29: The fire of the earth burns the gods, and the harvest is from a distance

Space shifted.

The world spun.

Song Daoyi and his elite subordinates only felt their vision blur before they appeared in a completely new space.

There was no anticipated safe haven.

There was no cave to hide in.

What greeted them was a boundless, dark-red world.

The air was filled with a thick scent of sulfur, and the temperature was high enough to instantly melt steel.

Underfoot was scalding, bubbling dark-red magma.

Overhead were inverted, massive stalactites shimmering with an eerie red light.

Destructive, violent, and scorching energy currents, like giant Dragons, raged and surged through this underground space.

This was... the Demonic Earthfire Vein!

“No... this isn't a teleportation! This is a trap!”

A well-informed Golden Core Elder shrieked, his voice distorted with terror, the moment he saw his surroundings.

Everyone's faces turned ashen white.

They finally realized what kind of dead end they had stepped into.

Song Daoyi’s pupils also constricted to the size of a needle tip.

As a powerhouse at the Half-step Nascent Soul stage, even with his Protective Aura fully activated, he could still feel waves of scorching heat, imbued with destructive Demonic Energy, frantically eroding his defenses!

His magic power was being consumed at an alarming rate here!

And the Disciples, whose cultivation was only at the Foundation Establishment Stage, met an even more tragic end.

Their protective spiritual light couldn't even last a single breath in the center of this Demonic Earthfire Vein.

“Ah—!”

Amidst screams, their bodies, along with their robes and Magical Artifacts, instantly ignited, turning into ash in a flash, not even a wisp of their Divine Soul escaping.

Even the Golden Core Elders only lasted a little longer.

Their Lifebound Treasures lost much of their spirituality here, and their protective Divine Abilities shattered with a single Impact from the violent Demonic Earthfire energy.

One by one, the Golden Core powerhouses, like dumplings falling into a pot, screamed as they plunged into the scorching magma sea below, to be completely devoured.

Walking into a trap.

Song Daoyi's heart was filled with endless regret and a chilling coldness.

He had been wrong.

He had been wrong from the very beginning.

That was not a Devil Head’s son at his wit's end at all.

It was a meticulously planned, deadly trap targeting all of them!

“Who... who exactly is it?!”

Song Daoyi roared to the heavens, his voice shaking the surroundings.

He couldn't understand how a mere Blackwind Stronghold could have someone capable of setting such a vicious and precise trap!

His Protective Aura, under the incessant onslaught of the boundless Demonic Earthfire energy, hummed under the strain, developing fine cracks.

He knew he was doomed.

Even a Half-step Nascent Soul couldn't last half an incense stick's time here.

In the last moments before his demise.

A look of grim determination flashed in Song Daoyi's eyes.

He fiercely bit the tip of his tongue, spitting out a mouthful of his Life Essence blood, which all merged into a crystal-clear Jade Slip in his hand.

He imprinted all the scenes, from his pursuit, to stepping into the trap, to his current predicament in this dead end.

Although he hadn't clearly seen the true appearance of that “Li Feiyang,” only a blurry figure.

But he wanted to expose this conspiracy, this trap, to the public!

He wanted the entire Righteous Path of Zhao Country to know that a terrifying Devil Head not only hunted those with heavenly destiny but could also lay such a devastating trap!

“Go!”

He used his last ounce of strength to throw this “Image-transmitting Jade Slip” towards a weak point in the space above his head.

The Jade Slip transformed into a streak of light, pierced through the earth, and disappeared.

After completing all this, Song Daoyi could no longer hold on.

His Protective Aura shattered with a crash.

The boundless Demonic Earthfire energy instantly swallowed him.

This “Thunder Sword,” who had awed Zhao Country for decades, couldn't even let out a scream before following in the footsteps of his Disciples, his Divine Soul completely annihilated... At the same time.

On a mountain Peak a hundred li away from Blackwind Mountain.

Jiang Chen sat cross-legged, the Soul Suppressing Demon Banner planted beside him.

His eyes were tightly shut, but his “Array Dao Heavenly Heart,” through a faint connection just before the teleportation array was destroyed, clearly “saw” everything that happened in the Demonic Earthfire Vein.

He “watched” as Song Daoyi and his subordinates stepped into the trap.

He “watched” as they turned into ashes in despair and fear.

With the deaths of those Golden Core and Foundation Establishment Cultivators.

Waves of incredibly pure Life Essence, mixed with their intense unwillingness and fear before death, were pulled by an invisible force from a distance.

Crossing a hundred li, they all surged into Jiang Chen's body!

His Dantian Star Sea, at this moment, stirred up monstrous waves.

The total amount of Formless Life Essence was rapidly increasing at an exaggerated rate!

His cultivation, which had just broken through to the Foundation Establishment Middle Stage, was repeatedly cleansed, refined, and solidified under the impetus of this vast energy.

Then, it began to charge towards a higher level.

Foundation Establishment Middle Stage... Peak!

Just one step away from entering the Late Stage!

Jiang Chen slowly opened his eyes.

He felt the unprecedented surge of power within him, yet there was no joy on his face.

His gaze turned towards the direction from which Song Daoyi had last transmitted the Jade Slip.

“Heavenly Demon”?

He muttered to himself in a low voice.

A good codename.

He knew that from the moment that Jade Slip was sent out.

What he would face would no longer be opponents of the level of Hundred Herb Valley or Qingcheng Sword Sect.

But higher-level existences from the entire Zhao Country, and even wider regions.

But so what?