The Demon Battlefield is said to be a gateway between the Immortal Realm and the Demon Realm. If you trace the roots along the gap, you can find the Gate to the Demon Realm.
The Demon Realm here actually refers to the same place as what Long Chen referred to as the Demon Realm on the Tianwu Continent.
However, the Tianwu Continent is a remote wasteland, and the Demon Realm bordering it is merely the lower layer of the Demon Realm, like the leaves of a big tree, while the Immortal Realm borders the core of the Demon Realm.
However, the knowledge Long Chen had learned so far still hadn't reached the history of the Demon Realm, nor could he explore why a world like the Tianwu Continent had become a hunting ground. There was still much he needed to learn.
The battlefield bordering Lingxiao Academy is actually divided into several battle zones. The battlefield Long Chen and the others encountered was actually a trial ground, not the core of the battlefield. It was said that the core area of the demonic battlefield was controlled by the War God Hall, and with their strength, they were simply not qualified to participate.
However, even in the trial war zone, there are powerful entities. Within this zone, there is a nine-star dangerous land, the Flame Demon Swamp.
The demons here all possess the power of flames, their bodies enveloped in flames, able to unleash flame divine abilities, and their combat strength is astonishing.
This Flame Demon Swamp was Long Chen's target, because these demon crystal cores possessed the power of flame. While others might need to extract the fire power from the cores, the Fire Dragon could ignore the demonic nature within the cores and directly absorb it as a fire-type crystal.
With these Flame Demon crystal cores as food, the fire dragon can constantly replenish its energy and continuously produce the Heaven-Shattering Sword, greatly improving both the quality and quantity of the sword.
Wealthy people usually buy fire-type crystals or rare treasures directly to improve their skills, but Long Chen is poor and can only find ways on his own.
Long Chen pressed forward, but strange demons blocked his way and were all slain by him. The further he went, the stronger the demons grew stronger.
Long Chen had been running for more than two hours. Flames began to appear ahead, the air filled with the aura of flames, and the fire elements in the space became increasingly active.
Crossing over two stone mountains, Long Chen looked ahead and saw a vast Heze area spanning tens of thousands of miles. This Heze was filled entirely with lava, its flames dyeing the world red. It looked like a lava hell here.
Within Heze, there were hills and ridges crisscrossing the fields. From the lava, humanoid creatures would occasionally crawl out and run back and forth, like giant apes engulfed in flames, occasionally letting out earth-shaking roars.
Looking far into the distance, at the end of the lava, Long Chen could see a huge fissure, resembling a grand door.
"That is the battlefield checkpoint. Even stronger demons are kept outside, and only second-tier demons can enter from there.
However, only fire-type demons can enter from this stage; other types can only enter through other levels. Long Chen looked at the passage, thinking to himself.
In other words, the other side of that stage should be a more powerful lava land. These demons clearly depend on the lava here to survive. If there are fire-type demons on the other side, it's just like here—the demons there are stronger, so their environmental requirements are higher.
"Is there someone far away?"
Long Chen suddenly noticed fluctuations coming from afar, but the flames here were too dense, causing the space to twist and become unclear.
Long Chen followed the edge of the Flame Demon Swamp, approaching it all the way. Soon, he saw a group of over a hundred people at the edge of the swamp, fiercely battling the Flame Demons.
"It's people from Rongtian Valley."
Long Chen immediately recognized the leader—it was the very person who had been slapped to death in the Divine Dao Scripture Pavilion and had deliberately provoked him.
At this moment, he held a flaming spear, guarding the front and luring the flame demons to the edge of the swamp to kill them.
However, they only dared to lure out a few dozen Flame Demons at a time. Once those Flame Demons escaped the lava, their power couldn't be replenished, making them relatively easier to kill.
But even so, these Flame Demons were already terrifying. With a single punch, it was like a volcanic eruption, compressing and deforming the space within several zhang. This was a life-bound divine ability, and its power was truly astonishing.
Except for a handful of strong fighters, everyone else needed to work together to resist. If they didn't coordinate well, they could easily get injured. Long Chen saw that two people in the camp looked pale, taking pills to regulate their breath, clearly injured and unable to continue fighting for now.
After slaying those dozens of Flame Demons, the disciples of Rongtian Valley quickly retreated. Several dozen li behind them, Long Chen saw a camp.
It was a temporary resting area they had built themselves. Since the Flame Demons wouldn't stray far from the Lava Swamp, they kept changing locations, killing each time before running away, not daring to attract too much attention from the Flame Demons.
"Should we try to trick them?"
Seeing the face-deserving face of the Vice Alliance Leader of Rongtian Valley, Long Chen had an idea, but as soon as it appeared, he dismissed it.
This was the Flame Demon Battlefield, with strict rules, different from the academy. The rules here were set by the War God Hall, strict and standardized, with no room for provocation.
Since this is a trial battlefield, everything should be under the Temple of War God's surveillance, just in case any disciple encounters misfortune, they can be rescued immediately.
After all, disciples who can enter the inner sect are carefully selected, and the academy takes it seriously. Setting people up here and avoiding being caught is extremely difficult, so Long Chen ultimately abandoned this tempting idea.
Watching the people from Melting Sky Valley resting and adjusting in the distance, counting their gains, Long Chen walked straight toward the swamp.
As soon as Long Chen appeared, he was discovered by the people of Rongtian Valley, because his black clothes were too conspicuous.
"It's Long Chen!"
The deputy leader of Rong Tian Valley immediately spotted Long Chen, his eyes filled with fierce intent.
"Vice Alliance Leader, do you want to ...?"
A disciple of the Rongtian Alliance stretched his hand across his neck, mimicking a throat-slitting gesture, signaling whether to take advantage of the emptiness to take Long Chen out.
"No, there are Heavenly Eyes watching here. Every move you make cannot escape the War God Hall's watch.
Anyone in this area who attacks their own people will trigger the arrival of the War God Hall's strongmen—whoever makes a move dies. The deputy alliance leader said with a dark expression.
Although he knew this was the best chance to kill Long Chen, he dared not do it and could only watch helplessly.
"So what should we do? Should we scold him? Lure him over to attack us, then try to use a borrowed knife to kill us? Long Chen might not know the rules here. Would he like to give it a try? A disciple suggested.
"What is he up to?"
The deputy alliance leader nodded, thinking the plan was feasible. Suddenly, a disciple exclaimed, staring at Long Chen in shock.