Tang Yue, Raging Flame!

Chao He had already turned to face her. When he saw Tang Yue, not a trace of surprise crossed his expression — if anything, a strange smile crept onto his lips.

"I think I'll need to add two more charges to my list, one of which is the murder of a Tribunal agent." Chao He fixed her with a slow, unblinking stare — his gaze so invasive it was as though he were mentally stripping away every layer of her soft clothing.

"There's nothing worth saying to an animal like you." Tang Yue paid him no further attention, her feet already tracing the outline of a Fire Element Star Chart across the ground.

"You think that will be enough to take me down, Miss Tang Yue? Aren't you being a little naive?" Chao He's smile turned stranger still.

Tang Yue's expression hardened. She was just about to act when a churning, murky mass surged out from the side — it drifted upward over the dried reservoir and swiftly took the shape of a storm cloud, blanketing the entire open area.

The cloud was impossibly dense. Not a single ray of sunlight could pierce through it; it even swallowed the warm glow radiating from the Fire Element Spirit Seed's flames.

The whole area plunged into absolute darkness.

Chao He's shadow merged completely into the black — or rather, the figure standing there cast no shadow at all.

His body was free to move. Chao He rolled his head from side to side and cracked a grin full of malice.

"Forgot to mention — I detected your pursuit quite some time ago. Everything you ate at those restaurants while playing tourist over the past few days? I quietly added a little something to it." He spoke with unhurried ease, nothing like a fugitive confronted by an officer of the law.

Tang Yue's expression grew grave, though she wasn't entirely surprised to find he had tricks in reserve. Chao He had slipped the Tribunal's net multiple times — he was never going to be easy to take down.

As for his claim that he'd tampered with her food — that, she refused to believe.

A Tribunal agent who couldn't tell whether her food had been doctored would be a fool.

"I know you don't believe me. But you must be feeling a little parched right about now." Chao He was in no hurry whatsoever.

At those words, Tang Yue's tongue moved instinctively across her lips. She had noticed the dryness quite a while ago but hadn't given it much thought — she'd assumed it was simply the arid surroundings.

"Getting a Tribunal agent to swallow something outright toxic — that's impossible. So while I am an apothecary, I didn't poison you. On the contrary, what I slipped into your food is quite good for the body..." Chao He's eyes narrowed to slits as he watched the remarkably striking Tang Yue, then continued unhurriedly. "To put it delicately, it's something that benefits women — enriches the blood, nourishes the yin. To put it plainly..." He paused. "Oh — you're already reacting."

Even as he spoke, the dryness in Tang Yue's mouth was joined by an inexplicable flush spreading across her cheeks.

Her circulation had quickened, her heartbeat rising. And most disturbingly, her skin felt as though something was gently biting at it — a tingling, numbing sensation impossible to endure.

Her breathing grew heavier, as if each exhale were trying to wring the ache from her throat. Every bone in her body had gone soft, drained of strength — yet at the same time she felt as though, at any moment, she might become something utterly beyond her control, some creature poised to throw itself against the nearest warm chest...

"Shameless! Utterly shameless!!" Tang Yue finally understood what had been done to her. Her whole body shook with humiliation.

"The Tribunal wanted to learn the origins of the Frenzy Spring from me, so they dispatched a woman as lovely as you to bring me in. Did they never stop to consider that besides being a Mage, I'm also a highly skilled apothecary? I have no shortage of methods when it comes to women. Oh — didn't I say I'd be adding two new charges? One is killing a Tribunal agent. The other..." He clicked his tongue. "We're both adults. I think you already understand."

Throughout the entire pursuit, Tang Yue had been extraordinarily careful. She could not comprehend how this shameless wretch had ever detected her.

She had been vigilant at every turn. Knowing he was an apothecary, she had been painstakingly cautious about all things — including what she ate.

But she had only ever been guarding against harmful substances. It had never once occurred to her that Chao He would use something that *stimulated* the body in that particular way. No wonder — just moments ago, when she had held Mo Fan down in the shade beneath that tree, she'd felt an inexplicable pull toward him, something she couldn't put into words. The drug had already filled her with a restlessness she had no right to be feeling.

*Bastard. That damned bastard — how can there be someone this vile and contemptible in the world?*

Deeper in the forest, Mo Fan watched the scene unfold in stunned silence. *Wait — I'm an adult too. Why don't I get it?*

He couldn't make up his mind — should he act immediately, or wait a little longer for the right opening?

He absolutely would not stand by and watch his beloved Teacher Tang Yue fall to this monster. The problem was whether he could actually hold his own against that twisted man.

"Animal! I'll burn you to ashes!!"

Mo Fan was still wrestling with himself when Tang Yue's furious cry split the air.

In an instant, a colossal wave of fire and heat erupted outward from her at its center, surging in every direction. Tang Yue herself stood at the heart of the inferno, her hair whipping freely in the blazing currents — like a magnificent, wrathful phoenix releasing the full force of its fury.

"Sparrow Flame!"

Standing amid the roaring fire, Tang Yue's eyes blazed a breathtaking vermilion. Her stunning face radiated cold killing intent, and those red lips gave voice to her absolute contempt for ugliness and evil.

"Blazing Fist!"

The flames surged higher.

"Nine Palaces!"

The final word left her lips with cold resolve. Mo Fan recognized the opening sequence for an Intermediate-Level Fire Element spell — recognized it with startling familiarity — yet this felt utterly, completely different.

The fire was different first of all. The flame Tang Yue commanded was nothing like the common crimson fire anyone might encounter. She called her flame the Sparrow Flame, and it burned a deep cinnabar red — a red so imperious it seemed to carry a noble bloodline built into its very nature.

And her Blazing Fist was not the first-tier Blazing Fist: Heaven Shatter. It had already climbed to the third tier.

He had now seen the Sparrow Flame for himself. Compared to ordinary fire, it was more domineering by an incalculable margin.

And Nine Palaces — as all the heat and flame surrounding Tang Yue converged into her right fist and she drove it down into the earth with full force, Mo Fan finally witnessed what Blazing Fist: Nine Palaces truly meant. The spectacle left him rooted to the spot, completely transfixed.