183: The terrifying Nine Netherworld Fire

The moment that profound darkness appeared, time seemed to freeze.

The space at the edge of the black hole suddenly resembled glass clutched by an invisible giant hand, covered in spiderweb-like cracks, with streams of Deep Blue and dark purple flames breaking free from the constantly expanding fissure.

What surged out first wasn't the flames themselves, but a deathly stillness capable of freezing the Soul.

Within a hundred-zhang radius, the sound of wind, breathing, and even the hum of spiritual energy flowing were instantly swallowed, leaving only the thunderous pounding of everyone's hearts echoing in the Void Realm.

The Netherworld Darkfire, as soon as it appeared, revealed its ferocious true form.

It wasn't the flickering of ordinary fire, but countless twisted Soul shadows bobbing in the flame's core; each wisp of flame was like a chain steeped in potent poison, leaving scorched ripples in the space it passed through as it drew an eerie glow in the air.

The Cultivators in the front row hadn't even had time to summon their Magical Artifacts when a speck of dark fire suddenly ignited between their brows.

The terror on their faces froze into an eternal expression, their bodies turning to ash at a visible rate, unable to even let out a scream, leaving only a few wisps of smoke carried away by the flame wind, their Souls seemingly incinerated completely.

Even more chilling was the aura emanating from the flames.

It was a bone-chilling cold more piercing than Netherworld ice, yet it carried a scorching heat capable of melting metal and stone; these two extreme forces tore and collided in the air, making the onlookers' skin feel both a needle-like sting and a frostbite-like numbness simultaneously.

Some Cultivators tried to circulate their spiritual energy to resist, but the spiritual energy in their Dantian scattered wildly as if encountering its nemesis, and a searing pain, as if being burned by flames, came from their Meridians.

Several Cultivators with weaker cultivation immediately spat blood, their bodies collapsing softly, their pupils reflecting the ever-expanding sea of Netherworld fire, their last trace of vitality completely swallowed.

At the same time, Tang Fu and Deng Qi were also in a bad state, but fortunately, Lin Ye had placed them by his side, helping them block most of the power.

The moment the flames rose, much of the light between heaven and earth seemed to be drawn away, with only the Netherworld Darkfire emitting an eerie glow, illuminating everyone's faces in flickering light and shadow.

"Late-Stage Transformation God!!!" Lin Ye first gasped, then quickly roared, "Form a Formation, quickly form a Formation!"

As Lin Ye's roar pierced the Void Realm, the Star Bead in his palm trembled violently.

He tapped his toes on the ground and retreated rapidly, his hands forming seals like a dancing butterfly, and the Star Bead suddenly erupted with seven silver rays, connecting everyone.

"Dipper, Ox, Girl, Void, Rooftop, Encampment, Wall!" As his shouts grew more urgent, brilliant star trails appeared between the seven silver rays.

At the intersection of the star trails, countless phantom star fragments fell from the Void Realm, forming a circular star wall around the Netherworld Darkfire.

Each fragment of the star wall was engraved with rotating star patterns, which, when combined, resembled a living star map, firmly absorbing the dark purple flame tendrils emanating from the Netherworld fire onto the wall, emitting a sizzling burning sound.

Almost at the instant the star wall formed, Zhao Tian of the Four Symbols Star Region had already stepped into the center of the Four Symbols Dharma Seal.

He pressed his hands on the forehead of the Azure Dragon phantom, and the Dharma Seal trembled violently.

The Azure Dragon in the east spewed sweet dew, forming a water curtain; the White Tiger in the west roared out fierce winds, solidifying into a wind wall; the Vermilion Bird in the south flapped its wings, igniting a fire barrier; and the Black Tortoise in the north bore a turtle shell, blocking the retreat path.

The four giant beast phantoms became increasingly solid under the impetus of his spiritual energy, even allowing the patterns on the Azure Dragon's scales and the cold glint on the White Tiger's fangs to be clearly seen.

The power of the Four Symbols outlined a four-sided profound Formation in the Void Realm, and at the core of the Formation, a yellow-earth light pillar shot into the sky, violently smashing the upward-spreading flames of the Netherworld Darkfire back to their original place.

Meanwhile, the people of the Tiangang Star Region had already formed a square Formation, with the Tiangang Battle Halberd held high above Luo Feng's head at the very front, and the others successively placing their palms on the back of the person in front.

Golden battle Qi connected along their arms, and the light pillar at the tip of the battle halberd instantly expanded tenfold, transforming into a golden battle axe phantom that spanned heaven and earth.

"Kill!" A unified roar erupted from the square Formation, and the battle axe phantom sharply cleaved down, but it did not touch the Netherworld fire; instead, it split open a golden rift to its south.

From the rift surged countless phantoms of halberd-wielding warriors, who stood in Formation, their battle Qi condensed into shields, firmly holding back the tongues of fire attempting to break through to the south.

At the same time, the Cultivators of the Lunar and Solar Star Domains chose to cooperate.

The Lunar Moon Disk hung in the west, its moonlight no longer cold but condensed into a translucent ice mirror, reflecting the full appearance of the Netherworld Darkfire, with the movement of every wisp of flame clearly shown.

The Solar Dharma Wheel floated in the east, a Dragon-shaped phantom coiling upwards, and as Dragon breath was exhaled, crimson flames wove into a net in the Void Realm, converging with the cold Qi of the ice mirror on the north and south sides, forming a red and white light membrane.

When the moon disk and the Dragon shield trembled simultaneously, the light membrane suddenly contracted inwards, compressing the Netherworld fire's activity range by nearly half; the power of ice and fire alternately flickered on the membrane, forcing those dark purple flame tendrils to curl back.

In an instant, the star wall of the Big Dipper Seven Stars Great Formation, the beast phantoms of the Four Symbols Demon Suppressing Formation, the golden halberd of the Tiangang Battle Formation, and the ice-fire light membrane of the Lunar and Solar alliance—five Fifth-Grade Formations, like five shackles, surrounded the Netherworld Darkfire from the east, south, west, north, and center.

Besides these, Cultivators from other forces were also using methods to suppress the Netherworld Darkfire.

Once the surrounding sea of fire was compressed, everyone finally saw the true face of the Netherworld Darkfire.

Its form was absolutely incomparable to ordinary flames in the world; it was not a continuous body of flame but composed of billions of dark purple flame tendrils intertwined, each strand as fine as hair, yet gleaming with a metallic cold light, as if steeped in the deepest venom of the Netherworld.

When the flame tendrils touched each other, they did not merge; instead, they ignited tiny black-purple sparks, which, upon landing, transformed into miniature vortices, greedily devouring the surrounding light.

The core of the flames was a bottomless dark black, as if all the darkness of the entire Universe had been compressed there, with occasional specks of crimson light flickering within, like the eyes of the dying in their final struggle.

And beyond the core, countless translucent Soul shadows floated in the sea of fire.

Some retained human form, others had twisted into strange beast shapes, their limbs and torsos entangled and pierced by flame tendrils, yet unable to break free.

They could only eternally stretch and contract within the flames, each movement subtly altering the flame's outline.

Even more bizarre was its edge, which was not a clear boundary but constantly expanded and contracted, deforming like the breath of a living creature.

The extended tongues of flame were claw-shaped, their tips bearing an eerie blue cold glow, and when retracted, they transformed into a flowing liquid, like a pot of boiling ink, yet emitting a scorching aura.

When it moved, it dragged a long flame tail behind it, with countless tiny runes floating in the tail; these runes twisted, shattered, and ultimately returned to nothingness, as if the flames had devoured the very text.

If one looked closely, they would find that every inch of the flames was undergoing a cycle of destruction and birth.

Old flame tendrils extinguished, new ones emerged from nothingness; Soul shadows burned to ash, and new Soul shadows condensed from the darkness.

This ceaseless change made it seem both like a solidified disaster and a living monster that fed on despair.

And at this moment, this "monster" was looking at them with a greedy and tyrannical gaze.