"Hmm? What kind of formation is this?"
For the first time, a trace of genuine confusion entered the scarlet manifestation phantom's voice.
Her pair of scarlet eyes, vast enough to blot out the sky and cover the earth, narrowed slightly. Bloodlight flowed through her pupils as she stared fixedly at the unmoving golden barrier below.
Given her current strength, there were not many things in the entire Cangwu Continent that could withstand one of her attacks without shattering.
A formation... how could it fail to produce even the slightest ripple?
"Again!"
She refused to believe it.
This time, the scarlet radiance between heaven and earth seemed to be stirred by an invisible giant hand, wildly converging toward the firmament.
Blood-red storm clouds churned like boiling water, while scarlet lightning serpents slithered through them, unleashing deafening roars.
All light collapsed toward a single point, condensing and shifting shape. A scarlet lotus slowly bloomed in the sky.
The instant that lotus appeared, the colors of the entire world were completely rewritten.
Mountains, rivers, earth, and sky—everything was stained scarlet, so thick and dense that it seemed the entire world had been soaked in a vat of blood.
Aside from that pale golden glow of the formation, no other color could be seen between heaven and earth, as though this land had always been a scarlet purgatory.
The scarlet lotus slowly rotated. Each petal was unimaginably huge, spreading out layer upon layer, and it was a full circle larger than the golden barrier protecting the entire Heavenly Fire Sect.
Eerie patterns flowed across the petals. At its heart burned a flame so scarlet it was nearly black. The flame flickered silently, yet radiated a terrifying heat that made even space twist and tremble.
"Boom—!"
The scarlet lotus crashed down.
The whole world shuddered.