308: The world finally produces rare treasures (Second update, please give me a monthly ticket)

Two days later, at noon, in the southern part of Jingguan City, the sky and earth were a hazy grey.

The snow had been falling for ten days, intermittently, and the accumulated snow in the wilderness was already two or three feet thick, enough to bury a person.

Looking out from the city walls, the boundless wilderness was a vast expanse of white, with countless plants and trees frozen to death by the wind and snow, and the world was desolate and lonely, as if all life had vanished.

But two hundred miles away, there was a General Mountain, which presented a starkly different scene from the ice-bound land; here, raging flames consumed the mountain, and scorching hot lava, like fiery red streams spreading everywhere, incinerated everything.

This mountain was a thousand zhang high, rumored to be an ancient battlefield from the past, with only fragmented records in local gazetteers, as if too much time had passed, leaving few traces. Normally, it was neither a feng shui treasure land nor did Spiritual Plants grow there; it was just an ordinary barren mountain, only occasionally visited by hunters.

However, five days ago, an anomaly appeared here: the earth trembled, mountains collapsed and the ground cracked, lava erupted, raging for dozens of miles around, and even a gem called scarlet fire crystal spewed forth, leading to its blockade by Fushi personnel.

At this moment, this General Mountain was revealing its second anomaly, even grander in scale than the first.

The entire earth trembled violently, and a muffled roar surged from deep within the earth's core, like the furious roar of an ancient beast, causing the world to shake violently. The originally scarred earth developed countless cracks, like wounds torn open in the ground, from which billows of scorching white Qi and pulsating red light spewed forth.

Immediately after, the entire General Mountain suddenly burst into brilliant light, and scorching lava, like a Heaven-reaching Dragon, surged upwards with the might of an Earth-Shaking Wave. The lava was fiery red, carrying a destructive heat, and wherever it passed, rocks instantly melted, and the Void Realm was scorched and distorted.

The lava rolled and roared, transforming into burning rivers that wantonly devoured everything around them—rocks, snow, vegetation, and brilliant flames, as if obliterating the world.

At the same time, towering black smoke rose, blotting out the sky and sun, spreading like a dark tide in all directions, completely obscuring the already dim daylight, plunging the world into darkness.

The next second,

“Boom!”

Lightning flashed and thunder rumbled in the sky, lightning tearing through the darkness, and thunder raging across the heavens.

The snowflakes dancing in the world, the scorching lava rushing like a great river, the black smoke blotting out the sky, and the wildly raging thunder—this world had truly become a scene of doomsday!

Accompanying the collapsing mountains and cracking earth, the flying rocks and splashing lava, a sharp whistling sound also rang out.

Amidst the sky-filling flames mixed with black smoke, figures in cold iron armor rapidly retreated towards the periphery, or swung out Saber Qi, splitting apart the incoming fiery red rocks.

And among these chaotic rocks, streaks of brilliant, fire-like spiritual light scattered in all directions.

Exclamations also rang out.

“It’s pure scarlet fire crystal!”

An armored soldier, amidst the flashing cold light in the world, split open the chaotic rocks and grabbed a brilliant flame flying towards him.

As the flame appeared, a finger-thick piece of scarlet crystal emerged. Although not large, fire Xia flowed within it, dazzling and brilliant, filled with incredibly pure and rich fire essence. Held tightly in hand, even with True Qi isolation, it felt like holding a red-hot branding iron, its temperature scorching.

But before he could rejoice, he suddenly heard a clear, Heaven-shaking whistle, abruptly rising from the General Mountain, which had transformed into a sea of fire.

The sound was Earth-shaking, piercing metal and splitting stone, containing a formidable Heavenly might that inspired awe.

The armored soldiers blocking the mountain all looked towards the center of General Mountain and witnessed a shocking scene.

A gigantic, majestic vermilion firebird, like a Heaven and Earth totem, soared into the sky from the General Mountain, which had become a sea of fire.

This bird was engulfed in soaring flames, its brilliant tail feathers adorned with dazzling scarlet-gold patterns, and its eyes, like red jewels, were dazzling and captivating.

Its wings were like clouds hanging from the sky, covering about a li, instantly burning the dark sky into fiery clouds. But with the appearance of this giant firebird, the world became hot and dry, and at the same time, the essence Qi in this world became agitated, rapidly growing denser at an astonishing speed.

Immediately after, this giant firebird let out another piercing shriek, flapped its wings violently, gathering wind, fire, thunder, and lightning beneath them, and then abruptly transformed into a streak of fire, shooting towards the farther south.

“Whoosh!”

A sharp whistle sounded at this moment.

A leading Captain responsible for blockading the area, seeing the appearance of this giant firebird and feeling the suddenly boiling, scorching essence Qi in the world, was greatly alarmed, then his eyes blazed with excitement, realizing that this vermilion great bird was not a real demonic living creature.

Seeing it about to flee, his face grew anxious, “Form a formation! Take this thing down, don’t let it escape!”

And as this loud shout rang out, shouts rose from all directions, and more than a hundred streaks of Saber Qi bloomed amidst the wind and snow, soaring into the sky, then converging into six giant Saber Qi nearly ten zhang long. Following this, six Peak figures soared into the sky, unleashing their Divine Abilities, condensing True Qi hands, grasping these giant cold sabers, and whistling through the snow and wind, shooting up a thousand meters into the sky, encircling the giant firebird flying in the sky from six directions, and fiercely chopping down on it.

This was a battle formation, condensing the Saber Qi of dozens of people into one, and then led by the commander holding the saber, it could unleash an attack comparable to the Heavenly Gate. Six long sabers represented six forces of the Heavenly Gate.

The six Captain launched a combined attack, and the six ten-zhang-long sabers almost simultaneously struck the fiery red giant bird.

However, as the long sabers landed on the majestic vermilion bird, which was radiating flames, in a mere breath's time, the saber edges were instantly evaporated into white Qi by the scarlet flames emanating from the vermilion bird.

Then, the giant firebird let out a sharp shriek, flapped its wings, and a fiery storm carrying scorching heat waves exploded, sweeping and scattering, throwing the six Captain down into the Void Realm.

When the firestorm dispersed, the majestic firebird was nowhere to be seen.

And above the black, snow-filled sky, a feather, about a zhang long, brilliant like flowing fire, swayed and drifted down from the Void Realm where it had been.

The six Captain who had been knocked into the Void Realm earlier simultaneously rushed towards where the feather had fallen.

One of them raised his hand and grabbed the brilliant, fire-like feather, which clearly seemed extraordinary.

It landed lightly in his hand, almost without any weight.

Suddenly, the zhang-long fiery red feather flashed with spiritual light, abruptly shrinking into a fiery red leaf about a foot in size.

This leaf glowed with a red aura, was palm-shaped with triangular lobes, as warm and smooth as jade, and radiated a rich essence Qi, making it truly extraordinary.

“Is this a Wutong leaf?”

The six Captain looked at the leaf, their eyes glinting with surprise and brilliance.

“The origin of this leaf is extraordinary, and it carries great significance. It must be handed over to Ninth Zhonglang for a decision!”

“There are many sneaky spies here; the commotion here must have alerted them. The six of us will escort it together; there can be no mistakes.”

“The others will continue to guard here.”

“Let’s go!”