"What is this now?"
Granny Hongye's face was filled with shock, an involuntary cry tearing from her lips.
First, a fifth-rank desolate beast, the Nether Earth Dragon, had revealed itself; now, an uncanny flame was erupting from within Luo Chen.
Neither was something she stood any chance against; both brought only sheer despair.
Before her eyes, branches swayed as shimmering flames whirled.
The moment Luo Chen cast the spell, the pale green-and-white flame surged and billowed, expanding outward at breakneck speed with Luo Chen's body at its center.
In the blink of an eye, it swept right before Granny Hongye.
In despair, she cried out, "Fellow Daoist Luo..."
Yet her voice carried hardly any distance at all.
Or perhaps Luo Chen heard it, but simply ignored her.
The Wither-Bloom Divine Fire swept past. Already grievously injured, Granny Hongye deployed all manner of defensive techniques, but she failed to buy herself even a fraction of a breath or an inch of room.
In an instant, only a heap of fly ash remained where she had stood.
Even that ash was incinerated by the blistering blaze, reduced to nothingness.
A storage treasure burst apart, showering bright radiance in all directions, yet under the searing heat of the Wither-Bloom Divine Fire, most of it was also burned to ash.
It was not just Granny Hongye.
Everything in the vicinity instantly plunged into a sea of fire. Even the previously unyielding walls of flesh and blood began to ooze dark gore, giving off a charred, savory stench.
It was a scene of utter apocalypse!
Amid the hazy glow, Luo Chen's silhouette flickered faintly.
He cast a glance toward where Granny Hongye had stood, then abruptly raised his head to look upward.
"Go!"
With his mind made up, he shot toward the sky.
Wherever he passed, the layered walls of flesh and stone turned to churning magma.
*Whoosh!*
A shrill sound pierced the air, arriving out of nowhere.
It moved so fast that even Luo Chen's formidable divine sense had no time to catch it; he merely slapped downward on pure instinct.
Boundless divine fire coalesced with his strike, forming a flaming divine palm.
The flaming palm collided with the unknown assault in a split second, and a sharp piercing sound rang out.
*Chrrrt...*
The immense palm print was punctured instantly. Crossing several yards, the attack tore a gaping hole right through Luo Chen's body, nearly shattering half his torso to pieces.
Looking closely, it was none other than a tongue barbed with vicious spikes!
"Ugh!"
Luo Chen grunted softly. His source power circulated furiously, reassembling and healing his shattered half at a speed he had never experienced in his life.
He glared fixedly at the retracting tongue, his eyes flashing with a ruthless glint.
In ordinary combat, Luo Chen possessed an endless array of methods, occasionally even resorting to the Nirvana Holy Fire. Why, then, had he used the Wither-Bloom Divine Fire so sparingly?
It was because this flame was of too high a rank. At his prior realm of cultivation, unleashing it even once would nearly drain all his magic power.
Even after receiving guidance from Monarch Qixia and switching his cultivation method to the *Heavenly Phoenix Nirvana Scripture*, the situation had only slightly improved, and he still did not dare use it recklessly.
Only now that he had comprehended the Fire Origin, bolstered by the true intent of the laws, had the magic power required to control the Wither-Bloom Divine Fire been reduced to a manageable degree.
Yet that improvement was still not quite enough. By Luo Chen's estimation, the strain might only be fully overcome once he broke through to the late Nascent Soul stage.
Only then would he be able to wield the Wither-Bloom Divine Fire with relative ease.
Until that day arrived, he avoided using this fifth-rank divine fire unless pushed to the absolute brink.
And right now!
Facing a fifth-rank desolate beast was precisely the absolute brink!
"Go!"
A fierce roar rang out!
The branches of the Wither-Bloom Divine Fire swayed like vines, surging in pursuit. In an instant, they breached the yellow radiance enveloping the tongue and began scorching the fleshy organ itself.
Excruciating pain racked the Nether Earth Dragon.
Both were at the fifth rank—how could a divine fire possibly be weaker than a desolate beast?
As fast as the tongue had struck out, it retreated even faster.
Swallowing its tongue back into its maw, the beast secreted vast amounts of saliva to submerge the Wither-Bloom Divine Fire.
Yet the divine flame was immensely spiritual. From the inside out, it began incinerating the Nether Earth Dragon throughout its entire body.
Before this supreme divine fire of the Mountain Sea Realm, that incomparably resilient flesh suddenly seemed frail and brittle.
A strange, mouthwatering aroma of roasted meat drifted through the air.
Yet the one enduring it was in utter torment.
"Roar... Roar..."
Agonized bellows echoed continuously as bursts of earthy-yellow halos erupted from within its body, forcing back the Wither-Bloom Divine Fire.
*Boom...*
The earthy-yellow halos surged violently, completely repelling the flames and revealing the Nether Earth Dragon's dozens-of-yards-long body once more.
Only this time, it was in a miserable state.
From head to tail, its hide was torn and its flesh lacerated, dripping with gore. Hardly a patch of intact skin remained.
It was utterly enraged!
It raised its head to look upward, but the enemy's silhouette was already gone.
Yet they would not escape!
The Nether Earth Dragon opened its maw wide, generating a terrifying suction.
The indestructible walls around it immediately began to writhe, collapsing into countless rivers of blood that rushed toward it like all streams returning to the sea.
As the walls crumbled, Nether Mountain, which enveloped the Yin-Yang Tomb, began collapsing from the inside out as well.
...
*Phew!*
Beneath the blood moon, a lone figure hovered high in the sky.
A tall crown with a golden plume, clad in partial armor.
Luo Chen exhaled a long breath of turbid air, his mind easing slightly.
He had finally escaped!
He looked down below.
At first glance, his guard immediately shot to its peak.
The several-thousand-zhang-tall Nether Mountain was rapidly giving way, caving in from the inside out.
Amid tumbling rocks and boulders, vast swathes of squirming flesh were exposed.
And all of this flesh was retracting inward, as if something within were devouring it all.
Luo Chen swallowed hard, shock written across his face.
"Could this Nether Mountain actually be the physical body of the old Nether Earth Dragon that died all those years ago?"
The more he looked, the more convincing the guess became!
No wonder entering Nether Mountain had given him that eerie sensation of stepping into the maw of an enormous beast.
"I cannot remain here!"
With that thought, Luo Chen turned and fled.
He did not even use sword-flight or ordinary flying techniques; instead, he expended his remaining magic power directly on his swiftest art, the fire escape.
Brilliant sparks of flame blossomed.
When he reappeared, Luo Chen had already vanished from the spot, emerging several li away.
A gourd materialized in his hand. Taking a swig, his magic power surged, and another shower of sparks burst forth.
Such speed was unimaginable.
Yet the feeling of impending doom hanging over Luo Chen's heart remained unlifted.
When he had put a hundred li between them, he instinctively glanced back.
There, a colossal beast spanning a thousand zhang lay sprawled upon the earth, craning its neck toward the moon as it let out a low, rumbling roar.
It was a monstrous creature clad in earthy-yellow scales, with four limbs like pillars supporting the heavens and a tail like an immense war hammer.
When it slowly rose to its feet, it blotted out the sky, and the earth trembled!
*Whoosh!*
A pair of ghostly green eyes, burning like eerie corpse fire, locked straight onto Luo Chen a hundred li away.
Its jaws parted in a grin, thick fluids oozing out.
Then, it took a step!
*Thud!*
It broke into a sprint. The scenery behind it seemed to shift flatly, rushing backward in a mad blur as the earth itself appeared to carry it forward.
Every stride felt like shrinking the earth to inches.
Every leap seemed to traverse space itself.
A distance of a hundred li was crossed in mere breaths.
A true fifth-rank desolate beast!
The thought flashed through Luo Chen's mind, and without hesitation, he sped toward the Death Gate.
Sparks flared continuously as his magic power drained frantically.
A violent gale suddenly whipped up behind him!
Without a second thought, Luo Chen whipped around and pointed a finger.
The primed Wither-Bloom Dao Finger manifested once more!
This time, it was not the reversed divine ability, but the purest transformation of vitality into death intent—an absolute killing strike.
Boundless worldly origin qi gathered into a swirling vortex.
The Wither-Bloom Dao Finger condensed from the vortex, stabbing toward the massive monster's skull behind him.
*Pfft!*
A bloody cavity abruptly burst open.
The divine ability was effective after all.
Yet against a thousand-zhang body, such a minor wound was utterly negligible.
However, possessing boundless combat experience, Luo Chen had anticipated this.
Along that bloody cavity, the Wither-Bloom Divine Fire flared once more.
The Nether Earth Dragon seemed deeply wary of this pale green-and-white flame as well. Blood plasma surged from within its body, turning into a jet of liquid that forced the fire back.
Not stopping there, it slammed both front paws down.
The earth shook, the ground rolling like ocean waves and crashing toward Luo Chen.
Endless yellow halos converged from all directions.
"Escape!"
Luo Chen instinctively tried to execute the fire escape once more, yet for some reason, he could not merge with heaven and earth at all.
"Is it that yellow halo?"
A fierce glint flashed in Luo Chen's eyes. Reaching out with a flick of his hand, he summoned the Yuantu Sword.
Slash!
A grand sword light swept forth, all-conquering.
With one strike, the rolling wave of earth was cleaved in two.
Borrowing the recoil, Luo Chen drifted backward like a kite, retreating into the distance.
Once out of the yellow halo's reach, he unleashed the fire escape again.
The moment he paused, Luo Chen ignored the emptiness of magic power in his body and the slow replenishment from the Golden Wind and Jade Dew wine, drawing directly upon the pure magic power within his Nascent Soul itself.
His hands blurred through hand seals, his fingertips weaving swift motions.
His hands stopped; the seal was formed!
He slammed a palm backward with ferocious force.
It was none other than the Qingyang Great Handprint!
Unlike ordinary Qingyang Great Handprints, this one blazed with brilliant golden light, suffused with holy fire.
It was augmented with the Nirvana Holy Fire!
A single palm struck out, sweeping across heaven and earth.
Yet Luo Chen's face was pale. Without lingering to see the outcome, he continued to flee for his life.
Such a disheveled state was truly rare for him.
How laughable that he had felt his battle against Heavenly Master Li earlier had not been thrilling enough.
A thunderous detonation erupted behind him, yet it lasted for only a fleeting instant.
The Nether Earth Dragon's foul stench was carried closer and closer by the raging gale.
*Must I truly perish here today?*
At that thought, Luo Chen steeled his resolve and tossed an item into the distance with a flick of his hand.
A streak of light flashed, and the Nether Earth Dragon's movements hitched for a split second.
Luo Chen felt a surge of hope, but in the next instant, his heart sank again.
What he had cast out was none other than the Life-and-Death Gu he had obtained earlier.
Yet clearly, even after Luo Chen willingly surrendered the prize, the Nether Earth Dragon had already locked onto him completely.
"Then we fight to the death!"
Luo Chen's expression turned savage. Magic power surged within him, and his miniature Nascent Soul began to turn faintly incorporeal.
The Hunyuan Cauldron surfaced beneath his feet, spinning madly.
In his hand, the Yuantu Sword hummed ceaselessly. Sensing Luo Chen's intent, the spirit within the blade shone with dazzling radiance, sending blood-red halos rippling endlessly across the sword's body. As sword qi breathed from its edge, faint ripples stirred in the void, as though a casual slash could sever space itself.
*To think that the Yuantu sword spirit would finally submit to me completely under circumstances like these?*
Amid his astonishment, the savagery on Luo Chen's face gradually gave way to a calm resolve.
This Nether Earth Dragon had lain dormant for over a thousand years. Though it stood at the fifth rank, it was not necessarily insurmountable.
One could tell as much from their initial clash, when it had been burned by the Wither-Bloom Divine Fire.
Its current overbearing might was merely due to having devoured the flesh of the ancient Nether Earth Dragon.
If he gave his all and brought forth every magical treasure at his disposal, this might not be an absolute dead end.
Above all!
*The Death Gate is not far from here. As long as...*
Just as the thought of fighting to the death took root in Luo Chen's mind, the Yuantu sword spirit was not the only one to sense it.
*Whoosh!*
A streak of black light shot out from along Luo Chen's arm. It circled his body once, then bounded into the sky, flying toward the Nether Earth Dragon without the slightest hesitation.
Luo Chen froze, blurting out, "What are you doing?"
The Black King's voice boomed from above: "Master, go on ahead! Xiao Hei will hold it off!"
As he spoke, the Black King's frame began to swell dramatically.
Ten zhang, fifty zhang, a hundred zhang, two hundred zhang...
By the end, he had grown to a staggering five hundred zhang!
Such a size could easily rival a mid-fourth-rank beast among demon beasts and desolate beasts alike.
This proved that when the Black King claimed he had not slacked off over the years, he had not been lying.
Yet no matter how hard he worked, it could not bridge the chasm of an entire major cultivation realm.
Before that Nether Earth Dragon, the Black King appeared as puny as a toddler.
Luo Chen's expression shifted rapidly; none could tell what thoughts ran through his mind.
In the distance, the Black King had already engaged the Nether Earth Dragon.
A bloodcurdling screech rang out at the very first clash.
The Black King attempted to coil around the dragon, yet a single pulse of the earthy-yellow halo tore his physical body in two.
A hand was trembling.
Not Luo Chen's hand, but the Yuantu Sword, vibrating violently.
"Do you wish to fight as well?"
Luo Chen murmured, seemingly asking not just the sword, but himself.
In truth, the moment the question left his lips, the answer was already obvious.
A small, incorporeal figure soared into the sky.
The longsword in his hand was like a rainbow, its razor-sharp sword qi surging into the nine heavens.
Following the *Myriad Firmaments Myriad Transformations Sword Scripture*, Luo Chen pinched a sword incantation, channeling vast magic power into the Yuantu Sword.
"Only this one strike!"
His mind made up, Luo Chen's eyes blazed with golden light, sweeping across the Nether Earth Dragon's entire body to search for a flaw.
His gaze locked in.
"Slash!"
Sword qi pierced the heavens, its ringing cry shaking the wilderness.
The magnificent sword light became a bolt of blood-red silk, resembling the Milky Way descending from the highest heavens upon the mortal realm.
Wherever it passed, fine black threads surfaced in the void—the telltale sign of spatial rifts forming.
In the distance, the Nether Earth Dragon sensed the peril. Shaking off the Black King who was attempting to entangle it once more, its body flickered, attempting to dodge with an agility that defied its colossal frame.
Yet above its head, a giant cauldron radiated a hazy luminescence. Chains shot out in unison and drove deep into the earth, slightly arresting the speed of its massive bulk.
The torrent of sword qi was already upon it!
Luo Chen panted heavily, fixing his eyes upon the target.
At this moment, the magic power left within him was virtually spent, and even his Nascent Soul had grown listless.
Setting aside what he had expended fighting Heavenly Master Li, Marquis Ziyi, and the others, the Wither-Bloom Divine Fire and consecutive fire escapes alone had consumed an enormous amount of power.
Short of collapsing his Nascent Soul, this strike was his absolute strongest sword!
If it failed to achieve results, he would have no choice but to abandon the Black King and flee for his life at all costs.
Suppressed from above by the giant cauldron, beset from afar by the blood sword piercing the void,
the Nether Earth Dragon ceased trying to dodge. The earthy-yellow halo flared with blinding intensity, forming an impregnable barrier of light to shield its entire form.
The next instant!
The sword qi struck home, cutting down mountains and cleaving peaks.
The earthy-yellow halo snapped like severed cloth, breaking apart inch by inch.
The strike drove deep into the colossal flesh.
"ROAR!!!"
An agonized howl tore through the air.
Delight surged through Luo Chen. *Did it work?*
Yet what his divine sense perceived sent his heart plunging into the depths.
His Scarlet Eye Golden Pupils had indeed found the flaw, and the Yuantu Sword had indeed dealt the beast no small injury.
Yet its vitality far exceeded his wildest imagination.
As the earthy-yellow halo flickered, it completely enveloped the Nether Earth Dragon's body once more.
The massive wound carved out by the Yuantu Sword was rapidly knitting back together.
Much like the Black King, this Nether Earth Dragon clearly possessed an innate gift akin to an undying physique.
Once it recovered and was on guard, even if Luo Chen could unleash that world-shaking strike a second time, he would likely fail to breach its defenses.
"The chasm of cultivation realms truly cannot be crossed!"
Luo Chen let out a bitter smile and turned to flee without the slightest hesitation.
As for the Black King, his fate was left to fortune.
Yet whether he could escape depended on whether his enemy allowed it.
*Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!*
From the earth below, pillars of earthy-yellow light burst through the soil, shooting straight toward the sky.
The Nether Earth Dragon continued its furious roar. The pillars of light were seamless and boundless,
spreading frantically with its massive body as the epicenter.
The crust shook, mountains cracked, and the entire Yin-Yang Realm seemed to tremble.
It was truly enraged!
Right at that moment!
The bright moon hanging high in the sky suddenly shed a hazy lunar radiance.
Wherever it passed, the pillars of light dissipated, and the earth grew tranquil.
The tumultuous Yin-Yang Realm was instantly pacified.
In the distance, Luo Chen, who had been on the verge of despair, froze in astonishment and looked up at that bright moon.
A silhouette emerged upon it, appearing as though it were within this realm, yet simultaneously millions of li away.
An aged voice drifted out slowly from within.
"Senior Brother, having already passed into meditation, why cling so stubbornly to the mortal coil?"
The silhouette reached out toward the Yin-Yang Realm with a sweeping motion.
The bright moon settled right into his hand!
Chapter 968