Chapter 667 - Great Elder of Fire Temple

Inside the Freedom Sect, specifically in the portal, connecting both cave and realm, appeared two men, Hao and Alex.

Alex was startled upon seeing this place. First, the sun shouldn't exist here, but it was very bright inside as if the sun was there. When he looked up, he actually saw a sun and even clouds. Not knowing why Alex decided to activate his Spirit Eyes and realized it was only an illusion.

Besides him, he could see many plants staying alive and grass spread around the area, making the scenery look beautiful. Unfortunately, they were surrounded by water, so when he looked around the sky, behind him was only the sea horizon, filled with clouds, looking very imperfect. 

'So this is what Master means by suitable for living… If they don't look at this human-made scenery, it's perfect since most plants and herbs live from Spiritual Energy. I don't know if there is any monster around, though.' Alex observed his surroundings and sighed.

"This is where we live. We often hunt monsters on the surface to get their meat, but they are usually done by senior disciples to gather many monsters to last us a year or so." The elder sighed. "It's not perfect, but bearable. We are just afraid to see another purge."

"I can relate that somehow." Alex nodded. 

"I am an elder managing the daily affairs for this teleportation thing. So, I will be leading you to the Fire Temple's Great Elder."

Alex agreed before asking something he found confusing. "Elder, why does my Master's token release a different color than yours? Is it simply because of the difference of elements?"

"No. Follow me, I will explain it to you on the way." The elder flew to the sky since the island they took was quite large. "It's based on hierarchy. Normal Disciple, Senior Disciple, Elder, and Great Elder. This token is used for identification. Normal Disciple will have white color, Senior Disciple has a bronze color, Elder like me has a silver color while Great Elder rank has a golden color."

"I see." Alex thought for a moment and asked. "Do I need to become a disciple of the sect? I don't really want to be bound by the sect since I have another thing to do."

"You can discuss it with the Great Elder. Maybe she will grant you a special one due to your current status, but who knows." Hao shrugged. 

Alex wanted to ask another question, but he was dumbfounded when he found a mountain far away. 'A mountain? Does that mountain originate from this island?' 

Seeing Alex's confusion, the elder laughed. "I almost forgot you have no knowledge about this place. This place is actually a sunken island. However, we, the generations afterward, don't mean we are pushovers. We are currently expanding our place by slowly opening up the place and creating a special realm. Although we can sell monster parts on the surface, we still need to find Spirit Stone mine for our own consumption."

"I see…" Alex nodded before thinking, 'Mining underwater? I only know drilling in a deep-sea in the Oil and Gas industry… If you are looking at the purpose alone, it's basically the same. Still, I am wondering whether this place or the previous Naga race's Underwater Kingdom can be considered closer to Atlantis…' 

"Anyway, this place has become quite big, you know. Although it is not as big as the Heavenly Continent, it has five percent of the size… I guess. And the Fire Temple has moved to this place because this mountain is actually an underwater volcano." 

"What?" Alex was startled. The number was small, but compared to the enormous size of the Heavenly Continent, five percent might require him a few days to fly from one edge to another. This was simply ridiculous. Besides… 'An underwater volcano. No, it should be Undersea Volcano, huh… It's truly a wonder of the world. I might never visit a place like this if we don't go to that cave.' 

"You see that huge tower over there?" When Alex lost in thought, Hao pulled him back by pointing his finger toward a red pagoda, not far away from them. "That is Fire Temple." 

Alex furrowed his eyebrows. It looked like a pagoda in Japan, filled with red colors from the wall to the railing. He wanted to observe more, but the elder already descended to the ground. 

There were disciples guarding the door, but the elder simply presented his token and showed his status. 

"Elder!" The two disciples bowed. 

Hao nodded with a smile and asked. "Can I trouble you two to inform your Great Elder? I know it's an absurd request, but if you tell her that Fire Authority has come, she will understand."

The disciples were surprised at first because they didn't know the meaning behind his words. Nonetheless, one of them decided to bring the news to an elder inside, and that elder informed the great elder. 

Suddenly, a woman jumped off the building from the highest floor. She had long red hair like Firia, but that was all. Unlike her, she had a stern face as if she hated everything. Her chest… was quite pitiful and couldn't be compared to Firia. The other things looked normal though, and he felt this person would actually care for someone despite that look.

Unexpectedly, the woman jumped toward Alex and grabbed his shoulders tightly, acting the exact opposite of what he predicted. "Fire Authority? Is this the boy?" 

Alex was startled, looking at this woman who was observing him up and down.

"Space Temple, Hao, greet Fire Great Elder, Viola." Hao bowed to her respectfully. "And yes, he is the one." 

Stars suddenly appeared on her eyes as she looked at Alex as if he was prey. He then grabbed Alex before jumping to the top floor. "Good Elder. I will talk to you and that woman after I have a talk with this young man."

Hao could only shake his head and left. 

Meanwhile, Alex was thrown to a chair as the woman prepared tea for him, looking very cheerful. 

"Ehm?" Alex scratched his cheek, not knowing what to do. 

"You are the disciple of Great Elder Maxwell, right?"

"Yes. Though I just learned about this place not long ago." Alex nodded. 

"He picked me up from the lowest place and became my mentor. I studied under him before becoming a Great Elder two thousand years ago, succeeding the previous Great Elder. He is my benefactor, so I should take care of you well in this place." Viola explained why she behaved this way. 

"I never know about it. It seems Master didn't want me to enter this place previously before I accidentally stumbled upon the cave and the entrance."

"So, why do you come here? I will train you to the best of my ability. You are already a 6-Star Martial Monarch, so I need to know what I should teach you…"

"I want to learn about Space Ability," Alex answered her honestly.

"Huh?" She suddenly looked at him with a disgusted face. "Why would you bother going to that place? Your Master was corrupted and learned from there as well, even though he was an Alchemist. Besides, I can sniff a powerful fire inside you… In fact, it's stronger than Mentor. You are a Pure Fire as well, so you should learn more about Fire with me. I can repay Mentor this way."

Alex shook his head. "I'm good with Fire Element, so I want to focus on my Space Element."

"No, No! Little brother, you can't get corrupted!" She shook his body repeatedly, trying to wake him up.

Alex sighed and uttered. "Fire!"

His Pure Fire appeared above his head and sent pressure to Viola, startling her. She stopped and tensed up. 'What is this fire? This kind of suppression… is ridiculous. Even Pure Fire shouldn't be this much, more so with my 10-Star Martial Saint cultivation!' 

She released his shoulder before taking a few steps back, looking at Alex with a shocked face. "What are you… No, should I say as expected of my Mentor to get an absurd disciple like this?"

"Now you know it, right? I also have a Space Element, but this one is not developed yet. Hearing the information earlier, I want to train my Space Element for future purposes. How about you say that I have neglected my Space Element because it's not important and only want to learn it recently?" Alex smiled.

"That…" She looked doubtful before letting out a long sigh. "Fine. We will go to that woman's tower later. Firstly, I will explain anything you want to know about this place." 

Alex thought it was good for him, so he agreed. "I need to know about hierarchy here so as to avoid offending someone… Then, I need to get my own token, right? Besides… I might leave this place, so I don't really want to be bound here."

"Not staying here?" She looked a bit sad when he heard he would leave. "Considering your master's personality, I know that you are one that won't stay here for long. I assume you also want to break through this world's barrier and reach God Stage?"

"Yes." Alex nodded.

"You are like your Teacher. Even though I am a 10-Star Martial Saint, I have no confidence to reach God Stage. Do you know why?"

Alex shook his head.

"It's simple. Before looking up, you need to look down." She paused for a moment. "There is a thin line that is impossible to cross… At least, for me."

"What is it?" Alex tilted his head in confusion.

"This last tribulation is called Divine Tribulation. Its purpose is to judge whether you are qualified to be a God or not. Hence, it's going to test you from your affinity, mentality, heart, willpower, talent, and many others. The Divine Tribulation doesn't actually come to you in the form of lightning. But it's more a kind of test coming from the world itself.

"According to Mentor, it comes like an illusion, but it is far higher and more realistic than a normal illusion because you will die for real in case you fail. At the same time, it might even shape the world as if it's alive. I can't really explain it, but your master created a lake when he underwent his Divine Tribulation. I have tested myself in numerous illusion arrays, but still can't pass them despite trying for a few hundred years… That's why I'm stuck here." She sighed. 

"Maybe your thought itself is hindering you from achieving a breakthrough."

"Maybe… But an elder from this place once tried despite having the same condition as me… He also couldn't pass all tests inside an illusion array and died on the third strike."

Alex looked at her and closed his eyes, not knowing what to say. He was a simple Martial Monarch at the moment and would probably think about it later. In fact, he might even try this illusion test… Or not. After all, knowing too little can also be a bliss rather than knowing too much. It might shake your confidence. 

"Anyway, this is your token. It's a special Elder title, or you can say it, Honorary Elder. This title is on name only, so you have no responsibility or whatsoever in this place. If you want to ask someone to teach you, you shall pay an equal amount of it. Your Teacher also had this token back then and paid the Space Temple to learn Space Abilities." Viola threw a golden token to him with fire written on it.

Alex nodded. He had more than forty million Spirit Gems or forty thousand Spirit Crystals at the moment, so he was sure he could pay the education fee.

"Onto the second matter, the hierarchy isn't that much from normal disciple to my position. Normal Disciples are for those below Martial Emperor Stage, while Senior Disciples are those in Martial Emperor and Monarch. Martial Saints are Elders, while me the strongest is the Great Elder.

"As for your position, you are the same rank as an Elder… So, you can issue a trade between elders or with their Great Elder. Have any questions?"

"No. Thank you very much."