A deafening cry erupted from the golden light, followed by a burst of blazing red light rising above the forest. The red light gradually spread, turning the sky blood-red. Lu Zhaozhao looked up, the intense light forcing her to squint. She saw a sky ablaze with vibrant, rainbow-like colors, and golden lightning shattered the heavens and earth, transforming into a gigantic phoenix, its feathers like burning flames, radiating dazzling light.
The phoenix soared and danced in the air, each flap of its wings creating powerful ripples in the surrounding air. Its cry echoed throughout the forest, a sound like celestial music that resonated deep within the soul.
Nan Rongrui, standing beside her, seemed to lose control no longer. After the phoenix cried out once more in the air, she revealed her true form. In the crimson-gold light, the ghostly blue feathers of the Guhuoniao seemed to lose their luster, and she obediently bowed down, letting out a submissive cry in the direction of the phoenix.
Cheng Sangjie took in all of this. He silently pulled Tu Danxi Xiang over. Both of them looked unwell, Cheng Sangjie even more so.
The Gu Diao is also a bird, and it is related to Nan Rongrui. At this moment, the phoenix's cry can make Nan Rongrui reveal his true form, which also has a significant impact on it.
He frowned, staring at Fengming's location. With a determined heart, he bit his tongue, and crimson blood flowed down the corner of his mouth. The instantaneous pain jolted him awake.
In an instant, he threw out the magical artifact in his hand. The string of beads instantly grew dozens of times larger and flew towards the center of the forest at an extremely fast speed.
Only now did Lu Zhaozhao finally see the appearance of the beaded string clearly.
The twelve blood-red beads contained countless dark red cracks, crisscrossing and not like inanimate objects. After being activated by Cheng Sangji, they began to move slightly. The golden shells surrounding the beads shattered completely, as if imprisoned beasts had broken through, and what was imprisoned inside seemed to be a terrifying beast.
In the blink of an eye, the string of beads had reached the side of the soaring phoenix.
"boom--"
A deafening explosion rang out.
"Boom, boom, boom—"
Dozens of voices followed in quick succession.
The unprecedented surge of spiritual energy was right before her eyes. Lu Zhaozhao's eyes widened, her breathing became rapid, and she gripped the front of her clothes tightly, making them wrinkled.
"Bang—"
A muffled thud was heard, and a black ring edged with gold spread out from the center of the explosion.
A deathly silence instantly filled the world.
"This is... a spatial black hole caused by the collision of spiritual energy!" Lu Zhaozhao realized something was wrong and immediately retreated. She had seen a description of this spatial black hole in the library. When powerful beings fought, they could use the spiritual energy of heaven and earth to destroy the world. When spiritual energy collided, the two coordinated and attracted each other, causing space to shatter and creating a spatial black hole that would continue to spread. During the spread, anything that touched it, whether a person or an object, would be devoured.
Lu Zhaozhao ran wildly. Beside her, Cheng Sangji and Tu Danxi stood side by side. Cheng Sangji was carrying Nan Rongrui on his back. She had regained her human form when the phoenix's oppressive aura disappeared at the moment of the explosion, but she fainted the moment she regained her human form.
They had no idea how long the black hole would spread, so they could only run for their lives. As she ran, Lu Zhaozhao wondered to herself, "Logically, to cause such a serious scene, it should be a battle between powerful beings like those at the Nascent Soul or Void Return stages. But this third-level demon is only at the Nascent Soul stage, so how could it have such a powerful aura?"
Before they could figure out the answer, they had already reached the boundary between the second and third floors, when a burning sensation suddenly came from behind them.
Lu Zhaozhao turned her head, and golden light filled the entire sky. On the ground, there was endless raging fire, boundless karmic fire, which inexplicably reminded her of the eight hot hells in hell where sinners are punished.
"It's Ninefold Fire! Run!"
When Cheng Sangji saw Lu Zhaozhao speak, he shouted loudly, trying to bring her back to her senses.
"Ninefold Fire? Heavenly Fire!"
Lu Zhaozhao snapped back to reality, a surge of joy welling up inside her. If it weren't for the inappropriateness of the situation, she would have loved to burst out laughing.
The second level of body refinement, forged with the Nine Heavenly Flames, was something she had searched through countless ancient texts for but could not find, and unexpectedly appeared in the Demon Realm.
"Ha." She exhaled a breath of stale air and stopped in her tracks. The black hole had vanished, and the once lush forest had been completely swallowed up. Several long cracks, several feet long, appeared on the scorched ground, with magma rolling beneath and flames raging all around.
Lu Zhaozhao gritted her teeth, then looked up with unwavering determination. She looked towards the center, where the phoenix seemed to have recovered, its nine heads all looking at her.
"It's actually Jiu Feng..." After a sigh, the figure disappeared in an instant. Lu Zhaozhao rushed towards Jiu Feng's direction, even faster than when she was escaping for her life.
"Cough cough." Cheng Sangji supported himself with one hand on the ground, gently setting Nan Rongrui down before coughing uncontrollably. The beaded string had returned to his wrist, and he stroked the dull beads, his eyes filled with resentment.
From the moment he stepped out of the third level, he felt a vague unease, which reached its peak after Feng Ming appeared. Even before the phoenix had fully revealed itself, he recognized it as an ancient beast that had long since disappeared and appeared only in ancient texts.
——Nine Phoenixes!
The fear that came from the depths of his heart made him immediately summon the magical artifact on his wrist, wanting to suppress the strange beast that had not yet fully descended into the world forever, but it seems that he has not been able to do so.
Cheng Sangji's eyes were bloodshot, and his hands clenched into fists on the muddy ground.
He was unwilling to accept it.
Cheng Sangji still remembered what his grandfather had said: on the day he was born, Mount Luwu was filled with rosy clouds, stars fell like rain, thousands of birds sang in unison, and all beasts knelt in submission. Minerals that had absorbed the spiritual energy of heaven and earth for millions of years revealed themselves to him, willingly becoming his magical artifacts. On that day, the entire Western Region knew that Gu had carved out an extraordinary figure. Even though he later suffered hardships and endured many dangers, the confidence brought by this innate honor supported him through countless difficult times, allowing him to return to the pinnacle of power.
All of this was based on his innate talent and unparalleled status. But what he saw today was the Nine Phoenix, far surpassing the Gu Diao. The story of the Nine Phoenix had long been lost in the Western Regions, but the Gu Diao clan had a secret text that vaguely recorded: Tens of millions of years ago, the Nine Phoenix and the Candle Dragon stood side by side in the world, and all beasts bowed down in submission. The Gu Diao clan harbored treacherous intentions, and when this was discovered, they were nearly wiped out, leaving only one branch to barely survive. Only after both the dragon and the phoenix perished did they gradually grow stronger.
This humiliation had been buried deep in Gu Diao's heart, and he had never forgotten it until today. Under normal circumstances, he would at most feel resentment and difficulty in calming down, but today, he had truly seen Jiu Feng. Although it was not real and he might have been a remnant soul, the fear he felt from the bottom of his heart and the fact that even a remnant soul was a power that he could not match still made him unwilling.
He slammed his fist into the ground, instantly breaking the skin at the knuckles.
"Where's Guan Nan? Why isn't she here?" After settling Nan Rongrui in, Tu Danxi suddenly realized that there were only three people in this open space, even though they had arrived at the border together.
"What did you say?" Cheng Sangji's expression went blank for a moment. From the moment he saw Jiu Feng until just now, his mind had been preoccupied, leaving him no time to pay attention to his surroundings. Only when Tu Danxi asked the question did he notice that Guan Nan really hadn't come out with him.
Suddenly, as if he had thought of something, he turned around sharply and saw a green shadow in the center of the distant karmic fire, getting further and further away from him.
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