Word Count: 2,469 Words
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"I bear part of the blame for you becoming this violent. But the Demon Flame's destructive power is far too great. If I allow you to roam free, the entire Dou Qi Continent will face an apocalyptic disaster." 'Xiao Yan' slowly shook his head.
"Hmph! You're nothing but a stray remnant soul from who knows where, yet you dare act so arrogantly before me. Do you truly believe you're still the Purifying Lotus Demon Saint who once shook the world?!" The Purifying Lotus Demon Flame glared at 'Xiao Yan' with seething hatred. His hand seal shifted abruptly, and the two colossal fire formations spanning the surrounding space began to rotate once more. "This great array was laid down by your own hand back then. Today, I'll let you taste its true might!"
"Refine!"
The word had barely left his lips before the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame let loose a furious roar. Two pillars of light brimming with destructive force erupted from the twin formations above and below, streaking toward 'Xiao Yan' at lightning-like speed.
The retreating experts paled at the sight of the array unleashed once more. If those pillars struck home, the survivors could be counted on one hand.
Swoosh!
'Xiao Yan' watched the pillars blaze toward him like meteors streaking across the sky. He slowly raised a single finger and pointed. "Halt."
At that placid word, the twin beams of annihilation froze in mid-flight. They hung suspended less than fifty feet from the crowd, one above and one below. The destructive force radiating from them made every scalp prickle with dread.
"The Refining Sky Ancient Formation was created by me. When it comes to comprehension of its mysteries, you are no match for me." 'Xiao Yan' stood with one hand clasped behind his back. A faint smile touched his features as his gaze rose to meet the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame's darkening face. His voice remained mild.
"Bastard!"
The curse had barely left the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame's lips before his expression shifted violently. His control over the great array was slipping away.
Though the Purifying Lotus Demon Saint had left only a small fragment of his soul within the ancient map, this Refining Sky Ancient Formation had always been his creation, placed within the Demon Flame Space as a failsafe against the unexpected. The Spiritual Strength contained within the map might be meager, but it held the 'key' to commanding the entire array.
Rumble!
The two colossal fire formations trembled violently. Layer after layer of milky-white flames burst from within them and streamed into the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame's body. As those flames merged with him, his grip on the Refining Sky Ancient Formation crumbled away entirely.
"Purifying Lotus Demon Saint, I'll fight you to the bitter end!"
The Purifying Lotus Demon Flame's eyes turned blood-red the instant control slipped from his grasp. He knew the formation's terrifying might all too well. If the Demon Saint seized full command of it, another sealing would be inevitable. He had endured thousands of years in that bitter prison, and the monotony had long since become unbearable to him.
He swore he would never be sealed again. Never!
"Demonic Flame World Destruction!"
His body swelled rapidly, then detonated with a resounding boom into a monstrous tide of flame that flooded every corner of the space. Every trace of energy within this realm vaporized under the extreme heat in a single heartbeat.
"Ahhhh!"
A Half-Saint's agonized shriek cut through the chaos. The moment the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame unleashed his full strength, the Dou Qi within the man's body ignited on its own. His meridians twisted and warped beyond recognition.
Bang!
His screams did not last long. His entire body burst into a cloud of black ash that drifted down into the magma sea below. The remaining experts felt their limbs turn to ice at the sight. All energy in this space had been vaporized by the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame. Without any way to replenish their Dou Qi, only one fate awaited them: death by incineration.
Even Zi Yan lacked the confidence to withstand the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame's terrifying heat without Dou Qi to shield her. If they wished to live, they had to flee this cursed place at once.
Chi!
Terror still gripped every heart when 'Xiao Yan' abruptly swept his sleeve. The two massive formations that spanned tens of thousands of feet released a burst of radiance. The light twisted in mid-air and became a driving force that swept everyone toward the exit.
"Hurry and leave. If the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame explodes, none of you will survive."
Wild joy surged through the crowd at those cool, indifferent words. No one paused to think. Figures blurred into motion, scrambling and shoving one another as they raced toward the spatial tunnel.
"Young miss, we should hurry as well!" Gu Nanhai turned to Xun Er. This place was far too dangerous. No one had expected the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame to become this terrifying.
"But Xiao Yan ge-ge..." Xun Er's delicate brows drew together, her gaze fixed on Xiao Yan. His consciousness appeared to be entirely occupied by the Purifying Lotus Demon Saint. If she simply abandoned him here, who could guarantee the Demon Saint wouldn't harm him?
"We should leave first. Worrying accomplishes nothing. Staying here won't help Xiao Yan in the slightest. The Purifying Lotus Demon Saint has borrowed his body to manifest. I don't believe he intends to harm him." Gu Nanhai fell silent for a moment, then gritted his teeth and spoke in a low, firm voice.
Xun Er bit down lightly on her red lips. Hesitation warred in her eyes. Leaving Xiao Yan alone in this deathly, lifeless space made her chest tighten painfully, and the ferocious Purifying Lotus Demon Flame still lurked here as well.
While everyone wavered, the milky-white flames above continued to expand. Eventually, a pink hue began seeping through the center of that blazing mass. The pink flames gathered slowly, and a crimson-tinged demonic fire lotus took shape in the sky, rotating with eerie grace.
Even Gu Nanhai's face flushed a deep red the instant that blood-tinged lotus appeared. The Dou Qi within his body pulsed with waves of scalding heat, as if on the verge of igniting on its own.
"Go!"
Not far below the fire lotus, 'Xiao Yan' still stood with his hands clasped behind his back. A subtle majesty radiated from his form. Everyone understood that this unfamiliar authority came from the illusory figure overlaying his body.
Buzz!
The rotating fire lotus gradually stabilized to pure white once more, though every petal was now threaded with fine red veins resembling human blood vessels. Crimson light pulsed through them intermittently, lending the beautiful lotus a deeply unsettling, demonic aura.
"When I first encountered you, your essence was as pure as a newborn infant. I granted you intelligence, allowing you to possess the thoughts of a human. Yet the path you chose diverged entirely from what I had intended..." The illusory figure outside 'Xiao Yan's' body released a soft sigh as it gazed at the demonic lotus in the sky.
"Purifying Lotus Demon Saint, how I choose to grow is my own affair. You meddle far too much!" Light flared from the lotus body, and the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame's furious roar rang out from within.
"I only wish to prevent your self-destruction. I am the one who made you this way, so allow me to be the one to end everything..." The illusory figure gazed at the fire lotus, and his hand seal shifted. The two massive arrays that blanketed the sky and earth rushed inward, one descending from above and one rising from below. Enormous curtains of fire burst from their centers and wove together at lightning speed into a four-sided prison of flame, sealing the demonic lotus inside.
"I will take back the intelligence and memories I bestowed upon you. Afterward, you will once again possess the purity you had when I first found you..."
"Purifying Lotus Demon Saint, you heartless bastard! I won't let you have your way!"
A furious roar erupted from within the demonic lotus once more. It began spinning at tremendous speed, and waves of terrifying blood-red flames shot outward. Under the assault of those strange crimson flames, the fire curtain formed by the array twisted violently.
"When my time was drawing to an end, I once thought to erase your memories, but I could not bring myself to do it. That was why I sealed you here instead, hoping you might dissolve the violence and murderous nature in your heart. Yet looking at things now, those thousands of years of imprisonment have only deepened your hatred. Since this is so..." The Purifying Lotus Demon Saint looked at the wildly struggling Purifying Lotus Demon Flame and gave a soft sigh. His hand seal changed again, and the vast array spanning tens of thousands of feet began collapsing from its outer edges inward. As the outer layers fell away, the fire pillar imprisoning the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame grew ever more solid.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The Purifying Lotus Demon Flame hurled himself against the fire curtain with frenzied desperation as the formation continued its work. The earth-shaking impacts made the golden flame surrounding Xun Er's body dim noticeably, even at that distance.
"Refining Sky Ancient Formation, remove!"
The Purifying Lotus Demon Saint's illusory hand swept gently through the air. Dense threads of flame erupted from the fire curtain, weaving together into a net that pressed deep into the core of the demonic lotus. The net drew upward by slow degrees, forcing wisps of blood-colored mist from the lotus body.
"Ahhhh!"
A shrill, agonized scream tore from within the demonic lotus as the mist rose. The lotus spun wildly, but no matter how much energy it unleashed, it could not breach the fire curtain.
The white shadow enveloping Xiao Yan drifted free and floated toward the imprisoned Purifying Lotus Demon Flame. "The Refining Sky Ancient Formation has absorbed thousands of years of energy. This time, it erupts in full. You cannot withstand it. Little demon, come with me..."
However, at the very instant the Purifying Lotus Demon Saint's power departed, Xiao Yan, who had kept his eyes closed all this time, suddenly snapped them open. A bizarre smile surfaced on his face.
The final tribulation of the Asura Soul Reaping Technique had erupted at precisely this moment!
Buzz!
The black shadow beneath Xiao Yan's feet bled across the entire space like spilled ink. Before the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame and the Purifying Lotus Demon Saint's remnant soul, a dark silhouette appeared, one that looked exactly like Xiao Yan save for its three heads and six arms.
BOOM!
A terrifyingly powerful surge of Spiritual Strength exploded outward, blasting the Purifying Lotus Demon Saint aside and shattering the seal on the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame.
"Grug!"
Xiao Yan spat a mouthful of fresh blood and stared at the three-headed, six-armed silhouette in shock. No wonder Hun Lao Gui had said he could not pass the third tribulation. He sensed with absolute clarity that the figure before him was connected to his own soul, akin to a Soul Clone of his being!
Once one reached the perfected Heavenly State, the soul could exist independently, and the Asura Soul Reaping Technique exploited precisely that characteristic.
The Purifying Lotus Demon Flame was equally stunned as he stared at this three-headed, six-armed version of Xiao Yan. The two seemed to exchange something through their souls alone, and a ruthless gleam crossed the Demon Flame's features. His voice turned cold and hard. "Good! Help me escape, and I will help you kill the main body and be reborn!"
Whoosh!
The Purifying Lotus Demon Flame's essence burrowed willingly into the Asura Soul Reaping Technique. The silhouette bared its teeth in a ferocious grin, then pointed skyward in mimicry of the earlier gesture. A surge of black Spiritual Strength poured into the Refining Sky Ancient Formation.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!!
That surge set the Refining Sky Ancient Formation into motion once more, and this time, not even the Purifying Lotus Demon Saint's remnant soul could halt it!
"Hahahaha! Purifying Lotus Demon Saint, for all your scheming, you never foresaw this moment!" The Purifying Lotus Demon Flame laughed wildly from within the Asura Soul Reaping Technique. He had won. He had defeated the Purifying Lotus Demon Saint!
"You are laughing too soon." Xiao Yan wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, a sharp glint flashing through his eyes.
He had remained wary of the Asura Soul Reaping Technique from the very start. He had sensed something deeply strange about it, something fundamentally different from every other Soul Skill he knew of. This technique seemed to possess a consciousness of its own.
Each tribulation had struck precisely when he was at his weakest, and every time, it had felt as though it wanted to kill him and be reborn in his place.
Now, watching the final tribulation emerge, Xiao Yan turned to the Purifying Lotus Demon Saint, who was still struggling to halt the Refining Sky Ancient Formation. "Purifying Lotus Demon Saint, how much Demon Flame can you draw from this space?"
"Demon Flame?" The Purifying Lotus Demon Saint's brows drew together. He could not fathom why Xiao Yan would ask such a thing at a moment like this.
"I want to borrow some fire from you." Xiao Yan swept his hand through the air. The massive fire lotus beneath his feet slowly unraveled, and eleven Heavenly Flames rose to stand guard around him like loyal sentinels.
He assumed an all-too-familiar stance. Under his control, the eleven Essence Flames began condensing, compressing, and merging with frantic intensity!
An aura of annihilation that startled even the Purifying Lotus Demon Saint burst forth.
If this three-headed, six-armed asura wanted rebirth, then Xiao Yan would send it a small gift.
An Angry Buddha Lotus Flame forged from eleven Heavenly Flames was only High Tian Class. But what if he could merge the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame into it as well?!
The Purifying Lotus Demon Saint's eyes narrowed. His remnant soul flowed back into Xiao Yan's body, but this time he did not seize control. Instead, he poured every last shred of his power directly into Xiao Yan.
As that strength flooded in, the entire space began fluctuating violently. Milky-white flames surged toward them from every direction!
The face of the Asura Soul Reaping Technique, so certain of victory only moments before, twisted into a distinctly human expression of solemnity and dread. The Purifying Lotus Demon Flame's wild laughter died in his throat.
They had both sensed it. An emperor's might was seeping from that still-unformed lotus of flame!
The Angry Buddha Lotus Flame. God Class version!