Two Heavenly Fire clones, their flames surging and intensely hot, instantly transformed the space before him and Shang Bingjie into a hellscape akin to molten lava.

This place was the bottom of a dormant volcano; the surrounding rock walls were formed from ancient magma frozen solid under extreme cold. All the flammable fire energy trapped within the magma had been sealed away by the power of intense frost, thus creating the rock face.

However, as Ji Changkong manifested his two Heavenly Fire clones, under the scorching burn of their extreme heat, the layer of crust solidified on the surface of those rock walls began to rapidly melt away.

The rock walls beside him and Shang Bingjie, baked by the fire energy of the Heavenly Fire clones, started to glow like red-hot branding irons, glowing crimson, with intense heat gradually intensifying.

The strange creatures, refined from the bones of both Vipers and Sin Dragons, were incinerated before they could even approach. Under the power of the Heavenly Fire clones, they instantly turned a vivid scarlet. A few wisps of Heavenly Fire drifted out, enveloping these bizarre entities, whereupon the once ferocious and violent creatures immediately dissolved into wisps of light smoke.

Hiss!

Under the burning of the Heavenly Fire, the attached Viper souls on these strange creatures instantly turned to ash. The Bone Essence originating from the Sin Dragon within transformed into black dross, becoming thick smoke before being completely incinerated.

Heavenly Fire possesses the power to burn souls. Even Dick of the Dark Star race, who could utilize Star Essence to ward off physical attacks, could not withstand the burning of Heavenly Fire; how much less these creatures that were merely adulterated with Sin Dragon Bone Essence mixed with Viper souls?

Dozens of these peculiar beings were reduced to ash under the incineration of the Heavenly Fire; not a single one managed to approach him and Shang Bingjie. The two Heavenly Fire clones stood guard beside them, one on the left and one on the right, protecting them from the encroachment of those strange creatures.

The pair remained composed, appearing far more relaxed than others, even having the leisure to look around and assess the situation.

Not everyone was as fortunate as him. The Heavenly Talents from the Heavenly Snake Cult and the Joyous Union Valley could not summon the highly specialized Heavenly Fire like his. When those strange creatures surged towards them, the experts from both the Joyous Union Valley and the Heavenly Snake Cult appeared somewhat harried.

The experts from the Heavenly Snake Cult fared somewhat better. They specialized in poisons; the eyes conjured by their soul projections emitted a sinister, greenish toxic light. It was unclear what secret technique the Heavenly Snake Cult members employed, but the strange creatures surging toward them would quickly rot away, eventually dissolving into faint wisps of pale green smoke.

The Heavenly Talents of the Joyous Union Valley were not so lucky. When dealing with these bizarre creatures, the experts of the Joyous Union Valley seemed quite at a loss. Despite unleashing various Joyous Union soul skills, they could only force the strange creatures back; they found it difficult to blast them directly to death.

Inability to annihilate them led to endless trouble. Indeed, the four Celestial Vein Masters from the Abyss Sea Star Domain noticed that the Joyous Union Valley experts were their weak link and immediately gathered more of those strange creatures, causing them to surge toward the Joyous Union experts.

It seemed these Celestial Vein Masters from the Abyss Sea Star Domain were planning to eliminate the Joyous Union Valley experts first.

To them, any Heavenly Talent originating from the Solar Star Domain on the field was an enemy. The Joyous Union Valley posed an equally great threat, and eliminating enemies early was certainly preferable.

One by one, those strange creatures consequently rushed toward the experts of the Joyous Union Valley. As the numbers of these bizarre creatures grew, and the Joyous Union experts repeatedly failed to kill them, a Heavenly Talent from the Joyous Union Valley was finally entangled by the strange creatures. The soul phantom of that Heavenly Talent, having lost its defensive power, was devoured piece by piece by the strange creatures. In a very short time, the phantom projection of his soul vanished without a trace.

After devouring his body, the strange creatures swelled in size, then regurgitated streams of identical creatures, continuing to swarm toward the remaining Joyous Union Valley experts.

The body of one Heavenly Talent, after being consumed, actually caused the population of those creatures to increase by fifty or sixty immediately, putting the remaining Joyous Union Valley experts in an even more desperate situation.

The four Celestial Vein Masters dispersed. Three of them flew toward the experts of the Heavenly Snake Cult, while one, with a flash of soul divine light in his eyes, locked onto Ji Changkong and Shang Bingjie.

As for the Joyous Union Valley experts, in their view, they were likely to become food for those strange creatures and were no longer worth their attention.

"Boy, how do you know about the Sin Dragon?" The blue light wings gently fluttered as the Celestial Vein Master moved like a wraith, appearing before Ji Changkong and Shang Bingjie. He did not attack immediately, but rather took the time to question them.

"Does it concern you?" Ji Changkong smiled slightly, though his soul remained inwardly vigilant.

This Celestial Vein Master with the blue light wings possessed formidable mental strength, likely slightly superior to the leader of the Heavenly Snake Cult. He was a Celestial Vein Master, and in a true confrontation, the power of a Celestial Vein Master was often greater than that of ordinary individuals; Ji Changkong had to proceed with extreme caution.

"Your fire energy is fascinating. I will not kill you, but you must do me a favor." The man appeared completely unhurried, as if everything was already within his grasp.

As he spoke, more people were being killed by those strange creatures. Far away, under the relentless pursuit of the other three Celestial Vein Masters, a figure from the Heavenly Snake Cult was also eliminated. If the situation continued like this, the Heavenly Snake Cult and the Joyous Union Valley would be wiped out before long.

His soul consciousness spread out. Although he and Shang Bingjie were cornered in one area, they had a perfect grasp of the situation on the field.

Seeing that the Heavenly Snake Cult and the Joyous Union Valley were becoming increasingly overwhelmed, Ji Changkong finally stopped hesitating.

One Heavenly Fire clone flew away from his side. Under the path cleared by the surging power of the raging flames, many of those strange creatures fled in terror.

Ji Changkong's Heavenly Fire clone rapidly arrived at the gathering place of the Joyous Union Valley experts. "Hiss, hiss, hiss." The Heavenly Fire clone immediately split into six blooms of Heavenly Fire, each the size of a millstone, shimmering with flowing light and radiating intense heat.

The strange creatures surrounding those few Joyous Union Valley figures, under the burning influence of the six Heavenly Fires, began to emit piercing wails as smoke billowed from their bodies. Their forms were incinerated to ash by the Heavenly Fire, and the Viper souls attached to the Bone Essence were annihilated. Heavenly Fire possessed absolute destructive power against this type of strange creature. Vipers naturally favored cold and darkness, giving them an advantage deep within this dormant volcano, but they could never have imagined that someone's soul could condense Heavenly Fire capable of burning away all things cold and dark.

Therefore, under the power of Heavenly Fire, stream after stream of Vipers turned to ash.

The strange creatures surrounding the Joyous Union Valley members were reduced to cinders one after another in a short time. More of these bizarre creatures, although still gathered there, watching the Joyous Union experts with bated breath, dared not make any rash moves.

"Thank you! Thank you!" Zhou Hong of the Joyous Union Valley sent a wave of grateful soul fluctuation from a distance toward him.

Ran Hong had originally intended to use Ji Changkong and Shang Bingjie as cannon fodder to allow the Joyous Union Valley and the Heavenly Snake Cult a chance to break through the azure defensive circle condensed by the Celestial Vein Masters. However, fate was unpredictable. They did manage to break through the defense circle condensed by the Celestial Vein Masters, only to meet an even more tragic end.

"You are welcome."

Ji Changkong’s soul remained completely unmoved, responding calmly.

He had seen long ago that the defensive circle condensed by these Celestial Vein Masters was essentially a bizarre soul formation borrowing soul power. All the soul attacks unleashed by the Joyous Union Valley and the Heavenly Snake Cult merely served to strengthen the defense circle, ultimately causing the circle to separate into four pairs of blue light wings, which paradoxically augmented the power of the four Celestial Vein Masters.

Once the blue defensive circle was broken, the four pairs of blue light wings became an additional source of strength for the four Celestial Vein Masters. Utilizing the power of these light wings, they evolved those strange creatures that brought immense trouble to the Heavenly Snake Cult and the Joyous Union Valley.

The method of borrowing the opponent's offensive power to condense a soul formation was quite mystical; few factions in the Solar Star Domain could achieve it. However, Ji Changkong had learned some details about it from Dick. He had cautiously tested it before and confirmed his speculation.

But he had not informed the experts of the Heavenly Snake Cult and the Joyous Union Valley. He had initially believed that the combined strength of the Joyous Union Valley and the Heavenly Snake Cult would be superior to these Celestial Vein Masters from the Abyss Sea Star Domain, holding a notion of balancing the powers, which prevented him from offering a timely warning.

However, the situation had now spun beyond his expectations; these Celestial Vein Masters were too powerful, far stronger than he had imagined, and the Joyous Union Valley was incapable of destroying those strange creatures. If this trend continued, the experts of both sects would eventually be finished.

Once all the experts from the Heavenly Snake Cult and the Joyous Union Valley were eliminated, these Celestial Vein Masters from the Abyss Sea Star Domain would certainly not spare him and Shang Bingjie. After all, they were not from the same star domain; if the Celestial Vein Masters targeted them, they surely would not hesitate.

This was not the outcome he desired. Therefore, he intervened.

One Heavenly Fire clone transformed into six millstone-sized Heavenly Fires, directly incinerating the strange creatures besieging the Joyous Union Valley into dust. The other Heavenly Fire clone had remained beside Shang Bingjie, continuously baking the rock wall behind her to a blazing hot crimson.

"Teng!"

A dull, muffled sound suddenly emanated from the rock wall behind Shang Bingjie, and then the wall burst into flames.

As the flames erupted from the rock face, they seemed to ignite the entire dormant volcano. The surrounding rock walls immediately turned glowing red and fiery, and the bottom of the dormant volcano became completely saturated with high temperatures, which continued to climb rapidly.

At the bottom of the dormant volcano, those strange creatures refined from Viper and Sin Dragon Bone Essence feared high temperatures. As the heat inside the volcano gradually escalated, the strange creatures began to burn to death one by one, turning into ashes.

Crack, crack, crack!

From deep beneath the dormant volcano, a sound like turning gears suddenly echoed. A massive fissure abruptly appeared on the crimson floor of the volcano, and a black iron tombstone, dozens of feet high, gradually rose from the ground. The tombstone was covered with vivid, lifelike carvings depicting the violent and bloodthirsty nature of the Sin Dragon—masterpieces of divine craftsmanship.

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