Word Count: 2,635 Words
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When Xiao Yan and the Hall Chief of the Hall of Souls echoed one another so smoothly, the top experts of the Yan, Lei, Yao, and Shi Dou God Clans agreed one after another to join forces. The sight left even Cai Lin blinking in surprise.
On the surface, it looked like seven factions had united to battle the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame. In truth, each of the seven harbored their own ulterior motives. Every one of them wanted to claim the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame for himself. Yet among them stood one man thinking several layers deeper than the rest, someone who had struck a secret deal with the Hun Clan long ago!
Sometimes, the one who spoke first was precisely the one with full confidence in his preparations. Much like the first person to discover a murder scene tended to fall under the heaviest suspicion.
"Hahaha, worthy of being the Hall Chief of the Hall of Souls! Bold and generous indeed. Since that's the case, Elder friends of the Dou God Clans, let us strike together to deal with the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame. As for those Fire Slaves, we'll have to trouble everyone else to handle them." Xiao Yan laughed and swept his arm in a grand gesture as he stepped forward first. His cultivation sat only at the 3-star Dou Saint level, yet he dared confront the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame head-on as though he were a 5-star Dou Saint.
"Zi Yan, Cai Lin, hold back some of your strength. Deal with the Fire Slaves for now and wait for the right moment before making your move," Xiao Yan transmitted.
Both Cai Lin and Zi Yan possessed 4-star Dou Saint strength. When the crucial moment arrived, they would be the ones to secretly strike and capture the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame. For now, everyone was merely using one another to wear the Demon Flame down. Moreover, Xiao Yan had a premonition that the true key to deciding the final outcome still lay in the formation eye that had drilled into his body.
"Be extra careful when you join the assault on the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame," Xun Er said.
"Don't worry."
"Xiao Yan, I cannot take part in the encirclement of the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame." Xiao Chen's voice came out hoarse. "The moment I draw too close, the pill energy of my Pill Beasts will be purified by the Demon Flame and lose all effect. And I will fall completely under its control once again."
"Ancestor Xiao Chen, you don't need to act. One must always keep a card up one's sleeve." Xiao Yan smiled faintly. The situation had not yet become entirely clear. The Dou God Clans were no easy opponents, and the orders Yao Wangui and Huo Yao had brought from their clans were plainly meant to sow chaos.
Xiao Chen nodded silently at his words. He was not someone who cared for many words. Ever since the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame had captured him all those years ago, he had been trapped in its illusion, unable to extricate himself. Had Xiao Yan not rescued him, his mind would sooner or later have been wholly eroded, leaving him no different from those ordinary Fire Slaves, controlled entirely at the Demon Flame's whim.
Surviving for over a thousand years in that illusion had hollowed Xiao Chen's once volatile temperament into something far more solitary. That solitude had only deepened when he learned from Xiao Yan of the Xiao Clan's decline. After all, he could no longer truly be considered someone of this era.
When the clan had needed him most, he had been powerless to contribute even the slightest strength.
"I'll have to trouble you, Ancestor." Xiao Yan cupped his fists respectfully. Xiao Chen's strength was beyond all doubt. Setting aside the matter of his enslavement, in terms of raw combat power he was likely the strongest person present aside from the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame itself.
On top of that, his aura was uncannily strange. So long as he did not deliberately circulate his Dou Qi, even the Hall Chief of the Hall of Souls would likely fail to detect that this numb-faced man possessed such terrifying power.
This hidden figure, unknown to all the others, would be Xiao Yan's trump card in seizing the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame.
"Rest assured. I will do my utmost to protect you." Xiao Chen slowly shook his head and let his gaze settle on Xiao Yan's young face. For the first time, a faintly gentle smile surfaced across his numb features. "Your talent surpasses mine by I don't know how many times. With you, the Xiao Clan still has hope of rising again. I did too many reckless things back then and brought the clan no small amount of trouble. Now that the heavens have granted me this chance, I will dedicate everything I have to the Xiao Clan. Even if it costs me this life."
Xiao Yan fell silent for a moment, then bowed respectfully to Xiao Chen once more before turning his gaze away. His eyes swept quickly across the sky above. Counting himself, there were seven experts at the 4-star Dou Saint level joining hands against the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame.
Such a lineup was already terrifying in its own right. Even against the monstrous power of the Demon Flame, they still had some chance of victory. The premise, of course, was that everyone truly cooperated.
While Xiao Yan silently weighed their odds, the Hall Chief of the Hall of Souls made the first move. His figure blurred and reappeared within a thousand feet of the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame. The other experts moved at nearly the same instant, fanning out into a ring that enclosed the Demon Flame at its center.
Seven top-tier Dou Saint experts!
Their combined presence alone was enough to earn the words world-shaking. With these seven striking as one, the sky itself seemed ready to change color.
The other onlookers exchanged grave glances at the formation taking shape overhead, then retreated rapidly without a word being exchanged. They had no place to insert themselves in an earth-shaking battle of this magnitude.
As the crowd fell back, the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame, still standing atop his magma pillar, smiled faintly. A demonic curve slowly drew itself across his handsome features. "What a nostalgic scene…"
"Fire Demon Halberd!"
He clenched his palm lightly toward the boundless magma sea below. The molten ocean roiled violently, and a massive halberd of bone-white flame burst from its depths. The weapon flashed once and settled neatly into his hand.
"I have been sealed here for thousands of years. Today, whoever bars my path dies!"
The last word had scarcely left his lips when he threw back his head and opened his jaws wide. A wave of Demon Flame several thousand feet across spewed forth, and the terrifying heat it carried made even Xiao Yan, who possessed eleven Heavenly Flames, shift his expression.
The Purifying Lotus Demon Flame truly was worthy of its rank as the third Heavenly Flame. That horrifying heat far surpassed any flame Xiao Yan had ever encountered.
"Attack together!"
The Hall Chief's gaze flickered. Overwhelming black Qi surged out of him in rolling dark clouds and crashed into the tide of flame. At the instant of contact, the black mist collapsed outright. The wave of fire split apart, transforming into seven enormous pillars of flame that hurtled mercilessly toward each of the seven cultivators.
Even Huo Yao and the others dared not show the slightest carelessness against such an opening salvo. Dou Qi surged wildly within their bodies, and Dou Techniques of astonishing power tore through the air one after another.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
The fire pillars burst across the sky like the most brilliant fireworks. Yet beneath that splendor lurked the power of annihilation.
All seven figures staggered backward as the fiery blooms unfurled overhead. The robes of Yao Wangui and one of the Shi Clan's Elders had been half burned away, leaving them looking rather wretched. Even seven joining hands had failed to wring the slightest advantage out of the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame.
"Great Tragedy Hand!"
Having seized the initiative with a single move, a cold smile surfaced on the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame's handsome face. Suspended in the air, he thrust his right hand downward at the magma sea, and the molten surface detonated outward. A colossal hand of magma nearly ten thousand feet across burst from the sea, carrying searing, oppressive heat. It flashed upward to loom over Xiao Yan and the others, then slammed down.
THUD!
The magma hand moved with terrifying speed. Before any of them could mount a counterattack, it swatted all seven downward like flies, and several heavy splashes rang out as they were driven straight into the molten ocean below.
"Ant-like things…"
Little Fairy Doctor and the others watched the scene with mounting horror. Seven experts at the 4-star Dou Saint level had joined hands, and yet they had been reduced to such a wretched state in the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame's grip. Even granting him the advantage of terrain, this crushing, overwhelming offensive was simply too ferocious.
BOOM! BOOM!
The magma sea erupted. Several battered figures burst free and hung once more in mid-air, their faces flickering between ashen green and pale. In the Central Plains, these men were all peak experts. When had any of them been reduced to such a wretched state?
"If the rest of you keep holding back, I'm afraid there won't be a chance left to act." Xiao Yan frowned, his gaze cutting to the Hall Chief before sweeping over the others.
If this continued, they would soon start losing men.
The other six frowned at his words. The Purifying Lotus Demon Flame's two ferocious bombardments had left each of them with internal injuries, and the residual Demon Flame energy proved impossible to expel in the short term, even at their level of strength.
'We can only defeat the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame first and worry about the rest later.'
The thought flashed through every mind, and their expressions slowly hardened. The seven hovering around the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame let their already vast auras erupt skyward!
Xiao Yan, too, stopped concealing himself. He activated the power of the Xiao Clan's Divine Grade Clan Mark, and in a single breath his cultivation surged to a level that defied belief. Fusion Heavenly Flame wrapped around his entire body. The merged flame born of eleven Heavenly Flames made the surrounding milky-white fire recoil, none of it daring to approach.
His cultivation had climbed to a level infinitely close to 4-star Dou Saint.
"The Xiao Clan's Divine Grade Clan Mark?!"
"It really has been ages since anyone last saw it."
"Such a powerful Heavenly Flame... just how many has he merged?"
In the distance, Huo Zhi, working with Huo Xuan to suppress one of the Fire Slaves, stared in astonishment, her exquisite features hidden beneath her veil. This merged Heavenly Flame was likely not much weaker than the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame itself.
'No wonder he's determined to claim the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame. With that miraculous Qi Method of his, if he can refine it this time, he may well reach the same height as the Clan Heads.'
As Xiao Yan and the Hall Chief erupted in unison, the other five Elders of the Dou God Clans gritted their teeth and abandoned all restraint. Dou Qi raged through their bodies. Wild winds tore across the air, dark clouds pressed low, and rolling thunder split the sky. Even the magma sea below roared in fury, hurling up molten waves thousands of feet high.
They had finally unleashed their full strength!
The Purifying Lotus Demon Flame paid none of it the slightest mind. He didn't spare the Hall Chief so much as a second glance. Instead, his gaze fixed solemnly on Xiao Yan, and a flicker of instinctive greed surfaced in his eyes.
Xiao Yan sensed that hungry gaze at once. Heavenly Flames possessed an innate hunger for their own kind. Long ago, the Fallen Heart Flame had sought to devour both his and Han Feng's flames in the same way.
"Kill!"
"Roar!"
The command had barely left the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame's lips when the ten Dou Saint Fire Slaves snapped their eyes open. Twin clusters of milky-white demonic flame burst from their hollow pupils, and their bodies blurred, hurtling toward Xun Er and the others without hesitation.
Wind and clouds churned across the realm. The battle sent even the sea of fire within the Demon Flame Space heaving violently.
"Hmph. Mere Fire Slaves dare boast of dealing with this Hall Chief?"
The Deputy Hall Chief of the Hall of Souls sneered, entirely unruffled. With his late 3-star Dou Saint strength, he could look down on the strongest Fire Slave present, and the assault of ten of them gave him no concern at all.
The other experts hastily drew together, gazes wary as they watched the ten flame-wreathed figures that had appeared a short distance ahead in the blink of an eye.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
The ten flame figures hovered before them. Their empty gazes swept slowly across the assembled experts before each body blurred outward, every one locking onto a different target.
"Be careful."
Green light flashed through Qing Lin's eyes as the Triple Jade-Green Snake Flower Pupils activated.
Hiss, hiss, hiss!!
Three sharp serpent cries rang out. Two Rank 9 Nine Serene Deep Ground Pythons emerged to stand guard, while the Nine-Headed Heaven Serpent raised all nine of its heads and spewed poison in an instant. The terrifying poison surged outward like a world-covering tide.
Little Fairy Doctor activated her Woeful Poison Body at the same moment. Her eyes and hair turned ashen white, and a single palm strike unleashed Woeful Poison capable of corroding space. Together with Qing Lin, she blocked the advance of two Dou Saint Fire Slaves.
"The Nine-Headed Heaven Serpent and a Woeful Poison Body?! And that Woeful Poison Body has actually reached the Dou Saint level. How is that possible?!"
It was common knowledge that anyone bearing the Woeful Poison Body would suffer a poison eruption upon reaching Dou Venerate. In ancient times, the Yao Clan had once attempted to help someone with the Woeful Poison Body resolve it, yet in the end they had only managed to prolong the person's death. The poison accumulated without end, and by the final stage even a 9th-tier alchemist could not save them.
Yet this time, both Little Fairy Doctor's Woeful Poison and the Nine-Headed Heaven Serpent's poison met their natural nemesis. Every Fire Slave was sheathed in a milky-white coat of flame, a protective layer born of the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame that could purify even the most virulent poisons.
Xun Er also moved. The Gold Emperor Incinerating Heavenly Flame became a blazing barrier and intercepted one of the 2-star Dou Saint Fire Slaves. Cai Lin and Zi Yan, meanwhile, stood quietly off to the side and held back from acting. Yet Xun Er, Cai Lin, and Zi Yan all kept their attention fixed on the main battlefield, waiting for Xiao Yan to give the word. The instant he did, they would strike and settle the outcome in a single blow.
"Double Great Heaven Creation Palm!"
Xiao Yan struck first. His cultivation had risen far enough that he was no longer limited to channeling the technique through one hand alone. He thrust both palms toward the distant Purifying Lotus Demon Flame, and two black dots appeared on either side of the Demon Flame.
BOOM!
The two black spheres expanded in an instant, then slammed together with a thunderous impact, ruthlessly crushing the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame between them.