"So you like to eat, do you? Then I’ll devour you!"

Flames are formless. As Five Jails roared and merged with them, the massive body of the Flame Evil Spirit quickly vanished. All that remained in the Star Secret Vault was a crimson Flame Ghost Face, a full two hundred meters across.

The next moment, the great mouth of this crimson demon gaped open and snapped at Zhong Ming’s Divine Monarch.

Zhong Ming, of course, met the attack with a slash of his sword.

However, having merged his Heart Soul with the Flame Element, Five Jails could split and reform at will.

SCHLICK!

Just as Zhong Ming’s sword fell, Five Jails sensed the attack and split his body in two.

Once the sword had passed, he instantly reformed and resumed his attack on the Divine Monarch.

Simultaneously, countless tendrils of flame streamed out and wormed their way into the cracks of the Divine Monarch Dharma Aspect, seeking to incinerate both the Dharma Aspect and Zhong Ming from the inside.

Zhong Ming had conventional methods to counter this move from Five Jails.

For instance, he could rely on the Dragon of the Morning Star’s ability to control Wind, Rain, and Thunder to summon a torrential downpour, engaging Five Jails in a direct confrontation of Magic Techniques.

Alternatively, he could dodge the attacks and use his sword to outmaneuver it.

Five Jails had abandoned his body, leaving only his Soul Spirit merged with the Flame Element. In this state, an ordinary Cultivator could not possibly harm him.

However, Zhong Ming’s Sword Intent could damage a Divine Soul. As long as a strike connected, he could injure Five Jails.

As for Five Jails’s ability to split preemptively... if Zhong Ming were fast enough, he could strike before Five Jails could evade. And since Zhong Ming’s sword could become light, he possessed the fastest Slicing Skill of all.

But ultimately, Zhong Ming chose not to do any of that.

"You like devouring flames, don’t you? Why have you stopped?"

Hearing Five Jails’s arrogant roar, Zhong Ming’s lips curled into a bloodthirsty smile. "Heh, you want me to just devour you? Since you’re so eager to die, I’ll be happy to oblige!"

AWOOM—

With that mutter, the Divine Monarch Dharma Aspect suddenly opened its giant mouth and bit down on the crimson Ghost Face, intending to devour the sky-filling flames and Five Jails’s Divine Soul along with them!

"Huh?!"

"Zhong Ming!"

"Don’t be reckless!"

His move to swallow his opponent whole made Qin Zhou, Ruan Shi, and Wei Zhong Mountain turn pale with fright as they frantically tried to stop him.

Meng You’s eyes narrowed as well. She thought Zhong Ming had lost his mind.

’...Does this outburst of his diminish his sanity?’

While they thought Zhong Ming’s actions were foolish, Five Jails’s expression was one of pure ecstasy.

"You actually did it! Hahaha, you foolish bastard! Now burn from the inside out!"

With that thought, the flames that had bored into Zhong Ming and the body of his Divine Monarch prepared to wreak havoc, to burn him to cinders.

Even as Zhong Ming swallowed him, Five Jails was thinking that he wouldn’t incinerate him right away. He would make him experience endless agony before finally letting him die.

But that thought lasted for only a moment.

BOOM!

The instant the flames entered his body, an endless golden light and the Purifying Flame erupted from within Zhong Ming.

Fighting fire with fire, Five Jails’s venomous flames were quickly "melted" by Zhong Ming’s Flame of the Sun. The Soul Spirit fused within those flames let out a bloodcurdling shriek as it was crushed between the Breaking Evil Golden Light and the Purifying Flame, instantly nearing collapse.

What terrified Five Jails even more was a massive eye, deep inside Zhong Ming’s body, which had locked onto him completely.

Eye of Candlelight

The pupil’s gaze made him feel as if he were being suppressed by the Great Sun. At this moment, forget wreaking havoc inside Zhong Ming’s body as he’d planned—he could barely even move.

—Of course, this was partly because he hadn’t entered all at once.

The Cultivation World still abided by fundamental laws. Ignoring quantity in favor of quality was a fool’s game.

In the outside world, Five Jails was a single entity. The quality and quantity of his Divine Thought were comparable to Zhong Ming’s, so Zhong Ming naturally couldn’t overpower him.

But the tendrils of flame that entered Zhong Ming’s body were severed from their source by the "microcosm" that was Zhong Ming’s own physique. Such a faint wisp of will was naturally powerless to cause any trouble inside him.

To say nothing of the fact that two of his abilities, the Candlelight Heart Eye and the Sword Heart, ’Heaven and Earth, Only I am Supreme,’ could unleash one hundred and twenty, or even two hundred, percent of their power within his own body.

With such a home-field advantage, the flames Zhong Ming had swallowed were swiftly digested.

"Urk..."

After swallowing the flames, annihilating the will of the Divine Soul within, and converting the fire into his own energy, Zhong Ming’s Divine Monarch Dharma Aspect immediately opened its mouth again. It began to furiously devour the sky-spanning flames like a ravenous beast!

"Huh?!!"

After several large bites, Zhong Ming had swallowed a massive amount of flame, yet he showed no signs of harm. This made Five Jails realize something was wrong.

"Impossible! How are you unharmed?!" Five Jails’s shriek was filled with incredulous terror.

In response to his shock and confusion, Zhong Ming simply gave a vicious grin. "I told you, you insect. You’re the prey. You’re the food!"

CHOMP...

Zhong Ming didn’t stop eating as he spoke.

One bite, two bites, three...

With every gulp the Divine Monarch Dharma Aspect took, a sea of flames was devoured. And Zhong Ming’s aura, far from diminishing, only grew more powerful.

This time, despair finally dawned on Five Jails. He tried to control his remaining flames and flee.

But it was impossible.

Having had a part of himself devoured by Zhong Ming, he had already grown weaker. In this state, he could no longer resist Zhong Ming’s dominion over the flames.

And so, as he tried to flee, Zhong Ming directed his Divine Monarch to swallow him whole.

"No! Let me go!"

Amidst his bloodcurdling screams, the crimson Ghost Face was pinned down by the Divine Monarch Dharma Aspect and forcibly shoved into its mouth.

But this time, Zhong Ming added a chewing motion.

As if savoring a dessert, the Divine Monarch’s massive mouth chewed again and again.

CRUNCH, CRUNCH!

The crisp crunching echoed throughout the Star Secret Vault. Because Zhong Ming had imbued the Divine Monarch’s teeth with his Sword Intent, every bite was like death by a thousand cuts for Five Jails—cuts that struck his very soul.

AHHH!!!

The agony forced a piercing shriek from him.

As for Zhong Ming, he listened to the screams, chewing with his eyes closed, a look of pure enjoyment on his face, as if savoring the most exquisite delicacy in the world.

This sight sent a chill down the spines of Qin Zhou, Wei Zhong Mountain, and the others. They exchanged a look and instinctively took a step back.

Meanwhile, Liu Yu and Yuan Rong were so terrified, body and soul, that they collapsed to their knees, trembling uncontrollably.

Even Meng You, as she stared at the Divine Monarch Dharma Aspect chewing the Flame Demon, felt a chill shoot from the soles of her feet to the crown of her head, her eyes filled with endless horror:

’Zhong Ming... he said he saw Cultists as prey, as food... That wasn’t a metaphor. He’s actually eating him.’

A Divine Heir, a figure of supreme status among the Cultists, was being chewed up and swallowed alive by Zhong Ming. The shock of this scene was immense.

Inside and outside the Star Secret Vault, all who witnessed this terrifying scene felt their Heart Spirit tremble violently, their courage utterly broken.

This was especially true for the Cultists hiding outside, ready to provide backup. When they joined the Evil Cult, they had carried an air of superiority. But now, as they watched one of their leaders, a Divine Heir, being devoured piece by piece by Zhong Ming, that pride vanished completely.

The only things filling their hearts now were bone-deep terror and regret.

’After joining the Evil Cult, have I become a backup food supply for a peerless prodigy like him?!’

By devouring a Divine Heir alive, Zhong Ming’s brutality shattered the morale of many Cultists. As for those who had been considering joining the Evil Cult, they extinguished the thought entirely.

’I don’t want to die.’