Taiyi Dao Fruit

The sudden change came as expected.

The howl was wild and shrill, disturbing one's mind, as if a thousand miles of scorched earth appeared before the eyes, and endless scorching heat instantly enveloped the body.

The sound waves leaked out, and those still on the Artifact Pavilion Island heard it from afar. Instantly, their entire bodies turned crimson, a heartfire ignited within them, and immediately—

"Boom!"

Amidst a dull sound, flames erupted from within, instantly burning flesh, muscles, and bones, turning a perfectly fine person into a human torch.

It was fortunate that the people of the Artifact Pavilion had evacuated beforehand; otherwise, just this one howl would have gravely injured the Essence Qi of the Dinghu Sect's Artifact Pavilion.

"Such strong divine intent." Jiang Li sensed that scorching will and muttered softly.

This sense of heat wasn't due to a rise in temperature but purely the diffusion of divine intent, which affected the Divine Soul's consciousness, causing mental chaos and creating a sensation of heat, leading to a sudden heartfire, which then affected the physical body, igniting it.

This was quite similar to Jiang Li's Heart Demon Secret Sword. The Heart Demon Secret Sword, combined with the Moluo Sword Manual, could slash the sword intent into people's hearts, invoking their lifelong deepest fears, which would turn against them.

If the swordman truly believed they encountered a terrifying existence and were slain by it, they would indeed die.

The divine intent currently emanating had a similar influence, but compared to Jiang Li's sword intent, this divine intent was utterly frenzied, indiscriminately affecting the surroundings in a display of sheer violence.

And within the Heaven and Earth Furnace, only one existence could have such an effect with just a voice.

—Drought Demon.

"Drought Demon!"

The Primordial Lord Rain Master also identified the source of the divine intent at once, immediately looking towards the Xuanyuan Sword, "How did the Drought Demon get unsealed?"

Jiang Li and his companions deemed the Drought Demon a potential threat because if the Yinglong Dao Fruit were to depart, the Earth Fire would lose control, causing catastrophic changes in the Dinghu environment. In reality, even without the Yinglong Dao Fruit, the Drought Demon would still likely remain trapped.

With the Xuanyuan Sword suppressing it here, releasing it would require overcoming the Xuanyuan Sword.

This was indeed the case; even when the Yinglong Dao Fruit became riotous before, the Drought Demon didn't cause any chaos—at most, it released some aura.

During the Sword Discussion Conference, a commotion occurred, but unsealing it was essentially impossible.

However, now, the Drought Demon was indeed about to emerge, and it was happening without anyone's assistance. Jiang Li and others had been present all this time and had never seen any outsiders enter.

Even now, with the Drought Demon's imminent escape, no signs of anyone's interference were visible.

Tianxuan was still advancing in forging a Magic Body, and Gongsun Qingyue pulled out the Wordless Heavenly Scripture to perform divination. Meanwhile, Jiang Li had already detected the root of the anomaly.

"Earth Fire."

Standing at the summit of the Sword Peak, he overlooked the surging flow of magma below, "The Earth Fire has erupted, and the power of the Xuanyuan Sword has been diverted."

Unprecedented Flame Qi was flooding up from the depths of the earth—so intense that even the Yinglong Dao Fruit struggled to filter it all. It was the Earth Fire from the deepest underground, an extremely blazing fierce flame.

Even Jiang Li, upon sensing this Flame Qi, felt a burning illusion.

He possessed a Fire Element body, yet even he felt this way, indicating the Earth Fire's formidable power.

Once this Earth Fire erupted, the entire Dinghu would be annihilated, and it might even affect the surroundings. Although the Xuanyuan Sword was without a master, it had its own spirituality and promptly shifted its power, prioritizing the suppression of the Earth Fire.

Such ingenious thinking was truly unexpected. They indeed anticipated someone might tamper with the Drought Demon's seal, but among the many possibilities, they never considered such a clever method.

Moreover, the capability to incite the Earth Core True Fire was truly shocking in terms of the doer's power.

Indeed, Jiang Li could fully ascertain that someone was secretly acting, deliberately triggering the Earth Core True Fire to reverse-charge the Heaven and Earth Furnace, compelling the Xuanyuan Sword to shift power and collaborate with the Yinglong Dao Fruit to push back the Earth Fire.

"Roar!"

A beast-like howl resounded again, causing the originally calmly flowing Magma Pool to roil even more, making the entire mountain seem to glow, as the originally dark red rocks started turning bright red.

It was because this mountain had long been tempered to a purity under the constant scour of Earth Fire, stronger than refined gold, otherwise it would have melted by now.

Yet even so, Flame Qi still permeated, the Heaven and Earth Furnace had spontaneously opened, the heat rising, turning the Star Magic Domain a deep red.

The Drought Demon, who was undoubtedly a third grade powerhouse participating in the battle that besieged the Military God eight hundred years ago, and indeed third grade perfection. The scorched earth of Yong Province, yet to recover, was a testament to its perfection.

Though now bereft of reason, completely maddened, the Drought Demon remained strong, fully capable of seizing the opportunity to escape.

When the Magma Pool boiled to a certain intensity, it suddenly began to stagnate, and the surrounding temperature quickly dropped at this moment, even bringing a coolness to the Heaven and Earth Furnace.

Simultaneously, Gongsun Qingyue's body shimmered with flames, azure flames burst from her acupoints, as if she donned a robe of azure flame.

"Junior Brother," Gongsun Qingyue immediately called out, "The Drought Demon is coming out."

The Drought Demon had also cultivated the Drought God Palm back then, sharing the same origin with Gongsun Qingyue's cultivation body. Now, with the Drought Demon's imminent emergence, Gongsun Qingyue also sensed it.

The cooling was not due to anything else but because the Drought Demon was absorbing the Flame Qi within the Heaven and Earth Furnace.

As the Magma Pool at the bottom began to solidify due to the gradual cooling, the eye of the spring, long devouring the magma flow at the center where the tip of the Xuanyuan Sword stood, began to pour out a crimson spring.