Golden flames billowed across the heavens, enshrouding the skies as if igniting the world in that very instant. This was the Heaven-Scorching炎 of the Golden Emperor, ranked fourth among the Strange Flames, only surpassed by the mysterious Lotus Demon Flame. Though slightly less enigmatic than the Lotus Demon Flame, the Heaven-Scorching炎 had earned remarkable acclaim in ancient times. Moreover, as the sacred fire of the Gu Clan’s inheritance, few possessors could successfully subjugate such a powerful flame and control its infernal might. Therefore, Guli You Sheng (Bone幽 Master)’s heart felt an involuntary tremble upon recognizing its distinct energy manifestation.
“It’s truly the Heaven-Scorching炎 of the Golden Emperor,” from the distant sky, Xiao Yan sensed intensely that powerful wave of searing heat and thought, slightly surprised. Though he’d harbored such a suspicion long ago, Xiao Yan had never confirmed it definitively because Yun Yun demonstrated but seldom resorted so heavily to utilizing it fully before him until now.
“Undoubtedly belonging to the Gu Clan, they truly conceal this Strange Flame with clandestine lineage,” murmured Xiao Yan within, brimming slightly with yearning. Given such a prominent ranking among the Strange Flames, its potency was beyond question—the very force that made the Gu Clan’s ancestral legacies formidable throughout eras. Even considering Xiao Yan had integrated four types of Strange Flames into his fiery arsenal, the Golden Emperor’s Heaven-Scorching炎 held an unmatched and ferocious capability; after all, the earlier-ranked Strange Flames in the hierarchy commanded incomparable devastation: the legendary top three alone sufficed destruction that could sunder the very foundations of Earth and Sky—an act far from exaggerated. Tales of catastrophies triggered by their outbursts weren’t scarce among ancient scrolls—entire civilizations having been decimated upon encountering them.
Quickly centering his resolve as these contemplations stirred inside, Xiao Yan summoned forth four clusters of Strange Flames, merging them with great speed to weave turbulent ripples of explosive ruin into their aura—manifesting destruction of unfathomable magnitude across space itself.
“It has been claimed this Heaven-scorching炎 can engulf even spiritual energies within their infernos. Let’s see whether those tales hold weight!” With his voice raspy and firm, the Bone幽 Master summoned forth a gush of rolling mist from his skeletal cane that surged across the sky like thick shadows, engulfing half the visible heavens. Permeated with dreadfully chilly energy within these swirling vapors, despite scorching environments, their frigidity never faltered; quite the contrary. Manipulating it, bone spectral essence twisted into a gargantuan blackish skeleton that rose above the skies nearly kilometers tall and looming—a terrifying apparition wreathed thickly in shadow-mist that exuded an oppressive aura of death, making even nearby seasoned combatants feel the cold bite threatening to pierce one’s soul, submerging all present beneath waves of unnatural dread—an image of terror itself.
“The dark Skeleton King has emerged, fully unveiled without delay—clearly, even Bone You Elder approaches this famed Golden Fire with notable caution,” watching the immense skeletal silhouette rise across the horizon, Hun Yu murmured his deep thoughts outwardly. This spectral entity—though relatively rare among intermediate Celestial Grade techniques—functioned essentially by molding a user’s energy and atmospheric mana, forming colossal undead effigies—impervious to elemental affronts: flame, water, lightning—all unable to breach its bone-armor hide. Every inch radiated a malevolently freezing force—contact enough might leave one physically unblemished yet instantly subject their very essence to corrosive, icy ruin; undoubtedly a cruel entity at heart’s hand.
Thus at the might of a half-Saint-tier caster pushing its form’s limits to command that Skeleton further strengthened beyond mortal comprehension—capable of sending more-than-comparable half-sainted fighters reeling back in sheer hesitation before daring confrontation, such was the dreadfully infamous potency of such summoned behemoths—an opponent of immense tenacity to oppose in full.
“Perish!” At a single gesture from this baleful master’s cane, two ghastly emerald orbs surged from the skeletal eyeholes in a terrifying manner as it leape through the air with thunderous speed. Within only moments, its shadow loomed near Cai Lin with bone-palmed arm swiping through spatial rifts, crashing down viciously in her proximity with death-wielded force.
Responding swiftly against such an onslaught of lethal momentum and spectral force, she swiftly recoiled herself back, and amidst the retreat materializing an immense wheel-circle of golden炎 spanning some forty meters from herself— erupting outward to collide against the looming, frigidity-coated skeletal fist.
“Screech…”
The confrontation exploded in screeching shrieks as searing blaze met chilling abyss, resulting in waves of putrified vapor clouds erupting across the collision’s radius, expanding in roiling, chaotic masses.
“SHATTER!” At an arcane twist of the Bone幽 elder’s bony digits mid-air, the skeletal claw crushed into a fist with earth-rumbling strength. Amidst that concussive might, a single CRACK heralded the annihilation of Cai Lin’s golden炎 ring, instantly shattered before all fiery glow had faded to cinders alone. Counterplay quelled effortlessly, her elegant brows knit with tension—Half-Saint cultivators’ abilities far exceeded expectations; despite relying on the Golden Flame’s mighty blessing aiding in self-defensive feats, sheer confrontation would still leave her at risk for now…Fortunately, Cai Lin’s objective stood merely to delay her adversary, rather than defeat him outright.
“Golden Realm Inferno Formation—Ignite!!!”
Swift stepping backward into middistance while conjuring an enchantment seal with delicate hands that moved across arcane formations with increasing pace until her final cry shattered the tense winds. Then from the flame-wreathed skyline, dozens of flaming pylons erupted violently skywards to converge at the nexus, merging within a blazing vortex into one immense cylindrical structure—an inferno-column贯通天地 itself, engulfing the looming skeletal monstrosity in searing confinement, entrapping its presence inside.
*BAM!*
Roaring through its struggle to escape, the frigid specter’s fist slammed forcefully against its incinerated barriers unleashing explosive reverberations across all space. Though resilient flame-walls rippled violently under impact force, resisting fracture yet.
“Torch…Them,” With resolute precision, as chants left refined lips, the blazing lattice pulsed fiercely—radiating thousands of fiery tendrils across, all firing against the wall’s reflective facets, bouncing multiple refracted strikes against every skeletal joint of blackened terror in rapid succession—each impact growing even more violently radiant upon the mirrored amplification process as its temperature soared exponentially within the confined arena—caused ambient atmosphere in this fiery gaoler to combust wildly; golden烈火 flaring intensely into engulfing waves consuming every surface of skeletal frame.
“Truly a horrifically powerful flame…”
From afar and beholding the entirety of the enclosed fire-formation ablaze with golden烈焰 that swallowed every conceivable corner of its boundaries—observers’ faces shifted uneasily—secluded behind formation wards and still, they distinctly感知 its blazing inferno’s intensity. A likely truth: no less than a nine-cycle巅峰斗 尊-tier power could survive even within such infernos for a single whole minute unaided—such was the dread the legendary烈焰 known to devour even the essence itself of斗气—the famed Heaven-Scorching炎.
“RRROARRRRRR…”
Despite its desperate resistance within the fiery confines, the towering black-skeleton’s dark vapor aura gradually diminished from sustained exposure and even some skeletal framework began evaporating gradually into phantasmal wisp-like forms from sustained damage—an effect unavoidable unless fully nullified by an equally mighty force.
“This…is indeed the Golden Emperor’s烈焰,” The ancient Flame wielder, Guli You Master’s furrow deepened momentarily at his own entity’s evident struggle. Were Cai Lin devoid of mastery over this烈焰 heritage—no斗气 manipulation regardless of intricacy should have sufficed forcing his summoned Skeleton into retreating this swiftly, yet here he was.
“Strange Flames indeed possess unparalleled power in theory…But given merely your skillset, you still possess no way to fully manifest its pinnacle strength.
Legends say the炎’s first wielder burnt even spatial dimensions created by a斗圣 cultivator to total oblivion,” His bone-encrusted orbs shimmered strangely once more, the elder muttered darkly as his withered hands traced another eerie gesture into form. As his chant echoed in resonance…
“RRROARRRRRR…”
Responding to call as it began violently trembling, a tidal surge of ghostly vapors erupted violently from within—each swirl writhing with innumerable tormented souls forming within a nightmarish choir of screeching anguish.
*Blast…Boom…KABLOOM*
As spirits scattered across contact with烈焰 they ignited instantaneously into mass destruction—explosions of countless ethereal entities detonating within fiery confines simultaneously—sending shockwaves shattering even golden炎 columns apart momentarily with concussive might. Amidst the烈焰 dissolving into fragments from these sudden detonations, the skeleton form’s size abruptly diminished dramatically from kilometers long to a mere seventy-five meters or so in height—the condensed mass exuding an even denser and concentrated wave of death-chill aura in comparison against previous expansive state.
“HehHeHehAhahaha…”
The specter chuckled eerily, bony teeth clacking sinisterly as the rasping timbre of bone-armor mouth spoke, “Behold—I shall tear the flame-ward apart!”
At those words from within the dark form rising against the blaze—Cai Lin’s countenance shifted briefly; directing a brief glance over at his previous stand, only revealing an empty corporeal vestige, pale eyed as a vacant soul vessel alone remaining, utterly devoid of vitality—clear signal his essence had transferred wholly.
Without delay, the entity shifted in motion once—phantasmic form vanished from flame’s center instantly and rematerialized near outer edges of the inferno-field wall with bone-hand carving through烈焰 barrier’s surface effortlessly. The moment a rift tore open smoothly against it, the barrier weakened under pressure, left defense-vulnerable before final obliteration ensued.
*”Banggg!!!”*
In unison the infernal flame-field shuddered violently—before, to the watching multiverse, the entirety collapsed in an eruption of flames-turned-wild-explosion—an annihilation from within under malevolent force of necromancy’s touch.
“You could have possibly matched outcomes, given even attaining a Hal Saint stage yourself; but that was not to be,” with emerald deathlight aglow, the blackSkeleton stared towards her final silhouette with slow-dripped chilling proclamation that hung chillingly over all airwaves present.
Even hearing his taunts, the young Cai Lin merely lifted subtly lips in small satisfaction. Softly yet clearly stated, “Engage, not defeat—my assigned trial… has concluded,”—At which moment the silhouette of hers swiftly retreated back toward safety, vanishing in brief flash only to rematerialize behind Xiao Yan’s awaiting protective stance as he finalized preparations before him.
In Xiao Yan’s open palm, formed a delicate lotus bloom—an artistic masterpiece woven purely from combined fiery essences; gracefully spinning in place radiating ominous destruction force around itself so greatly warping all spatial structures nearby to twisting warble distortions.
Watching the fiery lotus manifest itself, the shadow-spectral Skeleton allowed its chilling, aged chuckling voice to drift through the now shattered air.
“Behold the child formed through union all Strange炎…I have seen time’s generosity toward your endeavor…Let’s test that reward…Let us all await…your final act!”
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