Mou Qi glared. "Yan Lie! Stand down!" Fire God Yan Lie was a seasoned high-ranking God from the starry skies, and someone Sovereign Luo deeply trusted. At his peak, Yan Lie had ranked among the top of the high-ranking Gods, far above Mou Qi, Cang Feng, and Mu Ya. In recent years, however, Yan Lie had vanished, no longer appearing in any of the thriving starry regions. Many speculated that Sovereign Luo had sent him to explore the bizarre mist, only for him to meet his end at the hands of others. When Yan Lie broke free from the barrier of the Abyss and reappeared in the starry skies, everyone was quick to realize that he had not changed at all. The tens of thousands of years of silence had not dulled his edge. His blaze was still capable of scorching worlds. Thus, Mou Qi could not help but feel a trace of unease when he saw Yan Lie. Even Cang Feng, in the middle of channeling the mysteries of the wind, lightning, cloud, and rain through his fingertips, was startled at Yan Lie's arrival. When Yan Lie drew closer to the River of Wisdom, Cang Feng had no choice but to raise his massive longbow, locking onto him from afar. Expression grim, Cang Feng shouted, "Pang Jian has two bodies, each capable of linking with the other! If you break in from the outside, you could disrupt the restraining effect the River of Wisdom has on him! Even the briefest crack, the smallest breach, could allow him to reconnect with his physical body and escape! "Yan Lie, I'm begging you! Don't step in. Don't ruin everything we've set in motion!" A sharp arrow took form on his bow, gleaming like blood-red agate and laced with murderous intent. Cang Feng's blood essence, divine power, and insights into his Heavenly Daos surged into the arrow. Lightning coiled like dragons around the arrowhead. Raindrops imbued with the insights into the Heavenly Daos cascaded through the boundless world within, while clouds roiled like prowling tigers. If Yan Lie took one more step toward the River of Wisdom, he would not hesitate to release his arrow. A sharp hiss rang out as a thin fissure opened on Yan Lie's forehead. The murderous aura of Cang Feng's arrow was enough to cause blood to seep from the wound. Yan Lie stopped in his tracks, his tone edged with cold fury as he sneered, "Cang Feng, is this how you beg for a favor?" The skin on his forehead hardened into crimson scales like those of a dragon. In the blink of an eye, the surging vitality in his body healed the wound shut. His armor rose up his neck as though alive, enveloping his face with a series of crisp, snapping noises. Only his deep crimson eyes remained uncovered. A murderous gleam flared in Yan Lie's gaze. Flames and lightning surged within his towering form, and his aura grew dangerously volatile. "Beg for a favor?" Mu Ya scoffed. "Hardly. We all serve Sovereigns. We're all high-ranking Gods. Why would we ever need to beg you? "Yan Lie, whatever personal grudge you have with Pang Jian, keep it to yourself. Don't ruin our plans." Though she had long heard of Yan Lie's fearsome reputation, Mu Ya had never crossed paths with him until now. Having comprehended the mysteries of spatial laws, she held deep confidence in her own strength, especially after receiving personal guidance from the God of Space. Furthermore, Cang Feng and Mou Qi—both powerhouses in their own right—were with her. The three of them together would surely be more than enough to repel the long-dormant Fire God. Mu Ya swiftly unleashed her divine technique. The bizarre mist outside the River of Wisdom rippled from spatial distortion. Three thousand prismatic mirrors, each no larger than a fingernail at first, started to grow rapidly in size. Each of the three thousand prismatic mirrors resembled a miniature world, displaying treasures, divine artifacts, and wondrous lifeforms within. Both existing and long-extinct races were vividly reflected in these mirrors. Mu Ya's technique, the Three Thousand Mirrors, was a divine ability she created through the God of Space's personal guidance. Having once journeyed across three thousand ruined worlds, she had contemplated the echoes of civilizations lost to time, and through the mysteries of the mirror, reconstructed their essence. Yan Lie let out a sharp laugh, flames dancing wildly in his eyes. "Cang Feng, is this woman yours?" he mocked. Mu Ya had clearly provoked him. Yan Lie had no intention of forcing his way through after learning that the River of Wisdom prevented Pang Jian's two bodies from establishing contact. Instead, he had hoped to reason things out with Cang Feng and had not expected Mu Ya's overt hostility. He had once willingly chosen death, his remains adrift in Absolute Heaven for years, all to assist his Sovereign in plotting against the Black Empyrean Phoenix. Before that, his name had resounded across the starry skies. Only a handful of high-ranking Gods had been able to stand as his equals back then. Cang Feng, Mou Qi, and this young Mu Ya were never among them. "Yes. She's young and unfamiliar with you. Please don't take offense..." Cang Feng placated, sensing the rising tension. "Perhaps I've been dormant for too long," Yan Lie said with a self-deprecating shake of the head. "Even upstarts like her think they can lecture me." The searing-red longsword in his grip, like a branding iron pulled straight from the forge, flared with a terrifying aura of incineration. Blade light fanned outward in fiery arcs. A sea of fire ignited in the tens of thousands of li radius around Yan Lie! Flames blazed, ash clouds roiled, and blade light rampaged through the bizarre mist. An overwhelming tide of heat and destruction surged toward the three thousand prismatic mirrors, devouring the divine artifacts, living beings, and the mountains and rivers they housed. Mu Ya let out a shrill, anguished scream from within the River of Wisdom. Yan Lie's fiery blade light overwhelmed Mu Ya's divine consciousness and the divine power she had imbued into the Three Thousand Mirrors. "Cang Feng, are you just going to stand there and watch?!" Mu Ya wore an expression of icy fury. "You're really going to watch me be humiliated ?" Cang Feng let out a helpless sigh. Releasing the arrow nocked on his longbow meant starting a war between him and Yan Lie, one that could ruin Fu Ya's plan. However, not letting it fly meant losing Mu Ya forever. Thus, though the odds were against him, he had no choice but to let the arrow streak forth like a bolt of lightning. "What a fine shot!" shouted "Huo Ji" from atop the World God Pendant. "Lord Yan Lie! These lackeys of the God of Wisdom have been provoking you from the beginning. They never once treated you with the respect you deserve! "The Fire Abyss belongs to us, the Flame Race. I wouldn't be surprised if they're plotting to invade it next!" Cang Feng, Mu Ya, and Mou Qi had long noticed him, but had simply dismissed him because of his faint aura. They viewed this mid-ranking God as one of Yan Lie's subordinates—of no consequence. Even with his voice echoing through the bizarre mist, inciting Yan Lie, the trio still regarded him with indifference. In the River of Wisdom, streaks of radiant light continued to pursue Pang Jian's Immortal Divine Soul. Mou Qi's turning of the orb caused his divine sense to be relentlessly siphoned away. However, when he saw "Huo Ji," he froze in surprise. The River of Wisdom had sealed off all his contact with the outside world and prevented his divine sense from escaping its boundaries. Thus, Pang Jian's Immortal Divine Soul had no idea that another version of himself had taken over Huo Ji's body. Even so, he could see "Huo Ji" standing atop a World God Pendant, pupils glimmering with familiar specks of gold. He knew that if those flecks were magnified a millionfold, they would resemble golden bees. Pang Jian's Immortal Divine Soul shuddered in realization. "This River of Wisdom is a truly terrifying technique!" The divine sense from his physical body was hiding in Huo Ji, right outside the River of Wisdom. Despite the proximity, he still sensed nothing. The God of Wisdom's technique was clearly imbued with unfathomable power. The authority of a Sovereign was indeed terrifying beyond measure. Yan Lie is getting involved now. With the pressure around him lessened, Pang Jian's eyes followed the path of the arrow, only to see a newly born world swallowing Yan Lie whole as the Three Thousand Mirrors burned away. "Mou Qi, assist Mu Ya in taking Pang Jian down," Cang Feng instructed, stowing away his massive bow before stepping straight across the River of Wisdom. His armored figure soon stood before Yan Lie. "You can wound me, but you will not lay a hand on my woman." Wind, lightning, cloud, and rain erupted around Cang Feng as his divine domain unfolded.