Seemingly provoked by Zhang Zhiliang's words, the flames entangled with the Immortal Eminences suddenly blazed with even greater ferocity, using the cultivators’ power as fuel.
And like a bone-deep canker, it was difficult to purge. Even though Zhang Zhiliang activated his arrays in succession, constantly shifting the positions of the five Immortal Eminences, it only slightly slowed the crimson flames.
"Fellow Daoists, attack is the best defense!" The voice of Immortal Eminence Hong Xi rang out.
As he spoke, an inverted mountain pressed down upon Crimson Flame's head. The mountain was slender as a needle, yet seemed to weigh countless tons.
The flames around Crimson Flame danced incessantly, as if swept by a great wind, and its form involuntarily sank downward.
A shockwave erupted from the point of contact, sweeping outward in all directions, churning up massive waves that spread toward the periphery of the Congyun Sea.
As it swept over Myriad Immortals Island below, it even stirred a faint tremor in the Seven-Colored Immortal-Felling Array.
Beneath the inverted mountain, firelight flickered. Crimson seemed to vanish for an instant, attempting to repeat Its trick and shift positions. Yet, unexpectedly, the next second, It was forced to reappear somewhat disheveled in the same spot.
In the surrounding space, one could vaguely see countless mountain ranges stretching into the distance. Crimson Flame seemed to be trapped in a prison formed of mountains, unable to move!
Crimson Flame lowered Its head slightly, as if contemplating something.
Next, everyone saw that the flames which had been constantly leaping upon Its body suddenly grew still. Then they violently contracted toward the center.
Before anyone could react, Crimson Flame had changed from It’s human form into a pure, crimson flame.
It was dazzling and blazing, brimming with destructive power. The mountains trapping It began to melt and collapse from the extreme heat alone.
Just as Crimson Flame was about to break free, the attacks of the other Immortal Eminences arrived in a sudden onslaught.
"River waters surge, endless and unceasing!"
A silver torrent descended from the heavens. Like a coiling dragon, it slammed fiercely into the flame.
Though the river water was vaporized before it could reach the flame, this Lan Cang River seemed eternally inexhaustible, slowing Crimson Flame's escape by another fraction.
Then came a child's tender voice, saturated with killing intent. "Die!"
Amidst the river water, a black-and-red figure was concealed, appearing soundlessly beside Crimson Flame.
The figure held not the slightest trace of life. Even Crimson Flame only noticed it when it closed in.
Tian Yang? Li Fan was naturally no stranger to this black-and-red puppet.
Unlike the colossal, sky-piercing behemoth seen before, the Tian Yang puppet had now returned to the size of an ordinary person. Tian Yang's voice was also no longer mechanical as before, but indistinguishable from a human's.
Under the searing heat of the crimson flame, anything that approached would melt. Even the Spirit Transformation-level Tian Yang puppet was no exception.
But though the puppet’s exterior melted like snow under the sun, the damage to its body didn’t appear to affect Tian Yang's combat power in the slightest.
When its solid form completely disintegrated, turning entirely into a boiling, viscous mass of black-and-red liquid, Tian Yang fully unleashed his power.
"Tian Yang is not...
“Weaker than others!"
The viscous substance churned and roiled, like water yet also like fire. It coiled around the crimson flame, refusing to retreat even a fraction, no matter how fiercely the flame burned, seeking to taint the flame.
The crimson flame was forced to shrink yet another degree.
As Crimson Flame’s form became the focus of their combined assault, the power of the flames that had been burning the Immortal Eminences diminished considerably.
Thus, their attacks grew even more fierce and relentless.
Under the siege of the five Spirit Transformation Immortal Eminences, Crimson Flame was forced to compress Itself time and again.
Victory seemed within grasp.
When compressed to its absolute limit, the flame was no more. In its place, circled by the Immortal Eminences, was a single crimson particle, radiating a blinding brilliance that no one could lay eyes on directly.
Then, the crimson particle moved.
With a speed that surpassed the perception of every cultivator present, it traced a crimson line across the vast heavens, a line that jagged and doubled back upon itself multiple times.
It pierced through the black-red viscous mass, blasting a gaping hole clean through Tian Yang, and vaporizing matter completely. The surrounding viscous substance churned, trying to heal the wound, but the residual, searing heat suppressed its efforts, leaving it unable to reform.
The waters of the Lan Cang River and the inverted mountain were simultaneously split in two by the crimson line.
The riverbed ran dry; the mountain shattered.
Two muffled grunts of pain sounded in unison.
Immortal Eminence Hao Xuan loosed a rapid volley of silver arrows, but their silvery light could not match the speed of the leaping crimson particle. Instead, they were assimilated in the midst of their pursuit, transforming into crimson fiery light and shooting off in different directions.
The crimson particle continued to zigzag and crisscross the sky, running rampant. Anything that stood in its path was utterly vaporized before its destructive power.
Flashes of silver light erupted constantly. It was Zhang Zhiliang, aiding the Immortal Eminences by shifting their positions to evade Crimson Flame’s attacks. Yet even so, the disadvantage of the Immortal Eminences continued to widen.
At this very moment, Zhang Zhiliang finally acted again.
One, two...thousands, tens of thousands... Countless silver cubes abruptly materialized across the sky. They were vast as the stars, some solid, some illusory.
Soon, they completely sealed off the airspace where the Crimson Flame and the five Immortal Eminences were locked in combat.
Though they appeared chaotic and disordered, Li Fan could perceive that these Array Crowns were forming a specific array.
Zhang Zhiliang’s voice was cold. "Spirit Gathering!"
A portion of the Array Crowns in the heavens, responding to his command, simultaneously erupted with silvery light. An enormous Spirit Gathering Array, composed of countless smaller arrays, abruptly manifested.
A great wind suddenly whipped across the Congyun Sea, churning up monstrous waves. Spiritual qi surged madly toward the region sealed by the Array Crowns, and was absorbed by the wounded Immortal Eminences. Instantly, their combat power returned to its peak.