Pengcheng had suffered several invasions by other races. Most had been carried out by the Starry Sky Beast Clan—wolves, tigers, and the like. Though powerful, they could be dealt with by several Martial Artists working together.
[Scan initiated: Life Energy Level 6.3, one Life Evolution] [Note: Run! You're going to die!]
The Equipment Slot automatically began scanning the distant Flame Spirit. In an instant, it had gathered some basic information.
Life Energy Level 6.3—the strongest life energy level Xu Ziming had encountered since beginning his cultivation. And this monster was his enemy.
Almost by instinct, Xu Ziming tightened his grip on the Jinghong Sword. He had to win this battle. The monster had come right to his doorstep; there was no way he could run.
The moment the Flame Spirit saw Xu Ziming raise his sword, a distinctly humanlike smile appeared on its face, as though tormenting the weak brought it joy.
"Boom!"
The Flame Spirit moved with incredible speed. The instant it noticed Xu Ziming raise his sword, it charged forward, leaving a blaze in its wake.
It was too fast. Xu Ziming, who had always relied on his speed to overwhelm others, couldn't make out the Flame Spirit's movements at all.
All he felt was a wave of heat coming from afar, scorching enough to roast the flesh right off his body.
"There's no way I can dodge!"
Xu Ziming gritted his teeth and relied entirely on his body's instincts. He swept the Jinghong Sword in his hand across the area, swinging in an extremely twisted posture toward the hottest spot around.
The Flame Spirit's body was made of fire, so the hottest spot in the air had to be the direction from which it was attacking.
The strain made the veins bulge across Xu Ziming's face. The Jinghong Sword rang out again and again as it cut through the air.
He hit something! A solid sensation came from the point of impact. But it wasn't the Flame Spirit.
He'd missed!
The Flame Spirit hadn't attacked from that direction. Xu Ziming had only slashed through a scorching fireball.
Its true body had already teleported to a place Xu Ziming could never reach.
In an instant, heat nearing five hundred degrees swept in from one side of his body, and a heart-piercing pain tore through him.
The Flame Spirit was stunned, too. Its body was burning at five hundred degrees, yet it hadn't burned straight through Xu Ziming. The heat had stopped at the surface.
"Drop dead!"
With Iron Skin, Xu Ziming's body could withstand temperatures of over a thousand degrees. As long as he could bear the pain, this heat couldn't stop him from attacking.
In that instant of the Flame Spirit's distraction, he had already turned around. Now he was facing the Flame Spirit he'd been unable to reach a moment earlier.
A sword beam that seemed to split the heavens flashed by. Thick smoke billowed across the entire stretch of ground. He'd hit it!
From Xu Ziming's perspective, the Flame Spirit's body split in two in an instant, then dispersed into the air.
"That easy?" Xu Ziming panted heavily, one hand pressed against the burn at his waist.
From where he stood, the Flame Spirit had indeed vanished, as though his sword had cut its body to pieces.
"Plop." A sound came from his shoulder. Heat of over a thousand degrees instantly melted his clothes, and smoke billowed from his entire head.
"Human, your sword has no bite. You can't hurt me."
"Argh!"
The thousand-degree heat nearly burned Xu Ziming's mind to ashes. At that temperature, even enhanced Iron Skin was useless.
Before long, the smell of roasting flesh rose from his shoulder.
"I'm going to die!"
Just as the Equipment Slot had warned, a suffocating sense of death had closed in around his mind. The heat blurred his consciousness.
Suddenly, the Equipment Slot's panel appeared. The [Qilin Body] entry flashed with light in Xu Ziming's mind.
That's right. He still had the Qilin Body.
"There's still a chance. Qilin Body, activate!"
Xu Ziming shouted. The pain of his burning body made it impossible to control his voice.
"Bang!"
An ancient aura erupted from his body, and a tremendous force sent the Flame Spirit flying.
The next moment, scales sprouted all over him, and even two dragon horns grew from his head. His body swelled until his clothes burst into shreds.
Only his underwear remained.
His once-black eyes gradually took on a strange, otherworldly hue, as if...
He were the Qilin incarnate!
"What is this?!" The Flame Spirit lay on the ground, shock filling its eyes. An inexplicable sense of danger gripped its heart.
"Impossible. He isn't even a Martial Artist. How could he make me feel threatened? This appearance must be another human trick."
At the thought, the fear on its face vanished. It even managed a mocking sneer.
"What are you pretending to—"
Before it could finish, Xu Ziming was already in front of it, a lofty, divine quality shining in his eyes.
His scaled hand clamped around the Flame Spirit's head. Heat of over a thousand degrees poured from its body.
But the Qilin Body's effect was fire immunity. No flame could harm him. At that moment, he was the very embodiment of fire.
A surge of tremendous strength burst from Xu Ziming's wrist. The reason his swordsmanship hadn't hurt the Flame Spirit was that the instant the blade struck, its body had turned into fire.
But now, it couldn't control that ability it had been born with. All the flames around it seemed to have abandoned their original master.
"How is this possible?"
Only now did terror finally appear on the Flame Spirit's face. It thrashed with all its might, unleashing tremendous force from within its body.
The hand Xu Ziming had clamped around its head began to shake. He was immune to fire, but even doubled, his Life Energy Level 3.4 physique couldn't match that of a life that had undergone Life Evolution.
"Argh!"
The Flame Spirit tore itself free, snapping even the devilish horns atop its head in the process. At last, it escaped Xu Ziming's grasp.
"Run!"
This human was too strange. It absolutely couldn't get tangled up with him. It needed to take a hostage.
With that thought, it immediately scanned the area. At the nearby wonton shop, it spotted what looked like someone inside.
"Found you!"
"An alien?" The wonton shop owner had also seen the demon-like monster charging toward him. Adrenaline surged through his body as he brandished the iron ladle in his hand.
Just then, with a whoosh, a flash of silver-white light shot over from afar. The Jinghong Sword flew like an arrow loosed from a bow, piercing the Flame Spirit in an instant.
"Argh!!!"
The terrifying impact sheared off a chunk of its shoulder, punched right through its body, and landed in front of it.
In an instant, bricks and stones cracked with a series of sharp snaps. The Flame Spirit's body tumbled across the ground.
"Trash from another race! You can't win, so now you're going after innocent people?"
Xu Ziming's voice rang down from above.