Chapter 77: Nirvana's Beckoning

  Innumerable demonic heads dissipated in the heavenly flames, just like the smoke and fire, yet somehow there was an indescribable, eerie beauty to it, as if what was drifting away wasn't demonic heads but rather blossoming flowers. The Blood Sea seemed oblivious to all of this, only continuously shaking its treasure, and with each shake, one by one, strange and bizarre demonic heads of various sizes flew towards the heavenly flames like moths to a flame.

  Finally, Tianyi Elder discovered the inappropriateness of this situation. This was clearly that old demon consuming his hard-won brief moment of strength. If things continued like this, it wouldn't be good. Tianyi Elder's face changed as he continuously changed his magic seals, and Tianhuo understood his intentions. With a wave of his hands, a transmission gate appeared not far in front of him.

  "Old devil, I'd rather die than let you get away with this so easily." Tian Huo said with a righteous tone, and after finishing his sentence, he gave a resolute glance at the distant Tian Yi and those two seemingly unconscious disciples.

  "Junior brother, I didn't expect that a thousand years would pass by in the blink of an eye. Among the more than 100 fellow disciples who entered the sect together back then, another one is about to leave me first." Tianyi's tone was exceptionally desolate, revealing endless vicissitudes.

  Sun Ming's fingers were exceptionally pale due to being tightly clenched together, but he had no way of helping the elders. Rushing up recklessly would only distract them. For the first time, Sun Ming felt that no matter how high his achievements in alchemy were, if his cultivation didn't improve, he was just a slightly more interesting ant in the eyes of these accomplished individuals. Compared to crushing ordinary ants, it was just a brief consideration. No wonder his master said that below the saints, everyone is just an ant. At this moment, Sun Ming urgently hoped to become stronger.

  The technique that Tian Huo had just displayed was something that Sun Ming had never seen before, not because Sun Ming's knowledge was shallow or his experience limited, but because this set of techniques could only be seen by those who had reached the Unity stage in their cultivation and were part of the Qilingshu Sect. Like the Inverse Spirit Reversal, this technique was also something that only those who were doomed to die could use. Because only those who cultivated the Inverse Spirit Reversal to the Unity stage had any hope of successfully using this technique, very few cultivators knew about it throughout history, and even the intelligence department of the Holy Alliance was unclear about the existence of such a powerful technique in the Qilingshu Sect.

  The spell is called Nirvana Phoenix, summoning the heavenly phoenix to attack the enemy with unparalleled spiritual power. The price paid is the scattering of one's soul and spirit. It is said that this set of spells was obtained by a senior fellow of the Instrument Spirit Sect who encountered a phoenix reborn in the star domain at the edge of the Cultivation Realm during his travels.

  The void in front of Tian Huo Lao suddenly became clearer, and a portal-like thing appeared. Sun Ming could feel the overflowing fire origin energy from far away. It seemed like a 4 or 5-year-old child, full of life, but after feeling the suffocating and terrifying Blood Demon aura for a while, he suddenly felt this kind of vigorous breath. It couldn't help but make Sun Ming's heart skip a beat.

  It was as if the fiery energy between heaven and earth suddenly filled this place, and the originally rampant demonic aura suddenly dissipated. Slowly, a crimson figure emerged from the transmission array in front of the Heavenly Fire Elder.

  The Blood Sea Demon's expression vanished, and he silently put away the soul-summoning banner-like artifact in his hand, pulling out a reddish-brown flying sword instead. The moment this flying sword appeared, the originally thriving atmosphere around them suddenly changed, and an aura even more evil than what those demon heads had brought began to clash with the Phoenix's aura.

  "Master, what's going on?" Sun Ming asked anxiously.

  "If calculated according to your standard of the Xiu Zhen Realm, then that sword should be considered a demonic artifact." Yun Zhongzi's voice was also somewhat melancholic.

  "Alas. Originally, you were summoned by the Tianhuo Elder to cast this phoenix's projection. There might have been some hope in defeating this demon lord. However, with a magical artifact in hand, the demon lord is almost as different from one without it as heaven and earth."

  "Phoenix? Master, that fiery red figure is the phoenix?" Sun Ming now saw the phoenix's appearance clearly... Its entire body was covered in flames. Each feather seemed like a cluster of dancing flames. No wind, self-moving. For a moment, Sun Ming was stunned. It turned out that birds could also be so beautiful. "That isn't the phoenix's physical form. That's just a projection." Yun Zhongzi explained.

  "Real phoenixes almost all have the cultivation of Daluo Jinxian. It's impossible to summon it just with your Tianhuo Old Man's cultivation. A real phoenix is more than twice as big as this projection."

  "Alas. If you, Fire Elder, can really summon the divine bird Phoenix, then this demon head will surely be dead without a doubt. What a pity. It's just a projection." Yun Zhongzi's voice dimmed again.

  "Master, what is this projection you're talking about? Is it a innate skill of the Phoenix Clan?" Sun Ming was somewhat perplexed. After all, he had only heard Cloud Middle Child mention the term "projection" for the first time.

  "The projection is not an innate skill of the Phoenix group, but a unique technique possessed by immortals who have reached the Mahayana Golden Immortal realm. The True Cultivation Realm and the Immortal Realm are two different levels of power, formed under the control of the Great Way's laws. For cultivators to reach the Immortal Realm, they must cross the Heavenly Tribulation, while for immortals to come to the True Cultivation Realm is equally difficult, requiring at least ten or more Mahayana Golden Immortals to break through the inverted space. The cultivation of lower-level immortals cannot exceed that of ordinary Golden Immortals; otherwise, they will be directly struck and killed by the self-generated Extinction Thunder.

  Later, some immortals began researching together to maintain the balance of the mortal world's Dao, resulting in the emergence of this projection technique. Of course, it's not only Mahayana Golden Immortals who can use it; however, when used by those with lower cultivation levels, what is summoned is not a projection but a weak spiritual body.

  After the Three Great Sealing Gods' agreement to no longer manage mortal affairs, Hongjun Daozu closed off the barrier between the mortal world and the Immortal Realm. Later, as evil demons began to wreak havoc in the mortal world, this technique was intentionally passed down, forming what is known as the Heavenly Master's Way or Dragon Tiger Mountain's Taoist sect. These Taoists became the representatives of the Immortal Realm in the mortal world, able to summon immortals' projections through specific techniques to subdue and exorcise demons.

  I didn't expect to see this technique here, although it is quite imperfect. It still requires a True Cultivator's flesh-and-blood body to withstand the pressure brought by the Phoenix Immortal Beast's projection. However, I can confirm that this is indeed a projection." Cloud Middle Child explained.

  The phoenix divine bird finally appeared in front of everyone, and without saying a word, it directly attacked the Blood Sea Old Dao. The flames around its body burned wildly, and Sun Ming even saw a ball of fire fall from the phoenix's body, directly burning a stone to nothingness. To think that this small planet was still an asteroid, which shows just how powerful the phoenix's attack is. Meanwhile, the Blood Sea Demon seemed to be somewhat at a loss for what to do in response to the phoenix's attack, as its demonic aura was suppressed by the phoenix's innate spiritual fire. Apart from passively holding onto that magic-level flying sword to defend itself, it didn't seem to have any other way to counterattack.

  "Senior brother, hurry up and break this old demon's formation, I won't be able to hold on for much longer." Tian Huo was sweating profusely, with fresh blood oozing out of the corner of his mouth. With great difficulty, he maintained the Phoenix Projection. He said to Tian Yi Long Lao who was attacking the edge of the formation.

  And Tianyi elder was also like an ant on a hot pot, after all, he used the Inverse Spirit Breaking Infant to temporarily increase his cultivation, but there is still a gap between him and the Nine Calamity Scattered Demon. One by one, the sword energy filled with power continuously attacked the edge of the formation, unfortunately, it was not very effective.

  "Tomorrow, hurry up and help your elder." Yun Zhongzi seemed to have thought of something, suddenly said to Sun Ming.

  "Master, I'm going up to the Blood Sea to find that old demon. Isn't that just asking for trouble!" Sun Ming was quite perplexed by Yun Zhongzi's words.

  "Have you forgotten the properties of Hongmeng Purple Fire?" Yun Zhongzi reminded with a mixture of laughter and tears.

  "Right, refining all things in the world." Sun Ming seemed to have suddenly enlightened. He smiled and then walked towards an old man with difficulty. After all, it was already a miracle for a Golden Elixir cultivator like him to survive in the universe. If not for the Xuantian Yuexu Technique and the protection of that wristband, Sun Ming would probably have been finished off as soon as he came out of the Dingxing Disk.

  The bird will always be a bird, even if it's called the divine bird, the phoenix. Its method of attack is still inseparable from its characteristics as a bird. The phoenix's projection, relying on the flames all over its body, confronts Blood Sea Old Devil, constantly using its claws and beak to attack, while Blood Sea Old Devil is somewhat at a loss, after all, the flames on the phoenix's body are the bane of everything hidden and negative in the world. The magic spells of the demonic path are nothing more than this, unable to use powerful spells, only able to rely on that flying sword of magical level to confront the phoenix.

  "Tomorrow, how did you come out? Hurry back! Wait for me and Tianhuo Elder to break through the magic array set up by this demon head. You will use the Dingxing Disk to instantly teleport back. Be sure to spread the news that the Qixiu Alliance is colluding with the Demon Dao, do you understand?" Tianyi Elder said loudly as he saw Sun Ming slowly walking towards him.

  "Go back quickly!" Tianyi saw Sun Ming not making a sound and loudly shouted, while shouting, he continued to swing his sword at the barrier formed by the law array.

  Sun Ming still didn't answer, but instead struggled to walk to the edge of the formation's barrier, and with great difficulty raised his hands. Sun Ming gritted his teeth and cast a spell, without any concealment, a purple Hongmeng fire suddenly appeared on the seemingly abnormal barrier, just like throwing a stone into a calm lake, the Blood Sea Demon's carefully arranged barrier shattered without warning, leaving Tianyi Old Man, who was already somewhat exhausted, with a face full of astonishment.

  A long sword stained with fresh blood suddenly protruded from the chest of Tianyi, accompanied by the unbridled and maniacal laughter of Xuehai.

  "Tomorrow... son...... you must live on!" Tianyi old man said his last words in this life with difficulty, Sunming's heart suddenly ached and tears came out.

  "You ignorant thing, still daring to summon the other bird from the heavenly realm. Even if you succeed in summoning it, what's the point? In the end, you'll just exhaust yourself to death." The Blood Sea Demon laughed.

  It was at that moment when Sun Ming broke through the barrier, Tian Huo finally ran out of oil and his lamp went out, while Feng Huang's projection let out two sorrowful cries before disappearing.