Chapter 203: Chapter 202: Refining Demon Spirit Flame (Congratulations to the Silver Alliance!)_1
The ancient curse resonated through the air, as if a grandiose sacrificial ritual was underway, with the Ancestral Demon Tree as its primary subject!
Darkness swept in!
Fang Xi’s vision darkened, and in an instant the Purple Yunzhu Bracelet emitted a brilliant light as magic power was rapidly drained.
Crack!
Accompanied by the sound of something shattering, a surge of coolness pierced through Fang Xi’s mind, snapping him back to awareness.
He looked around in slight shock.
"Where is this...?"
Fang Xi extended his Divine Consciousness and beheld a flesh and blood hell!
Surrounding him were crimson blood walls, and the ground felt like a carpet of fungi, indescribable to the touch.
Zhang Mingding, Liu Ruyan, and Zhou Tong, the three great Martial Gods, were nowhere to be seen!
He looked at his wrist and found that the jade talisman, which was a defensive artifact for his Divine Consciousness, had already shattered into dust and dissipated in the wind.
It was this artifact, exhausted of its last trace of spiritual power, that had given Fang Xi the warning.
"Indeed, the Demon Realm of the Ancestral Demon Tree is no simple thing; having evolved... it now rivals an ordinary third-tier forbidden array..."
A third-tier forbidden Great Array possesses the power of spatial translocation.
Simply put, it had teleported Fang Xi and the others to different locations and spaces, facilitating their defeat one by one!
"This Ancestral Demon Tree is akin to a third-tier demonic beast... If it weren’t for its difficulty in moving and other restrictions, I wouldn’t dare to covet it..."
Fang Xi held the Green Barley Sword in his right hand, and in his left, the Vermilion Bird Ring talisman; he summoned a puppet and started to explore in one direction.
Boom!
Boom!
A gigantic golden-furred ape king tread on the fungal carpet, sinking its massive thighs into the ground with each step, as if trudging through a flesh and blood mud swamp.
Before long, a wall of flesh emerged at the end, blocking its path.
"Ao ao!"
The golden-furred ape roared, its hands grabbing a patch of yellow light which transformed into a gigantic rock, hurling at the flesh wall.
Crash!
The flesh wall easily split open, and then, like a dam bursting, a torrent of dark red blood gushed forth.
The crimson river submerged the golden-furred ape king, carrying potent corrosive properties.
Sizzle!
The ape’s exceedingly tough fur quickly dissolved, followed by muscle and bone...
"Ugh..."
Fang Xi clutched his forehead, feeling a headache threatening to split his skull.
The crimson river had come too fast; his Divine Consciousness hadn’t had time to withdraw, effectively losing one stream of consciousness.
Although he could re-cultivate it later, it was impossible at the moment.
"Puppetry is quite useful, but it’s a bit weak against formidable foes..."
"Battle Array and mobile arrays must be moved up the schedule!"
Fang Xi swore to himself, choosing another direction, he dispatched a second-tier puppet for exploration.
...
In the same flesh and blood space.
A Martial God from the Martial God Sect was bellowing, "Come out... Do you dare to fight?"
He revealed the robust and towering body of a Martial God True Body, with sharp nails on his giant hands; each swipe tore tremendous pits into the ground.
"Coward..."
This Martial God was named ’Shi Xie,’ who once was a nefarious sect Grandmaster, who upon hearing of the advent of Martial Gods, betrayed his own sect, killed his masters, brothers, and sisters... and joined the Martial God Sect alone, earning merits quickly and trading them for a great pill that propelled his breakthrough.
At the moment, Shi Xie’s eyes were tinged with a reddish hue, as he manipulated his Martial God form to dig through flesh, nonchalantly allowing the blood that flowed to submerge his legs...
"Haha... Kill... The path of the Martial God is paved with nothing but slaughter!"
Shi Xie’s eyes grew increasingly terrifying and frenzied.
But in the next moment, he was shocked to find himself immobilized.
He looked down at his legs, only to see countless tendrils, like the roots of an old tree, that had unknowingly sprouted from his feet and burrowed deep into the bloody ground.
Even the roots were climbing up his thighs, chest, and arms...
"Secret Skill·Victory of Heavenly Yin Over Evil!"
His eyes grew dark, ready to explode with vitality, but he found his arms had stiffened, and a look of terror appeared on his face.
In front of Shi Xie, an apparition had appeared at some point – the nightmare in his heart, his little junior sister.
"Brother..."
The figure slowly materialized, showing a cute and lovely girl with tendrils of wood extending from her orifices...
"Aaah!"
Shi Xie screamed.
Only then did he realize that for some unknown time, he had been enveloped by an Ancient Tree, with nothing but his face barely visible through a hole in the tree...
...
"Without thought, without form, void of law and understanding..."
In another space, a bald-headed Martial God was sitting cross-legged, unperturbed by various Heart Demons and nightmares manifesting around him.
"Demons are but the crystallization of rules... In this place, one must not listen, not see, not think..."
This man was ’Monk Da Jue,’ a Grandmaster of the Zen sect who later joined the Martial God Sect and became a Martial God.
His Zen cultivation had reached the state where his mind did not stir, even if wind swayed the flags!
No matter the nightmares that appeared, even as tendrils climbed onto his knees, he remained with hands together, maintaining his chanting posture.
Gradually, his body merged into the blood and fungi carpet and slowly disappeared from sight...
"Good, it has finally come out."
In the dim sky, Monk Da Jue opened his eyes, his meditative heart still without the slightest ripple, "Demons are indeed more fierce and dangerous than Demonic Beasts, I hope the sect leader is safe and sound..."
"Martial God of Martial God Sect, retreat immediately!"
Just then, a sharp command emerged. Monk Da Jue looked over to see the sect leader standing on a Flying Sword. Amidst the flashing blue light, the sky was split open by a colossal crack, revealing the sunlight from the outside world.
"Following the decree!"
He put his palms together, manifested his golden body, and with a flap of his wings, he immediately flew out of the crevice to see the sun outside.
But why did the sunlight carry hints of crimson?
"No... no good..."
All of a sudden, Monk Da Jue’s eyes snapped open to find himself turned into... a tree?
"So it turns out... I never truly escaped my Heart Demon..."
A hint of a bitter smile appeared on his face, as if he was back to his days as a young novice monk, asking the old abbot, "Master, what is Brahman?"
"Brahman is sacred enlightenment, ’Brahman and I are one’ is the ultimate secret..." the old abbot replied with his palms together.
"Brahman and I are one, Brahman and I are the same... such is a dream indeed..."
Monk Da Jue had an epiphany and slowly closed his eyes.
...
"Assimilation?"
Fang Xi saw a Martial God in front of him.
For some unknown reason, this person had merged with an Ancient Tree, the fusion of flesh and plant carrying a strange harmony and perfection.
"Truly bizarre..."
"What a pity... however good the power of the Demon might be, I walk only the Immortal Path!"
He sneered coldly, infusing his Magic Power into the Green Barley Sword.
Clang!
The sword strike of the Green Barley Sword was like a dragon, drawing out a ten-zhang-long cyan-golden Sword Light with a single slash.
It was as if a rift had opened in the heavens and earth, and the ’Person Tree’ opposite Fang Xi was uniformly cleaved in half.
"It’s dangerous here; it seems I must use my trump card ahead of schedule."
Fang Xi was already prepared to use the "Earth-shaking Array"!
Even if the "Earth-shaking Array" failed, he could simply escape back to the South Wilderness, waiting for the Monster Tree to leave before returning.
He had already sensed that this bizarre Space seemed capable of inducing the Heart Demon in cultivators!
Luckily, Fang Xi possessed robust Magic Power, a solid foundation, and had previously used that protective amulet for his mind; he did not sink completely into various wild thoughts.
Just as he was about to take action, suddenly, the world around him darkened!
The ancient sacrificial chants once again echoed in his ears.
Fang Xi seemed to witness an ordinary sapling taking root, sprouting, and growing in the mountains... until it encountered its first flesh and blood...
The view shifted, and it was as if he arrived in an age of antiquity, observing a group of people in animal skins performing a bloody sacrifice to a tree cloaked in human skin...
The final image was that of the massive Ancestral Demon Tree.
On the vast trunk, countless scales twisted and writhed... as if forming a human face.
This ancient face shed two lines of blood tears; the lips moved as though wanting to say something...
But Fang Xi dared not listen any longer.
Chirp chirp!
In his palm, the "Vermilion Bird Ring" amulet ignited without wind and released a red-yellow ring.
From the ring, strands of red-yellow flames flew out like Vermilion Birds, scorching in all directions!
South Ming Suzaku Fire!
This Spiritual Flame was renowned in the Cultivation World as the "Refining Demon Spirit Flame," specializing in subduing all Demonic Beasts and Exotic Treasures!
Crackle!
In the Void, wisps of willow-fluff-like matter appeared and were incinerated by the South Ming Suzaku Fire, promptly turning to ash.
A flaming Vermilion Bird emerged from within the ring, spreading wings ablaze with roaring flames and diving towards the ancient tree and the human face!
Boom!
After a loud explosion, waves of heat swept across in all directions.
Fang Xi saw the walls of flesh around him rapidly shrink and recede, as if they had lives of their own.
And when he came back to his senses, he found himself still standing on the streets of the city ramparts.
Not far from him was the city gate they had just entered, everything that had happened seemed like an illusion!
"No... this was certainly not any illusion!"
Fang Xi looked at the wrist where the jade pendant had disappeared, the Purple Yunzhu Bracelet that protected him, and the greatly weakened Vermilion Bird Ring, feeling slightly startled.
"The South Ming Suzaku Fire truly lives up to its name as a Refining Demon Spirit Flame... a pity, after this, the power of this amulet has been greatly depleted; it can be used at most one more time."
He had no time to grieve over the amulet; he surveyed his surroundings.
He saw Zhou Tong, Liu Ruyan, and Zhang Mingding looking dazed, their bodies merging with ancient trees as if about to be devoured by roots sprouting from underground!
Moreover, those roots had penetrated through their flesh and merged with their veins; recklessly tearing them away would be lethal!
"Indeed... after we killed that three-headed demon, did we all fall into its trap?"
"If that’s what has befallen us, the fate of the other Martial Gods surely isn’t much better..."
Fang Xi pondered for a moment and made his decision.
Behind him, the Monster Tree Tattoo began to squirm, bringing forth tendrils from his sleeve that landed on the three cultivators.
The two different types of roots began to entwine, fight, and devour each other...
Soon, the vines binding the three were cleared away, and even a grey, dusty seed was pulled from within each of their bodies.
In this battle, it was Fang Xi’s Monster Tree that emerged victorious.
After all, the Monster Tree on his body had been thoroughly refined, becoming part of him, and had absorbed a great deal of spiritual energy from the Cultivation World, achieving evolution.
Against a few offshoots, it was more than enough.