earth, pieced together the broken sky, and stepped back on the gushing underground water.

Li Mu walked out of the Flame Pool Palace in a bad mood.

The death of Yuan Hou was a blow to him.

Originally, he was optimistic about the growth of Yuan Hou and sincerely regarded him as a friend. This time, he brought Yuan Hou to the Ghost Star with the intention of training him. However, he didn’t expect fate to play such a trick.

In such a bad mood, Li Mu came to the gate of the fifth palace of the Athanasia Immortal Palace.

There were two big words, Wind Palace, written on the plaque at the top of the gate.

Could it be that there was wind stored here?

To forge weapons, Weapon Refiners needed not only forging platforms, hammers, and fires but also winds.

The wind helped the fire.

“The winds in the Wind Palace built by the Cosmic Emperor Deathless were probably not ordinary.”

Li Mu thought to himself.

Zhuge Yun and the others were not at the entrance of the palace. Li Mu guessed that they had already entered. After a brief observation, he stepped into the Wind Palace without hesitation.