At the sight, Jieyin and Zhunti's expressions changed at once.
"Is that... karmic fire?!"
Even as a Sage, Jieyin could not help crying out, his pupils contracting sharply and his scalp prickling.
Indeed!
The flames surrounding the Heaven-Opening Divine Axe surged without cease, blazing with terrifying intensity, as though they could burn everything in existence to ruin.
There was no doubt: that was karmic fire.
Moreover, it was precisely the power the sages least wished to be tainted by.
After all, karmic fire, as its name suggested, was a supreme divine flame formed from karmic burdens and causality.
Once it manifested, it could burn all things across the heavens to ashes, even turning upon a Sage's cultivation.
Or rather, the stronger one's cultivation, the more one feared this power.
Hongjun's expression grew grave. Staring fixedly at the Heaven-Opening Divine Axe, he suddenly said in a low voice:
"Damn it!"
"That brat has ignited the vow power of all living beings. That is... vow power fire!"
Hongjun's cultivation was higher, and his eye was sharper.
Thus, he could tell at a glance that this was no ordinary eruption of karmic fire.
Rather, with a single thought, Gu Changqing had set the vow power of all living beings ablaze, producing this earth-shattering spectacle.
At once, Hongjun's expression darkened further.
The vow power of all living beings was immensely vast and mighty.
The fact that Gu Changqing and the others had previously gathered it to reforge the Heaven-Opening Divine Axe was proof enough.
Once ignited, its power would be terrifying to the utmost.
Even a Sage could scarcely withstand it.
What was more, Gu Changqing had clearly done this deliberately.
He intended to entangle the Xuanmen Saints in this causality.
Deterrence!
This was an immense deterrent!
To contend for the Heaven-Opening Divine Axe,