The gray mist rapidly shrank, and a terrifying fiend over twenty meters tall walked out of it. His head and body looked alike, except for the enormous scar on his neck-a wound as wide as the mouth of a bowl stretched across his entire neck.
Yi Chen sucked in a breath of cold air. He finally saw clearly: the fiend actually had six wings on his back. Each wing shimmered with differently colored radiance, nine streaks in all. A thick layer of armor covered his body, and his arms also had six palms fitted over his claws.
Then the silver head suddenly exploded, turning into countless fine particles of light that merged into the fiend's body. Thunderous cracks rang out inside him as scales slowly settled against his body. Two hearts in his chest thudded for a while, and he slowly raised his right arm.
"Oh? Interesting. You... you can actually disperse my mist?" This fiendlike Fallen One had an exceptionally loud voice, filled with intimidating power.
"I know what you are." Yi Chen smiled calmly as a mass of red light enveloped him. His clothes turned entirely red, and flames flowed through his eyes. He walked toward the fiend step by step. "A powerful Fallen One... It seems your status isn't low. I should be able to get some interesting information out of you, shouldn't I?"
The Fallen One fell silent for a moment, then suddenly threw his head back and laughed wildly. "Good! It's been far too long since I sensed the breath of life. Yours is more delicious, richer than that of any creature I've ever encountered... I'll eat you and turn you into nourishment!"
Yi Chen shook his head and sighed. "Ah, this is the human world. How could you possibly get your hands on such exquisite life force? Stop joking. If you really had that ability, would you still be hiding everywhere like a rat in a gutter, afraid to show yourself?"
The Fallen One's laughter stopped abruptly. He fixed a deadly stare on Yi Chen. "You... Don't you know what this place is? You actually dared to barge in here to die?"
Yi Chen spread his hands. "Of course I don't know what this place is, but once I kill you, I'll find out!"
The Fallen One let out a fierce roar, stamped against the ground, and shot toward Yi Chen like a cannonball. Spreading his arms, he condensed a bronze gleam into a bronze spear a hundred feet long and thrust it at Yi Chen.
Yi Chen snorted coldly and brought his hands together. A mass of fire erupted, turning into a crimson blade that easily severed the spear, then continued on to slash across the Fallen One's shoulder blade.
The Fallen One let out a miserable howl. An extremely thin jet of blood spurted from his shoulder, and he staggered back seven or eight steps, his face filled with shock and panic.
He studied Yi Chen in bewilderment-this was an enemy whose cultivation realm he could not see through.
"Damn you." The Fallen One roared hoarsely, and his body abruptly split into fifteen Fallen Ones wreathed in black flames. They roared in unison and pounced on Yi Chen, flailing their limbs as they hacked at him.
Holding a furnace blazing like the sun in both hands, Yi Chen swung it several times as though he were merely playing. More than thirty fire dragons swept out and slammed into the dozen or so Fallen Ones, blasting them to pieces.
The Fallen One bellowed furiously, "You're courting death! Courting death! Damn you, I'm a member of the Fallen Race, and you actually dare attack me?"
Yi Chen froze for a moment and muttered, "The Fallen Race? What the hell is that?"
The Fallen One shrieked with rage. "I'll swallow you alive..." Before he finished speaking, Yi Chen had already rushed in front of him, raised the furnace in both hands, and rammed it into him amid scorching flames.
A brilliant mass of golden light erupted. The furnace knocked the Fallen One back more than ten steps, while Yi Chen used the recoil to shoot backward.
Humiliated and enraged, the Fallen One roared. He stretched out his arms and slashed at Yi Chen with them like two enormous swords.
Yi Chen snorted coldly, shielding his chest with both arms. He took two heavy blows head-on, and his body flew into the distance like a kite with its string cut.
The Fallen One roared in excitement. His body pursued Yi Chen like a wraith, and the longsword in his hand rained down blows without pause.
Sword shadows whistled toward Yi Chen from every direction. His arms, as though cast from steel, firmly protected every vital point on his body. The occasional streak or two of sword qi that grazed him left only a few white marks.
The corners of the Fallen One's eyes twitched violently. Even his own body would have suffered considerable damage from this sword qi, yet Yi Chen, apart from being caught off guard by his initial surprise attack, now stood firm. Even his defense seemed flawless, leaving him unable to find the slightest opening. This was not something he himself could accomplish.
Yi Chen said calmly, "The Fallen Race certainly lives up to its reputation. But the difference in our fighting strength shouldn't be particularly great, should it? Why are you running away?"
The Fallen One roared angrily, "Nonsense! We of the Fallen Race never admit defeat and never surrender!"
His voice grew increasingly strange, until he actually let out an odd birdcall. Then the space around him twisted, and his figure gradually slipped into the distorted space and vanished.
Yi Chen frowned and murmured to himself, "A spatial Soul Skill... Hmm, not bad... But it seems a little unorthodox? A spatial Soul Skill of this caliber?"
A bolt of black lightning tore through the heavens. A thunderbolt descended from the sky and struck right beside Yi Chen. With a dull boom, the spot where he had originally stood sank several inches, exposing the soil beneath.
Yi Chen narrowed his eyes, and a streak of golden flame rose from his body. Then his physical form abruptly vanished from the spot and appeared before a Fallen One the next instant. Both palms shot out and slammed heavily into his forehead.
Ripping sounds rang out incessantly. Large cracks appeared across the Fallen One's body, his skin splitting like porcelain as blood dripped without cease.
The Fallen One roared in hatred, "Lowly human... Lowly creature! You actually destroyed my body! You actually destroyed my body!"
He shrieked madly, "You've enraged me utterly... I'll torture you with the cruelest punishments!" A swarm of bizarre runes appeared around his body. He swelled to roughly twice his size once more, and a suit of pitch-black armor appeared over his skin.