Old Man Withered Bamboo gave a mighty shout and thrust his bamboo staff downward. It immediately sprouted more than a hundred feet of Azure Light, pinning itself in place.
He himself flew straight to the Yin Palace at top speed. Seeing that the water source had just rotated into the Yin Palace, he immediately attacked.
Yin belonged to wood. Nourished by water, it instantly produced a profusion of flowers in every color, which whirled and swarmed toward Old Man Withered Bamboo.
Old Man Withered Bamboo raised his hand and unleashed a vast expanse of Azure Light, wrapped in boundless silver radiance. The moment it struck the flowers, it shattered them in great swathes.
He was about to charge through with his Taiyi Azure Spirit Divine Light and destroy the water source when, to his surprise, the flowers scattered across the sky exploded into thick, multicolored smoke, and flames suddenly sprang up within it.
This fire was different from the Earthfire he had seen earlier in the Si Palace. This time, it was Heavenly Fire, flowing like liquid, as though a rift had opened in the sky and a river of flame had burst forth, plunging straight down. In an instant, it engulfed him in a sea of fire.
At first, Old Man Withered Bamboo paid it little heed. He had lived for more than a thousand years and seen every sort of flame beneath heaven. He had even faced the Qiantian Divine Flame of Heavenly Tribulation several times, so such sights had long ceased to surprise him. He simply relied on his spiritual light and charged straight ahead.
Very soon, however, he discovered that the silver radiance surrounding his Azure Light was being melted by these flames too, collapsing and vanishing in great swathes.
Old Man Withered Bamboo was startled.