Yet at the very instant all the people were lost in jubilation and the brilliant dragon aura shot into the heavens—
At the heart of the oasis, atop the altar beside the Spirit Gathering Pavilion, carefully nourished by seven-colored energy, the winds and clouds suddenly shifted!
Buzz—!!!
The seven-colored giant egg, dormant for a long time, began to tremble violently without warning, as if it held within it a primeval beast about to break free of its shell. The seven-colored radiance flowing across its surface instantly grew dazzling and incandescent, like the blazing sun overhead, so bright no one dared look directly at it. An aura far purer and more domineering than at any time before, bearing the supreme majesty of a primeval sovereign, erupted from within the egg with a roar. It was as if an ancient ferocious god had opened its eyes after sleeping for ages, and its awakening shook heaven and earth!
Crack... crack...
The faint yet unmistakable sound of breaking rang out amid the thunderous cheers. To Yue Mei and the other elders, however, it boomed like a thunderclap deep in their souls, making their hearts quiver!
The eggshell... had cracked! It heralded the imminent arrival of a new life—or a new power!
Meanwhile, atop Demon Peak of Bones in the Desert of Buried Immortals.
The surging Chaos Demon Flame once again filled the void left by the shattered immortal light. Like viscous, dark-red blood, it greedily licked every inch of bone scorched crimson, radiating destruction and death. The lingering force of Hun Mietian's projection as it crumbled and the Dragon-Phoenix aura Xiao Zhan had unleashed had yet to fully dissipate. Intertwined with the sulfurous stench and destructive aura of the demonic flames, they formed a suffocating domain of death.
Suddenly!
The blood-red sky above Demon Peak, illuminated by the demonic flames, was torn apart like fragile cloth by an invisible giant claw! A terrifying spatial rift, a thousand zhang long and edged with burning pale soul flames, gaped across the heavens like a fearsome portal to another world!
An icy pressure, far more terrifying and profound than that of You Lao, Elder Ming, or even Hun Mietian's projection, descended with a roar like a tangible tide of cold. It seemed to come from the lowest depths of the netherworld. The space around the entire Demon Peak froze in an instant, and even time seemed to halt for a moment! The roiling demonic flames hung suspended in midair! Below, Xiao Yan had just completed his initial transformation and was steadying his aura; Xiao Yi Xian sat cross-legged, treating her injuries. Both instantly felt as if an invisible iceberg had come crashing down upon them. Even breathing became unbearably difficult. Their souls froze, as though that terrifying pressure would crush them to pieces the very next moment!
The spatial rift was dark and unfathomable, like a portal leading into an endless abyss. From within it, a blurry yet imposing figure slowly stepped forth, each step seeming to shatter the stillness of the void. He was exceptionally tall, straight as a pine, and wore a black cloak that seemed woven from countless souls twisted in agony. Pale soul flames blazed along its edges, never going out, like ghostly fires from hell.
His face was hidden in darkness, impossible to make out. Only his eyes glimmered through the gloom beneath his cloak—yet they were no ordinary soul flames. They were two slowly revolving pale vortices, deep as abysses, seemingly able to devour all light in the world and drag even souls into endless darkness.
Saint Gu You! His true body had arrived, and his pressure bore down like a mountain!
His gaze, a probe carved from ten-thousand-year-old ice, was sharp and cold. It pierced through space and the layers of demonic flame, landing with pinpoint precision at the bottom of the deep pit. There, Xiao Zhan was enveloped in golden-red Dragon-Phoenix mist, like a star on the verge of exploding. His gaze also passed over the ancient ring on Xiao Yan's left hand and the Woe Poison Pill glowing violet-gold in Xiao Yi Xian's dantian. A trace of barely perceptible surprise flashed in his eyes.
"Dragon-Phoenix aura... the Woe Poison Body... and... the faint, mysterious aura of the Immortal Hall..." A cold, indifferent voice rang out atop the silent Demon Peak, like two blocks of ten-thousand-year-old ice scraping against each other. Each word seemed to carry the power to freeze the soul, sending a chill through all who heard it.
"Excellent... This saves me the trouble of searching for each of you."
The pale vortex of his eyes shifted slightly, radiating an authority none could resist as they locked onto Xiao Zhan, whose aura was weak yet contained a terrifying, newborn power.
"Xiao Zhan... You dared destroy this Saint's projection... For this crime, you shall suffer soul-refining punishment, and ten thousand years will not be enough to atone!"
Then his gaze slowly swept over Xiao Yan and Xiao Yi Xian, both pale-faced and braced for battle. His voice held the aloofness of one who regarded all creation as mere dogs and the arrogance of one who stood above all. "As for you... you will return to the Soul Hall with me. There, you will pay the price you deserve for what you have done."
His final word fell like thunder, its echo resounding across the peak for a long time!
Saint Gu You slowly raised his right hand, wreathed in pale soul flames, as if it had come straight from the depths of the netherworld. It radiated an authority none could resist, cold and merciless. His gaze, sharp as icy blades, swept in turn over Xiao Zhan in the pit below, the towering Demon Peak of Bones, and the resolute, unyielding faces of Xiao Yan and Xiao Yi Xian. Then he closed his hand ever so slightly, and it seemed all heaven and earth trembled with it!
"Netherworld... Soul-Snaring Prison!"
Buzz—!!!!
In an instant, the space around the entire Demon Peak of Bones seemed to be clutched by an invisible hand, crushing inward and freezing solid! Countless chains of law, formed from pure pale soul flame, reached out like hideous claws from the deepest pit of hell. Filled with endless malice and cold, they ignored the barriers of distance and matter, piercing through every obstacle in an instant. With fierce momentum, they stabbed toward Xiao Zhan's brow, Xiao Yan's left hand, and Xiao Yi Xian's dantian! An enormous main chain, thick as a dragon, coiled around the entire peak, intent on dragging this place and every living being within it into the cold, dark, sunless prison of the netherworld!
A Saint's wrath changed the color of heaven and earth! A true killing blow descended in a roar, sweeping across the entire Demon Peak of Bones with the force to destroy everything!
Atop Demon Peak of Bones, time seemed frozen in amber, and all things stood still. Saint Gu You's hand, shrouded in pale soul flame, was like the authority of a netherworld judge who held life and death in his grasp. Radiating boundless majesty and mercilessness, it slowly closed over the pit below, the entire peak, Xiao Yan, and Xiao Yi Xian!
"Netherworld... Soul-Snaring Prison!"
Buzz—!!!
An indescribably terrifying fluctuation of law instantly enveloped heaven and earth, as if the whole world trembled in that moment! Space no longer twisted; it froze completely and collapsed, forming tiny black holes that devoured everything around them. Countless chains of law formed from pure pale soul flame reached out like vicious tentacles from the deepest pits of hell, filled with endless malice and cold. They ignored the vast distance between them and their targets, ignored the strength of material defenses, and pierced through every obstacle in an instant, stabbing toward their marks with fierce momentum!
Hiss! Hiss! Hiss!
Three chains, condensed to the utmost and blazing with pale soul flame, shot with merciless precision toward the brow of the unconscious Xiao Zhan in the pit, the ancient ring on Xiao Yan's left hand, and the Woe Poison Pill glowing violet-gold in Xiao Yi Xian's dantian—like vengeful ghosts from the netherworld come to claim their souls! At the same time, a massive chain as thick as a dragon, coiled around countless wraiths wailing in agony, lashed toward the entire Demon Peak of Bones like a giant serpent bursting from the underworld. It would lock down the very foundations of existence of this place and every living being within it, then drag them into the eternal, unending abyss of a cold, dark hell!
A Saint's might made his words the law! This was absolute suppression on the level of rules, the supreme power of law between heaven and earth!
"Father—!" "Uncle Xiao—!"
Xiao Yan and Xiao Yi Xian stared with eyes wide in despair, letting out shrill, desperate cries! They felt like insects trapped in amber, their very thoughts frozen by that terrifying Saintly might, leaving them unable to move! All they could do was watch as the chains, symbols of death and eternity, plunged down with a cold, merciless force!
At that instant of utter calamity, with life and death hanging in the balance—
At the bottom of the pit, the figure wreathed in steaming golden-red Dragon-Phoenix mist, his aura as faint as a candle flickering in the wind, suddenly opened his tightly shut eyes, like a giant dragon awakening after ten thousand years of slumber!
"Roar—!!!"
A mighty, unyielding dragon's cry, as if it had pierced through the immemorial wilderness and shattered the shackles of space and time, burst from the depths of Xiao Zhan's soul. It mingled with the clear, soaring cry of a phoenix that shot straight into the heavens! This was no longer an illusory shadow, nor a projection of will. It was the fury of the True Dragon Heavenly Phoenix, ignited and unleashed by the pressure of a Saint, rising from the deepest source of his bloodline!
Boom—!!!
A red-gold radiance far purer and more domineering than ever before, bearing the majestic pressure of the sacred Dao, erupted from within Xiao Zhan with a roar, like a volcano repressed for hundreds of millions of years finally bursting forth. It illuminated heaven and earth!
The fine phantom dragon scales covering his body instantly solidified and expanded! They transformed into real dragon-scale armor, each scale burning with red-gold flames, its edges sharp as divine blades and engraved with ancient, mysterious patterns! Behind him, a pair of enormous flaming phoenix wings woven from pure Green Lotus Core Flame and Dragon-Phoenix Dou Qi tore through the void and spread wide. Their span blotted out the sky and sun. Every beat stirred a storm of flames capable of incinerating all things, as if it would set the entire world ablaze!
At the center of his brow, the Nirvana Extinction Residual Poison that had long been suppressed now faced the rising Dragon-Phoenix Holy Might. Like filthy snow exposed beneath a scorching sun, it gave a faint, hissing wail, then evaporated and was purified without a trace in an instant, as if it had never existed! The dark greenish-black force of death remaining in the hideous wound on his left shoulder encountered its born nemesis. Under the frenzied devouring and assimilation of the newly awakened Dragon-Phoenix Power, infused with the tremendous vitality of rebirth through Nirvana, flesh grew and the wound healed at a visibly astonishing speed, like a new sprout breaking through the soil in spring, brimming with life!
An immense pressure, surpassing Dou Zong and powerful enough to make even the vast reaches of space submit, descended upon the world with a roar, like an ancient sleeping giant god slowly awakening, filled with boundless majesty and power!
Dou Zun! One-Star Dou Zun!
Under the deadly pressure of the Saint's killing blow and through the rebirth brought by the ultimate transformation of the Dragon-Phoenix Bloodline, Xiao Zhan rose from the ashes and completed his Nirvana rebirth, ascending in a single step into the realm of Dou Zun—a realm countless people dreamed of reaching!
"Old dog! You think you're worthy of laying a hand on my son, Xiao Zhan?!"
Xiao Zhan's bloodied lips curled into a bone-chilling smile, cold enough to freeze the soul. His voice rang across the cosmos like a bitter wind blowing from the depths of the netherworld, laden with boundless fury and resolve! He slowly raised his right hand, palm turned upward, as if receiving the power of heaven and earth. Within his dantian, the source of the Green Lotus Core Flame, transformed through countless trials and now completely fused with his soul, burst into bloom like a brilliant flower of fire! Boundless deep-green flames mingled with his newly awakened Dragon-Phoenix Dou Zun power, gathering and compressing wildly in his palm, as if about to burn heaven and earth to the ground!
This was no longer a simple Fire Lotus! It was a Flame God Seal, burning with red-gold and blue-green flames and engraved with clear patterns of coiling dragons and phoenixes!
The seal was barely a foot across, yet it radiated a destructive fluctuation so powerful that the very space of the entire Desert of Buried Immortals trembled, as though it might collapse! At its core, a single violet-gold point of Chaos True Meaning, condensed to the utmost, shimmered in and out of sight like the brightest star in the night sky. It was a fragment of Chaos True Meaning bestowed when the Flame Mantra fused with the Chaos Demon Flame, containing endless mysteries and power!
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