Snakes. Snakes everywhere!
The instant the wall crumbled, countless Red Serpents with featherlike crests spread wide came hissing down toward Xia Lun like rain!
Time seemed to stand still. The sight was staggering. As Xia Lun's eyes darted about, he could clearly make out their slick, supple bodies, chilling fangs, and enlarged slit pupils.
Without hesitation, he swept a hand forward, and a shield of Black Flame sprang up before him!
Without the wind driving them, the leaping Red Serpents struck with little force. Rubble and writhing snakes rattled against the shield, sending black sparks and mangled bodies spraying outward!
Squelch!
A muffled sound of tearing flesh suddenly reached Xia Lun's ears.
Peering around his flame shield, Xia Lun saw that Iron Mask, who stood ahead of him, was already covered in Red Serpents!
He was about to help when white light burst from Iron Mask's body, and Iron Mask went up in flames!
Xia Lun was startled, but a moment later he realized that, like the Withered Dead, Iron Mask had ritual inscriptions carved into both his clothes and skin.
"Hiss, hiss—"
Amid the skin-crawling hisses, a smell like roast chicken filled the air. The surviving Red Serpents dropped to the ground one after another in the firelight.
Xia Lun thrust his palm forward, sending Black Flame rolling ahead like a wave. Iron Mask knelt on the ground, panting, his torn cloak and the purpling flesh beneath his skin flickering in the firelight.
Iron Mask had been bitten!
Xia Lun had no time to dwell on it. He clenched his fist and unleashed Embrace of the Final Ash on every venomous snake the black fire had struck.
The damage resolved, wiping out the remaining Red Serpents in an instant!
The already-raging flames flared higher. Violent Black Flame clung to