Tears Behind Bars!

The black-haired man's forehead veins bulged as he prepared to draw the greatsword from his back and utter a few harsh words.

However, before the words could even be squeezed out from between his teeth...

Jiang Bai had completely lost patience with arguing with them, so he simply turned around and left his back to the trio.

Jiang Bai faced the Eternal Flame buried deep within the ice cave at the center of the altar.

Extend your right hand forward flat.

There was no incantation chanted, and not even any complicated spell formations lit up in the palm of his hand.

It was merely a slight shift in thought.

Boom!

A pure, condensed crimson flame suddenly rose from Jiang Bai's palm.

The flames did not spread outwards, but under the extremely subtle suppression of mental Telekinesis, they rapidly collapsed and solidified inwards, with a suffocating pure white arc of light appearing at the edges.

Extreme heat suddenly erupted at the top of the altar!

The biting chill within a radius of several miles was violently swept away the moment the flame appeared. The solid ice beneath their feet didn't even have time to evaporate before it began to recede rapidly at a visible speed.

Jiang Bai pushed his right hand forward smoothly.

The pure white divine flame, which could even be tempered by a nine-headed dragon, floated lightly out of his hand, transforming into a huge net of blazing light that precisely adhered to and enveloped all the solid ice on the outer layer of the Eternal Flame.

Sizzle--!

A series of loud, piercing melting sounds exploded in the air.

The demonic ice that had just left Natsu helpless, with even the Moon Drop only able to melt a small corner of it, crumbled and dissolved in a frenzy the moment it touched this extremely condensed pure white flame, as if it had struck lard on a red-hot iron!

The massive ice floes collapsed inward at a visible speed, and scalding hot water cascaded down the altar's drainage channels like a waterfall!

The trio of Sylph Labyrinth standing at the edge of the altar were so terrified by the illogical scene before them that they nearly lost their minds.

"N-Nani?!"

The black-haired man's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets, and the empty medicine bottle in his hand shattered on the ground with a Crush.

"What kind of international joke is this?!"

"That's cursed ice that even the Moon Drops can only slowly soften bit by bit!!"

"This guy casually tossed out a ball of fire, and it melted hundreds of times faster than Moon Drop, which is worth a fortune on the black market?!"

The fat man's legs went weak, and the heavy hammer in his hand slammed down on the instep with a loud thud. He howled in pain but dared not rub it, his whole body trembling like a leaf.

"Boss... Boss! This kid's strength seems ridiculously high! It's not like a human being at all!!"

Cold sweat poured down the silver-haired man's back, and his arm gripping the sniper rifle trembled violently.

"Gulp... Boss, should we... should we still proceed with our original plan to seize the Eternal Flame?"

The black-haired man raised his hand and slapped the silver-haired man hard on the back of the head, spitting all over his companion's face, and screamed in exasperation.

"What the hell are you trying to steal?! Don't you have a brain?!"

"This isn't even human, it's a monster!!"

"Those white flames... just looking at them makes my eyelashes feel like they're going to be scorched. If we dared to touch them, we wouldn't even be left with ashes!"

Although the Sylph Labyrinth Trio are usually despicable and greedy, specializing in petty theft, their greatest strength as desperados who have been walking the edge of the black market for years is their keen sense of situational awareness and survival instincts.

It looked like they had kicked a super hard steel plate.

Without a second's hesitation, the trio immediately abandoned all professional dignity as treasure hunters.

The black-haired man raised his hands high, his face plastered with a fawning smile that was more like a grimace, as he frantically backed away from the edge of the stone steps while desperately begging for mercy at the top of his lungs.

"Misunderstanding! Gentlemen, this is all a huge misunderstanding!!"

"Well... such a peerless treasure as the Eternal Flame is truly worthy of heroes like you!"

"We three brothers were blind to its value, so we'll leave all the treasure to you! We'll make our way! The green hills and flowing waters will remain forever!"

Before he could finish speaking...

The trio moved as fast as three startled hares, turning around in unison. They abandoned the heavy hammer and sniper rifle that had fallen to the ground, and on their short legs, they tumbled and crawled frantically down the stone steps below the altar.

Watching the three flee in a disheveled state, Natsu was just about to give chase.

Jiang Bai, who was manipulating the flames with one hand to melt the solid ice at the core of the altar, didn't even turn his head.

Even his right hand, which was unleashing the Pure White Divine Flame, didn't tremble an inch.

He casually pulled his free left hand out of his robe pocket and gently beckoned his slender index finger in the direction the three had fled.

"Run?"

A playful, teasing smile curled at the corner of Jiang Bai's lips, and his calm voice echoed clearly in the ears of the three people, spanning hundreds of meters.

"Why are you in such a hurry to leave? All guests are welcome."

"Since we've met, how about I take you to a wonderful place where you can find shelter from the wind and rain, and eat your fill three meals a day for free without having to do any physical labor outdoors?"

The trio, who were sprinting at full speed, felt a chill run down their spines upon hearing this eerie remark.

Before their brains could even process the meaning of that sentence.

Without warning, a violent ripple spread across the solid stone steps beneath the three people's feet.

An irresistible, immense spatial gravity suddenly tore open from the void, like a bottomless maw, instantly swallowing the three desperately fleeing individuals along with the surrounding air!

"Waaaaah! Help!!"

Three piercing screams of extreme terror followed.

The trio's figures twisted and compressed in mid-air, turning into three tiny afterimages, and vanished completely into the depths of the void rift in the blink of an eye.

The space is closed.

The stone steps returned to their original silence, as if the three people had never existed in this world.

Jiang Bai flipped his left wrist and calmly closed his index finger.

These three opportunistic thieves are completely different from Ultear, who was released in the first place.

The reason I let Ultear go was because she felt remorse and then secretly took Meredy to do good deeds and atone for her sins.

But if we let these three habitual thieves, who spend their days scheming to profit from the dead and preying on disaster-stricken villages, leave so easily today, they'll be back in another unfortunate village to continue their despicable acts before dawn tomorrow.

However, they were just a few petty thieves after all, and they hadn't really taken many lives. Killing them on the spot would have made them seem too cruel and unreasonable.

He casually packed them up and locked them in a cage in another dimension for a few days.

On the way back, we'll drop these three unlucky guys off at the Magic Council's prison.

For these tomb raiders who spend their days idly scouting and exploring, this is definitely the perfect final resting place for them.

Lucy stood at the edge of the altar, looking down at the spot where the three thieves had vanished in an instant. Her lips twitched slightly, and she silently made a prayer gesture in front of her chest.

"As expected... falling into Jiang Bai's hands, the fate is even ten thousand times worse than taking a punch from Natsu."

"I wish you a pleasant life behind bars in the Magic Council."

Wendy quickly walked back to Jiang Bai's side, her gaze filled with concern as she looked at the rapidly melting core of the altar ahead.

As the terrifying pure white divine flame in Jiang Bai's palm continued to burn.

The ancient holy flame, sealed deep within the torch and dormant for so long, finally emitted a faint, blazing crimson glow.

The guardian deity of the Sun Village.

It is about to fully awaken.