To the Rescue

"Wh-what is this aura..."

Some students turned deathly pale, their legs trembling uncontrollably.

Xing Yao's grip on his spear tightened slightly. He looked up into the depths of the rift, his gaze turning truly grave for the first time.

This was no ordinary monster.

The next second, under everyone's terrified gazes-

An enormous hand, burning with dark red flames and covered in pitch-black scales, slowly reached out of the spatial rift!

Its nails were like blades, its flames like purgatory, every inch radiating a viciousness that seemed capable of destroying the world.

Then came an enormous head, broad shoulders, and a burly body like a demon god's, stepping out of the rift one step at a time.

Red Lotus Karmic Fire blazed all around it, demonic energy surged into the sky, and its eyes were scarlet as blood.

It did not attack immediately, merely standing in midair and slowly opening its eyes.

-The Red Lotus Demon General had awakened.

Its oppressive aura swept across the battlefield. Countless weaker monsters immediately prostrated themselves, trembling.

The civilians and students on the ground, and even the team members in white wearing Lingyun masks, all underwent a drastic change of expression, their breathing stopping.

"Wh-what kind of monster is that..."

"It's terrifying... just looking at it, I can't move..."

The Red Lotus Demon General lowered its head, its scarlet gaze sweeping over the battlefield below before finally locking firmly onto Xing Yao.

It recognized the spatial power within him.

It also recognized the youth who had ruined its plan to descend.

A low, icy voice that could shatter souls slowly emerged from the demon general's mouth:

"Vermin... you court death."

As its words fell.

The Red Lotus Demon General pressed its palm down, staining the entire sky a sinister dark red.

Heat waves capable of burning mountains and boiling seas bore down wildly. The air warped and burst from the heat, and even the blood on the ground began evaporating with strange sizzling sounds.

"Vermin, burn to ash!"

The demon general roared, and a skyful of red lotus fire rained down with a howl. Every drop of flame carried heat capable of instantly melting steel, and its vast reach completely enveloped the entire area around Xing Yao, leaving not a single blind spot!

Xing Yao's pupils contracted sharply, every hair on his body standing on end.

Without the slightest hesitation, he frantically drove his mental power, pushing the spatial power within him to its absolute limit in an instant!

"Teleportation-!"

Hum-!

Space twisted violently, and his figure abruptly vanished like a shattered shadow.

The next moment, he had shifted more than ten meters sideways, narrowly avoiding the very center of the fiery rain, where its power was most terrifying.

But the Red Lotus Demon General's attack was far too terrifying.

This was no ordinary move, but an overwhelming assault on the level of a Domain.

The instant Xing Yao's figure solidified, he looked up, and his heart sank hard.

Flames were still howling down all around him. In every direction, red lotus fire threatened to incinerate everything.

Even the Teleportation he had performed with all his strength had not taken him far enough!

He still had not escaped the attack's range!

The enormous flaming palm descended from the sky, its shadow swallowing him completely. The aura of death clamped tightly around his entire body like icy iron pincers.

"Xing Yao-!!"

Lin Chen's eyes nearly split at the corners, lightning running wild all over him, yet the terrifying pressure pinned him forcibly in place, leaving him unable to move even half a step closer.

Lin Yue's face was white as paper. Like someone possessed, she drove all her vines, trying to build a barrier in front of Xing Yao.

But the moment the vines approached the fiery rain, they burned to ash, unable to hinder it in the slightest.

Not far away, Qin Lie and the others, dressed in white and wearing Lingyun masks, stared with eyes so bloodshot they looked ready to split.

They saw how terrifying this strike was, and they saw Xing Yao's desperate predicament.

All of them sprinted madly with all their strength, pushing their speed to the limit, trying to rush over and shield Xing Yao.

But...

They truly could not make it in time.

The fiery rain was already overhead, its heat scorching their skin with searing pain.

Xing Yao looked up at the sea of red lotus fire blotting out the sky and sun, his gaze icy, without the slightest retreat.

Xing Yao's Teleportation had fallen short, and he still had not escaped the attack's range.

At that critical instant, he activated his Fire Element Origin.

"Fire element-burn!"

With a whoosh, flames surged wildly from within him, turning him completely into a figure of fire.

These were flames under his own control, so they did not burn him. But the red lotus fire sent down by the demon general overhead still pressed down hard with a destructive, scorching sensation that stung his skin.

Immediately afterward, he activated his Wood Element Origin. His aura shook, stabilizing the power churning within him.

The next moment, he fiercely activated his Earth Element Origin:

"Earth element-Earth Armor!"

Hum-

The ground shook violently. Heavy earth and stone rose from beneath the ground, wrapping his entire body layer upon layer and condensing into an incomparably sturdy suit of Earth Armor that protected him firmly on all sides.

Clad in earthen armor, his own flames burning around him, Xing Yao gripped his spear tightly with all five fingers and stared up at the descending attack, preparing to withstand it head-on with everything he had.

Just then.

The void abruptly shuddered!

A figure wearing a "Great King" mask appeared as though he had torn straight through space from the shadows, moving so fast that not even an afterimage could be seen.

Without a word, he seized Xing Yao's arm with one hand while activating a terrifying Space Origin.

"Go!"

Hum-!!

An irresistible spatial force swept out, not only teleporting Xing Yao instantly beyond the range of the red lotus fire rain, but also sweeping up the nearby, still-shaken Lin Chen, Lin Yue, and the students, shifting them all together to a safe area a hundred meters away!

The next second-

Boom!!!

The Red Lotus Demon General's enormous palm, capable of burning mountains and boiling seas, crashed into the very center of the square!

The ground instantly split apart, paving stones shattered, and dust billowed into the sky. The spot where Xing Yao had just stood was burned into a pitch-black stretch of molten, scorched earth, with not the slightest trace left behind.

Not a soul was there.

The demon general's palm struck empty ground, and its furious roar shook heaven and earth.

Meanwhile, Xing Yao, Lin Chen, Lin Yue, and all the students stood safely in the distance, staring blankly at the back of the figure wearing the Great King mask, their hearts pounding.

They had come within a hair's breadth of being reduced to dust and ash.

In that instant of surviving disaster, the tightly coiled strength throughout Xing Yao's body abruptly relaxed. His chest heaved, and he let out a long, heavy breath.

For that brief instant, he had truly thought he would fall beneath the red lotus fire rain.

He immediately reined in his entire aura and sank his consciousness into the mental link. His gaze fixed tightly on the tall figure wearing the Great King mask before him as he transmitted his thoughts, still thick with lingering fear:

"No. 1, you finally came! One step later, and I would've been done for today, without even ashes left!"

Clone No. 1, wearing the Great King mask, simply stood quietly in the open space, his bearing tall and straight as an ancient pine, his back erect as a spear.

From his elevated position, his cold, piercing gaze passed through the mask's eye slits, locking firmly onto the demon general ahead, whose entire body burned with Red Lotus Karmic Fire and whose aura surged to the heavens.

His white clothes snapped in the gale, and the pressure radiating from him was steady and terrifying. Like a supreme war god awakened from an eternity of slumber, his mere presence inspired reverence, leaving no one daring the slightest irreverence.

Everyone's eyes converged on him, regarding him as their only hope of opposing the Red Lotus Demon General.

Yet beneath this imposing, domineering exterior, a shameless, lackadaisical mental transmission, so insufferable it practically begged for a beating, leisurely slipped into Xing Yao's mind, its tone carrying a measure of teasing mockery:

"Well, well, well, if it isn't our all-powerful Lord Xing Yao? What was that just now, flame-grilled you? One second later, and you could've been served straight to the table. What a thrilling close call. I almost never got to see you alive and kicking again~"