Chapter 2: The Palace of Radiant Divinity

  It wasn't until much later that Ouyang Xuan finally woke up in a daze - he was woken up by the heat!

  "What's going on!?" Ouyang Xuan found himself in a cave and struggled to get up.

  Ouyang Xuan's head was still a bit dizzy, his body swayed, and his left hand wanted to hold onto the wall of the cave to calm down.

  "Whoa——" As soon as Ouyang Xuan's left hand touched the wall of the cave, it was like touching a red-hot iron plate. The sweat on his hand instantly turned into a steaming mist.

  "Ah——!" Ouyang Xuan let out a miserable cry, instantly feeling a sharp pain that made him jump high, and under the torrent of cold sweat, he immediately sobered up!

  "What's going on? Why is the cave wall burning like it's on fire?!?" Ouyang Xuan looked at his left hand, which was scalded to a bright red color, and he was in so much pain that he almost fainted!

  Soon, Ouyang Xuan discovered the abnormality of the cave:

  In the beginning, there was a huge wall behind me, except for a giant Tai Chi diagram, nothing else existed!

  Secondly, the air inside the cave is scorching hot, and my own sweat is dripping down from my forehead, while the inner clothes on me have long been soaked with sweat.

  Finally, a faint light came from ahead, but that light was fiery red, casting a deep red glow on the walls of the cave!

  "It's as if I touched a diagram of the Eight Trigrams in a crevice, and then a bolt of lightning struck, causing the diagram to suddenly move. And then I ended up here!" Ou Yang Xuan's face became increasingly shocked and uncertain: "Could it be that I've encountered some kind of strange and unusual event!? Hopefully it's not something terrible!"

  Ouyang Xuan prayed in his heart and looked around, except for going forward, it seemed that there was no way to go.

  Helpless, Ouyang Xuan had no choice but to shake off his fatigue, first solving the pressing physiological problem, and then under the strong desire for survival, he carefully moved forward.

  The light is sufficient and visibility is no problem, it's just that the further you walk forward, the higher the temperature becomes, gradually becoming like a scorching steam room.

  Ouyang Xuan quickly broke out in a sweat, licked his dry and cracked lips, bent down and stretched out his tongue to express his suffering: "Heavens! What kind of place is this? How can it be so hot?! Even the Sahara Desert isn't as exaggerated as this!"

  He patted his backpack and was relieved to find that there was still a bottle of mineral water left. Ouyang Xuan opened it and drank it all in one gulp, then gritted his teeth and continued to grope forward.

  The fiery red light in front of him grew more and more intense, the temperature also rose higher and higher, Ou Yang Xuan's head spun dizzily as he sweated profusely - under the massive sweat, he was almost on the verge of dehydration!

  "It's all over, it's all over, I'm going to be roasted alive! If this continues, I'm afraid I'll die of heat here!" Ouyang Xuan wiped the sweat from his forehead in exhaustion, and a strong sense of fear close to death arose in his heart!

  "No, I won't give up!" Ouyang Xuan thought of his young age and his elderly parents who still needed to be supported, so he mustered up his spirit again, forcing himself to move forward with heavy footsteps.

  His heavy breathing was like an ox's, the sweat on his forehead gradually drying up, and Ouyang Xuan's eyes began to blur!

  Suddenly, Ouyang Xuan struggled to get over a corner of the cave, and in front of him, a strange scene that would be etched in his memory forever appeared.

  Before him was a gigantic cave, its height boundless and precipitous, its width boundless and precipitous, its depth boundless and precipitous! Ouyang Xuan compared to it, was tiny like a grain of dust in the universe, insignificant!

  At the bottom of this vast cave, everywhere was ablaze with raging flames! In the boundless sea of fire, those fierce sparks soared to a height of several hundred feet, emitting a terrifying whistle!

  In the far center of the cave, a gigantic stone pillar suddenly rose from the sea of fire at the bottom of the cave, and on its top was a magnificent palace complex that shone like fiery red!

  In the midst of a sea of fierce flames, the crimson palace complex emitted a fiery red glow, casting a bloody hue on Ouyang Xuan's face!

  "My god, what is this place!! Hell or Heaven!? " Ouyang Xuan was shocked and stunned: No wonder it's so hot here, it turns out to be a sea of fire!

  "It's all over, can't escape, doomed to die!" Exhausted Ou Yang Xuan, once he lost the hope of survival, his spirit immediately collapsed, and his knees went soft, causing him to kneel down! Even though the rocks beneath his knees were hot like embers, he didn't even think about moving an inch!

  Just as Ouyang Xuan was about to be cooked by the fierce flames, a loud and clear dragon's roar suddenly came from the palace group on the giant pillar!

  In the midst of a raging storm, a gigantic dragon rose above the palace complex: with deer-like antlers and a snake-like body, eagle claws and tiger mouth, its copper-bell-like fiery red eyes stared straight at Ouyang Xuan!

  "Dragon!!?" Ouyang Xuan almost fainted, he had grown so big, all the stimulation added up didn't even amount to one percent of what he was feeling now!

  "Roar——" The huge fire dragon let out a long howl, swung its waist, and flashed over the endless sea of flames like lightning, pouncing towards Ouyang Xuan.

  "All right, the dragon is a totem of our Chinese nation. Dying in such a way by feeding the dragon with my own body is not shameful!" Ouyang Xuan let out a bitter smile, closed his eyes, and awaited his beheading!

  In fact, he no longer has any strength to move now. He, who is close to dehydration, has already smelled the breath of death!

  The giant dragon flew to Ouyang Xuan's side in an instant, extinguishing the flames in its mouth. It circled around Ouyang Xuan twice beside the cave wall before suddenly speaking in a thunderous voice: "You are human!?"

  Ouyang Xuan opened his eyes in surprise, and he could only weakly nod his head as he was too weak to speak. In his heart, however, he was puzzled why the giant dragon didn't eat him! Was it because he wasn't enough to fill its teeth, or was it because he himself reeked of sweat and was hard to swallow?

  "Double pupils!? Ah——! It's you!" The giant dragon let out a low rumble like thunder, and the strong gust of wind from its nostrils almost blew Ou Yang Xuan's hair off.

  Suddenly, the giant dragon let out a long roar, raised its head to the sky, and a burst of white light rose from it. A round bead emitting a clear, cold white light was spat out by the giant dragon, spinning and floating in mid-air!

  The giant dragon blew a breath towards the crystal ball, and it floated gently towards Ouyang Xuan, stopping one foot in front of him.

  "This is one of my elixirs, eat it and you can save your life, from now on you won't have to avoid the sea of flames!" The giant dragon's voice was filled with unparalleled majesty, as if sacred and inviolable.

  The white dragon dan in front of Ouyang Xuan emitted a cool white light, making Ouyang Xuan feel extremely comfortable, and forcibly pulled him back from the brink of death!

  Without thinking further, Ouyang Xuan struggled to grab the Longdan in front of him with his right hand. Suddenly, a refreshing coolness that was extremely comfortable spread from the Longdan to his hand!

  Ouyang Xuan put the Long Dan into his mouth, trembling. With a 'whoosh', the strange Long Dan melted in an instant and disappeared without a trace!

  Suddenly, Ouyang Xuan felt as if his entire body was bathing in cool river water, refreshing to the extreme, and his body was filled with immense power, unable to hold back a loud howl: "Ahhh——"

  The huge cave shook slightly in the roar, and some small rocks rolled down from the wall of the cave, making a loud "ding-dong" sound!

  The giant dragon seemed delighted, its massive body swaying slightly as it descended in front of Ouyang Xuan. With a majestic tone, it said: "Grab my horn and come onto my back. In the Temple of Light, your sacred mission awaits!"

  Watching such a huge fire dragon swirling in front of him, Ouyang Xuan felt some trepidation despite knowing that the fire dragon had no malicious intent.

  He didn't dare ask a single question, and with boundless reverence, he grasped the giant dragon's horns and sat on its back.

  Underneath was still an endless sea of flames, emitting a terrifying high temperature!

  However, Ou Yang Xuan who had absorbed the inner dan of the fire dragon no longer felt any fear of high temperatures, his entire body feeling as cool and refreshing as a warm spring day.

  "Roar——!" The giant dragon let out a long roar, its body flashing as it flew towards the huge palace complex like lightning and thunder!

  Ouyang Xuan only felt the wind whizzing past his ears, like riding on clouds and driving through fog, so frightened that he didn't dare to open his eyes, and could only tightly grasp the giant dragon's horns, fearing falling into the deep abyss of flames.

  The giant dragon stopped in its tracks and descended onto a large square in front of the palace complex!

  Ouyang Xuan opened his eyes and hastily jumped off the giant dragon's body, looking at the magnificent palace in front of him, his breath suddenly stopped!

  These palaces are built with unknown gigantic stones, all over crimson red, smooth as jade, not only emitting a beautiful and dazzling light, but also covered with strange bird and beast patterns, the craftsmanship is simply divine!

  What made Ouyang Xuan even more astonished was that around the palace complex, there were clusters of fiery red trees with flowers as red as blood! In the midst of the raging sea of flames, there were still trees that could survive, it was simply a miracle!

  "Dragon, is this the Temple of Light you spoke of!? How should I address you!?" Ouyang Xuan said respectfully, looking at the giant dragon.

  "This is the Temple of Light, I am Red Leopard, the Ancestor of the Dragon Clan!" In a flash of intense red light, the giant dragon's body rapidly shrunk and transformed into a humanoid figure with a dragon head!

  "Are you really a dragon!? So all the legendary myths are true!? Were there really many heavenly gods in the past!?" Ouyang Xuan was greatly shocked!

  "Most of it is true!" The red leopard said calmly: "Otherwise, how can you explain that you can stand in the sea of fire unscathed!? Come on, follow me!"

  It seems that seeing the Red Leopard is not as difficult to speak, Ouyang Xuan's courage has also increased a bit. He followed behind the Red Leopard with a sincere and fearful heart, unable to bear the surprise in his stomach, and asked again: "Is this Guangming Temple your residence? Why hasn't anyone discovered it here for many years?"

  The red leopard stepped up to the first step, looked up at the magnificent temple in the distance on the hundreds of steps, and said faintly: "I am not the master here, don't ask more questions, after entering the temple, all your doubts will be clear!"

  Ouyang Xuan didn't dare ask again and could only endure that terrifying surprise, following Chi Bao cautiously towards the grand hall.

  After climbing hundreds of flights of stairs, Ouyang Xuan surprisingly didn't feel the slightest bit tired, probably due to the divine power of Long Dan!

  At the extreme of his gaze, Ouyang Xuan saw clearly that on the gate of the great hall dozens of steps away were four ancient and simple seal characters - Temple of Light!

  The temple gate was tightly closed, and on the two door panels were carved a kind of strange fire-spewing beast, with the body of a horse, the claws of a tiger, and the head of a leopard, extremely ferocious!

  Chi Bao arrived at the gate of the palace first, bowed respectfully and made a gesture for Ouyang Xuan to do the same.

  Ouyang Xuan was full of doubts, but he could only respectfully follow the instructions, constantly guessing who the master of the Guangming Temple was.

  "Master, your calamity has ended, the human who should be afflicted by the calamity has arrived!" Red Leopard said respectfully!

  "Go away and let him in!" Suddenly, a calm and majestic voice came from the depths of the Temple of Light!

  "Yes, master!" The red leopard responded with a loud voice, suddenly transformed into a fierce flash of light and plunged into the sky, disappearing in an instant!

  Right after that, the heavy stone gate of the Temple of Light suddenly rumbled and swung open. Ouyang Xuan poked his head inside, but the deep temple was pitch black, and he couldn't see anything!

  "Humans, come forth, do not be afraid!" That calm and majestic voice suddenly became clearer and came out from the temple.