End-of-month reminder — asking for monthly tickets. It seems to be a double-event right now, so one ticket counts as two!
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The juvenile Luan Phoenix was destined to have no escape. Surrounded by so many cultivators, where could it possibly flee? The only remaining question was who would manage to subdue it.
However, judging by the way none of them was willing to back down, it was clear that no reasonable agreement would be reached anytime soon.
Sure enough, the surviving cultivators bickered and argued on the spot for an entire hour without producing any viable plan. The stalemate persisted, and the tension in the air grew thick enough to cut — it felt like a second battle could erupt at any moment.
Throughout it all, the juvenile Luan Phoenix simply lay on the ground, letting out soft, plaintive cries.
Thirty li away, Yang Kai frowned. He was running out of patience waiting around.
Once those people settled the question of the Luan Phoenix's ownership, the next target would very likely be Mo Xiaoqi. After all, her value seemed no less than that of the juvenile Luan Phoenix.
Just as Yang Kai was preparing to leave the area, every hair on his body suddenly stood on end. Without any warning, a surge of crisis and dread washed over him.
His brows knitted together. He had no idea what had just happened to trigger such a feeling.
He turned his head to look the other way. Mo Xiaoqi seemed to have sensed something as well — she was currently glancing around in a furtive, nervous manner.
All at once, the sky went dark, as though dark clouds had blotted out the sun overhead. An enormous shadow covered the earth, and at the same time, the temperature in the air spiked dramatically, causing the lush green trees of Jade Clear Mountain to wither and ignite.
"Screeee—" High above, a piercing, shrill cry echoed through the heavens.
Yang Kai's blood ran cold. He looked up, and the next instant, he froze completely in place.
In the sky above, an existence identical to the juvenile Luan Phoenix soared through the air, wings spread wide as it passed directly overhead.
But this being was countless times larger than the juvenile — an enormous, magnified version of the Luan Phoenix.
Wherever it passed, even the sky was left with burning scars. Space shattered, and a pressure so vast it defied imagination crashed downward like a mountain collapsing, compressing Yang Kai until every bone in his body cracked and groaned.
"A Luan Phoenix? An Ancient Sacred Spirit?" Yang Kai cried out in alarm.
This was a fully mature Luan Phoenix — a peerless overlord of legend, one of the few beings in existence that could rival a True Dragon!
Yang Kai's mind screamed. He had long suspected that where a juvenile Luan Phoenix existed, a mature one had to exist as well. But he never imagined that the mature Luan Phoenix would appear right before his eyes!
The sheer intimidation radiating from its colossal body alone was enough to render Yang Kai nearly immobile. Let alone the pitch-black flames engulfing its entire form — black fire capable of annihilating an entire world.
His pupils trembled violently. He tried to move even a single finger, but found himself utterly powerless, forced to watch helplessly as the Luan Phoenix streaked across the sky above him.
"Screeee—" Thirty li away, the juvenile Luan Phoenix let out an urgent, mournful cry. Struggling to rise on its extremely weakened body, it called up toward the sky like a lost child that had finally spotted its parent, answering with desperate calls.
Hall Master Luo, Elder Jiu, Chen Shiqi, and the rest were all frozen in place. When the shadow that blotted out the light descended upon them, every last one of them knew that catastrophe had arrived. Beads of sweat the size of beans rolled down their foreheads. Each of them desperately tried to muster their strength, desperate to flee the area.
But under the oppressive might of an Ancient Sacred Spirit, they were like helpless toddlers — utterly powerless.
If Dao Source Realm powerhouses were reduced to this state, then the Void King Realm and Return Void Realm cultivators were even worse off.
Some of the weaker Return Void Realm cultivators simply coughed up blood and died on the spot.
The Luan Phoenix circled in the air. It seemed to have seen the wretched state of its child, and its eyes abruptly turned crimson. A violent, murderous fury erupted from within its body and swept outward in every direction.
It halted in midair and opened its massive beak. Its abdomen contracted slightly, then swelled outward — and a world-ending tide of black flames surged down from the sky like a tsunami.
"No!" Hall Master Luo could manage only that single word with his dying breath. The next instant, he was engulfed by the black fire and reduced to nothingness in the blink of an eye.
Wherever the black flames passed, nothing remained. Every last one of the two hundred-odd cultivators still alive in the area perished without exception — incinerated to death, body and soul annihilated.
Columns of black fire soared into the sky, clearly visible even from over a hundred li away. The flames seemed as though they intended to burn both heaven and earth to cinders — utterly savage.
The ground was reduced to scorched earth where nothing could grow. Within a radius of ten li, the area became a dead zone, and that dead zone was rapidly spreading outward.
Thirty li away, Yang Kai's hair stood on end as he watched the black flames roaring toward his position like lightning. He no longer dared to hesitate. He activated his Golden Holy Dragon Origin Power to resist the violent pressure of the Luan Phoenix, finally reclaiming a small measure of his freedom.
The next instant, he immediately brought out the Mysterious World Bead and retreated inside.
The very moment Yang Kai vanished, the black flames swept through the spot where he had been hiding. Had he been a heartbeat slower, he would have shared Hall Master Luo and the others' fate.
"Not good!" The moment he ducked into the Mysterious World Bead, Yang Kai suddenly realized he had forgotten about Mo Xiaoqi.
Although Mo Xiaoqi possessed powerful Artifacts, against the world-ending fury of an Ancient Sacred Spirit, they would likely offer no resistance whatsoever. Everything had happened too fast just now — he simply hadn't had time to think about Mo Xiaoqi.
Now that he considered it, even if he went back to save her, it would probably be too late.
Yang Kai couldn't help but feel a pang of frustration.