Paragon of Sin

"...!" Facing the scintillating azure light tinted by an aquamarine hue, Bai Lin's flaming heart clenched and her eyes contracted unnaturally. A swell of cautiousness emerged as she hurriedly attempted to react by batting her wings with extreme force. Yet the spiritual chains enveloped her, both around and through her fiery form, kept her in position no matter how much power she mustered!

She was unable to escape! 

The perilous sensation of danger elevated as the large cannon spewed out a flood of liquid light that inundated half the planet, Bai Lin's twenty-two thousand meter-sized body, and the three Highlords. 

Kree!

A cry of pain resounded within the liquid light. 

The liquid light lasted for a mere second before vanishing. The planet remained unharmed, so did the three Highlords who seemed to be utterly focused while holding a specific hand-seal. Their spiritual strength poured ceaselessly into the spiritual chains manifesting from their backs, plunged downwards towards the planet. However, the planet was now tainted with a rich watery aura, infused with a strange type of water energy. 

Boosh!

A heavy thud resounded. The planet shook for a brief moment. 

The three Highlords all had pale expressions. It seemed that despite the azure liquid light blast lacking direct offensive power, it had siphoned something from them, causing their auras to dwindle. The worst of the bunch wasn't the already pale Highlord Scarletflame, but Highlord Blackflame. The latter had been hit by a two-combo assault of the Fixed Soul Spell and then world-incinerating Nirvanic Flames.

If it weren't for his fire-attributed physique, including all the fire-attributed protective armaments and treasures they were all wearing, he would've suffered severely debilitating injuries at least or been turned into burnt ash at worst. His expression wasn't just downright ashen pale, but his clothes were also burnt asunder with only an aquamarine-colored skin-tight latex-like garment covering his body from neck to toe.

"The Dousing Firestorm Cannon's power is quite…" Highlord Autumnflame was horrified by the utter lack of fire energies within his body and the world. The Dousing Firestorm Cannon was a niche weapon at the high Mystic-Earth grade that used extreme water to counteract fire. It was originally developed by an enemy of the Tang Clan that was eradicated in the early years of their development.

The information detailing the existence of the Dousing Firestorm Cannon had been concealed by the Tang Clan, including its designs, to prevent it from every being used against them. Despite this, they studied the designs and refined it for their own purposes. Specifically, the generations of Vermillion, the leaders of the Tang Clan, had held it in reserve to fight against any coup d'etat attempts. Fortunately, it had another use. 

"..." The other two Highlords were also terrified by their internal situation. Their innate fire energies had vanished entirely, especially since they were at the epicenter of the blast and hadn't defended against it. Their cultivation bases would suffer considerably for this, requiring decades to regain what they lost, but it was the only way to ensure that Bai Lin didn't escape the range of the blast. A sacrificial piece, if you will.

Of course, the compensation promised by the clan was more than enough to lose this cultivated energy. Additionally, if they obtained the Fire Phoenix blood essence, their cultivation bases would surely improve, and the chances to become an Earthly Saint would skyrocket. It would be worth it. It would all be worth it.

The Tang Matriarch observed all this from her Voidship, her expression dignified. While her beautiful features exuded calm, her tensely clenched right fist betrayed her tense emotions. She knew this wasn't over.

Kree!

Just as she thought, the clarion cry of a phoenix echoed throughout the world as Bai Lin's flaming figure came into view. She was smaller, considerably so, yet her Fire Phoenix Transformation was in full force as the taint of aquamarine light enveloped her. 

Highlord Blackflame's expression was unfathomably dark, his eyes suffused with a cautious glint. The current Fire Phoenix was a shadow of its former self, only about three hundred meters in size, but the golden-colored eyes of the beast were lively and strong! He was in complete disbelief.

They were all Highlords, genuine Demi-Mortal Lords who've cultivated Fire Mystic Souls, and they had lost all of their innate fire energies, decades of cultivation, and suffered some internal damage, yet the fire energies within Bai Lin was still blazing strongly!

Highlord Autumnflame was the first to question this, his expression reflecting his shock. "How is this possible? Wasn't this beast at the Second Nirvana?!" His question was echoed in the hearts of all observers. The Dousing Firestorm Cannon could severely weaken a fire-attributed Earthly Saint if hit point-blank like this! The Dousing Firestorm Cannon used an untold amount of water-attributed materials at the mystic-grade, and they didn't have enough for a second shot!

Even the Tang Matriarch was shocked; she hadn't expected Bai Lin to still be in her fire form after. The three Highlord hurriedly poured more of their spiritual strength to restrain the Fire Phoenix. Despite its smaller size, the twenty-four chains were tethered to Bai Lin without fail. 

"Kree!!!" Bai Lin was enraged. The aquamarine light attempted to invade her body, douse her inner fire, and cancel her transformation, but her bloodline energies were rampantly fighting against it! She was eradicating the extreme water energies in the air, pushing her own fire energies outward with tremendous effort! 

While Bai Lin was livid, her heart was seized by fear. She had never encountered such means before, recalling that Wei Wuyin's worst fear was facing a prepared enemy, but his greatest fear was being unprepared himself! She finally felt the logic behind such reasoning and why Wei Wuyin adopted such a cautious personality! 

Fortunately, she wasn't an ordinary Fire Phoenix, and while she might be at the Second Stage of the Nirvanic Rebirth Realm, her bloodline energies, innate fire energies, and physical energies were all refined thoroughly by the outrageous amount of eighth and ninth-grade alchemical products provided generously by Wei Wuyin. Furthermore, she had devoured and refined enormous quantities of Terra-Mystic Ore at the peak Mystic-Earth grade to fuel her second rebirth.

Her fire energies were anything but ordinary, and her foundation was not something ordinary Second Nirvanic Rebirth Fire Phoenixes could compare to. Be it quantity or quality of fire energies; she was flushed with fortune. Her golden-colored eyes flared with blazing fiery light as the aquamarine light was instantly eradicated within a hundred miles. 

"What?!" The three Highlords were outright terrified. They were currently restraining this Fire Phoenix with their unified spiritual strength, and it had just been hit with a point-blank shot of a Dousing Firestorm Cannon, but it could still emit such potent fire-attributed power? Enough to flood the world once again with it?! 

Highlord Blackflame licked his dry lips as the moisture in the air evaporated. While he was weary, the greed in his eyes was readily apparent and inextinguishable. "It's not an ordinary Fire Phoenix!" He shouted deeply with elation. The other two Highlord's expressions noticeably changed. Highlord Scarletflame's eyes became abnormally bright. The stronger this phoenix was, the greater its blood essence will be.

"Proceed with the Eternal Shackles!" Highlord Scarletflame immediately transmitted to the other two, her hands changing as she began to rapidly execute a series of hand-seals. Each hand-seal caused her body to emit one-inch-sized mystic runes that slithered across the spiritual chains connected to her back. They swam like eels towards Bai Lin. 

The other two performed similar actions with faint smiles of excitement. Their first tactic wasn't meant to defeat Bai Lin, and that was because they were well aware that Fire Phoenixes had a unique ability that they could deploy, making killing one extremely challenging and capturing them even more so. 

It was meant to force Bai Lin to initiate that ability. Unfortunately, they had failed, and the Fire Phoenix seemed to still have some strength to muster in resistance. While trapped, they had to avoid truly lethal attacks to prevent the planet's destruction. If they destroyed the planet or entered the Dark Void, then capturing this Fire Phoenix was a foregone dream after that ability was used. 

But they predicted that something might go wrong with their first tactic, and while it wasn't exactly as they thought it would turn out, the situation wasn't far off from what they had expected. Everything was still well within their margin for calculated error. They would proceed with the second stage of their plans! 

Bai Lin's eyes widened as she saw the slithering mystic runes approach. She felt a threat emanating from them, realizing that if these things entered her body, she might never be able to escape from these godforsaken shackles! 

KREE!!! 

「Fire Phoenix Bloodline: Nirvanic Segregation」