Kunpeng appeared soundlessly behind Hong Yun, clad in dark green feathers, his cheeks gaunt. Pitch-black Mysterious Water of the Northern Underworld swirled around him, withering everything it touched.
The bone-chilling Mysterious Water of the Northern Underworld and the searing Solar True Fire formed a hell of ice and flame. Above them hung the Chaos Bell, freezing space and trapping Hong Yun firmly in the middle!
All three stared fixedly at Hong Yun, their eyes filled with longing for the realm of Sages. The sight of Heavenly Venerable Yuanshi suppressing them all with a mere wisp of his aura that day remained vivid in their minds.
"All beneath the Sages are ants" was no empty saying.
For Hong Yun, this was a death trap! Three of the Primordial World's foremost Quasi-Saints, one wielding a primordial treasure, had watched him from the shadows for untold years, all for a chance to become a Sage. At last, their opportunity had come!
Even surrendering the Primordial Violet Qi would not save him from this calamity!
From the moment Hong Yun left Wuzhuang Temple, he had been doomed.
The primordial treasure, the Chaos Bell, together with the supreme divination treasure, the River Diagram and Luo Script, concealed the workings of heaven. Even a Sage might not notice, let alone Zhenyuanzi.
They had chosen to strike far from Longevity Mountain, near his own lair, precisely to leave him without a grave!
Hong Yun was a Quasi-Saint, after all. He would never sit back and await death. Even if he died, he would never let Di Jun and the others obtain the Primordial Violet Qi so easily.
"If you want the Primordial Violet Qi, let's see whether you have what it takes!" Hong Yun let out a piercing cry, fighting spirit rekindling in his eyes.
He slapped his waist, and a streak of dark red light shot into the sky!
Buzzz!
The red light blazed, instantly transforming into an enormous gourd the size of a small mountain, its entire body dark red as fire!
Dark red Dao patterns covered the gourd's surface, radiating a savage aura. From its pitch-black mouth spread a pulse that could throw souls into disarray.
It was Hong Yun's bonded Spirit Treasure, the Nine-Nine Soul-Scattering Gourd!
Hong Yun formed hand seals, his hair and beard bristling as he recklessly poured every bit of his magic power into the gourd.
"Soul-Scattering Red Sand! Go!"
Boom!!!
Like a volcano that had slumbered for years and could no longer hold back, the gourd's mouth erupted with a surging torrent of dark red sand!
Each grain was so red it was almost black, fine as dust yet heavy as a mountain, imbued with a strange power that eroded bones and scattered souls!
Countless grains of dark red sand blotted out the sky. Their collisions produced shrieks like wailing ghosts and howling demons, terrifying the soul as they instantly filled the space frozen by the Chaos Bell!
They swept straight toward Di Jun and Kunpeng.
"A futile struggle!" Di Jun snorted, flames dancing in his eyes.
Light as brilliant as the sun burst from his body. "Screee!"
A cry tore through heaven and earth!
As the light faded, an enormous Golden Crow appeared, its entire body wreathed in blazing Solar True Fire.
The Golden Crow spread his wings, burning the sky and boiling the sea!
Endless streams of golden flame, carrying heat fierce enough to incinerate all things, slammed into the skyful of soul-scattering red sand!
Ssssss!!!
There was no explosion, only the piercing hiss of corrosion and evaporation! The red sand rapidly melted away within the true fire.
The soul-scattering red sand also extinguished more than half the Solar True Fire.
Just as Hong Yun drove the Soul-Scattering Gourd with all his strength to resist the Solar True Fire, a sinister surge of killing intent erupted behind him!
"Die!"
Kunpeng shrieked like a night owl.
His figure became a nearly invisible streak of deep blue light, moving so fast that even Hong Yun had no time to react!
A divine ability forged from the Northern Underworld's dark ice and astral winds took the shape of a spearhead. A speck of dark green, icy light gleamed at its tip as it plunged straight into Hong Yun's back, toward his heart!
The baleful aura of the Northern Underworld, cold enough to freeze the primordial spirit, instantly froze half of Hong Yun's body and rapidly spread through the rest.
Hong Yun's body stalled for a moment!
In that brief instant, the Chaos Bell above his head suddenly shuddered!
Clang!
It severed the connection between Hong Yun and the Soul-Scattering Gourd, stripping him of control over his Spirit Treasure.
"Pfft!"
Hong Yun felt as though Mount Buzhou had come crashing down on his head. Blood spurted from all seven orifices, and his face instantly twisted out of shape!
"You want the Primordial Violet Qi? Dream on!"
A note of madness suddenly entered Hong Yun's voice. In an instant, he ignited his body, his primordial spirit, and the Great Dao he commanded, unleashing a surge of destructive energy that made even supreme powers like Di Jun and Kunpeng blanch!
"No! He's going to detonate his Great Dao source! Fall back!"
Taiyi's startled, furious roar warned Di Jun and Kunpeng. The Chaos Bell instantly unleashed its full might, attempting to suppress Hong Yun's self-detonation.
Boom!!!
An indescribable blaze of destructive light exploded!
"Madman!" Kunpeng screamed, trying to flee.
Di Jun also drove the Luo Shu and River Diagram with all his strength, their radiance cascading down like a waterfall to shield him.
But it was too late!
Rumble!!!
The destructive shock waves from the explosion annihilated everything around them.
A mighty being who had cultivated for countless kalpas and reached the Quasi-Saint realm had ignited his magic power, flesh, primordial spirit, and even his laws of the Great Dao, detonating them all at once. Calling such an explosion world-destroying was no exaggeration!
Space tore apart layer by layer like thin paper, forming countless black fissures that devoured everything.
Terrifying shock waves swept wildly in every direction like raging tides of chaos!
Di Jun and Kunpeng bore the brunt. Neither had a primordial treasure to protect him, and both lagged behind Taiyi in cultivation. Their Spirit Treasures negated less than half the force, while their protective divine light shattered instantly. Their true bodies cracked within the raging energy like two broken pieces of porcelain.
They were hurled away like kites with severed strings, their auras fading!
The power of a Quasi-Saint igniting everything he possessed was truly terrifying!
Space shattered like a mirror, leaving a black hole tens of millions of feet across!
The raging spatial forces went completely out of control, tearing apart and devouring everything!
At the heart of that destructive storm, a strand of violet qi appeared, giving off a faint but distinct crack!
Before the disbelieving eyes of the three Quasi-Saints, Di Jun, Kunpeng, and Taiyi!
That foundation of the Great Dao, that key to the realm of Sages—the supposedly indestructible Primordial Violet Qi—broke like shattered glass!
It split into three lengths of violet qi, each a different size!
"No!"
Di Jun roared wildly.
"How could it break?!"
Kunpeng's face twisted with shock and fury.
The three lengths of violet qi, together with the crack-covered Nine-Nine Soul-Scattering Gourd, were swallowed by the enormous black hole. They vanished instantly into the dark fissure churning with chaotic currents, leaving no trace!
It happened too fast! From Hong Yun's self-detonation to the breaking and disappearance of the Primordial Violet Qi, only a blink had passed!
The longing for the Great Dao on Di Jun's, Taiyi's, and Kunpeng's faces instantly turned to disbelief, fury, and a faint, inexplicable regret.
They stared fixedly at the spatial fissure as it began to close, unable to believe it. Their prize, already in their grasp... had broken into three pieces? And escaped?
"After it!"
Taiyi recovered first. Golden flames erupted from his eyes as he shouted, driving the Chaos Bell in an attempt to freeze that patch of chaotic space.
But just then!
"Hong Yun!!!"
A roar so anguished it seemed to tear the sky apart, filled with endless grief, thundered like divine lightning. It raced closer from afar, instantly ringing throughout this shattered stretch of heaven and earth that had just been devastated!
The furious roar came from the west, tinged with sorrow and rage pushed to its limit. Its thunderous force made the weakened Kunpeng start in alarm!
A streak of light tore through one spatial fissure after another, hurtling toward them!
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