9: Chapter 9 Ten Sacred Fire Slaves, Breaking Through the Desperate Situation

It was no ordinary fissure—it was as if the entire earth had been overturned by an invisible giant hand. The solid rock layers shattered inch by inch, and scorching magma surged from the cracks, spreading rapidly amidst a low, rumbling roar. Everyone was forced to take flight. Looking down, the earth for dozens of miles was collapsing and sinking at a speed visible to the naked eye, replaced by an endless sea of magma. The scalding magma surged like a living creature, and occasionally, massive bubbles would emerge from the depths, bursting into fire pillars dozens of zhang high, casting the dim space in flickering light.

The air was filled with a pungent smell of sulfur, and the high temperature forced lower-level cultivators to erect Dou Qi shields just to stand their ground. The magma sea was deathly silent; there was no wind, no waves, only endless heat waves pressing in from all directions, like an invisible furnace slowly closing in. Just as everyone was eyeing this strange sea of fire in suspicion, Hun Feng calmly lowered his posture, his gaze sweeping quietly over the dark silhouettes slowly moving beneath the magma surface.

He was not surprised in the slightest. Ten Fire Slaves, all at the Dou Sheng level—he had read this part of the original story no less than five times. He remembered every detail: the order of their attacks, their fighting styles, and even the exact timing of their self-destructions. Controlled by the Purification Lotus Demon Flame, these Fire Slaves were the most troublesome enemies in the Demon Flame Space aside from the flame itself, because they did not fear death, felt no pain, would not retreat, and would end by self-destructing—they were essentially a group of mobile bombs. His gaze swept rapidly across the magma surface, committing the location of each dark silhouette to memory, his mind already arranging the optimal attack sequence.

"What the hell is this?" someone from the Medicine Clan camp exclaimed in shock. Before the words had faded, the magma surface suddenly exploded. Ten figures wreathed in roaring white flames shot out from the depths of the magma, the resulting spray of lava pouring down like a torrential rain, illuminating the dim space with a ghastly white light. Ten Fire Slaves—each emitting an aura at the Dou Sheng level; the weakest were at the level of an early Two-Star Dou Sheng, while the two strongest had reached the mid-stage of a Four-Star Dou Sheng. Their bodies had been scorched by the Purification Lotus Demon Flame until only charred outlines remained, their facial features long since unrecognizable, with only the milk-white flames dancing in their eye sockets proving they were still "alive"—or more accurately, still being controlled by the Demon Flame.

Without any warning, the ten Fire Slaves launched their attacks simultaneously. Seven figures lunged toward the camps of the Sky Mansion Alliance, Ancient Clan, Medicine Clan, Yan Clan, Lei Clan, and Heavenly Demon Phoenix Clan, their speed reaching an extreme limit, dragging long white flames behind them like ten meteorites falling from the sky. The other three went straight for the Hun Clan formation, lunging toward Soul Mie Sheng, Yao Yao, and Hun Feng respectively.

Soul Mie Sheng snorted coldly, his Five-Star Dou Sheng Peak Dou Qi erupting as he struck out with a palm at the incoming Fire Slave. The Fire Slave, whose strength was at the mid-stage of a Four-Star Dou Sheng, took the hit head-on, its body merely swaying without retreating a single step—it had no sense of pain, no fear, and the moment it was repelled, it lunged again, its hands forming white flame blades to strike directly at Soul Mie Sheng's throat.

"These Fire Slaves do not fear death. You must exhaust their Dou Qi to kill them completely, otherwise they will fight until they self-destruct." Hun Feng forced back the Fire Slave before him with a sword strike, his voice loud enough to carry across the entire field. "Therefore, you must completely shatter or devour the soul imprint left by the Demon Flame within them; merely hacking their bodies apart is not enough—if you cannot devour souls, use high-density Dou Qi to repeatedly crush their core imprint, located three inches above the center of their chest." He left the second half of his thought unspoken: Otherwise, this bunch wouldn't even survive the Fire Slaves' self-destruction.

The crowd was skeptical of his warning, but there was no time to dwell on it, and each of them engaged the Fire Slave before them. The battle instantly entered a white-hot phase.

Xiao Yan was matched against an early Three-Star Dou Sheng Fire Slave. His xuan heavy ruler struck the Fire Slave again and again with a deep, heavy whistling sound. The Three Thousand Burning Flame and the Bone Chilling Flame erupted simultaneously, the dark blue and ghostly white flames weaving into a fire net that trapped the Fire Slave in the center. However, the hardness of the Fire Slave's body far exceeded his expectations; three consecutive heavy strikes left only a few shallow cracks on the opponent's chest, while his own hands were left slightly numb from the recoil. His old injuries from the Corpse Burial Mountain Range had not fully healed, and his Dou Qi recovery speed was clearly not at its peak state; every time he tried to activate the Buddha's Fury Fire Lotus, he was interrupted by the Fire Slave's fierce onslaught. Yao Chen provided support from the side, his Bone Chilling Flame transforming into ice spears stabbing at the Fire Slave's vital points, but the lingering injuries from his soul-piercing attack made his movements more than half a beat slower than usual.

Zi Yan's Void Ancient Dragon bloodline displayed terrifying suppression at this moment. With one punch, she shattered half the body of a Two-Star Fire Slave, the golden Dragon Phoenix power erupting from her fist like a tangible beam of light, forcing back the surrounding magma. But even more terrifying was that the shattered remains of the Fire Slave began to slowly reassemble under the nourishment of the magma, and before long, it stood up again, swaying.

"Why can't these things be killed!" Zi Yan was both shocked and angry, her pink fists clenched until the knuckles turned white.

The situation on the Ancient Clan's side was equally deadlocked. Gu Xun'er was surrounded by golden flames, the Golden Emperor Sky Burning Flame transforming into golden fire lotuses spinning at her sides, bombarding a Three-Star Fire Slave. However, the Fire Slave's fearless, life-for-life fighting style inherently countered her type, which relied on movement techniques, and every time she forced the Fire Slave back, she had to pay a double cost in Dou Qi.

The situation for the other clans was much the same. Although Yao Wangui of the Medicine Clan possessed the cultivation of a Four-Star Dou Sheng, he appeared constrained when facing the siege of the Fire Slaves, and several times when he attempted to unleash a killing move, he was forced back by the Fire Slaves' life-for-life tactics. Conversely, the younger disciples of the Medicine Clan behind him were continuously forced back under the Fire Slaves' assault, and their formation had already begun to scatter. The elders of the Yan Clan and Lei Clan each held off two Three-Star Fire Slaves, the aftermath of their Dou Qi collisions causing the surrounding magma sea to surge unceasingly. Although the elder of the Heavenly Demon Phoenix Clan was also a Four-Star Dou Sheng, every time his attacks landed on the Fire Slave, the Fire Slave continued to charge forward as if nothing had happened, completely ignoring conventional logic.

However, the most bizarre scene occurred on the Hun Clan's side. Of the ten Fire Slaves in the field, three lunged toward the Hun Clan's formation, aggressive as starving wolves. Yet, their attack trajectories subtly veered off course—despite lunging toward the Hun Clan, they all bypassed the silver-haired woman in the moon-white robe standing in the formation, preferring to take a long detour rather than avoid her edge. One Three-Star Fire Slave even swept past a distance of less than a zhang directly in front of Hun Qinger, its milk-white flame tentacles nearly licking her veil, yet the Fire Slave forcefully took a turn, instead lunging toward the Deputy Hall Master of the Hall of Souls at the side and rear. The entire process was smooth and fluid, as if pushed by some invisible field. To the Fire Slaves, this was merely passing through a field they could not recognize, but to others, it became an unignorable question—with so many powerhouses present, why did they avoid her alone?

Xiao Yan keenly captured this scene. He was blocking a strike from a Fire Slave and, seizing a moment to catch his breath, he glanced at the silver-haired woman on the Hun Clan's side. Who was that woman? A Four-Star Dou Sheng—at least that was how her aura appeared. But she had not made a move from beginning to end, and the Fire Slaves did not attack her. He suddenly recalled that the silver-haired woman hadn't made a single move the entire time; while everyone else was fighting a bloody battle, she stood quietly in place, as if this battle had nothing to do with her.

Could it be that she was carrying something the Demon Flame feared? Or was it that—her strength was not just at the Four-Star level?

Hun Qinger naturally noticed the gaze Xiao Yan had cast her way. But she merely stood calmly where she was, her expression beneath the veil showing no fluctuation. She did not need to act. The reason these Fire Slaves dared not approach her was because her very existence was a suppression to them. Her Seven-Star Dou Sheng mid-stage soul power was enough to form an invisible soul-suppression field inadvertently; these Fire Slaves controlled by the Demon Flame would instinctively choose to avoid her after sensing this level of soul suppression—just as a wild beast would not actively lunge at a predator one level higher in the food chain.

But this kind of suppression required delicate control, so she simply chose not to act and continued to pretend to be a Four-Star.

Hun Feng also noticed the Fire Slaves' abnormal trajectories, but his attention was currently focused on the Fire Slave before him. As a 3-Star Dou Saint Peak facing a Three-Star Fire Slave, he did not use his full strength, alternating between the Sea Heart Flame and blood-attribute Dou Qi, each strike just enough to force the Fire Slave back without completely crippling it. He was waiting—waiting for the energy cores of these Fire Slaves to expand to the critical point on their own. The self-destruction of a tampered-with Fire Slave was several times more terrifying than a normal self-destruction; what the Purification Lotus Demon Flame had planted in their bodies was not just a soul imprint, but a bursting seed fueled by Dou Qi.

"Careful! The energy of these Fire Slaves is expanding rapidly—they are about to self-destruct!" A strange and sharp buzzing suddenly rang out from the depths of the Demon Flame Space; Yao Chen was the first to notice that something was wrong and shouted sharply. But it was too late.

The ten Fire Slaves simultaneously emitted an extremely piercing shriek, their bodies lighting up with blinding white light from three inches above the center of their chests; in that instant, the soul imprint became an ignition core, and the Dou Qi wave exploded like ten suns bursting at once. Three of the most violent Hun Clan Dou Qi forces roared into the center of the explosion from three directions simultaneously; Soul Mie Sheng took the lead, with Hun Feng and Yao Yao attacking from the left and right—but this power was not meant to withstand the frontal impact of the self-destruction, but rather to strike precisely at the three nodes where the energy propulsion was at its forefront, like three invisible walls that knocked the most fatal concentrated shockwave off course. With a boom, the moment the shockwaves cancelled each other out, all three were sent flying. Hun Feng flipped in the air to disperse the force, sliding back seven or eight steps upon landing, his arm numb from the shock, but he was not heavily injured.

The other clans were not so lucky. The younger disciples of the Medicine Clan were knocked down in a swathe, many of them bleeding from their ears and noses, their auras withered. One elder at the Dou Zun Peak from each of the Yan Clan and Lei Clan was hit directly by the shockwave, passing out on the spot and falling into the magma, charred all over. If not for the timely protection of their elder, Feng Qing'er of the Heavenly Demon Phoenix Clan would likely have perished. Even so, her face was as pale as paper, and she no longer possessed any of her former arrogance.

On the Ancient Clan's side, Gu Nanhai took the impact of a shockwave head-on, retreating over ten steps before standing firm, a trace of blood spilling from the corner of his mouth. Gu Qingyang and Gu Yao joined forces to protect Xun'er; the robes on their shoulders were shredded, and the bloodstains were shocking. On the Sky Mansion Alliance's side, Zi Yan transformed back into her Void Ancient Dragon form at the last moment, using her massive dragon body to block the shockwave heading toward Xiao Yan and Yao Chen. Several dragon scales were blown off, and golden blood slowly dripped through the gaps in the scales, falling into the magma and stirring up a hiss of white smoke.

"Zi Yan!" Xiao Yan caught her swaying figure as she transformed back into human form, the touch feeling sticky and warm—it was all dragon blood. His other hand gripped the xuan heavy ruler tightly, his knuckles white with rage, and for the first time, he felt a sliver of agreement with Hun Feng's words—these Fire Slaves were too troublesome.

Just as everyone's formation was in chaos, Hun Feng's voice suddenly rang out amidst the confusion, so steady that it didn't sound like someone who had just been blown away: "Retreat to the southeast direction; there is a floating stone platform there where we can temporarily rest. After the Fire Slaves self-destruct, there won't be any new enemies for at least half a tea-time; take this opportunity to count losses, heal wounds, and replenish Dou Qi. Those with heavy injuries walk in the middle, those who can still fight walk on the periphery."

Xiao Yan could not help but look at Hun Feng again—how did he know there was a floating stone platform in the southeast? How did he know the Fire Slaves would self-destruct? How did he know the Fire Slaves' weakness was three inches above the center of their chest? He even knew exactly how long the breathing room would be after the self-destruction? This was not information someone entering the Demon Flame Space for the first time should have. But at this moment, he had no time to ponder, because Zi Yan's dragon blood was still flowing.

The allied forces retreated in the direction Hun Feng pointed. Sure enough, less than three miles to the southeast, a black floating stone platform of a hundred zhang in radius hung above the magma sea. The stone surface was flat and smooth, with no flames or magma, like an isolated island left specifically for intruders to catch their breath. The crowd landed on the stone platform one after another, sitting or collapsing, and began to heal and recover in a disheveled state. The wounded, covered in burns, groaned in low voices, and the elders of various clans ran back and forth to administer medicine, the air filled with the smell of blood and scorched cloth. Hun Feng was the last to step onto the stone platform; he looked back at the surging magma sea behind him, the arc of his mouth so faint it was almost invisible. The ten Fire Slaves were just an appetizer; the next one would be the real main course.