11: Chapter 11 The True Form of the Pure Lotus Demon Flame

Less than half a tea-time after Xiao Chen fell, the floating stone platform beneath everyone's feet was still shrouded in the baleful aura left by the blood axe, and the groans of the wounded from various camps rose and fell.

Hun Feng sat cross-legged on the edge of the stone platform, Sea Heart Flame circulating slowly through his meridians, finally calming the internal injuries from his hard clash with Xiao Chen just now.

He opened his eyes, his gaze calmly sweeping towards the surging magma sea in the distance, saying nothing.

Yao Yao rarely didn't crowd over; she had her bone whip across her knees, her peach-blossom eyes scanning the magma sea with sharpness inch by inch.

A moment later, she suddenly spoke: "It is moving — very lightly, but I know it is moving."

There was no fear in her voice, only the suppressed excitement of a hunter catching the trace of prey.

Hun Feng did not answer, merely nodding slightly.

He knew that Yao Yao's blood-attribute Dou Qi had a perception of soul fluctuations that far exceeded those of the same rank; if she said it was moving, then it was moving.

In fact, he himself had also felt it — not the dull sound of Fire Slaves' charred shells rubbing against the magma, but an indescribable presence, rising inch by inch from the deepest part of the seabed.

Other experts on the floating stone platform also gradually sensed that something was wrong.

Gu Nanhai was the first to stand up, staring fixedly at the magma sea surface that had suddenly gone still — it wasn't frozen, nor was it flattened, but all the surging had solidified in the same instant, as if the entire sea area had been pressed with a pause button.

Then, the magma sea surface exploded with a boom.

A milky-white pillar of fire shot into the sky, reaching a thousand zhang high, illuminating the entire Demon Flame Space into a ghastly white.

At the top of the fire pillar, a slender figure slowly descended.

His white robes were like snow, his black hair like ink, and his features were handsome to the point of being almost unreal.

He stood in the void with his hands behind his back, surrounded by milky-white flames, his eyes lacking pupils, containing only two leaping white flames.

A smile that was not quite a smile hung on the corners of his mouth.

"For you all to break into my space, kill my Fire Slaves, and destroy my Xiao Chen, you certainly have quite the grandeur."

His voice was not loud, yet it clearly reached the ears of everyone present.

His tone was elegant and composed, and the curve of his mouth even carried a hint of appreciation, but everyone present could feel the terror buried beneath that elegance — the pressure of a peak Five-Star Dou Sheng swept across the entire magma sea, and the floating stone platform beneath their feet trembled slightly.

Purification Lotus Demon Flame.

He looked around, and behind him, six immensely huge fire pillars exploded from the magma simultaneously, each pillar containing a silent figure.

These Fire Slaves were completely different from the previous charred shells — their bodies were complete and clean, their faces clearly distinguishable, and they even retained the clothing and weapons they had in life, looking no different from living people from afar.

The only thing that gave away the truth were those two clusters of milky-white flames leaping in their eyes, uniformly locking onto everyone on the floating stone platform.

"One Five-Star, four Four-Star, three Three-Star." Yao Chen reported the numbers, his voice sounding as heavy as if it were filled with lead.

The six Fire Slaves who retained their complete intelligence, six Dou Sheng experts who had once been renowned in their lifetimes, now pressed down on the sea surface like six silent mountains.

Added to the peak Five-Star strength of the Purification Lotus Demon Flame itself, this force was enough to sweep away any single faction present.

"These are the treasures that Purification Lotus Demon Flame has harvested over thousands of years. Every time the Demon Flame appears, a batch of geniuses is refined into Fire Slaves by it."

Hun Feng's voice was not high, just enough for everyone present to hear. "Those with complete bodies and still-existing intelligence were at least Four-Star Dou Sheng in their lifetimes, and even after being refined into Fire Slaves, they have retained most of their combat instincts. If we continue to fight on our own like in the last round, no one will last a hundred moves."

He was telling the truth.

Just now, ten low-level Fire Slaves who had lost all intelligence had made the allied forces miserable; now, these six complete Fire Slaves plus the Purification Lotus Demon Flame itself had a combat power that infinitely approached the seven-star threshold.

Any single faction, even the Hun Clan or the Gu Clan, would only be crushed if facing this army of Fire Slaves alone.

Purification Lotus Demon Flame seemed very satisfied with the expressions on everyone's faces.

He chuckled, raised his palm, and the milky-white flames condensed into an exquisite, small white lotus in his palm, slowly rotating and emitting a heart-palpitating light.

"No need to be so nervous." His tone remained gentle, as if comforting a group of lost travelers. "I have lived for I don't know how many years, and I have seen more Dou Sheng than you have seen Dou Practitioners. That you could reach this point today counts as having some ability. I will give you a chance — defeat me, and the Purification Lotus Demon Flame origin is yours."

His gaze swept over everyone present, his smile deepened a bit, and as he changed the subject, his tone suddenly added a layer of meaningful playfulness: "However, if you lose — all of you will become my new collection. My Demon Flame Space happens to be missing a few gatekeepers."

As his words fell, the six Fire Slaves behind him raised their heads simultaneously.

Six pairs of eyes with leaping milky-white flames stared straight at everyone on the floating stone platform — there was no killing intent in that gaze, yet it was more hair-raising than killing intent, like hunters selecting prey.

After a brief silence, Soul Mie Sheng was the first to speak.

His voice remained as indifferent as iron, but every word was forceful: "Join forces. None of us is its match in single combat. If the seven of us go together, there is still a chance of winning."

Gu Nanhai was silent for a moment, his gaze sweeping over Soul Mie Sheng's face before he nodded with difficulty.

Yao Wangui's face turned from green to white, but in the end, he gritted his teeth and agreed.

The elders of the Yan Clan and the Lei Clan looked at each other and stepped forward at the same time.

The Heavenly Demon Phoenix Clan elder hesitated until the very end; only when the white-flame eyes of the Purification Lotus Demon Flame swept towards him did he respond abruptly, as if splashed with ice water.

On the side of the Sky Mansion Alliance, Zi Yan stood up shakily while pressing her freshly bandaged shoulder, and Xiao Yan gripped the xuan heavy ruler, looking at the white-robed figure, his knuckles turning white, but he did not speak.

The auras of seven Dou Sheng erupted on the floating stone platform simultaneously — Soul Mie Sheng at peak Five-Star holding the line, Gu Nanhai at Four-Star, Zi Yan at early Four-Star, Yao Wangui at early Four-Star, the Yan Clan elder at early Four-Star, the Lei Clan elder at early Four-Star, and the Heavenly Demon Phoenix Clan elder at early Four-Star.

Seven beams of Dou Qi light intertwined, forcing the surrounding magma sea back by dozens of zhang.

"Now that's more like it." The curve of Purification Lotus Demon Flame's mouth deepened, and with a flick of his finger, the milky-white flames shot towards the seven saints like meteors.

Soul Mie Sheng struck out with a palm, and a pitch-black Dou Qi wave collided with the white flames.

The moment the two forces collided head-on, the entire magma sea stirred up waves a hundred zhang high.

The shockwave swept out, knocking the remaining people on the floating stone platform back repeatedly; several Medicine Clan disciples with insufficient cultivation vomited blood on the spot and collapsed.

Hun Feng reached out to steady himself against a protruding rock at his side, while simultaneously raising a hand to block the aftermath from Yao Yao's side.

Yao Yao glanced at him, the corners of her mouth curving quickly.

The remaining six saints took advantage of the gap while Soul Mie Sheng was holding off the Purification Lotus Demon Flame head-on to launch attacks from six different directions.

However, the Purification Lotus Demon Flame did not even move his body; his body dissipated into a cloud of white mist the moment the seven attacks were about to reach him, and re-condensed in another part of the void hundreds of zhang away, his robes as clean as new, his hair not messed up in the slightest.

It was not teleportation.

It was atomization — he had merged himself into the mist above the entire magma sea; wherever his mind reached, his body reached.

"Too slow." Purification Lotus Demon Flame sighed softly and snapped his fingers.

The Fire Slaves behind him, who had been ready to go, all rushed out at the sound.

Two complete Fire Slaves went straight for Gu Nanhai, one intercepted Yao Wangui, the Three-Star Fire Slaves crashed into the elders of the Yan and Lei clans respectively, and the last one dived towards the Sky Mansion Alliance's formation, each seeking out their most threatening target.

The joint offensive of the seven saints was dismantled into pieces in an instant, while the Purification Lotus Demon Flame himself cast his gaze towards Gu Nanhai, that hint of playful smile still hanging on his lips.

"Back then, someone like you from the Gu Clan came here too." He drifted forward in the gap where the Fire Slaves forced Gu Nanhai back, white flames turning into afterimages.

"What happened to that person later? Oh — he crashed into the Ancient Sky Refining Formation himself and burned for three days and three nights before he stopped breathing."

The ease on his face when he said this was as if he were telling a fun story.

Before he finished speaking, he suddenly turned towards Yao Wangui, weaving through the white flames, forcing this Four-Star Dou Sheng to cast three medicinal fire barriers in succession to barely stabilize his figure, cold sweat already dripping down his forehead in bean-sized drops.

The battle situation deteriorated sharply in less than half a tea-time.

Although the seven saints' joint efforts barely contained the linked offensive of the Purification Lotus Demon Flame and the six Fire Slaves, everyone could see that the Purification Lotus Demon Flame had not used his full strength from beginning to end.

Every one of his moves was done with ease, and he even had the leisure to comment on everyone's fighting style in the gaps between exchanges, while the attacks of those complete Fire Slaves were constantly changing direction, changing moves, and compressing the activity space of the seven saints, like a spider web that was slowly tightening.

"He is setting up a formation." Hun Qinger walked to Hun Feng's side at some unknown time.

Her moon-white robes were gently brushed by the heat waves of the Demon Flame Space, her veil covering most of her face, revealing only those ice-blue eyes.

Her gaze fell on the movement trajectories of the six complete Fire Slaves, her voice rarely carrying a trace of gravity.

"The movement trajectories of the Fire Slaves are the nodes of the formation. Once the Ancient Sky Refining Formation takes shape, everyone below Seven-Star will be refined alive into Fire Slaves. Last time it took him half an hour to set up the formation; this time it will take at most three sticks of incense."

Hun Feng was silent for a moment.

He knew what Hun Qinger said was the truth — in the original work, the Purification Lotus Demon Flame used the Ancient Sky Refining Formation to force the seven saints into a desperate situation, and only the remnant soul of the Pure Lotus Demon Saint inside Xiao Yan's body broke the situation.

But now the plot had deviated from the original track; he didn't know if the Demon Saint's remnant soul would still awaken at the critical moment, nor did he know if Xiao Yan could still trigger this most critical trump card as accurately as in the original work after his rhythm was disrupted.

He withdrew his gaze and turned to walk back to the center of the stone platform.

Yao Yao looked up at him, her peach-blossom eyes rarely lacking playfulness, only a kind of focus that could only be seen on the eve of battle.

Soul Mie Sheng also looked back, his arm, which had had half its sleeve shaved off by a white flame from the Demon Flame just now, showing scorched marks, his face livid, obviously having already touched upon the terror of the Ancient Sky Refining Formation.

The Deputy Hall Master of the Hall of Souls stood guard on the flank, ready to wait for orders.

"He wants to set up a formation." Hun Feng's voice was very calm, as if stating a fact that had already been written.

"We must interrupt at least one formation node within three sticks of incense, otherwise once the Ancient Sky Refining Formation takes shape, none of us will be able to get out. Please, Aunt Qing, keep an eye on the nodes of those six Fire Slaves. Once a weak link appears, Soul Mie Sheng — attack head-on; even if you can't suppress him, you must interfere with his control over the Fire Slaves. Yao Yao, flank and harass; don't fight hard, specialize in hitting the gaps when he shifts positions."

He paused, his gaze sweeping over everyone's faces, and finally landed on the white-robed figure in the distance who was entangled with the seven saints, the corners of his mouth curling imperceptibly.

The roars of the Fire Slaves and the roar of Dou Qi intertwined in his ears.

He looked up at the surging magma sea, his voice so light it was as if he were talking to himself.

"As for that variable he has hidden in the deepest part — there is no rush; there is still a trump card that has not yet reached the time to be flipped."