Lin Fan quietly wiped the sweat from his forehead. This world was just too dangerous. How could this forbidden place be so treacherous, yet still attract a steady stream of adventurers?
At this moment, Zeng Hailong roared with a hideous, ferocious expression.
“Puh…”
In an instant, flames erupted all over Zeng Hailong’s body. The originally red fire quickly turned black, like hellfire from the underworld.
“Are you kidding me? Is he about to become a fire superhero or something?” Lin Fan stared in disbelief. This was simply unimaginable.
But the spectacle wasn’t over yet. Something inside Zeng Hailong seemed ready to burst from his body, making a series of thumping sounds. His back bulged grotesquely, and then—pop! A bone wing, burning with black flames, tore through his back and grew outward.
Then his scalp began to peel outward, revealing a hideous, terrifying skull.
…
Gradually, Lin Fan stood there, stunned.
A giant flame-wreathed being, covered in sharp, bony wings, had emerged.
“Roar…”
A furious roar filled with boundless rage erupted. Within the black flames, it seemed as if vengeful ghosts were howling in torment.
Xiao Tianwei Middle Stage.
Lin Fan could only stare in shock. This power jump was absurd—rising from the peak of the Divine Entry stage straight to the middle level of Xiao Tianwei in an instant.
Lin Fan couldn’t help but feel sympathy for Zeng Hailong. “Sigh, why did you have to go and take those pills anyway?”
Look at you now—your pill-popping has gone horribly wrong. What a mess.
Still, Lin Fan had no intention of killing this flaming giant that was once Zeng Hailong. Instead, he planned to follow him and see where he was headed.
The flame giant began to move. Each of his towering steps covered several zhang, and the footprints he left behind continued to burn with black flames.
Lin Fan followed behind, eyeing the flames on the footprints, curious about their strength.
Although the flame giant’s power was at the Xiao Tianwei Middle Stage, the fire itself seemed to have some unique properties, in Lin Fan’s eyes.
When Lin Fan reached out and touched the flame, the system voice sounded.
“Ding! Congratulations!《The Indestructible Demon Body》experience increased by 10,000.”
…
“Not that impressive,” Lin Fan muttered, slightly disappointed. He had expected the flame to be incredibly powerful, but it only added ten thousand experience points—pathetically low.
“Zzz…”
Suddenly, the flame giant halted mid-step. It turned its hideous face toward its own footprints and let out a shriek.
Lin Fan waved his hand. The breath exhaled by the flame giant carried a foul stench. Though not as bad as the stench from Yao Wuxie, it was still extremely unpleasant.
“Roar…”
The hollow eyes of the flame giant flickered with flames, as if sensing something, yet unable to see Lin Fan’s presence.
After several roars, the flame giant turned its head and continued forward.
Lin Fan resumed following behind, though this time he no longer touched the flames. Perhaps, to the flame giant, those lingering flames on the ground were like eyes—anyone who touched them would be sensed immediately.
Lin Fan had been following the flame giant for quite some time now, and the giant kept moving forward relentlessly.
Along the way, Lin Fan saw many people hiding in fear. The flame giant was tall and exuded a powerful aura, so no one dared to confront him directly.
But then something even more shocking happened. The flame giant appeared to possess some intelligence. It stopped at a certain location and picked up a treasure chest.
The chest radiated dazzling light and exuded an aura of rarity. Lin Fan was startled. Could it be that the flame giant was planning to use the treasure chest to lure disciples from the sects?
At this moment, in the shadows, disciples from the Xianling Sect, Tongtian Island, and Putian Sect were gathering together after scattering.
They had already suffered heavy losses. Some of their fellow disciples were still missing, likely perished.
Since entering this forbidden area, they hadn’t found a single treasure—not even a scrap.
In their eyes, perhaps their sects had made a mistake this time. They had encountered other forbidden zones before, where treasures were easily found, nothing like the extreme difficulty they faced now.
“Senior Brother Yang, look at the treasure chest in the flame giant’s hand,” one disciple exclaimed, his eyes gleaming with excitement.
“That chest must contain treasures.”
“Exactly. This Sea-Burial Demon Land is too strange—we haven’t found any treasures at all. I bet all the treasures are inside that chest.”
“He’s at the Xiao Tianwei Middle Stage. If we cooperate well, we should be able to handle him.”
“Alright. Once we form the Reversal Formation, you’ll move in to kill him. The treasures will be split evenly.”
“Move out!”
…
Just as Lin Fan was preparing to kill the flame giant, a sudden commotion came from ahead.
“Form the formation!”
“Kill!”
In an instant, the disciples from the three sects appeared, surrounding the flame giant.
Lin Fan looked on. Though the flame giant was at the Xiao Tianwei Middle Stage, he was still likely doomed. The three sects had no shortage of strong disciples.
But at that moment, something unexpected happened—something that left Lin Fan in utter disbelief.
The flame giant suddenly hurled the treasure chest into the air above the disciples.
One of the disciples leapt up, caught the chest, and eagerly opened it.
In an instant, a beam of black light shot out from the chest.
“Puh! Puh!”
“Senior Brother…”
“Junior Brother…”
A chorus of screams erupted.
Lin Fan stood there, stunned. How was this possible?
The moment the chest opened, the single beam of black light scattered into countless beams, piercing through the disciples like swords.
Some were impaled through the head, pinned to the ground, while others were sliced in half, blood spraying everywhere—a horrifying sight.
Only a few with higher cultivation barely managed to dodge, while the rest were all killed.
And on the ground, a strange suction force began drawing the spilled blood underground. The corpses rapidly withered, eventually turning into mummified husks.
Seeing the state of the corpses, Lin Fan’s heart tightened.
This scene was eerily familiar—it reminded him of what happened at the Tuo Di Divine Temple.
“Yousie?”
At this moment, Lin Fan’s expression darkened. He dropped his earlier amused attitude. If this was truly the case, then things were truly dire.
Could it be that the pillar of black light wasn’t a sign of a treasure emerging, but rather a trap set by something hidden deep within the Sea-Burial Demon Land—an illusion meant to lure people in?
Thinking back to how the sects had blocked the entrance, preventing cultivators outside the sects from entering, and how coincidentally, many cracks had opened in the ground, allowing outsiders to slip in…
Was all of this a carefully laid plan?
The surviving disciples who had narrowly escaped now panicked. “Run!”
But in that instant, the flame giant, who had been slow-moving moments ago, suddenly vanished into the void.
When he reappeared, his sharp, elongated fingernails had already pierced through one of the disciples, impaling him on his claw.
“Puh! Puh!”
Every fleeing disciple met their end at the hands of the flame giant.
The flame giant stood there, its terrifying face seemingly twisting into a cruel smile. Then, lifting his finger, he swallowed the impaled corpses into his mouth.
“So powerful…”
At this moment, Lin Fan’s heart pounded. The flame giant’s strength was definitely beyond the Xiao Tianwei Middle Stage.
After devouring the corpses, the flame giant closed the treasure chest and continued moving forward mindlessly. To the unknowing, he was just a walking treasure chest.
But to Lin Fan, he was a walking harbinger of death.
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