One person: Starting with the Snow Drinking Blade

In a life-or-death situation, relying on his heaven-defying will, solid foundation, and a bit of luck, Nie Lingfeng actually managed to forcibly digest and initially fuse the three unparalleled divine treasures: Qilin Marrow, Phoenix Blood, and Dragon Essence!

Although he did not immediately attain the legendary "immortality" or "undying" state—those require a long period of painstaking effort and deeper understanding—his life essence, physical strength, soul power, internal energy cultivation, and control over various attributes such as fire, ice, strength, life and death all underwent earth-shattering and transformative changes!

The magnitude of his improvement was so great that even he himself could not accurately estimate it at that moment.

He simply felt an unprecedented, unimaginably vast power surging within him! This power was both balanced and domineering, fiery and vibrant yet icy and stagnant, as if it contained some supreme mystery of the unity of opposites in the universe. Every gesture he made gave him the illusion that he could shake mountains and scorch rivers and boil seas—no, it wasn't an illusion, it was real!

He even had an impulse to roar to the sky and release the almost overflowing power within him!

"How...how is this possible?!"

The fire demon's mocking laughter abruptly ceased, as if someone had grabbed its throat. Its two eerie green eyes widened, almost leaping out of their sockets, filled with incomprehensible horror and bewilderment.

It couldn't believe its eyes—this tiny human, this human who was nothing more than a delicious snack in its eyes, had actually withstood the conflict of the three divine artifacts, and seemed to... have fused them together?!

No! This is impossible! That is its power! That is the sustenance for its recovery, evolution, and dominance! How could it be taken away by a human!

"roar--!!!"

Boundless rage, jealousy, and greed instantly overwhelmed the last shred of reason remaining in the fire demon! It no longer waited for its wounds to fully heal, letting out a hysterical roar—a roar filled with madness, resentment, and unwillingness—dragging its not-yet-fully-healed, hideous hole in its chest, it stomped its limbs violently against the ground!

"boom!"

It kicked a huge crater in the ground, sending rocks flying everywhere! Its massive, mountain-like body, wreathed in towering black and red demonic flames and a foul-smelling gale, charged madly at Nie Lingfeng, who had just completed his transformation and was still standing there with his eyes slightly closed, sensing the changes within himself!

The speed is astonishing! Hundreds of meters are covered in the blink of an eye!

Its rotting maw opened to its limit, revealing crisscrossing fangs, and a dark red light shone brightly from the depths of its throat! A pillar of dark red fire, thicker and deeper in color than before, containing a dense aura of death and evil energy, was the first to spew from its mouth like the breath of a hellish dragon. It tore through the air, carrying the intense heat that could burn everything and the stench that could corrode everything, and slammed towards Nie Lingfeng!

It wanted to take advantage of the moment when the human had just absorbed the power and had not yet fully adapted, to devour him along with the tempting energy within him!

"Watch out!" Chen Duo cried out in alarm, about to swing her peerless sword to intercept. She knew the power of this attack; the fire demon's breath had melted rocks before! This one was even thicker and more terrifying!

however--

Nie Lingfeng didn't even open his eyes.

He simply raised his right hand slowly, his five fingers spread, his palm facing the roaring fire demon rushing towards him, and the dark red pillar of fire tearing through the air.

Then, give it a gentle squeeze.

There are no fancy move names, no earth-shattering displays, and no flashy actions.

It was just a casual gesture, like crushing an ant, a gentle squeeze.

"Buzz—!"

Centered on his palm, the space in front of him seemed to freeze and collapse instantly!

An invisible, unimaginably powerful force burst forth from his palm, like an invisible giant hand, instantly enveloping the space within a radius of several dozen feet in front of him!

The dark red pillar of fire, powerful enough to melt gold and iron, seemed to have crashed into an invisible, absolutely insurmountable wall when it was still three meters away from his palm!

"boom!"

The pillar of fire exploded, turning into countless sparks like fireflies, scattering in all directions! Those sparks landed on the ground, scorching countless dense, blackened pits, but they couldn't get even a fraction closer to Nie Lingfeng!

The fire demon that was charging with immense force suddenly felt its body freeze!

It felt as if it had crashed into a viscous swamp made of dark golden flames! No, not a swamp, but... a domain!

A heavy, majestic, and unimaginably hot aura, yet carrying the sacred power to purify all evil, pressed down on it like an invisible mountain!

Its forward momentum abruptly halted! The halt came so suddenly and violently that its body was abruptly stopped in mid-air, its bones making a "crack" sound as if they were about to be crushed by the force!

Its massive, mountain-like body was frozen in mid-air! It was only ten feet away from Nie Lingfeng, yet it was as if there was an insurmountable chasm between them, making it impossible to advance an inch!

It struggled frantically, kicking its limbs wildly, its demonic flames surging, yet it was like a flying insect trapped in amber, its movements instantly becoming incredibly slow, each movement requiring immense effort! The demonic flames burning on its body, under the suppression of this dark golden aura, seemed to have encountered their nemesis, quickly dimming and extinguishing, emitting mournful cries!

"This...this is...what kind of power is this?!"

The fire demon roared in terror, its voice trembling. In its two ghostly green eyes, a deep-seated fear finally appeared—an instinctive terror born of facing a higher being!

It felt as insignificant as an ant, as small as a speck of dust, before its opponent! A single thought from the opponent was enough to crush it completely! This level of power far exceeded its comprehension!

That wasn't the power of any cultivation technique, nor the power of any divine weapon—it was the suppression of the essence of life, the crushing of bloodline levels, and the absolute gap in evolutionary levels!

Compared to Nie Lingfeng, who had fused with the three divine artifacts, this corrupted remains of his was simply a joke!

Nie Lingfeng slowly opened his eyes.

The dark golden pupils calmly gazed at the fire demon, who was so close yet trapped in mid-air, struggling madly in vain. In that gaze, there was no anger, no killing intent, no mockery, only a condescending indifference, like a god looking down on an ant.

That was a true view from above—because at this moment, his level of life had transcended that of a walking corpse.

"The Qilin is an auspicious beast of heaven and earth, wielding divine fire to cleanse evil spirits." Nie Lingfeng spoke slowly, his voice calm yet carrying a strange majesty that seemed to resonate with the heavens and earth. Each word fell like a morning bell or evening drum, echoing in the stone chamber, making the Fire Demon's soul tremble.

"You are nothing but a corpse corrupted by external demons, a walking corpse. Do you even deserve to wield flames? Do you even deserve to... tarnish the name of the Qilin?"

He extended his right index finger, with the tip pointing upwards.

A wisp of dark gold, pure to the extreme, seemingly capable of burning through the void, quietly appeared.

The flame was small, only the size of a bean, like a tiny dark golden pearl. But the moment it appeared—

The temperature in the entire stone chamber suddenly soared to a terrifying level! It wasn't an ordinary temperature increase; it was as if countless suns were simultaneously descending upon the chamber! Even the space itself couldn't withstand the temperature, and began to slightly distort and deform, emitting creaking sounds as it struggled to bear the weight. Tiny black cracks even appeared at the edges—signs that the space was being burned through!

The luminous pearls that were still clinging to life on the walls of the stone chamber shattered instantly! They didn't even have time to make a crisp sound before they were reduced to dust!

Even the Phoenix True Fire surrounding Chen Duo's body swayed slightly before this wisp of flame, like a subject bowing his noble head before a king. It wasn't suppression, but submission—the instinctive submission of a lower-level flame to a higher-level flame!

This is the Qilin True Fire, which combines the essence of the Qilin marrow, the immortality of the phoenix blood, the creative power of the dragon essence, and Nie Lingfeng's own understanding of the Great Dao of "fire"!

The true, primordial divine fire belonging to the mythical beast Qilin, powerful enough to burn the heavens and boil the seas, and purify all things!

It is not ordinary fire, nor demonic flames, but the first sacred fire that illuminated the chaos at the beginning of time!

"Dust to dust, ashes to ashes."

Nie Lingfeng looked at the wisp of dark golden flame leaping at his fingertips, as if he were pronouncing a predetermined ending.

"Your pain, your resentment, your very existence is a mistake."

He paused, his gaze falling on the Fire Demon's pair of terrifying, ghostly green eyes.

"Today, I will use this true fire to send you to your next life, purify this place of filth, and restore Lingyun Cave to its former tranquility."

As soon as he finished speaking, he flicked his finger.

The tiny, dark golden flame, no bigger than a bean, floated out—yes, floated out as lightly as a petal falling in spring, or a snowflake falling in winter—and landed right on the forehead of the fire demon, who was bound and unable to move by an invisible force.

"laugh……"

A sound so faint it was almost negligible, like a drop of water falling into boiling oil.

next moment--

"boom--!!!"

Centered on the point where the flame landed, the dark golden flames, as if they had come to life, or as if the most intense gunpowder had been ignited, instantly engulfed the fire demon's entire body!

This flame had no earth-shattering explosion, no deafening roar, no scorching heat wave—it burned exceptionally "quietly" and exceptionally "elegantly," yet it carried an indescribable domineering and purifying power!

Its spread was astonishingly fast, yet clearly visible—every inch of the flame's spread, every lick of the flame, was like the most skilled painter wielding his brush, precise, elegant, and unhurried.

"Awoooooo!!!"