Chapter 646: Scheming To Reap The Unearned Gain

While the green pillar of light bound Crimson Flame, thousands of fine threads, like countless long needles, split from the mirror raised by Immortal Eminence Hong Xi and stabbed into Crimson Flame's body.

Crimson Flame's black-and-red mottled form instantly began to flicker unsteadily, like a guttering candle in the wind.

With his sharp senses, Li Fan noticed that the green threads seemed to be drawing something out. Crimson Flame's form was slowly shrinking, Its aura steadily weakening.

Crimson Flame struggled fiercely to break free, but It was like an insect caught in a spider's web. The more It thrashed, the tighter the threads strangled It.

The massive green net locked Crimson Flame firmly in place.

Its wretched state stood in stark contrast to that of past lives, where even in its final defeat, this entity had at least displayed combat prowess at the Dao Unity level.

The power of a Soul Arbiter of heaven and earth originates from heaven and earth itself. The Xuantian Spirit-Sealing Array can seize heaven's place and sever Its connection to it. No wonder Crimson Flame's performance is so pathetic. Witnessing Crimson Flame's miserable state, Li Fan murmured this to himself.

I wonder if this array can suppress Ink Death. If Ink Death is also sacrificed, will heaven and earth send an even more powerful Soul Arbiter?

Just as everyone watching from within the Congyun Sea believed the outcome was decided, a colossal hand suddenly thrust up from beneath the sea's surface.

In a flash, its five fingers clenched, grasping both Hong Xi and Crimson Flame in its palm!

Tian Yang! Li Fan recognized the owner of the giant hand in an instant.

But this time, Tian Yang did not bellow his signature line, "Tian Yang is not weaker than others." Instead, he had lurked silently beneath the two combatants.

Like the mantis stalking the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind it, they had failed to notice him closing in to sweep them both into his net.

"Courting death!" Hong Xi's expression twisted with fury at Tian Yang's ambush.

Carefully maintaining the Xuantian Spirit-Sealing Array with one hand, he directed mountain ranges to crash against the five fingers that surrounded them like the bars of a cage.

Boom!

To Hong Xi's surprise, his attack met no resistance from the hand. It let his mountains smash straight into it. Yet the instant they collided, those peaks, indistinguishable from real mountains, seemed to strike something a hundred times harder than themselves.

They shattered one after another.

Immortal Eminence Hong Xi's body trembled slightly from the backlash of that immense impact. He nearly lost control of the Xuantian Spirit-Sealing Array.

Crimson Flame, trapped within the array, sensed the shift in circumstances and stopped struggling.

Instead, It drew inward, conserving Its strength, waiting for Hong Xi to show another opening.

"Damn it!" Cursing under his breath, Immortal Eminence Hong Xi gritted his teeth. He decided to ignore Tian Yang's giant hand for the moment. Steeling his mind, he poured all his energy into the Xuantian Spirit-Sealing Array and began refining Crimson Flame in earnest.

But after being strengthened by Li Fan's enhancements without sparing any expense, the current Tian Yang had grown subtly more cunning. He would not let Hong Xi's scheme succeed so easily.

The five fingers of the giant hand turned red-hot in an instant, as though earthfire and magma flowed sluggishly within them. Part of this molten energy even leaked from the puppet's body, swirling through the air and tracing patterns as it went.

Like dozens of fire dragons dancing around each other, they formed a complete array in the blink of an eye, trapping both Hong Xi and Crimson Flame within it.

The Earthfire Elevation Array! A sharp light flashed in Li Fan's eyes.

It seems Tian Yang's transformation is significant. He no longer relies on brute force alone; he's actually learned to use arrays!

Hong Xi is too greedy. He refused to dodge or flee the entire time the array was being set up. He just couldn't bear to let go of the Soul Arbiter of heaven and earth he'd already subdued.

Now it comes down to who is faster. Will Hong Xi drain Crimson Flame dry first and step into the Dao Unity realm? Or will Tian Yang drain Hong Xi dry first, ultimately claiming the status of Dao Unity Immortal Venerable...

Li Fan watched the standoff between the three in the sky, enjoying the show.

Meanwhile, some of the cultivators within Congyun City could no longer contain themselves.

"The Soul Arbiter of heaven and earth belongs to the virtuous! Fellow Daoists, the chance to defy heaven and change our fates is right before our eyes!"

Prodded and goaded by those with ulterior motives, dozens, then hundreds of cultivators succumbed to temptation. One after another, they launched attacks at the three locked in stalemate.

Each one hoped to be the lucky fisherman who reaped the spoils, reaching the heavens in a single step.

Li Fan noticed that He Zhenghao had nearly lost control, already lunging forward. But halfway there, for some unknown reason, he suddenly caught himself and turned back.

“I’ll wait a little longer. Just a little longer.”

Li Fan heard him muttering under his breath.

His tightly shut eyes and trembling body spoke volumes about the immense struggle he was waging to suppress his own desire.

Li Fan chuckled to himself, then turned his gaze back to Tian Yang and the others.

Tian Yang had pushed the Earthfire Elevation Array to its absolute limit. Pillars of earthfire and magma erupted continuously from the floor of the Congyun Sea, creating a spectacle of fiery dragons surging through the water. Li Fan knew that Tian Yang was channeling the full power of Congyun's earthfire.

Ordinarily, the power of earthfire was bound and limited by the earth veins, and could not be so easily commanded by a cultivator.

But earlier, in his effort to force Crimson Flame to show itself, Hong Xi had activated the Heavenly Vitality Transformation Array, which had thoroughly shattered the earth veins of the Congyun Sea.

And so the earthfire and magma, no longer restrained, raged and flowed like wild steeds slipping their bridles.

This allowed the Earthfire Elevation Array to operate at two hundred percent effectiveness.

In a sense, Immortal Eminence Hong Xi had been digging his own grave.

Realizing that his own energy was being drained faster than Crimson Flame's, Immortal Eminence Hong Xi's face cycled through a series of expressions.

At this moment, if he withdrew the Xuantian Spirit-Sealing Array and abandoned his suppression of Crimson Flame, he might still escape the Earthfire Elevation Array.

But the Xuantian Spirit-Sealing Array could only be used once. After which, the mirror would become a mundane object, unusable again until the Myriad Immortals Alliance headquarters restored its energy. If he interrupted the process now, all his previous efforts would come to nothing.

He might save his life, but advancing to Dao Unity would be out of the question.

If he fought to the death, however, there would certainly be a risk to his life. But there was also a real chance he could achieve Dao Unity! From then on, the heavens would be wide, the earth vast, and his fate forever changed!

A vicious expression twisting his features, Immortal Eminence Hong Xi made his final decision in the span of a millisecond.

Beams of light flew from his body, crashing against the Earthfire Elevation Array in an attempt to slow the refinement and absorption of his own essence.

Hong Xi's gaze turned resolute. Dismissing everything else, he focused completely on manipulating the Xuantian Spirit-Sealing Array to suppress and refine Crimson Flame.

As the seconds passed, Crimson Flame's figure grew paler and paler.

It had turned almost transparent, as if It might vanish from the world at any moment.

"Die!"

Hong Xi roared in fury. His body transformed into a beam of earthy-yellow light, charging without hesitation straight toward Crimson Flame.

At that same moment, the Xuantian Spirit-Sealing Array erupted with radiant brilliance.

Green and yellow intertwined, forming what looked like a blade poised to drive itself deep into Crimson Flame's core.