Demonic Flame Secured

"Stop!"

Xiao Chen snapped back to his senses, his face darkening. He shot out his index finger like lightning and lightly tapped the void.

As his voice fell, the terrifying attack that was about to strike him abruptly froze.

The beam of light halted less than fifty yards before him. The destructive power spreading from it violently warped the void, while space cracks like shattered spiderwebs radiated horrifying fluctuations.

"I told you, I'm your father, yet you still don't believe me." Xiao Chen looked at the Purifying Demonic Lotus Flame in the sky, whose expression had turned utterly ghastly, and spoke softly.

He looked like a father who had found his son alive, ready to pull out the belt.

"Bastard!"

Hearing this, the Purifying Demonic Lotus Flame could not help but curse in fury. It had never expected Xiao Chen's control over the Heaven-Refining Ancient Array to have reached such a level.

With a mere flick of his hand, he had reversed the situation.

Even less had it expected him to be so shameless.

It was a Heavenly Flame born of heaven and earth! Its lifespan numbered in the tens of thousands of years.

Xiao Chen had no interest in the Purifying Demonic Lotus Flame's feelings and did not waste words.

"Rumble!"

His hands rapidly formed seals according to the memories in his mind.

As one crystalline hand seal after another condensed between his fingers, the two enormous flame arrays between heaven and earth began to tremble violently. Then, layer upon layer of milky-white flames shot out from the arrays and surged into the Purifying Demonic Lotus Flame's body, forcing all the violent aura it emitted back inside.

"Dammit! Don't go too far! Even if you refine me, with your cultivation, you can forget about leaving this space!"

Feeling the power within its body being sealed by the Heaven-Refining Ancient Array, the Purifying Demonic Lotus Flame roared.

Its thunderous bellow was filled with fear.

At this moment, it felt as if it were facing its former master, the Purifying Demonic Lotus Saint.

If Xiao Chen did not lack the Purifying Demonic Lotus Saint's domineering aura of looking down upon the world and reigning supreme over the heavens, it might truly have believed that Xiao Chen had been possessed by the Purifying Demonic Lotus Saint.

Xiao Chen merely smiled noncommittally before sweeping his sleeve.

At once, the two colossal arrays spanning tens of thousands of yards between heaven and earth suddenly released a glow. The light twisted in midair and ultimately formed a spatial passage.

"Y-you! Who exactly are you?!"

Seeing that its final bargaining chip had failed, the Purifying Demonic Lotus Flame completely panicked and gritted its teeth.

"I told you, I'm your father."

"Bastard! You've gone too far!"

The Purifying Demonic Lotus Flame flew into a rage from humiliation.

"Demonic Flame World Annihilation!"

The Purifying Demonic Lotus Flame's body rapidly swelled before exploding with a bang, transforming into towering flames that filled the heavens. In that instant, all energy within this space was vaporized by the terrifying heat.

"Damn, it's going all out."

A dense aura of death welled up in Xiao Chen's heart, forcing him to put aside his playful attitude. His expression turned incomparably solemn as information about the Heaven-Refining Ancient Array continuously surfaced in his mind.

At this moment, the milky-white flames in the sky expanded further and further. Eventually, a faint pink hue gradually appeared at their center. The pink flames slowly gathered together, and an eerie, dark-red fire lotus slowly spun into being in the sky.

The moment the dark-red fire lotus appeared, Xiao Chen felt his Dou Qi grow scorching hot, as though it were about to ignite on its own.

"Heaven-Refining Ancient Array—Seal!"

To deal with the self-destructing Purifying Demonic Lotus Flame, the only method was to rely on the Heaven-Refining Ancient Array. There was no other way.

Thus, the instant the dark-red fire lotus took shape, Xiao Chen's hand seals flew rapidly as he completely drew upon the Heaven-Refining Ancient Array's power.

The Heaven-Refining Ancient Array, vast enough to blot out the sky and cover the earth, expanded once more. Millions upon millions of fire threads shot forth, densely interweaving in orderly patterns to form cages that exuded an aura capable of sealing heaven and earth, wrapping the dark-red fire lotus tightly like a rice dumpling.

As the cages shrank, the world-destroying aura emitted by the dark-red fire lotus rapidly dissipated, while its color gradually faded.

Every corner of the vast space was filled with milky-white Demonic Flame. Unimaginably terrifying heat saturated the area. Even a Dou Saint with the strength of four or five stars would be unable to remain here for long, for the temperature here could burn even Dou Qi.

At the center of this fiery sea, a fire lotus emitting an eerie aura slowly rotated. With every turn, its color shifted continuously between dark red and white.

"Buzz!" The spinning fire lotus finally settled on white. Yet every petal was covered in tiny red veins, like the blood vessels of a human body. Flashes of crimson light occasionally flickered across it, filling the beautiful fire lotus with an eerie and sinister air.

"Xiao Chen, I admit defeat. If you forcibly refine me, neither of us will benefit."

"As long as you spare me, I will tell you every secret the Purifying Demonic Lotus Saint possessed in life, including why he failed to step into that realm. How about it?"

"You mean he lacked Emperor's Origin."

After hearing the Purifying Demonic Lotus Flame's tempting offer, Xiao Chen's expression did not change. He merely smiled faintly.

"Y-you... who exactly are you? How could you even know that?"

The Purifying Demonic Lotus Flame was terrified. It truly felt that Xiao Chen might be the Purifying Demonic Lotus Saint's reincarnation.

Otherwise, how could he know so much and even seize control of the Heaven-Refining Ancient Array from it?

No one but the Purifying Demonic Lotus Saint could possess such an ability.

"Sigh, I already told you. I'm your father."

"Your father's father is called..."

"Enough!"

As the background music began playing in his mind, Xiao Chen's face instantly darkened, and he shouted in a low voice.

"No matter who you are, you can never refine me!"

A furious roar rang out from within the demon lotus again. Immediately afterward, the demon lotus began spinning at high speed. Strands of exceptionally terrifying blood-colored flames suddenly shot out from it, and the Flame Curtain condensed by the great array actually twisted violently when faced with those strange crimson flames.

Glancing at the Purifying Demonic Lotus Flame as it struggled madly, Xiao Chen changed his hand seal. The massive array covering tens of thousands of yards began collapsing from the outside inward, yet as its outer perimeter crumbled, the fire pillars imprisoning the Purifying Demonic Lotus Flame became increasingly solid.

"Heaven-Refining Ancient Array, Strip!"

His patience exhausted, Xiao Chen lightly waved his hand. Dense fire threads violently shot out from within the Flame Curtain, forming a fire net that embedded itself deep within the demon lotus. Then the fire net slowly pulled upward, forcing strands of blood-colored mist out from the demon lotus's body.

"Aaaah!"

As the blood-colored mist rose, the Purifying Demonic Lotus Flame immediately let out miserable screams from within the demon lotus. It spun madly, but no matter how much energy it released, it still could not break through the Flame Curtain of the great array.