The aura of a Ninth-Order Holy Medicine gradually spread through the sea, one mile at a time—ten miles, twenty miles, fifty miles, a hundred miles. Sea beasts in the area caught the scent and scrambled over each other to gather, triggering a massive undersea beast tide.
Low-tier sea beasts were snapped up casually by higher-tier ones. Some of the higher-tier beasts circled endlessly around Coral Mountain, yearning to touch that branch but too afraid to try.
The closest was a massive tiger shark, with a huge head, enormous nostrils, and cat-like ears. Spikes protruded from its back, and its body was patterned like tiger stripes. By nature, it was ferociously savage, and its power seemed comparable to that of a Mystic Lord powerhouse.
The tiger shark intimidated the other sea beasts, keeping them away from the branch, then opened its massive jaws to chomp down. Suddenly, an overwhelmingly powerful pressure descended. The tiger shark’s body went rigid, then burst into a cloud of blood mist.
The other sea beasts shook in terror. Before they could flee, they too exploded one by one into blood mist—more precisely, crushed by the crushing water pressure.
Amid the murky bloodied water, the outline of a colossal fish emerged, as vast as a battleship. Sea-blue flames burned atop its head, along its spine, and at its tail, while the rest of its body resembled the ocean surface itself: a translucent blue.
It was the Azure Sea Tide Birth Fire, which had already manifested a spirit form.
The blue big fish snapped up the drifting branch in its mouth but didn’t chew. Instead, it swallowed the branch straight into its belly.
Inside its body, a flame shaped like a crashing wave burned fiercely.
The branch slowly retracted, but the blue big fish clung on with its jaws, getting dragged into Coral Mountain and then gradually engulfed within.
Though it had taken spiritual form, it clearly wasn’t very intelligent. Faced with something that could help it evolve, it just bit down hard, completely unaware it had been tricked.
Yan Zhen and Yu Shizun, standing beneath the tree, watched as the Mirage Tree withdrew its branch. From the distant sky, it dragged along a massive blue big fish, barreling toward them like a battleship slicing through a sea of clouds.
Even out of the water, the blue big fish swam freely through the air, wagging its flaming tail. It refused to let go of the Mirage Tree’s branch and seemed eager to devour more.
Dense mirage mist erupted in the blue big fish’s mouth, attempting to seize control of its mind. But its enormous body served as a shield in itself—the mist couldn’t touch its flame core and had no effect whatsoever.
The Mirage Tree Spirit reappeared and spoke to Yan Zhen.
“I’ve done all I can. The rest is up to you two. Just make sure you don’t destroy Thousand Illusions Grotto-Heaven, or our previous agreement will be void.”
“Don’t worry, Senior Mirage Tree. We’ve got this,” Yan Zhen replied. He turned to Yu Shizun. “Yu Shizun, let’s move according to plan.”
Yu Shizun of Mystic Heaven Continent and Shui Tiannü of Divine Martial Continent were both avatars split off by Luoshen of the Main World when she cultivated One Qi Transforms Three Purities.
Luoshen presided over the Main World’s greatest river, the Luo Water Heavenly River. As such, both Yu Shizun and Shui Tiannü possessed unparalleled Water Control Talent.
The blue big fish’s massive body was actually refined mystic water that the Azure Sea Tide Birth Fire had purified and tempered. It served as the fish’s shield but also bound it in place.
Yu Shizun might be a step below the Azure Sea Tide Birth Fire in raw power, but her Water Control Talent matched it evenly. Combined with her natal Mystic Artifact, the Sea Dragon Pearl, she could disrupt the blue big fish’s movements.
It was like grabbing the steering wheel while someone else was driving.
That would give Yan Zhen the opening to deploy the Rootless Earth Spirit Fire, petrifying and condensing the Azure Sea Tide Birth Fire before drawing it into the Fire Refining Starry Sky.
The Rootless Earth Spirit Fire was a perfect counter to the Azure Sea Tide Birth Fire.
For one, their rankings: Rootless Earth Spirit Fire placed tenth on the Extreme Flame List, just ahead of Azure Sea Tide Birth Fire at eleventh. Though only one spot apart, Rootless Earth Spirit Fire was Ninth-Order Saint Realm, while Azure Sea Tide Birth Fire was merely Half-Saint Realm.
Second, their natures: Rootless Earth Spirit Fire would muddy the Azure Sea Tide Birth Fire, throwing it into chaos and making it lose command over the surrounding water. Once too much mixed in and the earth’s attributes overwhelmed the water’s, the Azure Sea Tide Birth Fire would be immobilized.
Against other Half-Saint level Extreme Flames, Yan Zhen wouldn’t dare boast of suppressing them so easily. But the Azure Sea Tide Birth Fire? Piece of cake.
A smile tugged at Yan Zhen’s lips. He leaped into the air, breaking free of the mirage mist’s shroud, and appeared high overhead. He summoned the Great Extreme Tyrant Sword, wrapped it in flickering flames of Rootless Earth Spirit Fire, then slashed out two bolts of Flame Sword Qi toward the distant blue big fish.
The blue big fish had been happily gnawing on its tasty Mirage Tree branch when the two sword qi slammed into it with resounding booms. At first, it didn’t care much, but then it took notice—and panicked.
That was the aura of Rootless Earth Spirit Fire!
Though the sword qi hadn’t harmed it at all, the blue big fish could sense that traces of the Rootless Earth Spirit Fire’s flames had seeped into its body.
It was tainted.
The blue big fish—or rather, the Azure Sea Tide Birth Fire—freaked out. Its tail lashed wildly, unleashing a towering wave that crashed ferociously toward Yan Zhen.
Yan Zhen immediately activated the Black-White Boundary’s severing power, splitting the giant wave in two so it surged past him on either side.
Out of the sea, the Azure Sea Tide Birth Fire’s strength was greatly diminished. If they’d been in the ocean, that casual swipe would have produced a wave twice as large.
Yan Zhen kept his distance from the blue big fish, opting for ranged attacks. He continuously hurled sword qi like javelins.
Away from the sea, its speed couldn’t match Yan Zhen’s Starry Sky Dance. It couldn’t dodge at all and had to take the hits head-on. Bit by bit, the Rootless Earth Spirit Fire’s flames seeped deeper inside.
Finally, the blue big fish flew into a rage. With a thunderous roar, it unleashed boundless waves, transforming the sky into an ocean.
It resembled a domain, yet wasn’t quite one—just the mystic water stored within the blue big fish’s body.
Visibly, after manifesting this sea domain, its body shrank from battleship size down to something more like a small boat.
The waves churned violently, the water attribute so dense it bordered on suffocating.
Yan Zhen felt immense pressure bearing down. The Extreme Flame Mystic Power cloaking his body flickered as if about to extinguish, his speed slowed, and his limbs grew leaden and weak. He shouted at once,
“Yu Shizun, you’re up!”
The lurking Yu Shizun finally struck. The Sea Dragon Pearl hovering above her head shot forth, beginning to absorb the mystic water. Gradually, it transformed into a supreme sea dragon spanning thousands of feet.
The sea domain visibly contracted.
The blue big fish—now not quite so big—stared in shock. This was mystic water it had painstakingly refined, and now it was someone else’s in an instant. Worse, the sea dragon formed from its own mystic water turned and attacked it without hesitation.
What terrified the blue-not-so-big-fish even more was that the human youth who’d been hurling javelins at it suddenly erupted with surging yellowish-brown flames, manifesting as massive mountains that plummeted down.
Its nemesis: Rootless Earth Spirit Fire.
Seeing this, the Azure Sea Tide Birth Fire ignored the Mirage Tree entirely and bolted for it.
Unfortunately, inside the grotto-heaven, tearing open space to escape was impossible. Only a Mystic Saint powerhouse could open a space portal within a cave heaven.
…
Six full hours later, the blue big fish had shriveled to the size of a palm, its surface fully petrified. It hung motionless in the air.
