A Critical Moment

Song Zhizhi refused to be outdone. She took out a bag of flour and scattered it into the secret chamber. Before long, a violent explosion echoed from within.

Because an Advanced Protective Formation had been set up inside the artificial mountain, the shockwave from the explosion did not spread outside.

Qingyu silently glanced at Song Zhizhi and Xie Xiuji, then shook her head. "You two are truly wicked."

Song Zhizhi said, "Master, put down the firewood in your hand before you say that."

With the accelerant fueling it, the Phoenix True Fire burned ever more fiercely. Even the stones melted beneath its tyrannical heat into a golden liquid resembling lava, slowly flowing deeper into the secret chamber.

Next came waiting by the stump for a rabbit. Qingyu laid down more than a dozen formations to slaughter evil and destroy demons in one breath, then had the lower-cultivation demon cultivators who had followed Song Zhizhi leave the City Lord's Residence.

They stood guard outside the artificial mountain, quietly waiting for the right moment.

Phoenix True Fire restrained all evil things. If the evil creature inside refused to come out, it would be burned alive by the Phoenix True Fire. If that happened, it would save Xie Xiuji some trouble.

But clearly, even evil creatures had brains. Song Zhizhi sensed something struggling and thrashing beneath the Phoenix True Fire. She quietly took several steps back and said to Xie Xiuji, "It's coming out."

The instant her words fell, the artificial mountain before them exploded from within. Broken stones flew in every direction, while Song Zhizhi's Phoenix True Fire was suppressed so fiercely by a strange, icy aura that it nearly went out.

A pale-faced man with a pair of dark green eyes emerged from the secret chamber. He looked toward Song Zhizhi,