149: Chapter 149 Pure Lotus Demon Saint

Hearing this, Xiao Chen raised his head and locked eyes with Xiao Yan for a moment. After nodding, he slowly stood up, carrying the massive blood-red battle axe on his back, and followed silently behind Xiao Yan toward the enormous palace gate.

"Creak!"

The giant gate was slowly pushed open, revealing a flight of stairs before them. At the end of these stairs, a massive stone altar could be seen.

The figures of Xiao Yan and his companions flickered slightly, and they appeared before the altar.

Upon the altar sat a gigantic throne, and on the throne was a figure clad in white robes. The figure sat quietly in meditation, with wisps of white flame circling its body, constantly shifting into various shapes.

When Xiao Yan stepped onto the altar, the white-robed figure opened its eyes, a stunning smile appearing on its handsome face.

"Defeat me, and you shall obtain the Purification Lotus Demon Flame Origin. Otherwise, remain here forever and become my Flame Thralls." The voice was gentle, yet just this sound caused this space to tremble slightly.

Xiao Yan looked at the handsome Purification Lotus Demon Flame and nodded slightly, agreeing, "That is well said. You have already developed your own intelligence, but since you are a Heavenly Flame, you are destined to be coveted. Those who defeat you will perish, and those you defeat will also perish. Since you are prepared for this, then accept this tragic fate."

Having said that, Xiao Yan raised his palm and struck out. The wind from his palm carried boundless power, traversing the Void Realm, and with a single blow, it reduced the altar and the Purification Lotus Demon Flame to nothingness.

"How is this possible?!"

Beside him, Xiao Chen was dumbfounded, as if he had seen something unbelievable. The Purification Lotus Demon Flame that had trapped him for a thousand years had just been wiped out with a single slap?

As the Purification Lotus Demon Flame was wiped away, the surrounding space gradually collapsed, revealing a subterranean sea of magma. The location where Xiao Yan and his companions stood was a massive mountain floating above the magma.

"Most of what we saw before was an illusion. Within that illusion, the Purification Lotus Demon Flame is as strong as you imagine it to be. Conversely, the same holds true; the weaker you imagine it to be, the weaker it becomes." Xiao Yan explained. He had obtained this information from the residual image light orb of the Pure Lotus Demon Saint within his mind.

Just then, in the distant sea of magma, a pillar of magma a hundred feet tall slowly rose up. When it was roughly level with Xiao Yan, it slowly came to a halt. Amidst the churning magma, the white-robed man appeared before them once again.

Xiao Yan gazed at this handsome man, his pitch-black eyes emitting wisps of flame. This figure before him was the true form of the Purification Lotus Demon Flame.

The white-robed man on the magma pillar looked at Xiao Yan and asked, "How did you know about this?"

"You do not need to know." As Xiao Yan's words fell, twelve flame Clones instantly separated from his body, surrounding the Purification Lotus Demon Flame and continuously forming Seals.

Seeing these Clones surround him with lightning speed, the Purification Lotus Demon Flame's pupils shrank. It could sense a fatal threat within them, so it immediately unleashed its strongest methods to cope.

"Demon Flame Annihilation!"

Its body expanded rapidly, and with a 'bang', it transformed into flames that filled the sky. In that instant, all the energy within this space was evaporated by this high temperature.

The flames emitted an extremely scorching temperature, causing even the magma to boil once more. However, this strongest move of the Purification Lotus Demon Flame was clearly not enough in the face of Xiao Yan's Heavenly Flame Clones, failing to hinder these figures in the slightest.

Seeing that strands of black flame were about to form a fire net, ten Dou Sheng Flame Thralls instantly appeared.

Upon appearing, the Flame Thralls charged toward Xiao Yan's Clones. Startling light erupted from their eyes, and an exceptionally violent energy spread out like lightning.

"Boom, boom, boom..."

The self-detonation of these ten Dou Sheng, combined with the Purification Lotus Demon Flame's annihilation technique, could truly be called world-destroying. In the magma sea thousands of feet below, a magma chasm tens of thousands of feet long was instantly torn open, reaching straight to the very depths of the magma!

When the tens-of-thousands-of-feet-long magma chasm appeared before Xiao Yan and his companions, Xiao Chen gasped, feeling shocked by this incredibly terrifying scene.

However, what surprised him even more was that in the very center of the explosion, the twelve black flame figures were still steadily surrounding the Purification Lotus Demon Flame, their steps not having shifted in the slightest!

The Purification Lotus Demon Flame no longer had its previous human form; it was now in the shape of a rotating, eerie lotus. The lotus spun continuously, constantly shifting between white and dark red.

And the black fire net that had already formed, before the Purification Lotus Demon Flame could even react, had thoroughly covered it, forming dense lines of black flame upon its body.

"I thought it would be more impressive..."

Xiao Yan looked at the now completely sealed Purification Lotus Demon Flame and shook his head.

Under the siege of the Heavenly Flame Clones, the Purification Lotus Demon Flame could not even deploy the Ancient Sky Refining Formation.

However, Xiao Yan understood after a slight sensing that even if the Ancient Sky Refining Formation were deployed, the Purification Lotus Demon Flame would not have the slightest room to resist. To his perception, this Ancient Sky Refining Formation only had the power of a Seven-Star Dou Sheng Middle Stage.

Perhaps if pushed to its limit, it could reach its former glory, but if it relied on this Purification Lotus Demon Flame to control it, that was still far from enough.

"Sigh..."

A sigh suddenly rang out. The white light orb in Xiao Yan's mind drifted out slowly, eventually forming an aged figure before the three of them.

The aged figure stepped upon the Void Realm, passed through the black flame Clones, and arrived before the Purification Lotus Demon Flame.

"Thousands of years of sealing, yet the final outcome is still like this..." The aged figure gently stroked the Purification Lotus Demon Flame, as if treating it like his own child, though his eyes held a trace of sorrow.

Xiao Yan, standing behind, saw this and sighed slightly. The black fire lines covering the Purification Lotus Demon Flame flickered, and Xiao Yan slightly relaxed the Seal on the Purification Lotus Demon Flame.

He could tell that although this residual image of the Pure Lotus Demon Saint possessed extraordinary energy, it only had the strength of a Six-Star Dou Sheng or so. Perhaps if it controlled the Ancient Sky Refining Formation, it could pose some threat to him.

"Pure Lotus Demon Saint? How is it possible?! How could you still be alive?"

Upon having its Seal relaxed, the Purification Lotus Demon Flame sensed the outside world. A feeling of horror surged into its heart, and it immediately issued three questions.

However, its reaction was also extremely fast. After understanding its situation, its tone revealed surprise, and it immediately spoke out, "Pure Lotus Demon Saint, hurry and kill that guy! He actually wants to refine me!"

After a moment of silence, the residual image of the Pure Lotus Demon Saint shook his head. Along the way, he had also been observing the Demon Flame Space. The countless experts who had been refined into Flame Thralls made the Pure Lotus Demon Saint realize that the Purification Lotus Demon Flame still possessed a violent nature.

"When I first encountered you back then, your body was as pure as an infant. I gave you intelligence, allowing you to possess human thoughts, but the path you have taken has diverged from what I had envisioned..." The phantom of the Pure Lotus Demon Saint sighed softly.

Seeing the Pure Lotus Demon Saint shake his head, with no intention of saving it, the Purification Lotus Demon Flame's tone instantly turned violent: "You hypocrite! How I grow is my own business; you meddle too much!"

"I only did not want you to eventually fall into self-destruction... When my time was nearing its end back then, I had thought of erasing your memories, but I could not bring myself to do it. Thus, I sealed you, hoping that you could resolve the violence and killing intent in your heart..."

Watching the dialogue between the two, Xiao Yan sighed inwardly. The Pure Lotus Demon Saint had thought too simply. Granting free will to a Heavenly Flame that possessed violent power, yet constantly restricting its thoughts and actions and imprisoning its nature, would undoubtedly cause a violent backlash.

Guiding someone toward goodness while granting them complete free will from the very beginning is an irrational thing.

If one wishes to fix a person's nature, one must impose restrictions from the very beginning, bestow specific traits upon them, and keep them from ever encountering unknown lands. Only then, even if one grants them complete freedom later, they will not think of stepping into them at will.