Chapter 773 - Sudden Change
The [Red Lotus Hellfire] soon approached him.
The demon fire flames roared toward him in rapid succession as though they were ferocious ancient demonic creatures that would swallow everything in their way.
The yellow mist continued to move as slowly as a thin veil in the middle of the raging fire.
Boom!
The [Red Lotus Hellfire] collided against the yellow mist.
At that moment, Ye Qingyu felt like the entire universe shook from its impact.
All of a sudden, there was a loud booming sound from the [Cloud Top Cauldron] which was suspended in the air.
But it quickly calmed down.
During the instant in which the [Red Lotus Hellfire] collided against the yellow mist, time and space seemed to pause. Everyone watched as these powers that seemed to be worlds apart grappled with each other. The [Red Lotus Hellfire] surged wildly and followed the trajectory of the yellow mist, shooting high toward the sky. Soon, both the [Cloud Top Cauldron] and the entire mountain were consumed by the fire.
At that moment, all Ye Qingyu could see were the fiery flames that surrounded him, causing his heart to stop in his throat.
Then, the burning sensation he felt suddenly disappeared.
Upon closer inspection, he noticed that the [Red Lotus Hellfire] continued to rage violently, burning everything that stood in its path, including the space barrier which melted like molten glass. However, the yellow mist that floated down from the [Cloud Top Cauldron] acted like the laws of the Great Dao, creating a barrier between him and the flames. It not only did not catch fire but also kept the raging hellfire away as it swayed gently like willows.
The fiery storm that raged was kept completely at bay.
He succeeded!
Just as he suspected, the [Cloud Top Cauldron] was able to block the [Red Lotus Hellfire].
His face lit up and he let out a secret sigh of relief.
Nonetheless, he did not let his guard down.
The [Cloud Top Cauldron] might have blocked the demon fire for the time being but he did not know how long this would last for.
He was even more concerned by the fact that more than half the time remaining before the Door of Life was due to close had passed. He did not know how long the Four Stars holy girl planned to stay here, but if this stalemate continued, the consequence he would face by failing to return to the Door of Life would be unthinkable.
He turned back and saw that the parasol tree behind him was still in nirvana and the Celestial Phoenix Maiden was still in the state of a golden egg. He then looked down at his broken and tattered body and broke into a wry smile.
"Damn it, I really don't know what has come over me. I've risked so much for this woman, I shouldn't... be so showy... And you should really wake up soon, because if you continue in this state of nirvana, we'd both be doomed!"
Now that they were safe for the time being, he felt tiredness and pain wash over him. He finally staggered and slid to the ground, his feet unsteady.
In the Void.
"How... is this possible? That bronze pot? It looks like a cauldron?" A look of surprise flashed across the Four Stars holy girl's cold eyes.
She had always been able to control her expressions, but this time, the Four Stars holy girl was unable to keep her face from betraying her shock and astonishment.
That strange gigantic cauldron had actually managed to hold off my [Red Lotus Hellfire]. What is it? What kind of divine object could it be?
Who exactly is this person?
Why is he in possession of such a magical object?
Did he... chance upon an opportunity here?
The Third Prince's face changed as well, and a look of surprise flashed past his eyes. He did not know why, but when he saw that Ye Qingyu had managed to hold off the [Red Lotus Hellfire], he was shocked yet slightly relieved at the same time, and vaguely felt that this result was the most appropriate one.
Yang Wanqu, who stood behind him deferentially, looked at the [Cloud Top Cauldron] with both surprise and greed.
Ye Qingyu sat cross-legged under the parasol tree, his face pale and his body covered in blood. He started to feel dizzy, as though he was on the verge of losing consciousness. The sense of relief he felt after the battle had caused the power of thunder and lightning to disappear. Without this power holding his body together, his flesh started to come off in pieces, like a broken porcelain doll, a gruesome sight to behold.
The pressure that his body had withstood was excessively huge and had caused irreparable damage, such that he looked like he was about to shatter at any time.
He exerted the nameless breathing technique to recalibrate his body.
The effect was average.
This was mainly because his body contained three kinds of powers - green wind, lightning, and ice flame, and these powers were constantly grappling with one another, thereby repressing his foundation. The healing process was extremely slow, much slower than the rate his body was shattering.
At this rate, his physical body was doomed.
He could not help feeling anxious.
But then, he suddenly experienced a miraculous change.
He felt a strange warmth moving from his arm to the rest of his body like a snake which was wrapped in fire. This warmth extended across his meridians and blood.
This warmth caused him to come back to his senses.
At the same time, his body finally stopped breaking apart.
"This blood... why is it suddenly moving again..."
He immediately understood what had happened.
This warmth was from the rainbow-colored blood the Celestial Phoenix Maiden had given him when she healed his broken arm earlier. He had thought that healing his arm had exhausted all its power, but now, it had re-appeared, encircling his body as it released a faint rainbow-colored halo.
The rainbow power, which had been activated by the Phoenix blood, flowed along his meridians and bloodstream, and instantly gathered toward his limbs, bones, heart, and dantian. Its fiery flames did not cause a burning sensation, but rather, a strange, comfortable warmth.
As this warmth washed over him, an even more surprising change occurred.
The power of wind, thunder and lightning, and [Supreme Ice Flame] contained within him had initially found their equilibrium and had been in a state of fragile balance. However, all of a sudden, they started to move manically, as though they had been reawakened by the rainbow power.
"Pfft! I'm in..."
He coughed out a mouthful of blood which spilled anew from the wounds on his body.
These three powers released green, silver, and purple light and tunneled maniacally through his body as they wrestled with one another. It was as though three powerful martial experts were fighting within him, and they were all after the rainbow power.
He was unable to move, as though he was under a body-binding charm that rendered him completely immobile.
His body, tendons, bones, and major organs had all been destroyed by these three violent powers, which used to be mindful enough not to harm his body but now acted like maniacs that had lost all sense of reason. They frantically tunneled through his body and paid no heed to the destruction they caused. They cut through his body as though it was made of tofu and left a visible trail of destruction everywhere they passed, causing his flesh and bones to shatter.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Continuous sounds of explosions could be heard from within his body.
His body and face seemed to be detonating due to countless bombs. His flesh had been torn to shreds, his blood continuously flowed, and even his bones and tendons had been shattered.
Several breaths later.
He resembled a cloth doll that had been dragged out from a pool of blood. His entire body was riddled with injuries and his breath was shallow.
"What's going on...damn it. These three powers...are they trying to kill me?"
He could not help cursing.
It was just like a series of misfortunes in which everyone started to hit him while he was down. That drop of Phoenix blood was just about to heal his body when these three powers started to go crazy.
He felt his divine sense clearly and could also feel the continuous explosions from his body, shooting blood arrows everywhere, but he could not move an inch. He could only look on helplessly at his own tragic state.
The surrounding area.
The [Red Lotus Hellfire] only grew more ferocious under the control of the Four Stars holy girl. The area surrounding the [Cloud Top Cauldron] had been dyed scarlet, as though the [Red Lotus Hellfire] was about to refine the entire universe, a terrifying sight. Even Yang Wanqu who was watching from a distance, felt as though he was about to melt like a snowman. He had to retreat even further.
The [Cloud Top Cauldron] did not waver and continued its slow operation. Yellow mist still flowed downward from it, easily keeping the [Red Lotus Hellfire] at bay.
As time passed, Ye Qingyu started to lose consciousness.
He could no longer differentiate illusion from reality.
The [Red Lotus Hellfire] was like a flame giant who slowly approached the parasol tree, and seemed to be less than one hundred meters away from his point of view.
Midair, he was starting to see blurry doubles of the trio, including the Four Stars holy girl.
He was in a bizarre situation.
He could clearly still feel the changes his body was undergoing.
The powers of wind, ice flame and lightning were still frantically fighting within him.
As they continued to wrestle each other, his injury-riddled body slowly started to turn into a pool of blood. His flesh started to fall off his bones inch by inch and landed on the grass patch beside him. His bones, which were almost completely shattered, started to slowly collapse and turned into fine jadeite power that floated away with the wind.
He thought it odd that even though his body was melting like ice under a hot sun, he did not feel his life seeping away from his body.
Approximately ten minutes later.
His body had turned into a pool of blood that spilled across the surrounding grass.
However, he was not dead.
The others watched with disbelief as a strange phenomenon happened in the pool of blood.
Although Ye Qingyu, who had been sitting under the parasol tree, had turned into a pool of blood, in his place were three mutually-antagonistic powers which formed a near-transparent body that glowed brightly.
These three powers fought even more intensely within that transparent body. The warmth from the rainbow power of the Celestial Phoenix Maiden's blood was also tunneling relentlessly through his body.
Simultaneously, a crystal clear human floated within this transparent body where his dantian had been. This was his true-self doppelganger, formed from his yuan qi. It stood steadily on top of the stairs in the middle.