Over nine thousand strands of Spiritual Light poured down alongside a heaven-filling force of Crimson Fire.
The winds and clouds shifted.
Black clouds blotted out the sky.
Lightning crisscrossed overhead, fire rained down, and thunder roared—a scene of world-ending destruction.
What was happening?
Could Gods and Devils be descending upon the mortal world?
Everyone was trembling with unease, at a loss for what to do.
The next moment—
"Slash!"
The sky split open, and a Fire Meteor plummeted from the clouds with blinding speed.
Rumble!
The mountain below broke clean in two. Its upper half instantly melted into a pool of crimson lava, while the lower half continued to crack and collapse.
In that instant, the nameless mountain northwest of Dragon-Raising Temple was nearly wiped off the face of the earth.
Zi Shu Mo, hiding within it, didn't even have time to react. He had only just looked up at the sky in confusion when the Fire Meteor struck him head-on.
His flesh and blood were reduced to ashes.
However, the creature did have a few tricks up its sleeve. Though its flesh had turned to ash, it hadn't died. Countless strands of Evil Qi gathered and began writhing in the mountain hollow, now melted into lava.
The dark clouds overhead showed no sign of dispersing. The enormous mass of Evil Qi suddenly let out a series of shrill squeals. Then a rat larger than a calf, clutching its smooth, completely hairless head, fled in a panic.
Its speed... was nearly a hundred miles in a single instant.
It truly was running for its life, head in its paws!
"It didn't die?"
"It sure has plenty of ways to save its hide."
Deep within the Snake Abyss, Su Qingqiu frowned and murmured to himself.
Still, he wasn't surprised. This was his first time combining the Crimson Fire Horn with the Major Rain Accumulation Technique.
To maximize the attack's power, he had poured every last bit of Crimson Fire Spiritual Light in his body into it.
As a result, the two forces hadn't coordinated properly. Some of the rain energy had extinguished the fire, and the powers of the Major Rain Accumulation Technique and the Crimson Fire Horn had clashed severely.
Fortunately, the attempt hadn't failed completely. In the end, Zi Shu had still taken a crushing blow.
He had nearly died, body and soul.
"This kind of combined attack counts as a method of attack, too. In the future, if I can control the quantities and make my attacks more precise, it could become a useful offensive spell."
Su Qingqiu mulled it over.
After this experiment, he wouldn't have to roll up his sleeves and charge into close combat every time.
He had at least gained the beginnings of a few offensive spells.
Elsewhere
Su Qingqiu had no idea how much of a shock his actions had sent through the various factions.
In the northwest, at the site of the mountain he had destroyed with a single strike,
Once the dark clouds dispersed, barely a few dozen seconds passed before a dozen or so cultivators in resplendent robes and radiating an imposing presence arrived, soaring through the air.
There were men and women among them.
Yuanhui and Yuanming of Dragon-Raising Temple were there, along with an even older monk.
Likewise, Fang Wenshan of Chiyang City, the Dragon King Temple's officiant, and Daoist nun Chuchen had all come.
There were also people from several other factions.
The nameless mountain had been reduced to nothing. Only its base remained, along with torrents of scorching lava flowing across the ground.
Even as the group hovered in the air and looked down, they could feel the fierce heat washing over them.
It made the skin of everyone present tingle with pain.
"To think that the abbot of Dragon-Raising Temple, Master Yuanhui, has come in person. A pleasure to meet you. May I ask whether you've discovered who—or what—could have changed the very heavens and earth and sent a Fire Meteor crashing down from the sky?"
Fang Wenshan already knew the answer, but asked anyway. He glanced at Yuanhui, then quietly studied the elderly monk behind Yuanhui and Yuanming, frowning slightly.
For a moment, he couldn't place the old monk.
"Amitabha. Lord Fang, we only just arrived ourselves and didn't see who—or what—was responsible."
"But to change the heavens and earth with a single person's power and bring a Fire Meteor crashing down from the sky..."
Yuanhui gave a wry smile.
At that moment, she circulated her mana throughout her body and directed it into the molten rock beneath her feet. Strands of fire energy rose from nowhere and began to resist her power.
"What astonishing cultivation in the Fire Dao. Even though it has become a rootless duckweed, it can still withstand Master Yuanhui's nearly thousand years of refined mana. Th-this... if that Fire Meteor truly was created by someone, rather than summoned through an object, could that person's Daoism Cultivation already be close to ten thousand years?"
Daoist nun Chuchen looked shocked.
Everyone knew that Yuanhui, the current head of Dragon-Raising Temple, had entered the sixth rank thirty years ago.
Thirty years had passed since then. Her actual strength must have far exceeded the sixth rank by now; her mana surely amounted to well over a thousand years.
And yet, even she was still being resisted by the fire energy left behind. Just how astonishing was the Daoism Cultivation of the one who had unleashed the Fire Meteor?
"This is extremely pure Crimson Fire Qi. Given its vast quantity, the one who unleashed it may have over ten thousand years of Daoism Cultivation."
"But mixed into it are traces of Evil Qi. I suspect they came from whatever the Fire Meteor destroyed."
"Could a powerful evil being have infiltrated the Great Wasteland, only to be slain by a passing Earthly Immortal of the upper three ranks?"
Yuanhui hazarded a guess.
Only cultivators of the upper three ranks could accomplish something like this. Such beings were known as Earthly Immortals—mysterious figures who appeared like dragons, then vanished without a trace.
"A powerful evil being?"
Fang Wenshan frowned at this. He turned to the Dragon King Temple officiant and continued, "Master, have you received any warning from the Imperial Court lately?"
The officiant thought it over, then shook his head. "No. The drought has caused demons to emerge across the Great Wasteland, but none of them are world-shaking fiends. And the Imperial Court hasn't detected any outsider great fiends entering the Great Wasteland..."
At that, the officiant seemed to remember something. He paused, then suddenly added, "Oh, right. Some time ago, the border army sent word that quite a few Giant Rat demons had crossed the border and entered our Zhaoyang Country."
"The Child God Sect in Yanfeng Nation sent a message saying the Giant Rat demons had fled from their territory. They even asked us to return the bodies if we killed them, offering spirit rats in exchange."
"Lord Fang, do you think one of these Giant Rats might be hiding a great fiend?"
"A rat infestation..." Fang Wenshan sighed, then shook his head. "I doubt it. Besides, the Giant Rat demons are in the north of our country, far from the Great Wasteland. They couldn't possibly have traveled all this way to infiltrate the area around Dragon-Raising Temple."
"Actually, if you ask me, I'd sooner believe that all of this was the doing of the True Dragon at Dragon-Raising Temple."
"What do you say, Masters?"
Fang Wenshan looked back at Yuanhui and the others, smiling broadly.
Yuanhui's expression shifted slightly before she replied, "Amitabha. Monks do not tell lies. Dragon-Raising Temple truly has no True Dragon. I ask you not to make such baseless claims, Lord Fang."
Fang Wenshan made no comment.
Then he turned to his attendants and said, "Someone, order the Chiyang City troops to seal off this area. Then notify the Imperial Court and have them send people to investigate. I want to see who—or what—dared to make such a commotion on the territory of Zhaoyang Country."
"Even if it's an Earthly Immortal, it still owes Zhaoyang Country an explanation!"
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