Inside the massive cocoon woven from the Red Lotus Karma-Fire, dark crimson flows of light pulsed violently like living meridians. The temperature had surpassed the limits of mortal endurance, but Jiang Li did not retreat. Her crimson pupils remained fixed on the man in her arms.
Cang Yaochen's fingers dug so deep into her wrist that the bone nearly shattered. Agony surged through her arm and radiated across her entire body, yet she didn't so much as flinch. She could feel the strand of Evil God origin she had transferred acting like a searing branding iron, crashing through his withered meridians and forcibly reigniting the sparks of life that were on the verge of vanishing.
"Agh—!"
Cang Yaochen let out another low growl. It wasn't a wail of pain, but the roar of a beast about to break its cage. Under the impact of this power, the ancient wound on his chest began to seep blood that shimmered with intermingled gold and purple. As the droplets hit the black stone platform, they instantly transformed into tiny fire-lotuses, spinning before sinking back into his skin.
The purple crystals, previously ground into powder, began to re-congeal upon the surface of his bones under the refinement of the Karma-Fire. This time, however, they were no longer a seal, but an indestructible armor as thin as a cicada's wing.
"Cang Yaochen, look closely. Dying isn't going to be that easy."
Jiang Li reached out with her other hand and slammed it against his heart. She could feel that fractured heart beating frantically; every thrum echoed like the boom of a heavy war drum. The Mirror of Profound Inquiry hovered above them, relentlessly drawing in the Karma-Fire from the surrounding lotus ponds, refining it into the purest energy to pour into the massive blood-cocoon.
Time lost all meaning until the chaos in Cang Yaochen's eyes finally dissipated. The purple in his double pupils deepened into an abyssal void, and deep within the pupils, the faint shape of a red lotus flickered.
He stared intently at Jiang Li, who was inches away, his voice as raspy as grinding gravel. "Li'er... you are playing with fire."
"I lit the flame; I'll accept being burned to death," Jiang Li sneered. She tried to withdraw her hand, only to find that her internal power had struck a strange resonance with Cang Yaochen's.
It was the Karma planted three thousand years ago when he used half his heart to save her. Now, catalyzed by the Karma-Fire, this power was attempting to lock their destinies together permanently.
At that moment, a violent explosion echoed from outside the Red Lotus Purgatory.
"Purifying Water Divine Talisman—Open!"
The Golden Commander's voice pierced through the waves of fire. Immediately following, a beam of blue light—utterly pure yet freezing with cruelty—forcibly tore through the red glow outside the Purgatory. The Sacred Ground's reinforcements had arrived, wielding a supreme treasure specifically designed to suppress Karma-Fire.
The divine blue water cascaded down like a waterfall. Wherever it passed, the red lotuses that had burned for three thousand years began to wither one by one.
"Seeking death."
Jiang Li's gaze sharpened. She shoved Cang Yaochen back and stood up. Her long hair was now plated with an eerie red by the Karma-Fire, and the Mirror of Profound Inquiry in her hand emitted a bloodthirsty hum.
Cang Yaochen also rose slowly. The robes on his upper body had long been incinerated, revealing muscle lines forged like tempered steel. The old wound had completely healed, replaced by a shimmering, translucent red lotus mark. With a casual wave of his hand, a charred piece of driftwood from the distance flew into his grip, instantly wreathed in demonic fire and transforming into a pitch-black great saber.
"Priest, leave those small fry outside to me," Jiang Li glanced at him sideways, her lips curling into a cruel smile. "As for that leader... I want to gouge out his Divine Core with my own hands."
Cang Yaochen said nothing, merely tightening his grip on the demonic blade. The aura radiating from him was no longer purely demonic, but carried a sense of world-ending calamity.
BOOM—!
The massive blood-red cocoon exploded completely.
Two crimson silhouettes, like twin bolts of lethal lightning, braved the torrential blue divine water and golden arrow rain to charge straight out of the stone fissure.
The Golden Commander was smugly fueling the divine talisman when he saw two killing gods emerge from the flames. The terrifying pressure rushing toward him made his spine go cold.
"This... this is impossible! Inside the Karma-Fire, how could you possibly break the seal?"
Jiang Li did not answer. The Mirror of Profound Inquiry in her hand flipped suddenly, its surface facing the radiant sun formed by the divine water.
"Drink it dry."
A gargantuan suction erupted from the mirror. The divine water—powerful enough to destroy the entire Purgatory—was swallowed instantly by the mirror like a whale gulping the sea.
Without the suppression of the water, the surrounding Red Lotus Karma-Fire surged upward by a hundred feet.
Cang Yaochen, wielding the demonic saber, tore through the Sacred Ground's battle array. With every swing of his blade, several lives were extinguished. Golden divine blood splattered across the scorched earth, only to be evaporated instantly by the Karma-Fire.
Jiang Li appeared before the Commander like a phantom, the tip of her Heart-Piercing Crossbow already pressed against his throat.
"Just now... who did you call a rebel?"