*Buzz—!*
An immense, terrifying spatial force swirled around Li Guanqi, tearing violently at his body.
Li Guanqi's face contorted as the essence blood within him roared, bubbling as if brought to a boil, while faint wisps of white vapor seeped from his skin.
The cries of dragons and trumpets of elephants resounded within him as he desperately resisted the rending force.
Even so, countless minute lacerations split open across his flesh.
The surrounding streams of light grew brighter and brighter until, after who knew how long, the spatial force hurled him violently out of the void.
*Boom—!*
Blistering flames erupted before his eyes!
Before he could even catch his breath, he realized he was suspended in the sky above a boundless sea of fire!
*Rumble—!*
Li Guanqi steadied himself, taking several deep, ragged breaths through the agonizing ache that tore across his entire body.
Fortunately, his physical frame was extraordinarily formidable. Had it not been, the turbulent spatial vibrations during the teleportation would have shredded him into countless pieces!
*Rumble—!*
A series of deafening roars rang in his ears, and the surrounding space twisted wildly.
Only now was Li Guanqi finally able to take in his surroundings clearly.
A crimson sea of fire stretched in all directions, interspersed with endless bolts of dark purple lightning!
Li Guanqi's eyes narrowed, his brow furrowing with gravity.
Deep within this boundless ocean of flame, he sensed an abnormal aura!
Just as he gripped Red Lotus and looked all around, the sword spirit's voice suddenly resounded beside him.
Turning to look at the manifested sword spirit, Li Guanqi was about to ask what was happening when he noticed the solemn look in her eyes.
"Something isn't right..."
"This aura—!"
*Boom—!*
Before the sword spirit could finish, a column of flame over a hundred feet thick erupted violently from below!
*Bang!*
The pillar struck Li Guanqi head-on, blasting him backward more than a thousand feet!
Hurtling through the air like a fireball, Li Guanqi slashed outward to cleave the flames away. To his horror, however, the fire clung to his primal energy barrier like maggots on bone, actively burning through it!
His eyes flickered, and with a swift, decisive move, he forcefully severed the barrier, finally ridding himself of the clinging flames.
Watching the fiery mass plummet, Li Guanqi spoke with deep gravity. "What is this fire? Why won't it go out?!"
The sword spirit answered solemnly, "If the thing below this sea of fire is what I think it is, then my suspicions are correct."
Just as Li Guanqi opened his mouth to ask what it was—
Suddenly!
A heaven-shaking dragon roar tore through the firmament!
In an instant, the entire ocean of flame erupted into a furious blaze!
*Boom—!*
With a flick of his wrist, Li Guanqi cast out an ancient talisman seal. Then his Sword Prison domain expanded madly beneath his feet, and as he muttered an incantation under his breath, dark purple lightning armor enveloped his entire body!
*Boom! Rumble—!*
Amidst the endless sea of fire, the ethereal phantom of an immense dragon wrapped in flames bolted out from the depths.
The sword spirit's eyes narrowed, and her voice sank. "It really is it!"
Standing with his sword drawn, Li Guanqi said helplessly, "What in the world is it? Out with it already!"
The sword spirit turned to him, speaking at rapid speed. "This is the flame ranked sixteenth among the Thirty-Six Tiangang Flames!"
"The Purple Dragon Thunder Flame!"
"Legend has it that the Purple Dragon Thunder Flame was born from a single drop of essence blood left by the Ancestral Dragon. It suppresses and slaughters the world's wicked abominations, governing destruction and slaughter."
"Because of that, powerful as it is, alchemists want nothing to do with it."
Before she could even finish, cold sweat broke out across Li Guanqi's back.
The aura radiating from this dragon phantom was terrifyingly vast... rivaling a grand cultivator of the Soul Formation Realm!
"*Gulp*... Big Sister... can you tell me if it has any weaknesses?"
"Or maybe we should figure out a way to run for our lives first!"
*Roar—!*
The dragon phantom was well over a hundred feet long. Its massive body was blazing crimson from head to tail, while its whiskers were two crackling strands of lightning.
The horns atop its head were formed entirely of purple lightning.
The dragon's eyes locked onto Li Guanqi, glaring at the intruder as surging fiery power rolled off it, radiating an overwhelming, petrifying pressure.
Li Guanqi licked his lips, his palms growing slick with sweat against the sword's hilt.
The phantom's strength was staggering, far eclipsing that of the old man he had faced before.
He had always considered himself capable, but against the spirit of a Heavenly Flame, he was truly at a loss.
"*Roar—!*"
A furious bellow tore through the air, and the fire spirit dove back into the sea of fire, vanishing without a trace.
Yet the moment the dragon disappeared, Li Guanqi's heart clenched. Immediately, the fiery ocean beneath him churned violently.
As the sea roiled, terrifying fiery power detonated in succession, sweeping in from every direction!
Li Guanqi's eyes narrowed. Primal energy surged through him as he pushed his movement technique to the limit, shifting and dodging continuously through the air.
*Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!*
Over a dozen afterimages flickered frantically across the sky.
Suddenly!
Li Guanqi spun around abruptly and slashed his sword with all his might!
"Demon Shadow Slash: Dark Night!"
*Boom—!*
A terrifying burst of thunderous power erupted. The surrounding world went instantly dark, and a dazzling sword light of lightning flashed through the air!
The dragon, appearing abruptly behind him, had not expected Li Guanqi to react so swiftly. Even so, it ignored the incoming sword light entirely and brought a massive claw crashing down on him!
Terrifying fire twisted around the giant claw. The ancient seal hovering before Li Guanqi could not hold out for even a single breath before shattering with a loud bang.
*Bang!*
*Boom—!*
Li Guanqi's sword sliced cleanly through the dragon's body, severing it in two!
Yet the dragon cared nothing for the blow, slamming its claw downward with relentless force.
*Boom—!*
The boundless sea of fire exploded, and his blurred figure was slammed violently into the burning depths!
Deep within the fiery sea, Li Guanqi coughed up a mouthful of fresh blood.
Yet the blood was incinerated to ash in an instant. Feeling the scorching heat pressing from every angle, he knew he could not hold out for long.
Thoughts raced through his mind, his divine sense trembling as he searched desperately for a viable countermeasure.
If this continued, he had no chance of victory whatsoever.
Suddenly!
The circulation of primal energy within his body shifted abruptly, flowing frantically in a profoundly mysterious rhythm.
As the cultivation technique took effect, a sharp gleam crossed Li Guanqi's eyes.
He had never expected that the Flame Devouring Art would begin operating on its own at a moment like this!
The blistering heat of the surrounding sea suddenly seemed far less terrifying to his senses.
Yet he did not yet realize that this was merely an illusion.
Above the sea of fire, the dragon opened its cavernous maw and began greedily devouring the flames below.
As it gorged on the fire, its translucent form gradually solidified.
Its aura climbed higher and higher without pause.
If the dragon phantom had merely possessed the aura of a Soul Formation cultivator before, once it fully absorbed the sea of fire, it would truly wield combat power comparable to the Soul Formation Realm!
Yet the Flame Devouring Art had only just begun to circulate. The technique required forming a new flame seed within his Nascent Soul.
And all of that required time!
Chapter 337