CHAPTER 42: 042 FIVE FIRE QIANKUN NET

Red Flower Grandmother’s Bing Spirit Shuttle had a total of forty-nine strands. Upon release, they transformed into shuttle-shaped red light, shooting wildly across the sky and colliding with Geng Peng’s feathered arrows, clashing with each other thousands of times in an instant, exploding into a shower of red luminance and scattered sparkles.

Shi Feiyang used two inner cores to catch the flying swords of Zhuge Jingwo and Red Flower Grandmother.

The Invisible Sword of Zhuge Jingwo was extremely formidable on its own, possessing unpredictable powers like spirits and demons, while Red Flower Grandmother’s Immortal Sword exerted tremendous pressure.

Shi Feiyang, worried that Geng Peng wouldn’t be able to hold his own against the combined efforts of Lady Bao Xiang and Red Flower Grandmother, hurried to defeat the enemy. His two inner cores formed a Tai Chi pattern, rushing forward ferociously, and unleashed countless fire snakes, fire sparrows, fire birds, and a sky full of hail and freezing rain. Amid the fierce attack, he also attached the Invisible Evil Fire to the fire birds and hail, directing them towards Zhuge Jingwo.

Zhuge Jingwo, who practiced the Mysterious Sect’s mental method, naturally possessed a clear and bright inner mind that illuminated the universe. Even though the Invisible Evil Fire was formless, it couldn’t escape his inner awareness. Unfortunately, due to the recent disaster that had plagued him, filled with regret and urgency to retrieve the Purple River Grass to correct his mistakes, he lost control of his mind and allowed the Invisible Evil Fire to burn along his Invisible Sword.

Even so, he detected it earlier than most ordinary folks from the various side paths. He quickly employed the Shaqing Immortal Skill from the Emei Sect’s Demon-suppressing Secret Manual. With his left hand, he performed Sword Control, while his right fingertip released Shaqing Divine Light, sweeping over the Invisible Immortal Sword like flowing water, extinguishing that vicious Invisible Evil Fire.

At that moment, Geng Peng used the Heavenly Forbidden Technique to pull over two icebergs from afar, smashing them towards Lady Bao Xiang and Red Flower Grandmother. Red Flower Grandmother raised her hand to control forty-nine strands of red light, cleaving upward with the force of thunder fire, blowing one of the icebergs over ten meters tall to pieces, scattering it into a sky filled with flying ice fragments.

Lady Bao Xiang, on the other hand, used the Rainbow Chain to entangle and sever the iceberg.

Amid the scattered ice in the sky, Lady Bao Xiang took the opportunity to fire ten White Eyebrow Needles – five at Geng Peng and five across the battlefield at Shi Feiyang.

Shi Feiyang was currently using the True Water Inner Core to control a large area of the ice fragments, kindling them with invisible Invisible Evil Fire, unseen by the eye, while encircling Zhuge Jingwo in the process following the pattern of circulation. This move integrated the Golden Seal from the Yellow Emperor at the bottom of Dinghu Peak, the Poison Fire Secret Technique from the Heavenly Book Supplement, and the Demon Fire Burning Heart Technique that Wei Fengniang had learned from Brooyinca, combining the three skillfully into a formation.

Seizing the moment when Red Flower Grandmother was pressured by Geng Peng and couldn’t attend to attacking him, he intended to subdue Zhuge Jingwo first. He was about to deploy the Mica Tent to envelop Zhuge Jingwo and then use the Inversion of Five Elements to concentrate the Invisible Evil Fire on burning him when the White Eyebrow Needle from Lady Bao Xiang arrived.

The White Eyebrow Needle wasn’t made of the Five Elements; when launched, it was merely an inconspicuous white line. Shi Feiyang was quite a distance away from Lady Bao Xiang, and amidst the swirling ice and mist, it was truly unguardable.

Just when he was about to be hit by the White Eyebrow Needle again, the Cold Light Daoist, who had been watching the battle, made his move. He brought out the Star Absorption sphere, and all ten White Eyebrow Needles changed course mid-flight, heading toward the Star Absorption sphere, ultimately being absorbed by it.

Lady Bao Xiang furiously said, "Cold Light Daoist, do you dare to stand against the Emei Sect?"

Indeed, the Cold Light Daoist didn’t quite dare and quickly tried to mediate, "Both parties have come from afar, gracing our humble ground as distinguished guests. It’s easier to resolve disputes than to perpetuate them; can’t everyone sit down and talk things out? Please to my cave for a cup of tea..."

Red Flower Grandmother, who had always been proud and looked down upon the Cold Light Daoist, said coldly: "Since he’s aiding the evil demon, what is there to discuss? Watch as I destroy his famous magical treasure!" With a flick of her hand, she cast out a ball of red light that spread out in the air, igniting raging flames.

The Absorption Star Sphere of Cold Light Daoist was quite famous, and most cultivators in the world knew of it, including Red Flower Grandmother. Her Flying Sword and Bingling Shuttle were both restrained and absorbed, so she sacrificed another commonly used protective treasure, the Five Fire Qiankun Net. The artifact soared up and enclosed the Absorption Star Sphere within it. As she formed hand seals and cast a spell, five-colored flames blazed forth, interwoven and spewing wildly, threatening to refine the Absorption Star Sphere.

Cold Light Daoist saw his precious treasure was about to be damaged and was both anxious and angry, "Red Flower Daoist, I have no grudges against you, why do you insist on pushing me so hard?"

Red Flower Grandmother, with her offbeat mindset and ruthless behavior, quirky temperament, and known as the "Old Demoness," had held a grudge in her heart ever since she was defeated by Master Changmei. She had been painstakingly practicing various powerful spells on Guihua Mountain, and over the years, many Sword Immortals who came to visit the mountain, intending to gather Black Wind Grass, perished in the Poison Pond.

Although she had seen through some affairs over the years, becoming less extreme in nature, her way of doing things still carried the style of acting on her whims. Cold Light Daoist would have been fine as a mere bystander doing nothing but since he intervened, she showed no mercy.

With a gesture of her hand, she commanded the Five Fire Qiankun Net, with the Absorption Star Sphere trapped inside, to soar up to the Nine Heavens. Cold Light Daoist pursued with his sword drawn, but she blocked him with her Flying Sword, "Don’t be hasty. Let me send your broken sphere to the Nine Heavens Gang Wind where it will be refined and polished clean, then we can have a proper fight."

Cold Light Daoist gritted his teeth, "You bully too far!"

The two Immortal Swords entangled in combat, and Red Flower Grandmother also summoned her newly refined mountain treasure, the Three Talents Fire Cloud Ring. Transforming into three golden rings, each unleashing a thousand zhang of fierce fire, they promptly ensnared Cold Light Daoist’s Flying Sword, tightened inwards, and instantly crushed it to dust.

Cold Light Daoist launched three Cold Light Stabs, flashing like lightning towards Red Flower Grandmother, only to be also caught by the Three Talents Fire Cloud Ring and refined within the fiery blaze.

At this moment, Shi Feiyang released the Mica Tent and, coupled with a whirl of shattered hail that trapped Zhuge Jingwo, saw the situation but did not hurry to join the battle. Instead, he frenziedly produced mists and took to the sky, gathering a vast expanse of clouds with the True Water Primordial Pill, and condensed basin-sized hailstones mixed with billions of ice pellets to pour down in a chaotic barrage.

His actions were merely a ruse to deceive onlookers. Continuing to soar higher, he reached the Gang Wind Layer where Red Flower Grandmother’s Five Fire Qiankun Net was wrapping around the Absorption Star Sphere. The five colors of fierce fire formed a mountain peak, burning intensely, with the Absorption Star Sphere tumbling and crashing inside, unable to escape.

Red Flower Grandmother was truly formidable; ordinary flames could not withstand the blowing of the Nine Heavens Gang Wind and would extinguish upon contact. Normally, before the Absorption Star Sphere could be refined, her Five Fire Qiankun Net should have been dispersed first.

However, in reality, her treasure was capable of absorbing the Gang Wind, harnessing the wind to fuel the fire’s ferocity, growing more and more intense. It seemed that in no time at all, the Absorption Star Sphere would truly be refined.

The Absorption Star Sphere was the nemesis of all needle-like magical treasures. Just now, Cold Light Daoist had used it to help extract Bai Mei’s needles, and Shi Feiyang was very grateful for that. At this point, he couldn’t let Red Flower Grandmother refine it no matter what.

Facing the Five Fire Qiankun Net, he steeled his mind and observed carefully before attempting to spray out the Divine Fire Inner Core.

The protective treasure refined by Red Flower Grandmother was not ordinary. If it encountered any other Demon Core, even those with a Fire Attribute, they would be burnt to ashes by its flaming attacks.

Fortuitously, Shi Feiyang’s Divine Fire Inner Core was nourished by True Yang extracted from the True Water Inner Core, containing True Yang Qi and exhibiting the nature of Qiantian True Fire, unafraid of being burnt by the Five Fire Qiankun Net. Shi Feiyang suspended it above the Five Fire Qiankun Net and aligned it with the properties of the five fires, smoothing it out with Dan Qi...