Furnace Domain

"Tastes good."

Li Yuan's voice wasn't loud, yet it cracked through the silent cavern like a thunderclap. He stood atop the White Bone Altar, dark crimson gold qi and blood steaming around him, scorching the lingering sinister aura until it sizzled. The crimson gold in his eyes had settled like lava flowing deep within the earth's core, carrying the calm and cruelty of one who would burn all things to ash.

"You... you wretched fiend! You destroyed my Holy Spirit! A thousand deaths could never atone for this sin!" The Netherworld Cult Bishop had gone completely mad. His gray-white eyes were bloodshot, and the massive bone staff in his hand erupted with a darkness more intense than ever before. The sinister energy throughout the cavern began gathering around him in a frenzy. "I'll rip your soul out and burn it for all eternity!"

Li Yuanhong also recovered from his shock and fear. He knew there was no turning back now; only one of them would leave alive. Li Yuan's displayed strength and his bizarre ability to devour the Sacred Spirit Origin chilled him to the bone. If this boy wasn't eliminated, the Li Family would never know peace!

"Attack together! Kill him!" Li Yuanhong roared. The formidable qi and blood of a core elder of the Li Family burst forth around him. It was nowhere near enough to stir the energies of heaven and earth like the bishop's, but it was still impressive. He drew a slender sword gleaming with a cold, dim blue light and pointed its tip at the altar.

The nearly hundred remaining Netherworld Cult disciples and Li Family Guards, driven by the bishop's madness and Li Yuanhong's command, forced down their fear and let out bestial howls. Like a surging tide, they rushed once more toward the White Bone Altar at the center of the Blood Pool!

Faced with attacks blotting out the sky and the earth, and the terrifying spell the bishop was preparing—one that drew upon the cavern's entire store of sinister energy—Li Yuan stood atop the altar and slowly raised both hands.

He closed his eyes.

His consciousness sank into the depths of his qi sea, communing with the Crimson Sun, which had transformed into dark crimson gold after devouring half of the Sacred Spirit Origin.

The profound meaning of the Crimson Sun True Scripture flowed through his mind—become the furnace, refine heaven and transform earth!

"Vmmm—!"

A will far greater, more domineering, and more terrifying than the "Burning Qi Field" descended with a crash, centered on him!

It was no longer a field confined to a few yards around him. It was... a domain!

Centered on the White Bone Altar, a translucent, dark crimson gold barrier more than twenty yards in diameter appeared in an instant, engulfing Li Yuan and dozens of enemies charging at the front!

This was no longer a simple expansion of scorching heat. It had become a temporary, independent space of laws!

Within the dark crimson gold barrier, the air was completely expelled, replaced by Crimson Sun Qi and Blood as heavy as mercury and hot as magma! The ground instantly turned dark red and molten, bubbles roiling across its surface! The moment those ghostly green lights entered the domain, they melted away like snowflakes!

"Furnace... Domain!"

Li Yuan opened his eyes. His dark crimson gold pupils held no emotion, only absolute control.

"Aaagh—!!"

Screams too awful to be human burst from the Netherworld Cult disciples and Li Family Guards who had charged into the domain!

Their bodies were as though they'd been thrown into a furnace of molten iron! Skin, muscles, and bones charred, carbonized, and melted away at a speed visible to the naked eye! The curse power and qi and blood they frantically summoned only fed the flames, instantly assimilated and ignited by the domain, hastening their deaths!

Within two or three breaths, the dozens who'd rushed into the domain had become heaps of twisted, charred remains. The roiling molten ground swallowed them, leaving not even ashes behind!

Outside the domain, the enemies still charging forward stopped in terror. They stared at that dark crimson gold expanse, like the entrance to hell, and not a soul dared cross the line!

On the raised platform, Li Yuanhong's face was as pale as paper, and the hand gripping his slender sword trembled violently. What... what kind of power was this?! A domain? How could someone in the Aperture Opening Realm possibly master one?!

Even the seemingly crazed Netherworld Cult Bishop faltered, his bone staff—brimming with a monstrous amount of sinister energy—trembling slightly. His gray-white pupils stared fixedly at the dark crimson gold domain, filled with disbelieving horror!

"Your spell is too slow."

Li Yuan's voice rang out within the domain. He turned his gaze to the bishop, raised his right hand, and gave a gentle clench toward the bone staff, which had gathered most of the cavern's sinister energy.

"Crucible... suppress!"

Rumble—!

The entire dark crimson gold Furnace Domain seemed to come alive. All the Crimson Sun Qi and Blood contracted and converged in an instant, transforming into a formless, intangible shadow of a crucible, heavy as a mountain. It ruthlessly bore down on the bishop and the bone staff in his hands!

This wasn't a clash of energies. It was overwhelming force on the level of laws!

"Crack-crack—!!"

The gathered darkness atop the bishop's bone staff, which had nearly solidified, let out a cracking sound under the weight of the Crucible Phantom! Like ice meeting a red-hot iron, it quickly crumbled and fell apart!

"No—!!!" The bishop roared in despair, frantically driving his curse power to resist.

But it was all in vain.

The Crucible Phantom carried the will to smelt all things. It disregarded every resistance he offered and slammed down!

"Pfft!"

The bone staff in the bishop's hand, along with the monstrous curse power he'd gathered, was crushed back into his body! The Dark Green Cloak swirling around him instantly turned to ash, revealing a body as withered as a skeleton beneath it! He suddenly spat out a great mouthful of filthy blood mixed with fragments of his organs. His aura rapidly dwindled like air leaking from a punctured balloon, and he stumbled backward before collapsing at the edge of the raised platform, his eyes filled with nothing but boundless fear and despair.

One strike!

Just one strike had crushed the Netherworld Cult Bishop's lifelong cultivation and rendered him powerless!

Li Yuan withdrew his hand, and the dark crimson gold Furnace Domain slowly faded away. He still stood atop the White Bone Altar, his qi and blood calm, as if the earth-shaking suppression had been nothing more than brushing away a speck of dust.

His gaze shifted to Li Yuanhong, who was deathly pale and trembling like a leaf.

"You're next."