Chapter 386: Fire Holy Sanctuary

Chapter 386 of Nine Heavens: The Fire Holy Sanctuary is not foolish; in an instant, everyone understood what had happened.

Rose was overjoyed, never expecting that Old Wang, who usually only talked big, could have such terrifying combat power. However, the faces of the Beast Holy Sanctuary disciples on the surrounding stands were far from pleasant.

Three to zero? Holy shit...

After Mangalam was defeated three to zero by Rose, his various excuses and attempts to cover up were found amusing by the Beast Holy Sanctuary group. But they never thought the same thing would happen to them, making it no longer funny at all.

"Vile, vile!" Finally, one of the Beast Holy Sanctuary disciples couldn't hold back and shouted, "Using Thunderclap Bombs!"

"Is this even a victory? This is winning with money!"

"The esteemed Blade Temple, we all strive for personal excellence, strengthening ourselves is the foundation. If you have the skills, win on your own! This person, this person is utterly despicable and low-down!"

"It doesn't count! I strongly suggest a rematch! This is cheating!"

One stone stirred a thousand waves; the previously quiet stands instantly erupted into chaos. Everyone was shouting and roaring, demanding to argue and clarify things with Rose and her team!

Wang Feng, however, watched these people's impotent rage with indifference. Sigh, he just loved seeing these guys want to take him down but being powerless to do so.

But in the next moment, everyone was silenced.

"Shut up, all of you!" Winnie stepped forward, hands on her hips, and bellowed at the crowd.

It must be said that as a professional Spirit Beast Master, Winnie Lee had considerable clout. Her Level 2 Fire Demon Bear was extremely intimidating. As students of the Spirit Beast Academy, the Holy Sanctuary disciples still held a bit of respect, now turning their heads to look at her.

Winnie sneered, "Rely on yourselves? Then don't use Spirit Beasts, don't let your Spirit Beasts use hammers or weapons. What's wrong with us using Thunderclap Bombs? Aren't they all weapons? A bunch of talkative trash! If you have the skills, come and use them!"

This... Even if everyone else in this world said that the Rose Holy Sanctuary's victory was unjust, the Beast Holy Sanctuary couldn't say such a thing. This is the sanctuary of all Spirit Beast Masters. Who fights with their bare hands?

Hundreds of people in the stands were momentarily rendered speechless, staring dumbly at Wang Feng as he jumped down from the ice bee and stood in the middle of the team.

Old Wang looked at Winnie, wanting to gently pat her head. This little girl was becoming more sensible, especially with her upright values, which aligned more and more with his own. It was worth all the time and effort he had invested in her. He nodded in satisfaction: "The timing is just right; we can still catch the magic rail train!"

Rose Holy Sanctuary vs. Beast Holy Sanctuary, three to zero!

If the first three-to-zero victory against Mangalam was turned into a joke by the various rants of those fanatical believers, then the second three-to-zero victory against the Beast Holy Sanctuary was something for everyone to ponder deeply.

This time, Holy Sanctuary's Light provided detailed and extensive coverage of the battle. On one hand, these matches were indeed much more spectacular. Regardless of whether the Beast Holy Sanctuary was secretive or not, there was plenty to write about based on the journalists' on-site impressions. On the other hand, the implications of these three victories, and what they meant for the other Holy Sanctuaries, were far too significant to ignore.

Winnie Lee, who was originally seen as mediocre, relying solely on her family background to thrive in the League of Blades, finally got her vindication. Her blue soul fire, which had already undergone a transformation before reaching the ghost level, and her soul beast, which had advanced and changed, were all things that broke the conventional standards of Holy Sanctuary disciples, demonstrating absolute strength. Coupled with the subtle support from the Li family, it was clear that a tiger father does not have a dog daughter, making Winnie one of the most talked-about figures in the League of Blades over the past two days.

Wu Di, an obscure orc who was previously a target of criticism when the major Holy Sanctuaries accused Rose of fraud,

was deliberately picked out as a point of attack, with some even shouting, "If you're so capable, make that male orc awaken too!" Well, this damn thing really did awaken... Some of the neutral onlookers, who had been enjoying the spectacle, were now swayed by certain individuals, turning their sharp tongues against the conservative Holy Sanctuaries: "Didn't you say Kela's awakening in Rose was fake? Now Wu Di has awakened too, what do you have to say?" The Holy Sanctuaries that had previously been vocal about this matter fell silent, the tide turning. A small breach in a thousand-mile dike can cause its collapse. Just the awakening of one orc shattered the foundation of the argument that Rose and the orcs were colluding to deceive the entire alliance. Almost overnight, the narrative shifted, and Rose, once universally reviled, suddenly gained a solid base of supporters.

After all, the pressure from the Nine Gods was still there, and there were still people with clear heads.

Of course, every action has its consequences, and this was no exception. While the situation was largely beneficial for Rose, it wasn't entirely positive. Rose was now confirmed to have the ability to awaken orcs, which not only made Aurora City's Rose Holy Sanctuary a holy site for orcs across the land, sparking a wave of immigration, but also made various orc tribes and factions extremely envious of Rose's "special ability."

No one would believe it was just a coincidence anymore. Such a significant breakthrough was undoubtedly a huge pie of interests in everyone's eyes, and inevitably, someone would try to carve it up. But that was a story for later. For now, the benefits for Rose were numerous. No one believed that Rose would dissolve, even if Wang Feng and his team lost their bet. That would merely be an internal power struggle within the Holy Sanctuary, with the conservative faction ousting the Lei family and sending new representatives to take control of Rose.

Moreover, the most controversial figure was none other than Rose's captain, Wang Feng.

Eighteen fully armed ice bees, with the high cost of the war demon armor and the configuration of Thunderclap, seemed to open a new door for the soul beast masters in the alliance. It turned out... soul beasts could be used like this?

To be honest, the current mainstream thinking among soul beast masters in the League of Blades was mostly focused on ground combat, concentrating all efforts on enhancing the individual combat power of a single soul beast. No one had really considered group aerial combat. There were many reasons for this: no one had thought of it, flying soul beasts were rare, and controlling multiple soul beasts simultaneously required a very high level of soul strength, otherwise, only weak soul beasts could be controlled.

But Old Wang solved this problem perfectly. Although his ice bees were all at the Tiger Peak stage, they were insects, and their individual strength was not particularly strong, making it possible to control them in groups. At the same time, the expensive war demon armor and configurations like Thunderclap significantly compensated for the ice bees' weak individual combat power and insufficient attack strength.

As for money, would Spirit Beast Masters ever be short of it?

In just one night, the trend of imitation swept through, causing the prices of insect-type Spirit Beasts in the market to soar. However, this craze lasted only a couple of days before it came to a halt. People began to realize with great frustration that designing perfect battle magic armor for these little creatures was no easy task. Even the best foundries in the League had already explicitly stated they could not take on such orders. Such intricate battle magic armor, let alone the rune design on them, required a level of craftsmanship so meticulous that probably only a few master craftsmen in the entire League could achieve it, and certainly not in bulk production...

Moreover, even with insect-type Spirit Beasts, it was actually quite difficult to control more than seven or eight at once. With their numbers limited and combat power unable to stack up, they instantly became useless, like a chicken rib, leaving people sighing in despair. Doubts also arose about Wang Feng, who had devised this tactic.

Where did he get those battle magic armors from? How did he obtain those Ice Bees... Speaking of Ice Bees, recalling the Ice Bee uprising in the Ice Spirit Kingdom when Wang Feng was there, the speculation grew even wider! Could it be that the retreat of the Ice Bees in the Ice Spirit Kingdom back then had something to do with Wang Feng?

Such speculations were impossible to verify and clearly did not gain mainstream recognition. However, without a doubt, Old Wang had been thrust into the eye of public scrutiny, becoming a household name and the focus of all attention.

No matter what means he used to fight, winning was a skill. Undoubtedly, this was far from being a mere show-off. Two victories, both flawless and exhilarating, made everyone start reassessing Rose's strength.

Could it be that they weren't just putting on a show but truly had the intention to fight their way to the top of the Supreme Saint's Holy Sanctuary?

...

What was originally seen as a joke by everyone has now turned into an ongoing miracle, changing everything.

The voices criticizing Rose Holy Sanctuary have largely disappeared, and people have started to take this challenge seriously. In underground betting rings, Rose's odds have soared. Although the odds for an eight-match winning streak haven't changed much, at least for the next match against Fire Holy Sanctuary, Rose's odds are almost even. This is despite a large amount of money having been bet on Fire Holy Sanctuary earlier. In fact, more people are now favoring Rose, after all, even Fire Holy Sanctuary couldn't possibly sweep a 3-0 victory over Beast Holy Sanctuary, which ranks close to them.

Of course, Fire Holy Sanctuary has its own advantages. Firstly, it indeed ranks higher than Beast Holy Sanctuary, and secondly, through the last battle, Rose's true strength and hidden cards have mostly been revealed. Fire Holy Sanctuary will definitely come up with corresponding strategies and plans, unlike Beast Holy Sanctuary, which suffered silently.

This match is a fifty-fifty chance.

Traveling from Vern to Fire Holy Sanctuary is no short journey, almost spanning half of the League of Blades' territory, from east to west.

Fire Holy Sanctuary is named after the mountain it sits on, Mount Fire God, the largest extinct volcano in the Nine Heavens Continent. It once gave birth to a world-class powerhouse, known as the Fire God Zhi Gong, who was not only the strongest fire witch in the history of the Nine Heavens Continent but also the greatest master craftsman in the League of Blades since the Supreme Saint. He personally forged countless high-quality Soul Artifacts renowned across the continent, revered as the founding master of forging in the League of Blades.

Despite his immense prestige, there is no colossal statue in the city or on Mount Fire God that serves as a city landmark. It is said that this was the wish of Fire God Zhi Gong himself. As he put it, having spent a lifetime casting, he did not want to become someone else's casting material after death... even if it was just a statue.

Old Wang heartily agreed; the Fire God’s thoughts were exactly like his own when he saw the statue of Croatias at the harbor. Serving the country and people while alive, and even after death, still being exploited to guard the port—where was the justice in that? It seemed this elderly Fire God was quite an interesting character.

The majestic volcano stood tall and imposing, though it was a dormant one, its thermal energy still lingered. A faint wisp of steam could be seen rising from the crater atop the mountain, resembling the heat waves in a desert, scorching the entire landscape.

As soon as they entered the Fire God Mountain area, the temperature began to rise rapidly. It was already summer, and everyone was dressed rather lightly, but Asibab still couldn’t help but unbutton his shirt, exposing his chubby chest and belly, which made Winnie feel a bit irritable. If men could unbutton their shirts, why couldn’t women?

What was even more annoying was the presence of Wang Feng, who lounged comfortably in his seat, enjoying the cool breeze fanned by Mapeier using a stack of papers, and sipping on a chilled drink. He hadn’t even called for the stewardess; it was unclear where he had gotten the ice from.

Winnie kept pulling at her collar, fanning herself. Although she could have asked Fantasi and Wu Di to fan her, forcing others to do so wasn’t as comfortable as having them volunteer. She certainly didn’t envy Wang Feng, who had managed to find a submissive little fangirl like Mapeier.

The more she looked, the more she couldn’t stand it, and she felt compelled to stir things up with Wang Feng: “Mapeier, stop fussing over that guy and fan yourself! Look at you, all sweaty, your tank top is almost soaked through!”

“It’s fine,” Mapeier smiled gently, a clear drop of sweat sliding down her slightly chubby chin, trembling at the tip before finally falling into the deep valley hidden beneath her thin blouse, yet she found it sweet: “I’m not hot.”

Damn... Your chest is practically soaking wet, and you’re not hot!

Faced with this, Winnie was at a loss for words, could only glare fiercely at Wang Feng, and then handed him half a glass of orange juice, saying menacingly: “Give me some more ice!”

Old Wang lazily pulled over a homemade ice bucket and checked it; it was so hot near the Fire God Mountain that all the ice had melted: “Oh, it’s all melted. This weather is really intense.”

But this clearly didn’t pose a problem for Old Wang. With a casual wave of his hand, a plump ice bee buzzed out, and everyone suddenly understood where Wang Feng had gotten his ice from.

Winnie pouted, about to criticize Wang Feng for mistreating his Spirit Beast, but then she saw the ice bee fly above the cup, turn around, and raise its large, plump rear end toward Winnie’s cup.

Winnie suddenly realized something, her eyes widening and her face stiffening!

The ice bee positioned itself, then shuddered violently, its rear end quivering. Without using the runes of its Battle Magic Armor, it didn’t produce an ice spike but instead shot out a large blob of white substance from its stinger, which slid into Winnie’s glass of orange juice.

Plop~~

The Ice Bee shook its bottom comfortably, and below it, a large lump of white ice settled at the bottom, stirring up the orange juice. A chill instantly permeated the entire glass, making it refreshingly cool, but it also made Winnie feel as if she had fallen into an ice cave. She turned her head with difficulty to look at Wang Feng: "Did you make all those ice cubes like that just now?"

"Or what?" Old Wang said with a chuckle: "I'm not an Ice Wizard, come on, don't bite the hand that feeds you. You ate the most just now!"

What the hell... Winnie felt her stomach churn instantly. To be honest, she was a girl who loved to eat. Anything that could be eaten, whether it flew in the sky or ran on the ground, had never escaped Winnie's little mouth. But, but she didn't eat shit!

"Wang, Wang... ugh!" Winnie spat out a mouthful of acid water, her eyes bloodshot: "I'll kill you for sure!"

The Magic Track Train stopped far from Mount Firegod, mainly because Mount Firegod was really too hot. Old Wang estimated that the temperature here was probably above thirty-five degrees Celsius on average throughout the year, and it was even around forty degrees in summer. With such high temperatures and constant scorching sun, the rune tracks laid down were not suitable to be too close, otherwise they would easily be damaged over time.

The station was built grandly and spacious, bustling both inside and out. There were many passengers getting off here, crowding the vast station so tightly that people were shoulder to shoulder. After all, besides being the most famous casting holy land of the League of Blades, Mount Firegod was also a renowned tourist destination. The hot springs here were quite famous throughout the Nine Heavens Continent, said to contain some mysterious energy from Mount Firegod. Regular soaking could enhance one's fire attribute abilities, a gift from nature. It not only cultivated generations of fire attribute talents on Mount Firegod but also attracted many people who came to experience the magic of these hot springs.

This place was clearly the stronghold of the Fire Witches. Back then, Dean Hawkland could stay here for two whole years, partly because he helped establish the Rune Academy of the Fire Holy Sanctuary, and partly because he was greedy for the comfort of these hot springs, which made the old Hawkland somewhat forget his worries.

Perhaps because of Hawkland's connection, unlike Mangalam and the Beast Holy Sanctuary, the mentor from the Fire Holy Sanctuary who came to pick them up at the station was quite courteous. Not only did he call a few beastmen to help carry their luggage, but he also took the Old Wang Squad to experience the unique cable car of Mount Firegod. The cable stretched from the foot of the mountain all the way to the halfway point, passing through the entire fire city.

Looking out the window of the cable car, since it was a mountain city, the entire city was built around the mountains, with the terrain rising and undulating, causing the streets and alleys within the city to be intricately intertwined and winding, like tangled messes of wires, making people dizzy. Compared to the neatly planned unit cities of Mangalam, this was almost the opposite extreme, no wonder something like a cable car had to be invented; otherwise, if a stranger got lost in the twists and turns of this city, it would be strange if they didn't get lost for three to five days.

"The battle is scheduled for tomorrow. The Fire Holy Sanctuary has already arranged your accommodation and meals, so you don't need to worry about it," the mentor from the Fire Holy Sanctuary said, sitting with everyone, a slight smile on his face. "Of course, we respect your wishes. If you find the environment here uncomfortable, you can also postpone the battle time, for three to five days or even a week."

The first two battles started immediately after getting off the train, so this sudden change in reception style left everyone a bit unaccustomed. Old Wang waved his hand and said: "No need to trouble yourself. Since it's scheduled for tomorrow, let's do it tomorrow."

The mentor nodded, and there was silence in the cable car for a moment.

The cable car wasn't particularly slow, but since it had to reach the Fire Holy Sanctuary halfway up the mountain, it still took quite some time.

Wu Di and Kela hadn't been to many human cities, let alone a unique place like Mount Firegod. They poked their heads out of the cable car window and looked around for a while, seemingly spotting a few large hot spring baths in the city. The two of them looked a bit envious, but remembering their beastman identity, they couldn't help but feel a bit disheartened.

Human entertainment venues like these generally did not allow beastmen to enter, especially 'high-end' things like hot springs. Even beastmen themselves felt that jumping in would dirty the entire pool, let alone humans, who were always particular about cleanliness in such matters.

But unexpectedly, the mentor from the Fire Holy Sanctuary seemed to have noticed their thoughts and smiled, saying: "Except for a few special ones, most of the hot springs in Fire City do not prohibit beastmen from entering. Of course, the pools for beastmen and humans are usually separated, and there are a few mixed baths... If you're interested, you can go and try them out. However, I personally don't recommend it. After all, the best hot springs on Mount Firegod are in the Fire Holy Sanctuary, and as guests receiving hospitality from the Fire Holy Sanctuary, you can directly apply to use them."

Upon hearing this, not only Wu Di and Kela, but even the others were a bit surprised. There were actually places where beastmen and humans could bathe together? This is fucking... This is more open than Rose. Is this really the Fire Holy Sanctuary that used the admission of beastmen to attack Rose at the Holy Sanctuary's Light?

Or is there some kind of plot?