Right at that moment, Crimson Flame—who had seemingly given up all struggle and silently awaited death—abruptly threw back its head.
Upon its blurred, flickering face, a mocking sneer seemed to surface.
Then, in an instant, its body turned from mingled black and red into pitch black!
Like a drop of ink falling into a pool of water, the surrounding space was dyed completely black in the blink of an eye!
Li Fan's mind shook violently.
Even the surviving cultivators who had looked upon Crimson Flame with avarice were now entirely overwhelmed by terror.
For the anima of Heaven and Earth, Crimson Flame, which they had sensed in their hearts, had quietly transformed into another anima of Heaven and Earth: Mo Sha!
"What is going on?!"
Not only were they thrown into utter panic, but even Li Fan was struck with disbelief.
"Anima of Heaven and Earth can transform into one another? Without Crimson Flame having to die, Mo Sha can instantly replace it and descend upon the world?"
Li Fan's heart raced as thoughts churned rapidly through his mind. The scene he witnessed today seemed to open an entirely new doorway for him.
Under this abrupt change, the first to bear the brunt was Hongxi, who had thrown himself into a desperate, all-out strike.
His resolute determination instantly warped into horrified despair.
Yet an arrow loosed from the bow could not turn back. Utterly unable to stop his momentum, he crashed directly into the pitch-black domain surrounding Mo Sha.
There was no earth-shattering crash, nor any dazzling display of light.
Like ice and snow falling into water, his entire body seemed to dissolve in an instant, vanishing without a sound.
Mo Sha tilted its head slightly, an eerie smile seeming to touch the corners of its mouth.
In the sky above, an anomaly abruptly manifested.
"Soul Formation cultivator Hongxi, having cultivated for seven hundred and sixty-three years in the mortal realm. Established his Dao Foundation through the Five Elements Mountain, and achieved his Golden Core through the five methods of Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth."
"Swallowed the Hundred Peaks Grotto-Heaven to achieve Nascent Soul, and extracted the Mount Taihua Thousand Emerging Peaks to achieve Soul Formation."
"Fortunate to receive Heaven's execution; his Dao is extinguished, returned to Heaven!"
Across the firmament, the collapse of continuous mountain ranges symbolized that Immortal Lord Hongxi—a Soul Formation cultivator and the paramount leader of the Congyun Sea region—had fallen just like that.
The instant Mo Sha appeared, Tianyang had already sensed the crisis.
Though he had sworn never to be inferior to anyone in his lifetime, that did not mean Tianyang would throw his life away in vain.
Holding nothing back, the Earth Fire Origin-Returning Formation violently detonated at the cost of destroying itself.
Amidst the rampaging earth fire and magma, Tianyang attempted to sever his hand and escape.
While the colossal hand still held Mo Sha trapped, his true body had already slipped away quietly.
Yet swift as he was, he could not outpace Mo Sha.
Before the scarlet lava could even draw near Mo Sha, it was tainted and transformed into fine black particles.
Like a drop of ink falling between heaven and earth, it rapidly diffused and spread.
Tianyang had barely fled any distance before the expanding circular domain of inky blackness overtook him.
Unlike Hongxi's silent dissolution, flashes of fire and grating crunches echoed incessantly from within the pitch darkness.
Even as the vast expanse of black expanded further outward, signs of Tianyang's desperate struggles could still be seen at its center.
Yet this seemed only to prolong his agony.
Before long, all disturbance ceased completely, and everything returned to stillness within the dark.
Li Fan's eyelids twitched violently.
One had to remember that the materials he used to reinforce Tianyang included the Eternal Calamity Fine Gold, said to be indestructible through ten thousand tribulations.
He had originally hoped Tianyang could at least exchange a couple of blows with Mo Sha, but the result…
"The disparity is simply too vast. Mo Sha…"
"It is truly terrifying and dread-inducing." Even having witnessed the battles of figures like the Heavenly Physician and the Master, Li Fan still felt a chill run through his heart upon seeing Mo Sha take action once more.
"Furthermore, in this lifetime, Mo Sha seems even more 'lifelike' than before?"
Unsure whether it was just an illusion, Li Fan stared at the expanding black blot between heaven and earth, suddenly seized by this inexplicable realization.
As for the rest of the cultivators in Congyun City, their reaction went far beyond a mere chill.
The situation had reversed in an instant. In the span of a breath, the two Soul Formation cultivators who had appeared to have victory within their grasp had both fallen.
This plunged the remaining crowd into utter despair.
Moreover, inside Congyun City, many cultivators who had been in seclusion within the Heavenly Profound Mirror were suddenly ejected.
They looked around with faces full of bewilderment, completely unaware of what was happening.
"The Heavenly Profound Mirror has withdrawn its Empowerment as well. It seems it has abandoned the Congyun Sea."
"What must come will always come."
Li Fan thought to himself as he watched the cultivators around him weeping, screaming, and completely abandoning all dignity.
After Tianyang fell, the speed at which the ink spread gradually slowed.
Reforming into a humanoid shape, Mo Sha swept its gaze across the people in Congyun City.
Every cultivator upon whom its gaze fell went stiff, paralyzed and unable to move, their hearts swallowed by overwhelming dread.
Then, perhaps out of a playful cat-and-mouse inclination, Mo Sha did not choose to strike at these cultivators immediately. Instead, with a flicker, it vanished without a trace.
The cultivators stared in disbelief, thinking Mo Sha had spared them.
A spark of hope instantly flared in their hearts.
Yet naturally, that was impossible.
From the sky, a black rain began to fall.
As the black drops fell toward the ground, everything they touched was turned to nothingness.
Then, ink of the same origin surged from the void, devouring its surroundings.
Before the eyes of the crowd, the Congyun Sea was disappearing.
Yet ironically, all of the black rain completely bypassed Congyun City floating in the air.
It was like a form of punishment, forcing the cultivators inside the city to watch with their own eyes as the Congyun Sea was slowly erased.
Mo Sha orchestrated all of this.
"This Mo Sha has quite a wicked sense of humor," Li Fan thought to himself, his heart steadily growing heavy as he watched the surrounding space turn darker and darker.
Such a horrifying scene completely drove the cultivators within Congyun City mad.
Knowing there was no longer any chance of survival, some abandoned themselves to despair and took their own lives.
Others, eyes bloodshot, launched suicidal charges straight into the pitch-black domain outside the city.
Still others collapsed to the ground, weeping uncontrollably.
He Zhenghao was among the latter.
His body trembled uncontrollably as his daughter's earlier warnings echoed repeatedly in his mind.
"A terrible calamity, a mortal peril."
"You only need to leave the Congyun Sea."
…
His face covered in bewilderment and regret, He Zhenghao saw the faces of his beloved Heng Ruoshui and daughter He Xinxin rise before his eyes.
"How could I have been so foolish!"
The experiences of his life flashed through his mind like a revolving lantern, and He Zhenghao broke down in tears.
Yet abruptly, he stopped.
He looked sharply toward Li Fan.
"Lord Secret Emissary! Lord Secret Emissary, please think of something!"
"You must have a way, don't you?!"
Scrambling and crawling across the ground, He Zhenghao rushed all the way to Li Fan's side, asking while clinging to his final shred of hope.
Li Fan did not answer. He merely flew quietly into the high sky.
Facing the pitch-black domain outside Congyun City, he made a provocative gesture.
The inky darkness between heaven and earth seemed to freeze in an instant.
Then, a figure appeared not far from Li Fan.
It looked at him with great interest.
Chapter 646