Chapter 294: Chapter 281: Great Battle with the Fire Qilin Beast
The "Fire Qilin Beast," also known as the "Magma Beast," is an exotic beast that only lives within the earth fire magma.
This exotic beast is a Celestial Spirit Beast born of nature, and unless it advances to become a Tier Six Demon King, forming a flesh and blood body, it cannot reproduce through normal mating.
The number of these Celestial Spirit Beasts in the Cultivation Realm is very small, but their combat power is generally very strong, far surpassing ordinary demon beasts.
Moreover, these Celestial Spirit Beasts can usually only survive in extreme environments such as magma, glaciers, and the Abyss Sea, and they rarely leave their birthplace and habitat.
Unless absolutely necessary, no cultivator is willing to face these temperamental and powerful demon beasts.
Zhouyang also did not intend to kill the "Fire Qilin Beast"; that seemed a bit unrealistic. After all, in this Magma River, even if the "Fire Qilin Beast" couldn’t defeat him, as long as it burrowed deeper into the magma, he couldn’t possibly jump into the sea of fire to hunt it down.
So his plan was straightforward: first, have a match with the "Fire Qilin Beast," let it know his power, and therefore dare not obstruct him from collecting the "Purifying Blue Lotus Flame."
After all, as a Celestial Spirit Beast born of nature, the "Fire Qilin Beast’s" demon fire power is not at all inferior to the "Purifying Blue Lotus Flame." This Heaven and Earth Spiritual Fire does not hold as much value to it as it does to other fire demonic beasts.
Otherwise, this demon beast wouldn’t treat the "Purifying Blue Lotus Flame" as a Fire Vein Spiritual Qi collector, simply hiding below to absorb the Fire Vein Spiritual Qi attracted by the "Purifying Blue Lotus Flame."
With the plan in place, Zhouyang immediately flicked his sleeves and released the "Fire Separation Vermilion Bird Furnace."
To deal with the "Fire Qilin Beast," born in magma, in a place like the Magma River, a Flying Sword, or such would hardly be effective. Therefore, for this battle, Zhouyang planned to use fire against fire, employing Fire Elemental Spiritual Artifacts and Fire Element Divine Techniques as the main attack.
Just as he released the artifact, his hands immediately began casting spells toward the crimson tripod cauldron floating in mid-air.
Under the stimulation of his magical power, the crimson tripod cauldron burst forth with flaming light, and the Vermilion Bird Divine Bird engraved on the cauldron seemed to come to life, craning its neck and letting out a clear cry.
Zhouyang heard the clear cry and his face revealed a hint of joy, immediately increasing the infusion of his magical power.
Eventually, when he had poured nearly thirty percent of his magical power into the "Fire Separation Vermilion Bird Furnace," this artifact finally seemed satiated, and the Vermilion Bird Divine Bird engraved on the cauldron suddenly rose, just like the True Dragon in the story "Dotting the Eyes of the Dragon," dramatically descending from the cauldron into reality.
"Go!"
Zhouyang looked at the Vermilion Bird Firebird, bathed in raging flames and hovering in mid-air, and pointed towards the location of the "Fire Qilin Beast" in the magma, issuing a low command.
In an instant, the Vermilion Bird Firebird flapped its wings and fiercely charged toward the place he had pointed.
Roar!
A fierce beast roar suddenly exploded from the Magma River. It was the "Fire Qilin Beast," having realized its hiding place was exposed, decisively charging out of the Magma River with a defiant roar.
This demon beast had already noticed Zhouyang and Ma Shaoyang, the two human cultivators, when they arrived at the edge of the Magma River.
It simply hadn’t bothered to pay attention to these two weak-breathing "little fellows" at that time.
Unlike other demon beasts that like to devour human cultivators to enhance their cultivation, this Celestial Spirit Beast, the "Fire Qilin Beast," does not hunt humans or demon beasts that intrude into its territory for the sake of hunger, provided they do not possess the power to threaten it or disturb its slumber.
However, when Ma Shaoyang left, and Zhouyang summoned the "Fire Separation Vermilion Bird Furnace," a powerful Tier Four Top Grade artifact, the "Fire Qilin Beast" hidden in the Magma River immediately realized it had been deceived.
This made it very angry, so it decided to hide in the magma and wait for the deceiver to collect the "Purifying Blue Lotus Flame," planning to deliver a fatal blow and make the one who deceived it pay a terrible price.
But how could the "Fire Qilin Beast" have predicted that Zhouyang had long discovered its hiding place and had no intention of collecting the "Purifying Blue Lotus Flame" before defeating it?
Thus, its tactic of hiding in wait instead gave Zhouyang the opportunity to ensure the Artifact Soul Transformation of the "Fire Separation Vermilion Bird Furnace," allowing him to let the Artifact Soul manifest stably.
At this time, realizing that the Vermilion Bird Firebird, carrying an aura no weaker than its own, was charging at its hiding place, the "Fire Qilin Beast" finally realized it had been duped again, albeit a bit too late.
Therefore, it decisively drilled out from the depths of the Magma River, letting out a furious roar to vent its inner anger.
Crash! Crash!
In Zhouyang’s eyes, all he saw was the dark red magma in the Magma River violently exploding and splattering like a bomb had dropped into its midst.
Then, a gigantic beast with the body of a deer, the head of a tiger, bearing two sharp horns on its head and its entire body engulfed in crimson flames, suddenly emerged from the center of the exploding magma, treading flames to appear on the surface of the Magma River.
The moment this flaming giant beast appeared, it let out an angry roar at the incoming Vermilion Bird Firebird, then a basin-sized pale purple fireball flew out from its mouth, heading straight toward the Vermilion Bird Firebird.
Rumble!
With a tremendous explosion, the pale purple fireball collided with the incoming Vermilion Bird Firebird a dozen or so meters in front of the "Fire Qilin Beast," triggering a colossal explosion.
The "Fire Qilin Beast" flashed with a crimson blaze, forming a red light shield to block the aftermath of the explosion. As for the magma agitated by the blast, was it really a problem for it, living in magma?
Did that accursed firebird die?
The "Fire Qilin Beast" glared with its two blazing eyes, like small suns, at the explosion site ahead, filled with confidence in its attack.
Just as this thought arose in its mind, it suddenly felt a heatwave from behind and turned back suddenly.
It saw the Vermilion Bird Firebird emerge from the magma river, just like it had moments ago, opening its beak wide to spew a crimson fire column back at the beast.
The fire column struck the "Fire Qilin Beast", flipping its six to seven zhang long body into the magma, and the Vermilion Bird Firebird flapped its wings, diving down in pursuit onto the "Fire Qilin Beast’s" head, its talons striking straight at its blazing eyes.
The "Fire Qilin Beast" wouldn’t let its vulnerable eyes be attacked, so it closed its eyelids, advancing aggressively as it raised its head, thrusting its two blade-like horns towards the Vermilion Bird Firebird.
Unfortunately, it didn’t know that the Vermilion Bird Firebird, seemingly lifelike, was actually composed entirely of Fire Spirit Power, making it nearly immune to physical attacks.
Its horns pierced into the Vermilion Bird Firebird’s body, not harming it in the slightest, and instead, the Vermilion Bird Firebird embraced the beast’s head with a pounce, cloaking it in the burning Vermilion Bird True Flame.
As a Celestial Spirit Beast born from magma, the "Fire Qilin Beast" naturally has great immunity to fire damage, and ordinary Tier Four Fire Magic usually can’t harm it significantly.
But the artifact soul "Flame Sparrow" of the Fire Separation Vermilion Bird Furnace carries a trace of the Vermilion Bird Divine Bird’s bloodline, with its inherent demon fire similarly containing a trace of the Vermilion Bird True Flame’s power. Although it’s just a trace, it’s unmatched by ordinary flames.
This time, under the "Head Grab" executed by the Vermilion Bird Firebird and the fierce burning of the Vermilion Bird True Flame, even the Celestial Spirit Beast like the "Fire Qilin Beast" felt its body could melt.
Although this was just a feeling, it was terrifying enough for it.
Since its birth in the magma river, it had never encountered such a situation, not even from that "Purifying Blue Lotus Flame" nearby.
Boom!
Nervous, the "Fire Qilin Beast" ignited its pale purple inherent demon fire, which, although costly to its primordial qi, was effective.
Under the burning of the pale purple inherent demon fire, the Vermilion Bird Firebird’s body rapidly became ethereal, forcing it to flap its wings and leave the "Fire Qilin Beast," not daring to engage in fire combat further.
But the "Fire Qilin Beast," having just repelled the Vermilion Bird Firebird, had no time to celebrate before Zhouyang, who had been "watching the fun" from the corridor, unleashed his second killing move.
With the sound of a dragon’s roar, a gilded Flame Dragon, burning with golden flames, suddenly surged from in front of Zhouyang, charging fiercely towards the "Fire Qilin Beast."
The gilded Flame Dragon, barely a zhang long, posed a greater threat to the "Fire Qilin Beast" than the Vermilion Bird Firebird did.
With its blazing eyes moving, it quickly sank its body into the magma river, attempting to weaken the enemy’s assault through the magma.
Just as it submerged into the magma river, the soaring gilded Flame Dragon pursued it into the river.
Rumble!
The Flame Dragon’s entry into the river triggered an earth-shattering explosion, like a meteor crashing to the ground.
The initially slow-flowing magma river suddenly surged with massive waves from the explosion, creating terrifying magma waves that slammed against the riverbank walls, leaving scorched black marks behind.
Zhouyang on the riverbank also retreated several zhang, raising the Fire Separation Vermilion Bird Furnace in front of him to avoid contact with the magma.
Of course, he didn’t believe that just the "Flaming Dragon Burst" could kill the "Fire Qilin Beast," a fire-element Celestial Spirit Beast.
If this strike were against a "Gold-devouring Beast" or other Tier Four Middle-Grade Demon Beast, Zhouyang would have a 30% chance of killing it and a 50% chance of heavily injuring it.
But against the "Fire Qilin Beast" born in magma, he knew even heavily injuring it relied on luck.
Indeed, his prediction soon became reality.
The roiling, splattering magma river hadn’t even calmed when the "Fire Qilin Beast’s" massive body reappeared on the river’s surface.
Despite being covered in scars from the recent explosion, with purple-red high-temperature fluid flowing from the wounds, its imposing momentum wasn’t much diminished from before.
Bursting out from the magma river, its blazing eyes locked onto Zhouyang, the beast stamped its front hooves heavily on the river surface.
Boom!
Instantly, the dark red magma surged, forming a colossal wave over ten zhang high, sweeping towards Zhouyang.