As soon as the Black Tortoise appeared, under the control of Zhang Ling's second soul, it erupted with an icy blue demonic power. With a flick of its hand, a bronze long-handled spear was thrown out, transforming into a dazzling black light that stabbed directly at the Fire Phoenix.
Immediately following, it spat out a mass of black water, which was frozen into a shiny black ice wall by the icy demonic power. Sharp ice spikes shot out without hesitation.
The Fire Phoenix continued its charge, spitting out a stream of fire from its mouth to block the incoming bronze spear. With a flap of its wings, a rain of fire fell down.
Crimson flames and blue-black ice spikes collided, creating a cloud of water vapor in the air, accompanied by a series of booming sounds.
The two attacks canceled each other out.
Zhang Ling remained silent, but thought to himself, 'This fire bird's flame attack is quite powerful, even more so than the Nascent Soul fire of a Nascent Soul cultivator.'
The seven flying swords in front of him flashed with golden-white light, and he planned to attack immediately.
Just then, a sudden rumble came from behind. Zhang Ling quickly turned his head and saw a huge fire tornado forming behind him, rapidly spinning towards him. Inside, he heard a bird's cry. Another Fire Phoenix had appeared.
Judging by its aura, it was also a demonic spirit comparable to a peak Rank 8 beast.
Zhang Ling's face darkened. 'Could the restrictions here be so powerful that they can continuously generate Fire Spirits of this level?'
No, he immediately thought of something else. 'Could it be because I released the Black Tortoise? Do the restrictions here mistakenly believe that there are two Nascent Soul cultivators present, and thus generated two fire birds?'
Zhang Ling's mind raced as he realized the key point. He had been considering releasing the puppet to kill the first Fire Phoenix, after he and the Black Tortoise had restrained it.
But now he dared not release the Nascent Soul puppet easily, lest another fire bird appear.
Zhang Ling expressionlessly summoned the Void Bug again, released a cloud of black and white mist, and hid in the spatial gap.
Sure enough, the second Fire Phoenix that appeared behind him, after losing him as a target, did not attack the Black Tortoise, but dissipated directly.
This scene perfectly verified his guess.
Although he was not afraid of two fire birds, it was better not to waste too much spiritual power in this strange restriction.
With a thought, the Void Bug also came to the Black Tortoise's side. Zhang Ling reappeared, put the Black Tortoise into the Sumeru Grotto, and faced the Fire Phoenix alone.
With a wave of his hand, the seven flying swords transformed into a sky full of sword shadows, attacking the Fire Phoenix.
The Fire Phoenix did not seem to fear the slashes at all. The sword light only left some light marks on its body, which were immediately restored by the flames surrounding it.
Seeing this, Zhang Ling was not surprised. The Earth Yuan Gourd had already appeared in his hand, and streams of Heavenly Star Sand flowed out, surrounding the Fire Phoenix like countless yellow light spots.
Although this fire bird had a powerful aura, it did not seem to have much intelligence. Seeing the countless sand grains surrounding it, it did not try to avoid them at all.
Instead, it let out a long cry, its fire spiritual power soared, and its body further expanded. The surrounding fire spiritual energy was also drawn to it, making its aura even more violent.
It released countless terrifying fireballs that exploded in the sand mass, easily breaking through the sand layer.
Zhang Ling did not care. While controlling the flying swords to entangle the Fire Phoenix, he quickly changed his hand seals, and yellow light balls popped out from his hand.
These light balls flashed with dazzling bright yellow spiritual light. As soon as they merged into the sand mass, countless sand grains wrapped around them, gathering into strips of Earthly Fiend Earth Spirits.
As he entered the mid-stage of the Nascent Soul stage, his speed of condensing Earthly Fiend Earth Spirits was even faster, and it was easier and faster to arrange the Grievous Earth Array.
In a short while, the Fire Phoenix was trapped in the Grievous Earth Array.
Immediately following, a cyan-red gourd appeared in Zhang Ling's hand. He spat a mouthful of vital energy on it. A flash of white light appeared on the gourd, revealing a white fire man. It was the Fire Essence he had refined.
"Go."
With a thought, the Fire Essence little man flew directly to the sky above the Grievous Earth Array, holding the Fire Yuan Gourd, and a piece of purple light demonic flame spewed out from the gourd, forming a layer of purple fire light cover, covering the Grievous Earth Array.
In this way, the surrounding fire spiritual energy could be isolated. The Fire Phoenix trapped in the Earth Array would naturally be of no concern without the supplement of fire spiritual power.
Zhang Ling no longer delayed, and with a flash, he also entered the Grievous Earth Array, quickly resolving this fire bird formed by the formation.
At the same time, after entering the teleportation array, Stone Cloud also appeared in a flame space and encountered a Fire Phoenix with a not weak aura.
Stone Cloud's whole body burst into black-green demonic energy, turning into black hair seals that merged into a wooden staff magic weapon. The ordinary-looking wooden staff quickly expanded, and in an instant, it turned into a hundred-foot-high giant tree.
The giant tree trembled slightly, and countless slender branches grew out of it. These branches seemed to come alive, swaying in the wind, and even more like tree vines, making popping sounds in the air.
The attacking Fire Phoenix rushed into it, releasing powerful flame attacks, blasting apart many tree branches. But there was a continuous generation of tree branches.
Gradually, the Fire Phoenix was trapped in it.
Similarly, in another flame space, the bald old man also encountered a Fire Phoenix.
The bald old man had a gloomy face, blocking the Fire Phoenix's attack with a thick black stone shield in front of him. A yellow orb was suspended above his head, constantly radiating circles of yellow fluorescence.
At the same time, there was also a yellow light seal, constantly attacking the Fire Phoenix.
This old man only had the early Nascent Soul stage cultivation base, and it seemed a little difficult to fight against the Fire Phoenix.
As for the other four people who were dispersed, Old Woman Miao, the black-robed cultivator Wan Daoyou, the black-faced man, and Chen Daoyou. Their situations were similar. The difference was that they were not in the flame space, but were teleported to a cold storm.
They were also scattered, and they were all fighting a demonic spirit of a Nascent Soul cultivator. But it was not a fire bird, but an ice-attribute dragon formed by the formation.
Old Woman Miao used her magical powers to condense two earth-stone giants with earth and stone power, and suppressed the ice dragon that attacked him without much effort.
That Wan Daoyou, who also had the strength of the mid-Nascent Soul stage, seemed even more strange. He released a black demonic energy, trapping the ice dragon that attacked him inside.
Before long, the demonic energy dissipated, and the broken body of the ice dragon fell from the air, turning into spots of cold air and dissipating, leaving only a palm-sized ice crystal scale floating in the air.
Wan Daoyou immediately raised his hand and grabbed the scale in his hand. After taking a glance, he sneered. "Hmph, so that's how it is. The restriction here is actually using the ice and fire eyes to arrange the Yin-Yang Array."
With a change in the hand seals, several strange hand seals were struck on the scales, and suddenly the scales trembled slightly, and a shadow of a dragon appeared on it.
It looked exactly the same as the ice dragon demon he had just killed, but it was reduced countless times.
The dragon shadow swam in the scales for a few circles, and then broke away from the scales and flew out. It turned into dense blue runes in the air.
These runes arranged and changed, and suddenly a black crack appeared in the void in front of him, and Wan Daoyou flashed into it.
Let's talk about the three demon cultivators and the Flamehoof Beast.
They continuously broke through several layers of restrictions, and finally arrived in front of a tall ice crystal gate. The gate was covered with thick ice crystals, flashing with a faint blue light.
It seemed that there was still a powerful restriction.
"The restrictions on this are not easy to break." The white-haired old man's eyes flickered with white light, staring at the ice crystal gate for a while, revealing a trace of solemnity.
The green-haired demon cultivator with long hair laughed strangely. "Although we are not proficient in the way of formations, haven't we broken through several layers of restrictions along the way with force? With Black Elephant Brother's divine power, the formations and restrictions set up by these humans cannot stop us."
The Black Elephant King did not have any expression. Between the words of the two demons, he directly shot. His demon power condensed on his arm, and with a shake of his arm, a huge gray claw print was shot out.
With a loud bang, the ice crystal gate in front of him shook, cracking strips of ice seams. However, suddenly a faint blue light flashed, and a layer of white mist emerged from those ice seams.
In the blink of an eye, the area in front of him was white. This layer of white mist was a layer of extremely cold power condensed into ice mist, and the speed of the spread was very fast. Sharp ice thorns instantly formed on the ground, quickly spreading towards the location of the three demons.
The Black Elephant King stomped the ground hard with one foot, and a gray light radiated out, and the ice thorns in front of him were instantly shattered into countless pieces of ice.
But in an instant, the white ice mist swept over, and another ground of ice thorns was generated, stabbing over like countless ice swords.
The Black Elephant King's brows also frowned, and he released a piece of spiritual light, shattering the ice thorns. But more white ice mist emerged.
The Black Elephant King flashed back a distance, until he retreated more than twenty feet away, the ice mist that emerged from the door slowly receded.
Seeing this scene, the white-haired old man and the green-haired demon cultivator also looked at each other.
The Black Elephant King clapped his hands and ordered, "This layer of restriction has some tricks, and it will take a lot of time to break it. We will work together to break it faster."
The two demons naturally would not object, and nodded in response.
At this moment, a group of blue light suddenly appeared in front of the ice crystal gate, revealing a black-robed cultivator. This person was Wan Dao.
He activated the restriction on the scales, and was instantly teleported to this place. When he looked up, he saw the ice crystal gate in front of him.
But before he could be happy, he felt a cold wind behind him. He quickly turned his head and saw not far behind him, standing three powerful cultivators, and a demon beast.
With his divine sense, he instantly discovered that the three cultivators were full of demon energy, and they were transformed demon cultivators. Moreover, one of them had an extremely powerful aura, and he was a great demon comparable to the late Nascent Soul stage.
"Oh, human cultivator."
The white-haired old man showed a look of surprise. They had spent a lot of time to break through to this place, and the human cultivator in front of him seemed to appear out of thin air.
Wan Daoyou naturally did not explain anything, and immediately turned into a black light and went straight to the ice crystal gate. Seeing the three demon cultivators, although he could not see his expression, his face under the black robe instantly turned pale.
He naturally did not dare to delay, and only had the idea of leaving quickly.
At the same time, the Black Elephant King snorted coldly, "Leave it to this king." With a shake of his arm, a black long whip was thrown out.
But it was still half a beat slow, and the long whip hit the ice crystal gate, making a clear sound.
As soon as Wan Daoyou approached the ice crystal gate, his body directly turned into a blue light, and strangely shuttled in.
The green-haired demon cultivator's face stiffened, and he couldn't help but shout. "How did this human cultivator get in? Why didn't the restriction on the door stop him?"
"This person is holding a scale in his hand, which seems to be something similar to a restriction token." The white-haired old man answered.
Hearing this, the Black Elephant King looked at the Flamehoof Beast with a gloomy face. Without hesitation, he waved his hand and slapped the Flamehoof Beast on the head.
The Flamehoof Beast was hit and flew out, falling dozens of feet away. Making a muffled sound.
"It seems that you are still not honest, and you have hidden some secrets about this place." Anger appeared on the Black Elephant King's face, and the long whip in his hand shook, and wrapped around a small thing.
Looking closely, it was a fiery red pony. It looked like it had just been born. Making a whirring whimper.
The Flamehoof Beast immediately flew up from the ground, and rushed over directly.
The Black Elephant King snorted disdainfully, and with a wave of his hand, a ray of light forced the Flamehoof Beast back. "Hmph, if you are presumptuous again, this king will swallow you, you beast."
Few people know the origin of the Flamehoof Beast, but he knew that this beast had followed that Dragon Phoenix Fairy. If it wasn't for the fact that this beast had some magical powers and was not afraid of soul searching. He would have killed it long ago.
After learning that this place was related to the Dragon Phoenix Fairy, he tricked the Flamehoof Beast, captured the cub of this beast, and forced the Flamehoof Beast to bring them in.
But the sudden appearance of the human cultivator just now made the Black Elephant King realize that the restrictions they encountered along the way were likely the wrong path led by the Flamehoof Beast.
The Flamehoof Beast neighed, its eyes spewing fire, and it turned around angrily in place, and it could only lower its high head.
Although this strange beast cannot transform, its intelligence is actually no weaker than that of human cultivators.
Let's talk about Zhang Ling's side, the Heavenly Star Sand turned into streams of quicksand, and was collected by him into the Earth Yuan Gourd. The Fire Phoenix had been killed by him, and the Fire Phoenix after death turned into fire and dissipated.
After all, this fire bird is not a real creature, and naturally there is no corpse after death.
Among the dissipated fire, there was a long yellow-red feather, which did not dissipate.
Zhang Ling's eyes lit up, and he immediately took the feather into his hand. After scanning with his divine sense, he found a piece of information.
It turned out that the flame space he was in now was indeed transformed by a formation restriction. The name of this formation is not small, it is the famous Yin-Yang Universe Array.
This is an ancient forbidden formation, which has both powerful trapping and killing power.
This formation is indeed related to the Dragon Phoenix Fairy.
Because this formation was not originally the Dragon Phoenix Fairy's, but a set of backup formations left by the ancient cultivators in the Twelve Immortal Cities, the main city of Tianmu City. To set up this formation, you need to use a special formation plate, the Yin-Yang Plate. It is refined using special materials, and it is difficult for today's cultivators to refine it.
According to legend, thousands of years ago, the Dragon Phoenix Fairy and the then City Lord of Tianmu City had a gambling battle, and won a lot of rare materials.
Among them was the Yin-Yang Plate.
Zhang Ling thought to himself, according to a piece of magic formula recorded on this feather, he activated this feather. Suddenly, a miniature fire phoenix flew out from it, making a light cry, and released a piece of fiery red runes.
These runes twisted and changed, and in a moment, the void before him rippled like water, as if spatial fluctuations had appeared.
Finally, all the runes gathered at one point, transforming into a fiery red light mark. The light mark flashed and split left and right, revealing a dark crack, resembling a spatial rift.
But this was certainly not a spatial rift.
Zhang Ling could be sure of this because the void worm wrapped around his arm did not issue any warning. This proved that it was just a passage formed by breaking through this layer of restriction.
His divine sense penetrated inside, and he seemed to see a flame stone gate.
Zhang Ling summoned the Yellow Canopy Umbrella to protect his entire body and passed through the black crack, entering inside.
In an instant, he appeared in a flame passage. This passage was actually very long, with a long stretch behind him. Many flame stone pillars stood on both sides of the passage.
However, about seventy or eighty feet in front of him was a flame stone gate over ten zhang high. It seemed that the area behind the gate was the core area of this place.
