In response to Huang Quan and Xu Gou’s assaults from different directions, I can only say that I am stretched thin, racking my brain to figure out how to adjust my battle strategy. And now, what I’m doing is the conclusion I arrived at after bitter ditation.
That conclusion is to fuse the Furnace Slag Straight Sword with my fire-elental body.
The Furnace Slag Straight Sword... Though this weapon bears the official na "Furnace Slag Impermanence Divine Sword," I often revert to calling it by the simpler na "Furnace Slag Straight Sword." In my heart, this weapon is nothing more than slag molded into the shape of a straight sword. The "sword" is rely a temporary guise. Giving it a formal title is as unnecessary as naming the act of stepping forward with one’s left or right foot as though it were a flashy killing move.
Perhaps the unnecessary part goes beyond naming it; in the end, the act of transforming slag into a weapon might itself be redundant.
Maybe it was influenced by the thought that "I possibly possess the power of artifact refining" that I turned slag into an external object. In truth, upon deliberating, the nature of slag is quite similar to my own body. It can both condense and compress fire while also releasing it externally. So it may be truly maximizing its utility to directly integrate the slag into my body as a component to enhance the fire-elental body.
This thod is absolutely impossible for other demon hunters to replicate.
Take the prototype of slag weapons, for instance—the Water Navy Xuanwu’s "Golden Core." Though the Water Navy Xuanwu usually keeps it within his body, he must remove it when unleashing its internal power. The rationale behind this is easy to understand. Even though it’s one’s own power, once compressed and concentrated to an extre degree, it becos uncontrollable. If released, it would reverse and destroy one’s body and soul, leading to self-annihilation before the enemy is even killed.
However, I don’t fear the destruction of my body and soul. The side effects the Water Navy Xuanwu worries about don’t exist for at all.
When I pierced the Furnace Slag Straight Sword into my body, an uncontrollable, horrific fire erupted explosively from within, far beyond what a volcanic eruption could compare to. This body made of concentrated fire elents could no longer be shaped per my will into a lifelike human form. Instead, it radiated endlessly outward, dissolving into infinite light and heat.
Huang Quan and Xu Gou’s attacks struck simultaneously, with Huang Quan’s assault specifically damaging my True Spirit once again. Yet after slicing through layers and layers of light and heat, his yellow-black mana weakened significantly and inflicted only slight harm to my True Spirit. Killing with this level of attack would take dozens, if not hundreds, more strikes.
The damp heaviness brought by the special properties of their yellow-black mana vanished completely amidst the eruption of light and heat. It felt like a waterlogged, weighted quilt being wrung dry and laid under the blazing sun, regaining its lightness and softness.
I struggled to control this power, as wild and untad as a rampaging stallion, attempting to restore my scattered body and soul sowhat. While the absence of a soul wouldn’t kill , in a state where I only retain the True Spirit, I can rely maintain basic self-awareness and thought.
Or perhaps, it’s because I haven’t truly proven my own True Spirit, leaving in a state that’s mysterious and unprovable.
Maybe that sounds too abstract. There’s a saying, "I think, therefore I am." Others might find it difficult to grasp the experience of "clearly existing as oneself, yet unable to prove one’s own existence." If anything, it can be described as a self-awareness that’s ambiguous and diffuse. To sufficiently affect the tangible reality of the world with one’s own power at the very least requires the presence of a soul.
The gathering process did not go smoothly, and the body I ultimately ford was a two-ter-tall figure—a shimring, orange-red humanoid light form that flickered ethereally like flas burning.
After the initial material form and the second fire-elental form, it seed I had gained a new, integrated third form designed for both offense and defense.
As soon as I completed this transformation, I launched a counterattack at Huang Quan and Xu Gou at more than a thousand tis the speed of sound.
My current attack power hasn’t grown compared to before, but my defensive capabilities have soared far beyond what they were earlier. I can now charge recklessly without concern. Huang Quan’s assaults pose significantly less threat to , while Xu Gou’s attacks can be completely ignored. No longer do I need to defend reactively—I’ve officially sounded the trumpet of retaliation.
"What..." Xu Gou seed to sense imnse pressure.
He isn’t suited for this type of assault, where enemies team up against him. In our last bout, he showcased an overwhelming Cutting Storm, and now, with "allies" nearby, this indiscriminate killing move has beco a forbidden technique.
Perhaps, as an alternative Impermanence, he could refine his mana to distinguish between attack targets, much like I can. However, that Cutting Storm is akin to the Water Navy Xuanwu’s Netherworld Strike upon releasing his Golden Core: Xu Gou evidently cannot wield it with mastery.
I wasn’t in a position to criticize him, though. My ability to control this rampaging, destructive fire from within is woefully inadequate. My re existence is causing devastating effects to my surroundings.
To a certain extent, I might now be perceived as a human-shaped star. Even other forms of Impermanence cannot stand before unhard without employing mana-driven defenses. For demon hunters below the Great Success Rank, simply approaching would result in their obliteration—let alone ordinary humans.
Just moving in the sky turns the earth beneath into molten lava. The heat continuously radiating from my body causes nuclear explosion-like devastation wherever I pass.
I fear that even if I do absolutely nothing and rely maintain this third form for a sufficient length of ti, it may bring mass extinction-scale catastrophes to the planet’s biosphere.
"So that’s how it is. That weapon wasn’t an external object refined using Vermilion Bird Power... It seems more like it’s your own ability?" Huang Quan appeared to grasp so insight. "Such rapid progress... Not long ago, you relied on old injuries left behind in Ming Zhuo by Xuanming to defeat him. Now you possess enough power to potentially defeat Ming Zhuo entirely on your own...
"But this—this isn’t the form that Luo Mountain Great Impermanence should exhibit to protect the righteous path. Bringing out such power—are you planning to destroy this world?"
Hearing his challenge, I responded, "Speaking of which, last ti, through the river of ti, it seed like you and Mazao ntioned that the organization backing you—the Evangelical Institute—claims it intends to save this world, correct?
"Though I highly doubt how much credibility a group like yours, hidden in shadows, holds, this is the perfect opportunity for you to prove it.
If you don’t want the world destroyed, then attempt to defeat here and now."
Huang Quan snorted coldly and spoke through gritted teeth: "Don’t exaggerate your importance. Do you think the advantage lies with your side?"
Even as he spoke, his figure suddenly blurred and appeared right before .
Yellow-black mana gathered into his right hand, its tip rotating violently like a drill, as he thrust lightning-fast toward my chest.
Evidently, he had deduced how to inflict effective damage on in this form: pierce my body and deliver attacks from within. This way, my third form’s light and heat body couldn’t prematurely diminish most of his power, and his strike could once again harm my True Spirit.
Direct contact with this light form would undoubtedly hurt him significantly, making his perilous move akin to snatching embers from a fire.
anwhile, seizing the opportunity, I unleashed Fla Transmission and teleported far behind Xu Gou.
After becoming Impermanence, I generally avoided using Fla Transmission in combat. Its principle requires disassembling my fire-elental body and reconstructing it at a distant point—a process that resets my body and soul’s density, leaving wholly defenseless. Restoring density takes brief monts, creating a massive vulnerability that might lead to my death from a single enemy strike.
But in the third form, this vulnerability doesn’t exist. My defense relies almost entirely on incessant bursts of high-density flas from within my body, enabling to teleport freely.
What’s more convenient is that previously, upon teleporting to a target, I had to gather strength to launch attacks. Now, my very existence is an incredibly potent attack, requiring no more than slamming into the target post-teleportation.
Xu Gou’s combat instincts are astoundingly sharp. The mont I began Fla Transmission, he was already preparing his response. However, it was likely his first ti witnessing my Fla Transmission, and possibly his first encounter with an enemy whose "existence itself is an attack." While he attempted to form a defensive stance, he was a fraction late in channeling the necessary mana, and my strike landed unerringly.
In that instant, his black Power Armor shattered entirely under my collision, and his physical body contained within was burned into charcoal by the intense heat before its appearance could even be discerned. Like a reverse cot streaking through the sky, he was catapulted into space, flying far beyond the Earth’s atmosphere and vanishing into the cosmic void.
Although I wasn’t certain whether Xu Gou was dead, I could sense one less ominous cloud hovering over . Even if he survived, his severe injuries rendered him incapable of rejoining the battlefield. His wounds—including the full-force deadly intent I channeled into my third-form attack—were far too catastrophic for super-speed regeneration to fix within a short ti.
But capitalizing on the opening created from my triumph over Xu Gou, Huang Quan’s yellow-black mana surged once more, closing in and landing a surprise strike on .
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