Bai Tianxing cast his Holy Divine Fire Art and tried to siphon the divine fire inside Lan Yu's body quickly. However, he suddenly noticed that the divine fire, which was surging toward his body previously, had stopped flowing!

"Your scheme was almost perfect, but your biggest mistake was underestimating my Master. I reckon the Flame Ritual can't be stopped after it's initiated, isn't it?"

"Well... many thanks, then!"

Lan Yu said in a low voice.

The divine fire on Bai Tianxing's body began to switch directions and surge toward Lan Yu's direction against his will now, at a much faster speed than earlier.

"What?!"

"How is this possible?!"

Whitelock Holy Sovereign and the Holy Light Religion Leader looked aghast.

The Flam Ritual had been reversed!

"How can that happen?! This energy… It seems like her Holy Divine Fire Art has ascended to the ninth level!" the Religion Leader said with disbelief.

The Holy Divine Fire Art that he gave Lan Yu was incomplete, to begin with.

Yet now, she has managed to improve the technique's cultivation to the ninth level!

"How is that even possible?"

"Quick, stop her!"

"No, if the Flame Ritual is interrupted halfway, both parties involved in the ritual will be put in grave danger and risk losing their lives!"

The Holy Light Religion Leader stopped Whitelock Holy Sovereign.

Nonetheless, the friendliness on Whitelock Holy Sovereign's face earlier had vanished. He responded coldly, "That's better than Lan Yu sucking all of Bachelor Sage's divine fire dry. He's better off crippled."

The Holy Light Religion Leader was astonished to hear that.

Just then, cracking sounds were heard.

Much to their surprise, cracks began to form on the Holy Light Chain entrapping Lan Yu's body as it could no longer endure the rapidly escalating energy that was generating on her.

"This woman has become a major threat to us all. We have to kill her!"

Whitelock Holy Sovereign slammed out a palm in Lan Yu's direction.

But right at this moment, a bone-piercing sword qi suddenly erupted from Lan Yu's body and cascaded outward.

Whitelock Holy Sovereign and the Holy Light Religion Leader were both blasted backward by the sword qi.

That sword qi manifested in the form of a white-robed figure in the sky, revealing a handsome man with exquisite features.

"It's you, Chu Kuangren!!"

The Holy Light Religion Leader's expression changed.

He finally understood what was going on. "This entire thing was your plan."

Chu Kuangren flashed him a faint smile and said, "Heh, I won't exactly call it a plan. All I did was set up some preventive measures. After all, some people may appear kind and honest on the outside, but deep down, only heaven knows how dirty and wicked they are."

Holy Light Religion Leader knew Chu Kuangren was taking a jab at him, but he could not wrap his head around how the latter managed to discover their plans.

Also, when exactly did he set up these measures?

"The Holy Divine Sword Art that I've given Lan Yu is incomplete. There's no way she'll advance to the eighth level, much less the ninth. What have you done to overcome that?"

The Holy Light Religion Leader asked curiously as that was the thing he could not wrap his head around the most.

"Simple. I've patched the technique up and made it whole again."

As soon as they heard that, the Holy Light Religion Leader and Whitelock Holy Sovereign were flabbergasted.

"That's the Holy Light Religion's inheritance technique. It is the version it is today owing to the efforts of countless elders before us who had spent all their lives perfecting it. Yet now you're telling me that you and Lan Yu have managed to perfect the technique in just a short few day's time?!"

"Precisely."

Chu Kuangren replied with a gentle smile. He had drawn a Technique Perfection Card some time ago, and it was the right moment to use it on the Holy Divine Fire Art.

"What kind of sick joke is this?!"

The Holy Light Religion Leader yelled furiously. He did not believe a single word Chu Kuangren had said.

Never in his wildest dreams would he have thought that such a thing would occur.

If that was true, this technique that had been painstakingly refined and improvised by so many generations before them would become nothing but a laughing stock.

How were they supposed to accept this?

"Divine Cosmos Illumination!"

The Holy Light Religion did not believe Chu Kuangren's claim, and it made him even more furious.

He lifted his hand, ignited his holy divine fire, and threw it toward Chu Kuangren.

However, his opponent merely waved his hand in the air, where a sword qi jetted out from his side. To his shock, it effortlessly shattered the divine fire, forcing the Holy Light Religion Leader to take a few steps back.

"How is this possible?!"

"To what heights have your combat strength reached?!"

Shock was written all over the Holy Light Religion Leader's face.

After all, he was an almighty leader of a religious orthodoxy!

Yet, he had been shockingly pushed back by Chu Kuangren with one single hit. On top of that, his opponent was merely a clone who was manifesting in Lan Yu's body right now.

"You're too weak. You're not even worthy of being my opponent. Let that Holy Sovereign beside you come at me," Chu Kuangren said calmly.

"Arrogant kid, you're just a mere clone, and you dare utter such words in my face."

Whitelock Holy Sovereign scorned as horrifying energy erupted from his body. He ignited his divine fire, which looked so much stronger than the Holy Light Religion Leader's as there was a strand of Emperor qi fused within it!

"So, it's true that there are Sovereigns in the Holy Light Religion who have cultivated Emperor qi." Chu Kuangren did not seem surprised by his ability.

He simply struck out with a sword finger, and the energy in his clone instantly erupted into an incredibly dazzling and majestic purple sword shadow.

The moment the sword qi and the divine fire collided, the energy from the impact swept across the entire place. The whole palace trembled like crazy, as though it would collapse at any minute.

This movement affected the remaining Sovereigns who were hibernating in the Holy Ancestral Land. Some of them were even awoken from all the commotion.

"Somebody's having a battle in the ancestral land. Who is it?"

"Wreaking havoc at the ancestral land… How dare they desecrate this place!"

Streaks of ruthless energy unleashed one after another.

Inside the palace.

Chu Kuangren's clone sustained a brutal hit from the Sovereign. The sword qi on the clone's body was exhausting quickly, and it started to show signs of crumbling.

The fortunate thing was that at a short distance away, Lan Yu, who was on the altar, had already finished siphoning the divine fire in Bai Tianxing's body.

Lying on the altar at this moment was Bai Tianxing, whose eyes looked forlorn. He also exuded a sense of despair and melancholy.

His divine fire had been sucked dry, and gone along with it was his cultivation…

From that moment on, he had become a cripple!

"Lan Yu!"

Furious, the Holy Light Religion Leader threw out a fierce punch at Lan Yu.

Lan Yu, on the other hand, did not even flinch. Instead, she replied with another punch. Covered in divine fire, both of their fists struck hard onto each other, and they were both blasted backward.

"Your combat strength…"

The Holy Light Religion Leader was incredibly stunned.

He did not expect Lan Yu would have such a strong power to hold herself one-on-one against him.

"I feel like I should thank you for coming up with this scheme. It gave me the opportunity to siphon Bai Tianxing's divine fire. Coupled with the ninth level Holy Divine Fire Art, Religion Leader, I don't think you'd be able to take me down now."

Lan Yu chuckled with a bright gleam of light flas.h.i.+ng in her eyes.

After hearing that, Holy Light Religion Leader's mood was stumped. He was so fl.u.s.tered and at his wits end that he almost blew up.

This was too frustrating, way too frustrating!

Their meticulous grand scheme had ended up benefitting somebody else instead.

Their Bachelor Sage had been crippled, while their Maiden Sage had defected.

The Holy Light Religion had lost their credentials to fight for Emperorhood in this era.

"I will skin you alive!!"

The Holy Light Religion Leader yelled furiously.

Just then, a loud blast was heard from a distance away.

The entire Holy Ancestral Land began to quake violently.

"Could it be…"

The Holy Light Religion Leader's expression changed abruptly as he looked toward Chu Kuangren.

His adversary responded with a faint smile, and the sword qi on his body gradually emanated. "My fellow friends, are you all ready to welcome me here?"

With that, the sword qi clone completely faded away.

Along with another loud rumble, the sky above the Holy Ancestral Land ripped apart into a huge opening.

The Holy Ancestral Land's enchanted boundary had been forcefully broken through by somebody from the outside!

At this instant, the Sovereigns in the ancestral land had all been awakened, and they stared at that opening in the sky with panic.

A figure walked into the ancestral land. It was a man with white robes, black hair, a gorgeous ancient sword strapped to his waist. Incredibly terrifying and boundless sword qi emanated from his body and swept through the entire ancestral land frenziedly. One after another, the palaces at the land crumbled one after another, reducing to smithereens.

"Sovereigns, I'm here."