As expected!

Li Ang's pupils contracted.

The opponent's total energy level was without question far higher than his and Zhongli Mieming's, even a notch higher than the Cold Waterstone in his memory—the latter excelled more at delicate manipulation of energy, not brute-force brick‑throwing.

In terms of sheer total energy, perhaps only the Desolated Lion, Michael, Su Ni Sheng,

and those few things the Special Affairs Bureau and Heterodox Academy dug out from the Demon Prison and other places could compare.

But,

But,

as long as the opponent still maintained a physical form, it had to be bound by the physical laws of the real world.

Li Ang looked at the continuously sinking Deadwood Titan, a trace of relief flashing through his heart.

The opponent was simply too heavy. Even with the help of branch‑like tendrils extending from the surrounding skyscrapers to share the burden, there was no way this sector's light soil could bear such weight.

Li Ang only needed to exhaust himself and release a wide‑area gravity‑amplifying Spell, and he could bind the other side to its own shell and drag it down into the earth...

Rumble!

His thoughts were cut off by the deafening roar.

In Li Ang's horrified gaze, the Deadwood Titan stretched out both arms and hooked onto the rooftops of the high‑rises on either side.

From its legs that had sunk underground, millions of banyan‑like roots extended out, piercing through the edge of the Gravity Barrier and digging deep into the soil below.

"Amplifying gravity? A decent idea."

The Deadwood Titan's light chuckle shattered the glass of the nearby skyscrapers. Using its tangled network of roots and branches, its wooden body stabilized its weight,

and its entire figure continued to rise higher.

It directly abandoned the shins bound by the Gravity Formation, stepped out of the Array's range,

and regrew and healed anew.

"Unfortunately, still too weak."

The Deadwood Titan, having regrown its lower legs, released the skyscraper roofs and, with an agility utterly at odds with its colossal body, snatched up the fleeing Li Ang in one hand.

"Heh—"

Li Ang looked at Wang Buliuxing in his palm, who, in panic, was using the Bi'an Armor to carve out a Barrier to stop the Deadwood Titan's hand from closing, and let out a deep, resonant laugh.

Boom—

All of a sudden, a streak of flame as crimson as fresh blood fell from the sky, silently piercing straight through the Deadwood Titan's wrist with irresistible force.

"Hm?"

Li Ang raised an eyebrow, ignoring the blazing cross‑section of the severed wrist. He lifted his head toward the slowly emerging shadow in the heavens.

It was a Vermilion Bird wreathed head to toe in scarlet fire, only one size smaller than the Deadwood Titan.

Its wingspan blotted out the sun, and its twin eyes burned like furnaces.

The azure sky turned a hazy red at its descent.

The casual beat of its wings stirred a fiery gale that set the branches atop the Forest Sea Skyscrapers alight all at once.

Heat waves surged from the ground in visible ripples, warping the air and twisting sight.

The remaining exterior glass on the towers reflected blinding, dazzling radiance, so that one could no longer tell how many suns hung in the sky.

In the Deadwood Titan's deep, sunken eyes flickered an emotion difficult to put into words.

"The Vermilion Bird is sent ahead as herald, driving the chariot of Taiyi's image.

"The southern Bing‑Ding fire: its liquid essence becomes dragon, its gathered qi becomes bird. Its qi rises to form the heavens, its substance sinks to form the earth, and thus it is the root of the Great Elixir. This is..."

"The Vermilion Bird."

A low, deep growl came from the Deadwood Titan's throat.

The divine bird named Vermilion Bird tipped its head back and cried to the sky, tail feathers swaying. Merely by drawing a little closer, the torrential heat surging from its tail feathers melted the nearby towers' steel into molten iron, which poured down in streams, burning away the flowers and grass born from the Swamp God Power on the ground.

"Huff, huff."

Li Ang panted heavily, struggling with all his strength to tear himself free from the Deadwood Titan's hand.

He lifted his head to the divine Vermilion Bird up high, shock and relief blazing in his eyes.

Long ago, the River Map Formation, excavated and restored by the Heterodox Academy, had finally been Triggered.

Before the Mirage Dragon's mutation, the River Map Array that the Heterodox Academy deciphered from ancient surviving texts had already seen preliminary use in Yin City.

At that time, its function was only to sense relatively intense, above‑normal energy fluctuations,

to help the Special Affairs Bureau Scout, scan, and lock onto locations of anomalies, shocking players who wanted to abuse extraordinary power for their own ends.

As time passed and the Heterodox Academy gained access to more and more resources, they continued to push forward the decoding of the River Map Array,

exploring and excavating within the Demon Prison to collect texts,

and traveling the land in search of any Blessed Land caves where their predecessors might have stayed, conducting "archaeological digs."

From some extremely dangerous otherworldly realms no less perilous than the Demon Prison,

they dug out certain things—

for example, Tortoise Shells etched with obscure maxims, capable of completing the River Map Array.

"One and six share one clan, water dwelling in the north;

"Two and seven walk one path, fire dwelling in the south;

"Three and eight are companions, wood dwelling in the east;

"Four and nine are friends, metal dwelling in the west;

"Five and ten share one road, earth dwelling in the center."

After paying a tremendous price and obtaining several pieces of Tortoise Shell, the Heterodox Academy successfully activated more functions of the River Map Formation, awakening the Vermilion Bird Phantom, which, as the southern Bing‑Ding fire, was naturally one of the elements contained in the River Map Array.

Although the River Map Formation was incomplete, and the Heterodox Academy of this age could by no means compare to its heyday in antiquity,

still, the Vermilion Bird was the Vermilion Bird.

Whoosh—

The Vermilion Bird that had descended into the world casually beat its titanic wings, a blast of burning wind rushing forth.

The bark covering the Deadwood Titan's body crackled instantly and began to burn soundlessly.

"So this is the Special Affairs Bureau's trump card."

The Deadwood Titan smiled without a sound, locking eyes with the Vermilion Bird's cold, merciless, utterly inhuman gaze of fire.

Flames surged, the air seethed,

and the wood all over the Deadwood Titan's body blazed fiercely.

Far in the distance, Francis and the others wore looks of utter horror as they retreated at top speed, not daring to gaze directly upon the majesty of a god.

There was no longer any room in their minds for schadenfreude, nothing left but a single thought.

Run.

Run as far as possible.

Zhongli Mieming, who had finally broken free of the Forest of Death, ignored the many wounds all over his body and dove down,

controlling the Knight's Long Spear to transform into a giant steel hand, snatching up the still‑intact Banyan Bird Cage,

and, carrying the equally shocked and terrified Mobile Detachment members inside, rapidly retreating.

The Vermilion Bird Phantom could not be directly controlled by the Special Affairs Bureau or the Heterodox Academy; it was autonomously Triggered by the River Map Formation spread across Kyushu whenever it sensed an extreme threat.

No one knew just how powerful the Vermilion Bird Phantom truly was. After all, looking across the entire world, one could hardly find any material worthy of testing the flames of the legendary, sole Vermilion Bird.

Zhongli Mieming carried the Mobile Detachment members in a high‑speed flight, streaking out of the Steel Jungle. Their view ahead suddenly opened up, a Broken bridge spanning above the sea.

"Xiao Hou!"

Zhongli Mieming shouted, controlling the hand formed from the Knight's Long Spear to hurl the Banyan Bird Cage hard, tossing it toward the Water Elemental Giant colleague slowly rising from the surface of the sea.

"What happened?! Where's Li Ang? How did the Vermilion Bird descend!!"

The Water Elemental Giant named Xiao Hou hastily lowered his hand to catch the cage, demanding anxiously,

but Zhongli Mieming had no time to answer. He turned and flew back, charging toward the center of the battlefield through the ever‑louder inferno to rescue the Li Ang whose condition was unknown.

A beast from myth would not care about human feelings.

The Special Affairs Bureau and the Heterodox Academy had never been the Vermilion Bird's masters.

Very slowly, the Vermilion Bird lifted its neck just a fraction. Beneath the red feathers of its throat, a streak of blazing crimson light flashed clearly.

Heat waves rolled in layers, steel became molten iron, and the boundless forest sea slowly collapsed, belching smoke and flame.

A divine bird?

An auspicious beast?

A sign of fortune?

So what!!

The Deadwood Titan, its entire body wreathed in searing flames, laughed soundlessly in madness, stomped the ground, and hurled a punch straight into the Vermilion Bird's jet of fire.