Currently, Water Master Xuanwu is entangled with the azure dragon claws on the other side of the battlefield. In order to rescue him, I must first help him deal with the azure dragon claw incarnation.

The opponent is essentially just an aggregation of power, and no matter how many times it is dispersed, it will reorganize. There is no way to kill it, so one can only try to hold it off. I can't afford to split my strength to do that while confronting Meng Zhang, so I can only attempt an indirect approach. Perhaps, even though I can't divide my main body's power, I can mobilize the power of the surrounding Fire Sea.

Right now, I have two directions to try, one simple, the other complicated. I first attempted the simple direction—burning the azure dragon claw incarnation through the Dream Network.

The source of power for that incarnation is the Dream Network. Since my Fire Sea has already invaded the Dream Network, it should naturally be able to follow the trail to burn the azure dragon claw incarnation.

But soon, I had to admit with regret that this direction was difficult to be effective. This kind of trailing attack is indirect; although it is not entirely ineffective, it cannot compare to a direct attack. The azure dragon claw incarnation quickly realized what I was doing, and the mana of the Dream Network concentrated significantly to try to prevent my flames from spreading in specific directions.

It's not that I truly can't break through this barrier, and it's possible to destroy the azure dragon claw incarnation from a distance, but that would require concentrating my main attention in that direction. There's no way I can be that distracted while facing Meng Zhang.

Initially, I hoped that my flames could suppress the Dream Network. If you ask why, it's because wood can give birth to fire. Many who don't understand the relationships of the Four Symbols and Five Elements might answer that fire restrains wood when asked what fire restrains among metal, wood, water, fire, and earth. This seems more in line with most people's intuition.

Even if the correct answer is fire restraining metal, considering the relationship where wood gives birth to fire, the Fire Element Power should burn more fiercely when destroying the Wood Element Magical Power—or so I thought. But this is entirely not the case. Is it because in the relational sequence of the Four Symbols and Five Elements, the elements earlier in the order have higher active roles? Wood gives birth to fire, fire's burning relies on wood, and cannot be simply interpreted as fire restraining wood? I can only make such a conjecture.

Wood doesn't naturally always burn. In the natural world, although forest fires are common, there seem to be those fire-retardant tree species with low oil and high moisture content. Compared to dry branches and leaves on the ground, lush, moisture-rich branches are also harder to burn. The firewood used by ordinary households often needs to be dry, and to improve combustion efficiency, the wood often needs to be split and dried first.

"Splitting" and "dehydrating"... This seems to be the work that should simultaneously possess the Gold Element and Water Element power of Water Master Xuanwu. Of course, in practical operation, it's not possible to have a big piece of wood in front of us to split and dehydrate; this is just a matter of imagery and concept. With this in mind, I'm more convinced that to defeat Meng Zhang, Water Master Xuanwu is indeed an indispensable aid.

"A desperate struggle!" Meng Zhang saw through my little moves.

Perhaps because I completely angered him, his attitude is more aggressive than at the beginning.

"I thought Xuanming passed down hope to you because he found a hidden, altruistic brilliance within you. Perhaps it's normally hard to perceive, and only through deep exchange can it be found that you are also a person with a spirit of sacrifice..." Meng Zhang's gaze was cold, "But now, it seems Xuanming simply didn't want me to have my way. Does he loathe my ideals to such an extent..."

"Then there's no need for me to talk more with you. I'm going to kill you, and then it will be those shortsighted Great Impermanence of Luo Mountain, as well as Shan Liangyi and Liu Shuying—"

The lightning of his incarnation sketched intricate trajectories in the sky, launching increasingly fierce and fatal attacks at unpredictable angles, dealing me blow after blow.

And from his tone, I detected traces that aroused doubt. When mentioning Shan Liangyi, he singled them out from the Lushan Great Impermanence. This I can understand; he may not necessarily know that King Zhuanlun could very likely be Shan Liangyi; even if he knows, placing Shan Liangyi among all of Lushan Great Impermanence doesn't fit. But why did he also single out Liu Shuying and even mention their names together with Shan Liangyi?

"Who is Liu Shuying?" I asked.

"You're mingling with Liu Shuying and don't even know that guy's details?" Meng Zhang sneered.

But, as if to retaliate against my previous words and actions, he then tightly closed his mouth, continuing his onslaught with a resentful silence.

Liu Shuying is an irrelevant character in this life-and-death battle. Since I couldn't extract more information from Meng Zhang, I could only temporarily set aside my confusion and try the second direction to rescue Water Master Xuanwu.

The inspiration for the second direction still came from those Meng Zhang incarnations.

The nature of those Meng Zhang incarnations is somewhat similar to the Doomsday Demon. As long as the sources, Paradise or Naraku Gospel, are not destroyed, the Meng Zhang incarnations or Doomsday Demon will reappear endlessly. The difference is that the Doomsday Demon possesses an independent soul, with a significantly higher completion level, while the Meng Zhang incarnation is just a mana aggregation. This semi-finished state of the latter can avoid the True Death of True Spirit Power, which is a twist of fate.

From a compositional perspective, compared to the Doomsday Demon and Naraku Gospel, the relationship between the Meng Zhang incarnation and "Paradise" might be closer to "firefly" and me. The Meng Zhang incarnation, as an automatic mechanism, seems to operate based on certain programming, which is essentially not different from the preset instructions I embed in the "firefly."

This thought was like lightning flashing across the night sky, pointing the way for me in the darkness.

Theoretically, I could, just like "Paradise," inject my "firefly" with massive flames, transforming it into a "Zhuang Cheng Incarnation" capable of automatic combat.

There's no need to extract flames from my own body; I just need to mobilize energy resources from the endlessly burning time and space of the Fire Sea around us. I need only dedicate a small part of my attention to embed the preset instructions one after another. There's no need to complete it instantly; it can be done in segments over time. To avoid Meng Zhang finding a way to counter it later, success must be achieved in the first attack.

This was my first time compiling such a complex preset instruction set. This was not as simple as assembling a few simple preset instructions but rather creating an actual program. Long ago, when I realized I had the ability to embed preset instructions into the "firefly," I wondered whether I could give the "firefly" flexible intelligence but was limited by a lack of wit and inspiration and also lacking references, it never reached a formal stage.

Now it's different. Stimulated by Little Bowl's blessing, my mind felt unprecedentedly active, and endless inspiration flowed like a fountain, also able to retrieve enlightening information from Xuanming's vast experience. I seemed like a peerless genius who, upon first touching a piano, could play brilliant melodies, with each input of preset instructions echoing one another, quickly forming a qualified program with a simple construct yet practical value.

I entered the last preset instruction for the program, and soon, the surrounding Fire Sea changed.

As if pulling the plug on a bathtub, three whirlpools appeared in the Fire Sea. Countless flames rapidly converged towards those three directions, and the Fire Sea rapidly diminished in overall scale, becoming empty in most places. In the blink of an eye, the three flame whirlpools formed three towering orange-red fire humanoid monsters dozens of meters high.

The three fire monsters roared in unison, and the dwindling Fire Sea once again spread out overwhelmingly, seeking to regain its fiery state.

Time, space, matter, energy... everything in the Fire Sea transformed into Fire Element Power, revitalizing the three fire monsters.

The originally chaotic time and space fell into further chaos under the incineration. The order of time and space became a complete mess, turning many physical laws and causality into areas of disorder that defy normal description.

Meng Zhang's eyes changed.

These three newly born monsters are somewhat similar to the Doomsday Demon in nature. As long as the source, which is Paradise or Naraku Gospel, is not destroyed, they will continuously regenerate, better than the continua of the Doomsday Demon, and they possess a power scale akin to the Great Impermanence.

As my thoughts shifted, the three "Catastrophe Demons" flickered, traversing the fragmented time and space, advancing towards Water Master Xuanwu and the azure dragon claw incarnation. Without hesitation, Meng Zhang attempted to blast them with azure lightning to shatter them. This time, it was my turn to intercept his assault. I must prevent him from succeeding. At the same time, a small part of the Fire Sea, following my preset instructions, transformed into a giant orange-red flaming hand, ready to carry Water Master Xuanwu over to my side.

The azure dragon claw incarnation was not just watching; it immediately exploded with boundless thunder, acting faster than the three "Catastrophe Demons," reaching out rapidly for Water Master Xuanwu.

As