Watching the man recklessly hurl fire in all directions, Li Ban instantly remembered the liquor they had just bought at the market.
When Uncle Qin had cut the reins and abandoned the horses moments earlier, he had clearly done so to avoid provoking this fire-wielding maniac.
Yet the man attacked them anyway, fully intending to silence the witnesses.
At first, Li Ban had been worried the liquor would catch fire. But once the attacker's ruthlessness was laid bare, Li Ban hardened his heart. Ducking into the carriage, he uncorked a jug and hurled the whole thing—vessel and alcohol alike—straight at him.
Having just been bound, the attacker carried no weapons, leaving him with nothing but his flames for a counterattack.
But he never expected Li Ban to throw a jug of liquor!
And not just any liquor—it was the high-proof spirit Zhou Gu had specifically purchased as a cover.
With a loud splash, the flames were completely overwhelmed by the sheer volume of the alcohol.
Li Ban had thrown the jug with a clever spin, ensuring it shattered on impact and drenched the man from head to toe.
Unfortunately, only so much liquor had splashed onto him, and the concentration wasn't quite high enough. Once the man pulled back his own flames, the fire on his body gradually died out.
Suddenly, a whip shot out from beneath the carriage. It slithered like a snake and lashed securely around the man's ankle.
With a vicious yank, the whip pulled the man off balance and sent him crashing backward.
Right then, Li Ban hoisted a second jug and smashed it directly onto him with a heavy thud.
The dying flames on the man's body instantly roared back to life.
"Ahhh!"
This time, even the fire-wielding man couldn't stop himself from howling.
But the carriage itself was catching fire now. Left with no other choice, Li Ban bailed out through the opposite window.
The system had previously helped him extract fragmentary fire elements, but they were not the kind that could be fused into an ability.
Nor could Li Ban use that power to redirect the raging inferno around him.
As soon as he jumped out, he spotted Uncle Qin retreating from beneath the carriage.
"Run! He's getting up. Make for the side door!"
Without even waiting to see if Li Ban followed, Uncle Qin ducked his head and sprinted away, using the billowing smoke from the carriage as cover.
Li Ban wanted to run too, but before he took off, he cast one last glance at the man.
The man had managed to stand, but he was swaying unsteadily on his feet, looking completely spent.
Li Ban wasn't sure if the iron hook he had thrown earlier had struck its target. He didn't know if the man was suffering from poison or just the burns.
Should he run, or... kill him?
Li Ban didn't know what came over him.
Maybe it was the pent-up frustration of suppressing his nature ever since he transmigrated. Maybe it was the casual, suffocating oppression he faced time and time again from Tree-Person A and Zhou Gu. Or maybe it was watching the prisoners in the Death Prison turn into puddles of rotting flesh, begging for a death that wouldn't come...
Whatever the reason, a dark, vicious fire suddenly flared up in his chest.
"Uncle Qin didn't even want to get involved," Li Ban muttered. "He let the horses go, yet you still tried to silence us."
"If you get to kill us, why shouldn't I get to kill you?"
Suddenly, Li Ban rolled back under the carriage. Ignoring his own scrapes and burns, he snatched up the fallen iron hook, stayed low, and slashed right at the man's calf.
Thanks to the footwork Cat Girl had taught him, he immediately steadied himself and delivered a perfectly leveraged strike, even while surrounded by choking smoke and raging flames.
Furthermore, Li Ban could see clearly through the smoke, while his target could not. Even the noise of his ambush was largely drowned out by the sharp cracking of burning wood.
Knowing he couldn't kill Li Ban and Uncle Qin now, the man had been about to flee, only to find that his head was starting to spin.
Just as he tried to keep running, the man heard a sudden rustle beside him. A sharp blade tore across his calf, bringing a flash of intense agony.
He looked down, only then spotting a figure crouching right beside him.
Shocked that his opponent would dare take the offensive, the man prepared to smash a furious punch downward.
Li Ban formed a one-handed fist and met the strike head-on, completely unafraid.
Thud!
A dull ache shot up Li Ban's arm, as if he had just been struck by a sledgehammer.
But the man across from him fared far worse. He shrieked and stumbled back seven or eight paces, desperately cradling his right hand.
The hand he had just punched with was completely mangled. Several broken bones poked through his bloody skin, forming a gruesome sight.
In the split second before the collision, Li Ban had shifted the Iron Fish Scale—a trump card he never revealed to anyone—directly over his fist.
For the man, meeting Li Ban's fist was no different from punching solid steel.
The harder he hit, the worse he injured himself.
Seeing the man retreat in agony, Li Ban immediately pressed his advantage.
With a fist raised in one hand and the poisoned iron hook in the other, he launched himself at the man like a cannonball.
Thud!
He threw another punch, driving it straight into the right side of the man's jaw.
Crunch!
It was the sound of bone shattering.
Taking advantage of the man tottering unsteadily on his feet, Li Ban sank the iron hook deep into the side of his neck and ripped it backward with all his might.
With a squelch, a geyser of blood sprayed through the air.
The man stared blankly at Li Ban. His jaw could no longer move, and his nostrils flared frantically for air before suddenly stopping altogether.
He collapsed to the ground.
He was dead.
"Cough, cough, cough..."
Only then did Li Ban finally give in, dropping to the ground and coughing his lungs out.
Sprawled on the ground, he didn't immediately retreat. Instead, he turned over the dead man's wrists and examined them.
Thanks to his dynamic vision, Li Ban had noticed earlier that when the man unleashed his flames against them, the fire hadn't actually shot from his palms.
It had come from his wrists.
Cat Girl had told him once that originally fused elements could be extracted from a corpse.
Only, without a specific technique, the success rate was abysmally low.
But Li Ban didn't care about that.
He just wanted to look.
He just wanted to try.
[Element "Blazing Flame Art" discovered. Extract?]
"Extract!!!"
Li Ban bit his lower lip hard to keep from laughing out loud.
He asked in his mind, 'What grade is this element, and what type is it?'
The system had never previously indicated an element's grade and category; it had only mentioned them once before when a waste element appeared.
Li Ban wasn't sure if the system could distinguish it, but he merely tried asking.
Fortunately, he who survives a great disaster is destined for good fortune.
And today, the mission assistance system was being particularly helpful.
[Element "Blazing Flame Art": Good-grade, Energy-type.]
Good-grade!
Two hundred liang!
Before the Good-grade element Zhou Gu had promised him was even in his hands, Li Ban had already managed to harvest one on his own!
Wait, no. Energy-type and spirit-type elements were both relatively rare, so the "Blazing Flame Art" definitely had to be worth more than two hundred liang!
Be bolder—four hundred liang!
What Li Ban didn't know at the time was that he still wasn't being nearly bold enough.
Just as his ecstasy made him forget the pain of his injuries, the side door of the Myriad Ancient Pagoda in the distance was suddenly opened.
Hearing the rapidly approaching footsteps, Li Ban quickly forced himself to remember every suffocating grievance he had suffered over the past few months, finally suppressing the frantic joy in his heart.
"Li Ban!"
Surprisingly, Zhou Gu was the first one to reach Li Ban's side, grabbing him and dragging him out of the thick smoke.
"Are you alright?"
Looking as if he were still in shock, Li Ban stammered, "I... I killed him."
"You killed him?" Zhou Gu looked in disbelief at the blazing carriage and the corpse drifting in and out of sight within the thick smoke.
"Yes."
"You killed him yourself? Did anyone help you?"
As the questioning continued, Li Ban sensed something was off. Zhou Gu's questions didn't seem to stem from concern for his safety.
Li Ban then looked back, noticing that besides Uncle Qin, several other people had also come out through the side door.
However, none of them were looking at Li Ban. They were all looking at the corpse on the ground.
It was as if the body on the ground wasn't a corpse, but a coveted prize.
Li Ban's heaving chest gradually steadied. "Uncle Qin and I fought him together. I also smashed the liquor you bought over him to stop him from continuing to release flames. In the end, while we were in the thick smoke, I killed him with an iron hook from the Death Prison."
Hearing this, Zhou Gu's eyes flashed with even greater satisfaction. The corners of his lips quirked upward as he turned to the people who had just arrived behind him. "This man was killed by a Death Prison handyman and a former prison guard. By rights, this corpse belongs to us."