A bitter, chilling aura spread outward.
Hiss!
A thread of blood almost invisible to the naked eye flashed, like the mournful cry of an autumn cicada, and vanished.
The next instant, the burly woman and her two companions, who had been hurtling toward Hong Yuan, froze in midair. Savage expressions still lingered on their faces, but an invisible force had already torn their bodies to pieces.
Hong Yuan turned his wrist and swung the Crimson Blood Saber behind him. With a howl of rushing wind, the cane-bearing elder struck at his back.
The blood-bright saber light collided with the iron cane, bursting into a shower of sparks. An immense force surged forth, washing over Hong Yuan like a tide.
Without looking back, Hong Yuan borrowed that force to soar into the sky, flashing hundreds of yards away.
"Boy, you can forget about escaping the palm of my hand! Surrender obediently and spit out your secrets!"
The cane-bearing elder roared and planted his cane against the ground, then shot forward like an arrow in pursuit.
His face twisted, all trace of his earlier leisurely manner gone. Beneath the frustration in his voice lurked a hint of madness.
"Ah! This Burning Fire method really does turn people into ghosts!"
Hong Yuan sighed.
Once Burning Fire began, it was essentially a pursuit of truth through death. Fewer than one in a hundred truly achieved Talisman Seeding; for the rest, the only difference was whether they burned slowly or quickly.
The supposed ten-year period was misleading. In truth, if most Burning Fire cultivators failed to condense the embryonic form of a True Talisman in the first three to five years, when their yin fire and yang fire burned strongest, they had practically no chance afterward.
Burning Fire cultivators on the brink of death like