On Fire

The ghostly will o' the wisps might be terrifying, but they weren't the most dangerous foes. Neither were the salamanders, fire foxes and other medium-sized fire-type spirit beasts that we encountered the higher we went. That singular honor belonged to the magma golems, sturdy creatures of immense size.

"Watch out!" Huang Qian Jin shouted from a distance, staying back so that he wouldn't get in our way. Unlike him, I was moving closer to the magma golem to the point where I could feel the extreme heat of its near molten body. I felt my hair get singed and my skin felt as if it was burned into cinders. Only my protective qi aura prevented me from combusting outright.

Darting toward the magma golem, I disorientated it for a moment by catching it off guard with my attacks. My Shadow Sword Strikes left molten trails across its thick, sturdy body, but its retaliation missed my evading body completely. I was simply too fast for its clumsy attacks to land a hit. Bellowing in frustration, the magma golem threw a flaming fist in my direction. This time, a torrent of flames poured out of the black and red limb, engulfing my position in a hellish inferno.

However, before I could get caught by the flames, I swiftly sank into the shadows and appeared about a dozen meters away.

"Excellent!" Huang Qian Jin cheered from his spectator's seat. I was beginning to wonder why he even bothered coming along. He hadn't participated in any battle at all. Maybe he was just tagging along, or Hui Ying required him to communicate on his behalf. Nonetheless, I couldn't bring myself to feel irritated by his cheerful presence. I was just curious. Huang Qian Jin continued to yell encouragement. "You can do it, Brother Hei!"

"Even though you say that, we still have yet to figure a way to defeat this magma golem," I grumbled and swung my sword. Shadow Sword Strike was dealing a substantial amount of damage, but the magma golem was incredibly tenacious. Though it was visibly hurt, my attacks only appeared to enrage it more than debilitate it.

The titanic creature was a formidable foe. It was over six meters in height, its dome shaped body constructed of molten rock. The only saving grace was that it was slow and clumsy, which allowed me to effortlessly evade its attacks. All its strength had gone into its defense, though, which meant that we had to slowly grind it to dust.

Spinning around in midair after jumping out of a shadow, Hui Ying swung his sword and unleashed several Shadow Sword Strikes that hammered into the magma golem's body, causing it to stagger. With a hiss, the giant lumbered forward and threw a punch at him, but the bodyguard was already disappearing into a shadow. He emerged from another almost immediately and released a few more Shadow Sword Strikes that cleaved deeply into the thick torso. The magma golem stumbled forward, but spun around with a swing of its blazing arm.

Again, Hui Ying was already gone, his silhouette sinking into the shadows. He showed up elsewhere, a new barrage of Shadow Sword Strikes erupting from his blade and arcing toward our enemy.

I renewed my assault and slashed the magma golem with my sword. Black eruptions of qi surged and collided against the immense frame of the spirt beast, almost knocking it over. With a grunt, the magma golem whirled around and stomped on my location.

Fortunately, I made use of the shadow that its bulk had casted upon my location and disappeared into it. That allowed me to avoid being crushed into bloody paste.

"Neither of us have the firepower to bring that thing down," I said out loud. Actually, I could easily obliterate the magma golem with Heaven and Earth Strike, but as I said, we all had our secrets to keep. I couldn't use a demonic technique in front of orthodox cultivators. And no, I wasn't going to silence them by murdering them. That would defeat the purpose of having a disguise, and once I did that, I was going to have to silence each and every orthodox cultivator in the area to avoid drawing suspicion to myself. There would be no end to it. Also, I wasn't some ruthless murdering psychopath. I might be a villain, but I was a selfish demonic cultivator, not a psychopath slaughterer.

Even though Hui Ying didn't say anything, I could tell that he agreed. Or at least he also chose not to reveal any of his trump cards. That would be wise of him – he had no reason to trust me, after all. He skidded away after avoiding a kick from the magma golem and then disappeared into the shadows.

"There has to be something we can do!" Huang Qian Jin insisted. I shrugged. The kid wasn't contributing to the battle at all. Once again, I wondered what his purpose in tagging along was.

Not that it mattered. Perhaps Huang Qian Jin was trying to obtain the True Fire for himself or his family. I could simply consider him as part of Hui Ying, who had more than pulled his weight in the battles so far. I did wonder how we were going to split the True Fire later, or if such a thing was even possible, but that was something we could worry about if we got our hands on it.

Neither Huang Qian Jin nor Hui Ying had mentioned anything about it, but I was sure they were here for the True Fire too.

"Whoa!"

Whoops, I couldn't afford to be distracted. Bouncing away from the magma golem's flames, I sank back into the shadows and reemerged elsewhere. The magma golem turned around to seek me out, only for Shadow Sword Strikes to hammer into its back once more. The qi blasts caused it to stumble forward, and with a silent grunt, the magma golem whirled around. However, Hui Ying had already vanished into the shadows once more, leaving no trace of his presence.

I watched the wildly attacking magma golem warily. Would I be forced to use Heaven and Earth Strike? I eyed Huang Qian Jin and Hui Ying. How would they react if I execute a demonic technique? Would they stay quiet about it? Or would I be forced to silence them? I really didn't want to involve myself in trouble and murder people for no reason if I could help it, but I couldn't allow the magma golem to delay us any longer.

"Brother Hei!" Huang Qian Jin shouted from afar suddenly. He must have caught a signal from his bodyguard. "Hui Ying says to watch him carefully!"

I immediately turned to stare at Hui Ying, who was springing from the shadows and pulling away to a distance from the magma golem. Even without Huang Qian Jin informing me, I noticed that there was something different about the bodyguard. Vast amounts of yin qi were coalescing around him, turning into a violent maelstrom.

Shadows began materializing all around Hui Ying, shifting and rippling for several seconds before they finally solidified in the shapes of swords. They all slanted in the air, the deadly tips of their black blades pointed toward the magma golem, and then they rained down upon it with colossal force.

Each shadow sword didn't seem to possess much power on its own, but the onslaught of so many of them at once pierced the magma golem's thick hide, cracking the molten rock and exposing the lava-like blood that coursed through its glowing veins. Shattered stone crashed to the ground, peeling off from the massive silhouette. With a muffled snarl of pain, the magma golem fell to its knees.

"This is called Shadow Sword Storm," Huang Qian Jin explained, studying the sign language that Hui Ying made with his hands. "It's the ultimate technique of the Black Shadow Sect."

"Amazing," I breathed. That was a lot more powerful than even Shadow Sword Strike. I was already turning over the memory in my head, struggling to remember what it was that Hui Ying did exactly. The breathing methods, the flow of qi, the stance and physical and spiritual movements. I closed my eyes briefly and visualized them.

Then I tried executing it, but for the moment, only misshapen shadows formed, distorted and dissipating almost immediately. It was almost as if I was unable to keep a grip on reality.

Huang Qian Jin chuckled. "It'll take you a few tries. Don't worry about it. Hardly anybody succeeds on their first try."

"Yeah." I couldn't help but sigh. It was unfortunate, but I wasn't some Mary Sue protagonist who could immediately execute a technique after a single glance. I wasn't a genius. I had to rely on hard work and effort. Most cultivation story protagonists might have cheats or talents or systems that allowed them to instantly learn a technique, but I possessed no such thing.

I was going to have to rely on practicing.

For now, the most pressing issue was to finish off the foe in front of us. Despite being on the verge of death, the magma golem was far from defeated. With a garrulous growl, it struggled to rise to its feet.

"Oh no you don't!"

I was immediately in front of it, swinging my sword. I had calculated the angle and stroke so that my blade found one of the many cracks that now peppered its battered body, sinking deeply into an exposed and vulnerable area. Unleashing Shadow Sword Strike into the inside of its frame, I broke the magma golem apart into many pieces. The force of the explosion hurled me back, stony debris raining down upon me. I allowed myself to fall to the ground and sink right into a shadow, emerging several dozen meters away.

"Huff…"

"That was dangerous," Huang Qian Jin translated for Hui Ying. I had the sense that the bodyguard was scowling, but once again I couldn't see his face at all. Despite his words, Huang Qian Jin sounded awfully cheerful, so I could tell that he wasn't the one saying this. "Hui Ying says that you shouldn't be so reckless."

"Sorry."

"Well, at least you finished off the magma golem, Brother Hei," the blond kid said with a shrug. "I personally think it's fine."

Hui Ying appeared to glare at him, but this time Huang Qian Jin ignored him. Instead, he came over to offer me a hand. I accepted his assistance and allowed him to pull me to my feet, though I staggered wearily. Hui Ying must have noticed my condition, for he quickly raised his hands to perform several signs. Huang Qian Jin nodded and turned back to me.

"If you don't mind, let's take a fifteen minute break before moving on."

"Good idea," I agreed gratefully. I was exhausted after such an arduous battle, and the hot conditions of the mountain were making things worse. The magma golem was a formidable foe too, causing me and Hui Ying to expend not insignificant amounts of strength to subdue it. I appreciated the breather.

The body language of the otherwise silent bodyguard indicated his weariness too, for he slumped down almost immediately, his head lowered and almost tucked to his chin. I would have guessed that he was asleep, but I couldn't make out anything on his face, which continued to be concealed within that dark hood.

None of my business. Taking a deep breath, I dropped onto an outcrop of rock and sat down. Hanging my head in a similar manner to Hui Ying, I shut my eyes and rested. The bodyguard was clearly doing the same, but Huang Qian Jin stayed alert, keeping an eye out for any other cultivators or spirit beasts who might prove hostile to us. It was only natural, considering that he didn't participate in the fight at all.

Sipping some water to replenish lost fluids, I placed the bottle back in my spatial pouch. I felt a little light-headed, but a little meditation allowed me to recover. I was also able to restore some of my qi, my body feeling more invigorated than ever. Despite the slight recovery, I was almost sorry when the break was over. The rest certainly felt a lot shorter than fifteen minutes. When Hui Ying rose to his feet, I reluctantly stood up as well. We proceeded up the mountain, hastening our pace so that we could catch up with the leaders.

Then I stopped when I spotted something in the distance.

"What the hell…?"

"What's the matter?" Huang Qian Jin asked, turning around to stare at me inquisitively. I simply pointed toward the top. He whirled around to look, only for his eyes to bulge and his jaw to drop.

About a hundred meters ahead of us, Chi Yan was standing alone atop the devastated remnants of a magma golem. The poor spirit beast was in pieces, its body broken apart into countless pieces of smoldering rock.

Clearly the core disciple of the Elemental Mountain Sect had defeated the formidable creature on his own, using the sheer firepower of his flame techniques to overwhelm the magma golem's incredible resistance to heat and fire.

Hui Ying appeared to express something with his hands, which Huang Qian Jin put into words for him.

"That guy is going to be a lot of trouble."