劍問蒼天 - 第206章 魔獸 - 翰墨軒

With that dragon cry, the whole vast stone chamber seemed to tremble; the sound climbed from low to high, and the echoes rolling back from the depths of the darkness did not weaken at all but rose ever higher, verging on a shrill shriek, until at last it was like mountains and seas roaring, deafening beyond measure.

Ming Li halted, for the blaze before him had leapt abruptly from the brazier and barred his way, and within that searing flame, faint and indistinct, a pair of savage eyes seemed to flicker, watching him.

The Beast Sovereign's figure had already vanished behind the firelight, but his calm voice came clear from within the flames: "This is an ancient formation handed down in the Southern Borderlands, called the Mystic Fire Eight Fiends Formation. If you can break it and not die, then whatever you wish to do, I will let you."

Hardly had his words fallen when a furious roar burst from the brightest heart of the flames; the fire shuddered and writhed violently, and the ground for five chi around was scorched and split, so fierce was the heat near that brazier.

A blast of scorching wind rushed at them from ahead, billowing Ming Li's garments out behind him, yet his expression seemed wholly untouched by it; even the little monkey, Xiao Hui, crouched on his shoulder, fixed all three of its eyes on the blazing fire without a trace of fear or pain. Only their faces were grave, for anyone could tell that this was merely the beginning.

The first blood-red fiend image slowly appeared above the flames, its hideous visage and grotesque posture exactly matching the patterns they had seen in the Mystic Fire Altar of Fenxia Valley. Ming Li stared at the image, and a complicated expression gradually surfaced on his face.

One after another they lit in turn, the blood-red light along the rim of the blaze slowly joining into a single band, forming a ring that encircled the blazing fire at its center.

When the last of the blood-red light closed beneath the flames, all at once the entire red halo blazed forth, the crimson light surging so violently that even the fire within seemed pressed down; and in that instant a malevolence of the most vicious kind descended upon the chamber out of nowhere. Deep within the flames, that pair of half-seen eyes abruptly widened.

"ROAR!"

A heaven-shaking roar, and in an instant the whole stone chamber shook; the searing radiance danced like demons gone mad, whipping wildly, and from the depths of the fire a ferocious colossal beast, cloaked in blazing flame, roared and glared out over the world, manifesting before them.

The Crimson Flame Fiend Beast!

The beast that had once guarded the Eight Fiends Mystic Fire Formation handed down by the ancient shaman tribe in the Mystic Fire Altar of Fenxia Valley had appeared once more, and facing it a second time, Ming Li and the little ghost could not help but pale slightly; Xiao Hui bared its teeth, crouched on Ming Li's shoulder, and snarled furiously at the beast.

The Crimson Flame Fiend Beast's vast body kept emerging from the huge halo of the Eight Fiends Mystic Fire Formation: first the enormous head, then the shoulders, the forelegs, and slowly the torso and hind legs as well; with its coming the temperature in the stone chamber climbed madly higher, until even Ming Li's garments began to show signs of scorching yellow.

At last the final portion of its flame-wreathed body appeared. The Crimson Flame Fiend Beast, that colossus, stood enveloped in fire before Ming Li and Xiao Hui, and Ming Li was not even as tall as half of one of its paws. Behind the beast, the uncanny halo formed of the eight fiend images flickered bright and dim by turns, trailing in the Crimson Flame Fiend Beast's wake.

It was like a demon, grinning savagely ahead!