256: Fire to clear the way

Li Ao's eyes were tightly shut, his Emperor Realm Soul, like the most precise net, permeated thread by thread into the dark-red flame barrier. To outsiders, he merely stood still, but in his world of perception, what lay before him was a vast and complex energy network diagram, woven from countless raging flame rules.

This barrier was not inanimate; its energy flowed like a river, circulating along specific trajectories. The dark-red flames not only possessed extreme heat but also contained a will to "incinerate" and "purify." Any external energy not belonging to its system would be mercilessly repelled and destroyed.

Time passed bit by bit, and the surrounding factions grew restless. The red-haired elder from Burning Flame Valley several times wanted to step forward to inquire or probe, but he was stopped by the icy, biting gaze of Medusa beside Li Ao and the subtly dangerous aura emanating from Xiao Yi Xian. Coupled with his apprehension about Li Ao's true strength, he ultimately held back. The few individuals from the Hall of Souls remained silent like venomous snakes in the shadows, their cold gazes occasionally sweeping over Li Ao, nobody knew what they were planning.

Approximately half an hour later, Li Ao's tightly closed eyes suddenly snapped open, and a chaotic gray light flashed through them, then vanished.

"Found it!"

In his vast soul perception, he finally captured several extremely subtle rule stagnation points that appeared periodically with the flow of energy on this seemingly flawless barrier energy network diagram. These stagnation points were not weaknesses but instantaneous "gaps" that inevitably arose during energy conversion and rule alternation, much like the brief transition during human breathing.

Forcibly attacking the entire barrier would provoke a full counterattack from the barrier. However, if one could precisely cut in with absolute power at the instant these "gaps" appeared, it might be possible to temporarily "deceive" the barrier's rules and open a temporary passage!

"Stay close to me!"

Li Ao let out a low shout, no longer hesitating. His aura suddenly changed; the Guixu Great Dao operated, and a desolate aura, as if capable of bringing all things to an end, permeated the air, causing several nearby Dou Zun powerhouses to feel a pang of dread.

He took a step, walking directly towards the flame light curtain that emitted terrifying high temperatures and a destructive will!

"What is he doing? Is he looking for death?!" someone exclaimed in shock.

The red-haired elder from Burning Flame Valley's pupils contracted: "He wants to force his way in?"

Under the gaze of countless eyes, some horrified, some puzzled, some gloating, Li Ao raised his right palm. In the center of his palm, Guixu Sacred Power condensed to a high degree, forming a constantly rotating chaotic gray vortex.

Just a split second before his foot was about to step onto the light curtain—

Now!

Li Ao's eyes burst with sharp light, and the chaotic vortex in his palm pressed lightly, seemingly casually, against a certain spot on the light curtain ahead!

"Guixu—Rule Devour!"

There was no earth-shattering bang. The dark-red flame light curtain, at the moment it was touched by the chaotic vortex, rippled violently as if a stone had been thrown into a calm lake! But this time, the ripple was not a counterattack; rather, the flame rules within it, at that specific "stagnation point," were forcibly interfered with by the power of Guixu, even temporarily "erasing" parts of its structure!

A dark-red passage, just wide enough for one person and with constantly twisting and flickering edges, appeared on the light curtain!

Inside the passage, even hotter dark-red flames, as if capable of melting metal, surged like angry waves, but the passage itself remained temporarily stable!

"Go!"

Li Ao shouted lowly, his figure flashing as he was the first to rush into the passage. The surging dark-red flames lunged at him, but when they came within three feet of him, they were silently disintegrated and devoured by an invisible field of nirvana, unable to harm him in the slightest.

Medusa and Xiao Yi Xian followed without any hesitation. Medusa's body shimmered with colorful light, forming a light shield that isolated the high temperature and flames. Xiao Yi Xian, on the other hand, activated her Chaotic Poison Body, and a faint gray-purple mist diffused around her. The violent flame energy, upon touching this mist, seemed to be neutralized, its power greatly reduced.

The three moved extremely fast, like three streaks of light, instantly disappearing into the depths of the passage.

All of this happened too quickly; from Li Ao's action to the disappearance of the three, only two or three breaths of time passed!

It wasn't until the flame passage began to shrink and close at a visible speed, finally reverting to a complete dark-red light curtain, that the hundreds of powerhouses gathered outside suddenly snapped back to their senses.

"A passage! He opened a passage!"

"Quick! Stop them! We can't let them monopolize the opportunity!"

"Charge in!"

The scene instantly spiraled out of control! Several nearby rogue Dou Zun cultivators and powerhouses from the Northwest Continent, their eyes instantly bloodshot, rushed recklessly towards the original location of the newly closed light curtain. Various Dou Techniques furiously bombarded the light curtain, attempting to emulate Li Ao and open a passage again.

"Boom!" "Bang!"

However, their attacks not only failed to open a passage but completely enraged the barrier! Above the light curtain, dark-red flames erupted like a volcanic eruption, transforming into dozens of giant flame pythons that indiscriminately bit at the attackers and the nearby crowd!

"Ah—!"

"No!"

Screams of agony instantly rang out! Several Dou Huangs and a One-Star Dou Zun rogue cultivator who had rushed too far forward, unable to dodge, were directly entangled by the flame pythons. Their protective Dou Qi shattered like paper, and their entire bodies were incinerated into nothingness in an instant, not even leaving ashes behind!

The terrifying scene made those behind stop in horror, cold sweat streaming down their faces, no longer daring to attack easily.

The red-haired elder from Burning Flame Valley's face was ashen. He stared intently at the place where Li Ao and the two had disappeared, his fists clenched: "Damn it! How did he do it?!" His Burning Flame Valley had studied flames their entire lives, yet they were helpless against this barrier, only to be preempted by someone of unknown origin. How could he not be furious?

The black-robed Venerable from the Hall of Souls, his gaze beneath his hood even colder, whispered to his companions: "Notify the branch hall. The target has entered the ruins. The strength assessment needs to be upgraded. He is suspected of possessing special means to break restrictions. Request reinforcements and activate the second step of the 'Fire Hunt' plan."

He looked at the flame barrier, which had returned to calm but was even more unsettling, and a cruel smile played at the corner of his mouth.

"Go in... The deeper you go, the more thoroughly you will despair then..."

Inside the barrier, Li Ao and the two had passed through the brief flame passage and officially stepped into the outer reaches of the Sky Incinerating Valley ruins.

What greeted their eyes was not the imagined broken walls and ruins, but an boundless world of flames!

The sky was dark-red, burning with eternal flame clouds. The earth was scorched black, with hot magma flowing in the cracks. The air was filled with the pungent smell of sulfur and extreme high temperatures. An ordinary Dou Huang here would probably run out of Dou Qi and be incinerated into charcoal within a short while.

And at the end of their sight, an incredibly magnificent complex of grand palaces, entirely constructed from some dark-red crystal, loomed in and out of view amidst the sea of flames, exuding a suffocating ancientness and majesty.

That was the core of the Sky Incinerating Valley, and the source of the Heavenly Flame!

But the path to that palace complex was by no means smooth. Various creatures formed from flames—fire crows, fire pythons, fire wolves... and even more powerful flame giants—roamed this world of flames, exuding a violent aura.

Li Ao felt the pure and violent fire-attribute energy in the air, as well as the subtle tremor from the fragment of the nirvana ancient talisman within him, and his eyes became incredibly sharp.

"The real test begins now."