Within Great Scarlet Heaven.
A golden sun hung high, and the vault of heaven seemed ablaze.
Floating islands filled the sky, wreathed in clear radiance and linked by jade bridges, all shrouded in silence. Below stretched an endless sea of clouds, rolling and shifting beneath the disturbance.
Golden-crimson and blood-red spirit flames intertwined and rose, becoming a whirlwind that roared and howled. Surging blood qi poured down like a waterfall, merging with the spirit flames into a single whole and taking the form of a Dharma Body.
This Dharma Body's Beast Aspect was savage, its face resembling a tiger-bear's, though it looked more like some hybrid of a ferocious beast and a malevolent god.
A great, gleaming golden horn grew from its head, shining with heavenly light, while blazing streams of flame burned over its surface like fur. [Subduing the Mysterious Heavenly Brilliance Dharma Body]
This Dharma Body technique had originally been cultivated by the royal clans guarding the frontier during the Yan Era. It was not an imperial art, nor did it rank among the finest, but it excelled at magical combat and close-quarters killing, making it more than sufficient as a Dao-protecting technique.
Liu Xiaowen had spent considerable time cultivating it, yet the actual result differed from the scripture's description.
"Why did it become a tiger-bear rather than a dragon-serpent?"
A wash of azure mud radiance drifted over from afar, revealing a lean young man in a dark Robe of Law approaching with a smile.
"Perhaps it was because you cultivated Ancient Chu witchcraft, senior brother."
"Witchcraft?"
Liu Xiaowen looked at the Dharma Body he had manifested, his own suspicions stirring.
Xu Fayan was also rather surprised by this Dharma Body. He smiled and said:
"Ancient bing fire lies in witchcraft and bestial nature. Its lineage can be