The fiery giant was magnificent and solid enough to look like a real person.
This bright-red flame giant seemed to have broken free of its shackles, its legs finally out of viscous mud. Every step was light, free and easy!
Quickening its pace, the giant switched from walking to running. The roaring of the flames on its body sounded like thousands of roaring beasts, the combined ferocity of them all unleashing oppression that engulfed the entire realm!
The flames on its body curled and spiralled as it ran, flames shooting aside every time it took a step forward.
Yi Tuan thought the tribesman would attack Yi Xiang after its surprising transformation. Yi Xiang was the one trapping them here and they were all working to attack him and get a chance to break free of this cage. However, no one expected this mighty red giant to sprint right at them instead of towards the flaming currents from before!
The white pattern extending from beneath its feet continued to rush to block the fire currents. Yi Tuan could see that the figure at the bottom of the giant’s feet had almost merged together with the giant, though a little darker in colour. That was Shao Xuan, the one controlling the giant.
Other than Shao Xuan’s silhouette, behind him was a bright figure shaped exactly like Shao Xuan. No one knew what that was but everyone seemed to be very nervous about it.
Three figures walked in sync as if they were one machine.
“Why... why...why is he running TOWARDS us?” asked someone with a trembling voice as they watched the giant become larger and larger.
“I don’t know. He isn’t helping Yi Xiang kill us, is he?!”
“I knew that tribesman was on Yi Xiang’s side from the beginning! They must be working together!”
Initially wondering what the white patterns were, now they were scared out of their wits, their eyes glued to the red giant.
The three elders also wondered if Shao Xuan suddenly changed his mind and decided to take Yi Xiang’s side. If that was the case, then they were hopeless. One Yi Xiang was difficult enough. Now with this strange tribesman, they were cornered. Perhaps their clan would be exterminated in the end.
However, as the giant approached, they realised it was not running towards them but the giant tortoise blocking the wall of fire!
The giant tortoise!
The tribesman was targeting the tortoise!
“What is he doing?!”
So he was indeed on Yi Xiang’s side then? Without the giant tortoise, the wall of fire would rush towards them. Even with the giant Yi totem, they might still die.
All of their worries were tossed to the back of their minds because what they saw made their hair stand on end. They felt strangled, overwhelmed by sheer terror.
They watched as the bounding flame giant grabbed the tortoise’s tail- which was almost as long as its shell- then forcefully dragged it away from the wall!
Its two front limbs blocking the wall were pulled away. Flames shot out of the wall where its limbs used to be.
Ignoring the approaching fire wall and rolling orange-red fire, the giant dragged the tortoise’s tail backwards. This caused the flames beneath their feet to roll like disturbed waves, crashing into each other.
Although the tortoise was made of fire, it was as heavy as a mountain. Every step the giant took shook the entire realm. Its light steps turned heavy once again.
Shao Xuan felt his bones crackle, his body going into overdrive again. He was already unleashing his powers to the maximum!
However, the intense pain brought Shao Xuan an indescribable sense of bliss. Every flame on the giant had become part of Shao Xuan. He was supposed to just be a person at the feet of the giant, struggling to look up to see the giant tortoise at the wall. However, he no longer felt that way. He did not need to look up at the tortoise for it was eye-level. On the other hand, he had to look down at Yi Tuan’s camp.
The giant’s eyes were his eyes! The giant’s hands were his hands!
Fire flowed constantly within the giant like blood, he felt like an ancient warrior fighting for his life at battle.
It’s either life! Or death!
If not death, then fight!
He dragged the tortoise by its tail with his two flaming arms, letting out a mighty roar. Fire erupted high up, as if giving him a boost in energy!
Shao Xuan felt strange emotions brewing within him. This was the first time he felt so much ferocity since he came to his world, also the first time that strange white energy merged so completely within him.
With a jolt, all four of the giant tortoise’s limbs left the ground. It was forcefully lifted in the air!
Everyone was stunned by what they witnessed.
Yi Tuan finally experienced the arrogance of the ‘Flaming Horn treatment’ for the first time!
He also knew what the giant planned to do.
Stop! Stop!
Yi Tuan wanted to scream but realised no sound came. He had lost his wits.
The giant swung the turtle, which was now a makeshift giant sledgehammer, parting the flaming currents pouring from the wall effortlessly. Like beasts thrown back by a tornado, the flames howled and roared.
The giant’s red flames continued to heat up, erupting more powerfully. The crossed double ‘工’ lines beneath its feet brightened.
As he swung the giant tortoise, the giant’s arms swelled as tens of flame columns shot out like boiling blood. His arms did not weaken from the flowing fire, instead accelerating.
When his moment reached its peak, he swung his foot, spun his body and let go!
Swinging the tortoise powerfully, the tortoise flew like a thrown sledgehammer, then fell heavily!
At that moment when the giant unleashed its power, its silhouette blurred, including Shao Xuan and the white humanoid shape behind him. They blurred like a bonfire in the wind, about to die off anytime soon. Yet the feeling was different. The three figures seemed to merge as one and they heard a roar passing through time and space, swallowing the sound of the roaring winds and flames, swallowing the angry tortoise cries, swallowing everything.
Yi Tuan thought he saw a soul that had burned for millions of years.
Boom!
The whole world exploded. The crowd lost their hearing immediately, then heard nothing again. All their nerves went numb.
No one escaped unscathed. Even the clearest silhouettes flickered. Even under the protection of the Yi totem, at that moment, the totem warped and looked like it was about to disappear.
The surging current of fire dissipated from the reverberation, fireballs pelting every corner of the realm. Beneath their feet, the sea of flames shot high up and fell down as countless fireballs of all sizes. All these people were puny figures between the shower of fireballs, weak and helpless.
It felt as if the sky was falling on them!
Darkness leaked into the sealed bubble after the impact. If one observed from the top, you would see black cracks at the bottom, as if black lightning was extending across the boundary, distorting the bubble.
Yi Tuan looked at the black python-like crack beneath his feet. His racing mind suddenly blanked.
With a shaky voice, he cried, “It... cracked!”
But no one heard him. A massive weight pressed on their bodies as if the sky had fallen in. The red-white fireball at the front of the totem, the spiritual pillar of one hundred people, flickered like a lonely candle in the wind. No one knew if it would die out suddenly.
Yet in this fiery world, the gigantic cross made of white flames stood bright as ever like carvings in rock. It did not waver one bit in the face of massive impact and reverberations as if nothing in this world could touch it.