1044 Unlucky Star

Swish!

Meng Nong's body sped up. One of his fists glowed golden and then turned into an eagle's claw. A gold aura surrounded it. In a flash, Meng Nong tore up the air around him with his claw. There was an ear-piercing sound.

"Right now!"

Jiang Yi's narrow eyes burst wide open. A huge stone furnace appeared in his hand. It looked unassuming and weak. The dao patterns on top of it, however, stirred. To everyone around it, the furnace looked extremely primitive.

"An ancient artifact, retre—"

Everyone in the Snow Region belonged to an ancient sect. They were all familiar with ancient artifacts. Meng Nong himself had one. The feeling that Jiang Yi's ancient artifact gave Meng Nong was a strange one. In his heart, he knew that his life was in danger. Instinctively, therefore, Meng Nong retreated.

Buzz!

Jiang Yi's essence force and star sphere force had been gathered already. He channeled them all into the Smelting Divine Furnace. The dao patterns on the furnace lit up. Faintly, they saw runic patterns appear. The runic patterns and mysterious images began to flicker. A frightening air covered the area.

"Flee!"

The scouts and martial artists watching the battle flew away in fright. Huo Yan's eyes widened as he shouted, "The Smelting Divine Furnace! This is the Fire God's Smelting Divine Furnace! Quick, run!"

The Fire God has existed since ancient times. Nobody was his match ever since then. Since the Fire Chi Race bent fire, they were familiar with the Fire God. They had even heard of this Smelting Divine Furnace since a long time ago.

Huo Yan was sure that Jiang Yi had already activated the first layer of Nine Heaven True Flames. It was obvious that he was trying to activate the second layer of Nirvana Flames now. Once he did that, everyone within a five-kilometer-radius of the furnace would perish.

"This is?"

Mantis Blade and Mo Shen, who had been battling three kilometers underground suddenly stopped. Mantis Blade had gotten hold of Qiu Shan's Ancient Divine Essence Ring, and Mo Shen was hounding him without any intention of letting him go. Suddenly, both of them felt an aura belonging to an ancient artifact. They immediately stopped fighting and headed further underground. Mantis Blade used his wind blades to break apart the soil while Mo Shen's hands turned into claws with a flash of light. The two of them dug deeper and deeper like Earth Dragons.

Shit… I worked so hard to obtain some star sphere essence force. Now, I've expended it all on this furnace, and it's still not activated?

"No way! I must activate the Nirvana Flames!"

His heart was pounding, and the cogs in his mind were turning at rapid sweet. At last, he figured out a so-called solution. Was this Smelting Divine Furnace not a fire-elemental treasure? He could try to push flames in to make it look like the Smelting Divine Furnace had been activated!

Tsk! Tsk!

His Fire Spirit Pearl lit up. There was still some Thunder Fire inside it, as well as Earth fire from the Lava Lake, and the Fire Snake Dance which he had absorbed from Huo Yan earlier. He pushed all of these flames into the Smelting Divine Furnace. At the same time, he used the Heaven-Extinguishing Inferno technique to change his essence force into the Nine Heavens Dragon Flames. Once again, he channeled it all into the Smelting Divine Furnace.

Buzz!

Surprisingly, all this work actually activated the furnace!

Jiang Yi's eyes lit up immediately. He pushed his hands out and caused the Smelting Divine Furnace to fly up into the air. Mid-way up, the dao patterns moved out of the way quickly and the furnace grew significantly until it was several hundred meters big. It looked just like a palace had popped up in mid-air.

As the Smelting Divine Furnace flew up, black flames descended. The black flames turned into a black dragon, which turned one full circle with a radius of about five kilometers. Everything in its path turned to ash.

"Ah—"

There were countless cries of pain. The Nirvana Flames were far too hot. It entered the masses' divine shields, causing their bodies to burn up immediately. Blood spurt out all over the place, and the people's essence force was greatly reduced as well. Many other divine shields fell apart, and bodies caught fire. All the martial artists within a five-kilometer-radius were burned to death.

"No, no!"

Meng Nong ran as far as three kilometers, but this distance proved useless. The moment the Nirvana Flames appeared, his essence force got messed up. He watched as his own divine shield fell apart, and his body caught flames.

"This, this…"

Huo Yan did slightly better because he bent fire himself. He had built some kind of resistance toward these flames. It was a pity that his fire-bending skills were not good enough. His essence force got quite affected as well. His divine shield managed to hang in there for about three seconds before it burst into flames as well. What surprised Jiang Yi the most was that after Huo Yan's divine shield exploded, his body did not catch flames. Instead, he gritted his teeth and managed to hang on.

Swish!

With Meng Nong dead, killing one more person did not matter that much to Jiang Yi. With a single hand, he re-summoned the Astral Winds and gathered two more Astral Wind Blades. The blades shot toward Huo Yan. This time, Huo Yan could not fend himself against them any longer. His fiery red armor fell apart, and blood flowed out of the wounds on his body.

Tsk tsk~!

The Nirvana Flames were far too aggressive. All the ice within the five-kilometer-radius had melted as well. Billows of water vapor rose up into the air, causing the entire place to look like a foggy region. It was exceptionally spectacular.

Ss, ss…

Several km away, many warriors at the base of the Dwarf Mountain watched on in shock. They were so far away, but they all felt the heat waves from the Nirvana Flames. They looked at all the ice melted on the ground and then looked up at the clouds of water vapor. Their eyes reflected pure terror. Even the Mantis Blade Sect and the dwarfs, who had been engaged in an intense battle, stopped fighting. All of their eyes were locked on the east side.

"What's happening?"

A bad feeling washed over Cao Duantian. He heard a loud crash from where Meng Nong dealt his blow earlier. He knew that Jiang Yi had appeared. The Demigods had taken action.

What he failed to understand was how Jiang Yi could not be killed off despite the fact that several Demigods were working together. Why was there such a big commotion happening over there as well?

"Older Brother, what's happened?"

Cao Shishui was dressed in white robes. She sprinted out of the palace and watched the fog from the distance. Her vision was hindered by the fog; she could almost see an immortal landing on the mortal world from heaven.

Cao Duantian turned to glance at her and forced a smile. "It's nothing. Even if something has happened, it has happened to Jiang Yi. Without a doubt, he will die today."

"They're all dead? What are those flames? Could Meng Nong not hang on for even two seconds?"

Six kilometers below where Jiang Yi was standing, Mantis Blade sensed what had just happened above ground. His eyes widened. Despite the distance he was from ground level, he felt the impact of the flames. His blood pressure rose, and he felt like his entire body was burning up. His essence force stirred.

He ranked third in terms of fighting prowess in the entire Snow Region. Naturally, his attacks were extremely aggressive, and his speed was frightening. However, he had one weakness. He was not as good at defending himself as Meng Nong was. That was why he knew he would have been burnt alive had he been above ground earlier.

"Flee!"

He turned around without much hesitation. Jiang Yi was from the East Imperial Continent. He came all the way to Snow Region to cause a commotion and even managed to kill three Demigods. This would shake the Heaven Hidden Sect for sure. The Sacred Highness of the Heaven Hidden Sect would come out and do something about this. Even if she did not, there was still the one who always bragged about being the second-best in the entire Snow Region—Curmudgeon Cao.

Tsk! Tsk!

He shot out wind blades toward the soil in front of him, trying his best to get to the Dwarf Mountain as fast as he could.

"Aggressive!"

Mo Shen, who was also in the depths of the ground, understood what just happened as well. This rascal Jiang Yi had killed five Demigods on Stupa Mountain earlier. Now, he has killed three in the Snow Region as well? He really was an unlucky star.

"Why didn't he go up to the Dwarf Mountain directly in the first place? Why did he make things so complicated and take on so much risk?"

Mo Shen did not understand that Jiang Yi lacked the star sphere essence force in the past and had no means at all to activate the Smelting Divine Furnace. That was why he was feeling confused at this moment. However, his confusion quickly turned to shock when he felt the figure underground rush upward like a crazed dragon. His divine senses locked on to Jiang Yi immediately, and he shouted: "Rascal, quick, use Heaven Evasion! Curmudgeon Cao is coming!"

"Run—"

Jiang Yi retracted the Smelting Divine Furnace after hearing Mo Shen's voice transmission. He immediately broke through the air and used Heaven Evasion.

Yet!

A low voice traveled from underground, causing the ground to shake. It was almost like there was a great earthquake appearing. The soil where Jiang Yi had been standing broke apart, and a huge hand cut through the air to drag Jiang Yi out of the opening in the air that he had just entered.