With a screech, the small figure of Gu Xiye was violently thrown backward by the impact of the strange beast. His cloud-boots gouged two trenches nearly a foot deep into the floor of the water-chewed abyss.

"Yaa-yaa-yaah!" Gu Xiechen roared in fury. The Taiyin Xuan Yan burst forth from his body without reservation. The heartbeat of the Hanyuan Dao Embryo instantly accelerated to three thousand beats per minute, the rapid pulse sounding like a colossal bell tolling, emitting a deep thump-thump echo. At this moment, the cave was a cacophony of whistling fireballs, the scraping sound of Gu Xiechen's feet against the ground, Gu Xiechen's angry shouts, and the beast's long howls, drowning out the strange sound emanating from the core of Gu Xiechen’s heart.

A torrent of extreme cold energy erupted from the Hanyuan Dao Embryo, and Gu Xiechen's palms became encased in a foot-thick layer of Taiyin Xuan Yan. This dense, dark flame tightly wrapped around the fireball condensed from the essence of the Innate Bing Fire, frantically stripping and devouring its immense power.

The Innate Bing Fire, after all, still belonged to the category of the Innate Five Elements, existing within that cycle. However, the Taiyin Xuan Yan was the first ray of pure Yin energy in the cosmos, the most fundamental Qi of Yin and Yang, its quality vastly superior to the Innate Five Elements. Using one of the fundamental forces of Innate Yin-Yang Qi to forcibly consume the energy of the Innate Five Elements was akin to using a blade forged from specialized alloy steel to carve a kitchen knife made of tinplate; though thousands of sparks flew, the kitchen knife stood no chance against the alloy.

A deep, simmering sound erupted from Gu Xiechen’s palms as huge, pure energy surged into his body. The five-colored streams of Qi blasting from his internal organs instantly thickened to the width of over thirty strands of hair combined. Concealed beneath his Daoist robe, the area between Gu Xiechen’s chest and abdomen glowed fiercely with five-colored light. Visible plumes of five-colored, ethereal mist shot straight up from his abdomen toward the crown of his head, causing his face, especially the area between his brows, to flicker with an unusual, mystical sheen.

With the massive energy support from the Taiyin Xuan Yan within the Hanyuan Dao Embryo, Gu Xiechen consumed the enormous fireball completely in less than three seconds. The five energies circulated ceaselessly throughout his body, and the acuity of his five senses soared. His hearing, sight, touch, taste, and smell instantly elevated to an unbelievable degree. The slight tremor of a single hair on his body allowed him to detect the invisible energy fluctuations emitted in terror by the two deep-blue crystal beings.

"Hahahaha!" Gu Xiechen burst into wild laughter. He squeezed the last vestiges of fire residue in his palms into dust and lunged toward the monstrous beast with a clenched fist.

The gigantic beast stared blankly at Gu Xiechen, seemingly unable to comprehend that the very essence of the Innate Flame it had spewed had been absorbed by this small human. Waves of powerful divine consciousness constantly shot out from the beast's brow, frantically sweeping over and probing Gu Xiechen's entire form, causing the green light radiating from his Daoist robe and cloak to tremble erratically. The enraged and bewildered beast roared at the sky. This small figure rushing toward it possessed an aura that didn't seem overwhelming; it hadn't even formed a Golden Core in its Dantian, so how could it withstand the Innate Flame?

Dong! Under the shocked gazes of Peng Hua and the others, Gu Xiechen's punch slammed heavily onto the beast’s forehead. Filled with the enormous energy erupting from his Hanyuan Dao Embryo, this full-force punch instantly generated an impact force reaching ten thousand tons.

A massive spray of fire sparks erupted from the beast's brow. Thumb-sized embers rained down, scattering for dozens of miles. When these sparks struck the surrounding crystal pillars, they shattered, exploding into a fiery deluge that rained everywhere. The blinding firelight reflected off the surrounding opalescent crystals, creating a fierce, dazzling spectrum of colors.

The beast cried out in agony, its upper body thrown backward and upward by Gu Xiechen’s punch. It shook its head, roared furiously, and opened its massive maw to swallow Gu Xiechen whole.

Gu Xiechen, enveloped by a foot-high aura of Taiyin Xuan Yan, instinctively prepared to evade. However, the Hanyuan Dao Embryo vibrated violently several times, halting his nearly instinctual attempt to dodge. In the flicker of time that passed, five streaks of purple light shot out around Gu Xiechen. Xin Jia and the other four brothers roared as they stepped out from the purple light, quickly deploying the Five Elements Transcendence Grand Array beside Gu Xiechen.

The beast’s body suddenly inflated to a hundred zhang in length, swallowing all six of them in one gulp. It then huffed out two plumes of flame and scrambled backward, leaping into the lava lake beside it. With a deafening boom, the molten lava in the lake spurted hundreds of meters high. The beast writhed its body in satisfaction and sank down into the immeasurably deep bottom of the lake.

It was only as the beast leaped that Peng Hua and the young Daoist Zhang noticed a golden chain, thick as a water bucket, fastened around the beast’s neck. This chain was covered in countless tiny runes, each the size of a soybean. Every rune shimmered with an alluring purple halo, and a suffocating aura of sealing power erupted from the chain, forcing the onlookers to stumble back several hundred paces.

"It’s over! My junior brother has been swallowed by the Innate Crimson Flame Qilin! He’s dead for sure!" Peng Hua stared blankly at the lava lake where the beast disappeared and wailed as if bereaved.

"Heavens! An Innate Crimson Flame Qilin! If those old fossils knew such an Innate Divine Creature existed inside Pluto, they would have rushed over long ago. They would destroy Pluto with nuclear bombs if necessary just to subdue this treasure!" The young Daoist Zhang cried out. "This creature was sealed here. Heavens, if not for that chain!"

The disciples of the Dao Alliance exchanged pale, ashen looks. The Innate Crimson Flame Qilin was a creature of legend; some smaller Dao Alliance sects didn't even know of its existence.

A mature Innate Crimson Flame Qilin possessed cultivation at least equivalent to the legendary Immortals. This Qilin still appeared solid, not yet transformed into the divine entity that disperses into Qi and coalesces into form as described in legends, but it certainly held the cultivation of the Void Return stage.

Without the chain sealing its power and restricting its range of movement, if a Void Return stage Innate Crimson Flame Qilin were unleashed in a full rage, not a single person present would survive.

The entire Asian Dao Alliance currently possessed no at the Void Return stage. Peak Transformation of Spirit was the highest level attained by the Grandmasters of the Asian Dao Alliance!

Peng Hua dropped to one knee, making the sign of the cross devoutly over his chest. "May God protect you, my junior brother! You are utterly annihilated this time. Alas, you won't even leave a corpse to become a zombie. Wuwu, I hope you can leave behind a trace of your soul for reincarnation. In eighteen years, you'll be a fine young man again, and your senior brother will be there to escort you to the mountain."

After shaking his head and sighing for a long time, two trails of bloody tears streaked down Peng Hua's face. He wept bitterly, saying, "Junior brother, you were a good fellow. Why must you die so unjustly? Wuwu, to be eaten by an Innate Crimson Flame Qilin, not even leaving fertilizer behind. Wuwu, you should have at least fought thirty thousand rounds with hundreds of beautiful virgins until you died from exhaustion, that would have been more fitting!"

Monthly tickets, monthly tickets! During the double monthly ticket period, everyone please strive to smash those monthly tickets! (To be continued)

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