Speaking of the Ice Fire Demon Lotus, it was a spiritual artifact of celestial caliber. As Jiang Chen had grown, the form of the Ice Fire Demon Lotus had been continuously evolving as well.
Though the Nether Fire was terrifying, the Ice Fire Demon Lotus was no ordinary object either. The massive cyan leaf forged from raging flames swept across the void, and wherever it passed, it seemed as though the very fabric of space would be scorched.
Yet under the ravenous absorption of the rows upon rows of fire lotuses, that enormous flame leaf was continuously shrinking—again and again.
This sight left the cloaked man in black utterly dumbfounded.
He had actually witnessed Jiang Chen use the Ice Fire Demon Lotus before, back at the Xuanhuang Shouwu. However, at that time, the Ice Fire Demon Lotus had only displayed its entangling advantage, drawing the Xuanhuang Vine's fire. It had never revealed its intrinsic ice-fire Divine Abilities.
Now, the intrinsic Divine Ability that the Ice Fire Demon Lotus unleashed left the cloaked man in black slack-jawed, completely stunned for a moment.
Whenever he deployed his Nether Fire, it was almost always a guaranteed kill—there was seldom any suspense. Even when facing geniuses of the same caliber, they would have to give his Nether Fire a wide berth the moment he unleashed it.
Even the most talented prodigies from the Eight Great Noble Houses this time around would struggle to guarantee they could defeat him when facing his Nether Fire.
The Nether Fire could be called one of his deadliest trump cards.
Yet the scene before him left the cloaked man in black struggling to accept what he was seeing.
"Hmph, this young master wants to see just how much those bizarre lotus vines of yours can absorb!"
What the cloaked man in black possessed was a source of Nether Fire—a Celestial Fire seed held firmly in his grasp. As long as he had mastered the means to activate Celestial Fire Divine Abilities, he could leverage this fire seed to unleash countless fire-attribute techniques.
"Nether Annihilation, strike!"
The cloaked man in black murmured incantations, his hand seals flying. From the Nether Fire seed, wave after wave of cyan flames erupted madly from all around it.
Each streak of cyan flame was like a flame demon lord—fierce and malevolent, capable of destroying heaven and earth, with an aura that was utterly terrifying.
The Nether Annihilation Divine Ability was no longer just a flame leaf or two—it was over a dozen surging forth in a single breath, flooding out in a frenzied rush.
Under such frenzied activation, the glow of the fire seed dimmed in an instant. Clearly, the cloaked man's method of use was nothing short of draining the pond to catch the fish—absolute overuse.
Jiang Chen had long been prepared. His hand seals churned as well, and the thousands of Ice Fire Demon Lotus tendrils poured forth like an army unleashed, flooding the void.
Each fire lotus devoured the fire-elemental essence released by the Nether Celestial Fire like a ravenous taotie starved for hundreds of years.
And behind them, the ice lotuses stood in tight formation, ready and waiting.
There was no denying it—the form of the Ice Fire Demon Lotus was far more formidable than Jiang Chen had imagined. Especially when it came to fire-attributed attacks, the fire lotuses' absorption power actually grew stronger the more powerful the enemy became, greedily devouring the devastating ultimate move released by the Nether Celestial Fire.
This sight nearly made the cloaked man in black vomit blood.
"How can this be?" The cloaked man's worldview was nearly toppled. This technique was virtually one of his absolute strongest moves.
Though he still had one more trump card to play, under such a frenzied assault from the Nether Celestial Fire, the fact that his opponent still had a way to counter it was beyond belief.
This finally shook the black-cloaked man's proud heart. It was always said that the geniuses of the Huichun Island Domain weren't worth a second glance.
But now it seemed that was pure prejudice.
Jiang Chen was completely at ease. He had already discerned that his opponent's Nether Celestial Fire was essentially spent. The fire's very form had weakened to a feeble stage.
With that, the pressure from the Nether Celestial Fire was clearly no longer a threat.
Still, the sheer number of tricks his opponent had pulled out left Jiang Chen secretly astonished and on guard. He was firmly convinced that the man had to have a next move ready.
Someone who possessed the Nether Celestial Fire would absolutely have more cards up his sleeve. A vague suspicion about the man's true origins began to form in Jiang Chen's mind.
The man caught Jiang Chen from the corner of his eye and saw the faint smile playing at the corner of his lips, which only amplified the inexplicable irritation churning inside him. The momentum of this fight was slipping out of his control.
Originally, the eight great houses had sent their prodigies in here as hunters. Yet at this moment, he hadn't enjoyed a single ounce of a hunter's initiative.
He was even beginning to wonder—in the end, who would truly end up as the prey?
"This kid cannot possibly be from Dongyan Island. Are his talent and depth of skill on the level of the Ten Great Divine Kingdoms?" A thread of doubt surfaced in the black-cloaked man's heart.
"No, I can't keep dragging this out with him. I need to cut through the mess quickly and decisively, or I'll burn through too much time."
The prodigies of the eight great houses had entered this place for one purpose: to hunt down the Dongyan Island trial participants. That was the very core of the entire game.
The so-called geniuses selected by Dongyan Island under orders had actually been assigned their fate from the very beginning—to serve as targets for the eight great houses' prodigies. Put bluntly, they were prey, meant to be hunted for sport, for entertainment, and as tools for competition among the scions of those houses.
Until now, however, Jiang Chen had remained completely in the dark about all of this. He still believed that the grudge between himself and the black-cloaked man was nothing more than a dispute over the Profound Yellow Shouwu.
But Jiang Chen's divine sense was formidable. Once his opponent withdrew the Nether Celestial Fire, he could already faintly perceive that the man had worked himself into a state of berserk rage.
The next wave of attacks would escalate to the most frenzied level.
His opponent was likely about to pull out his trump card.
For Jiang Chen, this was naturally anything but good news.