Even as the azure pillar of light restrained Crimson Flame, tens of thousands of thin threads branched out from the mirror Hongxi held aloft, piercing into Crimson Flame's body like long needles.
Crimson Flame's body of mingled black and red instantly flickered erratically, like a candle guttering in the wind.
Li Fan even keenly noticed that the azure threads seemed to be siphoning something away; Crimson Flame's body was slowly shrinking, and its aura was steadily weakening.
Crimson Flame struggled desperately to break free, but like an insect caught in a spiderweb, the more it struggled, the tighter the threads bound it.
The gigantic azure net locked Crimson Flame firmly in place.
This battered, wretched state formed a stark contrast to Li Fan's memories of his previous lives, where even in ultimate defeat, she had at least displayed the Dao Integration combat strength expected of an anima of Heaven and Earth.
"An anima of Heaven and Earth derives its power from heaven and earth. Yet the Profound Heaven Spirit-Sealing Formation is able to Usurp Heaven, severing her connection to heaven and earth. No wonder Crimson Flame is faring so poorly," Li Fan mused inwardly as he witnessed Crimson Flame's miserable plight.
"I just don't know whether this formation could suppress Mo Sha as well. If Mo Sha is also refined, will heaven and earth continue to send down an even more powerful anima of Heaven and Earth?"
Just when everyone watching across the Congyun Sea thought the outcome was decided—
A colossal hand suddenly thrust out from beneath the sea.
In the blink of an eye, the five fingers snapped shut, grasping both Hongxi and Crimson Flame in its palm!
"Tianyang!" Almost instantly, Li Fan recognized the giant hand's origin.
Yet this time, Tianyang did not shout his trademark boast, "I, Tianyang, have never been second to any man in my life!" Instead, he had lurked silently beneath the two stalemated combatants.
Playing the oriole stalking behind the mantis, he swept them both up in one fell swoop.
"Courting death!" Hongxi's face turned livid at Tianyang's ambush.
While carefully maintaining the Profound Heaven Spirit-Sealing Formation, he simultaneously commanded layer upon layer of mountain ranges to crash against the surrounding prison of five fingers.
*Boom!*
To Hongxi's utter shock, the giant hand made no move to resist his attack, allowing his materialized mountain peaks to collide directly into it. Yet the instant they struck, those peaks—indistinguishable from real mountains—seemed to hit something a hundred times harder than themselves.
They shattered one after another on the spot.
Immortal Lord Hongxi's body trembled slightly. Under the immense recoil, he nearly lost control of the Profound Heaven Spirit-Sealing Formation.
Inside the formation, Crimson Flame seemed to sense a turning point and ceased her struggling.
She merely contracted and conserved her strength, biding her time until Hongxi showed another opening.
"Damn it!" Suffering a setback in silence, Immortal Lord Hongxi cursed inwardly. He simply ignored Tianyang's giant hand for now; hardening his resolve, he poured everything into driving the Profound Heaven Spirit-Sealing Formation to refine Crimson Flame.
Yet Tianyang—strengthened by Li Fan at all costs and having subtly gained greater cunning—clearly had no intention of letting Hongxi's wishful thinking pan out.
"...Belongs to the virtuous! Fellow Daoists, the chance to defy the heavens and change our destiny is right before our eyes!"
Stirred up and incited by those with hidden motives, dozens, then hundreds of cultivators could no longer resist the temptation in their hearts, launching attacks one after another against the stalemated trio.
Each harbored hopes of becoming the lucky fisherman who reaped the spoils, ascending to the heavens in a single bound.
Li Fan noticed that He Zhenghao had also nearly succumbed; he had already flown forward, only to suddenly come to his senses halfway there for some reason and turn back.
"Wait a little longer... wait a little longer," Li Fan heard him mutter under his breath.
His tightly shut eyes and trembling body plainly revealed how desperately he was suppressing his own desires.
Li Fan smiled faintly, turning his gaze back to Tianyang and the others.
The Earth Fire Origin-Returning Formation had already been pushed to its absolute limit by Tianyang. Earth fire magma erupted continuously from the floor of the Congyun Sea, forming the wondrous spectacle of surging fire dragons within the ocean. Li Fan knew that this was Tianyang channeling the full might of the Congyun earth fire.
Originally, the power of earth fire clung to and was constrained by the earth veins, not something a cultivator could command so easily.
Yet earlier, in order to force out Crimson Flame, Hongxi had activated the Tianyuan Creation Formation, utterly shattering the earth veins of the Congyun Sea.
As a result, the earth fire magma was freed from its shackles, coursing rampantly like a wild horse broken loose of its reins.
This allowed the Earth Fire Origin-Returning Formation to exert two hundred percent of its power.
Thus, in a sense, cause and effect were linked; Immortal Lord Hongxi had truly dug his own grave.
Sensing that his own energy was draining away faster than Crimson Flame's, Immortal Lord Hongxi's expression shifted continuously.
At this point, if he recalled the Profound Heaven Spirit-Sealing technique and gave up suppressing Crimson Flame, focusing his full efforts on breaking free, he might well be able to escape the Earth Fire Origin-Returning Formation.
Yet this Profound Heaven Spirit-Sealing Mirror had only a single use. Once activated, the mirror would turn into an ordinary mortal object. Only by returning to the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals headquarters to submit an application and recharge it could it be used again. This meant that if he broke off the process now, all his previous efforts would go down the drain.
He might save his life, but advancing to Dao Integration would be entirely out of the question.
On the other hand, if he staked his life on a fight to the end, though the mortal danger was real, there was still a chance he could achieve the Dao Integration realm! From then on, the heavens and earth would broaden before him, and his destiny would never be the same!
A fierce, ruthless look twisted across Immortal Lord Hongxi's face, and in a split second, he made his final choice.
Streaks of brilliance shot forth from his body, hammering against the Earth Fire Origin-Returning Formation in an attempt to slow the rate at which he was being refined and absorbed.
Hongxi's gaze turned resolute as he cast all else aside, dedicating his entire focus to operating the Profound Heaven Spirit-Sealing Formation to suppress and refine Crimson Flame.
As seconds and minutes slipped by, Crimson Flame's form grew dimmer and dimmer.
She was already translucent, appearing as if she might vanish from between heaven and earth at any moment.
"Die!"
Hongxi roared in fury. Transforming into an earthen-yellow beam of light, he charged headlong toward Crimson Flame without looking back.
At the same time, the Profound Heaven Spirit-Sealing Formation erupted with its most dazzling brilliance.
Azure and yellow intertwined like a sharp blade, poised to plunge ruthlessly into Crimson Flame's body.
Chapter 645