Chapter 437: Battle to Protect the Holy Flame
Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Every member of the Vermilion Bird Sect made their intentions known through their war cries, and their collective battle intent converged into a mysterious source of power which injected itself into the spell formation, thereby instantly raising the temperatures around them.
High Priestess Meng Zhi heaved a forlorn sigh before an icy cold facade settled over her face.
“Begin…”
Hundreds of snow maidens pounced toward the Holy Vermilion Flame at her command.
“Fight!” Great Elder Chen Xinran roared as all the elders unleashed their vast auras without reserve before circling around the Holy Vermilion Flame to face the snow maidens.
Among the tens of thousands of sect disciples, over two thousand Spirit Nurturing Stage disciples also flew toward the holy flame.
The rest that couldn’t fly all unleashed their power to strengthen the spell formation, transforming the Vermilion Bird Sect into a world of flames which kept the invading power of extreme frost at bay.
The Holy Vermilion Flame seemed to able to detect the perilous situation it was in, and it transformed into a white holy sword which lashed toward the hundreds of snow maidens in the distance.
A pristine, white sword projection cut through the murky grey s.p.a.ce around it with the power of pure yang, allowing it to tear through and melt everything in its wake.
All the snow maidens were quite alarmed by the sword projection hurtling toward them as they could sense that the energy imbued within that sword projection had already transcended beyond Return to Void Stage and was comparable to an attack from a Dao Integration Stage mighty figure!
Meng Zhi suddenly appeared at the forefront of the snow maiden army and pointed her staff at the imposing sword projection as a rainbow box around the size of a human hand appeared behind her before releasing seven-colored rainbow light.
Each of the seven streaks of light contained different types of power, but all seven of them contained the supreme power of Dao. The seven streaks of light converged on the white sword projection and completely absorbed the white sword projection like a sponge. The seven streaks of light seemed to have grown even more powerful after absorbing the sword projection and they transformed into seven different immortal spirits which charged toward the Holy Vermilion Flame all at once!
“They even brought the treasure left behind by the Ice Patriarch, the Divine Dao Box. The imperial jade seal and the Divine Dao Box, for both these holy land treasures to appear at the same time…” An expression of shock appeared on Elder Ji’s face as fear began to surface in his heart.
Chen Xinran remained silent as he materialized a flaming dragon over ten thousand feet in length behind him as he stationed himself in front of the holy flame.
He was at the forefront of all the elders, and he looked on with determination in his eyes at the oncoming snow maiden army.
The ma.s.sive flaming dragon opened its mouth to unleash a monstrous torrent of flames which swept toward the snow maidens with the power to set the entire sky alight.
All the remaining elders also unleashed fierce attacks at the oncoming snow maidens, and their flame spell techniques converged to form a sea of flames extending for several dozen kilometers before descending upon the snow maidens.
There were sixteen Holy Palace Leaders within the snow maiden army and all of them were Return to Void Stage mighty figure. They stood together to unleash their powerful spell techniques and didn’t show even a hint of fear as the monstrous sea of flames descended upon them.
The entire s.p.a.ce was transformed into a world of fire and ice, with monstrous flames burning on one side while boundless frost and ice reigned on the other side.
However, the seven immortal spirits completely disregarded the sea of flames and continued on toward the Holy Vermilion Flame.
These immortal spirits imbued with Dao Realm were the manifestations of the power of the Divine Dao Box. They were immune to all spell technique attacks and only Dao Integration Stage mighty figures could even land any attacks on them. All seven of the immortal spirits also possessed extremely fearsome sealing power. Under the control of Meng Zhi, the seven immortal spirits would even be able to seal a slightly weaker Dao Integration Stage mighty figure.
Chen Xinran attempted to initiate an attack against Meng Zhi, who was controlling the Divine Dao Box, but his efforts were thwarted by three Holy Palace Leaders who surrounded him to keep him at bay.
The other nine Return to Void Stage elders were also engaged in battle with the other thirteen Holy Palace Leaders, thereby preventing them from breaking through the enemy’s defensive line.
The rest of the Soul Formation Stage elders, as well as the core disciples, were battling over a hundred Soul Formation Stage snow maidens in an earth-shattering battle which transformed the sky into a deadly realm of fire and ice.
All the Spirit Nurturing Stage disciples which numbered in excess of two thousand split up into groups of ten with each group taking on one snow maiden.
However, no one was able to even touch the Dao Realm immortal spirits.
Any attacks which landed on the Dao Realm immortal spirits would instantly be reduced to nothingness by a mysterious force.
An Lin spread his Wings of Wind and slew a snow maiden with his Wind Sword before turning his gaze upon the Holy Vermilion Flame.
The area around the Holy Vermilion Flame had transformed into a battleground for all the Return to Void Stage mighty figures. Elder Zhu and Elder Ji were all in the mix, but even they were unable to obstruct the seven immortal spirits.
Xu Xiaolan was also engaged in a battle against a Soul Formation Intermediate Stage snow maiden nearby.
Her domain was extremely magnificent, and the s.p.a.ce in a radius of a hundred feet around her had been transformed into a lethal realm of lightning and fire with lightning dragons circling the perimeter of the domain as golden phoenixes spread their wings within the domain. The combined power of dragon and phoenix imbued her attacks with a great variety, and all of her attacks possessed fearsome might.
Even though her opponent was a Soul Formation Intermediate Stage snow maiden, Xu Xiaolan was still able to gain the upper hand.
However, she was also shooting glances at the Holy Vermilion Flame with concern on her face.
A flaming tiger suddenly appeared beside the Holy Vermilion Flame before unleas.h.i.+ng towering pillar of flames, isolating the Holy Vermilion Flame from all energy within a radius of a hundred feet.
“Fire spirit, in position.”
A turtle constructed from rock flew to the tiger’s side before transforming into a ma.s.sive mountain.
“Earth spirit, in position.”
A blue water dragon flew toward the holy flame before transforming into a towering pillar of water beside the tiger, isolating the holy flame from all energy within another radius of a hundred feet.
“Water spirit, in position.”
The dual power of water and fire unleashed an extremely powerful sealing force.
Everyone could sense that the Holy Vermilion Flame seemed to have dimmed significantly in the face of these immortal spirits.
Expressions of indignant rage appeared on all the disciples’ faces, and they let loose collective roars as they unleashed the power within their bodies in the hope of combating against the sealing force of the immortal spirits.
The battles taking place in the air became more and more intense as one snow maiden after another fell to the flames of the Vermilion Bird Sect cultivators. However, there were also many sect disciples who were completely frozen solid and robbed of their life force.
A white longsword suspended itself beside the water dragon and powerful sword intent rose into the sky above as if it were threatening to slice through the heavens.
“Metal spirit, in position.”
A green tree spirit descended amid a flash of vibrant green light before settling beside the huge mountain, where it released a pillar of green light. Rich life force emanated from the pillar of green light before expanding to encompa.s.s a radius of five kilometers, healing the injuries of many Vermilion Bird Sect disciples as well as the snow maidens in the process.
“Wood spirit, in position.”
As the five elements settled into position, an extremely ma.s.sive spell formation began to appear beneath the holy flame. Fearsome sealing power emanated from the spell formation, diminis.h.i.+ng all the flames between heaven and earth, and the Holy Vermilion Flame was significantly impacted as its glow diminished to less than half of its former glory.
A black disc began to appear directly above the holy flame before slowly opening to reveal a vast expanse of inky darkness which appeared as if it could swallow up everything in this world.
Chen Xinran’s heart sank when he saw the black disc. That was the ancient Dharma artifact, Flame-Gathering Disc! Apparently, this was a lost ancient Dharma artifact with the power to store all divine flames and seal the most powerful holy flames.
This was something that the Vermilion Bird Sect had been searching for for a very long time, who would have thought that the snow maidens had it all along…
With the combined powers of the Divine Dao Box and the Flame-Gathering Disc, the snow maidens did indeed have the resources to seal the holy flame away after which they could take it back to the Holy Glacial Lands…
A fierce expression of determination appeared on Chen Xinran’s face, and he crushed a red bead in his hand. Crimson flames instantly burst forth from his body, and his aura climbed at an alarming rate as he charged toward Meng Zhi with unstoppable force.
The three Holy Palace Leaders were all forced into retreat by the scorching crimson flames as shock appeared on their faces.
One of the Holy Palace Leaders even had an arm incinerated by the crimson flames and blue blood gushed forth, but the crimson flames continued to burn and erode her body with no signs of stopping.
Chen Xinran swept toward Meng Zhi with the crimson flames burning around his body before throwing a mighty fist at her.
A film of light appeared behind Meng Zhi; it was an ice mural of all the citizens of the Holy Glacial Lands kneeling and bowing in reverence and prayer.
She pointed her staff, and the boundless power of faith and reverence burst forth before transforming into an aura of extreme frost which froze everything in its path including Chen Xinran.
Chen Xinran’s momentum was stopped cold as an expression of indignant rage appeared on his face. Meng Zhi met his enraged gaze with an expressionless one as she spoke coldly, “Lightning spirit, in position.”
A lightning bird unleashed a pillar of lightning into the air beside the white longsword.
Six of the seven immortal spirits were in position, and all the sect disciples were filled with grief and indignation, but they could do nothing to reverse the situation.
Even the elders were all struck by a sense of grief and helplessness.
However, right at this moment, the pillar of lightning suddenly changed direction as it flashed past Chen Xinran and broke through the domain of extreme frost around him before striking Meng Zhi.
The pillar of lightning left a trail of destruction in its wake before knocking Meng Zhi back a full ten thousand feet.
Heaven and earth suddenly fell completely silent as everyone stared up at Meng Zhi in awe.
All the snow maidens, as well as the Vermilion Bird Sect’s elders and disciples, all had their eyes on the High Priestess Snow G.o.d, Meng Zhi.
Meng Zhi’s white robe was slightly charred and tattered, revealing her fair skin underneath. There were also charred patches on her skin, thereby indicating that she didn’t endure that pillar of lightning completely unscathed.
Her silver hair danced in the wind as she turned her golden eyes upon the lightning spirit with confusion in her eyes.
The lightning bird blinked as it rubbed its head with one of its wings in a show of bewilderment.