"Brother Wen! Brother Wen!"
Ling Feng cried out as he saw Wen Tingguang's sorrowful expression. He sighed softly and clenched his fists tightly.
Unfortunately, at that moment, there was nothing he could do.
Just as Wen Tingguang flew out, the mountain where Ling Feng stood erupted into roaring flames. Those flames spread rapidly, engulfing several mountains, effectively sealing off all escape routes.
"Uh-oh!" Ling Feng's eyelid twitched, and with a quick flick of his fingers, a burst of wind shot out.
The gust of wind, infused with a surge of true qi, clashed against the flames and was instantly reduced to ashes, making no impact on those intense flames.
"Uh..." Ling Feng furrowed his brow and took a deep breath, he immediately retrieved the Crimson-Fire Golden Wind Sword he had obtained from the Cangqiong Sect.
The sword qi swept through, viciously cleaving at the flames barricading the path, yet it proved futile in breaking the fiery blockade.
If Wen Tingguang were present, he would surely explain that the Earth-Fire Flame Demon had already established its fiery domain. The area engulfed by its flames had been completely sealed off. Unless the creature is defeated, escape would be impossible for anyone.
"Utterly impenetrable!"
Ling Feng's lips twisted with bitterness. His own strength appeared minuscule in comparison to the Earth-Fire Flame Demon, who had spent millennia in cultivation.
"Wow, Master, what kind of place is this? Why is it so hot?"
Upon noticing Wen Tingguang's absence, Zifeng popped up and hopped onto Ling Feng's shoulder, panting heavily with its tongue hanging out.
Ling Feng rolled his eyes.
He's not a dog, why is it trying to cool itself with its tongue?
"A demon race appeared ahead, emitting flames all over its body, which is why it's so scorching here," Ling Feng sighed softly. "Unfortunately, that's a monster beyond my ability. It's better we find a place to hide for now."
Upon hearing this, Zifeng's tiny eyes gleamed with excitement as it looked toward the distant colossal creature. "Wow, this one looks much tastier than the last one!"
"You want to eat it?" Ling Feng lightly flicked Zifeng with his hand, rolling his eyes. "You haven't even gotten close to it yet, and you're already about to be scorched by its flames."
"Enough with the daydreaming; this isn't a creature we can afford to provoke."
Ling Feng scooped up Zifeng and tucked him into his arms before swiftly flying towards a relatively weak spot in the flame blockade.
Meanwhile, the air echoed with screams of agony within the fiery blockade set by the fire demon.
The colossal hand of the fire demon crashed down, unleashing a raging inferno that engulfed everything in its path. Martial artists from nowhere were sent hurtling through the air by the force of the blow, their bodies reduced to charred husks in an instant.
Observing in the shadows from a distance, Ling Feng felt shivers run down his spine as he witnessed one cultivator after another meeting their grim demise at the hands of that monster.
Speaking of which, the martial artists locked in combat with the Earth-Fire Flame Demon were silently lamenting as well.
These martial artists, in truth, were disciples from nearby sects dispatched to investigate the unusually intense heat in the area, suspecting the emergence of a rare treasure.
However, instead of discovering any treasure, they now face a colossal beast who brought on a nightmarish wave of death.
With a single swipe, the Earth-Fire Flame Demon claimed the life of an elder from their sect, and proceeded to incinerate several experts of the Transformation Realm in rapid succession. It's noteworthy that Transformation Realm experts in such small places are comparable to sect leaders.
Yet under the Earth-Fire Flame Demon's claws, they crumbled like paper, utterly defenseless against its strikes.
"All escape routes have been sealed off! Does this creature plan to annihilate us all?"
"Elder Wang, what do we do now? Are we all doomed to perish here?"
Among the patrolling disciples, some had only recently begun their journey in martial arts, harboring aspirations of reaching great heights as cultivators. Little did they know, their first mission beyond the mountain gates would unfold as such a terrifying ordeal of death.
"Spread and flee! Each of you must find a hiding place until the flames blockade disperses. That's our only chance of survival!"
Despite feeling terrified, Elder Wang forced himself to appear calm before his disciples.
Internally, he prayed fervently, hoping that nearby human martial experts would sense the presence of this demonic creature and rush over to aid.
After all, this territory belonged to humans, and upon detecting a demonic presence, it was an unwritten rule among the world of sects for all martial practitioners to rally together and confront it.
Though humans may often lack strong cohesion, they exhibit exceptional unity in the face of the demon race.
Without such unity, the demonic forces could have easily overrun human cities long ago, and the current era of relative peace and stability would not exist.
Perhaps the heavens heard their prayers, as finally, a middle-aged man in gray robes descended from the sky like a divine warrior. Hovering mid-air, he fixed a fierce gaze upon the Earth-Fire Flame Demon and thundered, "Evil creature, your villainy ends now!"
This middle-aged man in gray robes was none other than the Elder of the Cangqiong Sect, Wen Tingguang!"
Sensing the unusually potent aura emanating from Wen Tingguang, the Earth-Fire Flame Demon's gaze fixated on him. Flames engulfed its body, igniting the entire mountain range and setting trees ablaze. The air became thick with heat, almost liquid-like, undulating in waves of distortion.
Within dozens of miles, the area fell under the Earth-Fire Flame Demon's infernal blockade, resembling a furnace of hellfire.
Hiding behind a boulder, Ling Feng even noticed the rock in front of him, barely waist-high, turning fiery red. With a gentle touch, he could almost smell the aroma of roasted meat wafting from it.
At that moment, Ling Feng's only sensation was intense heat, akin to being engulfed in flames.
Despite having ingested the Sunfire Crimson Fruit, which infused his true qi with a fiery essence, he still found the experience unbearable. He realized that the other warriors trapped in this place would likely fare even worse.
"You fiend! How dare you wreak havoc within the Tianbai Empire's borders! Which demonic sovereign do you serve under? Identify yourself at once!"
Wen Tingguang unsheathed his longsword, surrounded by a faint blue aura of elemental qi, and aimed it at the Earth-Fire Flame Demon.
The Earth-Fire Flame Demon, seemingly devoid of rationality, fixated on Wen Tingguang like a malevolent spirit, its eyes ablaze with blood-red intensity and flames towering over its head by more than ten meters. With a massive claw, it viciously lunged toward Wen Tingguang.
A deafening roar echoed, the air cracking with a sharp "hiss," as if the ferocious power sought to pierce through the skies and the earth, engulfing everything in its path with raging flames.
Around them, space seemed to rain down like a meteor shower, each blazing fireball shrouding the sky.
Cries echoed one after another as fireballs descended, some landing perilously close to Ling Feng. Without his swift execution of the Boundless Sword Steps, he might have become another charred corpse among the fallen.
The heat intensified around Ling Feng as he focused on Wen Tingguang suspended in mid-air, silently praying: "Brother Wen, everything depends on you now!"
Unbeknownst to him, Zifeng nestled in his embrace, peeked out with its small eyes fixated on the Earth-Fire Flame Demon. It rolled around as if concocting a plan to tackle the colossal creature...