Chapter 382: Chapter 382: The World in the Cauldron

The ancient altar was perfectly square, with a decaying ancient lamp standing at each of its four corners. The lamps seemed so fragile that they might crumble at the slightest touch.

The people of Black Cauldron City well knew that this altar had a storied history, even predating the founding of the city itself.

Some even speculated that it was the presence of this very altar that motivated the selection of this site for constructing the city.

“This altar, passed down from ancient times, contains a trace of the will of the Ancient Pill Tao. By sitting above it, you three will be able to enter a secret realm and undergo a test. The first who passes will be deemed the strongest,” Zhuge Cang directed at Fang Lin and his two companions.

Upon hearing this, the faces of Su Xiaotong and Zhao Shenkong changed subtly, reflecting a hint of seriousness.

Fang Lin, however, remained exceptionally calm, not showing the slightest surprise.

The three of them stepped onto the altar as Zhuge Cang instructed.

As soon as they set foot on the altar, the four ancient lamps surrounding it began to flicker with a dim light.

Looking at the four ancient lamps, Fang Lin’s eyes revealed a hint of greed.

Although the others didn’t notice, Fang Lin could see that despite their decayed state, these lamps were genuine treasures. They could form an array with unlimited power.

If there weren’t so many people here, Fang Lin would seriously consider owning these lamps for himself.

Zhao Shenkong and Su Xiaotong each took their seats in separate corners of the altar. Fang Lin cast one last glance at the lamps before he took his own place.

As soon as all three of them closed their eyes, the light from the lamps brightened considerably and seemed to form a connection between them.

Hum!

The next moment, the entire altar lit up with a bluish radiance that enveloped Fang Lin and his two counterparts.

Outside the altar, the expressions of Zhuge Cang and the others were solemn. The altar was incredibly ancient, and no one knew how many years it had been in existence. Each activation wore the lamps down further.

Perhaps one day, the lamps would decay entirely, and this altar would be rendered useless.

“We simply have to patiently wait. Perhaps it will take three days, or perhaps fifteen hours. The mysteries of this altar are impossible to predict,” Zhuge Cang said.

Meanwhile, Fang Lin found himself in an intensely hot space, surrounded by rolling flames assaulting him from all directions.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The flames surged and roiled, threatening to engulf Fang Lin and incinerate him into a dried-up corpse as waves of intense heat washed over him.

“What the hell is this place?” Fang Lin roared, leaping to avoid the oncoming burst of flames.

In the next moment, Fang Lin discovered that he could actually fly in this place.

However, no time remained to savor this newly discovered ability. The flames advanced from every direction, forcing him to dodge repeatedly.

“Damn it!” Fang Lin cursed, blasting off into the air trying to escape this eerie sea of fire.

But he had not flown very far before a beam of light descended and knocked him down.

Fang Lin yelled out as he plummeted towards the endless sea of fire below. In a life-or-death moment, he reached out and grabbed a random black object nearby.

Hiss!

The object was scalding hot and Fang Lin’s hands were immediately scorched black, his flesh seared and mangled.

Despite the unbearable pain in his hands, Fang Lin bit his teeth tightly, refusing to let go.

If he let go, he would plummet into the fire, surely leading to his total incineration.

“What the hell is this thing?” Fang Lin looked down and saw that the skin and flesh of his palms had completely burnt away, revealing the grim sight of his bone-white skeleton.

Simultaneously, additional bursts of light began to rain down from above. While they were not directly targeting him, they made his situation even more unbearable.

“I was clearly sitting on the altar, but ended up in this place. Something’s definitely off!” Fang Lin quickly calmed down. With a quick sweep of his eyes, he set his pain aside for now.

At the same time, Su Xiaotong and Zhao Shenkong also found themselves in the same place, enduring the torment of the endless sea of fire.

Both Su Xiaotong and Zhao Shenkong had staggered and tumbled into the fire numerous times. Each time they were incinerated completely, but then immediately restored to their original conditions, ready to suffer again.

Only Fang Lin, whose hands had been reduced to mere skeletons, was still gripping the black object tightly, holding himself back from the precipice of falling into the flaming abyss.

“This place is possibly an illusory realm. Whoever manages to break free from this illusion first will be declared victorious,” Fang Lin hypothesized.

Bang!

All of a sudden, a roaring fire dragon emerged from the sea of flames beneath him. With its terrifying jaws agape, the dragon rushed straight towards Fang Lin.

Fang Lin’s eyes narrowed. He leaped into the air, attempting to fly upwards.

The fire dragon gave chase relentlessly. Fang Lin turned his head and glanced back, an expression of cool indifference on his face, nowhere to be seen a trace of dread.

“Die!” With a light command from Fang Lin, the ferocious fire dragon was seemingly struck by a boundless force and instantly vanished into thin air.

Fang Lin hovered in mid-air, despite being surrounded by raging flames. He had figured out the true nature of this place.

This place was the inside of the Pill Furnace.

And at this moment, he was being refined as if he were a pill.

Fang Lin sneered. As a Pill Sovereign, this kind of petty trickery was nothing short of laughable to him.

“They’re all mine!” With a resounding bellow from Fang Lin, the surrounding flames rushed towards him. Instead of hurting him, they merged into his body.

Simultaneously, the four lamps on the altar in the outside world flashed brightly.

“Someone has had an insight!” A wave of surprised cries rippled through the crowd as all eyes turned towards the three on the altar.

“Who is it? Who managed to have an insight so quickly?”

“Could it be Zhao Shenkong?”

“It’s too soon to tell…”

However, a select few within the crowd, including Zhuge Cang, had a good sense of what was happening. The pale faces of Zhao Shenkong and Su Xiaotong strongly suggested that they were still struggling within the secret realm.

Meanwhile, Fang Lin exhibited a strong aura, with an extremely terrifying fluctuation vaguely emanating from his body.

Although it’s still not fully revealed, Zhuge Cang and the rest were utterly shaken.

How long has it been since they began? Has Fang Lin already nearly gained his insights? How can he be so abnormal?

In the midst of the sea of flames, Fang Lin released his spirit, freely absorbing the surrounding flames.

Just then, a figure emerged from the infinite flames below, casting a somewhat astonished glance at Fang Lin.

Fang Lin spotted the figure, too. He displayed no surprise; instead, he grinned, “Such a weak world inside the cauldron, truly disappointing.”

The moment the figure heard the words ‘truly’, it trembled, its face showing a horrified expression.