Setting Fire to the Mountain

"Whew, I'm safe for the moment."

Red Cloud let out a long breath, but his expression did not relax, because he was not truly safe yet.

Although the Azure Parasol Mountain Range could cut off divine sense, the Phoenix Clan surely had special methods to track him down.

After fighting Fire Phoenix and the others and repeatedly underestimating the Phoenix Clan, Red Cloud no longer dared to harbor any wishful thinking.

The Parasol Tree was within the Hundred Herbs Diagram. Although most of its aura had been sealed away, a faint, almost imperceptible ripple still leaked out. The Phoenix Clan, exceptionally sensitive to the aura of the Candlefire Parasol Tree, would find him sooner or later.

"I must think of a way to completely conceal the Parasol Tree's aura." Red Cloud frowned.

Next, Red Cloud sat cross-legged, immersing his mind in the Hundred Herbs Diagram and carefully observing the Parasol Tree's condition.

At that moment, Red Cloud discovered that the Parasol Tree was merging with the Hundred Herbs Diagram. With each fraction of fusion, the Hundred Herbs Diagram's grade rose by a fraction, while the aura it emitted weakened by a fraction.

Red Cloud made a brief calculation with his fingers, and a flash of delight crossed his eyes. As long as the Hundred Herbs Diagram broke through to a high-grade postcelestial spirit treasure, it would be able to completely conceal the Parasol Tree's aura.

With the Parasol Tree, a high-grade innate spirit root, suppressing it, the Hundred Herbs Diagram was already transforming toward a high-grade postcelestial spirit treasure. So long as the Parasol Tree fully merged with the Hundred Herbs Diagram, its breakthrough would be as certain as a nail driven into a board.

At the Parasol Tree's current rate of fusion, it would take at least three days to fully merge. But three days was enough for the Phoenix Clan to turn this place upside down and dig him out.

"Three days... then I'll hold out for three days!"

Red Cloud gritted his teeth and began arranging defenses, taking out every formation flag he had ever refined.

Afterward, Red Cloud set up one formation after another around the cave—bewildering formations, illusion formations, killing formations, trapping formations—layer upon layer, more than a dozen in all.

These formations varied in strength, ranging from Golden Immortal level to Primordial Unity Golden Immortal level. Though they could not hold off a Primordial Unity Golden Immortal for long, they could at least buy him some time.

After setting up the formations, Red Cloud began refining Ice Soul Divine Thunder. The more of this one-use treasure he had, the better.

Refining Ice Soul Divine Thunder required Nine Heavens Profound Ice, a material found only in the Nine Heavens Astral Layer. Red Cloud had specially gathered some before, enough to refine a hundred or so.

Without hesitation, he immediately began refining them, researching an upgraded version of the Ice Soul Divine Thunder as he worked.

Days and nights flew by, and second by second, the dense fog in the Azure Parasol Mountain Range seemed to grow even thicker.

Fire Phoenix and the Golden-Winged Great Peng had searched through the fog for two days, yet they still had not found a trace of Red Cloud.

After entering the Azure Parasol Mountain Range, the Parasol Tree's aura had become exceptionally faint, appearing and vanishing unpredictably. Even with their special divine abilities, they found it difficult to pinpoint its location.

"This can't go on."

The Golden-Winged Great Peng said irritably.

On the other side, Fire Phoenix pondered for a moment. Then a sharp gleam flashed through his eyes, and he gritted his teeth. "He must be hiding somewhere, using formations and restrictions to conceal his aura. If we can't find him, then we'll force him out!"

The Golden-Winged Great Peng asked, "How?"

"Burn it." Fire Phoenix spat out the word coldly.

"Burn the Azure Parasol Mountain Range? Are you mad? If we trigger the ancient killing formation here, we'll certainly die!"

The Golden-Winged Great Peng cried out in alarm. Everyone knew how perilous the Azure Parasol Mountain Range was, and this fellow wanted to set the entire mountain range ablaze?

"Hmph, I can't worry about that now."

Fire Phoenix gave a cold snort, spread his wings, and opened his mouth to spew out an enormous pillar of flame.

The pillar of fire shot into the sky, transforming into a rain of flames that poured down over a region of the Azure Parasol Mountain Range.

The Golden-Winged Great Peng watched the surroundings warily. The instant anything went wrong, he would flee without hesitation.

Wherever the Phoenix Truefire passed, the dense fog dispersed, trees burned to ash, and mountain rocks melted.

At that instant, the entire mountain range trembled.

The Golden-Winged Great Peng waited for a long time, yet the ancient killing formation of the Azure Parasol Mountain Range never activated.

"Golden-Winged Great Peng, what are you waiting for? Make your move. It seems the ancient killing formation here has already failed."

Seeing that Fire Phoenix truly had not triggered the killing formation, the Golden-Winged Great Peng followed his example and spewed streams of golden flame, turning vast swathes of land into a sea of fire.

The other three avian experts joined in upon Fire Phoenix's command. Five flames intertwined, thoroughly igniting the western region of the Azure Parasol Mountain Range.

Although the cave where Red Cloud was hiding was protected by formations, the temperature around it was still rising sharply.

Seeing this, Red Cloud realized that Fire Phoenix was using this crude method to force him to reveal himself.

"Trying to force me out?"

"Then let's see who loses their nerve first."

Red Cloud sneered and lowered his head, continuing to refine Ice Soul Divine Thunder. He had already refined three hundred, and together with his previous stockpile, he now had around five hundred.

If five hundred Ice Soul Divine Thunders detonated at once, even a Zenith Heaven Golden Immortal would have to avoid their edge.

Another half day passed, and Fire Phoenix's flames had reached the vicinity of the cave where Red Cloud was hiding.

"Haha, I found you!"

Fire Phoenix's eyes suddenly lit up as he sensed a faint fluctuation of formation power not far ahead.

Sensing the anomaly, the five figures pounced in that direction at the same time, continuing to spew flames and scorch the area.

Fire Phoenix's senses had not been wrong. The formations Red Cloud had set up truly could not completely block outside detection.

Especially under the scorching of Phoenix Truefire, the fluctuations of the formation restrictions became far more obvious.

The next instant, all five figures appeared above the cave almost simultaneously. Fire Phoenix looked down at the formations below from on high, a cold smile curling across his lips.

"Hmph, you hid quite deeply."

"Unfortunately, I still found you."

Without wasting words, he opened his mouth and unleashed a crimson-gold flame directly at the formations.

Boom, rumble—

The outermost bewildering formation instantly collapsed beneath the impact of Phoenix Truefire, shattering into fragments that filled the sky.

Next came the second-layer illusion formation, which lasted only a few breaths before Phoenix Truefire burned through it as well.

But when it reached the third-layer killing formation, the situation changed. It was a sword formation centered on ice.

Once the formation activated, countless blue Sword Qi flew from within and shot toward Fire Phoenix and the others.

Seeing this, Fire Phoenix gave a cold snort. With a beat of his wings, he blocked all the Sword Qi.

But that was not the full extent of the killing formation's power.

After being blocked by Fire Phoenix, the Sword Qi instantly transformed into another sword formation, trapping Fire Phoenix and the others within.

Disdain flashed through Fire Phoenix's eyes. "Arrogant. A mere killing formation thinks it can trap me?"

Fire Phoenix unleashed his Phoenix Truefire with full force, and the terrifying flames instantly burned the sword formation full of holes.

But during that brief delay, Red Cloud had already completed his final preparations. He refined another hundred Ice Soul Divine Thunders, bringing the total to eight hundred.

Inside the cave, Red Cloud rose to his feet. The eight hundred Ice Soul Divine Thunders floated before him, radiating an icy blue glimmer that flickered with his breathing.

Red Cloud took a deep breath, swept all the Ice Soul Divine Thunders into his sleeve, then took out a pill and swallowed it.

The pill was entirely golden, giving off a faint medicinal fragrance. It was the Explosive Origin Pill Red Cloud had refined.

This Explosive Origin Pill was a seventh-turn pill, its quality nearing the eighth turn. Its effect was to raise one's cultivation for a short period.

The increase was enormous, raising his mana cultivation by three minor realms. With Red Cloud's current mana cultivation, it could directly elevate him to the peak of the Primordial Unity Golden Immortal realm.