Patriarch Treewind, Imperator Jade Rainbow, Nuwa, and the others all turned pale.

“A fine disciple you have, Treewind!” Imperator Jade Rainbow instantly sent a frantic mental message: “A ‘Sithe armory’? It was actually one of the Blazesun Ruler’s hidden estates. We’re in serious trouble now!”

“What’s the use of saying all of this now? When we broke through layers of formations and penetrated to the very depths of the estate, we already suspected that this was actually a place which belonged to the Blazesun Ruler, right? You still chose to take the Sithe treasures away with you. The entire reason we chose to hide within Houwu City was because we wanted to see what would happen next!” Patriarch Treewind said angrily.

“Damnit.” Imperator Jade Rainbow was extremely nervous. He glanced at the white-robed youth standing next to Lord Houwu, then sent mentally, “Old man Treewind, do you think Daolord Darknorth would be willing to help us out? And… do you think he can beat the Blazesun Ruler?”

“Hard to say,” Patriarch Treewind sent back. “If he was in perfect shape with unfettered access to his divine power and Immortal ki? Given how he was able to slay the Lonely King with just one strike, he definitely wouldn’t need to fear the Blazesun Ruler. Even if he wasn’t able to win, Daolord Darknorth would definitely be able to defend against him! The problem is that he has failed his Daomerge, which means he can’t battle for too long. It’ll probably be very hard for him to fight against the Blazesun Ruler, who is in perfect shape.”

“Ugh.” Imperator Jade Rainbow said nervously, “I hope Daolord Darknorth cares about Nuwa to defend her.”

……

Ning frowned. Of course he had to protect Nuwa! He’d protect her even at the cost of his own life.

“Flamewing, release a bit of your aura,” Ning sent.

“Need me to attack?” Flamewing asked rather eagerly.

“Don’t be impatient,” Ning instructed.

“Fien!” Flamewing immediately flew into the air while returning to his true form. The enormous, flame-bathed body of the Flamewing God appeared in the skies, emanating an aura of inexhaustible power. As a Chaos Primordial, its energy stores were virtually limitless, and its body was all but indestructible. Even Sithe Exalts had to attack in numbers; a single one wouldn’t be able to do anything to it.

“A Chaos Primordial!” The mighty experts serving the Blazesun Ruler were all shocked, while the three leaders felt a sense of trepidation.

“Chaos Primordial, why are you standing with cultivators?” the crimson bloodfiend leader roared angrily.

“We’ve come on orders from the Blazesun Ruler. Are you going to make an enemy out of him?” the eight-armed chain-bearing giant roared angrily as well.

“You two idiots,” the red-robed maiden muttered.

“Who the hell is the Blazesun-whatever? I don’t know him!” Flamewing bellowed back.

The red-robed maiden secretly felt helpless. All Chaos Primordials had the intelligence of children, and they were born completely fearless. Nothing and no one could control them! Yes, the Blazesun Ruler might have the power of a Sith Exalt and was indeed stronger than Flamewing… so what if he was? He still wouldn’t be able to capture Flamewing, much less kill it! There was nothing the Blazesun Ruler could do to this troublemaker.

“Chaos Primordial, why must you interfere? This is an affair between us and these cultivators,” the red-robed maiden said.

“What’s with all the questions?!” Flamewing bellowed.

Ning said, “It is true that the five of them offended the Ruler by trespassing on his estate, but they weren’t aware that it belonged to him. They thought that it was a relic site of some sort. Although they are in the wrong, capital punishment would not be fitting. I’ll have them return all the treasures they took to the Blazesun Ruler and have this matter be brought to the end. Is that acceptable?”

“Is that a puny little Daolord speaking?” the red-robed maiden glanced downwards with a smirk. “And one who failed the Daomerge at that. You actually dare to speak?”

“He’s my master!” Flamewing bellowed, turning to look at Ning. “Master, let me eat them!”

“Don’t be impatient.” Ning continued, “A minor matter like this isn’t worth starting a war with us over.”

“Hmph. A Daolord was actually able to tame a Chaos Primordial? This Chaos Primordial truly is a fool.” The red-robed maiden chuckled. “As for this being a ‘minor matter’? Hmph. The Jadeheart Lamp was something which the Ruler loved dearly. If all they had done was steal a few treasures, this matter would be at an end after they returned them… but they caused a large amount of wanton destruction and even wrecked the lamp! No one can save them now. Lord Houwu, don’t hide in the back! Speak! Are you going to hand them over or not? If not, we’re going to attack.”

“B-but…” Lord Houwu turned frantically towards Ning. Based on how he normally handled things, he would lower his head and endure the threats while trying to come up with a way to let Patriarch Treewind and the others flee. As for whether or not Patriarch Treewind would perish during their flight, that was up to luck.

……

“Make your choice!” the red-robed maiden barked coldly, while the two leaders by her side emanated auras of murderous malice.

Seeing this, Ning frowned. He immediately instructed, “Flamewing, attack with all your power.”

“Hahahaha!” Flamewing had been waiting for just this order. Delighted, it immediately charged forwards while belching out that dark-red fire from its mouth. The flames covered the entire region, spread out in every direction.

The crimson bloodfiends and the eight-armed giants were all instantly swept up within the flames. Although it felt rather painful, they were still in fine shape. These special beings were born with more powerful bodies than cultivators, after all! More importantly, they had always lived within the Blazesun Domain and thus were born with a fondness and affinity to fire. As a result, fire wasn’t all that harmful to them.

Their bodies were extremely sturdy, but they would still die if the fire made its way inside of them. But of course, there was no way they would allow the flames to enter their bodies.

“Stop that Chaos Primordial!” the red-robed maiden commanded.

“Alright!”

“Leave it to us!” The crimson bloodfiend leader and the eight-armed giant leader both charged forwards, but they were clearly quite a bit slower and wouldn’t be able to catch up to Flamewing.

Slash! Slash! Two of the eight-armed giants were torn into tiny pieces in the blink of an eye, the pieces then burnt to ashes by the flames.

“Damnit!” The two leadesr were stunned and enraged.

“It is quite fast, much faster than the last Chaos Primordial I saw.” The red-robed maiden frowned slightly as a semi-translucent dirt-colored gemstone appeared in her palm. She waved her hand, casuing a series of black tentacles to appear out of nowhere and reach out towards Flamewing. These black tentacles were incredibly tough and took no damage from the flames which Flamewing belched out. A total of eight tentacles were created, and they came from all directions, making it impossible for Flamewing to avoid them.

Riiiiip! Flamewing used its sharp claws to tear them apart by force while also biting at them. One tentacle after another was severed, but they continued to tighten around them. Flamewing had so much brute force that it was still able to split the tentacles apart, but they would then regrow to coil around it once more. This caused Flamewing’s speed to drop drastically.

“Damn Sourcewalker!” The enraged Flamewing moved to pounce towards the red-robed maiden.

“Stop it in its tracks,” the red-robed maiden instructed.

Boom! The crimson bloodfiend leader struck out with its giant double-bladed battleaxe towards Flamewing, while the eight-armed giant sent its chains flying out and lashing towards Flamewing like a whip.

Boom! Bang! The crimson bloodfiend leader and the eight-armed giant leader continuously attacked Flamewing, while the red-blooded maiden continued to use her tentacles to bind and slow Flamewing down. For a time, Flamewing found itself surrounded and unable to break free.

“Goodsong, go and help Flamewing out,” Ning instructed.

“Got it.” Hegemon Goodsong was filled with the desire for battle, and he transformed into a streak of golden light that flew straight towards the four. However, halfway there he was slapped back by a black tentacle. That single black tentacle was enough to completely tie him down for a time. Hegemon Goodsong was just barely able to break it apart, but it then quickly regrew. Clearly, he was still quite a bit weaker than the Sourcewalker was.

Ning frowned when he saw this. The two armies of strange creatures had yet to attack. If all of the cultivators of Houwu City all took part in this fight, they would naturally be able to defend against this attack! However, their foe still held the upper hand in the Blazesun Domain. If the Blazesun Ruler gave the order, even more Sourcewalkers and strange creatures would appear.

“Darknorth,” Nuwa sent mentally, “Perhaps we should back down and pretend to negotiate with them, then immediately flee. Given our fleeing abilities and your assistance, we should be able to escape.”

“This is the Blazesun Domain. The Blazesun Ruler’s influence is too great,” Ning sent back. “Even if you are able to temporarily flee, you’ll probably be caught soon. Resolving this matter here is the best solution.”

Right at this moment, the red-robed maiden glanced downwards and shouted, “Did you think you’d be able to resist us just because you have a Chaos Primordial? The Blazesun Ruler has always been courteous to you cultivators, but do you really think that he is someone to be trifled with? You wrecked his estate and destroyed his beloved lamp. The five of them have to die! Obey my orders and attack!”

“Attack!”

“Attack!” The crimson bloodfiends and the eight-armed giants simultaneously let out earth-shaking bellows, then began to swoop down from the skies. An aura of endless might enveloped the entire city of Houwu.