From the end of the world

Chapter 44: Fallen Demon Hunter vs. Psychic 7
Now I am really afraid of Zhuang Cheng, afraid of that inexplicable "fire ability user".

I have never seen a person with the ability to ignite an opponent with his eyes. It is already a violation enough to ignite the opponent with his eyes, but what kind of ridiculous skill is it to summon the flames directly from the opponent's body? What's the reason for ignoring my physical and spiritual attacks? I don't want to face him anymore.

Now part of my flesh and blood has turned to charcoal, and is still emitting boiling heat, torturing me to the point of madness. Psychologically, I have also become a frightened bird, and any slight movement can make me terrified.

When the wave of magic power appeared nearby, I was really frightened. However, when I looked closely, I found that the person coming was not Zhuang Cheng.

It was a man with half of his head missing, a twisted body, covered in blood, and wearing an orange construction jacket. He stood in the distance, his body semi-transparent, and I could vaguely see the scene behind him through his body. At this moment, his face was numb and dull, and there was no light of rationality or wisdom in his eyes. He slowly approached me like an animal seduced by the smell of flesh and blood.

This is a ghost... no, it should be said that it is an evil spirit.

It seems that this is the evil spirit in the rumored abandoned construction site. It must have smelled the scent of the soul-luring talisman on me. Although I put the soul-luring talisman away, I didn't put the sealing paper back. It's natural for an evil spirit like this who only knows how to obey its instincts to come to me.

Last time I almost thought that it didn’t exist from the beginning. Why didn’t it appear when I came here with Zhuang Cheng before?
Don’t think too much about it for now, it’s better to get rid of this troublesome evil spirit.

I walked over, holding up the blade. It seemed to be frightened by me, and suddenly stopped where it was, with a look of fear on its face. Now I realized that there was no point in being afraid, so I should blame myself for being so foolish as to approach it.

Just when I was about to kill it, I saw its lips moving, and it muttered to itself in fear like a mental patient: "It's coming... it's coming..."

Hearing this, I paused, a bad feeling rising in my heart: "...What's coming? Tell me clearly, what is coming?"

Just like some insects and animals that only have instincts, they can sometimes keenly predict climate change and even catch signs of earthquakes, tsunamis, and storms. Evil spirits that only have instincts, because of their weakness, are more sensitive in spirituality than many demon hunters.

At this moment, it was trembling all over, holding its head, squatting on the ground, with a look of despair on its blood-stained face.

“He… he’s coming…” It roared in great fear, “He’s already looked over here… He’s looking here! He sees it! Aaaaaah!!!”

As soon as it finished speaking, the scene in front of me suddenly changed.

Flames broke out from all directions, instantly turning the floor into a sea of ​​fire.

Being caught in the mighty sea of ​​fire, I quickly used the power of shadow to protect my body. However, this shadow was destroyed by the surging heat in the blink of an eye, and the evil spirits in the distance were evaporated on the spot like drops of water falling into a boiling oil pan.

In the center of the sea of ​​fire, a large amount of flames gathered and condensed, finally forming a huge flaming eyeball suspended in the air like the eye of God.

Although the flames destroyed the shadows and evil spirits that protected my body, they did not cause any harm to me.

I was already filled with fear. The huge flaming eyeball turned slightly in the air and then aimed at me.

I immediately turned around and ran away, while controlling the shadows nearby to start the space transfer again. But just as I raised my legs, the shadows that formed my prosthetic legs exploded out of thin air, causing me to fall to the ground. The shadows approaching me were also burned by the flames and evaporated without a trace.

The huge flaming eyeball shrank inward and turned into a human figure formed of flames. The human figure floating in the air immediately transformed into a human in ordinary clothes, and his feet landed on the ground.

That person was Zhuang Cheng.

"I didn't expect you to come back here. Is there something here that made you come back specially?" He looked around curiously, seemingly unaware that there was an evil spirit here that was burned to death by him just now.

There was a loud noise of burning all around me. I barely held up my body and looked at him with an indescribable shock. I didn't even know if he could hear my hoarse voice.

"You... why... do you know I'm here?"

At the same time, after seeing the image of him in the sea of ​​fire, I finally understood the principle of his immortality.

Those who have the ability to manipulate natural elements certainly only have outstanding strengths, but when this ability is so advanced that it transcends human common sense, the common sense of a demon hunter will no longer be able to restrain them.

In the world of ancient demon hunters, there is a legendary realm called "apparition".

From ancient times to the present, most people who embark on the path of spiritual practice seek to combine themselves with the way of heaven and nature, which is the so-called "unity of heaven and man". People who control the spiritual energy of water will imitate the nature of water that benefits all things without competing; people who control the spiritual energy of the earth will imitate the nature of the earth that is generous and bears all things. The end point of imitation is to become the object of imitation, or to become one with it.

Practitioners who reach the legendary state of "spiritual manifestation" can abandon their physical bodies, freely transform their souls, and merge with all things in nature. When necessary, they can appear on the earth like gods.

That is no longer the realm of mortals, but the realm of earthly immortals.

I couldn't believe that Zhuang Cheng was a land immortal, but this seemingly natural act of transforming himself into a natural element clearly possessed some of the characteristics of the spiritual realm. What he demonstrated was undoubtedly a skill that only appeared in myths and legends. Even the Great Impermanence who reigned at the top of Luoshan Mountain, like a god descending to the earth and could destroy this country single-handedly, might not be able to do the same thing.

I didn't expect my question to be answered, but Zhuang Cheng really answered it.

"Why? I should have told you that there is a spiritual connection between me and the flames I emit, so of course I can lock onto your location."

"But the fire in me is gone..."

"It seems that I didn't explain it to you clearly. The flames I emit, as well as the light and heat generated by the flames, are essentially my spirit." For some reason, he answered every question patiently. "Although the flames are extinguished, the heat is still there. Of course, this is not okay."

"What... No, that's not right!" I said, unable to accept it. "The shadow world is a different dimension from the real world. Even the connection with heat should have been cut off!"

"You mean that..." He nodded. "Although the connection became unstable for a while, it was not completely disconnected. It's just that I can't see the scene there clearly for the time being. And whether I want to relight the fire or move to your shadow world, it's all possible.

"I had already made up my mind to go through, but you left there first... It's okay, you can just help me open the passage later."

This doesn't make sense. The shadow world is clearly a different space just like the cave in the room on the 15th floor. Since the latter can disconnect Zhuang Cheng, there is no reason why the former can't do it.

Is it possible that the cave in the room on the fifteenth floor is really that special?
Or……

Suddenly, a more plausible possibility occurred to me.

"So... you lied?"

"Lie?" Zhuang Cheng was stunned.

Yes, he must have lied.

No wonder he could talk so calmly to Zhu Shi and me about his experiences under the cave. He originally possessed the power to travel freely between different times and spaces through fire, so he was naturally fearless.

I saw it clearly just now. He was able to summon fire through the heat from my body and use it to travel here from other places. Since his spiritual connection with the fire was strong enough to penetrate the barrier between the real world and the other world, it made no sense for him to be trapped under the cave and forced to find the missing symbols of the ritual array before he could leave.

Come to think of it, he shouldn't have been able to open the cave with the so-called "missing symbols of the ritual array". I tried the same method myself, but failed. This shows that this method was a lie from the beginning.

Zhuang Cheng shook his head after being confused.

"Although I don't know what you are talking about, this is not the right place to talk. I still have more questions for you, so let's change the venue. Once I have asked everything I want to know, I will hand you over to Zhu Shi for handling."

"Really? Sorry... you'll be disappointed!"

I'm not going to sit there and wait for death. Even if he doesn't intend to kill me right away, I don't intend to leave my life to him to deal with at will. No matter what, I have to fight to the death.

I am no longer the same person I was twenty years ago. I now have strength, and with it, true courage.

——Courage without strength is merely the self-satisfaction of fools. True courage must be born from strength.

Thinking of this, I directly activated my substitute puppet ability towards Zhuang Cheng.

With the power he displayed, my ability could not transform him into a substitute puppet. But as long as I could delay him for a second, no, even if it was just a blink of an eye, I would be able to find a chance to escape.

After that, I followed his instructions and waited in the shadow space for the heat to dissipate, so that he could no longer track me. Even if he wanted to chase me into the shadow world, he would not be able to survive there without the relevant abilities, let alone cause any harm to me.

I will definitely escape from here!
There was no movement, nor any light. Just a thought moved me, and my supernatural power instantly took effect, corroding Zhuang Cheng who was standing in front of me.

However, the moment my supernatural power touched his spirit.

A sun filled with destructive waves also appeared in my consciousness.

(End of this chapter)