Chapter 611 - 172: First Limit Break of Vajra Demon Subduing, Enemies Cross Paths in the Flame Fire Forbidden Land

Outside the boundary line, rolling mountains were still covered in lush, green pines and cypresses, dotted with tenacious patches of dark green life. But once one crossed that invisible line, it was as if the land had been snapped and crushed by a colossal, unseen hand descending from the heavens, revealing a lifeless, heart-stopping expanse of ochre-brown. Not a single blade of grass grew; it was a thousand miles of scorched earth. The ground was covered in a network of hideous, intersecting fissures, like the skeletal remains of the earth exposed by a dry riverbed, or a desperate scream from the land itself, cracking wantonly in all directions and stretching to the horizon. Here, the air was scorched by the extreme heat, causing it to distort and boil with rolling waves of heat. This searing heat did not come from the blazing sun in the sky, but steamed out endlessly from those bottomless fissures in the earth. It carried the thick, choking stench of sulfur and molten rock, a smell so foul it could make one gag. As far as the eye could see, the entire landscape shimmered and distorted in the high temperature, as if viewed through a wavering, oily film, creating an incredibly unreal and dizzying sensation. But this place was not entirely silent. HUMMM— Occasionally, a deep, muffled rumble would emanate from the deepest veins of the earth, like the breath of a slumbering primordial beast—a soul-shaking sound. It was followed by spurts of dark-red vapor hissing from certain deep fissures— This was no ordinary subterranean fire, but the "Earth Vein Flame Fiend Qi," condensed to an almost solid state and possessing an extremely corrosive and destructive nature! This Evil Qi rose and twisted like freed poison dragons. Wherever it passed, even the hardest granite would emit a harsh SIZZLE, its surface rapidly becoming brittle and charred before crumbling into a pile of crimson dust and vanishing completely. Even more terrifying to the Divine Soul was that the Evil Qi seemed to contain the earth’s deepest tyranny and venomous resentment, carrying an intensely invasive quality. If an ordinary Martial Artist were to draw near, merely sensing this aura from a distance would be enough to cloud their mind and make them restless and irritable. Their darkest thoughts would be instantly provoked, and the circulation of their internal Primordial Qi would slow by a third. Legend had it that even the great masters of the Demon Dao, those who practiced Evil Cultivation Techniques, were exceedingly wary of the Evil Qi in this place. Ordinary Demonic Qi clashed with the Flame Fire Evil Qi here, like cold water dropped into boiling oil. The conflict was violent, and a single moment of carelessness could result in one’s body being incinerated by the Evil Qi, a miserable end where one’s entire foundation was destroyed. This was a domain forbidden to all life, a place that even death found repulsive, a place from which even Demon Fiends would shrink back in fear! And yet, in the center of this Desolate Land that should have been utterly devoid of life, two figures now stood... One of them, dressed in martial attire with disheveled hair and a haggard appearance, was none other than the young miss of the Zhang Family—Zhang Ling’Er! At this moment, Zhang Ling’Er’s condition was extremely strange, even terrifyingly bizarre. Her once delicate and lovely face was now twisted and distorted. Beneath her skin, it looked as if countless red worms were frantically squirming and writhing, causing it to ripple erratically. Her eyes were as red as blood, devoid of any clarity, revealing a self-destructive madness that disregarded all consequences. Her hands were formed into a strange Seal Technique as she frantically activated a Forbidden Technique called the "Condensing Evil and Burning Heart Technique," desperately devouring the "Earth Vein Flame Fiend Qi" that even masters of the Demon Dao feared! With every breath she took, the rampaging Evil Qi around her seemed to be drawn by an invisible force, transforming into streams like dark-red serpents that frantically drilled into her seven orifices and merged into her body. This "Condensing Evil and Burning Heart Technique" passed down to her by the Zhang Family Ancestor was utterly vicious and domineering. Like a great whale swallowing the sea, it completely disregarded any principle of gradual progression, simply absorbing the Evil Qi directly and forcefully fusing with it! This wasn’t cultivation at all... She was clearly being used as a "vessel" to continuously absorb the "Earth Vein Flame Fiend Qi"! In the shadow of a tall rock at the edge of the Desolate Land, the Shadow Guard Tang Yu watched this scene in silence, her expression complex. Her eyes, usually as cold as ice, were now filled with unconcealable worry and pity. But this matter had been personally sanctioned by that Ancestor of the Zhang Family, who had been in seclusion for many years and had not shown himself in ages... And the Zhang Family Patriarch, Zhang Ling’Er’s own father, had also nodded his approval. No one dared to defy them. ’I’m just a lowly Shadow Guard. My words carry no weight. What can I say?’ ’What can I change?’ But to stand by and watch the Young Miss descend step-by-step into the Demon Dao, to see her gradually lose her sanity because of her towering hatred for Chu Fan and turn into a madwoman who knows only slaughter... Tang Yu’s heart, usually as still as a tranquil well, was violently stirred... ’Why did it have to be this way...’ Tang Yu’s heart was filled with bitterness and confusion. She truly couldn’t understand why the Patriarch would agree to such a destructive course of action, why he would watch his own daughter fall step-by-step into an abyss of eternal damnation. Even if the Young Miss could truly rely on that incomparably domineering "Condensing Evil and Burning Heart Technique" and this endless "Earth Vein Flame Fiend Qi" to achieve a massive surge in strength in a short time, by then, she would no longer be the same person. Perhaps she would be reduced to a powerful puppet that knew only slaughter, completely dominated by the Evil Qi—a walking corpse with no consciousness of her own... How had things come to this? Was it all just because of one man, Chu Fan? Tang Yu couldn’t make sense of it, and she didn’t dare to dwell on it any longer. Her heart just felt incredibly heavy. She found it somewhat difficult to breathe, her brow furrowing slightly. In a place so filled with the rampaging "Earth Vein Flame Fiend Qi," even someone of her Cultivation was under constant, immense erosive pressure and couldn’t hold out for too long.