The princess calmed down her group and separated them. She then told Li Qiye: “It’s understandable that anyone would want to take the treasury for their own. However, this place is perilous, Young Noble Li, can you get through it by yourself?”
She paused for a moment before continuing: “That’s why it’s better to try together in a group. We need to get through the domain first before talking about the spoils. It’s just a waste of time otherwise.”
Her actual thoughts prior didn’t matter because this line contained actual sincerity and directness, leaving no room for critique. More and more people thought that Young Lord Bai was lucky to have a fiancee like her.
It also painted a stark contrast to Li Qiye’s overbearing attitude. He seemed even more unreasonable to the point of being muleheaded, truly deserving of scorn.
“Li, be smart already. Know that you’re lucky to meet someone reasonable like the princess or you would be dead right now.” A hater snorted.
“True.” Another young cultivator backed the princess and said: “He wants to get to the treasury by himself? Hmph, even if he were lucky enough to get there, how is he going to leave this place alive?”
The crowd was certainly against Li Qiye. However, he has never cared about how others viewed him.
“It’s just Fire Domain, not difficult at all.” He chuckled.
“You think you can handle the heat there? Stop it.” The godchild snorted.
Most of the crowd snorted as well. Even the ancestors who tried earlier couldn’t withstand this heat. Now, Li Qiye spoke with such triviality on this object. How could people trust him?
“Well, just wait and watch him die there, less work for us.” Another sneered.
The princess didn’t make fun of Li Qiye. Her eyes narrowed as she said: “So you’re saying that you can travel effortlessly through this place, Young Noble?”
“Of course.” Li Qiye smiled and entered the domain in a casual manner.
“Burn him down to juices…” One spectator mumbled with malice.
All eyes were on Li Qiye now. Unfortunately, their expectations were betrayed because Li Qiye wasn’t harmed at all by the temperature during his saunter.
“Impossible!” Some yelled.
“See, just a tiny flame.” Li Qiye chuckled and raised his hand, revealing a tiny spark in his palm.
“That’s the flame of the domain?” Eyes widened after seeing this.
With loud sizzles, the spark increased in size and became a powerful flame. One could suddenly hear the screech of a phoenix as the flame danced in his palm.
This feeling was as real as can be. It felt just like the trueflame of a phoenix.
The temperature from it was unbearable, capable of melting everything in the world, just not Li Qiye.
“Hey… this flame looks like the one deeper inside.” One ancestor murmured.
He compared the flame by the torth and the one on Li Qiye’s hand. They seemed to be the same type.
“This doesn’t make any sense!” The spectators couldn’t believe their own eyes. Some started to rub their eyes.
No one in this place could dare to travel through this place with confidence, not even the princess and the ancestors. Now, Li Qiye stood there, completely unaffected.
The strangest part was that he seemed to be able to summon a flame from the domain as well.
Remember, the only bright flame that could be seen here existed in the deepest region of the domain. No other places had visible flames.
The shocked crowd thought that he could actually summon the phoenix flame after seeing this.
Firmaments Godchild, Skylight First Prince, and Wu Zhongtian were shocked. They looked down on him earlier and were forced to eat their words now. This was akin to being slapped in the face.
Even the princess could no longer stay calm like before while looking at the flame.
Once again, the most unmoved person was Pearlstone Saintess. Li Qiye was omnipotent in her mind by this point.
“How, how?” One spectator asked.
“Only a dao lord can do this… is he…?” Another started speculating.
“No way or everyone would know.” All thought that this was impossible.
“Maybe he’s a disciple from Divine Stone Ridge?” A powerful golem guessed: “People from there could travel through the domain as well. He might know the secret behind avoiding the heat.”
“That’s plausible, wait, the successor of Divine Stone Ridge came, right? Maybe he’s the one.” Someone responded.
“No, he’s a human, not a golem.” One ancestor shook his head and was certain that Li Qiye couldn’t pretend to be a human.
“There’s another possibility.” An older master stared at Li Qiye and added: “Perhaps he has a phoenix bloodline flowing through him.”
“A phoenix bloodline?” The crowd became startled.
“We’ve heard that the domain was the place for a phoenix to rebirth and was created by its trueflame. Thus, if he has this bloodline, no matter how thin, he would still be close to this flame. That’s why the domain doesn’t hurt him at all. It’s actually beneficial for him to stay here.”