“In front of Master Long San, you’re just an ant. Starting now, I, Master Long San, am going to dominate heaven and earth. You are only fit to crawl beneath my feet.” Long Chen floated in the air like a god of fire looking down on the rest of the world. The violent way his hair and robes blew about him made him look deranged. His Spiritual Strength was also chaotic.

“He’s practically insane. He dares to say such a thing?” Kan Dongze shook his head.

Then looking at Long San’s scarlet eyes, it was clearly the effect of fire poison that had made him lose his reasoning. That was why he would say such brazen words.

Every one of the disciples surrounding the martial arena was unable to accept it. He had basically called all of them ants.

“Too arrogant! A newcomer also dares to be this arrogant? Who do you think you are?!”

“Luo Xiao, kill him! I’ve seen arrogant people, but never anyone so arrogant!”

Quite a few disciples couldn’t help but curse Long Chen. Perhaps this was simply envy for a disciple of the Divine Pill Hall. They finally had an excuse to openly curse one of them.

“Long San, you really are an idiot. I, Luo Xiao, began the switch to a flame cultivator half a year ago. My foundation is much more profound than yours. Furthermore, my cultivation base is in the Jade Core realm. As for you, you’re just in the Foundation Forging realm. Where did this arrogance of yours come from? Do you think I only have this little bit of ability? Let me tell you, that was just a test. The real fight starts now. Realize that next year, today will be the anniversary of your death! This is the real power of a flame cultivator!

“Power of the Flame Spirit, Form of Ten Thousand Beasts, I am your Soul, my Life is your Name. Contractual Flame Spirit Beast, appear!”

BOOM!

Flames suddenly erupted out of Luo Xiao as he formed hand seals. They condensed into a huge figure beneath his feet.

It was a flame salamander hundreds of meters long. A terrifying pressure caused the spectators’ hearts to shake.

“This Luo Xiao is actually able to condense his own Earth Flame Spirit Beast?” Kan Dongze was a bit surprised.

There were two types of Earth Flame Spirit Beasts. One was natural Earth Flames that took the appearance of beasts. They could be forcibly subdued and enslaved to fight for their master. But Earth Flames had their own spirits, and using a slave imprint to forcibly order it to fight would cause a conflict between its spirit and its master’s will. Sometimes it would suddenly attack its master.

The second method involved condensing an Earth Flame Spirit Beast through a kind of secret art possessed by Pill Valley. This Earth Flame Spirit Beast would be fully obedient.

The prerequisite to do such a thing was to sacrifice a portion of your Spiritual Strength to give life to the Earth Flame Spirit Beast. This Earth Flame Spirit Beast formed from your own Earth Flame energy and Spiritual Strength would be one hundred percent loyal, because its soul was a part of your soul. The master and beast could fight all-out.

Every alchemist could raise Earth Flame Spirit Beasts, but sacrificing a portion of their Spiritual Strength for an Earth Flame Spirit Beast was not worth it.

As for the Spiritual Strength you sacrificed, it would never fully recover. It signified that you would never have one hundred percent of your soul energy ever again.

Each sliver of Spiritual Strength was extremely important to an alchemist. Sometimes the success or failure of a refinement was dependent on just that one sliver.

As a result, there were essentially no alchemists that raised their own Earth Flame Spirit Beasts. Furthermore, the more powerful the Earth Flame Spirit Beast, the more soul energy would be exhausted.

Luo Xiao’s Earth Flame Spirit Beast was extremely powerful. Luo Xiao had sacrificed a full ten percent of his Spiritual Strength to raise it. That was why it was so terrifying, capable of instantly killing ordinary Jade Core experts.

“Die!”

Luo Xiao’s flame salamander suddenly charged forward, slamming a claw at Long Chen.

BOOM! Flames filled the sky. Long Chen had met the salamander’s claw with his fist.

Compared to the flame salamander, Long Chen was as tiny as a fly. Although he managed to stop the claw, he was constantly being pushed back by it. The huge power blew apart Long Chen’s shoes.

Blood-red runes appeared on Long Chen’s feet. They ground against the metal bricks, releasing a hair-raising metallic ringing.

“Not bad. That Earth Flame essence wasn’t wasted. Long San’s physical body is comparable to a body cultivator.” Seeing Long Chen rely on just his physical strength to block this flame salamander, Zhuo Tianxiang nodded.

“Reporting to Protector Zhuo, disciple has noticed that Long San’s physical body is extremely powerful. Even after absorbing all that Earth Flame essence, it doesn’t seem like he’s reached his limit. If we had more time and he could absorb more Earth Flame essence, his body would grow even stronger,” interjected Elder Zhu.

“I see. Alchemists normally have weak bodies. This Long San really is an oddity. If we weren’t in such a rush, he definitely would be raised properly. With such a powerful physical body, there’s basically no way he can lose. When he gets back, properly raise this secret weapon. Perhaps he can give us a pleasant surprise.” Zhuo Tianxiang smiled.

BOOM!

Long Chen was finally unable to continue blocking the power of the flame salamander and was sent flying.

Die!” Luo Xiao didn’t give Long Chen any chance to recover. The tail of the salamander whipped toward him.

“Hmph, do you think you’re the only one with an Earth Flame Spirit Beast? Power of the Flame Spirit, Form of Ten Thousand Beasts, I am your Soul, my Life is your Name. Contractual Flame Spirit Beast, appear!”

Long Chen suddenly made the same hand seals and chanted the same thing as Luo Xiao.

Seeing this shocked everyone, even Zhuo Tianxiang and the ones in the room.

“Hehe, under my supervision and guidance, Long San can now use this move.” Elder Zhu modestly smiled. But the delight in his eyes sold him out.

In truth, Elder Zhu was just trying to make himself look better. This wasn’t something he had taught Long Chen. It was something he had taken the initiative to learn.

Suddenly, a huge blood-colored wolf appeared in the air. It was extremely lifelike, looking just like a real Magical Beast.

It immediately let out a furious howl. All its hair stood on end, and its eyes contained icy killing intent.

“He’s actually able to condense such a lifelike Earth Flame Spirit Beast? Just how much Spiritual Strength did he sacrifice?” asked Zhuo Tianxiang.

The more solid the Earth Flame Spirit Beast, the greater its power, and the more Spiritual Strength had to be sacrificed to condense it.

“I really don’t know. Long San has so much Spiritual Strength that even after condensing this Earth Flame Spirit Beast, I didn’t sense his Spiritual Strength drop.” Elder Zhu shook his head, sighing.

The wolf bit the salamander’s tail and instantly tore it off.

Not giving the tail any time to transform into runes, the wolf opened its mouth and devoured it.

This blood-colored flame wolf was no Earth Flame Spirit Beast. It was one of Huo Long’s transformations. Its appearance was similar to Little Snow’s, but its fur was blood-colored instead of white, the specific color of the Berserk Blood Flame.

Long Chen stood atop its head. Seeing this familiar figure, he felt a wave of emotion. It was like he could see Little Snow blocking the Yama King Blood Curse for him and dying in the Immemorial Path.

“Little Snow, charge!”

Long Chen let out a quiet cry. It was like he had returned to a time when they could fight alongside each other. Huo Long seemed to be able to sense Long Chen’s emotions, and it let out a roar. It bent its legs and then pounced at Luo Xiao as quick as lightning.

Luo Xiao was shocked and infuriated. He had never imagined that Long Chen would have an Earth Flame Spirit Beast, and one even stronger than his own at that.

Due to Long Chen’s Earth Flame being of an even higher rank than Luo Xiao’s, his Earth Flame Spirit Beast was stronger, causing Luo Xiao to panic.

Luo Xiao made the salamander dodge, wanting to avoid it being killed in one hit. But he didn’t know that Long Chen’s flame wolf was no ordinary Earth Flame Spirit Beast. Huo Long had been raised by Long Chen from its youth, and it had experienced countless bloody battles with him. It possessed its own combat instincts.

Although its form had changed to a wolf instead of a dragon, it was still nimble and agile. Missing its first dash, its back legs stamped on the ground and it spun, rushing toward the salamander that had just dodged. Luo Xiao had yet to even stabilize it yet.

BOOM!

In front of countless shocked gazes, the wolf’s paw slammed into the salamander, making it explode.

Although Luo Xiao had abandoned his Earth Flame Spirit Beast at the last moment and was flying away, he was coughing up blood from the shockwaves.

Before he could do anything, a figure appeared in front of him, and a large hand clamped over his throat, holding him in the air like a chicken.

A pair of eyes with blood-colored runes in them stared at him. That gaze was like the gaze of a death god, and Luo Xiao’s soul almost fled out of terror.

“Long San… don’t kill me… please, I’m begging you!” At this time, Luo Xiao’s throat was caught and he couldn’t speak. He could only send out a spiritual message, begging for mercy.

“I had no choice other than to target you! Please, let me go! I won’t do anything to you ever again!” Luo Xiao was full of terror.

The outsiders couldn’t sense Luo Xiao’s spiritual messages outside the martial stage, but they saw his begging appearance.

“Speak. Who deceived Duan Tianqiao?” Long Chen’s voice was icy without the slightest emotion, just like a Grim Reaper from hell.