Chapter 114: Explosive Slaughter!

Li Xingjian’s finger-sword strike pierced into the sphere of flame, only to be instantly incinerated into nothingness. A mere ripple, akin to a disturbed surface of water, spread slowly across the fiery orb.

"It worked!"

With Qin Feng’s desperate gamble and the series of conditions he had aligned, he had truly turned the speculative flame-manipulation technique known as the "Nine Transformations of Heavenly Fire" into reality.

Surging red and white energies churned within the sphere like two winding dragons. The wisps of energy that escaped the sphere scorched the surrounding space, carving out jagged black fissures.

"Go to hell!"

"Heavenly Fire Second Transformation: Speed!"

At this moment, Qin Feng’s face was etched with killing intent. With a flick of his index finger, the orb of flame, brimming with world-shattering power, hurtled rapidly toward Li Xingjian.

The moment he unleashed the attack, Qin Feng retreated explosively. While falling back, he formed a series of hand seals. In mid-air, the ball of fire suddenly elongated like a comet streaking across the sky, dragging a long, flaming tail behind it as it accelerated tenfold in an instant.

The speed was staggering!

This was a mysterious acceleration method that utilized the fission of flame energy, the second transformation recorded in the "Nine Transformations of Heavenly Fire." And this very concept had been born from the mortal wisdom of Old Man Hu.

As the mass of flame energy tore through the sky, the violent, overflowing power sent waves of spatial ripples cascading outward. This destructive, eerie energy felt as if one’s heart were being gripped and violently tugged, creating an unbearable sensation of internal turmoil.

For the first time, Li Xingjian’s expression shifted drastically.

Meanwhile, Huo Siyan, who was receiving her inheritance before the Seven-Eyed Cangni, felt the destructive power contained within the fireball. Her internal shock and complex emotions were beyond words; as she clenched her delicate hands, she was filled with deep regret.

She had always believed that Qin Feng was a waste, a dead man walking! Yet, the youth she had never deigned to acknowledge was actually this outstanding—even as monstrously powerful as a demon.

Li Xingjian was now seized by terror. He could sense the threat of death emanating from that mysterious fireball. Had his true body been present, taking this attack would have been trivial, but as a puppet, he possessed less than twenty percent of his original strength.

Gone was his earlier composure. The moment Qin Feng launched the fireball, Li Xingjian unleashed the "Ten Clouds Sword of the Great Wilderness," casting finger-sword strikes toward the orb one after another. Simultaneously, he activated "Flash of Running Thunder" to its full extent, retreating frantically in a bid to distance himself.

But to his utter horror, the fireball suddenly twisted in a bizarre fashion in mid-air. It not only swallowed the countless sword strikes but vanished entirely, reappearing an instant later directly before him. Its speed was ten times greater than his "Flash of Running Thunder"!

Ten times! What kind of speed was that?

There was nowhere to hide, nowhere to run!

Li Xingjian’s face turned pale. In his panic, he flashed a sword glow from his right middle finger and pointed it directly at his own glabella. Instantly, a strange thunder rune flared at the center of his forehead. A moment later, a lightning-wreathed silver talisman—carrying the right eye Li Xingjian had stolen from Zhan Bai—tore through the air and vanished. The rest of Li Xingjian, radiating from his forehead, turned pitch black and stiffened into stone.

The opportunity had arrived!

Qin Feng’s expression hardened. He slammed his hand seals together and roared, "Heavenly Fire Third Transformation: Explosion!"

At that moment, the flame energy mass erupted violently. The two distinct dragons of fire within the sphere began to disorder. After a sharp, rapid contraction of energy, the sphere expanded a hundredfold, then a thousandfold. A blinding, intense light erupted, and then...

A cataclysmic explosion detonated out of thin air within this ancient battlefield.

"BOOM!"

World-destroying energy surged from the void. The space of the ancient battlefield churned like boiling water. As the energy rampaged, massive ripples spread out, and wherever they touched, the very walls of space cracked into black fissures, teetering on the brink of collapse.

"Damn it!"

Qin Feng, who had already retreated from the combat zone, was shocked by the sheer destructive force of the explosion. In a mere moment, the powerful energy wave swept across the entire realm. Qin Feng’s mouth twitched as he hurriedly retrieved the Heavenly Demon Blood-Branch Coffin and dived inside.

Damn, if he didn't hide, the aftermath alone could burn him alive!

In the lake, the Seven-Eyed Cangni’s seven eyes flashed with a strange light. Countless tentacles rose from beneath its body, wrapping around Huo Siyan to protect her.

The brilliant, explosive flames illuminated the space with blinding intensity, consuming everything in their path. Everywhere was filled with dancing fire snakes, sweeping in all directions; whatever they touched was reduced to charred cinders. In an instant, the world was filled with the sounds of thunderous roars and the stench of burning.

Smoke billowed, leaving behind a scene of utter devastation.

After a long while, the smoke finally cleared.

Qin Feng climbed out of the Heavenly Demon Blood-Branch Coffin. Looking around, he saw a massive crater where the explosion had centered. Inside, Li Xingjian lay like a charred piece of coal, gasping his final breaths. His lower body had been obliterated, leaving only a mangled torso.

Qin Feng’s gaze sharpened. The black, charred shell suddenly cracked, and the only remaining arm reached out.

Qin Feng frowned. "Is it possible that even this couldn't kill him?"

As Qin Feng sighed, Li Xingjian crawled out from the stony shell, spitting out mouthfuls of black blood. His puppet body was ruined; there wasn't a single patch of intact flesh left. His skin was curled and roasted, and a gaping hole had been blasted through his chest, revealing a hollow void where his organs should have been. The majority of the Silver Puppet Corpse Talisman had burned away, with only a tiny, flickering corner remaining.

This was the power of a single explosion!

Looking at his form, one could only identify him as human; it was impossible to recognize him as Li Xingjian. This was merely a puppet body; had it been a living person, they would have died thousands of times over.

Qin Feng knew he had won. The puppet body had completely lost its ability to fight. The only reason it hadn't crumbled was the protection of that small fragment of the Silver Puppet Corpse Talisman. After all, it was already a corpse—a dead man—so it mattered little how many times it was killed.

"You little bastard... tell me... who created that flame technique?"

Li Xingjian’s frantic, raspy roar emerged from the ruined puppet’s mouth. Clearly, Qin Feng’s attack had left him completely shattered.

"Haha!" Qin Feng laughed aloud.

Mortal wisdom, indeed! If Li Xingjian knew that this terrifying technique had originated from Old Man Hu—a man who had only managed to enter the Shu Sword Mountain after bribing his way in for the third time—the look on his face would have been priceless!

However, Qin Feng would not tell him.

"Want to know?" Qin Feng crouched down beside the puppet and whispered, "Next time I come to take your head, I’ll tell you!"

With that, Qin Feng tore the remaining corner of the Silver Puppet Corpse Talisman from the puppet Li Qi. The rage on the puppet's face instantly froze. The tiny fragment of the talisman, its energy exhausted, ignited in Qin Feng’s palm, turning into black ash that drifted away in the wind.

Qin Feng stood up and turned his gaze toward the lake.

The Seven-Eyed Cangni had been caught in the blast, though only slightly; it had merely lost a few tentacles. Since it and Huo Siyan were the furthest from the blast zone, they had suffered the least. Under the creature's protection, Huo Siyan had successfully completed the ritual of recognition.

A tiny, purple lightning symbol appeared on her forehead, flashed once, and then faded.

Huo Siyan’s emotions were deeply conflicted. Thinking about it, she had heartlessly abandoned such an outstanding Qin Feng, yet today, he had not only saved her but had also put on a display of killing a Earth-Rank expert while only being at the third stage of the Human-Rank realm. How heroic was that? Only a man like this was worthy of her, Huo Siyan!

But now, she had broken this man’s heart. Even just moments ago, she had been unrepentant, driven by greed and obsession to snatch the inheritance that should have belonged to him. Thinking of it now, it was utterly ridiculous and deeply ironic.

It was she who was ridiculous. It was she who was the irony. Bitter regret filled her face.

Qin Feng didn't know what to say. This woman’s schemes and depths were too difficult to fathom, even frighteningly so. They stared at each other for a long time without a word.

Beneath Huo Siyan, the Seven-Eyed Cangni looked at Qin Feng with a hint of reluctance, its seven demonic eyes lingering on him as if regretting that it could not follow such a domineering master to conquer the world, and instead had ended up, by a twist of fate, serving a woman who lacked integrity.

But it was done; nothing could be changed.

Carrying Huo Siyan, the Seven-Eyed Cangni took one last longing look at Qin Feng, let out a roar, wrapped Huo Siyan in a ball of purple light, and sank slowly into the lake.

Qin Feng knew that an inheritance treasure awaited Huo Siyan at the bottom of the lake. Only by passing through this Seven-Eyed Cangni could one obtain it.

As the woman and the beast vanished from his sight, Qin Feng shook his head.

Let it be.

He hoped they would never have the chance to meet again. Qin Feng had a lingering premonition: if they were to meet again, it might well be as enemies.