148: Chapter 148 A blind man's ears are faster than a knife

Just as Chen Fan's ankle touched that stream of crimson fire, he initially thought it was the aftershock of a ruptured Thunder Vein.

But the next moment, the stream of fire seemed to come alive, climbing up his pant leg and coiling around his calf like a knot of flame.

He instinctively reached out to grab it, but the moment his fingertips brushed the fire, his soul felt as if it had been pierced by a red-hot iron skewer—it wasn't heat, it was pain, pain so intense his back teeth chattered.

"Fan!" Su Shuang's spirit body suddenly broke free from his embrace, her fox tail sweeping through the stream of fire, leaving afterimages.

Only then did Chen Fan see that an arc of fiery golden chain had appeared around her waist, its body engraved with twisted runes, sizzling as it burned her Demon Core.

The tip of her originally snow-white fox tail was already scorched black, like a burnt reed stalk.

"Don't look at me!" Su Shuang cried out hoarsely, her eyes glistening with the unique watery sheen of demonkind, "Your eyes..."

Before she finished speaking, Chen Fan's temples exploded with intense pain.

He instinctively raised his hand to cover his eyes, but blinding white light leaked between his fingers.

Everything in his vision began to melt: the rock wall, Su Shuang's shadow, even the blue light of the hammer of the thunder god turned into blurred blocks of color, finally collapsing entirely into a blinding white.

"Light Erosion Eye Worms," Su Shuang's voice was choked with tears, "They planted the worm nests in the Thunder Vein long ago..."

Chen Fan's fingertips trembled on his eyelids.

He remembered passing the annex of the Shadow Pavilion three days ago and seeing half a glass jar beneath Mysterious Lady's red robe, crawling with small, translucent insects.

At the time, he hadn't paid attention, assuming it was some strange ritual of the God Descending Sect—now those insects were burrowing into his eyeballs through his tear ducts, gnawing at his optic nerves; every slight movement felt like scattering broken glass inside his brain.

"Don't use your spirit body!" Su Shuang suddenly pounced over, her fox tail wrapping around his wrist, "The Holy Fire will backlash your spirit body!"

The blue flame seed in your body isn't stable yet..."

But Chen Fan had already bitten his tongue.

The moment the taste of blood exploded in his mouth, the critical hit system spirit body in his chest buzzed and rushed out.

That pale blue mist enveloped the stream of fire, attempting to shatter it, but the instant it touched the fire stream, the blue flame seed in his Dantian roared and shot upward—it was a seed he had forcefully molded from Thunder Soul and Heart Returning Blast, inherently unstable, and now provoked by the spirit body, it actually connected with the Holy Fire of the Heart-Burning Altar.

The flames in the direction of the altar suddenly surged.

The pillar of fire, originally man-high, shot up three zhang, its tongues licking the rock carvings on the vault, burning the characters for 'God Descending' until they sizzled and oozed oil.

"There's the scent of thunder in the blood..." A hoarse male voice came from the right, carrying the hiss of a snake flicking its tongue.

Chen Fan's blind eyes moved; the sound seemed to resonate right against his eardrum, he could clearly discern the vibration of the speaker's forked tongue, "It's a blasphemer."

He instinctively turned sideways, his back hitting the rough rock wall—the spot where he had just been standing was now dangling with seven scarlet tongues.

Fire tongues.

Chen Fan remembered: this was Mysterious Lady's most capable enforcer, whose tongue split into seven prongs, capable of tasting the blood of traitors.

Currently, those seven tongues were dripping sparks; every drop that hit the ground burned a scorched pit.

"Light the Incense of Ignition," The fire tongue coiled and snatched the bronze tray from the hands of the Fragrance Severer.

Chen Fan heard the crisp sound of the bronze tray hitting the ground, followed by the 'swish' of a fire starter being scraped—the Incense of Ignition was lit, smelling like burning hair, making his throat tighten uncomfortably.

"Fragrance Severer," the fire tongue's voice held a laugh, "Cut the incense cord at his neck and let the Holy Fire swallow this mongrel."

A sudden chill ran down the back of Chen Fan's neck.

Without looking, he knew the silver shears of the Fragrance Severer were already pressed against him.

He had seen those shears before; the blade edge was quenched with Holy Fire ash, and it had cut the necks of three players who tried to flee the God Descending Sect, leaving their flesh rotten like a honeycomb.

"The fire... it's going to explode!"

A faint male voice suddenly came from the corner.

Chen Fan turned his head toward the sound, hearing a huddled shadow knock over an incense table, causing the bronze bells to jingle wildly.

It was the Quiet Fire Child, the small, thin boy who always huddled by the brazier tending the coals on the Heart-Burning Altar.

His voice now carried a sob: "The fire vein... the fire vein is shaking!"

"Shut up!" Mysterious Lady's furious roar was like a thunderclap.

Chen Fan could hear the friction sound of her red robe sweeping the ground, and the faint clinking of something in her sleeve—like porcelain bottles touching metal. "The Holy Fire has its own divine will; what business is it of yours, a mere charcoal tender, to speak?"

But Mysterious Lady's final syllable trembled.

Chen Fan's hearing suddenly became incredibly sharp; he heard a faint, inaudible 'plop' sound from inside her sleeve, like a tear splashing onto something.

For a moment, he even heard the voice of a little girl, as weak as a mosquito's whine: "Mother, it hurts..."

The pillar of fire at the edge of the altar suddenly exploded.

Chen Fan heard two short, muffled grunts, followed by the sound of heavy objects hitting the ground—presumably two God Descending Sect disciples whose chests had been pierced by the pillar of fire.

The smell of char mixed with blood flooded his nostrils, and his blind eyes twitched uncontrollably.

The world fell into a dead silence.

Chen Fan could hear his own heartbeat, once, twice, the impact making his eardrums ache.

Just as he thought he was about to suffocate in the darkness, a mechanical voice sounded by his ear: [Sensory Resonance Activated—Vision Lost, Auditory Critical Hit Prediction +15%]

Immediately after, all sounds changed.

The footsteps of the fire tongue became a red countdown: [Punch in 3.2 seconds]; The breathing of the Fragrance Severer carried positional cues from the left: [Shears rising]; Even the sobbing of the Quiet Fire Child huddled in the corner became a pulsing yellow dot.

Chen Fan suddenly laughed.

He wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and gripped the handle of the hammer of the thunder god tightly.

In the darkness, his hearing was like a net, catching every killing intent.

"Come on," he growled, his voice tasting of blood rust, "I'm blind, but your flaws are perfectly clear now."

The fire tongue's fist smashed towards him with the sound of wind.

Chen Fan turned his face halfway, sweeping the hammer horizontally—he couldn't see, but he could hear the location of the opponent's ribs, and he could hear the critical hit system exploding in his mind: [Skill Critical Hit × 3.8]

"Crack!"

The sound of cracking bone was crisper than he expected.

The fire tongue's muffled grunt mixed with a sharp intake of breath. Chen Fan spun around accordingly, using the tail end of the hammer handle to brace against the ground for leverage, slamming his knee hard to the left—there, a guard was raising a short, poisoned blade; he heard the 'hiss' of the blade cutting through the air, and he heard the guard swallowing nervously.

"Thud!"

The guard's dull groan overlapped with the Quiet Fire Child's gasp of shock.

Chen Fan knelt on one knee, the hammer smashing heavily onto the ground, sending rock debris scattering.

He could hear Mysterious Lady's red robe retreating, and he could hear the faint clinking from the small bottle in her sleeve growing more frantic.

"You call me a blasphemer?" Chen Fan wiped the blood from his face, his blind eyes seeming to see as they stared directly toward the core of the altar, "Then I'll smash this damned Divine Fire!"

He bit open the wound on his wrist and squeezed the last wisp of the blue flame seed into the body of the hammer.

Blue light flowed along the hammer's grain, coinciding with the intersection points of the three fire veins he had locked onto with his hearing.

Chen Fan took a deep breath and swung down with all his might—

[Chain Critical Hit × 4]

A muffled roar like distant thunder came from beneath the ground.

The previously boiling Holy Fire suddenly recoiled, like a fire dragon whose spine had been pulled out, arching its claws and fangs as it lunged toward the top of the altar.

Mysterious Lady's red robe billowed violently in the fire wave; she finally couldn't maintain her composure and raised her hand to shield the Starfire Lamp in her sleeve.

The small fire spirit lamp inside flared blindingly, and the soft call of "Mother" finally struck Chen Fan's ears clearly.

"Boom—"

Faint cracking sounds came from the vault of the altar.

Chen Fan knelt on the ground, able to hear the rock overhead peeling away, able to hear the hiss of crimson flames writhing in the cracks.

His hand gripping the hammer was shaking, but he still managed to lift it and swing it toward Mysterious Lady's direction.

"The next punch..." he gasped, flecks of bloody foam splattering on the hammer handle, "will smash through the sky of this damned place."

The cracks in the vault suddenly widened.

Crimson magma flowed down through the fissures, splashing sparks near Chen Fan's feet.

He couldn't see, but he could hear the 'sizzle' of the magma landing, as if announcing something—

Something bigger, something fiercer, was coming.