The Flame Demon God Makes His Debut

He stood there in midair, blood-red scales covering his body like armor.

His enormous wings of flame beat slowly and powerfully, while pitch-black Ink Spirit Flame swirled around him, dancing with delight.

His presence soared, shaking everyone to the core!

Mysterious, commanding, majestic—what words could describe him?

For the first time, his Flame Demon God Transformation was revealed before other demons.

His needle-like, fiery-red hair danced behind him without a breath of wind. His deep-blue eyes, mysterious as the ocean, gazed coldly at the stunned demons!

His aura was utterly different from the demonic evil he had radiated moments ago.

Noble and mysterious, deep and distant, with no bottom in sight. It felt like standing before a god who looked down upon all!

"What a despair-inducing aura. So vast, darker than the Abyss itself—it's like the purest Primordial Core Will!"

Xierjie and the serpent demon Slav stared up in despair at the terrifying demon who floated silently in the sky, radiating an overwhelming majesty.

"What do we do?"

"Run? Can we even get away?"

Er Dongsheng's return in this new form, with a presence as deep as a chasm and vast as the sea, crushed every last shred of the two demons' will to fight.

"Run! No matter what, run now!"

Without another thought, the two demons turned and fled at full speed. Er Dongsheng had scared them out of their wits. All they could think was Run, run, run! Even one more second of flight was worth it!

Er Dongsheng watched the two fleeing ants without expression, then suddenly tilted his head and thought for a moment.

He raised his right claw, fingers slightly curled. After a brief pause, a ball of light the size of a ping-pong ball gathered in his palm. It swelled at a startling speed, growing larger and larger until a massive fireball over two meters across hung before his chest!

He examined it and nodded in satisfaction.

With a light tap of one finger on his right claw, the enormous fireball vanished from the air. Then...

Boom!

A heaven-shaking blast erupted not far ahead. A small mushroom cloud rose slowly, its glare lighting up everything around it.

That was the direction the two demons had fled...

A violent gust followed the blast. Grass and branches flew, flowers and leaves withered, and fruit scattered everywhere. Even Little Succubus was blown off balance!

The little one stared blankly at her mighty brother in the sky. He looked a little unfamiliar, but he was definitely her brother.

She did not quite understand how her brother, who had vanished inside that huge fireball, had suddenly appeared in the sky. But that did not stop her from cheering up at once!

"Brother! Brother!"

Forgetting everything else, she scrambled to her feet and stumbled toward Er Dongsheng.

Er Dongsheng had just been about to go and see whether those two foolish ants had met God. At the little one's cries, he hesitated, then turned and descended, scooping her up as she ran to him!

Forget it. They're only two ants. If they got away, they got away! They wouldn't dare come bother me again, Er Dongsheng thought.

"Hee-hee."

The little one clung affectionately to Er Dongsheng's neck. Her wide eyes studied his new appearance with curiosity. She touched the broad scales on his chest, then rapped them a few times with her little hand, fascinated!

Children forgot things quickly. After Er Dongsheng kept his transformed shape and took her for a few trips around the sky, swooping up and down, she forgot all about what had happened earlier!

Along the way, Er Dongsheng took her to see the spot he had attacked. A huge crater had appeared there. Many branches on the surrounding trees had snapped, and their trunks were charred black. The skill he had just used clearly packed quite a punch!

Unfortunately, there were no remains of the two demons. He could not tell whether they had died without leaving a bone behind or escaped. Er Dongsheng thought escape was more likely. After all, what demon did not have a lifesaving trick or two?

They did find something unexpected!

Beaming, the little girl dragged an almost-shattered curved blade out of a patch of scorched grass! She knew perfectly well that metal was desperately scarce in the Abyss, countless times more precious than food—much like gold currency in Er Dongsheng's previous life.

Metal was the hard currency of trade in the Abyss!

"It's damaged, but when we get back, I can make you a little round shield and a small metal bow and arrows. With those, you'll be able to hunt small prey on your own!" Little Succubus nodded eagerly, her big eyes narrowing with delight as her two pointed ears fluttered.

Back at Camp, Er Dongsheng planned to rest a while before setting out. Those two demons had interrupted his sleep, and now even Little Succubus no longer wanted to sleep!

Sitting on the ground, Er Dongsheng thought back over what had happened and suddenly felt that he still understood far too little about the Talent System within him!

It looks like once we get back and I have some free time, I'll have to study it properly!

For a martial artist, the greatest taboo was losing control of his own body. Anyone who practiced martial arts had to understand every change within himself at every moment! Absorbing energy and circulating vital essence both depended on a rigorous understanding of oneself. A martial artist could afford to ignore anything else, but he had to have absolute control over himself!

He held out his hand, five claws slightly cupped. At a thought, a tiny ball of light appeared before him. He relaxed his mind, and it dispersed. Another thought, and it flared back into being!

As he sustained his focus, the fireball in his hand grew larger and larger, finally reaching the size of a basketball.

Er Dongsheng touched it with his other hand. The ball of crimson flame felt merely warm, its heat barely noticeable. But the grass and leaves withering around him told him how high its true temperature was!

Ever since arriving in this world, he had vaguely sensed that this body had a strange affinity for fire and a strong resistance to it! Now, though, it seemed he had severely underestimated that ability!

Thinking back to what had just happened, Er Dongsheng looked as though he had swallowed something foul.

He had been enjoying himself when he learned a brutal lesson: Slav, the serpent demon, had struck him head-on with a long-range ultimate move—what he might as well call a giant fireball! He had expected to be half-crippled even if he survived. But to his surprise...

Who would have thought? Those flames couldn't hurt me in the slightest. The Abyss System even absorbed some of the fire and generated a new skill!

Shaking his head, Er Dongsheng casually tossed the fireball in his hand into the distance.

Boom! Once again, everything erupted into chaos.

"Ah!"

Little Succubus, who was packing their things, was so startled that she landed hard on her bottom. Rubbing it, she huffed at her brother, the culprit!

She glared at him with knitted brows and rolled her eyes for good measure!

...How embarrassing...

He had been so lost in thought that he had forgotten about this little princess!

Ugh, this lousy hand! Why did I have to throw that thing away so casually?

"Listen, little sister, I didn't mean to. You..."

"Hmph!"

"I don't believe you!"

...Oh, no...