Many children, many blessings; the twelve ancestral witches forced marriages throughout the primordi

The southernmost, desolate land. The center of the Nanming Volcano.

Normally, while the Nanming Volcano is scorching hot, its spiritual energy is relatively stable. Today, however, the scene is utterly chaotic. Countless boulders are being torn to dust by the violent heatwave in mid-air, and crimson lava, no longer under the control of gravity, is flowing backwards towards the sky. The air is filled with the pungent smell of sulfur and an extremely oppressive atmosphere of destruction.

Above the magma pool at the heart of the volcano, a blazing Southern Bright Flame was burning fiercely. At the very center of the flames was a graceful little Vermilion Bird. She was the first sacred beast to succeed Yuan Feng in guarding the south.

At this moment, Little Vermilion Bird's condition was extremely poor. This was the crucial moment for her transformation and rebirth. Normally, given her background and aptitude, transformation would be nothing more than a formality. However, the terrifying crustal stress generated by the explosion of the East Sea Eye was forcibly compressed along the primordial earth veins and all the way to the Nanming Volcano. The poisonous fire in the earth's core below completely spiraled out of control, all of it surging up from the crater.

"Pfft!" The little Vermilion Bird opened its beak and spat out a mouthful of golden true blood. As soon as the true blood fell into the magma, it was burned into a wisp of golden smoke with a "hiss".

Her feathers were already curled from the scorching poisonous fire, and the pure Nirvana power within her body had been shattered by the raging flames. The little Vermilion Bird cursed inwardly. What on earth was going on? The earth's veins at Nanming Volcano had always been as stable as a rock; why had it gone mad today, as if it had taken the wrong medicine? If this continued, forget about achieving Nirvana; all her cultivation accumulated over millions of years would be lost!

Behind a hidden stone pillar less than ten miles from the lava pool, a furtive figure was lurking.

This man was wearing a faded star lord's robe and holding a whisk in his hand. He was none other than Taibai Jinxing, a favorite of Haotian.

Venus was enveloped by a silver defensive barrier. He hid behind a rock, sweating profusely, his Taoist robe soaked through, but his eyes were fixed on the little Vermilion Bird struggling above the lava pool, his gaze full of calculation.

"Burn it, burn it as hard as you can." Taibai Jinxing wiped the sweat from his face and muttered in a low voice, "The Jade Emperor gave instructions. As long as this little Vermilion Bird fails its rebirth and dies in the poisonous fire, Nanming Volcano will become unclaimed territory. Then I can directly use the Heavenly Emperor's decree to rightfully take over the southern fortune. The Heavenly Court is so poor right now that even the paint on its gates has peeled off. If we can swallow this piece of fat meat, Nanming Volcano, my position in the Heavenly Court will definitely be second only to the Emperor!"

Taibai Jinxing was calculating rapidly. He knew that the Little Vermilion Bird had an extremely high background, and if the Heavenly Court were to forcibly seize her, it would be illegitimate and might even cause some serious trouble. But a natural disaster would be a different story. As long as she was completely dead, the Heavenly Court could use this as "disaster relief and appeasement," and no one could say a word against it.

Above the lava pool, Little Vermilion Bird's consciousness began to blur. The poisonous fire surged upwards along her meridians, threatening to burn her primordial spirit.

Just when she was about to give up, her keen intuition as a sacred beast made her sense a faint magical fluctuation behind the stone pillar that did not belong to the volcano.

Little Vermilion Bird turned her head with difficulty, her golden pupils instantly contracting. She saw Venus hiding there and clearly saw the bureaucratic aura unique to the Heavenly Court emanating from him.

"You lackeys of Heaven!" Little Vermilion Bird gritted her teeth.

She instantly understood. These hypocritical gods were hiding here, watching the spectacle unfold, waiting to devour her ill-gotten gains!

The little Vermilion Bird grew up on the Nanming Volcano, and its very being is the fierce spirit of the immortal volcano lineage.

"You want to wait for me to die? You want to steal my southern fortune?" The little Vermilion Bird cried out shrilly, its voice piercing through the thick layer of volcanic ash. "Even if I blast this body into dust and perish along with this pool of poisonous fire, you Heavenly scum won't get the slightest benefit!"

She gave up resisting the poisonous fire and directly mobilized the last bit of Nirvana Origin in her body, rushing it all into her natal core.

A flash of red light appeared. The little Vermilion Bird's body rapidly expanded, and the surrounding magma was forced into a crater tens of feet deep by the force of this impending self-destruction.

Taibai Jinxing, hiding behind the stone pillar, was so frightened that his legs went weak. "It's crazy! This dead bird is really crazy! It's going to self-destruct and take me down with it!" He turned around and tried to run, but his calves were cramping so badly that he couldn't take a step.

At the critical moment.

A deafening muffled sound suddenly emanated from the void above Nanming Volcano.

A pair of large, slender, white hands with distinct knuckles emerged directly from the void rift. Without forming any hand seals, those hands simply gripped the two sides of the void and tore it apart violently.

"Sizzle!"

The raging spatial turbulence, accompanied by the toxic fire from the earth's core, was torn open by this extremely tyrannical force, creating a large gash.

A young man dressed in a moon-white robe walked out of the crack with his hands behind his back, as if strolling in his own backyard.

The moment the Southern Bright Fire and the Earth Core Poison Fire touched the man's clothes, they retreated obediently, like mice encountering a cat, leaving not even a spark.

The person who arrived was Lin Xuan.

Lin Xuan looked down and saw the little Vermilion Bird below, which was expanding and about to explode.

"This little brat has quite a temper." Lin Xuan didn't waste any words. He took a step forward, and his figure instantly disappeared from the spot.

The next second, he appeared directly in front of Little Vermilion Bird.

Lin Xuan ignored the Nanming Li Fire around him, which could even burn a Great Luo Golden Immortal to ashes. He stretched out one hand, his slender fingers moving as fast as lightning, and pressed it firmly against the little Vermilion Bird's brow.

A pure, extremely refined wood-elemental law, mixed with the aura of mutated Heaven-Burning Purple Flame, rushed directly into the little Vermilion Bird's brow, forcefully stopping her natal core from exploding.

"Transform obediently. Leave the rest to me." Lin Xuan's voice wasn't loud, but it carried an undeniable domineering air, clearly reaching the little Vermilion Bird's ears.

In my mind, the system's notification sound rang out crisply.

"Ding! The exquisite female immortal, Little Vermilion Bird, has been detected approaching! System score: 97 points!"

Lin Xuan listened to the system notification and looked at the little red bird enveloped in flames in front of him, his heart filled with joy. This trip to Nanming Volcano was worthwhile; he even managed to rescue a new wife who scored 97 points.