txolops Chapter 392 Betrayal by the Spirit Beast
Chapter 392 Betrayal by the Spirit Beast
On the other side, despite the excruciating pain and weakness caused by the self-severing of his primordial spirit and the damage to his sea of consciousness, Master Lieyang breathed a slight sigh of relief when he saw that "Zhou Yuan," possessed by the Soul-Shattering True Man, was temporarily trapped by the "Ten Thousand Demon Soul-Devouring Array." A ruthless glint appeared on his pale face.
"With these four working together, trapping this person in the short term shouldn't be a problem. The old ghost Shattered Soul's possession time is limited, and forcibly enhancing the strength of this physical body consumes even more energy. As long as we can hold out for a while, once the possession time expires or this physical body collapses, the crisis will resolve itself." The Blazing Sun Venerable quickly calculated in his mind, his gaze anxiously turning back to the distant place of tribulation.
At this moment, the thick, ominous clouds above the distant valley began to fade and dissipate rapidly at a visible speed! The destructive silver lightning had completely vanished. In its place was a clear sky and the sun shining down on the earth once more.
Under the sunlight, in the center of the valley, a huge figure was quietly suspended, which was the Fiery Sun Bird that had just successfully transcended its tribulation!
At this moment, the Fiery Sun Bird was nearly fifty feet tall! Its entire body feathers seemed to be cast from pure gold, and each feather seemed to be burning on its own. On its head, a feather that looked like a golden crown shone brightly.
A vast and powerful aura belonging to an eighth-level demon beast slowly spread out!
"cracking--!"
A high-pitched, clear cry, though tinged with weakness, was filled with the joy of new life and a domineering voice that rang out from the mouth of the Fiery Sun Bird, resounding through the sky!
Success! The Fiery Sun Bird successfully survived the Transformation Tribulation and officially entered the eighth level of Transformation!
Upon seeing this, Venerable Lieyang was overjoyed and almost burst out laughing! As long as he could successfully control this Lieyang Bird, which had successfully transformed and awakened a trace of the Golden Crow True Fire, today's crisis would surely be resolved! He could even take this opportunity to severely injure several of the Nascent Soul stage monsters who had come to attack!
However, just as he mustered his strength and activated the "Life-Bound Soul Contract" and "Bloodline Restriction" that had been imprinted deep within the soul of the Fiery Sun Bird for hundreds of years—
"Um?"
The joy on Master Lieyang's face suddenly froze, instantly turning into disbelief, horror, and panic!
He discovered that his connection with the restriction deep within the soul of the Fiery Sun Bird had become extremely weak and blurry! It was as if separated by a thick layer of scorching magma!
Even more terrifying, he could vaguely sense that the restriction that had been maintained for hundreds of years was being rapidly melted and burned away by an incomparably domineering and extremely yang force, like snow melting in the spring sun!
"Not good! This beast's Golden Crow True Fire is too domineering. It actually melted away the divine soul restriction I planted during the transformation and rebirth of the true fire!" Master Lieyang's face turned ashen white in an instant.
Now that his sea of consciousness has been severely damaged, he can no longer forcefully suppress the opponent's resistance with his divine sense. He can only watch helplessly as the divine soul restriction is gradually erased by the transformed Fiery Sun Bird.
Only then did he suddenly realize why the Soul Shattering True Person was willing to expose himself and even abandon "Zhou Yuan," an important pawn that had been lurking for many years, in order to risk possessing him and launch a sneak attack on him at any cost, severely damaging his primordial spirit!
Ignoring the excruciating pain and weakness in his primordial spirit, and disregarding "Zhou Yuan" trapped in the formation in the distance, his eyes were bloodshot, almost dripping with blood. He formed hand seals again, frantically burning his own life essence and remaining soul power, desperately trying to reconnect with and reinforce the soul restriction that was being rapidly melted away by the Crimson Gold True Fire!
The Fiery Sun Bird, which had just successfully transformed, slowly turned its head toward the Fiery Sun Master.
……
Meanwhile, hundreds of miles away, on Wangdong Peak.
"It seems that the Fiery Sun Bird has successfully transformed into human form. With this spirit bird as its guardian beast, the Spirit Control Sect will likely be able to steadily suppress the Ghost Spirit Sect and the Demon Flame Sect."
While gazing at the distant, radiant "Crimson Gold Sun" that had just dispelled the tribulation clouds, sensing the chilling aura of the transformed demonic beast emanating from it, Luo Ming secretly used his powerful divine sense to observe the increasingly intense battle between the Cold Toad Immortal and Yan Lie, the "Soul Burning Immortal" of the Demon Flame Sect, high in the sky.
The Cold Toad Immortal clearly sensed that the Fiery Sun Bird in the distance had successfully transcended its tribulation, and it seemed that his side had gained a powerful trump card. His aura surged, and he shouted loudly:
"Old monster Fen! Our sect's guardian spirit beast, the Fiery Sun Bird, has successfully transformed! Your schemes today have failed! Why don't you retreat at once? Do you truly intend to fight to the death with my Spirit Control Sect here?"
Upon hearing this, Yan Lie slightly slowed down the hand seals controlling the Azure Sun Demonic Flame, retreating over a hundred feet and temporarily ceasing his fierce attack. His face was gloomy, and his gaze turned towards the depths of the Spirit Control Sect with suspicion and uncertainty.
"He successfully transformed? And even awakened the Golden Crow True Fire?" Yan Lie thought to himself with a dark feeling.
Although the Azure Yang Demonic Flame he cultivated was a type of fire, it was ultimately a "yin fire," and was naturally restrained by the extremely yang and powerful "Golden Crow True Flame." Back then, the Blazing Sun True Flame of that level seven Fiery Sun Bird had given him quite a headache, and now not only had the opponent successfully transformed, but its true flame had also evolved... This was definitely not good news for the Demon Flame Sect.
"Could it be that something went wrong with the Ghost Spirit Sect? They failed to prevent it from taking human form, or... failed to trigger its loss of control as planned?" Yan Lie's eyes flickered as he quickly pondered.
Although they cooperated with the Ghost Spirit Sect, they each harbored their own ulterior motives. If the Ghost Spirit Sect's plan had gone smoothly, even if the Blazing Sun Bird had transformed into human form, it should have been either out of control or weakened by now, and certainly not in its current imposing and awe-inspiring state.
"Enough, things have come to this point, a direct confrontation is pointless. This beast is too much of a counter to my Demon Flame Sect, we need to plan this carefully. However, those guys from the Ghost Spirit Sect who cultivate the Yin Soul Ghost Path should be even more anxious than us. We need to have a proper 'discussion' when we get back." With the thought of retreating crossed his mind, Yan Lie prepared to find an opportunity to leave.
However, just as the thought crossed his mind, deep within the Yuling Sect in the distance, in the tribulation area that had just calmed down, a violent surge of spiritual energy and a deafening explosion of colliding supernatural powers suddenly erupted once again! The sheer scale of the explosion even faintly overshadowed the sounds of the battle between the Nascent Soul cultivators on their side!
"What's going on?" Yan Lie, who was preparing to leave, suddenly froze, stopped what he was doing, and looked in that direction with surprise and uncertainty.
"Didn't the Fiery Sun Bird successfully transform into human form? Why are they fighting again? And this commotion... it seems like the Spirit Control Sect is attacking their own newly transformed spirit beast? Are the Ghost Spirit Sect and Demon Flame Sect intercepting the Spirit Control Sect cultivators?"
Luo Ming frowned. With his powerful divine sense, he could barely "see" the outline of the extremely chaotic battle in the distance, and many guesses flashed through his mind in an instant.
"Could it be... that something went wrong with the Fiery Sun Bird after it transformed? That it went out of control? Or... that the restriction was tampered with?"
High in the sky, Yan Lie, after his initial astonishment, slowly revealed a look of realization, which then turned into a cold smile.
"Hehe... I see. That old ghost, Shattered Soul, really did have a backup plan. An out-of-control transformed demon beast... This is going to be a good show." He was no longer in a hurry to retreat. Instead, he leisurely hovered in mid-air, his eyes fixed on the intense spiritual energy fluctuations deep within the Spirit Control Sect, as if watching a spectacular drama.
……
At this moment, Dongmen Tu, the sect leader of the Yuling Sect, stood on a crimson flying centipede, his face so gloomy it could drip water.
He had just used a strange magical artifact, entirely dark green, shaped like a crescent moon, and radiating a corrosive, poisonous light, to forcefully shatter the head of a ferocious "blood demon" avatar that the Ghost Spirit Sect Master had conjured using a secret technique, scattering the avatar into a sky full of blood mist.
"Wang Tiansheng!" Dongmen Tu's voice was icy, filled with barely suppressed rage and chilling killing intent. His gaze was like a knife, shooting towards the ghostly figure in the distant void.
"Does today's action signify that the Ghost Spirit Sect is officially declaring war on my Spirit Control Sect?! Do you really think my Spirit Control Sect is made of clay?!"
In the distance, Wang Tiansheng, the leader of the Ghost Spirit Sect, had one of his blood demon avatars destroyed, and his aura seemed to fluctuate slightly. Hearing Dongmen Tu's stern question, his expression changed, clearly showing that he was not entirely without reservation about the words "all-out war."
But when he thought of the Fiery Sun Bird, which had just transformed, awakened the Golden Crow True Fire, and was now sliding towards the edge of losing control, and how terrifying its future restraint on the Ghost Spirit Sect's techniques and disciples would be if the Spirit Control Sect were to successfully regain control and tame it, the slight hesitation that had just appeared in his eyes was instantly replaced by an even colder determination.
"Hehe..." Wang Tiansheng chuckled hoarsely, his voice carrying an undisguised threat.
"Brother Dongmen, you flatter me. Whether or not to go to war is not something I can decide on my own. However... I must advise you not to have any more unrealistic fantasies about that feathered beast. Transformed beasts, especially ferocious birds that have awakened the True Yang Fire, are not so easy to tame again. You might end up losing more than you gain, and that would be... a great loss."
He paused, then raised his voice, carrying a blatant warning: "If Brother Dongmen insists on taking the risk and trying to regain control of this spirit bird... then don't blame the Ghost Spirit Sect and the Demon Flame Sect for joining forces."
The Yuling Sect was already second only to the Hehuan Sect in strength. If there were another transformed spirit bird that could so effectively counter their supernatural abilities and had such a long lifespan, its strength would completely suppress the two sects, and the balance of the three sects would be broken.
Upon hearing this, Dongmen Tu's face immediately turned even more unpleasant, even somewhat ashen.
At this moment, several of their Nascent Soul elders were tightly bound by experts from the Ghost Spirit Sect and the Demon Flame Sect, unable to break free. The only ones capable of pursuing and attempting to subdue the Blazing Sun Bird were the severely injured Blazing Sun Venerable and the four Core Formation Banner Masters who controlled the newly refined "Thousand Demon Banner." The other Core Formation cultivators were either unable to catch up with the bird or were too weak to be of any use.
"Hmph!" Dongmen Tu sneered through gritted teeth, his eyes flashing as he quickly weighed the pros and cons.
"Although Junior Brother Lieyang is injured, with the combined power of the four Banner Bearers and the 'Ten Thousand Demon Soul Devouring Formation,' we may still have a chance to subdue this severely injured beast! If we can subdue it, it would be best if it were willing to submit obediently."
If they remain stubborn... Hmph! Then I'll just refine them into 'demon corpses'! Although their strength will be reduced by nearly half and they'll lose their sentience, their absolute loyalty and fearlessness in the face of death will be their greatest asset!"