Fierce Fighting

He held his hands out in front of him, palms facing each other.

Golden flames converged from all directions, gathering above the arena into the phantom image of a furnace a hundred zhang tall, its entire form composed of flaming runes.

The furnace’s mouth faced downward, aimed directly at Wang Zhan. Inside, the flames swirled in a vortex, radiating a terrifying force of suction and refinement.

This was not fire, but the law of refinement.

Wang Zhan felt the space around him suddenly solidify, as though he had been cast into tangible liquid flame.

Every inch of his skin throbbed with the agony of being peeled apart and broken down.

More terrifying still, the vital energy and blood within his body began to surge uncontrollably, as if the furnace were drawing them out from within and refining them.

Wang Zhan abandoned his defensive stance and instead drew back all his remaining strength, fusing it with his vital energy, blood, and will.

The azure light across his body compressed and condensed frenziedly. At last, two swirling vortices of vital energy and blood formed over his fists.

At the heart of each vortex, a point of ultimate radiance was taking shape.

“Break!”

Wang Zhan thrust both fists upward. Two fist imprints surged against the heavens, ignoring the furnace’s suction and flames as they slammed directly into its walls!

“Zzzzt—!!!”

The instant the fist imprints struck the furnace walls, two rapidly expanding holes appeared in them.

“What?”

Chi Huang’s pupils contracted.

His Great Sun Furnace was a law construct formed from the True Solar Flame. Ordinary saint weapons would melt the moment they touched it, and even Saint King laws could be refined by it.

Yet the power contained in Wang Zhan’s two punches was actually capable of directly dismantling the structure of the flaming runes.

Wang Zhan burst out through the hole at the bottom of the furnace. Much of his battle armor was scorched black and shattered, but his eyes shone with startling intensity.

He immediately transformed into a storm of azure light and shot toward Chi Huang, closing the distance in an instant.

Chi Huang reacted with astonishing speed. The solar divine wheel behind his head suddenly flared, transforming into a golden shield of light that blocked his front.

Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!

Wang Zhan’s fists moved so quickly that only afterimages remained.

Every punch struck the same spot on the solar divine wheel. Azure vital energy and golden flames frenziedly devoured one another, while the resulting shockwaves tore open streaks of black cracks in the surrounding space.

On the fifth punch, a nearly imperceptible crack appeared in the shield of light formed by the solar divine wheel.

Chi Huang’s expression finally changed.

It was not that he had never encountered opponents capable of clashing head-on with the solar divine wheel. But someone like Wang Zhan, relying purely on vital energy, blood, and physical strength to batter it with a succession of precise strikes until cracks appeared—he had never seen such a person before.

“You’re courting death!”

Savage light surged in Chi Huang’s eyes. Dark-gold flames ignited around his right fist, ancient runes faintly circulating within them.

This was an evolved form of the True Solar Flame, with a temperature high enough to incinerate Saint King laws.

“Golden Crow Dragon-Slaying Art—Heaven-Rending Claw!”

He swept out one claw. The dark-gold flames condensed into five claw marks that tore through space. Wherever they passed, space split as easily as cloth, revealing the pitch-black spatial turbulence behind it.

Wang Zhan neither dodged nor retreated. Chaotic-colored light once again gathered around his right fist. This time, a trace of vibrating intent was contained within that radiance.

“Shatter Falsehood!”

Fist and claw collided.

Centered around the two combatants, an energy sphere more than a hundred zhang in diameter instantly expanded. Half of the sphere was dark gold, while the other half was azure.

Within the sphere, the structure of space completely collapsed, reduced to the most primordial energy turbulence.

One breath later—

“Boom—!!!”

The sphere exploded.

Wang Zhan was sent flying backward. The battle armor on his right arm shattered completely, the bones of his forearm twisted out of shape, and his skin was charred black and carbonized.

Yet while still in midair, he extended the fingers of his left hand like a blade and slashed through the air. An azure blade aura tore free from his fingertips, moving as fast as lightning as it shot straight toward Chi Huang’s brow!

Chi Huang was in no better condition.

All five fingernails on his right hand had shattered, leaving a wound in his palm so deep that the bones were visible. Golden blood dripped from it, igniting golden flames in the void.

What shocked him even more was that the vibrating force within Wang Zhan’s punches had pierced through his protective divine fire and struck directly at his bones and internal organs. His vital energy and blood were now churning violently, while a faint ache spread through his meridians.

Wang Zhan planted his left foot on the ground, blasting open a deep crater in the arena.

His entire body transformed into a straight streak of azure light. His left fist shot out like a cannon, smashing toward Chi Huang’s chest—the very place where the vibrating force had just penetrated, and where his defenses were weakest.

Chi Huang gritted his teeth, a fierce glint flashing through his eyes. Emperor-grade golden flames instantly condensed over his chest into a thick shield of fire, while he pushed his physical strength to its absolute limit.

His godly, divine-metal-like body gleamed with a metallic sheen as he forcibly raised it to block this thunderous attack!

“Bang—!!!”

Fist imprint and shield of fire collided with a thunderous crash. Azure vital energy and Emperor-grade golden flames violently opposed one another. The shield of fire caved inward beneath the blow, flames scattering in all directions, yet it did not shatter.

The vibrating force within Wang Zhan’s fist erupted once more, spreading along the shield of fire and through both of Chi Huang’s arms.

Chi Huang felt a sharp pain in his chest. His vital energy and blood churned even more violently, and he could not help but let out a muffled groan as his body was sent flying backward like it had been struck by a giant hammer!

He stabilized himself a hundred zhang away. The ground beneath his feet had been plowed into two deep furrows. Lowering his head, he stared at the distinct fist mark on his chest.

Although the shield of fire and his physical body had withstood the blow together, the fist mark had not pierced his defenses. Even so, it had left a deep impression, with bruised blood faintly visible beneath the skin.

Feeling the vibrating force still rampaging through his body like countless steel needles darting through his meridians, Chi Huang’s gaze turned solemn.

This human was far more troublesome than he had expected.

Not only was his body strong enough to clash head-on with the Solar God physique, but his combat instincts were terrifyingly sharp. On top of that, he possessed a ruthlessness bordering on madness.

“Very good.”

Chi Huang wiped the golden blood from the corner of his mouth. The flames around his body began to change color.

Chi Huang wiped away the golden blood at the corner of his mouth again. The dim flames surrounding him suddenly burst back to life.

This time, they were no longer flowing molten gold. Instead, they had become explosive dark-red flames brimming with an aura of destruction.

The space behind him, which Wang Zhan’s fist intent had nearly shattered, began to twist violently.

“Wang Zhan.”

Chi Huang’s voice sounded like two red-hot divine irons scraping against each other—low and searing.

“To force me this far, you are worthy of witnessing the true might of my race.”

He no longer suppressed his injuries. Instead, he ignited the vibrating force wreaking havoc in his chest together with his own solar essence blood!

Behind him, nine ancient and complex runes took shape, each containing the mysteries of the birth and annihilation of the great sun.

“Ten Suns Across the Sky!”

“Om—!!!”

The heavens and earth shook violently.

The nine blood-colored runes suddenly blazed with light. Each rune expanded, stretched, and twisted, ultimately transforming into nine resplendent suns of different hues, each radiating an aura capable of scorching the heavens and boiling the seas!

They were not phantoms, but embodiments of law condensed from Chi Huang’s origin essence blood and the battle intent of the Golden Crow Ancestor.

Together with the most blazing sun formed from Chi Huang himself—a dark sun with a single point of pure blackness at its core—

Ten great suns hovered in the firmament behind him.

Each great sun radiated a terrifying might that was entirely different from the others, yet perfectly complementary.

The ten suns slowly revolved along an incomparably profound trajectory. Their auras connected, forming an unparalleled killing array that enveloped the entire arena.

The instant the formation took shape, the space within the arena was completely locked and solidified. It became ten thousand times harder than divine metal, rendering all escape arts and spatial movement meaningless.

More terrifying still, the light emitted by the ten great suns intertwined, forming a divine radiance of the great sun that could dissolve all things.

Wherever the light fell, the remnants of the blue-green battle armor covering Wang Zhan’s body began to sizzle, slowly melting and evaporating like snow!

The glazed floor beneath his feet was also sinking and vanishing without a sound.

This was not direct incineration by flames. Rather, everything touched by the divine radiance of the Great Sun—matter and energy alike—was being forcibly broken down, its very existence reduced to the most primordial form of heat.

Wang Zhan felt needle-like pain spreading throughout his body. It was not a physical sting, but the anguished cry of every particle that made up his body as it teetered on the brink of collapse beneath that divine light.

His qi and blood had nearly stopped circulating, while his soul throbbed with searing pain and dizziness.