The woman surnamed Le raised the ancient lamp into the air, parted her lips slightly, and breathed a wisp of white Infant Fire from her mouth, igniting the lamp.
She formed a lotus seal with both hands and slowly chanted low, cryptic incantations. A white lotus bloomed beneath her, and she stood gracefully upon it like a celestial maiden descended from the heavens.
Her incantations carried an indescribable aura of primordial wilderness. The bronze lamp suddenly trembled, and afterimage after afterimage flickered forth — nine identical ancient lamps materialized in a flash.
After circling through the air, they arranged themselves in a triangular formation, slowly rotating in place.
The woman surnamed Le flicked her slender fingers, and nine spell seals of different colors shot into the lamps. Brilliant cyan light erupted as nine lamp flames drifted gently from the lamps and converged at the center of the formation, condensing into a ball of cyan fire the size of a human head.
With a soft puff, the woman spat a mouthful of essence blood onto the cyan flame. Its radiance instantly surged upward by over a foot, blindingly bright.
After a moment, a clear cry rang out, and a cyan bird roughly a foot tall materialized within the flames.
The bird was slender and elegant, with long cyan tail feathers and plumage, and a pair of fiery red eyes that gleamed like polished gemstones. It was a resplendent cyan peacock.
It surveyed its surroundings with a haughty air, spotted the woman surnamed Le directly below, tilted its neck slightly, and let out a string of ancient, primordial words through its sharp beak.
The woman surnamed Le bowed respectfully three times toward the bird, then spoke in the same ancient tongue, engaging it in conversation.
The gaunt elder's expression turned grave upon seeing this.
The woman surnamed Le suddenly ceased her ancient speech, then turned her hand, producing an unknown pink sphere that gave off a fragrant aroma.
The cyan peacock's eyes lit up with delight upon seeing the sphere. It opened its beak and sprayed a wisp of cyan radiance that drew the sphere directly into its mouth.
With a sizzling sound, a ring of light rose around the cyan bird's body, followed by an eruption of cyan flames that transformed it into a colossal fiery bird.
After a sharp cry, the bird spread its wings and soared into the sky. Within a ten-li radius, the fire spiritual energy grew suddenly unstable, and every cultivator and spellcaster using fire-attributed techniques simultaneously found that the power of their spells had been cut in half. They were stunned!
Countless wisps of fire spiritual energy streamed toward the cyan bird like ten thousand rivers flowing into the sea. The bird's body swelled dramatically, and the cyan flames upon it blazed ever more brilliantly.
Every cultivator within a ten-li radius paused, staring in shock at the great cyan fire-bird. The ambient temperature had surged instantaneously, and despite their various protective artifacts and shields, they felt as though they were standing beside a blazing furnace. Horror gripped their hearts.
But when the spellcasters caught sight of the peacock within the cyan fire-sun, ecstatic joy spread across their faces.
"It's the Sacred Bird! Master Le has summoned the Sacred Bird!"
"This battle is as good as won!"
Several spellcasters cried out, then launched frenzied attacks against their opponents, buzzing with excitement.
The gaunt elder, witnessing the bird's divine might, allowed a rare smile to cross his face.
The black-robed woman of the Yin Luo Sect gazed at the cyan peacock within the flames, a peculiar glint flashing through her eyes, and spoke suddenly: "Able to command the fire spiritual energy of heaven and earth, this Sacred Bird must be at least at the Deity Transformation stage or above. No wonder you saved it as your final trump card. However, although the Sacred Bird's realm is high, its internal spiritual power was only at the early Nascent Soul stage when it first appeared. Even after absorbing all this fire spiritual energy, it has barely managed to reach the late stage. This must be an avatar of the main body, correct? Otherwise, there's no way your war against the Tumu people could have ended in such a crushing defeat."
"Madam Lu is truly remarkable — you saw through it at a glance. The Sacred Bird is indeed not the main body descended into this world, but even so, it is no trivial matter. An ordinary late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator would be no match for it whatsoever." The elder glanced at the black-robed woman and said calmly.
"Indeed. The ability to harness the spiritual power of heaven and earth is a great divine power accessible only at the Deity Transformation stage. On this alone, it is virtually invincible." The black-robed woman nodded, a note of envy in her voice.
The elder chuckled upon hearing this and said nothing more.
Meanwhile, the seven elders who had flown out wielding ancient treasures had just used several such artifacts to slay a number of spellcasters when they spotted the colossal bird within the cyan fire-sun. Horror washed over their faces.
"This is bad. This beast looks far too fearsome — ordinary cultivators are no match for it. We must stop it." The lead elder in gray robes spoke, his expression darkening.
"Then what are we waiting for? Let's use the Seven Taizhen Treasures to destroy it at once! This bird clearly doesn't belong to this realm — we cannot allow it to unleash its techniques and harm anyone!" Another elder responded hotly, then transformed into a streak of yellow light and shot straight toward the cyan fire-sun.
The others followed immediately. The lead gray-robed elder hesitated for a moment, then sighed and transformed into a golden rainbow that streaked after them.
Just as the seven reached the vicinity of the cyan fire-sun, the Mulan Sacred Bird appeared to have completed its absorption of fire spiritual energy. Its body had grown to over twenty zhang in length. It lowered its head slightly and spotted the seven cultivators charging toward it with hostility.
Its eyes flashed with vicious light. It flapped its wings, and fist-sized cyan fireballs poured out in dense swarms, hurtling toward the seven.
Before the seven elders could even begin their attack, a blast of hot wind swept over them, setting their entire bodies burning unbearably. The seven shuddered inwardly.
Seeing so many cyan fireballs bearing down on them, a long-browed elder slapped his storage pouch with one hand and flung out a crystalline ice net.
The net proved wondrous indeed — after erupting with white light, it swept all of the fireballs into its mesh.