"No-!!"
Gu He's pupils abruptly contracted, and a hoarse roar tore from his throat.
Yet the black-robed figure never even glanced at him. His form flickered, and beneath everyone's terrified gazes, he vanished from the spot in the blink of an eye!
Only faint traces of soul pressure and a few ripples of Dou Qi lingered in the air...
Gu He stood stunned for a moment, then became the first to react.
His eyes bulged as though their corners would split!
An enraged roar burst from his mouth. His normally refined, gentle face twisted with unprecedented savagery and fury!
"How dare you, you little thief!!"
He had watched helplessly as the Heavenly Flame, all but within his grasp, was snatched away right before his eyes!
That crushing reversal, that shock, that bitter unwillingness felt like ten thousand ants gnawing at his heart!
At that moment, Gu He could no longer contain his fury, and his hands trembled uncontrollably.
A seething mass of Dou Qi flame instantly gathered in his palm!
He struck abruptly, sending the flame scorching through the air in its path without hesitation toward the direction where the black-robed figure had vanished!
"Stop right there!!"
The flame streaked across the night sky like a meteor, carrying all of Gu He's rage and resentment as it chased the mysterious black-robed figure!
But...
At the instant when everything hung by a thread, a pale flame radiating waves of cold blazed up beside the dark figure!
Upon touching that pale fire, the scorching flame Gu He had unleashed was like a leaf falling into water. It stirred only a brief ripple before vanishing in an instant...
It seemed to have been swallowed by some higher-order power, unable to raise so much as a wave.
"What..."
Gu He's entire body stiffened. His