Shi Yan sneered, his divine power erupting fiercely, causing the sea of fire enveloping him to grow even more ferocious. A scorching crimson flame, imbued with his life essence, suddenly separated from the sea of fire and shot rapidly toward Xia Xinyan.

A listless Xia Xinyan was instantly shrouded by that single stream of flame. The initially intense heat, the moment it enveloped her, underwent a miraculous transformation; its searing intensity shifted to a bone-chilling coldness.

A current of frigid air permeated directly into her mind, unleashing an aura of extreme coldness within her Altar. Her beautiful eyes regained clarity, her expression instantly changing.

She suddenly pressed her thumbs against her eyelids; a peculiar, mysterious profundity of time surged forth. Scene after scene flashed back as if replaying, allowing her to instantaneously pull the state of her divine body back to a moment just before that strange energy invaded.

The unknown essence that had infiltrated her sea of consciousness vanished without a trace following the reversal of time. The profound mysteries of time—so abstruse and arcane—when cultivated to the deepest level, allowed one to remain forever at the peak, maintaining their most sublime state by locking time itself!

Having recovered, a chill entered her eyes as she looked coldly at the surrounding clusters of clouds, crying out sharply, "Be wary, there are malevolent entities present!" At that very moment, numerous sticky blobs fell one by one into the searing sea of fire created by Shi Yan. Surprisingly, these blobs were not instantly vaporized or turned to ash.

They somehow managed to persist within the sea of consciousness he had refined with Celestial Fire. Although wisps of grayish-white smoke rose from them, the blobs tenaciously crawled toward his divine body.

Shi Yan’s heart quivered slightly. In all his travels since emerging, he had encountered very few things that could survive the incineration of Celestial Fire.

This unknown, viscous substance, whose origin was a mystery, was terrifyingly potent. "Burn!" He pointed a finger at the center of his brow.

The Altar surged forth with scorching Celestial Fire once more, injecting a fresh stream of the divine flame. Now, having gone through several fusions, he commanded four distinct types of Celestial Fire.

Previously, he had only released one stream; he had not exerted his full power. Another stream of Celestial Fire erupted.

This one pulsed with fine, crackling bolts of lightning, carrying an aura capable of corroding the soul. This was the fusion of the World-Extinguishing Thunderflame, the Nine Nether Soul-Devouring Flame, and the Profound Ice Cold Flame.

With the appearance of this flame, the dancing lightning and soul-eroding aura merged, dramatically amplifying the flame’s might. The streams of viscous matter shooting toward him finally could not hold out, yet they still did not instantly melt.

They were entirely withdrawn from the sea of fire in an instant, returning to the cloud masses. "Ziyao is very likely enveloped by one of the surrounding cloud clusters," Xia Xinyan swept over, resuming her position beside him.

Her delicate face was frigid, though a hint of worry shadowed her eyes. If even Starfire, which had reached the level of Pseudo-Immortality, could be shrouded by those eerie, pitch-black cloud clusters here, whether Ziyao could have survived until now was difficult to say...

"I'll add more fuel to the fire!" Shi Yan remained silent for a long moment, then withdrew another stream of Celestial Fire, releasing the fusion of the Primordial Demon Fire, the Yin Spirit Ghost Fire, and the... Corpse-Sealing Fire.

This formed another blaze beside him, causing the power of his surrounding flames to surge several times over. Centered on him, a veritable ocean of fire spread rapidly outwards.

The supremely positive, scorching flames transformed into streams of firelight, aiming to drown and incinerate the nearby clouds that were as black as ink. "No matter who you are, or what kind of being you are, I only demand that you hand over the woman clad in purple.

As long as she is safe and sound, I will cease my scorching, and I will leave this place. We shall remain strangers." Shi Yan closed his eyes and pursed his lips, yet he unleashed his divine sense and thoughts.

It erupted within the sea of fire like a soul storm, threads of consciousness shooting like electrical currents in all directions. He believed that any high-level entity, any being possessing a soul, could perceive this wave of soul-consciousness and clearly understand his intent.

At this moment, Ziyao's whereabouts were unknown, highly likely trapped within those cloud clusters, her life or death uncertain. To engage in a desperate, life-or-death struggle here—even if victorious—Ziyao would likely not survive.

Therefore, his first priority was ensuring Ziyao's survival. This was why he chose to communicate through the soul.

Alas, the transmission of his soul intent yielded no expected results. To be precise, there was no reaction whatsoever.

Those clusters of clouds seemed dead, like natural disasters devoid of consciousness, remaining stationary all around him. No entity returned a message to his consciousness.

Shi Yan’s face turned grim. He roared, "Then do not blame me for obliterating everything here!" "Boom!

Boom! Boom!" Like a mountain torrent breaking loose, the fierce agitation of the Celestial Fire echoed within the sea of flames.

The balls of fire acted like meteorites, striking the cloud clusters with precision, impacting the martial artists enveloped within them. Those martial artists had clearly died long ago, showing not a trace of life force.

Yet, Shi Yan felt a persistent sense that an awareness resided within their bodies. This awareness was fragmented, akin to the scattered soul fragments of the Primordial Thunder Dragon, Leidi, upon the stellar barrier.

The only difference was that Leidi's fragmented souls lost their consciousness upon splitting; only pure memory and aura remained. Only when all soul fragments were gathered and coalesced would Leidi be truly resurrected with autonomous consciousness and thought.

But the consciousnesses dispersed within each martial artist seemed capable of individual survival, much like Ming Gu’s Soul Control mystery, where a wisp of vital spirit acted as an external avatar, manifesting as multiple Ming La in different star fields. The consciousness within these clouds resembled the latter case, like Ming Hao.

"Explode for me!" Shi Yan roared. The scorching flames swept over, and multiple fireballs impacted a single cloud cluster, resulting in earth-shattering explosions.

Just like the ceaseless explosions in the distance, these impacts actually tore open spatial voids, resembling wormholes connecting to other star fields. However, the explosions generated by his primal Celestial Fire, along with the spread and burning of the flames, still failed to incinerate those clouds as dark as ink.

The cloud masses remained intact, merely appearing slightly diminished in size. A drizzling, strange rain, connecting heaven and the Nine Nethers, inexplicably intensified.

The light shower turned into a torrential downpour—a massive rain that should never occur in this chaotic void domain. It descended, the raindrops like the tears of demons, possessing extreme penetrating power, striking like sharp swords!

Shi Yan’s expression changed again. The strangeness of this place exceeded his imagination.

After several seconds of contemplation, his entire body erupted with billions of starlights. These lights coalesced into a curtain, resembling a massive feather fan, shielding him and Xia Xinyan above their heads.

This barrier, formed from condensed starlight, resisted the descent of the strange rain, but it was emitting faint smoke, rapidly draining the stellar energy within the shield. "If this continues, you won't receive a continuous replenishment of power; you will only deplete it quickly, and you won't last long," Xia Xinyan stated calmly.

Shi Yan nodded, knowing her words were true. In this place, without the ability to absorb ambient energy, the moment their power was exhausted would mark the arrival of their doom.

He himself could not absorb the energy here. Initially, he assumed no living being could absorb the residual energy of the chaotic void domain, but after discovering Ziyao could, he knew there were no absolutes.

He was certain that this entity operating in the shadows, whose mysteries remained unknown, absolutely could absorb the residual energy of this place! To engage in battle with that creature here and fall into a stalemate of attrition would ultimately be to his own detriment.

"There will be a way," Shi Yan calmly reassured her, suddenly relaxing. He quieted his mind and let his divine sense extend, exploring slowly.

He intended to use his spiritual sense and soul perception to scan through the many surrounding cloud clusters, hoping to sense Ziyao, which would give him a direction for rescue. "Hah!" After a while, he suddenly gasped, his eyes blazing with extreme shock.

He suddenly sensed two terrifying powerhouses rapidly approaching this location from a great distance. He was intimately familiar with both of them: Dicarlo and Leidi!

Why would they come here? For what reason?

ps: Third chapter delivered. Your humble author seeks the support of esteemed gentlemen and great heroes in the form of monthly tickets and recommendation votes~~

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