Using Yin Fire to Draw Yang Fire

The aura of the drought demon was already overwhelming, so the three of them didn't need to search for it deliberately.

Mingde stood behind the drought demon, his expression calm, even somewhat leisurely. He was a few years older than Mingxin, and his eyes lacked Mingxin's gentleness and introspection, instead displaying a condescending gaze from someone who had long lived in a high place.

He wore a dark red Taoist robe, the hem of which was embroidered with dense black runes, just like the patterns on the drought demon's body.

"Junior brother, you've arrived." Mingde's gaze passed over Mingxin, lingered for a moment on Liu Jin and Zhao Fengnian, then he smiled. "And you brought two with such high cultivation levels. Were you afraid you'd be lonely on the road to the Yellow Springs, so you brought a few extra to keep you company?"

His tone was casual, as if he were chatting with Mingxin about everyday matters. It wasn't because he didn't know what he was facing, but because he knew all too well what he had in his hands.

The drought demon is complete. Although it's still a little short of completion, this final step can't be filled with the flesh and blood of ordinary people; it requires the flesh and blood of cultivators, the higher the cultivation level, the better. The arrival of these three people perfectly fills this last gap.

Zhao Fengnian looked at him coldly: "Where do you get the confidence that you can beat the three of us?"

"Win? There's no need to win." Mingde flicked non-existent dust from his sleeve. "The Drought Demon is already the pinnacle of this world. Unless you can break through its limits, you're like a mantis trying to stop a chariot. The limits of this world are right here; those who could break through have already ascended. Who would stop?"

He suddenly laughed at this point, a laugh that carried a clear awareness of his own identity. "Not to mention us Earthlings, who isn't rushing to climb higher? Who would stop if there were a path forward? Why stop? To wait for someone else to surpass you?"

Liu Jin spoke, his voice not loud, yet it steadily suppressed the hot wind of the wilderness: "What the cheat system gives you doesn't naturally belong to you. Only when you fully digest it do you truly own it. That's the meaning of stopping."

Mingde scoffed after hearing this: "My cheat system is the Sound of the Great Dao. It was fully digested the moment it was given to me. He heard every insight clearly. What else is there to digest?"

"The last sage on Earth said, 'Knowledge and action must be one.' You only know it but don't do it; where is your understanding?" Liu Jin shook his head and said no more.

He held the Crimson Lotus Spear horizontally in front of him, and a cluster of pure silver-white flames ignited at the tip of the spear—the fire of Yin, the essence of the moon, the ultimate Yin and the most gentle.

The flame had no heat; instead, it caused the surrounding air to suddenly cool down, and a thin layer of white frost formed on the parched earth.

Sensing the threat, the drought demon suddenly turned its head, its empty eye sockets aimed at Liu Jin.

It is a monster of pure Yang, imbued with the malevolent energy of heaven and earth. Wherever it passes, the land turns to scorched earth. It relies on the pure Yang power that evaporates all Yin energy, moisture, and life force.

The fire of the moon is precisely the extreme of pure yin; it is neither water nor ice, but yin fire formed from the moon's essence, mirroring the pure yang of the drought demon.

Liu Jin didn't need to burn the drought demon to death with the Taiyin Fire; he only needed to use Yin to draw out Yang. The pure Yang power within the drought demon's body would automatically go berserk upon sensing the aura of the pure Yin Fire. The two extreme forces would attract and pull each other, eventually drawing out a higher level of flame.

The ground began to tremble. The cracks beneath the drought demon's feet rapidly widened, and dark red light surged forth from the fissures. The pure yang energy within its body was drawn by the yin fire, violently pouring outwards.

The hot winds in the wilderness suddenly intensified, whipping up sand and stones, plunging the sky into darkness. Liu Jin gripped the Crimson Lotus Spear with both hands, continuously channeling Yin Fire into its tip. The Yin runes on the spearhead lit up one by one, transforming the entire spear from its jet-black, cold iron color to a deep blue.

He aimed the spear tip at the drought demon and steadily advanced, one step at a time. With each step, the Yin fire on the spear tip shone brighter; with each step, the pure Yang power within the drought demon surged more violently.

Two extreme forces formed a visible vortex between the spear tip and the drought demon. The silvery-white Taiyin fire and the dark red pure Yang power intertwined and pulled each other. The center of the vortex became brighter and hotter, eventually breaking through a certain critical point.

A golden beam of light slashed straight down from the heavens, striking the drought demon squarely on the crown of its head.

That wasn't lightning, it was fire. The intense, yang fire of the sun, drawn by the fierce conflict between the yin and yang, descended from beyond the heavens.

The moment the beam of light struck, the entire wilderness was illuminated as if it were daytime. The drought demon let out a silent roar within the beam of light, its body dissolving layer by layer, starting from its head: first the dark red skin, then the knotted muscles beneath, and finally the bones encased in tendons.

The fire of the sun ignited the pure yang energy within its body, while the Samadhi True Fire simultaneously burned its soul, and the fire of the moon froze its yin core from within. With the three fires burning down together, the drought demon's supposedly indestructible body evaporated layer by layer at a visible speed, like an ice block thrown into a furnace.

Meanwhile, Zhao Fengnian and Mingxin had already engaged in combat with Mingde.

Mingxin unfolded the Crescent Moon Fan, and the waxing and waning of the moon on the fan surface rapidly changed. A layer of moonlight flowed out from the fan surface, enveloping Zhao Fengnian completely.

This is the realm of illusion that Mingxin obtained by exchanging himself for a prisoner in the Laoshan Illusion, a realm that can directly strike the soul.

This time, however, he did not use it to attack Mingde. Instead, he used the moonlight to illuminate the depths of Zhao Fengnian's consciousness, turning his soul into a smooth mirror in the face of Mingde's soul attack. The attack was deflected when it landed on the mirror, and what could not be deflected was enveloped and dissolved into nothingness by the moonlight.

Zhao Fengnian faced Mingde head-on. Dragon wings spread, dragon claws clenched into fists, and the power of water and fire flowed and roared on the scales.

He threw a punch at Mingde's face. Mingde raised his hand to block, and the moment their fists and arms collided, a dull metallic clang was heard. Zhao Fengnian felt as if he had been struck by a piece of cold iron that had been forged a thousand times.

He looked down and saw that the sleeve of Mingde's robe had been shattered by the force of the punch, revealing the skin beneath. The skin was dark blue, covered with black runes identical to those on the drought demon's body. A half-corpse. Mingde had refined himself as well.

Mingde's cultivation level was not as high as Zhao Fengnian's, but his half-corpse body gave him a near-immortal defensive ability.

Zhao Fengnian's dragon claws could only leave a few shallow white marks on his body, and each of his counterattacks was accompanied by pure yang malevolent energy that originated from the same source as the drought demon, forcing Zhao Fengnian to withdraw his attack and block.

The two exchanged dozens of blows on the wasteland. Zhao Fengnian became more and more stable as the fight progressed. His dragon-transformed body, after incorporating the Water Flowing Technique, was no longer what it used to be. The water and fire on his scales complemented each other, creating a tug-of-war with the pure yang malevolent energy on Mingde's body.

Mingxin constantly interfered with Mingde's judgment with illusions from the flank. Every time the waxing and waning of the fan flickered, Mingde would have a brief illusion before his eyes. Sometimes it was Mingzhi's face before he died, and sometimes it was his own reflection before he went astray.

These illusions posed no real harm to Mingde, who was in a half-corpse state, but they frequently hampered his attacks.

As Liu Jin gradually forced the drought demon into the center of the pillar of sunlight, Mingde finally became afraid.

He suddenly feinted a move to force Zhao Fengnian back, then transformed into a streak of dark red light and rushed towards the drought demon without regard for anything else.