Devouring Evil Fire

She let out a shriek that barely sounded human. The long-accumulated dark-red Phoenix flames burst forth like a flood from a broken dam, pouring down over Yu Chen's head!

Those flames could melt even ten-thousand-year mystic ice and corrode even a Titled Douluo's protective Soul Power!

Yan Shaozhe closed his eyes in despair.

This mysterious young man had been far too arrogant!

Yet the expected sound of flesh being burned to charcoal never came.

Silence.

An eerie silence.

Yan Shaozhe trembled as he opened his eyes, and then he saw a scene he would never forget for the rest of his life.

The white-robed young man simply stood there quietly.

He allowed the dark-red Evil Fire, powerful enough to burn mountains and boil seas, to engulf him from head to toe.

The flames danced and raged wildly across his body, yet his immaculate white robes did not even gain a single crease.

His hair and skin were completely unscathed.

The Evil Fire... was ineffective against him?!

This, this defied the iron laws of the Douluo Continent that had stood for ten thousand years!

"Have you had enough?"

Yu Chen's voice came from within the flames, still carrying that calm, almost bored tone.

He reached out through the blazing fire. His movements were not fast, yet Ma Xiaotao had no way to evade him.

Then, beneath Yan Shaozhe's vacant gaze, he seized Ma Xiaotao's fair throat in one hand.

"Urgh—!"

All the flames, all the madness, came to an abrupt halt at that moment.

Ma Xiaotao was lifted one-handed off the ground, her feet dangling as she struggled feebly in midair.

The Evil Fire on her body, enough to drive any man mad, now behaved like a docile pet, licking at Yu Chen's arm without even managing to raise the temperature of his palm by a single degree.

Yan Shaozhe stood with his mouth open, unable to utter a word.

His mind had gone completely blank.

A god.

Was this truly power a human could possess?

With one wave of his hand, he suppressed a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast.

With his physical body, he endured ultimate fire head-on.

With one hand, he held a rampaging Soul Emperor by the throat as easily as clutching a chick.

Who exactly was he?!

Ma Xiaotao struggled wildly, clawing blindly at Yu Chen's arm, but that hand was like an iron clamp forged from divine metal, making all her resistance seem utterly ridiculous.

Yu Chen looked into her crimson eyes, filled with desire and madness, and finally showed a trace of interest.

"Evil Fire?"

he said flatly.

"Perfect. My dragon is a little hungry."

Yu Chen placed his hand on Ma Xiaotao's shoulder, his five fingers like five eternal icebergs.

"Let her go! What did you do to her?!"

The Shrek elder was so anxious he practically jumped in place. He unleashed the full pressure of a Soul Emperor, but within this ice valley woven together by extreme cold and Yang lightning, his aura was like a gust of wind blowing into an iron house, unable to produce even the slightest echo.

Ma Xiaotao was still struggling.

Or rather, it was the out-of-control Evil Fire within her that was struggling.

Black-red flames seeped from beneath her skin, trying to burn through Yu Chen's palm. But the instant they touched his skin, they crackled as though forcibly extinguished by something, turning into wisps of black smoke that dispersed.

"So noisy."

Yu Chen did not even turn his head, merely uttering those three words.

He looked at the lovely face twisted by pain and madness, then slowly raised his other hand and brushed the back of his fingers against Ma Xiaotao's cheek.

The movement was very gentle.

"Look, it's afraid."

His voice was calm, as though he were merely stating something insignificant.

"No... Aaaahhh!!"

Ma Xiaotao's screams became even more shrill. The Soul Power within her completely ran wild, and a phantom Flame Phoenix soared into the sky from behind her, carrying the violence of incinerating everything as it pecked at Yu Chen's head!

"Xiaotao!" the Shrek elder cried in despair.

Wang Dong'er's heart rose to her throat, and she instinctively rushed a step forward.

But in the next second, she stopped.

Yu Chen did not move at all.

He merely slowly raised the hand pressing on Ma Xiaotao's shoulder, palm facing upward.

A dark-red point of light appeared in his palm.

At first, that point was only the size of a grain of rice, yet it was so profound that it seemed capable of devouring all light.

Immediately afterward, a tiny black vortex formed above the point of light.

Bzz—

A low hum, so faint it was nearly inaudible.

The Evil Fire Phoenix phantom, halfway through its lunge, seemed to have its throat gripped by an invisible hand and froze abruptly in midair!

It began to tremble violently. No longer was it berserk; now it was gripped by terror originating from the depths of its soul!

"W-what is that?!" The Shrek elder's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.

The black-red Evil Fire on Ma Xiaotao's body seemed to have found an outlet, or like prey spotted by its natural predator, it surged madly from her seven orifices and pores!

It no longer retained the form of flames. Instead, it transformed into streams of thick, foul-smelling black-red vapor, rushing desperately into the black vortex in Yu Chen's palm!

"Aah—!!"

Ma Xiaotao let out a groan of agony at its absolute peak, her entire body arching backward. Yet Yu Chen's fingers remained firmly clasped around her shoulder, leaving her nowhere to escape.

Her body shook like a sieve. Beneath her fair skin, countless black-red threads could be seen being forcibly drawn out by an irresistible force!

At that moment, a savage dragon head phantom, something that existed only in ancient myths, flashed above Yu Chen's palm.

Red-Eyes Black Dragon!

It opened jaws that seemed capable of swallowing the sun, moon, and stars, then inhaled sharply at the streams of Evil Fire rushing toward it!

Whoosh—!

The wind throughout the ice valley stopped.

Every sound vanished.

Only that world-destroying suction remained between heaven and earth!

The Evil Fire Phoenix phantom did not even have time to cry out before it was bitten apart in one mouthful, transformed into the purest energy and swallowed.

Then came all the Evil Fire within Ma Xiaotao's body!

"No... don't..."

Ma Xiaotao's consciousness swung wildly between madness and clarity. She could feel the power that had tormented her for countless years being drawn out, but it seemed that along with it, her own life essence was being taken away.

It was a hollowing weakness, an agonizing pain as if even her soul were being torn apart!

Yet strangely, amid that extreme agony was a hint of unprecedented relief!

Like someone who had carried a ten-thousand-pound boulder for over a decade suddenly having their burden removed.

Lightness...

Unprecedented lightness...

"Gulp."

The Black Dragon phantom seemed to let out a satisfied burp before disappearing back into Yu Chen's palm.

Everything was over.

Only a dozen or so breaths had passed from beginning to end.

Yu Chen released his hand.

With a thud.

Ma Xiaotao collapsed limply onto the snow like a puddle of mud, gasping for breath.

The violent, sinister aura around her had vanished without a trace. Her long hair, once dark red because of the Evil Fire, rapidly faded back to its original fiery red. It was soaked through with sweat, sticking messily to her face.

She looked as though she had just been hauled out of water.

The Shrek elder scrambled over, picked Ma Xiaotao up, and tremblingly placed his fingers on her wrist.