“Get away! Everyone escape!”

The leader Xie He shouted to all his men. Panic dotted his features as he prepared to flee.

“What about these kids!?” The injured person from before spoke as he hurried over.

“Screw those kids! Leave them! They won’t live beyond today, anyway! We need to escape before it’s too late!”

Dum!

The flames that erupted from the Scarlet Flame Long-Tailed Hawk were much hotter than before and its bestial killing intent exploded!

Though the kids were at a faraway distance from the battle, the heat still caused them great fear.

The Scarlet Flame Long-Tailed Hawk started to forcibly draw in the nearby elemental flame energy, and not just any flame energy, only the most overbearing and tyrannical energy in the vicinity.

A massive ring of fire was being built at this moment. It was using these very same flames for its breakthrough to trap everyone and itself here.

Scarlet Flame Long-Tailed Hawks were extremely domineering magical beasts. They normally resided in locations where the surrounding flame energy wasn’t too strong but still present, all because of their innate breakthrough path.

Because they needed the most overbearing flame from wherever they were, they would have to release all restraint and forcibly take in the most powerful flame energy present.

Places with less flame energy would allow them to take in limited tyrannical flame, allowing them to deal with it far more easily, thus giving them a higher chance of not just breaking through but surviving it.

Of course, this didn’t mean that safety was guaranteed. One must go through a trial if one wishes to ascend to a higher realm.

“Damn! It’s not planning on letting us go!” Xie He saw flames of different shades of red rushing toward the Scarlet Flame Long-Tailed Hawk and cutting off all paths of retreat for them.

The flame burning in its eyes signified its supreme fury! It didn’t even react to certain parts of its body that were being burnt.

“Creeeeee!!”

With a piercing screech, it took to the skies once again. Every flap of its wings kicked up gales of wind and fire!

Its head reeled back once more, preparing to let loose another plume of fire to burn them all to ashes!

“Damn beast! I’ll fight it out with you!”

Dum!

Xie He circulated his energy and allowed his cultivation base to erupt without reserve!

His nine cauldrons emerged with one of them possessing a single Star Core behind him with a flashing light. He jumped to the skies with tremendous momentum, not intending to die without a fight!

“Blood Condensation Palm!”

Blood-coloured veins covered the entirety of his palm as he released a giant palm-shaped attack toward the Scarlet Flame Long-Tailed Hawk!

“Creeeeeee!!!!”

Seeing the giant blood-coloured palm rushing towards it, the Scarlet Flame Long-Tailed Hawk released the plume of flame it was building up!

Rumble!

Another explosion spread out, forcing Xie He to fly back towards the earth in a sorry state.

His associates quickly rushed to where he was to help him out. If he died here, so would they, so they needed to band together to face this threat.

“W—We need to call for backup!” Xie He’s face scrunched up in a grimace. If he never allowed his greed to take hold, they wouldn’t be in this predicament, but there was no medicine for regret in this world.

He quickly took out a crystal from his robes and crushed it.

“We just need to last,” he said. “Reinforcements will come soon!”

…

“There they are! Feng Yu, Shen Ling, what are you all doing here!?”

A shout from the distance caught the attention of the Scarlet Flame Long-Tailed Hawk, the men from the Blood Crypt Sect, and the young disciples who were trapped between a rock and a giant flaming bird of destruction.

The disciples looked into the distance where they could see the first, second and third elders running towards them. Though the magical beast forest was huge, this kind of commotion was something that could be seen and heard for miles around.

Who could imagine that at the root of this calamity were their disciples?

…

“Little demon,” Uncle Tian Lu called out.

Long Di thought that Uncle Tian Lu would call him by his actual name already, but if he was being honest, the name was really growing on him.

“Yeah… master of the dancing tooth?”

He looked at Long Di in all seriousness, like this wasn’t the time to be fooling around. Facial expressions in the cultivation world were really specific, Long Di thought, but he heeded his wish. After all, he was his master and everything.

“Look at how the Scarlet Flame Long-Tailed Hawk deals with the flames that were causing it damage not too long ago.”

Long Di turned his head to where Uncle Tian Lu pointed out and sure enough, there it was; his answer.

The Scarlet Flame Long-Tailed Hawk didn’t just haphazardly absorb the most overbearing flame willy-nilly. It literally twisted the flame to its liking before it deconstructed the flame to a level it could tolerate before it took it in its body.

‘Does that mean I can also deconstruct the black lightning in my body to a much less powerful version of itself so I can have it fit my cultivation route? Wait, maybe I need to take it step by step and build it back up so I can reach a point where I can cultivate the black lightning eventually.’

Long Di could then feel the inspiration that he so desperately needed finally hit him, much like truck kun did. He closed his eyes and summoned the remaining black lightning outside his body.

Uncle Tian Lu, on the other hand, stared with great interest at what was happening to his disciple. The black lightning only existed in small quantity by now, but just that alone was enough to fill with him great fear!

“What will this birth?” he murmured under his breath.

The lightning eventually started to change colour and quantity after a while. The strands of lightning still danced around his body as his eyes were kept close in intense concentration.

…

The disciples ran towards their elders in jubilation. They truly thought they were going to die here, but thankfully, they managed to last long enough until help came.

“Why are you all so deep in the forest!?”

“Creeeeeeee!!!!!”

Vwoosh!

Before any of them could answer, a wave of fire could be seen careening towards them with reckless abandon, burning up everything in its path!

“Hmph!”

Dum!

The third elder summoned his cauldrons. The cauldrons spun until they rumbled as he ran his somatic essence.

Somatic essence was the energy that body cultivators utilised versus spiritual cultivations that cultivated spiritual qi.

Two of his cauldrons were fitted with an ignited core each, also known as a Star Core. They flashed furiously with the flame of their element.

The manifestation of his cultivation base ran unceasingly behind him.

“Trigram Shield!!”

The third elder brought his arms for a cross block while triangular symbols swam across them. The wave of flames crashed into him but miraculously, a great deal of the space around him remain untouched, as if an invisible shield were propped up.

“What an incredible move! And it seems your cultivation has increased once again, third elder,” Di Yi Lingdao pointed out.

“You overpraise me, first elder! Come, let’s protect the children and take them away from here,” he laughed it off, not wanting to stay too long on this subject.

“Wait!”

“Screeeeee!!!!!!”

A shout from the distance caught their attention, but when the three elders saw what was coming, all three of them showed dark expressions.

“Xie He, what are you doing!?” The first elder asked in rage.

Behind Xie He and his men was the Scarlet Flame Long-Tailed Hawk, hot on their tails, releasing flame attacks every now and again. They were in a sorry state, but they were doing all they could to make it to where the three elders were.

“Di Yi Lingdao—”

“Scram!! You did this on purpose, didn’t you!? Leading the Scarlet Flame Long-Tailed Hawk over here to force us to fight together with you!”

Whoosh!

Just as the first elder finished speaking, the ring of fire was completed. Now they were all trapped!

Now it was a situation of fight or die for everyone!

“I have no idea what you are talking about! I clearly saw that we were all in danger and simply used the chance for us to band together so we could have a much higher chance of survival!” Xie He’s tone indicated that it was anything but that.

The three elders were furious. The Scarlet Flame Long-Tailed Hawk may have noticed them and even sent miscellaneous attacks their way, but it paid no more attention to them than that.

Yet now these shameless fellows brought this monster over to them, forcing them into the fray!

The worst part was that the disciples were still here. This level of battle was much too dangerous for them. The shockwaves alone could easily kill them.

“Screeeeeech!!!!!!!”

Another high-pitched cry resounded as the Scarlet Flame Long-Tailed Hawk was finally upon them once more.

“Trigram Shield!”

The third elder released his defensive move once more, blocking the flames of this overlord magical beast!

“Blood Condensation Palm!”

“Scarlet Claw!”

Xie He and the surviving members of the Blood Crypt Sect released their most potent attacks just at the moment the Scarlet Flame Long-Tailed Hawk finished attacking, sending it reeling back!

The Scarlet Flame Long-Tailed Hawk was starting to suffer under the onslaught of its own flames when it got knocked away.

Its lack of essence blood resulted in a fatal lack of energy. As of now, it was simply trying to gain some moment of reprieve; it wanted to commit the last vestige of its life towards eradicating these irritable people!

The first and third elders used their energy to protect the disciples.

When Xie He saw this, he sneered in contempt. “Just a bunch of useless disciples. Endangering all our lives for the four of them isn’t worth it!”

Saying this, he held up a palm in the direction of the disciples, ready to attack them.

“Xie He, you dare!?” When the first elder saw this, he was enraged!

How dare Xie He raise a hand against his disciples!? And in front of him, no less! This was a slap in the face!

“If you’re going to hold back to protect them, then I might as well kill them now! At least this way, some of us can make it out of this alive!” Xie He roared.

The first elder stood in front, making his stance known. “I will die before I allow that! You must kill me to get to them!”

Xie He’s expression changed. “You—!”

Boom!

Dum!

The first elder’s Core Flame Evocation realm aura exploded out, not leaving any room for discussion.

His cauldrons spun furiously behind him as well. However, while he had two star cores like the third elder, it was obvious that his power was far below the latter.

Fwhip!

“Hic! Hiccup!”

“I—Is this little Ling’er, Yu’er a-and the… hic…! Others?”

Suddenly, a drunken old man appeared beside the children. No energy fluctuations could be felt within him. He was no different from a mortal.

The first elder was surprised to see that Uncle Tian Lu was here. “Elder Ti-”

“Who is this old thing!? Scram from here!” A disciple from the Blood Crypt Sect released a palm in the direction of Uncle Tian Lu, intending to kill him!

Boom!

An explosion rang when the palm attack hit, causing dust to kick up and spread, obscuring everyone’s vision.

“How did that old man get in here?” Xie He muttered under his breath.

After all, they were surrounded by an impenetrable ring of fire.

“Y—You might wanna… hic…! Hiccup… pay attention to the thing behind you.”

“What the…!”

When the dust cleared, Xie He was flabbergasted to see Uncle Tian Lu appearing on the other side of the fire ring flat on his butt like all that happened was that he got knocked over by one of his men’s attack.

Not just that, the disciples were also beside him, unsure of what happened.

“How did we—?”

Dum!

Before anyone could make heads or tails of whatever it is that happened, a powerful fluctuation exploded behind them.

When everyone turned around, their pupils shrank in shock.

The Scarlet Flame Long-Tailed Hawk, now burnt and unsightly with its former crimson feathers a charred black mess, was charging towards them with the sole purpose of burning them to ashes.

Its windpipe was also burnt, disallowing it the chance to release its shrilling cry.

“We’ll take this chance to finally kill it!” the second elder spoke for the first time and allowed his 3 Star Core cultivation to spread out.

This was also the only thought on anyone’s mind as they readied themselves for a fierce battle as well.