Chapter 166

The scene before me seemed to freeze.

Inside the light gate, the ancient altar stood silent and motionless, the cluster of indescribable-colored flame at its center burning without a sound, as if it had absorbed all surrounding light and heat, making the altar itself appear dim, leaving only the flame emitting a strange aura that made souls tremble, something between creation and ending—extinction, void, yet carrying a primordial, scorching majesty.

Around the altar, the top experts of Blaze-Scorching Valley sat cross-legged, maintaining a mysterious formation, attempting to establish contact with the central strange flame. Valley Master Yan Jin, his beard and hair all red, his face stern and solemn, opened his eyes at this moment, seeing Shiran holding seven-colored feathers and standing outside the light gate, his eyes first flashing with extreme surprise, then as if realizing something key, turning into a complex sudden understanding. Meanwhile, Grand Elder Chi Xuan was completely different—his eyes like molten lava erupted with almost uncontrollable greed and ecstasy, as if a starving ferocious beast had finally seen the prey it had long sought.

"Finally……you have come!" Chi Xuan's voice was hoarse, carrying a twisted excitement, breaking the frozen atmosphere.

Almost the instant his words fell, Chi Xuan moved! He did not rise, but struck from afar with a palm toward the light gate! A palm of fire, refined to the extreme, nearly condensed into dark crimson, appeared out of thin air, carrying the terrifying power to burn mountains and boil seas, directly piercing the light gate and grabbing toward Shiran's head! This palm was not only to seize the seven-colored feathers, but also to control Shiran herself, this "key," entirely!

"Impudent!" Ling Xiao had been prepared, and the instant Chi Xuan moved, he already stood in front of Shiran. He pointed with his fingers like swords, and a clear, pure sword qi, as if it could freeze souls, shot out, violently colliding with the dark crimson fire palm!

"Screech—Boom!"

The forces of extreme cold and extreme heat violently clashed, erupting in an astonishing energy storm. The ice sword qi continuously melted the fire, while the fire madly eroded the ice. The escaping energy impacted the light gate, causing the seven-colored light gate to violently tremble, ripples spreading. In the end, Ling Xiao's hasty response meant the ice sword qi, after a moment of stalemate, was completely evaporated by the fire palm, though the palm print, reduced by nearly half, still carried residual power as it came down.

But this time was already enough. Luo Changfeng's sword was at his side, a peerless sword light slashing out diagonally, precisely striking the side of the fire palm print, completely shattering it.

"Chi Xuan! What are you doing?!" Valley Master Yan Jin rose in fury, his body erupting in red flames, instantly connecting his aura with the other elders supporting him, forming a confrontation with Chi Xuan and his followers. Clearly, within Blaze-Scorching Valley, there was a great divergence on how to handle this central strange flame and the sudden intrusion of Shiran and others.

"What are you doing?" Chi Xuan let out a sinister laugh, then slowly rose to his feet, the several elders behind him simultaneously releasing their aura, opposing Yan Jin's side, "Valley Master, what are you still hesitating about? The 'Extinction Flame' has already manifested in the world, but the 'Chaotic Fire Seed' within it is extremely unstable, possibly erupting completely at any moment, turning this thousand-mile molten fire heart and even the entire Blaze-Scorching Valley into nothing! Only by relying on the 'Nirvana Feather' in this girl's hand and the extinction origin within her body can we stabilize the fire seed, guide and absorb it! This is the only chance to save the sect and let my Blaze-Scorching Valley regain its ancient glory!"

"Seizing by force, even harming the innocent—is this what you call regaining glory?" Yan Jin's voice and expression were stern, "Moreover, forcibly merging the power of the Extinction Flame and the Nirvana Feather, a slight mistake would mean eternal doom! You are gambling with the entire sect!"

"Those who achieve great things do not fuss over minor details! Yan Jin, you are too pedantic!" Chi Xuan roared sternly, "Miss this chance, and once the Extinction Flame fully erupts, everything will be too late! Attack! Capture that girl, seize the Nirvana Feather!"

Several elders of Chi Xuan's faction immediately rose in rebellion, various fire dao arts and treasures glowing with light, fiercely attacking Yan Jin's side, while also diverting a strong force straight toward Shiran and her group outside the light gate.

In an instant, war ignited inside and outside the altar!

Outside the light gate, space was relatively narrow. Two Nascent Soul early-stage elders from Chi Xuan's faction, leading several Golden Core peak disciples, broke through Yan Jin's side's struggling blockade and killed toward Ling Xiao's group.

"Protect Ruanruan well!" Ling Xiao lowly shouted to Luo Changfeng and Xiao Muyu, then his form flickered as he actively met the two Nascent Soul elders. He knew here he must fight quickly and decisively, otherwise once entangled, Shiran's condition would become extremely dangerous.

Only seen, Ling Xiao formed seals with both hands, his aura suddenly shifting, no longer the previous gentle warmth, but emanating a vast and majestic presence that surpassed all things. His fingertips traced the void, one after another complex ancient runes appearing out of thin air, drawing in the surrounding chaotic fire spirit qi, actually forcing it to separate and transform!

"Ice Prison, Seal the Boundary!"

As his cold voice fell, extreme cold air suddenly spread outward from him! The ground instantly covered in thick black ice, the free-floating fire spirits in the air wailing as they extinguished, even the surface of the flowing lava river condensing into a layer of dark red ice shell! The faces of the two charging Nascent Soul elders drastically changed, feeling their circulating fire spirit power instantly become extremely sluggish, as if sinking into an invisible mire, their speed plummeting!

This is Ling Xiao's true strength! Though suppressed by this environment, he could still forcibly alter local celestial phenomena!

Luo Changfeng and Xiao Muyu felt their pressure ease. Luo Changfeng waved his long sword, sword light splitting into thousands, blocking all those Golden Core disciples. His sword intent in this ice prison environment gained several points of icy sharpness, each sword pointing directly at vital points, forcing those disciples into flustered panic. Xiao Muyu then fully focused on protecting Shiran beside her, her wood spirit qi forming layer upon layer of light shields, blocking the occasional leaked attack remnants.

And Shiran, at this moment, fell into an unprecedented internal and external dilemma.

When Chi Xuan pointed out that the central strange flame was named "Extinction Flame," and the seven-colored feather was "Nirvana Feather," her sea of consciousness was immediately stirred by a tremendous wave. The names of these two forces, as if carrying some kind of fateful pull, generated violent resonance and conflict with her internal extinction origin!

The aura emitted by the central "Extinction Flame" was, for her, both ultimate temptation and deadly poison. It was the most primordial, purest flame-extinction power; if she could absorb even a trace, perhaps she could achieve a new level of control over her own extinction origin, even resolve the magic hidden danger. But that power was too vast, too violent, for her current state, approaching it might lead to her being assimilated and annihilated!

And the "Nirvana Feather" in her hand emitted warm, auspicious purifying power, attempting to soothe her internal agitation, resisting the erosion of the external Extinction Flame. But this power was fundamentally opposed to her extinction origin; forcibly activating it would instead intensify the internal conflict.

The Netherworld Suppress Extinction Seal madly operated, the nether light in her body unstable, like a tiny boat in a stormy sea. Her meridians felt as if placed in alternating fire and ice, scorching and freezing, the intense pain making her almost unable to think. The burning sensation of the red silk entanglement also reached its peak, intertwining with the sensation of the Nirvana Feather and the attraction of the Extinction Flame, almost tearing her wrist apart.

She saw her master, to protect her, fighting two Nascent Soul elders alone, forcibly displaying a grand secret technique, his face already somewhat pale. Seeing her senior brothers and sisters fighting desperately, danger everywhere. Seeing inside the light gate, the two factions of Blaze-Scorching Valley were fiercely fighting over her and the feather in her hand.

I can't go on like this! I can't become a burden!

A crazy thought rose in her heart—since internal and external troubles, why not actively invite the fire in! Use the purifying power of the Nirvana Feather as a buffer, attempt to guide a trace of the Extinction Flame's aura into her body, to balance and even devour the internal agitation and uncontrolled extinction origin!

This was no different from dancing on a blade's tip, playing with fire and self-immolation! But now, she had no better choice.

"Senior Sister, protect me for a moment! I want to try communicating with that flame!" Shiran urgently said to Xiao Muyu, not waiting for a reply, she immediately plunged all her mind and spirit into her sea of consciousness.

Inside the sea of consciousness, it was already heaven overturned and earth turned. Black magic power like a raging sea continuously struck the nether light wall formed by the Netherworld Suppress Extinction Seal. The seven-colored feather hovered in the center, emitting a soft yet firm light, barely guarding the last fragment of clarity.

Shiran used her divine sense as a guide, first fully activating the Nirvana Feather! With a humming sound, unprecedented seven-colored rosy light burst from the feather, like warm tidewater surging toward her limbs and bones. Where it passed, that scorching stabbing pain was greatly alleviated, the agitated magic power seemed soothed somewhat, even the operation of the Netherworld Suppress Extinct Seal became slightly smoother.

Now!

She split off a trace of extremely fine divine sense, mixed with a trace of extinction origin power purified by the Nirvana Feather, carefully extending it out of the light gate, like a spider's silk, drifting toward the central "Extinction Flame" at the altar!

This process was extremely dangerous. As her divine sense just left the protection range of the Nirvana Feather, it was immediately eroded by the violent Extinction Flame aura from outside, transmitting a needle-prick-like intense pain. She endured it, controlling that trace of silk, bit by bit approaching.

Finally, amidst that chaotic energy turbulence, her divine sense touched a trace of wandering aura from the outermost edge of the "Extinction Flame"!

"Boom!!!"

As if nine-heaven thunder exploded in her mind! An indescribable, scorching torrent containing the mysteries of ultimate destruction and rebirth surged backward along that trace of divine sense!

Shiran's entire body violently trembled, she suddenly spat out a mouthful of fresh blood, her face instantly turning as pale as gold paper. The nether light of the Netherworld Suppress Extinction Seal on her body surface flashed violently, almost collapsing! In her meridians, the newly surged Extinction Flame aura, like a wild horse breaking free, fiercely collided and tangled with her original extinction origin and the suppressed magic power!

"Ruanruan!" Xiao Muyu turned pale with fright, quickly increasing her spirit power output, the wood vitality power pouring into Shiran's body without restraint, attempting to stabilize her injury.

Ling Xiao and Luo Changfeng also noticed the abnormality here, their hearts filled with urgency, but being tightly entangled by opponents, they could not disengage.

Chi Xuan saw Shiran actually actively drawing the Extinction Flame into her body, first startled, then overjoyed: "Hahaha! Heaven helps me! This girl seeks death herself, good, saves us some trouble! Wait until she is burst by the Extinction Flame, the Nirvana Feather will naturally be ownerless!"

Yan Jin, however, his face changed, a flash of reluctance and anxiety in his eyes, but he was firmly stared down by Chi Xuan, unable to rescue.

At this moment, Shiran felt as if she had been thrown into the core of purgatory. Three forces within her body launched into a brutal slaughter—external trace of Extinction Flame, domineering beyond comparison, wanting to burn everything; her own extinction origin, while resisting it, also secretly had a tendency to be attracted and assimilated by it; and that long-suppressed magic power, taking advantage of the chaos, madly counterattacked; only the power of the Nirvana Feather, like a pillar in the stream, stubbornly supported, purifying the destructive energy generated by the conflict, guarding her heart meridians and sea of consciousness.

The intense pain almost made her soul scatter, consciousness gradually blurring. Just as she was about to be swallowed by darkness, the red silk entanglement on her wrist suddenly burst forth with unprecedented heat, that burning sensation strangely synchronizing with the burning sensation of the Extinction Flame within her body!

Immediately after, the long-dormant, same-source sensation as the red silk entanglement, coming from the Magic Abyss, seemed to be completely activated by the aura of the Extinction Flame!

A fragmented, chaotic image forcibly surged into her mind:

Endless dark abyss……surging molten lava river……a colossal throne piled with black bones……on the throne, a blurred figure, entwined with dark red flames and black magic aura, towering, as if sensing something, slowly opened its eyes……those eyes, like two rotating extinction black holes, deep within burning with the same-source, icy Extinction Flame as within her body!

At the same time, a low, voice filled with endless majesty and temptation directly echoed in the depths of her soul:

"My bloodline……carries extinction……returns……"

This voice seemed to carry the power of some law, Shiran's internal agitated magic power, as if hearing a king's command, instantly became docile, and strangely fused with that trace of Extinction Flame! And her extinction origin, under the guidance of this fusion power, actually began to actively absorb and tame that external trace of Extinction Flame!

"Puff—"

Another mouthful of fresh blood spurted out, but this blood, its color faintly carrying a trace of dark gold, fell to the ground, scorching the scorched earth into a pit.

Shiran suddenly lifted her head, in her eyes, left eye black as ink, as if containing endless magic abyss; right eye lit up with a point of icy cold, like the core flame of the Extinction Flame, a pale white flame!

Her aura became extremely strange and powerful, her originally weak momentum beginning to rise step by step! The light of the Netherworld Suppress Extinction Seal no longer flickered uncertainly, but stabilized, within the nether light, faintly a trace of pale white flame pattern appeared!

The internal conflict had not completely ceased, but reached a dangerous balance! Magic power, extinction origin, external trace of Extinction Flame, under the harmonizing of the Nirvana Feather and the guidance of that mysterious voice, temporarily formed a symbiotic state!

This sudden change shocked everyone present!

"Demonic aura?! And the aura of the Extinction Flame……she……she……" Chi Xuan's joy on his face froze, turning into doubtful uncertainty. He could feel that Shiran not only did not explode and die, but seemed to have grasped a trace of Extinction Flame's power, and moreover, the pure demonic aura emanating from her body made him feel a pang of palpitation.

Yan Jin was also stunned, muttering: "This... this is impossible? Who exactly is she?"

Ling Xiao's eyes flashed with a trace of extreme heartache and complexity, but he keenly sensed that although Shi Ran's current state was strange, she had temporarily escaped the danger of exploding her body, and her strength seemed to have increased. He made a swift decision, sending a voice transmission and shouting: "Chang Feng, Mu Yu, take Ran Ran away! I'll hold the rear!"