"Ugh…what overwhelming brute strength…"

He exhaled as perspiration dripped down his face, trying to calm himself down.

"As expected of the sect lady of Nine-Tailed Fox Sect…she really lives up to her name. She really is exceptionally powerful."

After he brought his quivering under control, he raised his other hand, curling his fingers as he gathered qi into them.

"However…in terms of qi, my Divine Fire will not lose to her Fire Fox Formula!"

He conjured a new torrent of flames and blasted streams of Divine Fire at Sect Lady Zi Da Ji, who swung her sword to unleash another nine gigantic fireb.a.l.l.s. The ship shuddered as explosions rang through its deck, huge chunks of it blasted out of its battered frame or otherwise incinerated completely. Waves of water splashed onto the fires on the deck, only to vaporize into steam instantly from the sheer heat.

Back on the riverbank, with Ling Qing Zhu"s revival, the tide of battle had reversed and she was almost single-handedly holding squad 4 back. The surviving Incendiary Ifrit Sect members rallied around her, their morale boosted and their fighting prowress instantly increasing. An inferno circled us, incinerating two unfortunate Blood Blades who weren"t able to get out of the way in time. The rest of them found themselves trapped by an ever-narrowing ring of fire.

"Gather around me!" I commanded. Tong Xue complied without hesitation, and after a moment of glancing at each other, the rest of squad 4 obeyed. I raised my Snow Aegis to block another torrent of flames from the Incendiary Ifrit Sect, who were trying to fill the ring of fire with deadly flames as well, and then drew my Azure Lotus Sword.

"Whoa! Where did you get that sword from?" Tong Xue demanded, his eye bulging as he goggled the treasure Spirit Sword.

I didn"t reply, and instead plunged my sword into the ground. Unleashing my qi in a ma.s.sive burst, I froze all the flames around us. The barrier my Snow Aegis conjured succeeded in protecting the tight circle of Blood Blades, and thanks to that they didn"t get caught in the expanding ice as well. The frost rapidly spread out, not only devouring the flames but also catching a couple of unfortunate Incendiary Ifrit Sect members too slow to retreat and freezing them solid.

"You…!"

Ling Qing Zhu frowned when she saw that. Gritting her teeth, she swung her Crimson Lotus Sword and incinerated the ice, but I immediately plucked my Azure Lotus Sword from the ground and countered her attack with my own.

Boom!

Fire and ice clashed fiercely, flames melting the ice momentarily before being frozen solid. The alternate burn-freeze continued to rage for a moment, ravaging the riverbank. Our fellow disciples were forced to fall back and take their battles elsewhere, lest they get caught up and swallowed by the sheer destructiveness of our techniques.

"Please leave Ling Qing Zhu to me," I told my fellow Blood Blades. "You guys go take care of the rest."

Fortunately, n.o.body seemed overly upset about me giving orders. Even though they were technically my seniors, it was clear that none of them would be able to match Ling Qing Zhu. Or perhaps they could, but they would have great difficulty overcoming her, and was thankful that the extremely arduous task was palmed off to somebody.

Namely, me.

"I must apologize again."

Ling Qing Zhu incinerated a swathe of ice with a swing of her Crimson Lotus Sword, burning the earth right in front of her again. While freezing the approaching stream of flames into ice, I raised my eyebrow.

"Even though you saved my life, and even helped my cousins with their request regarding Spirit Armaments, we"re ordered to attack you and your sect."

Yeah, now that I thought about it, the Seven Valley Sects were pretty shameless. The Ling Sisters and Lu Li from the Dark Fiend Valley Sect came all the way here to ask us to forge Spirit Armaments for them, and then after receiving them, they turned around and backstabbed us. Or joined the rest of the Martial Arts Alliance in attacking us. I would have felt aggrieved if I was the one forging their weapons. No doubt Elder Tie would be furious if he learned that the Ling Sisters would end up using the Spirit Weapons he forged for them against Nine-Tailed Fox Sect itself.

On the other hand, I doubted he would forge them in time, and that they would be part of the invasion force. The two Ling Sisters, while beautiful and talented, weren"t powerful enough. They would get slaughtered by even the lowest-ranking members of Blood Blades. Somehow it seemed more prudent that they would retreat and disappear back into the sect once they received their Spirit Armaments rather than join the fight.

"If you know, then why the heck are you attacking us?" I asked dryly. Ling Qing Zhu looked a little conflicted.

"Orders," she replied simply. "I can"t go against my father."

"What admirable filial piety!" I exclaimed, sarcasm dripping from my voice. Then again, what exactly did I expect from a demonic sect?

No, Incendiary Ifrit Sect doing this was still fine. At least they were open about this and didn"t look for justifications to explain their motives. The real villains were the Martial Arts Alliance, with their hypocrisy and backstabbing. Coming up with all that bulls.h.i.t about us harboring weapons of ma.s.s destruction to legitimize their conquest of Nine-Tailed Fox Sect just so they could steal our resources and enslave our blacksmiths, while hypocritically spouting about justice and honor…yeah, I would sympathize with the Incendiary Ifrit Sect more than the so-called orthodox sects of the Martial Arts Alliance.

Ling Qing Zhu did not reply. There was no point conversing any further. Both she and I were aware that words were meaningless. In truth, only deeds mattered. Taking a deep breath, she lowered her sword and charged forward.

"This again, huh?" I murmured under my breath. Had she not learn her lesson from earlier?

Absolute Zero!

I allowed my qi to spread out from my body, freezing the s.p.a.ce around us in an instant the moment she stepped into my territory. Ice rapidly reached out to wrap around Ling Qing Zhu once again, seeking to entomb her in absolute immobility.

Honestly, given what happened earlier, I would have thought that Ling Qing Zhu would be warier of charging straight at me again, lest I use Absolute Zero again. She probably thought I could only use such a terrifying technique once, and gambled on that. Unfortunately, she had underestimated me.

"!!!"

My eyes slightly widened when I saw the flames spreading from her body to counter the Absolute Zero concept…I mean technique, vaporizing the ice and canceling out the energy-leeching effects. Ling Qing Zhu hurtled onward, swinging her Crimson Lotus Sword.

It appeared that I was the one who had underestimated her. Well, given how Ling Qing Zhu was a prodigy of her Incendiary Ifrit Sect, of course she wasn"t stupid enough to repeat the same maneuver if she wasn"t confident of countering it. And it wasn"t like I was Li Fu Chen, who could automatically defeat her the next time we met because of protagonist power.

Yeah, that Mary Sue b.a.s.t.a.r.d, despite supposedly being outmatched by a so-called Six Star Bone Frame when he first encountered Yan Qing Wu, started to effortlessly defeat her in every subsequent encounters. The same thing with Su Mu Yu. Despite hyping her up as this invincible Six Star Bone Frame when he first met her, in subsequent encounters, he automatically counts as defeating her without even fighting her.

Anyway, it was pointless talking about that. I had to stand my ground firmly and intercept Ling Qing Zhu"s strike, which blew me away and sent me rolling on the ground. Jumping to my feet, I parried Ling Qing Zhu"s next attack, and the ground around me exploded as flames ravaged the s.p.a.ce. The fires burned brightly for a few moments before my Absolute Zero took over and froze them, but as before, my victory was short-lived.

"You…really have gotten stronger, haven"t you?" Ling Qing Zhu murmured, perspiration dripping down her face as she strained with the effort of attacking me again, while I desperately blocked every single one of her strikes, each proving lethal if I let allowed it to hit me.

"I could say the same about you," I retorted as I warded off another of her attacks. Even though I had increased my strength somewhat significantly, I was still barely able to match Ling Qing Zhu blow for blow. Clearly she had recovered from the incident in the ancient tomb and had even gotten stronger. "At least you found a way to neutralize all that pure yin qi."

Ling Qing Zhu flinched, but she said nothing, replying instead with a vicious strike that drove me back a few steps.

"I have yet to thank you for that," she finally spoke up as we sprang apart in a shower of sparks. Lowering her sword, she indicated our battling comrades with her head. "I"ll give you a chance. Take your friends and run. I will persuade your father to allow your little group to escape through the river. That way, you might survive the demise of your sect."

"You think I"m going to run away while my sect gets invaded by those Martial Arts Alliance b.a.s.t.a.r.ds?" I snapped incredulously.

"No." a tinge of sadness appeared on her beautiful face. "But it was worth a try. If anything, I was hoping that you would survive. I have yet to pay you back for saving me."

"Screw that." I tightened my grip on my sword. "I didn"t help you so that you can be in my debt or because I was expecting a favor. I was only doing the right thing. So don"t hold back out of any guilt or grat.i.tude. That"s disrespectful."

"I know." Ling Qing Zhu adopted an aggressive stance, raising her sword in a way that her blade was parallel to the ground. "It really is a pity." She smiled. "If you survive this, then the Martial Arts Alliance has just made themselves one h.e.l.l of a terrifying enemy."

"You give me far too much credit," I protested. Well, at least she wasn"t the type of person who would adopt the stupid "you"ll definitely be a threat in future! I must kill you now at any cost so that I won"t have any regrets in future!" att.i.tude.

Ling Qing Zhu lunged at me again, unleashing a torrent of flames with her sword. I swung my Azure Lotus Sword in response, freezing her flames with ice. I would have brought my Snow Aegis down to block her attack, but that would mean giving up my ability to counterattack (shields aren"t exactly known for their attacking abilities, after all). It would have been easy to defend against Ling Qing Zhu, but my goal wasn"t to go into the defensive and bog her down.

My aim was to defeat her.

Our swords clashed again, sparks scattering around us as our blades collided. Our qi smashed against each other, covering the landscape in alternating fire and ice, embers and frost appearing and disappearing in turns.

"d.a.m.n it…" I heard Tong Xue gasp behind me. "Nine-Tailed Fox Sect is under attack! We have to hurry and finish the battle here and return to reinforce them!"

I understood his concern. Every minute wasted here was a minute that benefited the Martial Arts Alliance. While I was under no illusion that the meager combined strength of squad 4, Tong Xue and mine would make a difference to the overall war effort, Sect Lady Da Ji on the other hand would contribute greatly to the defense of our sect if she wasn"t occupied with this b.a.s.t.a.r.d.

We had to find a way to end this as early as possible.

"Sorry," I told Ling Qing Zhu.

"Huh?" she gaped at me in shock, but credit to her, she did not let her concentration falter. Instead, she redoubled her efforts and charged at me again, blazing through my Absolute Zero and striking at what she thought was my weak point.

At that moment, all six of my mobile turrets banked and fired a volley of qi beams. Distracted by her opponent in front of her, Ling Qing Zhu did not see the attack coming until it was too late.

"Argh!"

All six qi beams punched cauterized holes through her body, and she toppled over from the pain and shock. Striding forward, I stabbed down with my Azure Lotus Sword.

"Qing Zhu!" The Golden G.o.d of Fire hollered, having turned around when he heard her cry out and spotted me subduing her. His eyes widened in horror and he glared at me. "You b.a.s.t.a.r.d!"

Before he could launch one of his monstrous fireb.a.l.l.s at me, Sect Lady Da Ji swiveled and wove through the network of flames and got right under his guard. As expected of one of the top martial artists in the Great Zhou Empire, Ling Huo Shen barely brought his spear down to block her incoming blade, and a shockwave from the impact buffeted their surroundings.

However, Sect Lady Da Ji had antic.i.p.ated that.

While her blade crashed against the shaft of Ling Huo Shen"s spear, she brought her other hand forward and drove a flaming fist right into the G.o.d of Fire"s gut. The piledriver connected with devastating effect, and a tsunami actually rose to gobble up the quaking ship. Blood spurted from Ling Huo Shen"s mouth as he staggered for a moment, and then he was sent hurtling across the air before slamming into the formidable walls of Tushan City"s fortress and vanishing in an explosion.

"…"

All the Incendiary Ifrit Sect members and Blood Blades gaped at the astonishing scene, unable to see what had just happened.

"Sect Lady Da Ji is really scary…" one of the Blood Blades murmured.

"Yeah, as expected, she"s amazing," another agreed.

"This should resolve everything." Tong Xue breathed a sigh of relief and smiled while batting away one of the Incendiary Ifrit Sect members. To be fair, the latter was too shocked to continue fighting or defending himself, and the morale was plunging when they saw their leader take a fatal hit. Tong Xue didn"t hesitate in subduing him, though. "No matter how powerful the Golden G.o.d of Fire is, he won"t be able to withstand a hit from Sect Lady Da Ji"s Fire Fox Fist."

"Please…"

I glanced down when I heard the plea. Ling Qing Zhu was looking up at me helplessly and pleadingly. I hadn"t killed her, merely stabbed the sword into the ground next to her head. I had done that more to distract her father more than anything.

"Please don"t kill my father…"

"If he withdraws, then n.o.body else will have to die," I told her plainly.

Now people might be questioning why I didn"t kill her. Honestly, I had no reason to kill her. In our battle, I could sense that Ling Qing Zhu had no intention of killing me. She was just trying to incapacitate me, but I detected no killing intent from her. If she had no intention of killing me, then there was no reason for me to kill her.

I wasn"t a psychopath who went around killing people because they offended me, or over the most trivial of reasons. I could sympathize with Ling Qing Zhu and somewhat understood her circ.u.mstances. And since there was no danger of me dying from her attacks, then I honestly had no reason to kill her.

My six qi beams had struck her in non-vital spots. I had carefully aimed with my gla.s.ses" targeting system and severed tendons and deal enough damage to incapacitate her, but I was careful not to hit anything vital.

That said, I wasn"t above using her as a hostage to secure the safety of the sect if necessary.

"Your father won"t die from that," I told her coolly. She closed her eyes in relief.

In the huge crater at the foot of the crumbling wall, Ling Huo Shen lay amidst rubble, trembling and groaning in agony.

"Ugh…ah…"

He coughed out some blood as he wheezed and heaved, unable to get up. While he lay helplessly on the debris, Sect Lady Da Ji slowly approached him, her fist still clad in demonic fire. She was literally walking on water, having hopped off the boat and was crossing the river toward her downed opponent.

"I have shattered your entire ribcage," she informed him calmly. "And you"ve suffered heavy internal damage."

Each step she took sent ripples across the river"s surface. In spite of all that vaporization from the flames that turned a lot of the river to steam, there was still plenty of water left.

Despite her calm exterior, Sect Lady Da Ji was hurt. There was no doubt about it. Her left fist was bleeding and scorched, having been burned by the Divine Fire when she punched the Golden G.o.d of Fire. As distracted as he was, he was still quite the formidable opponent.

However, Sect Lady Da Ji showed no sign of pain despite her injuries.

"I"ll let your men carry you back so that you can recover."

She stopped for a moment to glare at the wheezing and gasping Ling Huo Shen.

"In exchange…from this day onward, you"re not allowed to set a single foot in Tushan City ever again."

One of the Incendiary Ifrit Sect members swiftly jumped to Ling Huo Shen"s side, crouching next to him in concern.

"Lord G.o.d of Fire, are you all right?"

"Ugh…" Ling Huo Shen coughed out some blood and remained lying helplessly on his back. Beads of perspiration formed over his face. But he managed to gasp out instructions. "There"s medicine in…my pocket…"

The Incendiary Ifrit Sect subordinate did not hesitate. Reaching in, he slipped a hand into Ling Huo Shen"s pocket and retrieved a red, spherical Spirit Pill.

"Are you talking about this?" he asked, raising it with his fingers.

Tong Xue and the Blood Blades watched, the rest of the Incendiary Ifrit Sect members having withdrawn upon the fall of their master and no longer posing much of a threat. While one would be tempted to ma.s.sacre them, that would merely drive them into a corner and force them into a desperate fight for their lives, a skirmish we could ill-afford now that the rest of the sect was under attack. The best case scenario for both parties was that the Incendiary Ifrit Sect retreat, so that the Blood Blades could return to reinforcing their comrades within the sect.

"That"s…correct…"

Ling Huo Shen was clearly in agonizing pain.

"Hurry…hurry and feed that to me."

"…!"

While the subordinate obediently fed the groaning Ling Huo Shen the red pill, Tong Xue"s eyes widened.

"Something"s not right!" he gasped, especially when he had a better view of the red pill. "That"s not a healing pill!"

"Huh? Then what is it?" I demanded, even though I already had an inkling of what it was. If it wasn"t healing medicine, then it could only be one thing.

Tong Xue had arrived at the same conclusion.

"Don"t tell me that"s…"

A steroid. Some type of performance enhancement drug that would allow Ling Huo Shen to dope and temporarily increase his abilities while erasing the pain. It was very similar to the Qi Burst Pill that Qi Fu Ren of yesteryear took when fighting against me.

No, it was probably the same type of Qi Burst Pill…

Having recognized it too, Tong Xue went into a panic.

"Sect Lady!" he shrieked. "Hurry and stop him! That"s not ordinary healing medicine! It"s one that grants the user a great burst in power for a short period of time! It"s the Flaming Red Pill!"

Oh, well…the Flaming Red Pill was the same type of medicine as a Qi Burst Pill, so I wasn"t entirely wrong there. It was just specialized for fire-based martial artists, that"s all.

"Huh?"

The subordinate looked up, but he was too late. He had already fed Ling Huo Shen the Flaming Red Pill.

"Good observation skills," Ling Huo Shen remarked as he suddenly sat up, his teeth crushing the Flaming Red Pill into shards. He nodded at his subordinate, who obediently retreated. What? Were you expecting him to kill his subordinate for no reason other than to emphasize his villainy? Nah, reality didn"t work that way. Real people were a lot more complex than one-dimensional murderous villains who killed for no real reason.

"!!!"

We all jumped back instinctively when we felt the beginnings of a solar flare surge from Ling Huo Shen"s body.

"It"s a pity, though…you realized it too late!"

Boom!

The entire s.p.a.ce vanished in a terrifying conflagration, which turned the ground into molten earth and the concrete-alloy fortified walls red-hot. Sect Lady Da Ji narrowed her eyes, and the next second she lunged forward without hesitation, blasting across the river to thrust her flaming sword toward Ling Huo Shen"s heart.

Water droplets splashed about around her wildly as she charged through it, and she actually gracefully used the suspended water droplets as footholds or launching pads to propel herself forward faster than before.

But even Sect Lady Da Ji was too late.

Laughing in a sinister manner, Ling Huo Shen rose to his feet, his eyes blazing crimson. The distance between him and Sect Lady Da Ji was so large that he had time to dramatically recover and stand before she could reach him. A torrent of flames burst out of his body, turning into a miniature sun that enveloped everything in devastating flames.

"!"

Despite her natural affinity with fire, even Sect Lady Da Ji was stopped dead in her tracks and blown away by the sheer power.

"Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!"

Roaring with laughter, Ling Huo Shen ascended, becoming a true Golden G.o.d of Fire. Raising both his hands, he reveled in the flames that engulfed him, delighted by the surge of power that his doping had granted him.

"Ah…this sensation." He marveled. "This power…it really is a joy to experience! Should I share this delight with you, the burning sensation of the Pure Yang Flames?"

The next instance, the whole place vanished in heat and light. Never mind Sect Lady Da Ji, all of the Incendiary Ifrit Sect disciples and the Blood Blades were forced to evade the torrents of golden flames that burst out of his body, incinerating large swathes of the riverbank and the forest outside Tushan City. Friend or foe, the devastating flames made no discrimination. Anyone unfortunate enough to get caught in the blast was rendered into ash immediately, regardless of whether they possessed a natural affinity to fire or not.

Only one place was left untouched. The place where Ling Qing Zhu lay. It was only natural. Ling Huo Shen was going this far because of his daughter. It would be tragic irony if his final, desperate move ended up killing the daughter he was trying to save.

"b.a.s.t.a.r.d…" one of the squad 4 members growled as a bead of perspiration dripped down his face. "Pure Yang Flames, Golden Light Armor…how powerful! Is…is this the second-most powerful fire-based demonic martial artist in decades, the Golden G.o.d of Fire"s strongest stance?"

The flames were so strong they actually incinerated a huge chunk of the wall, creating a breach. The Blood Blades could only watch helplessly as our fortified walls burned, and an entire section of it crumbled.

"You"ve got to be kidding me…" I murmured.

Sect Lady Da Ji darted across the river, weaving and dodging the Pure Yang Flames that Ling Huo Shen blasted at her.

"You"re pretty good at dodging," the Golden G.o.d of Fire remarked casually as he raised his spear, firing off another bombardment that the sect lady evaded effortlessly. "But just dodging alone isn"t going to be enough!"

Swinging his spear, he let out a bellow and jumped high into the heavens. Sect Lady Da Ji immediately paused to watch him, as did the Blood Blades, who had no idea what he was trying to achieve.

"What…?"

"What is he planning on doing?" Tong Xue murmured in shock.

"Don"t ask me," I muttered, just as baffled as they were.

Like a phoenix soaring into the skies, the Golden G.o.d of Fire shot up until he almost seemed like he had reached the sun. Hovering at such a high alt.i.tude, he seemed to call upon the powers of the sun to conjure an ocean of fire.

Well, actually, now that I thought about it, he was using his Pure Yang Flames to blast himself toward the heavens like a rocket. It would be great if he accidentally overshot and fly thousands of kilometers away – that would solve our current crisis – but as usual, life never worked the way we wanted it to.

"…"

Sect Lady Da Ji paused as she studied Ling Huo Shen"s hovering form, but she neither looked impressed nor amused. Her lips were set in a grim line, her eyes cautiously locked onto his blazing, golden form.

"Ha ha ha ha!"

The Golden G.o.d of Fire was laughing, his form enveloped by raging golden flames, as he stared down on us. His red cloak fluttered, though whether it"s from the current generated by hot air heated by his golden flames or because of dramatic effect, I couldn"t tell.

"Blood Blades, and members of the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect. Today will be the day of your demise. This old man will use my Pure Yang Flames and send every one of you demons into h.e.l.l!"

"A demonic sect leader calling us demons. Now I"ve heard everything." I shook my head and sighed heavily.

"Uh, well…" the rest of the Incendiary Ifrit Sect members exchanged wary glances. At least they had some awareness that they were in a demonic sect.

"And aren"t you afraid of the side effects?" I called out. "The consequences of doping are very serious, you know?"

"Hah!" Ling Huo Shen spared me a spiteful glance. "Brat, do you really think your provocation will work on me? I"ll kill every single one of you, and then bring my daughter back to the sect for medical treatment!"

"Couldn"t you just bring her back without killing us?" I countered. The Golden G.o.d of Fire blanched for a moment, and then snorted.

"Oh shut up!"

Raising his hand, he conjured a gigantic fireball that dwarfed everything he had summoned before. It was several times larger than even all of Sect Lady Da Ji"s nine ma.s.sive fireb.a.l.l.s combined. It was so huge that it blocked out even the sun.

"That"s…that is…"

Tong Xue gasped as he goggled upward at the rapidly expanding fireball. Never mind blocking out the sun, the d.a.m.ned thing was growing to be larger than a house.

No, larger than a building. The b.l.o.o.d.y thing was becoming as big as a d.a.m.ned stadium!

Sect Lady Da Ji stood her ground as she watched the gargantuan fireball fill the s.p.a.ce of the sky above Tushan City. I understood her concern. The d.a.m.ned fireball had enough power to level and incinerate the whole city if we allowed it to hit!

"Ha ha ha ha ha ha!"

Ling Huo Shen was doing the cliché villain laugh now.

"Nine-Tailed Fox Sect"s Zi Da Ji…aren"t you supposed to be very strong?" he mocked. "If you still have any moves left, bring them out!"

Sect Lady Da Ji gritted her teeth.

"All of you will get caught up in it! Everyone, gather around me, right now!"

"All of you can immediately go to the Sanzu River and repent!"

With that, he hurled the ma.s.sive fireball downward at us.