Fallen Demon Hunter VS Superpowered Individual 7

I was truly afraid of Zhuang Cheng now—afraid of that inexplicable "Flame ability user."

I had never seen a Flame ability user like that before. Setting an opponent alight with a glance was already outrageous enough, but what kind of absurd skill was it to summon flames directly inside an opponent's body? And what was the logic behind ignoring both my physical and soul attacks? I never wanted to face him again.

Some of the flesh all over my body had already been reduced to charcoal, and it was still steaming with scalding heat, torturing me nearly to madness. Mentally, I had also become a frightened bird; the slightest movement was enough to leave me trembling with fear.

The instant that spell fluctuation appeared nearby, I was so terrified that my soul nearly left my body. Yet when I focused my eyes, I saw that the newcomer was not Zhuang Cheng.

It was a man with half his head missing, a twisted body covered in blood, and an orange construction jacket. He stood in the distance in a semi-transparent state, allowing me to faintly see the scenery behind him through his body. His expression was numb and vacant, with no glimmer of reason or intelligence in his eyes. Like an animal lured by the scent of flesh and blood, he slowly approached me.

It was a ghost... No, it should be called an evil spirit.

So this was the evil spirit rumored to haunt this abandoned construction site. It must have caught the scent of the Soul Luring Talisman Card on me. Although I had put away the Soul Luring Talisman Card, I had not pasted the sealing paper back over it. Naturally, an evil spirit that knew only how to obey its instincts would come looking.

Last time, I had almost thought it had never existed in the first place. Why had it not appeared when I came here with Zhuang Cheng before?

I could worry about that later. It would be better to deal with this troublesome evil spirit first.

As I walked over, I raised my blade. It seemed to be frightened by me and suddenly stopped where it was, fear appearing on its face. What use was being afraid now? It had only itself to blame for foolishly coming closer.

Just as I was about to kill it, its lips began to move. Like a mental patient, it muttered in terror, "He's coming... He's coming..."

My steps halted, and an ominous shadow rose in my heart. "...Who's coming? Explain yourself. What is coming?"

Like certain insects and beasts that possessed only instinct, it was sometimes precisely because of that instinct that they could keenly predict changes in the weather or even sense the signs of earthquakes, tsunamis, and storms. An evil spirit with nothing but instinct was weak, but for that very reason, it was more sensitive spiritually than many Demon Hunters.

It trembled all over, clutching its head as it crouched on the ground. Despair showed on its bloodstained face.

"He... He's coming..." it shrieked in terror. "He's looking over here... He's watching this place! He saw us! Aaaaah!!!"

The instant it finished speaking, the scene before my eyes suddenly changed.

Flames erupted from every direction, instantly turning this floor into a sea of fire.

Swept up in the overwhelming flames, I hurriedly used shadow power to protect my body. Yet shadow of this level was destroyed in an instant by the surging heat, while the evil spirit in the distance was vaporized on the spot like a drop of water falling into boiling oil.

At the center of the sea of fire, countless flames gathered and compressed, finally forming a huge flaming eyeball that floated in the air like the eye of a god.

Although the flames destroyed the shadow protecting my body and the evil spirit, they did not harm me.

Terror had taken over my mind. The huge flaming eyeball rotated slightly in the air, then turned toward me.

I immediately turned and ran, manipulating the nearby shadows in an attempt to activate spatial transference again. But the moment I lifted my leg, the shadows forming my prosthetic legs exploded out of thin air, sending me sprawling. The shadows approaching me from the other side were also swept by flames along the ground and evaporated without a trace.

The huge flaming eyeball contracted inward, becoming a humanoid figure formed from flames. The figure floating in the air then transformed into a human dressed in ordinary clothes, its feet touching the ground.

That person was Zhuang Cheng.

"I didn't expect you to come back here. Is there something here that made you return specifically?" he asked curiously, looking around. He seemed completely unaware that an evil spirit had just been caught in the flames and burned to death.

Amid the grand roar of the surrounding flames, I struggled to support my body and looked at him with an indescribable terror. I did not even know whether my hoarse voice could reach his ears.

"Why... Why did you... know I was here?"

At the same time, after seeing him take shape within the sea of fire, I finally understood the principle behind his undying body.

Ability users who manipulated natural elements might indeed have only one outstanding strength. But once their mastery reached a level that surpassed ordinary human logic, the common sense of mere Demon Hunters could no longer restrain them.

In the ancient world of Demon Hunters, there was a legendary realm known as "Manifesting the Divine."

Since ancient times, most people who embarked on the path of cultivation had pursued a way to unite themselves with the Heavenly Dao and nature—the so-called "unity of heaven and humanity." Those who manipulated the spiritual energy of water would emulate water's nature of benefiting all things without striving. Those who manipulated the spiritual energy of earth would emulate the earth's virtue of bearing all things. The endpoint of emulation was to become the object being emulated, or to merge with it as one.

Cultivators who reached the legendary realm of "Manifesting the Divine" could cast aside their physical bodies, freely transform their souls, and merge with all things in nature, manifesting in the human world like gods whenever necessary.

That was no longer the realm of mortals. It was the domain of an Immortal of the Land.

I could not believe that Zhuang Cheng was an Immortal of the Land, but his seemingly effortless transformation into a natural element clearly possessed some characteristics of the realm of Manifesting the Divine.

What he had displayed was unquestionably a technique that should exist only in myths and legends. Even the Great Wuchangs who stood at the summit of Luoshan, descended like gods, and could destroy this country single-handedly might not have been capable of doing the same.

I had not expected my question to receive an answer, but Zhuang Cheng actually answered me.

"Why? I believe I told you before that there's a spiritual connection between me and the flames I release, so of course I can lock onto your location."

"But the flames on my body have already disappeared..."

"Looks like I didn't explain it clearly. The flames I release, as well as the light and heat produced by those flames, are all essentially my spirit." For some reason, he answered every question with great patience. "Although the flames have gone out, the heat remains. Naturally, that won't do."

"What... No, that's wrong!" I said, unable to accept it. "The Shadow World is a different dimension from the real world. Even the connection to the heat should have been severed!"

"You mean that?" He nodded. "Although the connection became unstable for a while, it wasn't completely severed. I just couldn't see what was happening where you were for the time being. Whether reigniting the flames or moving into that Shadow World of yours, both are possible."

"I'd already made up my mind to go there, but you left first... It doesn't matter. You can help me open the passage later."

That made no sense. The Shadow World was clearly an alternate space, just like the cave in the room on the Fifteenth Floor. If the latter could sever Zhuang Cheng's connection, then there was no reason the former could not.

Could the cave in the room on the Fifteenth Floor really be that special?

Or was it...

Suddenly, I realized there was another, more reasonable possibility.

"So... you lied?"

"Lied?" Zhuang Cheng was taken aback.

That was right. He had definitely been lying.

No wonder he had been able to discuss his experiences beneath the cave with Zhu Shi and me so calmly. He had always possessed the power to travel freely between different times and spaces through flames, so naturally he had nothing to fear.

I had seen it clearly just now. He could summon flames through the heat on my body, then travel here from elsewhere through those flames. Since his spiritual connection with the flames was strong enough to pierce the barrier between the real world and an alternate space, there was no reason he would have been trapped beneath the cave or forced to find the missing symbol in the ritual formation before he could leave.

Thinking carefully, he should not have been able to open the cave with the so-called "missing symbol from the ritual formation" either. I had tried the same method myself and failed. That proved the method had been a lie from the very beginning.

After looking puzzled, Zhuang Cheng shook his head.

"Although I don't know what you're talking about, this isn't a place to talk. I have more questions for you, so let's change locations first. Once I've asked everything I want to know, I'll hand you over to Zhu Shi to deal with."

"Is that so? Sorry... Then you're going to be disappointed!"

I was not going to sit around and wait for death. Even if he did not intend to kill me immediately, I had no intention of placing my life in his hands for him to dispose of as he pleased. No matter what, I had to fight to the death.

I was no longer the same person I had been twenty years ago. Now I had power—and with it, true courage.

—Courage without power was merely a fool's self-satisfaction. True courage was inevitably born from power.

With that thought, I directly activated my substitute puppet ability against Zhuang Cheng.

Given the level of magical power he had displayed, my ability could not transform him into a substitute puppet. But if I could delay him for one second—no, even the blink of an eye—I would have a chance to escape.

Afterward, I would do as he had said and wait in the Shadow World for the heat to dissipate. Then he would no longer be able to track me. And even if he pursued me into the Shadow World, he had no ability related to that place, so he could neither survive there nor harm me.

I would definitely escape from here!

Without any movement or radiance, my ability unleashed its power the instant I willed it, corroding toward Zhuang Cheng, who stood ahead.

However, the moment my ability touched his spirit,

a sun filled with destructive fluctuations appeared in my consciousness.