Sensing the pressure emanating from within Zuo Qing, surprise appeared in Guan Zai and Lu Wuwei's eyes.
Zuo Qing was now at the peak of the "Klein" realm, even showing signs of stepping into the Human Apex realm. They had never expected this unassuming young man who had always followed Ye Fan to be a candidate for the apex.
Guan Zai was somewhat surprised, but that was all.
The gap between "Klein" and the Human Apex was still far too great. Though Zuo Qing was only half a step away, that half-step was enough to ensure his defeat without question.
"You can't beat me." Guan Zai shook his head. "I don't want to hit you. I just want to find Ye Fan and confront him face-to-face."
"You can't go over there," Zuo Qing said firmly.
"Why?" Guan Zai was growing angry.
Zuo Qing turned to look at the tightly shut Buddhist hall doors within the temple and slowly spoke:
"Because he's trading his life for your brother's!"
Inside the Buddhist hall.
Ye Fan was bathed in golden flames, his eyes blazing. Though not a single wound marked his body, his soul was being consumed at an astonishing rate.
Weariness surfaced in his eyes. He slowly crouched down, sat cross-legged before the Black Coffin, and lowered his eyelids.
He raised his hands, pinching several fragments of Buddhist beads, then pressed his palms together and sat upright amid the flames.
The golden fire burned ever fiercer. Within the blaze, Ye Fan's clothes were nearly reduced to ashes. The flames began to lick at his body like savage beasts thirsting for flesh and blood. With every flicker of their fiery tongues, great swathes of skin were charred black and fell away piece by piece.
This fire was burning his clothes, his body,