Primordial Star Scripture

Ye Chen, Cai Meng'er, and five other members of the Nine Flames Clan continued onward.

After crossing the vast lake region where they killed fourteen members of the "Blood Wing Clan," a dense, dark forest appeared ahead of them.

Looking at the thick forest, Ye Chen said to the six people beside him: "Although the 'Blood Wing Clan' members who entered this parallel space have been eliminated, everyone still needs to be cautious."

"We've been here for so long without encountering the third kind of Exotic Beasts here—the 'Heart-piercing Rat' mentioned by the 'Nine Beasts Cauldron.' I suspect the 'Heart-piercing Rat' won't be easy to deal with."

One of the six, named "Chi Yan," an Upper Immortal Divine Venerable, nodded and said: "Yes, in the first region, we faced the Lower Immortal Divine Venerable level combat power of the 'Fire Winged Tusked Beast.' In the second region, we encountered the Middle Immortal Divine Venerable level power of the 'Flame Devouring Demon Spider.'

"This third region might involve encountering Exotic Beasts with Upper Immortal Divine Venerable level combat power."

"Even if it is Upper Immortal Divine Venerable level power, we are not sure to what extent it reaches. Perhaps only Ye Chen can confidently handle it, but we can't claim absolute certainty."

The rest nodded in agreement.

Cai Meng'er added worriedly: "We have to kill a total of nine Exotic Beasts. This is just the third region. If the Exotic Beasts have already reached Upper Immortal Divine Venerable level combat power, then in the subsequent fourth, fifth regions and up to the ninth region, how powerful will the Exotic Beasts become?!

"Could they surpass the Immortal Divine Venerable level and reach the Sovereign Realm level?!"

As Cai Meng'er spoke, everyone furrowed their brows even more.

After all, their goal is to pass through nine checkpoints to explore the unspeakable Divine Flame within the mysterious Ancient Temple.

Even reaching the eighth checkpoint and failing to pass the ninth would be futile.

Current circumstances raise doubts about whether they can reach the subsequent fourth, fifth, or sixth regions.

Amidst everyone's worries, Ye Chen shook his head: "It's unlikely that the nine Exotic Beasts here will reach the Sovereign Realm level. After all, this place is for those below the Sovereign Realm to venture, and combating Sovereign Realm combat power when below it is extremely difficult."

"Even with my methods to counter combat power below the Sovereign Realm, if it ever reaches that level, I fear I can't get past."

"Since the 'Nine Beasts Cauldron' and 'Nine Profound Threads' requirements are set within this Ancient Forbidden Grounds, it likely won't lead us all to annihilation."

Ye Chen's words provided some reassurance to the six beside him.

"However," Ye Chen added, "even if the nine Exotic Beasts don't break into Sovereign Realm combat power, it's expected that their combat power intensifies the further we go, and their attack modes become more terrifying."

"As of now, we just reached the third region, and our Divine Sense probing has been increasingly suppressed. I fear that moving forward, the suppression will be more severe, further decreasing the probing range, reducing our reaction time to danger significantly, and increasing the likelihood of getting killed."

"In conclusion, don't relax vigilance. Be cautious!"

"Yes!"

"Yes!"

Cai Meng'er and the others all nodded and drew closer to Ye Chen.

Led by Ye Chen, the group of seven finally advanced into the dark forest.

Upon entering the third region, Ye Chen's Divine Sense probe only reached over a thousand yards.

For the remaining six, the probing range was further compressed to just within a hundred yards.

All seven extended their Divine Sense in all directions, observing the disturbances throughout.

Thus, Ye Chen's group of seven wandered through the dark forest for over a day without any new discoveries.

The nine days allotted to pass through the first three regions were coming to an end.

On the sixth day in the third region, the group ventured far into the depths of the Endless Forest, the dark forest.

The giant trees ahead reached thousands of yards in height.

What shocked Ye Chen's group further was when they tested the trees; even Cai Meng'er and two Upper Immortal Divine Venerables couldn't leave a mark on them.

The defensive power of the giant trees had reached the Upper Immortal Divine Venerable level!

Only Ye Chen and three other Upper Immortal Divine Venerables could destroy the giant trees in the forest.

This increased the group's alertness.

Whizz! Whizz-whizz!

On the sixth day, after traversing half the day, the group suddenly heard a peculiar sound.

Although very faint, the sound in the silent dense forest quickly grabbed their full attention.

"Something's amiss."

"It could be the region where the 'Heart-piercing Rat' appears!"

"Everyone, be careful!"

Ye Chen alerted the six.

As soon as Ye Chen finished speaking, a brown light suddenly flashed before the group.

Poof!

Amidst the flash, as the others just prepared to make a move, Ye Chen raised his finger, sending a sword light slicing toward the brown light.

The brown light fell instantly to the ground.

Seven people looked down, seeing the brown light was a rat-like Exotic Beast, roughly several feet in size, emitting brown Divine Light, with nine long whiskers.

Heart-piercing Rat.

The seven quickly recognized the demon as the Exotic Beast of the third region, the "Heart-piercing Rat!"

Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish!

Without a chance to speak with Ye Chen, Cai Meng'er and the rest heard increasingly violent chaotic sounds surrounding them.

They then witnessed an unbelievable scene.

Suddenly, countless brown rays flickered in the region ahead, and probably more than a thousand Heart-piercing Rats emerged from underground.

Once these Heart-piercing Rats appeared, some of them shot straight like lightning into the giant trees in the forest.

Then, you could see that the giant trees which Cai Meng'er and the two Upper Immortal Divine Venerables couldn't destroy, started melting visibly once these Heart-piercing Rats drilled into them.

In less than a few breaths, several thousand-foot-tall giant trees turned to dust.

Only then did the Heart-piercing Rats that had burrowed into the giant trees show themselves again.

This scene caused everyone present to gasp in shock.

They secretly felt relieved in their hearts that these Heart-piercing Rats drilled into the giant trees and not their bodies.

If they really burrowed into their bodies, few could withstand the terrifying force of this Melting Corrosion!

"Heart-piercing Rat, drills into the heart, incinerates the whole body. I guess that's how the name 'Heart-piercing Rat' came about," Cai Meng'er said with a quivering voice.

But Ye Chen's eyes flashed with insight.

Others hadn't discovered how the Heart-piercing Rats "melted" the giant trees, but Ye Chen's Blue Divine Soul was extremely powerful and saw everything clearly.

He saw that once these Heart-piercing Rats burrowed into the giant trees, brown flames directly erupted from their bodies.

It was exactly those brown flames that caused the giant trees to melt instantly!

"The brown flames inside the Heart-piercing Rats are probably no weaker than my Blue Extreme Iceflame."

"However, once these Heart-piercing Rats die, the flames within them dissipate immediately. Otherwise, collecting this kind of flame would be quite the profit."

Ye Chen turned his gaze to the Heart-piercing Rat he had slain.

While everyone's mind and spirit were filled with different thoughts, the Heart-piercing Rats, whether they were the ones burrowing into the trees causing them to "melt," or those rapidly flash-killing towards Ye Chen's group of seven, had already crazily surrounded them.

At the next moment, the seven of them were about to be encircled by thousands of Heart-piercing Rats.

Ye Chen once again drove out two divine objects: the Copper Gong and Wooden Hammer.

With a "dong" sound, the thousands of Heart-piercing Rats, like the fourteen Upper Immortal Divine Venerables from the Blood Wing Clan before, were directly imprisoned in the void, all revealing their appearances!

"Swiftly slay them."

Ye Chen's voice, like thunder, resonated in the ears of Cai Meng'er and the other six.

Cai Meng'er and the six others woke up as if from a great dream and hurriedly wielded their divine weapons or trained divine flames, attacking the imprisoned Heart-piercing Rats.

To the surprise of Cai Meng'er and the two weaker Upper Immortal Divine Venerables present, even though the Heart-piercing Rats were entrapped, their body's defensive power remained astonishingly formidable.

Despite their unrelenting attacks, they couldn't even penetrate the Heart-piercing Rats' fur.

Ultimately, it was after Ye Chen first injured these Heart-piercing Rats that they were able to slay them.

After repeatedly killing several batches of Heart-piercing Rats, all seven of Ye Chen's group gathered the third kind of Beast Spirit from the Heart-piercing Rats.

But by this time, Cai Meng'er had completely abandoned the idea of going to the ancient temple to witness the Unsurpassed Divine Fire.

She knew that without Ye Chen, she probably wouldn't even be able to reach the third region.

Now, upon arriving at the third region, she had to rely on Ye Chen's assistance to kill the Exotic Beasts inside. Later, she feared that relying on her own abilities to kill other Exotic Beasts would be even more hopeless.

"Anyone below the Sovereign Realm will enter an ancient temple and witness the Unsurpassed Divine Fire inside."

"The Unsurpassed Divine Fire is only a single flame and surely won't belong to me. I always rely on Ye Chen's help, so there's no way I could compete with Ye Chen for the Divine Fire, nor would I succeed."

"I hope Ye Chen can make it to the end. I hope the Unsurpassed Divine Fire belongs to Ye Chen."

"My goal is just to encounter my sister and see her safe and sound."

Cai Meng'er made up her mind.

As long as she met Cai Xiao'er, the two of them would follow the Ancient Stele's instructions, waiting safely until the end of this Ancient Forbidden Grounds expedition.

She had no other thoughts.

The increasingly difficult situation had already made her give up the struggle for the Unsurpassed Divine Fire.

"I wonder how my sister is doing now."

After experiencing the Heart-piercing Rats' encirclement, Cai Meng'er became even more worried about Cai Xiao'er.

What Cai Meng'er didn't know was that, in the parallel space where Cai Xiao'er was, Cai Xiao'er and eight other members of the Nine Flames Clan were also caught in the Heart-piercing Rats' encirclement. However, the number of Heart-piercing Rats they faced was much fewer, with each group only having a few dozen.

By jointly activating a Flame Divine Formation focused on defense, Cai Xiao'er's group spent several days finally exterminating the batches of Heart-piercing Rats and survived.

However, not everyone in other parallel spaces was so fortunate.

"Poof."

Someone carelessly had a Heart-piercing Rat directly burrow into their body, instantly feeling the Heart-piercing Rat delve into their heart.

In mere seconds, their entire being began to "melt," finally becoming a pile of dust!

This scene terrified their companions, causing them to scream in horror.

Many Dominion Realm members from both the Nine Flames Clan and Blood Wing Clan either perished in mutual massacre or were slain by the Heart-piercing Rats.

Fewer and fewer people survived.

And those determined to seize the Unsurpassed Divine Fire grew fewer as well.

After slaying the Heart-piercing Rats, Ye Chen's group spent several more days finally gathering the third kind of brown Nine Profound Threads.

All seven finally entered the fourth region on the tenth day of entering the Ancient Forbidden Grounds.

Upon entering the fourth region, the Nine Beasts Cauldron warned them that the Exotic Beast of the fourth region was called—God-Devouring Caterpillar!