Black Fire Burning Above

“Hahahaha! Come on! Come at me!”

The black aura around Fan Yingjie once again transformed into countless oracle-bone characters, all of which clung to different parts of his body.

Boom!

He turned into a streak of black light and charged straight at the Eighth-Order expert of the Nine Nether Clan.

Of everyone present, only he could affect Fan Yingjie. Once the deathly aura in his other earring was exhausted, no one would be able to stop Fan Yingjie in his current state.

“Courting death!”

Leng Xing immediately unleashed his power. Countless black-violet blades shot toward Fan Yingjie.

But in the next moment, Fan Yingjie shattered every blade and instantly grabbed Leng Xing’s face with one hand.

A massive oracle-bone character meaning “explode” appeared on Leng Xing’s face.

Leng Xing’s eyes widened in disbelief. Why had Fan Yingjie’s power suddenly increased so dramatically?

He gritted his teeth and immediately raised his strength to its absolute limit.

Boom!

Leng Xing’s entire face suddenly exploded, but he used the opportunity to escape.

His face was badly injured, and blood poured from numerous wounds.

However, as a top-tier expert, he did not hurriedly use up the last of his deathly aura.

He knew full well that Fan Yingjie had prepared for this. If he released that attack, there was a high chance it would miss.

Whoosh!

Fan Yingjie let out a loud laugh and continued attacking Leng Xing.

As for Xu Mu, his target remained Wu Tian in the distance. Since he had decided to expend his Heavenly Mandate power to fight this time, Wu Tian was naturally the best target.

By now, Li Poshan had already taken control of Wu Tian’s body. Xu Mu had clearly come prepared to fight to the death.

Seeing this, the two experts of the Black Iron Clan both charged at Xu Mu.

Pfft!

Suddenly, large amounts of red liquid sprayed from Xu Mu’s body.

Bang, bang, bang…

He used Cloudstep, changing direction repeatedly in midair.

Everyone around him widened their eyes. They could not see Xu Mu’s movements at all, only the red trails he left behind.

“Not good!”

Tie Chong, the Eighth-Order expert of the Black Iron Clan, quickly turned around and flew toward Wu Tian.

“Black Iron Bell!”

Hum!

A deep bell toll rang out.

Centered on Tie Chong, a translucent black bell five meters in diameter materialized, enclosing both him and Wu Tian.

Bang!

At that moment, Xu Mu was not near Wu Tian at all. He was ten meters outside the black bell.

Hum!

Suddenly, Tie Chong, who had been inside the bell, appeared where Xu Mu had been.

Xu Mu, meanwhile, appeared directly in front of Wu Tian.

Wu Tian’s eyes widened in terror. “Demonic Art!”

The Li Poshan within him immediately unleashed his power to its limit. In addition to the black energy surrounding Wu Tian, another layer of golden power appeared.

“Die!”

This time, Xu Mu gathered half of his strength into the black sword.

Boom!

Blazing flames erupted in an instant, swallowing the golden energy.

The flames transformed into a pillar of fire that shot straight into the sky before rapidly expanding outward.

Whoosh!

Wu Tian’s body flew away like a cannonball and slammed into the distant desert, sending sand surging a hundred meters into the air.

A huge wound had appeared on the left side of his waist. The clothing covering the entire left half of his body had been vaporized, while his flesh had turned black.

Blood continued to pour from the wound, which was deep enough to expose the bone.

[Heavenly Mandate Power -100]

Everyone watching was stunned.

What kind of power had that been?

It was even stronger than his previous outburst.

Was this person really only at the Transcendent Realm?

“So strong! So strong! Little brother, no wonder you were able to defeat Hathaway! Let me see what you can do!”

Zilan Yin, whose face was filled with gentleness, began unleashing her power without restraint.

The crescent moon between her brows gradually turned into a half-moon, then finally into a full moon.

Her entire body was soon wrapped in purple flames.

In the end, she transformed into a monster with black skin and two horns on its head.

Her body was curvaceous, with spikes jutting from her elbows. Curved moon-shaped blades had also appeared along the outsides of her forearms.

Purple flames surrounded the monster’s face, obscuring her eyes, but the round moon at the center of her brow was exceptionally conspicuous.

“Ha!”

Zilan Yin launched herself at Xu Mu with wide, forceful movements.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh…

Countless silver crescent blades shot toward Xu Mu.

Swish!

Zilan Yin charged through the gaps between the crescent blades, closing in on Xu Mu.

Boom!

Xu Mu swung his sword at her, but her terrifying strength instantly sent him flying.

“As expected of a prodigy of the Black Moon Clan. She really fell asleep just like that.”

Tian Bufan stood in the distance with his arms folded, watching the battle.

“What are you all waiting for? This kid has already joined the Great Desolate Tribe. Attack him!”

Youhuo shouted at the experts in the distance. “Do you really want to collude with the Great Desolate Tribe?”

The experts surrounding them exchanged glances. In the end, quite a few began to move, charging toward Xu Mu.

Boom!

Xu Mu used a quarter of his qi and sent Zilan Yin flying with a single sword strike. Blood sprayed from her mouth before she even landed.

He immediately pressed both hands against the ground. Countless formation runes spread from his body and imprinted themselves across the earth.

Hum!

A blood-red formation twenty meters in diameter appeared in the desert.

Xu Mu took a deep breath and continued using Heavenly Mandate power to replenish his qi.

[Heavenly Mandate Power consumed: 40]

The surrounding experts descended from the sky in a coordinated assault.

A moment later, countless transparent ghosts appeared within the formation. These ghosts had only upper bodies and held all kinds of weapons in their hands.

Some wielded twin blades or twin swords, while others carried long spears or iron hammers.

Dragging black trails behind them, the densely packed ghosts charged at the incoming attackers.

Bang, bang, bang…

The transparent ghosts hacked at the experts like madmen, but their attacks did not inflict any physical damage.

“Be careful! This is a Ninth-Level formation—the Yin Ghost Fiend! It attacks the spirit!”

Tian Bufan quickly shouted when he saw what was happening.

But some of those caught within the formation had already been hit.

They had no idea what was happening. Their bodies felt heavier and heavier, and their movements grew increasingly sluggish, as if they had been possessed by ghosts.

Whoosh!

Xu Mu began moving through the formation. Using a quarter of his strength, he pierced the throat of a Seventh-Order expert, then killed another expert at the Second Order.

The people around them were completely dumbfounded.

They could not believe that so many experts above the Boundary-Breaking Realm were actually unable to take down a mere Transcendent.

If word of this spread, no one would believe it.

Hathaway had also regained consciousness by now. Her single eye narrowed into a slit.

Swish!

Suddenly, a sharp blade pierced through Xu Mu’s body from behind.

Seeing this, Fu Jinyu and the others inside the barrier all widened their eyes.

“Xu Mu!”

Fu Jinyu let out a furious roar and repeatedly attacked the barrier.

A figure’s upper body emerged from Xu Mu’s shadow. He had attacked Xu Mu from behind with a long sword.

The man slowly emerged from the shadow.

It was Xiao Gui.

Xu Mu immediately flew into the distance, blood flowing from his abdomen.

Black text appeared before his eyes.

[Severe lung injury detected in host. Repair requires 100 points of Heavenly Mandate power.]

Xu Mu did not hesitate and immediately repaired the injury.

He glared fiercely at Xiao Gui. “Damn it! You ambushed me!”

“You think this is a game of chess? You move once, and I move once?”

Xiao Gui smiled and sank back into someone else’s shadow. “Next time, I’ll pierce your heart.”

“Quick! Xu Mu is seriously wounded!”

Wu Tian roared from a distance.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh…

Countless experts surged forward, all eager to finish him off. They were already thinking about the rewards the four major races had offered for killing Xu Mu.

“Xu Mu!”

Fan Yingjie immediately flew toward Xu Mu from above.

“Death Aura!”

Leng Xing, his face covered in blood, unleashed it one last time. As a top-tier expert, he naturally knew to wait until his opponent made a mistake before striking.

Swish!

Two purple crescent blades pierced through Fan Yingjie’s body, and he plummeted from the sky.

“Elder Fan!”

Sheng Qiu’s pupils trembled violently at the sight.

“Damn it! This is all your fault!”

Fu Jinyu grabbed An Ce by the neck, tears streaming down his face. “If you hadn’t helped the Great Desolate Clan, how could they have turned on us!”

An Ce merely stared at the ground without saying a word.

Xu Mu was crouching on the ground, watching the people flying toward him from all directions. A smile appeared on his face.

This was the perfect opportunity to self-detonate.

Buzz!

Just then, the sky suddenly underwent a dramatic change.

The scorching sky grew dim.

Everyone raised their heads and discovered that, at some unknown point, black flames had erupted across the heavens, blotting out the sky and the sun.

Crack!

High above, the sky suddenly shattered. A giant dragon wreathed in black fire burst through and came crashing down toward the desert.

Boom!

Its head slammed into the ground. The dragon’s body twisted and spiraled wildly before finally transforming into a gigantic lotus.

Black flames burned atop it.