“You’re playing with your life here.”
Yan Zhen gulped nervously. Seeing that the Wind-Thunder Crystal Fire still refused to take the bait, he continued releasing the aura of the Great Crimson Heaven Flame. After a moment’s thought, he added the Gold-Silver Fire as well.
— Not only the Great Crimson Heaven Flame—even the hundredth-ranked Gold-Silver Fire could prance around freely in the Wind-Thunder Crystal Fire’s own domain. So, were you mad yet?
Sure enough, the Wind-Thunder Crystal Fire could no longer hold back. One by one, bolts of electric light in the form of tree branches probed out from the roiling thunderclouds. Soon after, a massive crystalline trunk emerged from the depths.
The anthropomorphized true form of the Wind-Thunder Crystal Fire—the Purple Crystal Wind Thunder Tree—had finally revealed itself.
This colossal tree of pure purple thunder was rooted amid the thunderclouds, its countless branches laden with fruit.
Those fruits were crystallizations of wind-thunder power, each one a terrifying energy core akin to a nuclear bomb. It was from these that the flame earned its name, “Wind-Thunder Crystal Fire”!
Staring at the enormous tree before him and sensing the Supreme aura radiating from it, Yan Zhen’s scalp prickled. Electric arcs made his hair stand on end, and even his body began to feel numb.
This was the monster that even the Thunder Supreme had failed to subdue.
However, now that its true body had appeared, it was time to make his move.
“Activate the array!”
Yan Zhen immediately hurled out the remaining array flags, expanding the range of the Thunder Avoidance Array until it fully encompassed the Purple Crystal Wind Thunder Tree.
As the array formation hummed to life, the Supreme-level pressure it exerted plummeted in an instant, dropping to the level of an ordinary Mystic Venerable.
Even a Mystic Venerable was far beyond what Yan Zhen could handle at present. Spatial power amounted to complete dimensional suppression against anyone below that realm.
Yan Zhen had no intention of clashing with it head-on.
Wondrous heavenly treasures like Extreme Flames possessed intelligence, but it was never particularly advanced unless they had undergone some extraordinary stroke of fortune. Their spiritual aspect was thus a glaring weakness—one that made subjugation and refinement possible.
Exceptions like the Evil Spirit Dragon Breath Flame and Jade Firmament Purple Dome Flame aside, since those were Extreme Flames inherently tied to the divine soul.
The Wind-Thunder Crystal Fire clearly did not qualify.
It was the very epitome of violent Extreme Flames, capable of drawing wind and thunder from the world itself to condense into wind-thunder bombs.
A single wind-thunder crystal dangling from its branches could obliterate half the Inner Academy if casually tossed. A handful would reduce the entire Holy Land Academy to rubble.
Yet precisely because of this brute force reliance, its mental defenses were exceptionally frail. Once that outer layer of wind-thunder shielding was breached, its combat prowess would plummet.
Yan Zhen promptly withdrew the Great Crimson Heaven Flame and Gold-Silver Fire. Channeling the full might of the Evil Spirit Dragon Breath Flame, he seized the moment before the Purple Crystal Wind Thunder Tree could react and unleashed the Heavenly Dragon Eight Sounds Technique.
— Evil Dragon’s Roar!
An eerie draconic roar reverberated through the cloud sea, drowning out even the clamor of wind and thunder. The tree’s writhing branches froze stiff, only to unleash a booming thunderclap like a wail of agony.
A standard Heavenly Dragon Eight Sounds Technique lacked such potency. What truly terrified the Purple Crystal Wind Thunder Tree was the baleful pressure of the Evil Spirit Dragon Breath Flame.
The roar barely ended before Yan Zhen activated the Star Shifting Fire Seal without hesitation, vanishing into the Fire Refining Starry Sky.
As expected, the wounded Purple Crystal Wind Thunder Tree retaliated by hurling several wind-thunder crystals in one explosive breath. Cataclysmic blasts ripped through the area, shaking the entire Thunder Pool Secret Realm.
Vast swaths of dark clouds over the Thunder Pool were annihilated into nothingness by the wind-thunder crystals. Fine cracks spiderwebbed across the secret realm’s spatial barriers, and the leaking purple lightning erupted into dazzling bolts beyond the Firmament Nine-Story Tower.
The Family Head Yu Lu, Dean Yu Qing, and Shui Bailan clenched their fists tight, craning their necks to watch the chaos unfolding overhead, their hearts lodged in their throats.
Even from the distant Yan Huang Tower, the women gathered on the rooftop stared in stunned silence at the thunder-wracked horizon, silently praying for Yan Zhen’s success.
Deep within the tower itself, Elder Yu Yan felt the structure shudder. Then came mystic power fluctuations churning endlessly above her head—potent enough to set her heart racing. The perpetual smile faded from her face, replaced by grave concern.
“Little Yan Zhen…”
It was quite some time before Yan Zhen emerged from the Fire Refining Starry Sky. Evil Spirit Dragon Breath Flame coiled around his entire body, but even that defense had been pierced by the lingering wind-thunder power. Agonizing pain bored into his bones, tempting him to turtle away inside once more. But he couldn’t—the rhythm of his assault must not falter.
Fortunately, the healing jade pendant from his mother-in-law activated. A soothing coolness flooded his body, swiftly mending the damage.
Seizing the interval while the Purple Crystal Wind Thunder Tree remained dazed from its soul wound after that desperate counterattack, Yan Zhen unleashed the Heavenly Dragon Eight Sounds Technique once more. The Evil Dragon’s roar shook heaven and earth.
The Purple Crystal Wind Thunder Tree wailed anew and reflexively flung several more wind-thunder crystals in self-defense. But Yan Zhen had already retreated into the Fire Refining Starry Sky.
The tree’s power was enough to shatter the secret realm’s spatial barriers, true enough. Yet the Fire Refining Starry Sky was a sacred relic left by the Ancient Seven Saints—a bane to Extreme Flames by its very nature. Destroying it would demand at least one of the top three Extreme Flames. The Wind-Thunder Crystal Fire fell short.
Five times in succession, and Yan Zhen had finally exhausted the Purple Crystal Wind Thunder Tree’s stock of wind-thunder crystals, stripping it bare.
In its current befuddled state, it could not condense fresh ones anytime soon.
Yan Zhen shook his head to clear it.
Five full-power roars in a row had worn him down badly, but he was human. Beyond spiritual power, he possessed sheer willpower!
He shoved a fistful of pills into his mouth, partially restoring his spiritual power. Now he simply needed to maintain a steady stream of Evil Spirit Dragon Breath Flame to torment the tree relentlessly while evading any lethal counters.
The moment it buckled, he could invoke the Fire Refining Starry Sky to claim it.
Yan Zhen unleashed dragon-shaped gray flames, directing them to assail the Purple Crystal Wind Thunder Tree on their own. The tree reacted with fury—the Evil Spirit Dragon Breath Flame utterly countered it, and ranked far higher besides. It lashed out wildly with purple lightning branches, scattering the flames.
Yet for every flame dispersed, another surged forth, as if endless.
In truth, many were mere illusions, but the Wind-Thunder Crystal Fire could no longer tell the difference.
Purple lightning blanketed the sky. Yan Zhen dared not grow careless, sustaining his dragon-shaped gray flames while dodging the onslaughts. A single direct hit would end him.
Now it came down to who could endure longer.
Bang!
A bolt of purple lightning crashed down beside Yan Zhen’s feet. Though it merely grazed him, his leg went instantly numb, throwing off his Starry Sky Dance. He tumbled away in a flailing sprawl.
Before he could scramble to his feet, another bolt arced toward him.
— Damn it!
Yan Zhen clenched his left fist, ready to summon the duel disk and burn a special trump card to survive the crisis. But suddenly, a shimmering water curtain rose before him, attempting to divert the lightning.
The water curtain offered only Mystic Ancestor-level protection—woefully inadequate against Mystic Venerable-grade purple lightning.
In the blink of an eye, it shattered with a bang, and the full bolt slammed into the figure who had interposed herself between Yan Zhen and doom.
“Ah!”
A heartrending cry of pain accompanied her fall. Purple arcs writhed across her body as she staggered back toward Yan Zhen, somehow managing to stay on her feet.
Yan Zhen peered closely. Who else could it be but Elder Yu Yan, returned once more?
“Big Aunt?!” Yan Zhen jolted in alarm, scrambling upright. “Are you all right?”
Elder Yu Yan circulated her mystic power to disperse the electricity coiling through her body as she replied.
“I’m fine. And you, Little Yan Zhen?”
“I-I’m okay—wait, no, Big Aunt! Why did you come back? It’s too dangerous here! You have to leave!”
