439 The Stolen Holy Flame

Five elders had already gathered around An Lin at this moment, and all of them unleashed extremely powerful defensive spell techniques.

An Lin was the key to preventing the seal of the Divine Dao Box from completion. They had already failed in their duties to protect him once, but they were determined not to repeat their mistakes this time!

Meng Zhi had clearly been completely enraged. Boundless divine light imbued with the mighty power of heaven and earth burst forth from her golden eyes, painting the entire sky gold.

Her extreme frost domain extended for almost ten kilometers, and all the Vermilion Bird Sect's disciples caught within the domain were transformed into ice sculptures.

She made her way toward An Lin, crossing a distance of several kilometers with each step.

"Do you think I can't kill you just because you have people protecting you?!"

She raised her staff in preparation to unleash an attack.

Crack…

A crisp crack suddenly reverberated throughout the air.

Meng Zhi seemed to have suffered from some sort of backlash as blue blood seeped out from the corner of her mouth.

Many people could see that cracks were already beginning to appear on the projection of the Ice Patriarch.

The holy flame also began to unfurl from its ball shape as it lit up the night sky once again.

Raucous cheers erupted from all the Vermilion Bird Sect disciples upon seeing this.

A bitter expression appeared on Meng Zhi's face as she turned her eyes upon the Ice Matriarch, seemingly caught in a dilemma.

She knew that if she were to use her power to kill An Lin, then the projection of the Ice Matriarch would crumble, and she no longer had the energy to summon the projection for a second time…

"So be it…"

A light sigh sounded from her lips.

She turned away from An Lin and instead flew toward the holy flame as the Divine Dao Box behind her lit up once again.

The lightning bird was drawn by an invisible force back into the Divine Dao Box.

"Is she going to give up?" Elder Ji asked with anticipation in his eyes.

Chen Xinran was initially among the elders protecting An Lin but crimson flames burst forth from his body, and he charged toward Meng Zhi like a flaming meteor as Meng Zhi switched her target to the holy flame.

"I'll leave the rest to all of you," Meng Zhi said softly.

Close to ten Return to Void Stage snow maidens stationed themselves in front of Meng Zhi, and they unleashed a series of powerful ice spell technique to keep the Chen Xinran and the other elders at bay.

Meng Zhi arrived at the place where the lightning bird originally was, and a towering pillar of golden light appeared.

"Let my body take the place of the Dao of lightning."

She turned to the projection of the Ice Matriarch with a determined expression.

In the faraway distance, golden flames and holy ice clashed in an earth-shattering battle.

The Great Empress turned to look at the pillar of golden light next to the holy flame before heaving a forlorn sigh as if she was lamenting something but also powerless to do anything.

The cracks on the projection of the Ice Matriarch began to slowly heal, and she nodded slightly at Meng Zhi.

The consequences of forcefully using one's own body to replace the power of the lightning spirit were beginning to manifest itself as a fearsome backlash, causing Meng Zhi's flesh to slowly tear open as blue blood gushed forth.

"High Priestess!" Countless snow maidens turned to Meng Zhi with grief-stricken expressions. Their grief seemed to fuel their power as the temperature around them began to drop even further.

Meng Zhi's aura became weaker and weaker, but the sealing power around the holy flame became more and more powerful.

The Ice Matriarch once again clasped her hands together to compress the holy flame into a ball of white light before sealing it away into the Flame-Sealing Disc.

Countless Vermilion Bird Sect's elders and disciples charged toward the holy flame, but they were all held at bay by the powerful snow maidens.

An Lin gritted his teeth as he stared at Meng Zhi. Never would he have thought that Meng Zhi would use her own body to replace the lightning spirit.

He really didn't know how to stop Meng Zhi now as there was far too much of a gap between their power levels…

An Lin had only been a member of the Vermilion Bird Sect for a few days, but an inexplicable sense of indignation and rage welled up in his heart as he witnessed the holy flame being snatched away.

He brought out a seventh-grade immortal pill from his storage ring before swallowing it.

This was the Spirit Regeneration Pill that Yang Yuan had given him. It had extremely potent regenerative effects as well as the secondary effect of enhancing one's life force. He was only able to survive Meng Zhi's previous attack through the use of his Chaotic Alloy Brick, but he was still severely wounded by the shockwaves from the attack.

His top priority now was to recover to the best possible condition; he couldn't give up yet!

The Evergreen Technique worked in conjunction with the pill to repair An Lin's body.

The Holy Vermilion Flame was compressed into a white ball of light before it was sealed away into the Flame-Sealing Disc.

The temperature on the battlefield above the divine tree suddenly dropped drastically.

All of the sect disciples felt as if something had been pried away from their hearts.

Some of the disciples even began to cry as they looked up at the Flame-Sealing Disc in the air.

Xu Xiaolan clenched her fists as her body trembled uncontrollably. If it wasn't for An Lin holding her back, she would have probably charged toward Meng Zhi with no regard for her own safety.

The projection of the Ice Matriarch began to disappear, and the six immortal spirits all returned to the Divine Dao Box.

At the same time, the Flame-Sealing Disc began to fly toward Meng Zhi.

Meng Zhi caught the Flame-Sealing Disc, and although her features were extremely pale, her eyes were exceptionally bright.

"This is the hope of our entire clan, I finally succeeded…"

She smiled before throwing up another mouthful of blood, and her body swayed like the flickering flame of a candle in the wind, appearing as if it was about to collapse at any moment.

"High Priestess!" A few snow maidens flew toward Meng Zhi to support her.

"It's not over yet, there are still things that need to be done." Meng Zhi's golden eyes were a little dull but a boundless divine light burst forth from her staff as if she was trying to deplete every last bit of energy within her body.

"Gate of the holy lands, open!"

Supreme might burst forth from her staff and blasted into a certain spot in the air, where it then tore open a circular spatial gate of a thousand feet in diameter.

Everyone could see a world of snow and ice through the circular spatial gate.

There were even snowflakes billowing into the Vermilion Bird Sect through the spatial gate.

"Mission completed, retreat!"

Meng Zhi's voice was imbued with the might of a monarch as it rang out across the entire space. The remaining two hundred or so snow maidens were greatly uplifted by her voice as they all began to retreat toward the spatial gate.

"I'll hold everyone off!"

A voice imbued with regal, imperial might sounded before an area of a thousand meters in radius in front of the spatial gate was transformed into a lethal realm of ice and snow.

One of the sect elders charged toward the snow maidens in pursuit, but his body was instantly transformed into an ice sculpture upon entering the realm of snow and ice.

"Elder Song Yang!" Zhu Yuanzhou roared with grief.

Elder Song Yang was a Soul Formation Final Stage cultivator, but he didn't even last a second in the realm of snow and ice set up by the Great Empress.

Most of the snow maidens retreated into this realm of snow and ice where they began to charge for the spatial gate.

All the disciples of the Vermilion Bird Sect looked on in despair as the snow maidens retreated. Some of the core disciples couldn't resist the urge to charge into that realm of icy death, but they were all held back by the more rational people around them.

No one would be able to step into that realm unless they were at Return to Void Stage!

Meng Zhi finally heaved a sigh of relief when the realm of ice and snow kept all the Vermilion Bird Sect's elders and disciples at bay. She passed the Flame-Sealing Disc to a Holy Palace Leader beside her. "Qing Li, take this back to the Holy Capital!"

Her eyes fell shut as she spoke, and she finally fainted from overexertion.

"High Priestess!"

Qing Li caught Meng Zhi with an expression of concern.

Many of the snow maidens were already passing through the spatial gate, and Qing Li enveloped Meng Zhi with a spell technique before following suit.

However, right at this moment, a mighty force imbued with the power of pure yang descended from the sky and pierced through the realm of icy death like a sharp sword before continuing on toward the spatial gate.

Boom!

The fearsome power tore a passageway into the realm of icy death and instantly reduced around a dozen powerful snow maidens in its path to charred ashes. The flames created a golden passageway leading straight toward the circular spatial gate.

"We haven't lost yet, chase them down!"

Grand Elder Situ Feng's voice thundered in the distance, reinvigorating countless sect disciples.

"Chase them down!"

Several tens of thousands of disciples roared at once as they unleashed their powerful spell formations to melt away the snow and ice around them.

Over a hundred powerful sect disciples charged toward the spatial gate with battle intent burning in their eyes.

Qing Li's expression shifted, and she carried Meng Zhi as she passed through the spatial door alongside over a hundred other snow maidens.

Aside from the ten Holy Palace Leaders who stayed behind to bring up the rear, almost all the remaining snow maidens had passed through the spatial gate.

Fifteen elders, as well as over fifty powerful core disciples, broke through the defenses of the Holy Palace Leaders before continuing into the Holy Glacial Realm through the spatial gate.

In the meantime, Great Elder Chen Xinran and two other Return to Void Stage elders summoned the power of the sect's spell formation to hold the ten Holy Palace Leaders off.

An Lin and Xu Xiaolan also joined in on the counterattack as both of them charged through the spatial gate.