HWARURURUK!

The color of the firelight surging into the sky grew brighter and brighter.

The concentration of Fire energy did not grow thicker. What was astonishing was that the life force, which had been dying away, flared up again like a forest fire revived by the smallest ember.

A strange light flashed in Tang Gwan’s eyes.

He is still fine even after I used Fire-Augmenting Poison?

Fire-Augmenting Poison was one of the hundred and eight poisons he could draw from the poison essence gathered within his body. As its name suggested, it was a poison that increased Fire energy.

By nature, poison qi could not help being vulnerable to fire. Fire-Augmenting Poison reversed that through convergence and amplification, causing Fire energy to increase explosively in an instant.

It was different from explosives. Explosives caused a blast, but Fire-Augmenting Poison affected the fundamental Fire energy of the human body through biochemical action.

That was what Tang Gwan had used. After seeing Yo Roe’s martial art, he had poured enough Fire energy into him that even Yo Roe could not endure it, forcing his body to fail.

Yet instead of dying, his fading life force was returning to its original state?

HOOF!

The flames that had been soaring high into the sky were sucked straight into Yo Roe’s dantian.

“Gah!”

Yo Roe spat out a mouthful of blood. It seemed his body had still suffered some strain.

But that was all.

HWARURURUK!

The Red Lotus Pure Fire Art activated once more, and intense Fire energy surged out again.

He had suffered an internal injury, but it did not seem to be at a particularly serious level. If anything, after coughing up stagnant blood, his face even carried a refreshing look.

Though his shattered right fist had not recovered.

“Interesting.”

Killing Intent stretched out from Yo Roe’s eyes.

“I did not notice the moment you poisoned me. Did you use explosives?”

“That is none of your business. More importantly...”

Tang Gwan tilted his head.

“Why are you not dead?”

When entering a battle, a Tang Clan member never grew arrogant.

With his mouth, he had called Yo Roe a lowborn bastard and frontier trash, but Tang Gwan’s eyes had never stopped identifying Yo Roe’s weaknesses and limits. That was why he had toyed with him through speed, tested him by pushing with force, and, once he judged it would work, driven poison outlets into him through palm arts and kicking arts.

Yet Yo Roe had not died. He had failed.

THUMP!

Yo Roe stamped his foot hard.

“You were indeed worthy of being the head of the Tang Clan. I wanted a grand, open battle, and you used petty tricks like this.”

Tang Gwan gave a small laugh.

“I have never seen anyone worth a damn who looked for romance in a fight. Life is a continuous chain of living and dying. Learn this: the aesthetics of combat lie in killing and surviving.”

“That is a fine lecture.”

Yo Roe growled.

“Killing and surviving. Let us try it, then.”

KWAAAAANG!

Yo Roe charged.

His speed was no different from before. Fast, but not as fast as Tang Gwan.

However, one thing had changed.

PUH-PUH-POONG!

Yo Roe swung his left palm.

Not at Tang Gwan, but at the space around him. He had cut off Tang Gwan’s escape routes from the moment he began running.

KURURUNG!

Enormous walls of fire rose to Tang Gwan’s left and right. It was the Twin Fire Walls of the Divine Flame Cult’s special technique, Heat-Fire Divine Palm.

Even then, Tang Gwan did not move. He merely watched Yo Roe with interested eyes.

Yo Roe thrust his fist out with full force.

KWAAAAANG!

A large pit formed where Tang Gwan had been standing.

There were two places to evade. The air, or backward.

Tang Gwan chose the air. Because he had absolute confidence in his movement technique.

At that moment, Yo Roe spread the Heat-Fire Divine Palm in every direction. Astonishingly, streams of flame erupted even from his broken right hand.

HWARURURUK!

A vast river of fire instantly wrapped around the earth.

It was an immense blaze spanning a radius of more than ten zhang. As if he had poured his entire strength into it, Yo Roe’s face was flushed crimson as well.

He made a stage.

He knew the enemy’s poison worked on him too. So he had created a stage of his own.

Not bad.

Creating an environment favorable to oneself was the foundation of a life-or-death battle.

But.

FLASH!

Tang Gwan’s body, suspended in the air, vanished in an instant.

It was faster than any movement technique he had shown so far. For a fleeting moment, even Yo Roe lost sight of Tang Gwan.

PAAAAANG! PANG!

Shockwaves revealed Tang Gwan’s location.

Tang Gwan, who had moved more than twenty zhang to the left in one burst, raised his right hand. Between his index and middle fingers was a small dagger.

The dagger had finally been drawn. Its blade, flashing in the firelight, emitted an eerie gleam.

Tang Gwan flicked his wrist.

FWIIIIIIIT!

The dagger shot forward in a straight line, pierced the wall of flame, and reached the front of Yo Roe’s shoulder.

Its speed was terrifying. Yo Roe quickly twisted his upper body.

BOOM! THUD!

The dagger, having pierced through the final layer of the Twin Fire Walls in one breath, embedded itself in a small boulder.

Considering Yo Roe’s Fire energy and explosive force, that penetrating power was beyond imagination. If not for the interference of the Twin Fire Walls, it would have punched through four or five boulders with ease.

And it did not end there.

Tang Gwan moved both hands in a dazzling blur.

PIPIPIPIPING!

Seven thin daggers shot out as streaks of light. They were as fast as Mookbi’s arrows, no, even faster.

Now that things had turned out this way, creating distance with a river and walls of flame no longer had meaning.

Yo Roe swiftly moved his body.

PUH-PUH-POONG!

The daggers that pierced through the flames flew behind Yo Roe and embedded themselves in the ground, boulders, and trees.

A strange light flashed in Tang Gwan’s eyes.

I see.

That barrier of flame had not merely been meant to create distance.

He is sharing his senses with it.

Yo Roe read the moment the daggers touched the wall of flame. That was why he had been able to avoid the Sevenfold Throwing Blades so magnificently.

Yo Roe raised his left hand.

KURURUNG!

The chaotically surging wall of flame seemed to collapse, then transformed into one enormous dragon and rushed toward Tang Gwan.

It was qi-art power brought to the extreme. Though he was a fist artist, his understanding of qi arts was deep enough to make long-range attacks like this possible.

He could avoid poison, read the dagger attacks, and even exert power in ranged combat. That was why he could do something like this.

He was more than worthy of being called first-rate beyond measure. If his opponent had been an ordinary martial artist, even at the same level, such a fighting style would have felt hopeless.

But his opponent was Tang Gwan.

“......How dull.”

Once again, the assessment was complete.

FLASH!

Tang Gwan charged.

Toward Yo Roe, who was protected by the wall of flame.

What is this?!

Feeling Tang Gwan’s momentum expand with terrifying force, Yo Roe grew intensely tense.

Where does that confidence come from?

Whatever the reason, this was no easy opponent.

Within only a few exchanges, he had thought of a way to attack Yo Roe and made Yo Roe collapse on his own. It was fortunate that the fire essence of the Pure Fire Art had been fully stocked. Otherwise, despite having learned heat-yang arts, Yo Roe might have burned to death.

Whatever you do, you will never defeat me.

Moderate internal injuries, dislocations, excessive bleeding, even damaged organs would not kill him. That was the recovery power of fire essence.

I will accept as much as you can give.

FLASH!

Yo Roe concentrated the flames directly before him.

KURURURUNG!

A fire dragon shattered the ground as it shot toward Tang Gwan.

He will definitely move.

He would not be able to receive this firepower head-on. Then he would certainly fly in from the left, right, or air to attack.

I am ready. Dodge all you like!

It was then.

BANG!

Yo Roe’s eyes shook.

“What?”

BANG! KWAKWANG! KWAAAAANG!

The sound of fire bombs exploding rang out from the front.

It was not that actual fire bombs were exploding. The roar was similar, but the explosive power was different.

What the hell is he doing?!

Could he be using the same method that had burned Fire energy inside Yo Roe’s body to make the wall of flame explode?

For a brief instant, Yo Roe focused his intent on the flames he was shooting out.

KWAAAAANG!

Urk!

Yo Roe stepped back before he realized it. The shockwave transmitted through his synchronized senses was too fierce.

This bastard...

Yo Roe was genuinely shaken.

He is smashing through it head-on?!

KURURUNG! KWAKWAKWANG!

Tang Gwan was destroying the storm of flame with monstrous explosive force.

And then.

HOOF!

One hand reached for Yo Roe’s throat. Its sleeve had burned away entirely, but the exposed skin was perfectly fine.

PAAK!

Yo Roe quickly stepped back. The Killing Intent he felt from Tang Gwan’s fingertips was too vicious.

At that moment, Tang Gwan’s body spun rapidly.

BWAAAAAAANG!

The storm of flame gathered around Tang Gwan followed that rotational force and shot high into the sky.

At that very instant, countless streaks of light poured from Tang Gwan’s body.

Hidden weapons.

PABABABABAK!

The perceived speed was on a completely different level from when Yo Roe had sensed the direction through the wall of flame beforehand.

Yo Roe moved his body like a madman. He had to avoid the deluge of hidden weapons.

Yo Roe’s skill was certainly tremendous. With that enormous body, he dodged most of the hidden-weapon barrage filling the front, showing remarkable dynamic vision and flexibility.

But he could not dodge every last one of those hidden weapons. Four or five small hidden weapons lodged in various parts of Yo Roe’s body—his shoulder, abdomen, thigh, and upper arm.

Chiiiiik!

“Urk!”

Yo Roe groaned despite himself.

The places struck by the hidden weapons were burning away while spitting out white smoke.

It was not heat-yang arts. This was poison. More specifically, the hidden weapons had been coated in Bone-Melting Acid, a poison ranked among the top five when it came to dissolution.

FWIP! FWIP!

Yo Roe quickly circulated the True Qi of Red Lotus Flame to block the Bone-Melting Acid’s penetration.

Of course, Bone-Melting Acid was not a poison that could simply be blocked. But the True Qi emitted by a master of Yo Roe’s level was denser than the poison’s own force.

Chiiiiiiik!

The Bone-Melting Acid that had been penetrating past the muscles and into the bones evaporated completely.

And in that brief opening.

Tang Gwan reached Yo Roe’s face.

Urgency appeared on Yo Roe’s face.

“Boy.”

Tang Gwan’s hand slammed into the dead center of Yo Roe’s chest.

THUD!

“Guh!”

Yo Roe spat blood and retreated.

The impact was not as strong as he had expected. However, it was a heavy-hand technique of the internal path that scattered his surging True Qi to pieces, leaving him forcibly defenseless for an instant.

Tang Gwan aimed precisely for that gap.

BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM!

Seven palm forces stamped themselves across Yo Roe’s entire upper body like seals.

Hup!

The flames covering every direction gathered toward Yo Roe. 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

“Trying to store your strength? Useless.”

WHOOOOOOOSH!

The flames that had been burning everything around them as if a forest fire had broken out vanished in the blink of an eye. Yo Roe had absorbed them all.

However.

“You have rather unusual recovery ability. Is that why you have so many openings? In my youth, I fought several strange bastards far to the south, in the barbarian lands, who carried spare lives around with them. They were similar to you. They also charged in recklessly, trusting in nothing but their recovery.”

Tang Gwan raised his hand.

Chiiiiik!

Blue smoke rose from his hand.

“They did not die even after their limbs were severed or one of their organs was blown away. Do you know what I did?”

Yo Roe glared at Tang Gwan with bloodshot eyes.

Tang Gwan smiled whitely.

“I melted their five viscera and six bowels whole.”

Tang Clan Thousand-Poison Hand.

It was one of the Tang Clan’s supreme hand arts, easy to enter but said to rival the Guiding-Reversal Three-Yang Return-to-Origin Art in difficulty when it came to great completion.

And Tang Gwan had achieved great completion in the Thousand-Poison Hand seven years ago.

“Unless one is a legendary jiangshi, there is no creature alive that can survive after all its internal organs have melted.”

Drip, drip.

Blood flowed from Yo Roe’s seven orifices.

Tang Gwan picked up a dagger and drew a straight line through the air.

Slice!

Yo Roe’s upper and lower body separated.

From the severed upper body poured dark-red blood and unidentified lumps of flesh that had begun to melt.

“That was entertaining, oversized boy.”

Turning away, Tang Gwan brushed at his burned sleeve.

“My clothes are ruined. Tsk. I still have far to go. Burning my clothes just to catch one bug—how embarrassing.”

BOOOOOM!

With a single explosion, Yo Roe’s corpse burned black.

And so Yo Roe, Fifth Warrior-General, met a hollow death.