Corrupt Creations

Today is a big day for the Blazing Phoenix Sect, the Fire Labyrinth would be opening. 

The leaders of the sect, together with the elders, were already prepared to enter the labyrinth. They were currently waiting for the arrival of the guests. 

The Huo brothers were discussing about some plans and strategies when suddenly the grand elder of the Blazing Phoenix Sect, Huo Ming, announced the arrival of the first guest. 

"The Fire Snake sect has arrived." 

A group of five people wearing a black robe with red snake patterns, appeared before the Huo brothers. 

"Greetings Sect Master Huo." The leader of the group, a man with the cultivation of Mana Perception initial-stage realm came forward to greet the Huo brothers. The other four people that came with him were the most powerful elders of their sect, however, they were all Qi transformation middle-stage cultivators. 

Huo Shihong respectfully greeted them and arranged a place for their group to stay. 

"The Dark Flame sect has arrived." 

A group of five people arrived and greeted the leaders of the Blazing Phoenix Sect, heading to a specific area later. Their powerhouses were at the same power level as the Fire Snake Sect. 

"The Zhao Family has arrived." 

Like before, five people entered the Blazing Phoenix Sect grounds. Actually, Huo Shihong sent five Fire Labyrinth tokens for the external powers he invited, while his own sect had fifty or more practitioners entering the labyrinth. It was the first protective measure Huo Shihong adopted. 

The difference this time was that the leader of the Zhao family was a Mana Perception middle-stage realm cultivator. The same realm as Huo Shifen and Huo Shikai. 

On each stage of cultivation, there was an unsurmountable gap of power between them. A middle-stage practitioner would be revered by an initial-stage one; however, they would need to respect a late-stage or peak-stage cultivator, because that single difference was what determined one's life and death in a battle. 

"The Tao Family has arrived." 

The leader of the Zhao Family furrowed his brows in displeasure after hearing the announcement. His name was Zhao Yaozu. 

The Zhao Family was one of the most powerful families that resided within the Blazing Phoenix country. 

Tao Shing, arrived before the group of people from the Blazing Phoenix sect and the Zhao Family, with the four people that accompanied him. 

"Greetings Sect Master Huo. Greetings old friend Yaozu. This is going to be day that will be remembered for many generations. I hope you come across many treasures while exploring the Labyrinth." 

Snort! 

Zhao Yaozu disliked that statement and eyed the people Tao Shing has brought for the event. 

"Why did you bring your son to such a dangerous place? Sect master Huo asked us to bring the most powerful people on our disposal, instead of weak Qi practitioners." Tao Zhong and Tao Changming were between the four people that accompanied Tao Shing. 

"Do not mind the minor details. I brought two very strong people with me to account for that." Tao Shing pointed to the other two individuals. 

Impressively, they were both at Mana Perception initial-stage realm. They were the second power here that had three Mana Perception realm practitioners. The other being the Blazing Phoenix Sect. 

Zhao Yaozu snorted again and left the area, while Huo Shihong looked at the direction of those two people and asked: "If I recall correctly, those are two of the elders from your family. They were Qi Transformation practitioners last year. How did they advance so fast?" 

"Oh, so Sect Master Huo noticed? They came across an opportunity at the beginning of this year, that changed their lives." Tao Shing politely replied. 

"Brother, that is actually a good thing for us. If we have to deal with the Wu Martial Kingdom later, they could be helpful." Huo Shikai expressed his idea. 

"You might be right." 

"Oh, Wu Martial Kingdom?" Tao Shing asked. 

Just as they were about to start talking about that topic, the grand elder announced the arrival of another guest. His voice, a bit darker this time. 

"The Wu Martial Kingdom has arrived." 

The silent atmosphere reflected the tension every person from the Blazing Phoenix sect was feeling right now. The Wu Martial Kingdom was their number one enemy; however, they could not afford to provoke them or else they would have to face dire consequences. 

A man led four people that were all clad in a martial robe. They were all Mana Perception cultivators, easily surpassing the individual strength of the other parties. 

"Greetings Sect Master Huo, I'm the imperial tutor of the Wu Martial Kingdom, Wu Shuhui. I'm representing the entire authority of the Wu Martial Kingdom as per direct order of my king." 

"Greeting Imperial Tutor Wu Shuhui." Huo Shihong replied. 

"I recently heard that there was a disciple called Wu Caizhi on your sect, I would love to meet her if possible." Wu Shuhui said while narrowing his eyes. 

'Wu Caizhi? Isn't that Lilian's friend? Oh my god Lilian, what trouble did you bring to your father this time?' Huo Shihong was sweating while thinking of a way to avoid the trouble. 

"Wu Caizhi? There are some rumors that she died after an explosion that occurred on her house." Huo Shikai wanted to ease the tension and revealed some rumors that were circulating. 

"Oh, is that true Sect Master Huo?" 

Huo Shihong said: "Unfortunately it seems so." 

"Since it's like that, do not mind it any further. I'll make some arrangements with my group and keep waiting until the time comes for us to enter the Labyrinth." Wu Shuhui then, left with his companions. 

Huo Shifen approached and asked: "Brother what stage of cultivation was he in?" 

"He is at the same stage as me, at the Mana Perception late-stage realm, however, he wasn't the only one at that stage. There was one more." 

Huo Shifen sucked a mouthful of air. 

"There is bound to be some difficulties inside the labyrinth. We will need to be careful." 

After those initial guests, three more factions joined in. 

"The Hunter Alliance has arrived." 

"The Blood-boil Mercenary Group has arrived." 

"The Alchemist Tower has arrived." 

Like that, a total of forty guests were present inside the Blazing Phoenix Sect grounds, from which fourteen were at the Mana Perception realm. This line up was so strong that the Mana was crazily flowing around these people, suffocating those yet at the Qi realms. 

Still, the hosts of the event, held the advantage of Mana realm practitioners, with a quantity of eight. Most of them were still at the initial-stage, but their overall strength was still the highest within all the groups gathered here. 

Huo Shihong used his cultivation to increase the volume of his voice and said: "Let me announce some things really quick." 

"After the labyrinth opens, it will stay opened for an entire week. It is simply easy to get lost while wandering through the immensity of space inside, so we have been charting the places we have explored before. On our last exploration we discovered a hidden chamber that seems to contain a mountain of treasures, and I personally felt what could possibly be a divine aura that a treasure inside the chamber was releasing." 

"A divine aura? Is Sect Master Huo sure of it?" The leaders of the faction got interested on this object. It was a legend that after conquering the Mana Sovereign peak-stage cultivation, one would start to feel the connection with the divinity. 

"There is no mistake, the aura was so strong that it was at least one level above Mana!" 

The information invoked the greed from all parties, they would undoubtedly desire something that could touch those heights. However, this was a false information and only Huo Shihong new that it wasn't the truth. What lay inside that chamber was not a divine treasure for sure. 

Huo Shihong continued: "We have some special means to find the chamber, so we would appreciate if we join our efforts on trying to open the chamber earlier, than explore more of the Labyrinth." 

"When does it open?" Wu Shuhui asked. 

Huo Shihong could already feel the impatience of the practitioners around. All in all, it was good for him, since it implied, they were interested on that chamber. 

"It won't take much. It will soon..." 

In the middle of his speech, the sky started to get darker. 

"It's here." 

Clouds made of fire started to form and a black dot opened at the center of them. The clouds started to circle the black dot and very quickly a vortex formed. It expanded until it got a kilometer wide. The was a huge vortex of fire at the sky of the Blazing Phoenix sect right now. From afar people could see the rare phenomenon happening. 

"Look at that!" Yuyin eyes sparkled in anticipation. She took her things and left Meiyi's house. 

"Where are you going Yuyin?" 

"I will see it more closely sister Meiyi!" Yuyin's voice was already far away. 

"What a troublesome girl." 

. 

. 

. 

After a minute, the vortex completely formed and stabilized. 

"Raise your tokens to the sky, it will automatically lead you inside." Huo Shihong explained and did the action first. 

The token on his hand burned and the flames covered his whole body, however it didn't hurt him at all. After his whole body was fully covered with flames, the vortex sucked him from the ground and his body disappeared from people's sight. 

The powerhouses present one by one repeated the same method, entering the Fire Labyrinth. 

At the end three people stayed behind. 

Tao Zhong and Tao Changming looked towards the other person that stood behind. 

"Looks like brother Jianhong has some business to do before entering the labyrinth." Tao Zhong said while smiling. 

Huo Jianhong replied: "It seems you too have some business to attend." 

Tao Zhong nodded and said: "You are right brother Jianhong. We will take our leave and tend to our task. I hope we will meet again at the final event." 

His words seemed to contain a deeper meaning.