189 Chapter 188: Embers (1/2)

”I know I'm a bit late in saying this,” I began. ”But won't you accidentally kill your daughter as well if you do this?”

”Don't worry,” the Golden God of Fire assured me with a sardonic smile. ”Friendly Fire is off.”

I glanced at the charred remains of the Incendiary Ifrit Sect members who were too slow to get away in time. ”Uh…really?”

”Well, it's not 100%,” Ling Huo Shen admitted. ”But I'm confident I will be able to adjust and rein in the flames enough to avoid hurting her. Besides, I'm not aiming at her.”

He was right. The immense fireball was sailing toward Tushan City right now.

”We can't let that hit!”

Swearing under her breath, Sect Lady Da Ji darted forward and slashed with all her might. Her blade caught against the massive fireball, and by the heavens, she actually succeeded in stopping it for the moment.

However, blood was beginning to stream from her mouth and eyes as she fought desperately against the irresistible force of the massive, sun-sized fireball. Her arms were beginning to blister from the sheer heat despite her elemental protection against fire.

”Fool.” The Golden God of Fire mocked, his crimson eyes blazing and his mouth set in a grim line. ”You're just a vixen from an upstart sect. Do you really think you will be able to block the Pure Yang Flames?”

”Upstart sect?” Sect Lady Da Ji shot back. ”Our Nine-Tailed Fox Sect is still one of the eight major sects in the orthodox way, even if the Martial Arts Alliance has betrayed us. Whereas what is your Incendiary Ifrit Sect, compared to the likes of the Blazing Sun Sect or Heavenly Fiend Sect? You're just a second-rate demonic martial artist!”

”Second-rate demonic martial artist?” Ling Huo Shen sneered. ”Hah! It must be humiliating for you then, to die to an attack from a so-called second-rate demonic martial artist!”

”Ugh…!”

Sect Lady Da Ji's legs and arms buckled as she was unable to keep the fireball from pressing on any longer. A fact that did not escape the arrogant Golden God of Fire's notice.

”Hmph! Resistance is futile. You should just surrender!”

Sect Lady Da Ji gritted her teeth as more blood ran down her mouth and chin, and the delicate-looking skin on her arms and legs were scorched by the sheer heat.

”This old man will watch as your bones get burned to ash!” Ling Huo Shen sneered derisively again.

”All of you, escape!” Sect Lady Da Ji ordered. The Blood Blades had followed her earlier orders and gathered around her, remaining nearby behind her as she desperately fought to hold off the massive fireball.

”Escape to where?” one of the Blood Blades asked dryly. ”There's no place to run.”

Sect Lady Da Ji closed her eyes briefly.

”I'll buy as much time as I can. Evacuate the city!”

”I don't think it'll be enough. We'll probably get incinerated before any of us get far enough, never mind the civilians.”

”Besides, how are we supposed to escape, when the Martial Arts Alliance is attacking from the opposite side?”

”Yeah, we have to stop this right here and right now.”

”Are you deaf?” Sect Lady Da Ji shouted. ”This is an order! All of you, get away right now! Evacuate the city as best as you can! If the Martial Arts Alliance sees this attack they'll naturally run instead of staying to fight!”

”Except that they won't get away in time and will likely get caught up in the blast too.” Small comfort that was, that most of our enemies would die with us, but we would rather not die at all and get completely wiped out if possible.

”Shut up and listen to me!” Sect Lady Da Ji snapped at the poor Blood Blade who said that, even though he only voiced what everyone else was thinking.

”Everyone, please help me!” pushing up my glasses as I studied the fireball, I made a plea. The readings on my glasses were off the scale. The quantity of qi, the temperature, the energy, everything was beyond the measuring scope of my glasses. This was most likely the most powerful attack I had ever experienced in my short life. In fact, my glasses were on the verge of breaking, its sensors already going haywire. ”Please help me bring Sect Lady Da Ji back!”

”Huh? What are you…?”

”I have a way to defend against that attack.” I smiled to conceal that lie. Honestly, this would cause my death, but the alternative was to see the city destroyed. All my friends were in the city. Tang Qi Hong. Tong Xue. Lian Rou. Pang Feng. Elder Zhao. Elder Tie. Sect Lady Da Ji. Sect Leader Zi. Zi Xiao Ji. Zhao Shi. Da Ge. Maybe even Lang Xie, although I didn't know him very well, he still taught me a bit of stuff.

Like hell I was going to let everyone die here. Not in this manner!

”What are you planning?”

”I have the most powerful shield in the Great Zhou Empire,” I replied as I summoned my Snow Aegis. The snowflake-shaped shield spun rapidly toward me, responding toward my will and imposing itself between the fireball and the city. It hovered just behind Sect Lady Da Ji. ”What do you think I'm going to do?”

Catching my drift, the rest of the Blood Blades nodded. They dashed forward and grabbed hold of a stunned Sect Lady Da Ji and bodily dragged her away. For a terrifying moment, the sun-sized fireball streaked forward, but my Snow Aegis rose to meet it.

Bang!

Steam immediately filled the air in the form of a dense fog as my icy qi spread across the immense fireball. But so powerful and hot was a technique of this magnitude that my efforts were as futile as sprinkling a flaming house with a cup of water. I might as well be throwing pebbles into the sea for all I was doing.

Even so, I refused to give up.

”Uwaaaah!”

Placing my right hand against my Snow Aegis, I activated Absolute Zero. To my relief, I managed to succeed in freezing a small portion of the fireball.

But only a very tiny portion. The rest of the immense fireball immediately filled the gap, overrunning my ice and washing me with sheer heat. I was beginning to yield, my skin blistering and burning from being in such close proximity to the fireball despite the arcane protection from my Snow Aegis.

”Argh!”

”The idea isn't bad, but you don't have the qi needed to pull it off.”

A voice whispered into my ear from behind, startling me. Glancing over my shoulder, my jaw dropped.

”Sect Lady Da Ji?”

”You're not the only one who wants to protect the sect and the city.” She placed a hand on my spine. ”I'll give you a little bit of help.”

I suddenly felt an increase in qi as Sect Lady Da Ji poured her qi into me. Making use of the sudden influx of qi, I converted it into ice qi and fed it to my Absolute Zero technique. To my surprise, it was actually working. The ice was spreading rapidly across the fireball, freezing it and slowly neutralizing it bit by bit.

”What?!”

Hovering high above us, Ling Huo Shen noticed that something was amiss. But he was too late.

”That's enough.”

”?”

Before I understood what was happening, Sect Lady Da Ji abruptly pulled me and my Snow Aegis back, causing me to stumble in midair. Tong Xue and another Blood Blade quickly moved in to catch me as I fell.

”From now on, it's my turn.”

Brandishing her sword, Sect Lady Da Ji cut through the gradually freezing fireball. Even though I failed to completely freeze it with my Absolute Zero, I had clearly done enough damage and weakened it to the point where the commander of the Blood Blades was able to cleave through it and destroy it with her sword.

”Impossible!”

Ling Huo Shen gaped at the incredible sight, but he wasn't able to react in time when Sect Lady Da Ji sped toward him. He swung his spear down quickly, unleashing another torrent of flames, but she cut through them as she sped toward him before slashing with her sword. The Golden God of Fire quickly brought his spear down to intercept her blade, but…

Slash!

”Kuh…!”

He was too slow.