CHAPTER 551: CHAPTER 551 DIVINE BIRD

The flame born from Shen Siyuan’s Sea of Consciousness, its origins unknown, seemed to have a tendency to scorch all things. Yin Wind, Yin Clouds, White Bones, and the omnipresent Polluted Energy of the Netherworld all appeared to become its fuel, augmenting its blaze as the Fire Tree grew larger and larger.

The heatwaves were so intense that Shen Siyuan’s hair began to curl, and even the surrounding space took on a glass-like quality.

The three little ones could no longer endure the high temperatures and had already hidden inside the Ten Thousand Soul Banner, peeking out from within.

As for those lost souls who had forfeited their Divine Sense, left with only the instincts of desire, they rode the Yin Wind like moths to a flame, ignorant of fear, all swarming towards the Fire Tree.

They then emitted waves of wretched wailing before ultimately disappearing completely from this world.

Such a large commotion naturally attracted the attention of other evil beings in this world. This time, several malevolence entities came, their presence exceedingly overwhelming.

Even before seeing their shadows, one could feel the air becoming viscous, seemingly transforming into a swamp, with countless malicious intentions, like tentacles, winding towards Shen Siyuan from all directions.

With Shen Siyuan’s short cultivation period, he was merely a mortal, rife with myriad desires. Even before those tentacles were close, his mind was already hazy, teeming with evil thoughts, causing him to panic and not dare remain in place.

With a single thought, a grand sun rose behind him, first stabilizing his Divine Sense. Then he blew forward with his mouth, a wind arose from the ground, and the giant Fire Tree scattered like dandelions, fiery each fluttering, sizzling in the air and potentially spreading everywhere.

However, Shen Siyuan at this point couldn’t care about much, as he had the thought, the bald Fire Tree returned to his Sea of Consciousness, and with a twist of his form, he instantaneously vanished from the spot.

When he next appeared, he was back in the room, his heart only then somewhat eases, followed by heavy panting; it truly was extremely dangerous earlier. When he returned, he even sensed spatial obstruction, indicating that malevolence had the potential to trap him in the Netherworld.

"What’s wrong?"

Ruan Hongzhuang seemed to have been awakened by Shen Siyuan’s panting and asked groggily.

"It’s nothing, you can continue sleeping."

Shen Siyuan casually replied, lifting his head, but his eyes were crimson as blood, veins bulging around, giving him an extremely terrifying appearance.

This was because the malevolence’s evil thoughts had evoked the desires within Shen Siyuan’s body. Although the Sun Observation Method stabilized his Divine Sense, preventing him from losing his mind, it still couldn’t stop evil thoughts from proliferating.

Ordinarily, a person would already have gone mad, reduced to a beast of desire.

Shen Siyuan walked lightly out of the room, into the living room, opened the fridge, took out a bottle of ice-cold water, and drank it down, which made him feel somewhat better.

Then instead of hurrying back to the room, he went directly outdoors to gaze up at the sky, staring at the high hanging full moon. Only then did his mind gradually calm down.

He placed the bottle of ice water on the nearby table and reclined on the chair beside him, rocking gently as he stared at the night sky, his mind soon sinking into his Sea of Consciousness.

The barren Fire Tree stood within his Sea of Consciousness, originally like a canopy, but now only a few small flames stubbornly burned.

Beneath the Fire Tree, various demonic silhouettes emerged, empowered by the malevolence’s evil thoughts, making them stronger. Even with the Fire Tree and the grand sun from the Sun Observation Method’s visualization, they couldn’t prevent their emergence.

Now, he was akin to someone walking on a tightrope; with one misstep, his Divine Sense would be consumed by these demonic creatures, making him hardly different from the malevolence.

However, Shen Siyuan had something up his sleeve, gazing at the golden dragon-like Merit roaming in the air—his trump card, which he wouldn’t use barring absolute necessity. Thus, usually, he didn’t dare to exhaust them entirely.

Unfortunately, these demons were manifestations of Shen Siyuan’s desires, a part of himself; otherwise, he would truly wish to absorb them all into the Ten Thousand Soul Banner.

With a thought from Shen Siyuan, the blazing sun overhead descended onto the Fire Tree. Previously, Shen Siyuan had discovered this Fire Tree and the blazing sun had a complementary effect.

And Shen Siyuan had figured out the origin of this Fire Tree; it was shaped by his psyche—a fusion of his thoughts, desires, and his life’s insights, a flare from his mind, albeit quite a large one.

This, too, uniquely imprinted his spirit, the most direct testament to Shen Siyuan’s existence, not his flesh. Even if his body were destroyed, as long as the Fire Tree didn’t perish, he could attain immortality in another form.

Shen Siyuan ceased to concern himself with the now bald Fire Tree, instead piercing his Divine Sense into the floating State Governor Divine Seal in the air.

His Divine Sense suddenly plunged downward, a vast world emerging in view, precisely the Qiongzhou Netherworld.

Using the authority of the Divine Seal, he could gaze upon the full view of Qiongzhou Netherworld.

The entire Qiongzhou Netherworld was securely capped by an inverted bowl.

This prevented malevolence from entering the Mortal World and similarly stopped the dead from returning to the Netherworld.

Shen Siyuan surveyed the land, with a thought, the surrounding scenery stretched quickly outward. In no time, a fiery red appeared in sight.

Exactly the scattered flames he had cast; these flames spread like dandelions, and upon landing, the fire immediately surged, everything could be burned, everything was its fuel.

Dry bones, Yin Wind, lost souls, and even Polluted Energy and malevolence were likewise affected. Some malevolence found themselves stuck, with their best recourse being amputating to survive.

If malevolence were the manifestation of human desires and evil thoughts, a kind of spiritual pollutant, Shen Siyuan’s fire was no less a spiritual product, as long as his spirit was strong enough, desires potent enough, thoughts resolute enough, the flames would grow ever stronger.

For the dead or malevolence, it was like an attached malignant growth, with no better solution but amputating to survive. Of course, if one had strong enough spirit or will, they could suppress it, but truly extinguishing it was exceedingly difficult.

For as long as Shen Siyuan lives, the fire will not extinguish. So essentially, it shares no difference with malevolence.

However, these unowned flames were too weak, akin to a mere drop in the sea considering the vastness of Qiongzhou Netherworld, having little effect.

Upon reaching this thought, Shen Siyuan’s Divine Sense retreated from the Netherworld back into his Sea of Consciousness and then further sank into the blazing sun atop the Fire Tree.

Next, the dragon-like Merit Golden Light aloft in the air suddenly descended, wrapping around the blazing sun.

The blazing sun then slowly underwent a transformation, turning into a Divine Bird radiating golden light entirely; the Divine Bird extended its beak, gently pecking at a flame from the Fire Tree and swallowing it, instantaneously igniting itself and transforming into a giant Firebird.

The Firebird soared into the sky, then charged straight into the suspended State Governor Divine Seal, disappearing without a trace.

At that moment, Shen Siyuan suddenly opened his eyes, his face pale like paper, collapsing onto the chair, so weak that even his fingers wouldn’t move.

This Divine Bird didn’t just consume nine strands of Shen Siyuan’s Merit, but also carved out a portion of his Divine Sense, granting it intelligence. Besides that, whether it’s the blazing sun or the Divine Fire—all were manifestations of Shen Siyuan’s will—resulting in tremendous deficit for him.