What the Actual Hell

The dried reservoir spanned nearly a hundred meters across. On that cracked, sunken earth, the ground had been blasted apart as though by a stampede of rampaging beasts — from every fracture and fissure, earth-fire erupted in frenzied torrents, screaming upward into the open air!

One column shot skyward — crimson as a blazing whale breaching from the sea, sweeping to the heavens in a breathtaking surge of power!

Right on its heels, eight more pillars of equal grandeur tore free from the shattered basin, each one surging upward in an eruption of sheer, unleashed force.

Waves of fire crashed outward in every direction, colliding and merging into walls of Spirit Flame that struck with savage, devastating fury.

Between the nine towering pillars, tongues of fire writhed and whipped like cornered beasts baring their fangs — furious, raging, unstoppable!

One Blazing Fist — and nine pillars of earth-fire answered the call!

Each erupting column reflected the others, their radiance merging into one grand, unrestrained feast of fire that incinerated and scorched everything within that hundred-meter span.

The Intermediate-Level Fire Element magic the four Dongfang Clan mages had displayed earlier was nothing to scoff at — but compared to this Queen of Flame Destruction, they were reduced to utter ash. Same element, same skill tier, yet it felt like they belonged to entirely different worlds.

This was Mo Fan's first true glimpse of Tang Yue's power — and his heart could barely keep up.

*That Chao He... he's been burned to cinders multiple times over by now, right?*

The force of the Blazing Fist had shaken the entire mountain range. Where a dried-out reservoir had stood just moments before, there was no longer any fitting description for what remained after *Sparrow Flame — Blazing Fist: Nine Palaces* had run its course.

When the earth-shaking wall of flame finally began to subside, Mo Fan looked toward where Chao He had been standing, hoping to confirm the man was thoroughly dead...

But once again, his blood ran cold.

Chao He was still there.

His entire body had been encased in a thick layer of stone armor — scorched beyond recognition, now crumbling away in chunks.

As the ruined shell fell away, it exposed Chao He's clearly burned body beneath. Charred and blackened, he broke into a violent coughing fit — and then his eyes blazed to life with murderous fury.

"So you've destroyed my precious Rock Army Enchanted Armor." His voice came out low and vicious. "It seems you'll need to spend several years serving as an outlet for my rage before I calm down enough to grant you the mercy of death." With a full-body shudder, he shook off the remnants of the Armor Enchanted Gear — now nothing but scorched slag.

Injured, stripped of his armor, Chao He had shed every last trace of his sickly elegance. He was a beast now — pure and simple, cruel and savage.

His gaze locked onto Tang Yue, who had already begun breathing in labored gasps. Those eyes looked as though they were tearing her apart.

"Damn it!" Tang Yue's expression hardened further at the sight of Chao He still standing. Still *breathing*.

In truth, in a direct one-on-one confrontation, Tang Yue — armed with her Sparrow Flame — was stronger than Chao He. It was precisely why the higher-ups had sent her alone to track him.

But Chao He was far more insidious than he appeared. The substance he'd slipped into her food wasn't a poison — a Tribunal Agent would detect something that obvious — but an aphrodisiac compound that had slipped beneath her defenses entirely. Its grip on her Control of Star Motes was devastating, and the swelling, unquenchable desire was growing so intense it threatened to strip her of rational thought.

*How much of that slow-acting compound did I consume to end up like this?*

If the drug alone were the issue, it wouldn't be enough to leave her completely powerless. But in this moment, she felt tendrils of cold creeping inward from all directions — the unmistakable signature of Intermediate-Level Curse Element magic. That despicable man had included her in his net from the very beginning.

Tang Yue forced herself to prepare for the worst: if she fell into this monster's hands, she would find a way to protect herself from what came after — from the violation that would inevitably follow.

But she still held onto a sliver of hope.

That hope was Mo Fan — the precaution she had taken before all this began.

She had called Mo Fan precisely because she feared something might go wrong. Chao He also practiced the Fire Element, which made him harder for her to counter effectively on her own.

"Mmn—"

An involuntary sound escaped Tang Yue's lips. Her body was growing softer by the second; she was forced to lean against a nearby boulder, her breathing turning rapid and shallow.

The black invisible spider threads of the Curse binding her, combined with the drug coursing through her, made her want to tear every stitch of clothing from her body. She was burning — burning and going mad with it.

Across the ruined basin, Chao He's feverish eyes traced every line of Tang Yue's figure, watching her shuddering, helpless endurance. The fury from moments ago began to cool — the way a predator's pulse settles as it eyes the lamb waiting for slaughter...

"**Blazing Fist: Heaven Shatter!**"

The instant Chao He's vigilance slipped even slightly, a massive fire-wreathed fist erupted from the treeline without warning.

Every tree in its path was turned to powder. Rolling flames surged forward — ferocious, overwhelming, relentless!

The fist's target was Chao He.

His face went pale. Standing on what had felt like the threshold of victory, he'd never imagined another Intermediate-Level Mage was hidden in those trees.

**BOOM——**

The Blazing Fist detonated at Chao He's position with a thunderous roar, punching another fist-shaped crater into the earth.

From a distance, Mo Fan watched the chaos and surging fire, feeling certain Chao He should have been blasted to pieces by now.

Even so, he didn't step out from the treeline. *If there's still a trap in there, both Tang Yue and I are finished.*

"Still not dead!" When Mo Fan saw Chao He standing there unchanged, his expression darkened.

An ambush like that, and it *still* hadn't worked. How many trump cards did this man have?

Mo Fan's current mood could only be summed up in four words:

*What the actual hell.*

Around Chao He, something had materialized — a semi-arced shield constructed entirely of condensed blue water, curving like a half-dome around his body.

Behind the Water Bounty Shield, Chao He's face was contorted. Despite having activated the barrier just in time, the raw impact force of the Blazing Fist had still rattled his organs, leaving him shaking with searing pain.

"You want to play the hero, kid?" Blood seeped from the corner of Chao He's mouth as his eyes fixed on Mo Fan with lethal intent — the gaze of a man who'd eat him alive given half a chance. "We're both Fire Element mages. How much do you think you can actually hurt me? You barely crossed the threshold into Intermediate Level. You haven't even awakened a second element, and you dare to challenge me??"

A higher-ranked Mage could gauge another's cultivation through perception and Mental Intent alone. When the attack first hit, Chao He had braced for another Tribunal Agent — but after sensing more carefully, he found this newcomer was nothing more than a barely-Intermediate Level mage, weaker even than the four Dongfang Clan members he'd watched fight earlier.

No second element awakened.

Chao He breathed easy.

Since this kid was clearly here with Tang Yue, there was still room to maneuver — and he might just walk away from all of this with a decisive win.