“Sharp-tongued whelp!” the stone visage snarled. The emerald flames dancing in its hollow eyes flared, testifying to his murderous rage. “Were it not for my injuries leaving me at less than a tenth of my true strength, I would have crushed your bones to ash back on level nine and extracted your soul to temper it! How dare you utter such bold words in my presence today!”
“Injuries still unhealed?” Jared sneered. “I have watched you squat here, siphoning every thread of toxic flame the abyss can breed. Be honest… Your strength has returned more than you admit. Still, this molten pit is the perfect kennel for foul things that fear the light.”
Soul Devourer hesitated, a wordless pause that rattled the cavern. The twin emerald flames locked on Jared, as though longing to swallow him alive. Then the rock-hewn countenance warped into an even more chilling smile.
“Clever boy… You guessed correctly,” he hissed. “Earthcore Demonic Flame is of supreme heat and positive energy, which is indeed a bane to all you self-proclaimed righteous cultivators. Yet all things have a balance somewhere, and at the very core of this supreme positive realm, the purest ultimate negative energy is born. For a wounded soul like mine, such negative energy is nectar. I have lain dormant here for three months, drawing it day and night. And now, I have restored seventy percent of my strength.”
Soul Devourer’s words continued to drip with unrestrained pride and the thrill of impending revenge. “Tell me, Jared, does this not prove the justice of Heavenly Law, the inevitability of retribution? You chased me into a dead end, yet you yourself delivered me to this paradise. Today, I will reclaim everything, principal and interest!”
No sooner had the last word fallen than a thunderous crack split the air.
Boom!
The wall that carried the monstrous face ruptured from within, as though something colossal were hatching. Shards of super-heated rock rained outward, sparking against the cavern and filling the abyss with hissing steam. Through the smoke strode a figure that made the heart quail.
Twice the height of a man, its body was sheathed in black-and-crimson scales that glistened like fresh blood fused with molten stone. From his brow sprouted a pair of backward-curving horns, each ridge threaded with sluggish rivers of dark-crimson light. Behind him, six monumental wings unfurled like obscene banners. Their membranes were neither hide nor flesh but a trembling alloy of matter and force, and along every trailing edge black-red flames whispered, licking the stale air.
Now, the face that loomed before them, freed from the cliff’s crude illusion, was cruelly clear, and clarity only deepened its madness. Those infamous eyes of ghost-lit green had become twin wells, bottomless and wintry, and even the briefest glance from them iced over the viewer’s soul and locked every muscle into place.
Then the aura hit—tangible dread forged in the High Immortal Realm, crashing out like a typhoon made of mountains. It rolled across the plateau unchecked, drowning every stone and heartbeat beneath its awful weight.
Vermilion Demon Lord sucked in a breath. The demonic aura around him waned by a third, and his voice was filled with stunned horror. “High Immortal Realm Level One! That old fiend has truly returned to the High Immortal Realm!”
A muffled gasp escaped Lindsay as though an unseen boulder had dropped onto her chest; every breath scraped. The hand that held her sword trembled, color draining from her cheeks, and instinct drove her to clamp her other hand around Jared’s; for that moment, he was the last lamp in a collapsing night.
Yet Jared stood unmoved, a mountain rooted in storm. A mist of chaotic celestial energy drifted around him, soft as summer rain, firm as tempered steel, quietly shattering the tidal pressure before it could reach the girl or himself. He even found the calm to squeeze her icy fingers, letting a warmer pulse travel into her shaking bones.
At last, he lifted his gaze and met Soul Devourer’s venomous emerald stare with placid eyes, the faint curve of mockery still hanging at the corner of his mouth.
“High Immortal Realm Level One?” he said, sounding utterly bored and detached. “No wonder you’re bragging so much. But tell me, did you really think that single step up the ladder lets you posture in front of me? Come on, Soul Devourer. Have you been underground so long that the magma has fried your brain? Or is it that your High Immortal Realm cultivation was inflated like a balloon by sucking in the Earthfire’s poisonous gases—all show, no substance?”
“Insolent cur!” Soul Devourer’s roar rose like ten thousand tortured spirits wailing in unison, the echo rolling through the abyss until the stone walls groaned. Never had he tasted such humiliation, especially from a junior whose cultivation level lay far below his own. “Jared Chance, I will show you the gulf between mortal and immortal. I will tear you apart piece by piece, drag your soul from your bones, and roast it over demonic flame for ten millennia—so you can neither live nor die!”
The next second, the six serrated wings on his back snapped open.
Boom!
Black-crimson demonic aura burst outward like a volcanic detonation, and his High Immortal Realm pressure doubled. Air itself whimpered under the load. Far below, a once-placid river of lava heaved into towering waves, and the rock walls on either side cracked, spiderweb lines racing across the obsidian.
Caught in that renewed tempest, Lindsay and Vermilion Demon Lord staggered back several steps before they could brace themselves again. Blood roiled inside them, and they could even taste iron at the back of their throats. Yet at the very eye of that crushing pressure, Jared stood motionless. His robe snapped like banners, black hair whipping through the gale, but his stance remained immovable.
Not even an eyebrow twitched. Only the chaotic celestial energy around him began to circulate a fraction faster, as though mildly intrigued. Jared cocked his head, childlike curiosity tinting his voice. “Oh, that’s it? High Immortal Realm Level One, and this is the best you can muster? Honestly, the ventilation over Earthfire Pavilion’s kitchen stove howls fiercer than this. Tell me, Soul Devourer, did you purchase your cultivation level on credit? How much did it cost you?”
