"It's a bit unfair don't you think when you have that shiny gauntlet on your hands while I'm fighting without any weapon" The Flame Conqueror smirked.

"How about you wait one more week before calling back your flame spirit?" Bruce shamelessly begged.

"Nope, I don't feel like it" The Flame Conqueror chuckled.

With a wave of his hand, the flame spirit arrived at his palm.

"The real fight starts now" The Flame Conqueror fused with the flame spirit and his fire turned blue. The world was no longer hospital by any mortal for it had turned into a hell pit.

Bruce wrinkled his eyebrows because things were going terribly for him. He had to grow much faster if he wanted to defeat the Flame Conqueror with his full powers.

"Fine, bring it!" Bruce summoned countless runes to defend himself against the raging blue flames coming toward him. Then, he also summoned flames of his own to counter the attack.

The battle raged on and on for months as the Flame Conqueror consistently dominated Bruce, but he never managed to kill Bruce because Bruce would also slip away and hide to recuperate his stamina.

Every time Bruce came back, He would be more proficient in elemental laws, which in turn helped him in the battle against the Flame Conqueror.

After one year, the Flame Conqueror could no longer overwhelm Bruce and the two started to battle on equal grounds.

"Your progress has been magnificent, kid" The Flame Conqueror was thoroughly impressed with Bruce. No one in history had managed to survive his flames for one year if they were beneath him in one cultivation realm.

"It's all thanks to you" Bruce smiled.

"Looks like you're about to win and leave this place" The Flame Conqueror stopped fighting and spoke to Bruce calmly.

"I suppose so" Bruce didn't acknowledge his eventual victory as a real victory because unlike him, his opponent cannot grow stronger.

"If you want, you may come to the Realm of Fire"

"I'll take you as my apprentice" The Flame Conqueror offered a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity nonchalantly.

Bruce was surprised to hear the offer, but before he could reply, a thunderous noise appeared in the sky.

"Flame Conqueror, know your place!" Lord Asgarath's voice was full of rage.

"Tsk, you old thing already died. I'm simply picking up a good seedling" The Flame Conqueror was still smiling as if The Dragon God posed no threat to him.

"Do you want me to expel your soul now?" Lord Asgrath threatened.

"Fine, I'll stop talking" The Flame Emperor winked at Bruce.

"Let's have one last battle, Bruce"

"It would be my honor" Bruce cusped his hand. He truly admired the Flame Emperor from the bottom of his heart. Not only was his attitude carefree, but he was also immensely talented. No wonder he became one of the strongest existences in the universe.

The Flame Conqueror summoned his final attack.

"This is a much weaker version of my ultimate move, but it will destroy you if you're not careful"

"Supernova"

The Flame Conqueror gathered all the flames in the world and condensed them into a sphere. He then blew the sphere toward Bruce. Anything in the sphere's path turned into ashes, even the sky was no exception. The world started to break as soon as the sphere spawned.

Bruce also created a new technique of his own over the period of one year. With his index finger, he pointed at the sphere and summoned all his elemental energies into the tip of his finger. The world began to tremble as the elemental energies on Bruce's finger were too excessive. He then shot an energy beam at the sphere.

"Death Cannon" Bruce muttered.

A nuclear explosion that would destroy the entire world occurred when the two attacks met each other. The winner was obvious after the dust settled and the world was close to being destroyed with its core almost collapsing.

"See you later, Bruce" The Flame Conqueror bid farewell while half of his body had been destroyed by Bruce's attack.

"It's been an honor, Flame Conqueror" Bruce bowed. He once again had a horizon-broadening event in the trial.

The Flame Conqueror disappeared and so did the trial world.

Bruce was then teleported to the next part of the trial. So far, he had been to a city and a volcanic world. He wondered what his next location would be.

When Bruce opened his eyes, he found himself to be in a magnificent palace. He looked up to see a woman sitting on a throne. Her face was flawless with a cold expression. She was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen in his life. The most interesting about her was the blue crown on the top of her head.

"Hello" Bruce politely greeted the woman.

She released her Mid Stage Divine Emperor aura which did not surprise Bruce at all. After all, his opponents had been steadily getting stronger every time. He barely managed to win against the Flame Conqueror. Bruce hoped that the woman would be a bit easier.

"Hi" The woman replied back coldly as a courtesy rather than trying to be friendly.

After a few moments, she snapped her fingers, and Bruce was immediately trapped by countless powerful runes.

"May I know your name before you destroy my existence?" Bruce kindly smiled at the goddess. Even near death, he still wanted to flirt with the ladies.

"There's no need because I deem you unworthy" The woman rejected Bruce's request immediately.

"Well, this will be an awkward fight then" Bruce shrugged and summoned a powerful lightning storm around his body which destroyed the runes holding him in place.

After the battle against the Flame Conqueror, Bruce had a much deeper understanding of the elemental laws under his control. The Flame Conqueror even gave him a few lessons once he realized that Bruce would win eventually.

Seeing that the woman was a powerful runemaster, perhaps the most powerful one in the universe since she managed to defeat the Dragon God, Bruce intended to use this battle to advance his understanding of runes magic.

"Interesting…" The woman stood up from the throne and snapped her fingers again.

This time, instead of countless runes surrounding Bruce, a gigantic rune appeared on the top of his head. Looking at the runes, Bruce was certain that it has the capability to destroy multiple countries!

"Ahem, can we please take it slow?" Bruce smiled awkwardly.

The woman didn't say anything and snapped her finger again. The rune began to descend onto Bruce, ready to explode at any moment.

"Big sister, you're being very unreasonable!" Bruce cried out as he tried to cancel out the massive rune ready to kill him.

'Remember kid, runes are just the application of universal laws'

Bruce then remembered what The Monarch taught him before. The only way to stop the gigantic rune from activating was to eliminate the user or cancel it out.

Bruce knew for sure that he wouldn't be able to defeat the beauty in a few seconds. He was not foolish enough to underestimate someone who defeated the Dragon God. Therefore, the only conclusion was to cancel the rune.

Bruce activated Vermillion Fusion to quickly decipher the rune as it slowly landed on his head. He then created a rune of his own in an attempt to cancel out the gigantic rune.

"Big sister, just you wait"

"Once I'm done with this, I'll come over there to spank your ass!" Bruce angrily glared at the goddess.