Chapter 894 - Divine Ray of the Sun
Li Qingshan smiled. “Isn’t that it? Move a little faster. They’re coming out!”
Gong Yuan gritted her teeth. The pitch-black power of Ruin’s End crept through her azure eyes, gradually dyeing it the same colour. That was a deep black that prevented even a single ray of light from slipping through.
The entire time, her process of practising the All Water to Ruin’s End was like walking on a tightrope above a bottomless abyss. She was in constant fear of taking a wrong step, falling into the abyss and dooming herself. Yet right now, she had to leap into the abyss and trust this man that she looked down on to catch her.
As a result, she rapidly fell into the endless darkness, towards the bottomless Ruin’s End. Suddenly, a st.u.r.dy arm wrapped around her waist. The man appeared in her sea of consciousness and smiled. “Caught you.”
She was unable to describe what she felt inside. In short, she really hated this man!
The three Fire Devouring Kings emerged from the Gate of Divine Fire and looked down at the ocean below. Zhu Zai frowned. “It’s still the Heart of the Abyss. I never thought it could be so powerful when powered at full strength.”
The major reason why their sneak attack last time had failed was because of the tremendous power of Ruin’s End that the Heart of the Abyss had released.
“There’s no need to say anything more. Kill her and avenge our clansmen!” Zhu Yan raised the Fire Tablet of Heaven high into the air, pointing it straight at the sun. “True Flames of the Sun, descend!”
Zhu Yan and Zhu Zai both a.s.sumed postures of paying homage, gathering their power on him. It really was the height of noon right now, but with Zhu Feng’s actions, the sun in the sky suddenly lit up. A totem revolved and expanded around the Fire Tablet of Heaven, enveloping a radius of a hundred kilometers.
The totem was composed of golden-yellow flames, forming two rings, one inside and one outside. Between them were the images of embers. It constantly revolved as if it was the most primitive depiction and worshipping of the sun of the ancient times.
Above the ocean, the whirlpool spun and grew larger, becoming pitch-black in colour. It matched up with the sun totem in the sky from afar.
The air between the ocean and the sky became scorching. Everything twisted and blurred.
Zhu Feng did not seem to be in a hurry to strike. He just constantly powered the sun totem, making the Fire Tablet of Heaven in his hand shine brighter and brighter as if it was forged from gold. It produced a resplendent glow, like a portion of rays cut away from the sun.
The flames of heaven were divided into four types, yin and yang. There were two yang flames, one of which was the Flying Flames of Star Essence. Those were the meteors that Zhu Fen had used to destroy the Cloud Sail sect during the battle of Giant Ship island. It had to be unleashed at night, when the stars shone, to unleash its greatest might. When Zhu Fen attacked the Crystal palace earlier, the meteors he unleashed seemed vicious, but that was purely their appearance. He acted like he was using his full strength exactly for this moment. He wanted to unleash the second type of flames of heaven, the hottest True Flames of the Sun.
Li Qingshan and Gong Yuan entered a deeper state of dual cultivation. The power of Ruin’s End turned into a pitch-black spirit turtle, gradually stabilising and raising its head.
In that moment, his mind became unprecedentedly peaceful and clear as if he had actually turned into a tiny spirit turtle, swimming around in the endless Ruin’s End. He saw the direction of flow of the river of fate and immediately experienced a strong sense of danger. As the sun totem revolved away, the sense of danger grew heavier and heavier.
Even when the three fire devourers worked together, they still needed so much time to prepare and charge up. Clearly, this one was going to be vicious!
Through Li Qingshan’s mind. Gong Yuan also sensed this. Immediately, the two of them made a decision at the same time. They did not attack. Instead, they defended. As long as they could withstand this strike, the reinforcements from the Crystal palace would arrive.
“Coffin of Frigid Ice!” “Spirit Turtle’s Profound Sh.e.l.l!”
The two of them unleashed their strongest defensive technique at the same time. The sea water froze into frigid ice, forming a deep-blue coffin and sealing them inside. Pieces of the Spirit Turtle’s Profound Sh.e.l.l lit up on the pitch-black spirit turtle’s back.
In the blink of an eye, the three Merfolk Kings appeared on the horizon. “Granny” was in the lead, while the other two tailed behind, seemingly establishing a formation. It was not as profound as the Divine Fire tablets, but it was extremely st.u.r.dy. Because they were afraid of being individually defeated by the fire devourers, they dared not use Great Shifting talismans, so they obviously moved much more slowly.
Zhu Fen did not even look at them. His eyes were glued to the ocean below the entire time, at the depths of the whirlpool. The Fire Tablet of Heaven in his hand grew to maximum brightness, and he suddenly swung down. “Divine Ray of the Sun!”
An utterly-blinding ray of light shot down from the Fire Tablet of Heaven. The sun totem immediately collapsed, and even the sun in the sky seemed to dim momentarily.
The sense of danger in Li Qingshan’s heart immediately reached the limit.
The shapeless ray of light did not even give off a hint of heat. It immediately penetrated the deep ocean and the Coffin of Frigid Ice and landed on the pitch-black spirit turtle’s back.
Li Qingshan and Gong Yuan powered the Heart of the Abyss with their full strength, but they were still unable to prevent the pieces of the Spirit Turtle’s Profound Sh.e.l.l from melting under the heat. Their vision lit up. The brightest light had shone into the darkest abyss. Unlike the wide scale destruction of the meteors, the Divine Ray of the Sun was a killing technique that focused on an individual. It condensed all of the power in a single ray of light.
Gong Yuan shivered inside. She felt like she was even closer to death than back then on Giant Ship island. The power of the Divine Fire tablets had still surpa.s.sed her expectations after all. Was she really still done for today?
Suddenly, a great force pushed her aside. She widened her eyes, which recovered their azure-blue colour. She gazed in stupefaction as the man she loathed gripped his blade firmly with both hands, swinging away at the ray of blinding light that destroyed everything in its path!
Blood-red light surged into the air. Li Qingshan poured all of his strength, will, and even life into that swing!
His chance to undergo Nirvāṇa Rebirth had recently been used up on Giant Ship island. It did not recover that quickly. Although he had broken through to the third layer of the phoenix, he had not balanced water and fire yet, so the third innate ability of the phoenix never appeared either. In other words, if he died, all he could do was turn into an egg. Faced with these three vicious individuals, the egg would probably be smashed in the blink of an eye.
However, he felt no fear inside. There was only delight!
The blood-red streak of the blade clashed with the Divine Ray of the Sun. In that moment, the resplendent ray swallowed everything.
Everything before Gong Yuan’s eyes blanked out. She only felt her skin scorch like it was burning, which allowed her to imagine just what kind of damage Li Qingshan was enduring when he took on this direct blow. She could not help but cry out, “Li Qingshan!”
The three Merfolk Kings who rushed over to a.s.sist them only saw a ray of dazzling light penetrate the ocean before expanding and swelling up soon afterwards. By the time the light had vanished, a circular hole over three thousand meters across had appeared in the ocean. The sea water had not been evaporated away, but directly vaporised into nothingness.
Hot wind rushed into their faces. All three of them paled in fright. They personally believed they would have definitely died if they had been on the receiving end of the strike instead, so wasn’t Gong Yuan dead for sure? However, they immediately sensed that Gong Yuan’s aura was still present. They could not help but become overjoyed, rushing over to her side.
The three fire devourers all changed in expression. They never thought they would still fail to kill Gong Yuan after all this.
Zhu Yan ground his teeth. “It"s Li Qingshan again!”
Zhu Zai said, “He actually tried playing the hero. He’s finally dead now! What a stupid way to die!”
“Gong Yuan is right below. We-” Zhu Yan suddenly halted in the middle of his sentence and became filled with disbelief.
A huge hole had been blasted open on the bottom of the ocean. Gong Yuan arrived on the side of the hole and peered down. She cried out, “Li Qingshan!” She also became surprised.
The hole was composed of crystals from the melted rock and soil, but at the bottom of the hole stood a lonely, vicious skeleton, gripping a blade firmly in its hand and giving off a metallic l.u.s.tre.
All of the blood-red light on the blade had dispersed, just like how his body was stripped of flesh, but he continued to stand.
The vicious skeleton lowered his head and glanced at Tiger’s Fang in his hand. His jaw moved and wind whistled out, turning into a word of praise. “What a fine blade!”
“He’s actually still alive!”
This was what left the Fire Devouring Kings and Gong Yuan surprised, except the former experienced stupefaction, while the latter was overjoyed.
When the Divine Ray of the Sun burst forth on the tip of Tiger’s Fang, Li Qingshan knew he had won the gamble. Perhaps it could not even be regarded as a gamble. The spirit turtle had calculated everything.
The Divine Ray of the Sun was terrifying, but it had weakened drastically after piercing the Coffin of Frigid Ice and the Spirit Turtle’s Profound Sh.e.l.l. He did not care about blocking this power with that swing of his—this was impossible unless he had broken through to the third heavenly tribulation. However, it did release and disperse the highly-concentrated power of the Divine Ray of the Sun.
The scorching flames of heaven devoured his flesh and blood, but after breaking through to the fifth layer of the tiger demon, his tiger bones had become even tougher. Forged in the flames of heaven, not only did they survive, but they even felt more rigid than before.
The tiger demon was battle-hungry. The stronger the opponent it faced, the more of its power could be unleashed. The extremely-dangerous swing had completely consolidated Li Qingshan’s fifth layer of the tiger demon. He also gained a deeper understanding over his bladesmanship.
The sea water poured into the pit like the world was collapsing. Before he was swallowed by the water, Li Qingshan swung Tiger’s Fang and leapt up, rushing towards the three fire devourers!
“Kill him!” Zhu Yan roared furiously, directly swinging down with the Fire Tablet of Man at Li Qingshan’s head.
With a clang, the blade and the Fire Tablet of Man clashed. Zhu Yan experienced a great force well beyond what he could withstand, as well as a wondrous power of tremors. He almost lost control of the Fire Tablet of Man when the Fire Tablet of Heaven and the Fire Tablet of Earth crushed down at the same time.
Sparks flew. Li Qingshan stood alone with his blade, contending against the three Fire Devouring Kings!
“Icebound Domain!” Gong Yuan spread her arms and ice walls burst out of the ocean, sealing up the region.
“Mist-sealed Maze!” The three Merfolk Kings struck at the same time. A layer of hazy mist immediately rose up between the ice walls, adding another seal over the region. They had to stop the three fire devourers from escaping.
The three Fire Devouring Kings gazed at Li Qingshan before them and flames almost burst out of their eyes. They were tempted to smash his head in with the Divine Fire tablets in their hands. Holding back this urge, they communicated with their soul sense and reached an agreement. “Retreat!”
The Divine Ray of the Sun had consumed a lot of their power. If they remained here, they would even be in danger of dying. This time, there was no King of Southern Yue to save them again!
“Haste of Flames, Lightning Fire Rush!” Zhu Zai turned around and swung the Fire Tablet of Earth. Zhu Fen and Zhu Yan grabbed her shoulder at the same time, and a rumble of thunder rang out before the mist could envelop them. It turned into a streak of lightning fire, smashing through an ice wall forcefully and whistling away.
Compared to the battle on Giant Ship island, they had conserved a lot more energy, and the Icebound Domain was nowhere near as effective as on that other day, as it had been cast through Gong Yuan’s own power!
“There’s no need to pursue!” Gong Yuan stopped the three Merfolk Kings who wanted to go after them.
“The three of them are far too difficult to deal with!” Li Qingshan cursed, but he also understood that all existences that had undergone the third heavenly tribulation were extremely difficult to kill, let alone the Fire Devouring Kings who poured their strength together and wielded the Divine Fire tablets. Right now, he was extremely worried whether they could kill the three of them even if they destroyed Fire Melt mountain.
Gong Yuan asked, “Li Qingshan, are you alright?”