Ji Changfeng’s face was dyed bright-red by the firelight. The cool mountain wind turned into rolling waves of heat, ruffling his clothes wildly. The sound of flames burning filled the world. Gazing down from the top of the mountain, there was only boundless fire. Everything the Cloud Sail sect had built up over a thousand years had been reduced to ashes in a single instant.
Originally, Gong Yuan’s major objective of coming here was to invite him to fight the fire devourers with her, which he declined politely, but only now did he realise that he was already too deeply involved with the war, unable to distance himself any further.
He roared furiously, “From today onwards, either my Cloud Sail sect perishes or Fire Melt mountain perishes!”
The Feilian flag appeared in his hand, growing to over thirty meters long in the wind. On the huge, green flag, a feilian divine beast bore its fangs and brandished its claws, ready to leap out.
“Wind Gales of the Unfraught, extinguish the flames!”
Ji Changfeng gripped the flagpole firmly with both hands and swung it violently. The feilian let out a roar resembling the fierce howls of wind. The wind swept out and extinguished the flames near the mountain before suppressing all the fire on the island and making the sky clear up.
“Fellow Ji, I’ll lend you a hand!” Gong Yuan flew to the peak of the mountain. Faint-blue coldness whistled out, merging with the gales that the Feilian flag had produced into cold streams of wind. A few falling meteors had been frozen and pulverised before they even reached the ground.
“I’d like to see how you destroy my Cloud Sail sect. If the Cloud Sail sect survives today, I’ll definitely make you pay ten-fold!”
Ji Changfeng’s beard and hair danced in the air as he swung the great flag vigorously in a rather violent fashion. The gales swept in from the ocean from all directions. The only thing left in the surroundings were the whistling of wind. His voice had merged with the wind, like the roar of a wind god.
Gong Yuan’s coldness was not as impressive in appearance, but it was instead much more effective against the flames. Silently, the entire mountain had frozen over, without a hint of heat remaining. Instead, it felt like a freezing winter.
She spread her arms and gently sang the songs of Merfolk, like she was praying, reciting, and cursing. At the same time, she raised her crystal sceptre high into the air, radiating with resplendent light along with the crystal accessories that adorned her.
The ocean answered, and the water surged over, wave after wave. It was constantly evaporated away by the flames, but it did not stop at all. The air became moister and moister from the water vapour, accumulating as layers outside Giant Ship island and being dyed bright-red by the flames. It was an extremely magnificent sight.
At the top of Main-mast mountain, blue and green light shone together, contending against the three Fire Devouring Kings. They actually held their ground perfectly. One of them was the master of the mountain, while the other was the ruler of the South sea. The mountains and seas gave them endless support, and they had the formation to withstand the attacks of the fire devourers. As a result, they could unleash their full strength without any qualms.
The attacks from the three fire devourers are quite vicious, but fire excels in terms of explosive and destructive power. In a drawn-out battle, it’s impossible for them to outlast Gong Yuan and Ye Duanhai. However, how can they get through the protective formation of a large sect like the Cloud Sail sect so easily? It’s only possible if they have the Silver Dragon King blasting away too.
Li Qingshan had also guessed that the fire devourers must have relied on the Silver Dragon King to suddenly appear here. He cast his gaze at the horizon, and the Silver Dragon King had already vanished. As it seemed, the king’s estate had no plans to directly interfere with this. Is mister Ram really that confident that the Cloud Sail sect will fall? Surely nothing has happened on Ru Xin’s side!
However, upon considering how there was an “honoured guest”, the Myriad Poison Ancestor, right by her side, he stopped worrying and continued to watch the show. As long as she did not directly fall out with the King of Southern Yue, there were not a lot of people that dared to touch her.
In the fiery-red sky, Zhu Yan said, “This Wind Gale King really is quite capable. They possess a geographic advantage. It’ll be disadvantageous to us as time goes on.”
“It’s all just some puny tricks! Allow me!” said Zhu Zai with disdain.
“Alright! Take down their formation!” The Meteors of the Blazing Heavens suddenly stopped, and the glow from Zhu Fen suddenly dimmed, moving over to Zhu Zai. Zhu Zai lifted up the Fire Tablet of Earth and pointed it at the mountain from afar.
“The Blazes of Earth, Scorching the Land!”
With a rumble, Giant Ship island suddenly shook and began trembling violently as if there was a colossal, violent beast suppressed below. It seemed like the beast had just awakened from its slumber, wanting to break free from the restraints and unleash its destructive power.
I see!
Li Qingshan came to a realisation. As it turned out, the raining meteors were merely preparation for the current attack. On the ocean and at the top of a mountain, Gong Yuan and Ji Changfeng did indeed possess a geographic advantage. If the fire devourers wanted to win, they had to destroy their advantage first.
The craters produced from the meteors suddenly rose up high in the air, forming over a hundred hills and mountains. They cracked open at the very top, pouring out with dazzling, red light.
“You!” Ji Changfeng’s face changed.
Boom, boom, boom, boom… Within the endless rumbling, the mountains turned into volcanoes, surging with lava and immediately breaking through Gong Yuan and Ji Changfeng’s restraints.
Black plumes of smoke rose up into the air as rivers of fire flowed freely, scorching Giant Ship island. It made Li Qingshan recall the landscape of the Fire Melt mountains. Giant Ship island had virtually become a miniature version of the Fire Melt mountains.
Even the boundless ocean had to be held up by the earth, and beneath the earth was surging magma and fire. As such, fire devourers could gain a geographic advantage no matter where they were.
However, Giant Ship island was not a volcanic island. In order to draw out the turbulent flames of the earth, they needed to bombard the land with flames from the heavens. The Meteors of the Blazing Heavens from earlier were only a prelude. This was the main show!
Half of the defensive power of the protective formation came from its quality, while the other half came from the geography. The more blessed the land was, the stronger their defences would be. However, the flames of the earth that sprayed out from below devastated the blessed land that Giant Ship island was, wildly ravaging the spiritual veins underground.
Mizzen-mast mountain had originally been holding on stubbornly, but with the flames of the earth, the formation rapidly dimmed and was directly burned through by the flames very soon. The structures and vegetation were immediately reduced to ashes. A group of cultivators flew up, wanting to flee for their lives, but before they could even fly very far, they were set alight, turning into torches and falling out of the sky. The weapons on them melted apart from the extreme heat, becoming a part of the sea of fire.
Only a young man flew through the sea of fire on a boat-like feather, making his way towards Main-mast mountain, but the feather was set alight very soon too.
Ji Qingyu called out, “Save me, father!”
Ji Changfeng swung the Feilian flag, and a whirlwind rushed out of the sea of fire, sweeping towards Ji Qingyu.
“Die!” Zhu Zai swung the Fire Tablet of Earth.
Rumble!
A volcano erupted, producing a plume of fire that forcefully intercepted the whirlwind.
Ji Qingyu’s handsome face was filled with horror. He turned into a skeleton in the blink of an eye, followed by ash.
“Qingyu!” Ji Changfeng was utterly devastated. In order to groom his beloved son for succession, he had left Mizzen-mast mountain to him, where he received the relatively weaker cultivators of the South sea. He had wanted to pave a foundation for his son’s future developments. He never expected to encounter a disaster like this.
If mortals died, then he could still think of ways to recruit more, but every single person on Mizzen-mast island was a disciple of the sect chosen from a selection of thousands of people. Every single death pained Ji Changfeng’s heart. The death of his beloved son linked to him by blood was an irrecoverable loss too, so he roared furiously and said, “I’ll never stop until you fire devourers are dead!”
“Foolish human, you better try staying alive first! It’s been so long since we incinerated everything in such a satisfying way. I just love it when I turn your ‘blessed land’ into a ‘disastrous land’. I, Zhu Zai, will be the disaster of you humans!” Zhu Zai laughed wildly with hysterical hatred towards humans.
Fire-red cracks spread upwards from the foot of Mizzen-mast mountain until they reached the peak. With a great rumble, magma poured out, and Mizzen-mast mountain also turned into an erupting volcano.
At the same time, the protective formation of Fore-mast mountain had reached the brink of collapse as well. With a great rumble, the entire island rocked violently, and the formation around Fore-mast island shattered as well, bursting into flames spectacularly. There were a few more cries for help and a few more balls of flames, all reduced to ashes.
Boom! Another volcano had been created. The flames on Giant Ship island became even more intense. Ji Changfeng was utterly furious, but the rolling waves of heat forced away his gales. The coldness that Gong Yuan had released was nullified as soon as it left Main-mast mountain. The thick layers of water vapour around Giant Ship island had been swallowed by the black mass of volcanic ash.
Main-mast island had become a lone island in the sea of fire!
“They’re in trouble now!” Li Qingshan exchanged glances with Xiao An, and Xiao An nodded in agreement, as Main-mast island was shaking as well while the protective formation flickered violently with light. Who knew when it would shatter. By then, they would release the true killing strike. Just the flames of heaven and the flames of earth were so violent, so how would the flames of man be?
This really was a case of being caught in the crossfire!
However, the whole reason why he was here was to deal with the fire devourers, so he could not be regarded as being caught in the crossfire. It was just that they had already struck before he could even get around to them. This efficiency was worth learning from.
However, the cultivators of the South sea could truly be regarded as being caught in the crossfire. When did they ever think that the Merfolk sea fair this time would cost them their lives? Faced with the combined attacks from the three fire devourers, they stood absolutely no chance at surviving.
“Fellows, the otherfolk are vicious. It’s a moment of life or death, so why do you still stand by? When are you going to wait until?” Ji Changfeng called out, and the elders and disciples of the Cloud Sail sect all answered him. Many of their friends and relatives had been burned to death by the fire devourers.
It went even more without saying for the Merfolk. They had banded together to put out the fire a long time ago. They could not threaten the three Fire Devouring Kings, but every bit of strength they wasted away was a slightly larger chance at victory.
“Sect master Ji, this is a conflict among otherfolk. What does it have to do with us? Please forgive my lacklustre cultivation, which prevents me from helping you. I’ll be taking my leave first,” said a cultivator. Li Qingshan took a look to see who it was. It was “seventh seat” who had made things difficult for him before.
“Seventh seat” took out a Great Shifting talisman and immediately activated it before Ji Changfeng could say anything.
“You mustn’t, fellow!” Ji Changfeng called out.
“Seventh seat” had already vanished, but he did not shift several hundred kilometers away. Instead, he ran headfirst into the volcanic crater of Fore-mast mountain.
“How is this possible!?”
“Seventh seat” paled in fright. He rushed about in the sea of fire through his powerful cultivation, wanting to fly back to Main-mast mountain.
Zhu Fen snorted and sprayed out a spark from his nostril, which immediately pierced “seventh seat’s” head.
