Xianxia Online

"Are the other Great Families coming here too?!"

"What's up with this year? Why are people from the Eight Great Families coming as well?!"

That's right.

The Eight Great Families, located in Upper Asphodel—also known as the Central Capital. Unlike Elysium and Tartarus, Upper Asphodel was very small, and was more accurately described as an enormous city rather than a dimension of its own. That's why it was also named Central Capital, home to the Eight Great Families and Heavenly Medicine Pavilion. There weren't any sects in Upper Asphodel—since the Eight Great Families themselves could be considered top sects in their own right.

One by one, the brigades of each of the Eight Great Families settled down in the empty space made for them by the lightning earlier, and the representatives of each one—namely the strongest young masters of each family—stood out.

"Hrm… the World Qi of this lower dimension is truly… inadequate," a cute girl dressed in lavish purple robes yawned, sighing deeply. "Can we get this done and over with already? I'm tired…"

"We just got here, Xinruo," a young man with long black hair and dressed in white said, wrapping his arm around her. "Don't worry. With me here, this will be over in a flash."

The girl named Xinruo, who had a hairstyle quite similar to Huo Fei's, easily squirmed out of his arm like she didn't care, and instead continued licking on her lollipop. It would seem she, too, liked sweets—much like Huo Fei.

"Looks like everyone is here," Yang Tze, the eldest son of the Yang Family patriarch, said, looking around. "Array masters, please activate the entrance."

Without a doubt, the people of Lower Asphodel were confused. The Eight Great Families had never attended the Flaming Sands Field in the past, so why this time? They must know something others didn't, but no one dared to raise the question out of fear for what might happen to them.

"Yes, young master Yang."

The old masters who came with the Eight Great Families nodded in response to Yang Tze's order, and formed a circle around the marked location of where the Flaming Sands Field was set to open. There was nothing special about this particular patch of the ground just based on appearances, but if one looked closely, they could detect an incredible thick condensation of Space Qi here, which could only mean one thing—a portal.

All that was left was to activate it.

Together, the array masters from the Yang Family poured their Qi into the location, and slowly, the silhouette of a large door appeared. It was like a rift in the air, fizzling with energy, as it slowly took shape.

Just several minutes later, the deed was done. The array masters stepped back, leaving the original Arraymakers whose job was to activate the field stunned. Being from the Eight Great Families, these Arraymakers—who held the title of Array Master—naturally were more efficient and powerful, so nobody could really argue—and besides, this was less work for the original Arraymakers anyway, so they could hardly complain.

"It has been done, young master Yang," one of the Array Masters said, bowing his head, and Yang Tze nodded in satisfaction.

"Good. Then let us enter."

Without even bothering to acknowledge anyone else present, Yang Tze and his entourage of fellow cultivators from the Yang Family entered through the materialized portal. The rest of the Eight Great Families followed, and once they were gone, the remaining forces had their turn one by one.

Xuan, seeing this, narrowed his eyes.

'He's clearly an Origin Transformation stage… how can he enter the Flaming Sands Field?'

Quickly, he checked the Quests tab, and there he received his answer.

Before, the quest requirement had been to be Origin Transformation stage or under—but now that it had Mutated, the requirement was no longer there.

'Hm… could it be…?'

Xuan thought back to his past life, when he'd encountered other Mutated Quests. Usually, it occurred because of the sudden emergence of a powerful entity like a Magic Beast, disrupting the natural order of the quest. Since the Flaming Sands Field was a fire-attribute based small world, the Magic Beast that appeared—if one did—would have to be of the fire attribute. There were only two possibilities in that case—either a Dragon, or a Phoenix.

Of the two, the latter was more plausible, as Dragons stayed in their own island the majority of the time. But if this beast was truly a Phoenix, then…

'… Is it her?'

Xuan used to own a phoenix himself—she'd helped him out on many occasions. If memory served correctly, she should still be resting in the volcano he'd left her in to cultivate, but if for some reason something happened…

Before he could think on the matter further, however, Elder Shuang interrupted his thoughts.

"When you enter, you'll automatically be teleported to different locations," she explained to Yuxin and Xuan—something he already knew thanks to his past life. "Do your best to stick together, and don't get picked off. It's no man's land in that place—try to group up with other Glacial Heights Pavilion disciples."

She was mainly directing the speech at Yuxin since she knew Xuan could handle himself, but the huntress didn't seem to be concerned at all and waved her words off easily.

"I'll be fine. I'm used to being alone and surrounded by danger."

"… If you say so," Elder Shuang sighed. "And one more thing—stay away from those people from the Eight Great Families. They are not people you should mess with."

Yuxin glanced at the portal where said people had vanished into, and narrowed her eyes.

"Yeah… as long as they don't get in my way."

'Awfully confident,' Xuan thought in his head. 'Even I can't say I want to make an enemy out of the Eight Great Families as I am right now… despite terrorizing them centuries ago.'

"… Good luck, you two," Elder Shuang said at last, smiling. "Remember—safety is top priority."

Yuxin and Xuan gave brief nods, before turning and heading into the portal to the Flaming Sands Field.