The sky was a thick, dark red, like a vault soaked in blood. It pressed low overhead, bringing an oppressive sense of suffocation.
The ground had cracked into countless fragments. Scalding lava surged through the fissures, its fiery glow casting the entire space into flickering light and shadow.
The air carried a mingling of scorching heat and violent fury, as though this world itself were a furnace ready to explode at any moment.
Li Bufan had barely steadied himself and had yet to survey his surroundings when a deafening roar erupted overhead.
A bolt of purple heavenly lightning as thick as a palace pillar tore through the dark-red sky and struck straight down at him.
The power within that lightning was terrifying. Even its stray shock waves twisted and distorted the surrounding space.
Li Bufan's pupils contracted sharply. He instinctively activated the Wind-Thunder Nine Heavens Step to evade it, but the instant he moved, a crimson jet of earthfire erupted beneath his feet.
The earthfire transformed into a fiery python, opening its flaming maw to swallow him from below.
At the same time, blackish-gray winds rose from every direction.
These were no ordinary winds. They carried a bone-piercing chill, each wisp like an invisible blade that sliced the air around Li Bufan to pieces.
The chilling winds howled toward him, closing in alongside the heavenly lightning above and the earthfire beneath his feet.
Heavenly lightning, earthfire, chilling winds.
Three utterly different powers of destruction descended at once, sealing every avenue of retreat.
Li Bufan's expression darkened, but he did not panic.
He drew a deep breath. His blood qi surged violently, and he gave a low shout-
"Mountain Character Art! Rise!"
As he completed the hand seal, an enormous phantom abruptly rose behind him.
The phantom was solid and imposing,