Chapter 398: The Hall Master Is Fire Lotus

"Ah~"

Ignited by the Red Lotus Karmic Fire, the black skull instantly twisted, and a massive amount of black mist burst out and spread. In the blink of an eye, it condensed into two arms.

The two hands continuously slapped at the Red Lotus flames on the skull, trying to extinguish them.

Unfortunately, the Red Lotus flames were not extinguished; instead, they burned even more fiercely.

The black skull realized it couldn't put out the Red Lotus flames no matter what, and immediately sensed deadly danger. When the Red Lotus flames were about to engulf the entire skull, it twisted wildly.

At that moment, behind the skull, a faint, screaming soul figure emerged.

"Lingguang Hall Master, let me go, or I will turn the entire Nanxiang County into a ghost domain."

"Whoosh!"

As the firelight landed, Hua Changxi stood outside the mass grave. Ignoring the black skull floating above the mass grave, twisting wildly and issuing threats, she summoned the Floating Light Sword without any hesitation and delivered a fierce strike at it.

"Ah~"

The black skull was cut in half by the sword light, but quickly fused together again.

With this fusion, the black skull had noticeably shrunk, and even the black mist emitting from it had decreased.

"If you won't let me live, then we'll die together."

The black skull let out a piercing, eerie scream, then plunged headfirst into the mass grave.

Seeing this, Hua Changxi was not particularly worried. Once tainted by the Red Lotus Karmic Fire, there was no escape unless the karma was completely burned away.

Prince Shou is doomed!

Yes, Hua Changxi clearly saw the soul figure's face revealed by the black skull—it was none other than Prince Shou, from whom she had smelled a stench upon their first meeting.

This person must have practiced some ghostly evil arts.

The next moment, Hua Changxi's expression suddenly changed.

In the area of the mass grave, a vast amount of black gas burst out, spreading in all directions at a visible speed.

It's ghostly qi!

The ghostly qi was like ink, like a bursting flood, carrying a bone-piercing yin chill that erodes all things, spreading towards the pure lands of living beings in all directions.

Wherever it passed, grass and trees instantly withered and decayed, even the light was devoured, leaving only absolute silence and cold.

Hua Changxi's face changed drastically. She was glad that no living people lived near the mass grave; if the living inhaled ghostly qi, it would deplete their yang energy, and in severe cases, they would directly become the living dead.

The ghostly qi must not be allowed to spread outward!

However, she was not a formation master and couldn't set up a spirit qi barrier on the spot to block the ghostly qi.

Hua Changxi's eyes gleamed. The only divine ability she had to seal off space was the Lotus Domain.

"Boom~"

In the distance, cultivators of all kinds had just changed expression at the sight of the black mushroom cloud soaring into the sky. Before they could react, they saw a lotus-shaped flame rapidly spinning and plunging into the densest center of the ghostly mushroom cloud.

Immediately after, the fire lotus grew as it caught the wind, each petal spreading wide, radiating billions of flames. At the same time, the vast fire spirit qi in the sky over Nanxiang County surged and converged completely towards the fire lotus.

"Chi~"

Faintly, from within the fire lotus, a long bird cry seemed to resound.

The light of the fire lotus transformed into countless fine flame chains, like flowing lava, weaving a massive fire net that blotted out the sky, completely enveloping the churning black mushroom cloud.

"Sizzle sizzle sizzle~"

Within the Lotus Domain, the bright and sacred Southern Bright Lihuo clashed fiercely with the sinister ghostly qi, emitting violent sounds like a red-hot branding iron plunged into ice water.

The ghostly qi twisted and slammed wildly, morphing into countless ferocious ghost faces, trying to tear apart this cage of flames.

The lotus spun, and as its petals opened and closed, it formed a perfect spherical barrier, firmly trapping the ghostly qi that tried to escape inside.

In the end, the overwhelming ghostly qi was completely imprisoned within the fire lotus.

From the outside, it looked like a huge, translucent red fire amber lotus, with churning thick ink sealed inside.

The brilliant Southern Bright Lihuo burned slowly within the Lotus Domain, continuously purifying the yin evil inside.

Watching the immense Fire Lotus, countless cultivators changed expression.

It wasn't because the Fire Lotus sealed the spread of ghostly Qi, but because it reminded them of the earth-shattering battle at Five Finger Mountain.

The master of Lingguang Hall was actually the Fire Lotus Fairy who had unveiled the curtain of spiritual energy revival to the world!

"I knew it, the master of Lingguang Hall couldn't possibly be an unknown figure."

"The Fire Lotus Fairy of Five Finger Mountain..."

Above the Central Sacred Land, Wei Zhenjie, upon seeing the Fire Lotus, kept twitching his mouth. "Hiding the head but not the tail."

After a helpless sigh, Wei Zhenjie quickly took out a Thought-Communicator and sent a message to the Prince of Dong'an stationed in Qingzhou—stop all parties from investigating Five Finger Mountain.

After sending, Wei Zhenjie thought for a moment, then sent a message to his trusted subordinate in the Demon-Suppressing Army—take over Triple Fork Medicine Valley, strictly forbid outsiders from entering or leaving.

Above the imperial palace, looking at the ghostly Qi sealed by the Fire Lotus, the Grand Supreme Elder's face turned terrifyingly dark.

The Emperor also set aside his affairs, standing in midair, looking at Nanxiang County, listening to Prince Shou's piercing screams. In his heart, there was resentment toward the master of Lingguang Hall, but even more, a sense of powerlessness.

The Tenth is dead, the Thirteenth likely won't survive either. Over at Wutong Forest, Imperial Princess Zhaohuang still cannot pass the trial. That blessed cave-heaven is probably lost to the imperial clan as well.

All these indicate that the imperial clan's scheme for Nanxiang City has ended in total failure.

This made the Emperor feel more and more clearly that the Chu imperial authority was collapsing rapidly.

Within the Fire Lotus's shroud, the phantom black skull appeared again, letting out a piercing, unwilling roar to the heavens: "Avenge me! You must avenge me!"

The imperial clan members, who knew the black skull's identity, watched with grim faces as Prince Shou, trapped inside the Fire Lotus, was slowly burned to ashes, his soul scattered.

Some faction leaders who knew about the mass grave and the disappearance of the Vermilion Army felt a chill down their spines as they watched Prince Shou being burned alive by the master of Lingguang Hall.

The master of Lingguang Hall's methods... are ruthless enough!

"Ah~"

Listening to the black skull's screams, Hua Changxi reached out and covered her chest.

"Thump thump thump~"

Her heart leaped joyfully, as if cheering for the screams.

Hua Changxi's gaze darkened. At this moment, Prince Shou's screams actually struck her as especially pleasant.

Remembering the earlier battle in the Egg Space with Chu Junshan and Zhu Yan, her expression darkened.

Zhu Yan was not killed by her; he was refined and devoured directly by Chu Junshan using divine abilities.

Chu Junshan obtained the Black-White Lotus Lamp from Zhu Yan, coordinating the lamp with his divine abilities to launch an attack at her.

Although she defended with the Fire Axe and avoided being tainted by the black flames, under the black flames' influence, the black flame on her Nascent Soul heart still grew larger.

Trapped inside the Egg Space, she had wanted to destroy that space with the Fire Axe; now that she was out, all the killing intent in her heart was directed at Prince Shou.

Watching him being burned away bit by bit, she actually found it enjoyable.

Hua Changxi realized her current state was abnormal and silently recited a Mind-Cleansing Mantra.

After the black skull in the Lotus Domain was completely incinerated, the ghostly Qi seeping from underground gradually decreased until no more emerged—only then did she withdraw the Fire Lotus.

Hua Changxi glanced at the mass grave burned to scorched earth, did not linger, and once again transformed into a meteor, flying toward Wutong Forest.

Outside Wutong Forest, cultivators from various factions hadn't expected the master of Lingguang Hall to break free so quickly. Seeing the incoming fireball, they scattered like birds and beasts.

Among them, the Phoenix clan's demon beasts fled the fastest.

But before they could escape, a dazzling Fire Axe broke through the air.

"Boom~"

The Fire Axe, carrying terrifying power of the Law of Fire, smashed heavily toward the Phoenix clan's demon beasts like a meteor from beyond the heavens.

The moment the Fire Axe collided with the Phoenix demon beasts, a rain of demon beasts poured from the sky.

One after another, phoenixes and the avian demon beasts led by the Phoenix clan continuously fell from the sky, crashing to the ground, raising clouds of dust.

Of the thousands of demon beasts, only three Spiritual Platform Realm Fire Phoenixes dodged the Fire Axe's attack.

The human cultivators watched in horror, their speed no less than that of the three Spiritual Platform Realm Fire Phoenixes as they rapidly fled from Wutong Forest. Especially those who had secretly harmed the Vermilion Army fled even more frantically.

Originally thinking the three Spirit Platform Realm fire phoenixes could escape, unexpectedly, three fire axes appeared again in the sky, each chasing after one of the fire phoenixes.

The two slower fire phoenixes were soon caught by the fire axes, cleaved in two, and instantly fell dead to the ground.

"Demon Saint, save me!"

The last fire phoenix, terrified and panicked, directly burned its lifeblood essence, activated a secret beast clan technique, and begged for help from the Demon Saint in the Ten Thousand Mountains.

Immediately after, human cultivators in Nanxiang County saw the air above the county begin to violently ripple, forming obvious undulations. Before long, a rapidly expanding vortex appeared in the center of the ripples.

The instant the vortex appeared, a giant claw smooth as white jade quickly extended from the vortex, reaching for the fire phoenix.

The giant claw seized the fire phoenix and rapidly retreated back into the vortex.

Just before the vortex closed, the fire axe arrived and viciously chopped at the vortex.

"Chi~"

The air shook, the fire axe shattered, and golden blood spilled over the mountain forest.

The next moment, everyone saw the Língguāng Hall Master descend like a blazing sun above the wutong grove.

Huā Chángxī stared at the closing vortex, her brows deeply furrowed.

Such powerful spatial divine ability!

"Vermilion Bird Legion, clean up the battlefield!"

Huā Chángxī withdrew her focus, glanced at the human cultivators far from the wutong grove, gave an order to the Vermilion Bird Legion, and then flew back like a meteor into the egg-shaped space.

As soon as she returned, the egg-shaped space flickered several times, then abruptly vanished, and the surging qi and blood energy disappeared with it.