Almost Burned Alive

As the sky gradually darkened, the already gloomy Black Mountain grew even darker, the shadows intensifying. Ye Qiang continued to fight off the fierce beasts attacking him in the large rock corner, but his strength was rapidly draining.

Ye Qiang knew well that if this continued, even if he wasn't killed by the beasts, he would eventually die from exhaustion. Yet, he pressed on, refusing to give up.

While slaying the beasts, Ye Qiang glanced around with the corner of his eye and realized that the large rock corner was providing him some protection, shielding him from the beasts' attacks from behind. He could focus entirely on the beasts coming at him from the front.

The narrowness of the corner meant that only one or two beasts could squeeze in at a time, which gave Ye Qiang some relief. However, despite the growing pile of beast corpses, the relentless assault continued, and he was nearing the brink of collapse. He couldn't think of any way to save himself.

Just then, a massive rock behind him began to crack, fissures spreading from the bottom up.

After Ye Qiang killed another beast, the already cracked rock began to crumble, sending fragments falling toward him. Instinctively, he turned around.

To his shock, the rock didn't just crumble slowly—it exploded, as though a stone monkey had come to life. The flying fragments struck him and every visible part of the corner.

In a flash of blinding red light, what appeared before Ye Qiang was not a stone monkey, but a white-haired mummified corpse, seemingly having been in a deep slumber for thousands of years.

The corpse sat cross-legged, its withered hands tightly gripping a red longsword half-embedded in the ground, still emitting a fiery glow.

The next moment, a fiery red humanoid figure appeared before Ye Qiang.

Before Ye Qiang could process what was happening, the fierce beasts attacking him, as if sensing death itself, howled and slowly began to retreat.

Then, a scorching hot gale swept through. Wherever the gale passed, a sea of fire erupted!

Ye Qiang's eyes widened as he saw the fiery wind blow past him, reaching the corner of the rock, igniting all the beast corpses he had killed.

The gale then swept out toward the beast horde, setting a large group of fierce beasts ablaze, creating chaos and terror among them.

Finally, the blazing wind soared into the sky.

The burning beasts, now writhing and leaping in the horde, tried to roll on the ground to extinguish the flames. But no matter how they struggled, the fire that consumed their flesh and bones could not be put out. They perished in the flames, leaving nothing behind but ashes. The air was thick with the lingering scent of scorched fire.

"Who are you?"

"How dare you disturb my meditation!" The fiery red humanoid figure spoke to Ye Qiang in a voice full of authority and power.

Ye Qiang snapped out of his shock, feeling the lingering intense heat around him.

He didn't have time to think much before he calmed himself and fearlessly spoke to the fiery red humanoid figure, saying, "I am but an unknown person, unfortunate enough to have fallen into this predicament. I meant no offense. Please forgive me, senior."

"Hmph!" The fiery figure responded coldly. "I see that your cultivation is barely at the Bronze stage. How is it that you survived the scorching gale I released? Speak the truth."

Ye Qiang inwardly suspected that the reason he had survived was because of the Extreme Fire Divine Seal on his body, which protected him from the flames. However, this was a secret.

Ye Qiang had not yet reached the point where he could freely speak of it to anyone. He wasn't about to invite unnecessary trouble.

After a brief pause, Ye Qiang replied, his expression unchanged, "If I have unknowingly committed a transgression, I beg senior to enlighten me. I truly have nothing more to say."

"Is that so?" The fiery figure's voice became filled with murderous intent. "Then don't blame me for being impolite!"

"Ah…!" With a final, harsh cry, the fiery figure gathered a massive, searing flame around itself, merging with it as though it were a godly sun capable of destroying everything in its path. The surrounding area was soon enveloped in its scorching heat.

At an unimaginable speed, the flame-bearing figure pressed forward, heading straight toward Ye Qiang.

Ye Qiang immediately thought, This is bad, but it was too late. The flames, capable of destroying all things, began to mercilessly burn his body.

Ye Qiang could feel every inch of his skin, every muscle, and even every cell in his body screaming in pain.

Is this how I die? he thought. This isn't fair. Did the heavens give me a second chance at life just for me to die again?

In his mind, Ye Qiang continued to struggle, roar, and rage, but the relentless fire showed no mercy, burning everything it touched—his blood-red disciple robe, the Beast Core he had taken from the Savage Wolf King, and the ordinary sword in his hand... all slowly turned to ash in the face of the overwhelming heat.

The pain was unbearable as Ye Qiang's finely chiseled face, his blue curly hair, and his tall yet firm body were all gradually consumed by the flames.

In the midst of this cruel inferno, as Ye Qiang writhed in agony, a surge of extreme red light erupted from deep within him like a volcanic explosion.

This intense crimson glow instantly devoured the unrelenting flames that had been burning Ye Qiang's body.

In the midst of the excruciating pain, Ye Qiang gradually regained his senses. The hellish fire had given him an unprecedented experience of suffering.

After a brief moment of contemplation, Ye Qiang mustered all his strength and opened his eyes. The surroundings were nothing but a sea of flames, consuming everything within a hundred steps—the rocks, the wood, even the dust in the air, were all engulfed.

Yet, the white-haired mummy sitting in front of him remained untouched, its still figure unaffected by the inferno. It continued to sit with its hand firmly gripping the red longsword half-embedded in the ground, which still glowed with fiery light.

This sight piqued Ye Qiang's curiosity. As he cautiously approached to inspect the figure, he noticed something strange about the white-haired mummy...