C2022 The Extreme of Fire
"Don't blame me."
Kaiya's words weren't intended for Yuan Lianyao's ears.
In the Ashlands, she witnessed a Blood Fiend's Demon God shudder, as the blood within him underwent a sudden transformation.
She instantly realized that Yu Yuan had channeled a fragment of his consciousness through this Demon God, closely monitoring both Yuan Lianyao and her own actions.
"Yu Yuan?"
Zhong Chichen, poised to deliver a fatal blow to Yuan Lianyao with his refined Void Blade, was interrupted by the abrupt manifestation of a devil soul.
His space magic remained unaffected, and he was on the verge of reducing Yuan Lianyao to dust.
Yet, he abruptly halted.
Whoosh!
The wings of the Azure Bird, brandishing the power of destruction and death, unfurled slowly and, as it swung towards Yuan Lianyao, its icy, blade-like eyes betrayed a flicker of doubt.
Both Zhong Chichen and Chen Qinghuang detected Yu Yuan's presence simultaneously.
To them, Yuan Lianyao's fate was inconsequential, but they could not disregard Yu Yuan's stance.
Thus, they ceased their actions and turned their attention to Yu Yuan.
At that moment, warriors from various races and human cultivators, who had settled in the Ashlands and ventured into its myriad enigmatic worlds, emerged in droves from the pale-golden Tyria.
Informed by Kaiya's account and Yuan Lianyao's prior conduct, they all grasped the unfolding events.
They understood that Yuan Lianyao had been overtaken by the blazing fire.
"She carries the source within her, the source being the eyes of the Abyssal Primal Soul. Hence, if this woman is not swiftly eliminated, her continued presence in the Ashlands poses a grave threat," Kaiya's devil soul declared, stepping forth from the chest cavity of a skeleton crafted by a Sky Fiend.
Clusters of dark fire coalesced into vibrant purple flowers, blossoming in the void where her devil soul hovered.
The rich cosmic energy of the Ashlands infused the purple flowers, prompting their transformation.
The flowers burgeoned rapidly, as though morphing into the human brain and spaces corresponding to the body's acupoints.
"The demon spirit enters the sea," Kaiya whispered.
As if in chorus with her whisper, legions of Star-Spawned Terrors sang out, and within the heart of the purple flowers, numerous little devils joyously greeted the arrival of something yet unseen.
The purple Shadowblooms beside her began to swell slowly, as though they were engulfing souls.
Zhong Chichen, wielding the Book of Time, unfolded layers of space-time, placing Yuan Lianyao's body and soul in separate realms. This manipulation constrained her thoughts, halting the advance of both the flame meteors and the burning stars.
The growth of the purple Shadowblooms, coupled with Kaiya's unleashed power, initiated the convergence of Yuan Lianyao's Soul Power consciousness across different dimensions.
Phantom wisps, resembling streams of flame, soared from these dimensions.
These fiery streams traveled through various spaces, intercepted and refined by the combined forces of Zhong Chichen and Kaiya. They were purified by the Book of Time, severing any spirituality not inherent to Yuan Lianyao.
Eventually, all the streams of flame were drawn out from Yuan Lianyao's various dimensions and surged together once more, coalescing into a dark red silhouette.
She was Yuan Lianyao's Lunar Spirit, extracted by the joint efforts of Kaiya and Zhong Chichen, and now manifested outside the seal of the Book of Time, her expression one of bewilderment.
"I've done all I can," Kaiya declared, as one of the purple Shadowblooms enveloped Yuan Lianyao's Lunar Spirit.
"At least her soul mark remains intact. As an Undead Lord from the Wraithlands, you have the power to bring her back to life, just as you did with Mo Baichuan."
Yu Yuan, having infused his vital energy into the Blood Fiend, fell silent for a moment before nodding in agreement.
Suddenly, the Fire Star, which had been persistently drawn by the power of the Blazing Fire, trembled violently.
Deep within the Fire Star, the hidden magma and firewater were agitated by the Blazing Fire's influence, unleashing a burst of fearsome flame energy in an instant.
The apocalyptic lava and flames cascaded over the independent spaces crafted by Zhong Chichen.
As the lava and flames reached them, Yuan Lianyao, fragmented by the dimensions, began to coalesce once again.
The multitude of spaces, intricately woven by the Book of Time, burst one after another like bubbles in boiling water.
Yuan Lianyao reemerged.
She transformed into a formidable Divine Visage, towering thousands of feet tall, her surface like charred earth, crisscrossed with black and red fissures.
Cracks spewed black smoke, and blood flowed like molten lava. Her eyes were parched and cracked, yet her face bore no sign of pain.
At first glance, she resembled an enormous, unfinished ceramic sculpture, its surface riddled with fissures that leaked smoke and flames.
The blazing fire recklessly squandered the hidden power within her body, indifferent to whether she could endure it. Whether she would exhaust her strength and turn to ash in the Ashlands was of no concern to the blazing fire.
Her Lunar Spirit, too, was of little consequence to the blazing fire. Whether it perished or was reborn mattered not, so long as it did not hinder the blazing fire's ability to manifest its power.
"I..." Her Lunar Spirit, nestled within the purple Shadowbloom, began to regain a sliver of spiritual sense and whispered softly.
Suddenly, the burning Fire Star exerted a powerful suction. Her Lunar Spirit, along with the protective purple Shadowbloom, was violently drawn into the Fire Star, the Shadowbloom reduced to ashes upon its surface.
In an instant, Yuan Lianyao's Lunar Spirit penetrated the earth's crust and delved into the subterranean depths.
Meanwhile, her divine body boldly stepped toward the fiery star in the Ashlands, observed by a crowd of astonished onlookers.
Her colossal Divine Visage abruptly contracted into the Fire Star. The brittle earth cracked and tumbled away as the blazing fire swiftly forged the Fire Star into its armor.
A spectacle unfolded before the onlookers. The immense Yuan Lianyao's form merged with the Fire Star, which then served as armor encasing her waist and abdomen.
Drawn by the force of the blazing fire, all manner of fire-related phenomena—the meteor showers, the energy of flames, and all varieties of Fire Crystals and Fire Stones within the Ashlands—gravitated toward it, regardless of their original location.
It became the epitome of fire magic, the ultimate destination of this elemental path. All things of fire, whether tangible or merely energetic, were irresistibly drawn to it.
And yet, this entity had only imparted a fragment of its spiritual sense into Yuan Lianyao's body. Yuan Lianyao remained the most vulnerable of the supreme beings, nowhere near the eleventh level.
"Let me handle this."
Yu Yuan, a radiant eleventh-level Solar Spirit, emerged from the Space-Time Archway on Tyria. In a flash, he bypassed everyone, heading straight for the burning star.
"We've entered the Ashlands."
Yu Yuan called out as he reached toward the fiery star.
Crackle! Crackle!
A dense array of light and electricity manifested as the law visible to all beings, as if numerous gods and demons, masters of ultimate truths, were roused by Yu Yuan's hand and descended upon the fiery star.
Yuan Lianyao slowly lifted her head, her gaze fixed on the colossal scarlet hand descending upon her. She witnessed innumerable laws interlaced between the fingers, transforming into streaks of lightning and divine brilliance.
In response, she hoisted the massive shield, forged from the lid of the Cosmic Crucible.
The shield expanded into a world akin to the Abyss, its surface patterns writhing as countless flame creatures, lost to the River of Time, were resurrected.
Beings of flame, demons, alien beasts, and even gods that were not recorded in ancient texts or memories materialized one by one.
They were revived, watching the titanic hand that spanned eons plummet toward them.
Boom!
Their world crumbled, their bodies shattered, and the remnants of their nations, their spiritual seas, and the lingering sparks of their undiminished spirituality were obliterated in an instant.
The immense hand pressed upon the world the shield had become, with countless fire patterns imbued with the secrets of blazing fire surging toward its palm.
Laws interwove and collided, sending shockwaves that fractured the void spiraling outward wildly.
The Fire Star, girded like armor around Yuan Lianyao's waist, cracked open as the star steadily diminished.
Until all that remained was a pool of magma, still clinging to Yuan Lianyao's waist.
"..."
