Flame Demon Skeleton

"Rumble!!"

The enormous roar echoed throughout heaven and earth, followed by a sharp rise in temperature.

The crack beneath the Soul Saint's feet was suddenly forced wide open, and then a massive skeletal hand wreathed in flames reached out.

"It worked!"

The Fallen Soul Saint fighting Huo Ling looked delighted. After exchanging a punch, he abruptly retreated a hundred meters, his gaze locked firmly on the fissure in the earth.

"What exactly did you do?!"

Huo Tianquan's expression was furious. He could sense a powerful aura awakening underground. It had already reached a level nearly equal to his own—and it still hadn't stopped rising!

"Huo Ling!"

Huo Tianquan bellowed and said to the Vice Dean beside him, "Go back immediately and bring every Soul King or stronger expert in the city here. I'll do my best to hold it back... If anything happens to me, let Huo Yuan become the next dean."

"Dean, could that thing really be stronger than you?"

Huo Tianquan did not answer. Instead, he lit up and released both his Third Soul Ring and Fifth Soul Ring.

Together with his Martial Soul Avatar, that made a total of three enhancement Soul Skills.

"Leave at once!"

Huo Ling hesitated, but in the end, he transformed into a streak of red light and sped away.

The three Fallen Soul Saints were all injured to varying degrees. At this moment, they gathered together.

"Aren't you curious what this is? Let me tell you."

The Blood Skull Soul Master in the lead spoke:

"The Fire God passed down in the legends of Blazing City was actually a Level 99 Peerless Douluo whose Martial Soul was the Flame Demon. He never truly became a god. Supposedly, he met with an accident during the mysterious ritual to become a god and died beneath a volcano outside the city."

"Because that ritual—and his own strength—were so powerful, his body contained a force completely different from the Soul Master power system... Now, face him properly... Heh heh heh!"

The three Fallen Soul Masters confirmed that the Flame Demon Skeleton was about to fully awaken, and began retreating.

What they wanted was the Divine Power contained within the corpse—power that surpassed the strength of Soul Masters!

The mysterious ritual they mentioned was actually the Fire God Nine Trials.

However, this Fire Attribute Divine Power was far too terrifying for Fallen Soul Masters. Not to mention, the difference in their own strength was enormous. They could not even approach it.

Thus, they could only use the resurrection method they had mastered as Fallen Soul Masters, sacrificing lives to revive the skeleton. Once the experts of Blazing City had weakened its strength, they could make their move.

Moreover, if the Flame Demon Skeleton killed enough people, they could absorb those corpses as well. That counted as an additional minor objective.

The three Fallen Soul Masters did not completely trust one another. After retreating, they split up to find their own groups.

The Blood Skull Soul Master came all the way to where Lao Er and the others were, only to witness a terrifying scene.

More than a dozen corpses lay on the ground. Their deaths had been horrific, with severed limbs and scattered organs dyeing the carbonized forest, already burned by flames, a fresh crimson.

The only thing still standing was a strange creature whose nature was impossible to make out. In its hand, it held Lao Er, the familiar second-in-command of the group's leader.

Lao Er, a Soul King, was being held by the hair like a dead dog by the more-than-four-meter-tall Mahoraga. His face was covered in blood.

"What happened?"

The Blood Skull Soul Master frowned, but still chose to rescue Lao Er.

"You monster! You knew I was coming and still refused to stop?"

"Fourth Soul Skill, Blood Hand!"

The enormous skeletal hand struck with the force of a thousand jun. Mahoraga seemed to sense it, turned its head, and extended one hand to resist.

Boom!!

The two forces collided. Although the Blood Skull Soul Master successfully rescued Lao Er, he was still shocked by Mahoraga's High-Rank Soul King strength.

His Fourth Soul Skill as a Soul Saint had struck that monster, yet it had merely torn its skin slightly?

"Boss... be careful... Don't let the thing on its head spin..."

After saying this, Lao Er exhausted the last of his strength and fell unconscious.

"What the hell is he talking about? He's being so vague..."

Although he did not understand, the Blood Skull Soul Master knew he had to end the battle quickly. He could not afford to waste any more time; he still had to scheme for the great opportunity.

After casually throwing Lao Er away and confirming that he would not die, the Blood Skull Soul Master flashed behind Mahoraga.

"Whatever kind of monster you are, go to hell!"

Blood Qi gathered around the skeleton. He gripped a sharp Bone Spike and stabbed it toward Mahoraga's heart.

What he did not know was that although Mahoraga had a Human Form, it had no heart.

The gray-white fist swung around and struck the Blood Skull Soul Master, blasting him away and breaking nearly ten giant trees in succession!

Meanwhile, the hole in Mahoraga's chest began healing at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"Crack, crack!"

Its body arched, then shot forward like lightning. It seized the ankle of the still-flying Blood Skull Soul Master and, with tremendous force, smashed him into the ground behind it.

Boom!!

Soil and stones flew everywhere. A huge pit appeared in the ground, along with a blood-spitting figure lying inside it.

"What a monster..."

The Blood Skull Soul Master seemed to have been enraged. The Seventh Soul Ring beneath his feet began to shine.

"Seventh Soul Skill, Martial Soul Avatar!"

After a surge of blood Qi rolled forth like waves, a skeletal frame slightly taller than Mahoraga appeared in view. Then, the man and the Shikigami clashed once more.

Bang, bang, bang!!

Boom!

"Crack, crack!"

Mahoraga was sent flying, but caught the half of its head that had been sliced away by a Bone Spike. The two halves fused together and recovered.

At this moment, the Dharma Wheel completed another rotation, signifying its first adaptation to the power of the Blood Fiend.

"It can even recover from that?!"

The Blood Skull Soul Master felt utterly miserable. After fighting continuously for more than ten minutes, he, a Soul Saint, had already put the monster on the verge of death several times, yet it always recovered.

Even when he had just traded injuries with it and sliced off part of its head, it had still been able to recover.

What was even more incomprehensible was that although its strength had initially been only at the High-Rank Soul King level, it was now faintly approaching the High-Rank Soul Emperor level!

"You can recover, can you? Once this old man annihilates you completely, let's see how you recover!"

A sharp scraping sound came from the skeleton. Every one of its ribs transformed into a Bone Spike, its four limbs all becoming incomparably sharp. Its entire body turned into a machine seemingly born for slaughter!

"Vmmm—!"

The sound of keen edges slicing through the air rang out, shaking the listeners' eardrums with pain.

Then came the sound of a sharp edge entering flesh—a Bone Spike had pierced into Mahoraga's body.