There was still a small period of time before the opening of the Heaven Gate.

Nie Tian stood quietly beside the clear lake and listened to Liu Yan’s quiet introductions, while simultaneously measuring up his surroundings.

Every major sect of the Realm of Flame Heaven had about ten participants who came along, except for the Spiritual Treasure sect.

The majority of them were at the Heaven stage or Greater Heaven stage, with only a couple of them in the Lesser Heaven stage like Nie Tian.

Meanwhile, from the look of it, all those who had come from the other realms seemed to possess Greater Heaven cultivation bases.

It hadn’t been very long since the seven major sects of the Realm of Flame Heaven faced off across the field of battle.

However to Nie Tian’s surprise, Heaven Gate key holders from both sides were now gathered in this place, without any conflicts breaking out.

Of course, he had no idea that it was all because the Hell sect was controlling things behind the scenes.

An Shiyi constantly turned to look at him, her eyes filled with concern and inquiry. However, she didn’t step over and talk to him, as if she harbored certain apprehensions.

Facing An Shiyi’s gaze, he could only give a slight smile in response.

A short while passed...

CRACK!

A strange sound suddenly thundered out from the sky above the lake, as the cloudless sky seemed to have become an enormous piece of glass that began to shatter bit by bit.

“Here it comes!” All those who had obtained the Heaven Gate keys, including the numerous experts, who were standing atop the Hell sect’s enormous city walls, had their expressions flicker as they looked up.

At this moment, Nie Tian suddenly felt that the Heaven Gate pattern on the back of his hand had become extremely hot, as if it were burning.

Nie Tian turned around to look towards the huge city behind him.

For some unknown reason, a terrifying, mixed aura of violence, frenzy, killing, and destruction seemed to have been unleashed from within the enormous city.

With a single glance at the city, his face turned pale with fear. He said, “Look, look at the city!”

The numerous portraits of demons on the city walls seemed to have been vested with life and soul, and instantly became alive.

All of a sudden, a several-dozen-meter long demon, which was covered in dark-green scales and had a with a curved horn on the top of its head, broke free from the stone wall.

HUFF! HUFF! HUFF!

Numerous long, thick chains, that had countless tiny magical symbols within them, followed it out of the wall.

Those chains seemed to have pierced into that demon’s body and were now unceasingly pulling it back toward the city wall.

Struggling and bashing the chains with every bit of its strength, the demon threw its head back and let out a soundless roar.

Even more demons seemed to have sensed the changes that were about to occur in the heaven and earth, and also let out soundless howls as they emerged from the walls, trying to escape.

However, thousands of chains that carried magical symbols followed them out from the strong stone walls. Every single chain penetrated into the bodies of the demons and continuously pulled them back into the walls.

However, the enormous city still stood tall and unmoving, as if it wasn’t affected at all by the struggling of those demons.

On top of the city walls, several hundreds of experts from the Hell Sect had cold expressions, and looked at the demons with slightly mocking gazes.

From the expressions on their faces, it seemed as if they felt that all the resistance and struggling was completely useless.

Li Fan’s expression slightly flickered as he looked towards the majestic city and said, “Demon Trapping Purgatory Formation! Those demons have been confined in those walls for god knows how many years. Have they also sensed the changes in the heaven and earth and want to break out of their shackles at such a time?!”

“Uncle Li, this city of the Hell sect...is actually a prison where they imprison demons?” Nie Tian asked, sounding shocked.

He had previously heard that the Hell sect was actually an enormous prison, within which were sealed demons from near and far that had once destroyed cities and plagued the people.

However, he had assumed that the prison… was hidden deep under the ground.

“You are right.” Li Fan nodded vigorously and explained to him, “That magnificent city is the ultimate prison!  And the demons that you see, according to what I know, are actually the indigenous inhabitants of the Realm of Flame Heaven.”

“The indigenous inhabitants?!” Jiang Lingzhu’s expression also slightly flickered.

Li Fan smiled bitterly and said, “Exactly. The Realm of Flame Heaven originally was their home. An unknown amount of time ago, powerful, ancient, human Qi warriors traveled through the river of stars and found this place.

“Upon arriving, they started bloody battles with the indigenous demons of the Realm of Flame Heaven, which lasted decades.

“The strongest demons were killed one after another. Meanwhile, many Qi warriors, who were strong enough to travel across domains, were also torn apart and devoured by the demons.

“However, the final victory belonged to the human Qi warriors.

“The Realm of Flame Heaven has gone through countless changes throughout the years, and finally became the Realm of Flame Heaven as you know it, ruled by the seven major sects.

Looking at the numerous demons that were trying to escape from their constraints, the Greater Heaven stage Qi warriors from the other realms also seemed in awe. “Demon Trapping Purgatory Formation!”

“The strength of the Hell sect is indeed impressive and deep-rooted. If it were not for the fact that the Hell sect is situated here, the Realm of Flame Heaven... would have long since been invaded.”

“The Hell sect is indeed powerful. Not only are they able to trap such a large number of demons, but they can even continuously draw power from them.”

“However, why are the demons starting to rebel when the Heaven Gate is about to open?”

“Who knows.”

While they chatted, the cracking sounds grew increasingly loud as they came through from the sky above the lake.

Nie Tian’s attention was also attracted by the sky, and he couldn’t help but to look up.

CRACKLE!

Two long, narrow spacial rifts seemed to have been cut open by a sharp blade as they gradually appeared in the empty sky.

The two spacial rifts intersected, and blinding light suddenly shot out of the intersection point.

The light slowly transformed and gradually morphed into an enormous ball of light, which continued to fluctuate and evolve, until a pattern that was identical to the Heaven Gate pattern on the back of the hands of Nie Tian and the others gradually took shape in the sky.

HUFF! HUFF! HUFF!

The spiritual Qi of Heaven and Earth within a thousand miles radius seemed to have been affected by the spacial rifts and madly converged onto the area.

Nie Tian secretly probed the surrounding area, and discovered that all of the spiritual Qi shared the same destination: the Heaven Gate that was about to open.

“All of you who have the Heaven Gate keys, prepare yourselves! When the Heaven Gate is fully formed, a gravitational force will be generated from within the Heaven Gate, and it will directly suck you inside!”

Since the beginning, Qiao Yang, the sectmaster of the Hell sect, had never paid any attention to the rebellion of the demons within the enormous city under his feet. He looked up towards the Heaven Gate which was about to take full shape, and called out in a loud voice.

OWWW! OWWW!

At this moment, world-shaking roars rang out from within the intersection point of the two spacial rifts.

A rolling, thick, purple-black mist gradually flowed out from the spacial rifts and soon spread out to the sky above the Hell sect.

"What?!" The expressions of every powerful expert from the Hell sect suddenly flickered.

When the Qi warriors from the other realms saw the thick, purple-black mist stretching out of the long and narrow rifts of the forming Heaven Gate, they also became unsettled.

BAM! BAM!

A long, heavy chain that came out of the stone wall suddenly shattered.

Countless magical symbols that were as bright as shining stars flew out from the snapped chain, in an attempt to confine that strongest demon.

However, the demon struggled madly, as if it had been summoned by a monarch of its race. In the blink of an eye, it forcibly charged into one of the spacial rifts, despite all the restrictions.

“This is not good!” Finally, Qiao Yang’s expression flickered. “Stop the rest of them!”

After the strongest demon escaped, the remaining demons twisted their bodies more violently, as if they had suddenly been given new power.

Nie Tian looked over with rapt attention, and saw that the purple-black mist that was leaking out of the spacial rifts had morphed into numerous running rivers, and was flowing into the trapped demons.

After allowing the purple-black mist into their bodies, the demons seemed to have suddenly been vested infinite strength, and even the chains that had penetrated their bodies were no longer able to hold them back.

One after another, numerous demons shattered their chains and broke free from the city wall,  charging into the spacial rifts.

Having sensed the unfavorable situation, all the Qi warriors from the Hell sect took out their spiritual tools and tried to stop the demons.

In a flash, the sky over the Hell sect was lit up by multicolored light that had shot out of all sorts of spiritual tools.

At the same time, the Heaven Gate finally fully condensed at the intersection of the two enormous spacial rifts.

A strong gravitational force was suddenly born from within.

Everyone who had obtained the Heaven Gate keys were pulled into the air by the pattern of the Heaven Gate on the back of their hands, and one after another, flew towards the Heaven Gate.