Soul Skill! Flame Demon Form!

At this moment, time seemed to slow to an abnormal crawl.

The scorching heat, the spiraling flames, the fire tornado rushing in.

The terror on Wang Zhong's face seemed frozen in time, like a mosquito trapped in amber.

Li Ren roared, yellow light blazing around him as stone armor covered every inch of his body, sealing even his face and eyes.

The next moment, the Green Lotus Earth-Core Flame swept past. Wang Zhong was completely swallowed by the fire tornado. The thousand-degree heat burned his clothes to ash and his skin to blackened charcoal, leaving only a shriveled, gaunt figure emitting the stench of scorched flesh and black smoke, collapsed on the road.

He had already fallen silent.

Driven by Yang Ming's fury, the azure flames pounced upon Li Ren and landed on the stone armor covering his body.

In nature, tortoises were inherently creatures with outstanding defenses. Not to mention, Li Ren's Martial Soul was a Stone Tortoise!

Sparks scattered in all directions, igniting the grass, dead branches, and fallen leaves beneath Li Ren's feet. The sparks grew into a raging blaze, and amid the roaring flames, Li Ren's towering figure stood like a great bear, exuding an overwhelming sense of pressure.

One step, two steps...

Li Ren trudged forward with heavy footsteps, his several-hundred-pound burly body emerging from the sea of fire. The intense flames melted the stone on his surface into molten slurry, which continuously slid down his body and splattered onto the ground with plops, extinguishing the flames beneath his feet.

Beneath the dissolving stone mask was a face blackened by smoke, along with a pair of bloodshot eyes.

He walked up to the corpse that had nearly been burned to charcoal, crouched down, and raised a hand as large as a fan. It fell upon Wang Zhong's face, now burned beyond recognition. As though he could see Wang Zhong's unresting expression, he gently closed his eyes, which had already vanished without a trace.

Standing again, Li Ren stuck out his tongue and licked his lips, cracked by the heat. Looking at Yang Ming, who could barely stand after exhausting all his soul power, his soot-blackened face was filled with viciousness.

"As expected of a descendant of an organization traitor. You've got some skills."

"But to use that azure flame Martial Soul just now, you must have paid a hefty price, right? Have you run out of soul power already?"

As he spoke, Li Ren strode toward Yang Ming with murderous intent.

He swore that once he captured Yang Ming, he would never let him die so easily. He would torture him for seven days and seven nights, let him die amid regret and wails, then feed Yang Ming and Tang San to Soul Beasts!

Seeing that Li Ren's skin had merely been blackened by smoke, Yang Ming revealed a bitter smile.

Yang Ming had not expected Li Ren's Martial Soul to be the incredibly defensive Stone Tortoise. Combined with a soul skill that enhanced his defenses, he had actually withstood the Green Lotus Earth-Core Flame.

Having exhausted all his soul power, Yang Ming was somewhat spent. Even his greatest pride, his speed, had dropped drastically, and using Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track had become far more difficult.

Li Ren kept closing in. Though he was slow, he was still slightly faster than Yang Ming in his current state.

Just as Yang Ming was beginning to despair, things suddenly took a turn, and the system's voice sounded in his ear.

"Ding!"

"Congratulations, Host, for speaking the classic line of Flame Demon King Ragnaros from Hearthstone. You have obtained one lottery chance. Would you like to activate the lottery wheel?"

Hearthstone had once been hugely popular, and Flame Demon King Ragnaros had also enjoyed a high appearance rate. He was a powerful legendary card, affectionately called "Big Ragnaros" by players.

In the World of Warcraft setting that Hearthstone drew from, Flame Demon King Ragnaros was even more renowned. He was the Fire Elemental Lord among Azeroth's four great Elemental Lords, symbolizing rage and destruction!

As a legendary boss of Azeroth, Flame Demon King Ragnaros had lived for countless years since ancient times, practically an antique.

"Yes!"

While evading Li Ren's pursuit, Yang Ming pressed the button on the virtual wheel.

As a legendary boss, Flame Demon King Ragnaros possessed an astonishingly rich collection.

His equipment included: Bone-Splitting Blade, Dragonblood Cloak, Spine Reaper, Crown of Destruction, Flame Shard, Malistar's Defender, Blade of Destruction, Band of Accuria, Band of Sulfuras, Cloak of the Shrouded Mists...

His skills included: Ragnaros's Wrath, Melt Weapon, Elemental Fury, Flame Explosion, Lava Blast, Magma Eruption, Summon Son of Flame, Flame Immunity...

Equipment, skills, even Ragnaros himself appeared on the virtual wheel!

"You little brat!"

Li Ren seized the chance when Yang Ming stumbled, moved behind him, and clenched a fist the size of a cooking pot, his face twisted with ferocity.

"Die!"

His fist swung out. Although Yang Ming heard the movement and desperately twisted aside, he could not avoid taking Li Ren's heavy blow to the back.

A heavy force pierced from his back straight through to his chest. Yang Ming's face turned pale as his entire body pitched forward like a kite with a snapped string, blood spraying wildly from his mouth in midair.

"Heh."

Li Ren planted one massive foot viciously on Yang Ming's back. As if venting his anger, he twisted his foot hard, and the faint crack of bones breaking could be heard.

Looking down at Yang Ming, Li Ren sneered coldly.

"Brat, run. Keep running for me. Let's see if I don't break your legs!"

As he spoke, Li Ren removed his foot from Yang Ming's back and raised his cooking-pot-sized fist, preparing to smash Yang Ming's legs to pieces!

It was at that very moment!

On Yang Ming's retina, the virtual wheel finally came to a stop. The pointer landed on...

Flame Demon King Ragnaros himself!

In an instant, just as Li Ren was about to break his legs, inspiration struck Yang Ming, and he turned Flame Demon King Ragnaros into his Soul Ring!

Without a sound, a black Soul Ring appeared around Yang Ming's left foot!

In that brief instant, violent winds rose out of nowhere within a radius of ten miles around Yang Ming. The soul power that had been exhausted within him rapidly filled at an unimaginable speed!

Li Ren's pupils suddenly contracted. A terrifying aura rose from Yang Ming's body, giving him the illusion that his scalp had gone numb!

"This boy cannot be allowed to live!"

The fist originally aimed at Yang Ming's legs shifted toward his heart.

But in the time it took to make that adjustment, Yang Ming let out a roar from deep in his throat, like that of an ancient creature!

"Soul Skill! Flame Demon Form!"

An azure robe of flame covered Yang Ming's entire body, making Li Ren wary of striking. Afraid that his arm would be burned, he hurriedly pulled it back.

Yet the next moment, azure flames enveloped Yang Ming from within and without. In an instant, he transformed from a six-year-old child into a Flame Demon King more than ten meters tall!

Flames pouring from his eye sockets fell upon Li Ren like a gaze, and an ancient voice emerged from Yang Ming's mouth.

"Die, insect!"

(Two updates)