*Rumble...*
Heavenly fire rained down relentlessly, its roars deafening.
Qin Sang's face was completely masked by the intense firelight, his features blurred.
A brief pause.
Another fireball crashed down before him. Seizing the momentary gap, Qin Sang manifested an astral shield around himself and plunged resolutely into the Yang-Flame Divine Restriction.
*Whoosh!*
The moment he entered, he triggered the divine restriction, instantly feeling a searing blast pour over his head, making his scalp tighten.
From out of nowhere, crimson clouds surged, giving birth to fresh fireballs that locked onto Qin Sang and came crashing down with an explosive boom!
More dangerously, nearby fireballs were stirred by his aura and altered their trajectories. Those closest hurtled straight at him, while those farther away seemed capable of predicting his flight path, converging to cut off every avenue of escape.
Qin Sang was like a drop of water falling into boiling oil—his intrusion threw the entire realm into utter turmoil.
From the outside, not a trace of his figure could be seen.
Heavenly fire closed in around Qin Sang from all directions. If struck by even a single fireball, even if it didn't blow him to pieces, it would trigger a chain reaction, forcing him to experience the full, unvarnished power of the divine restriction.
In such a predicament, Qin Sang could only weave and dodge through the gaps between the fireballs, thankful that the divine restriction was masterless.
Fortunately, to sustain its ceaseless cycle, the downward momentum of the heavenly fire in the Yang-Flame Divine Restriction could not be arrested. The fireballs could not pursue him indefinitely or accumulate endlessly, leaving him room to maneuver.
The fate of most fireballs was to plunge into the sea of fire below and dissolve back into the restriction.
Yet some collided while pursuing Qin Sang. Once their internal force destabilized and detonated, dazzling rings of fire instantly erupted, carrying a terrifying might that rivaled the waves of flames below.
The fire rings swept across with explosive fury.
Whenever this happened, Qin Sang would flap his phoenix wings to dart swiftly through the fissures between the Yang-Flame Heavenly Fire, remaining relatively composed for the time being.
As he fled, Qin Sang split his focus, communicating with the Heavenly Eye Butterfly to analyze the Yang-Flame Divine Restriction while simultaneously channeling a secret art to conjure a fire lotus in his palm.
Flames swirled within the fire lotus as the spiritual fires he had subdued—such as the Nine Nether Demonic Fire and Ancestral Holy Fire—flashed in turn, testing whether he could use the lotus or a specific flame to ward off or redirect the Yang-Flame Heavenly Fire.
Pursuing both avenues at once, he sought a way to unravel the restriction.
Not long after Qin Sang entered, Su Zinan and his companion pursued him to the edge of the Yang-Flame Divine Restriction. After a moment's hesitation, seeing Qin Sang pulling further away, they had no choice but to follow closely behind.
Though Qin Sang had drawn away some of the Yang-Flame Heavenly Fire, the Yang-Flame energy within the divine restriction was boundless, and the fireballs converging to intercept Su Zinan's pair were no fewer than those chasing Qin Sang.
In fact, because the two were unwilling to stay too close to one another, they ended up stirring up an even greater quantity of heavenly fire.
*Swish!*
Su Zinan flicked his finger, and the black ruler left his hand, unleashing thousands of ruler shadows in a wild burst.
The shadows were not aimed directly at the Yang-Flame Heavenly Fire, as striking them head-on would cause them to detonate—a lesson learned previously. Instead, the shadows struck empty space, dissipating the shockwaves with far gentler force.
Several fireballs hurtling toward them diagonally were disrupted by the ruler shadows, their trajectories shifting slightly to reveal an opening.
At the same time, Mo Xingdao condensed his profound Qi into a shield to block a ring of fire crashing in from the side. One in front, one behind, the two slipped through the gap.
There were two of them, after all. Cooperating with each other was certainly easier than facing it alone like Qin Sang, but in such an environment, they could not move quickly no matter what.
They could only exercise patience, testing various secret treasures against the heavenly fire as they kept up the pursuit.
...
While the three were engaged in their chase, some distance away, the two from the Yutai Sect deliberately steered clear of Qin Sang and the others, taking a detour before finally reaching the Yang-Flame Divine Restriction.
Unable to see past the terrifyingly powerful Yang-Flame Heavenly Fire, the Daoist nun felt both fear and excitement, looking toward her senior brother with expectant eyes.
With a flick of his wrist, the white-robed Daoist released the Red Flame Sword, which flew above their heads of its own accord, hanging point-down.
"Yang-Flame Dharma Seal!"
Silently forming an incantation seal, he pressed his index and middle fingers together like a sword and stabbed upward in rapid succession. His fingers abruptly turned scarlet, and a tiny flame flew to the tip of the Red Flame Sword. Immediately, blazing fire split apart and swirled around the blade.
The next moment, the Red Flame Sword buzzed and hummed, transforming into the Yang-Flame Dharma Sword. Shadows of the blade multiplied into divergent rays of light, manifesting a sword wheel; sword shadows swirled around them ceaselessly like flowing fire.
The aura of the sword shadows and flowing fire was strikingly similar to that of the Yang-Flame Heavenly Fire.
Wielding the Yang-Flame Dharma Sword seemed quite strenuous for the white-robed Daoist as well. Nodding to the Daoist nun, he directed the sword wheel to envelop them both, flying into the Yang-Flame Divine Restriction.
*Swish!*
A clump of Yang-Flame Heavenly Fire happened to crash down right in front of them.
Holding her breath, the Daoist nun looked through the curtain of fiery sword shadows and was pleasantly surprised to discover that the heavenly fire merely veered slightly off course, plunging straight into the sea of fire.
Though the Yang-Flame Dharma Sword did not completely mask their auras, its effect was unmistakable—so long as they were careful, they could proceed unimpeded!
The white-robed Daoist also breathed a sigh of relief. Too much of their sect's heritage had been lost, including the techniques to control the Yang-Flame Divine Restriction; otherwise, they would have had no reason to fear those great cultivators inside the restriction.
Fortunately, the Yang-Flame Dharma Seal had been preserved, and it proved remarkably effective.
Shielded by the Dharma sword, they advanced rapidly through the Yang-Flame Divine Restriction. Their speed was far greater than that of Qin Sang and the other two, and they had a clear goal in mind.
Rather than heading blindly toward the mountain peak, they gradually shifted toward the center of the divine restriction, the very place where the auras of the Yang-Flame Heavenly Fire converged.
At first, the Daoist nun tried to calculate the distance, but she eventually gave up. By rights, they had traveled far enough to reach the summit of Dishou Mountain, yet they were still nowhere near their objective; space here had already been warped by the restriction.
The deeper they went, the fiercer the heavenly fire grew.
Even with the Dharma sword shielding them, they had to tread with utmost caution.
After much maneuvering and weaving, they finally found the objective of their journey.
Before them, heavenly fire fell like rain, but carved out in the depths of the boundless sea of flames was an empty clearing.
There were no flames there, nor did any heavenly fire fall inside. Incredibly, there stood a section of cliffside and a cave abode.
The cliff stood abruptly amidst the sea of fire, surrounded above and below by blazing flames; it had to be a portion of Dishou Mountain itself, severed and enclosed by the restriction.
The boundary of this area was where the Yang-Flame Divine Restriction was at its most formidable. It took immense effort for the two to push their way through, encountering danger at every turn until cold sweat drenched their backs.
Stepping into the cliffside area, the pair were astonished. It was extraordinarily tranquil, devoid of even the slightest hint of scorching heat.
The stone doors of the cave abode were tightly shut, yet bore only a very rudimentary isolating restriction.
The Yang-Flame Divine Restriction outside was already the finest protection imaginable.
The two exchanged a glance.
Out of caution, the white-robed Daoist waved his hand and tossed out a talisman, conjuring a lava golem that stepped forward to push open the stone doors. The interior was instantly illuminated by the firelight from outside.
At a glance, they saw a figure sitting cross-legged behind the door, back facing outward. Looking at the back of his head, hair, beard, and flesh were all intact and lifelike.
Their hearts gave a heavy thud, and the Daoist nun nearly cried out in alarm.
The next moment, disturbed by the shift in the cave abode's aura, the figure abruptly dissolved into ashes.
"He's dead!"
The white-robed Daoist breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly peered deeper inside, surprised to find another elderly man sitting within.
The old man sat cross-legged atop interwoven streams of fire. These flames seemed connected to the Yang-Flame Heavenly Fire outside, continuously channeling Yang-Flame energy inward to form a bell-shaped canopy of fire around him.
"This formation... seems to be using True Yang to smelt a demon..."
Thoughts raced through the white-robed Daoist's mind. His gaze fell upon the top of the fiery bell, where a crimson immortal pendant was embedded into the canopy of flame.
Chapter 1652