Amon caught up to the Void Swallowing Flame again, and his dragon claw, shining with purple-gold light, swung down. The Void Swallowing Flame resorted to his old trick, transforming into a sky full of flames.
This time, his escape was not so smooth.
The giant dragon opened his mouth, and a terrifying suction force emanated from within. If it were the complete Void Swallowing Flame, he would naturally not be afraid, but in order to avoid the damage from the dragon claw, he actively dispersed himself into countless sparks, which resulted in the individual sparks being weak.
Black flames were swallowed by Amon, one after another. These flames all contained the Void Swallowing Flame's origin fire, and each one swallowed would cause his strength to decrease by a fraction.
When the Void Swallowing Flame re-converged into human form, his aura had weakened considerably, and he almost regressed to an Eight-Star Dou Saint.
"Damn it…" The Void Swallowing Flame was both shocked and enraged, a hint of ruthlessness flashing in his eyes: "Do you really think my origin fire is so easy to eat? Aren't you afraid of bursting?"
He formed a hand seal and let out a low roar: "Explode for me!"
Anyway, it was unlikely he could get them back, so he might as well use them to cause some trouble for the other party… With this thought, the Void Swallowing Flame detonated the lost Heavenly Flame origins.
However, nothing happened; he found that he had lost contact with the swallowed origins.
The flames swallowed by the giant dragon were instantly refined!
The Void Swallowing Flame gritted his teeth and fled again.
"Lord Void!" In the distance, Hun Yan, Hun Tu, and Hun Sha, who had been left behind during the previous chase, finally caught up.
They saw that the Void Swallowing Flame seemed to be retreating, but given their previous engagement, they felt that the Void Swallowing Flame and the ninth grade golden pill were of similar strength. If they assisted, there was hope of taking down the opponent.
The Void Swallowing Flame's eyes lit up, and he rushed towards them, quickly sweeping past them and leaving behind a single sentence:
"Stop him."
Before they could even understand what was happening, the giant dragon claw had already struck.
The three of them felt their scalps tingle and, almost without hesitation, split into three directions, scattering and fleeing.
Hun Yan, who was the slowest to react, was grazed by the aftermath of the dragon claw's strike, immediately spitting out fresh blood and suffering a considerable injury.
At this moment, they finally understood why the Void Swallowing Flame was fleeing so frantically.
The terrifying might emanating from the opponent was clearly no less than that of their clan leader!
"Three ants." Amon swung his dragon tail, mercilessly drawing the heavily injured Hun Yan into a bloody mist.
Subsequently, he flapped his wings, killing Hun Tu and Hun Sha one after another.
The Void Swallowing Flame transformed into a dark black light and rapidly approached the Soul Realm. Just as he was very close, Amon caught up and bit down.
The Void Swallowing Flame had no choice but to disperse his form to avoid being swallowed whole; as a cost, he lost some more origin.
His aura completely plummeted, becoming a peak Eight-Star Dou Saint.
"Hun Tiandi, save me!"
Regardless of whether the Hun Tiandi could hear him, he roared out loud.
Along the way, he had used countless methods, but each time the opponent was able to accurately pinpoint his true body, causing a sense of despair to inevitably rise in his heart.
A gigantic, dark black energy palm traversed a long distance, striking towards Amon. A chilly wind gusted from the palm, as if countless souls were wailing and screaming.
Amon's figure paused, and he swung his dragon claw to meet it.
The palm and the dragon claw collided, and a terrifying energy storm rippled outwards. The Void Swallowing Flame took the opportunity to dart a long distance forward.
A young man dressed in white, like a scholar, looking delicate as if he couldn't even bind a chicken, stood in the void, his expression solemn as he looked at the massive creature in the distance.
"Hun Tiandi!" The Void Swallowing Flame, looking utterly disheveled, came to his side and hid behind him.
The Hun Tiandi ignored him, his exceptionally bright eyes fixed intently on the front. Powerful as he was, facing Amon, who was now exuding a monstrous aura, he dared not be careless in the slightest.
"Your Excellency, what happened? Why don't we sit down and talk?" the Hun Tiandi said.
Amon glanced at him, ignored him, turned his body, and disappeared into the boundless void.
Looking at the Void Swallowing Flame, who seemed to want to speak but hesitated, the Hun Tiandi frowned and said, "Let's go back to the Soul Realm first."
...
At the summit of the highest mountain in the Soul Realm, the Hun Tiandi and the Void Swallowing Flame stood facing each other.
"Void, what exactly happened? I heard from Hun Xunzi that someone refined a ninth grade golden pill at the Yao Ceremony, and I was just about to go over."
The Void Swallowing Flame nodded: "Yes, Yao Chen refined a ninth grade golden pill, and then for some unknown reason, the ninth grade golden pill attacked the Yao Clan. The Yao Clan activated their clan-protecting formation, but they were still no match.
"I saw that he was greatly exhausted, so I planned to take the opportunity to capture him… At first, I had the upper hand in the battle with him, so I chased him into the void.
"But I didn't expect that after he fled for a while, he actually broke through to the late Nine-Star Dou Saint, and the situation rapidly deteriorated."
The Hun Tiandi asked, "What about Hun Yan, Hun Sha, and the others?"
"They died at the hands of the ninth grade golden pill."
The Hun Tiandi fell silent. He looked at the Void Swallowing Flame, who had fallen to the peak of an Eight-Star Dou Saint, his gaze slightly cold, his voice no longer as gentle as before:
"So, your trip not only caused our clan to lose three Seven Star Dou Shengs but also caused your own cultivation to regress?"
Even though he tried his best to restrain himself, the Hun Tiandi's tone inevitably carried a hint of anger.
The Void Swallowing Flame was speechless, only muttering, "I'm sorry."
Having just been saved by the Hun Tiandi, he found it difficult to be assertive in front of him at this moment, and could only obediently endure the scolding like a student who had made a mistake.
The Hun Tiandi took several deep breaths, barely calming his mind, and tried to let his rationality prevail. Not only did he not utter any words of blame, but he even offered comfort:
"You are the most important; your return is the greatest fortune for my Soul Clan… Don't be disheartened, I will mobilize the strength of the entire clan to help you recover to your previous level as quickly as possible… If you have nothing else to say, then go rest first."
The Void Swallowing Flame nodded and left the cliff.
Once his aura had gone far away, and he was left alone, the Hun Tiandi could no longer contain his anger, and his Dou Qi erupted.
As his Dou Qi surged, the surrounding space continuously shattered and healed.
If it wasn't the Void Swallowing Flame who had made the mistake, but someone else, he would probably have directly killed them!
Originally, the thousand-year plan was progressing in an orderly fashion; apart from the unexpected appearance of the Xiao Clan, everything else was going well.
Even the elusive Xiao Clan had temporarily reached an agreement and become allies.
But the Void Swallowing Flame, this fool, for the sake of a cultivation technique, exposed the Soul Clan's strength to the other Ancient Eight Clans, and not only failed to take down a ninth grade golden pill when he chased it, but was instead beaten down in realm by the opponent.
This directly ruined the excellent situation!
The other Ancient Eight Clans, knowing the Soul Clan's strength, would inevitably become vigilant, and even form an alliance, while the Soul Clan here had all Four Demon Saints perish, and its strength was weakened.
Furthermore, a very important point was that the Void Swallowing Flame needed to possess the strength of a Nine-Star Dou Saint to completely swallow the vast space where the Ancient Eight Clans lived…
If he couldn't achieve this, he couldn't guarantee eliminating the other clans without anyone knowing.
If the Void Swallowing Flame couldn't recover his realm quickly, then all previous plans would be for naught!
The Soul Clan could no longer wait; the four elders were maintaining a sliver of life with secret techniques, but they ultimately couldn't resist the erosion of time, and their time was running out.
Once these four completely passed away, the Soul Clan would no longer possess its current overwhelming advantage over the Ancient Clan.
Moreover, the Xiao Clan was also developing secretly; they seemed to have broken free from the shackles of their bloodline, and the longer it took, the greater the threat.
If they missed this once-in-a-millennium opportunity, they might never have such a chance again in the future.