Elder Universe and Ni Yinghong looked at each other. They widened their eyes in disbelief when they looked at the fireball that slowly emerged in front of Ou Yangming.

"This, Master!" Ni Yinghong slowly inched closer to Elder Universe. It was not because she did not want to be close to Ou Yangming, but because the heatwave released by the fireball was slowly growing and her skin was starting to hurt due to its burning heat. As such, she was forced to stay away from Ou Yangming.

"Uh, huh, what?"

"Didn't you say it's impossible to maneuver natural energy during the first try?"

The old farmer instantly looked embarrassed. He smiled bitterly and asked, "My clever apprentice, where did you find this freak?"

Ni Yinghong quickly responded, "Master, he's not a freak! He's gifted!"

"Okay, he's gifted. Ah, I have such a bitter life; I still have to be a babysitter…" The old farmer forced a smile, then he looked around and said, "Luckily, this fella's still young, and he probably has insufficient mental power, or I won't be able to guarantee my medicinal farm's safe… Hey? Something's wrong… What the hell!"

Ni Yinghong was shocked, and she quickly looked at Ou Yangming.

A fist-sized fireball had appeared in front of Ou Yangming earlier. It was not huge, but the heatwave released was already unbearable for her.

Nonetheless, the fireball was expanding rapidly, at a speed visible to the naked eye. Its size had doubled after just a brief moment. The rich and violent aura that it contained frightened Ni Yinghong and the old farmer.

"This young fella's crazy. How dare he do this!" The old farmer widened his eyes and mumbled. He raised his palm intending to slap Ou Yangming, but he was hesitant and did not dare to do it in the end.

Nevertheless, the fireball seemed to have not expanded to its limit yet. As Ni Yinghong and Elder Universe watched anxiously, it expanded once more to the size of a watermelon.

When a person only had little mental power, although he or she could also absorb enormous amounts of energy from nature, there was a certain limit to it; when one released more mental power, the outcome would be unusually terrifying.

Once the mental power in the center became more powerful, one could absorb more external power too.

Even though the fireball was only as big as a watermelon at the moment, Ni Yinghong and Elder Universe sensed intense danger.

The old farmer suddenly looked resolute, and he gave out a slight killing intent.

Ni Yinghong shouted as she sensed it right away, "Master!"

She was imploring him.

"Ah, one day, I'll be killed by you—my unfilial apprentice!" The old farmer stomped his foot and remarked. He was complaining, but his killing intent had completely vanished.

Suddenly, Ou Yangming's eyes wandered about as though something was happening.

Along with the change to his body, the fireball, which was hanging in the air, vibrated slightly and appeared to be unstable.

The faces of Ni Yinghong and the old farmer changed at the same time.

"Throw it away…"

Ni Yinghong screamed at the top of her lungs without any hesitation.

Following that, Ou Yangming flicked his wrists as if he had heard Ni Yinghong, causing the fireball to fly into the sky.

In terms of size alone, the watermelon-sized fireball was far from the strong wind released by Elder Universe earlier, but its might was not inferior at all. It was actually superior to the wind.

"Boom…"

Roughly 10 meters away from the ground, the fireball slowed down and finally stopped as it lost kinetic energy. It exploded the instant it stopped.

A deafening explosion filled the air, followed by an intense and scorching heatwave that spread out in all directions like it was going to burn everything.

The old farmer straightened his body abruptly. There was a 180-degree change to his aura. He turned from an old man, who simply enjoyed life, into the invincible Mighty Miracle God.

He reached out his hands with his palms facing the sky, and roared, "Shield!"

Green lights were emitted from his palm at that instant. With him as the center, the lights formed a gigantic light shield, which extended tens of meters away before it stopped.

Since the sparks from the explosion could not linger in the air for too long, they fell and hit the light shield. Despite that, the light shield had such a wonderful structure that it was not damaged at all when the sparks hit it. Instead, the sparks only burned for a while before they distinguished.

That said, the area covered by the sparks from the explosion was too wide. Even when Elder Universe did his best, he could not block all of the sparks.

At last, some of the sparks fell to the ground outside of the light shield.

Consequently, the sparks burned with rage.

The fire burned everything on the ground, using those items as its fuel. Before long, the houses nearby began to burn and gave out smoke.

It was worth noting that the heat energies contained in the sparks could not be matched by normal flames. It was like fire from hell, and could potentially burn everything in the world.

"Fire! Fire!"

Numerous people began yelling, and they dashed out from the houses one after another with various tools. They either retrieved water with wooden pails to extinguish the fire or tried to put out small flames with clothes.

However, they soon realized that the flames were different from normal ones because it was incredibly difficult to quench them.

Ou Yangming shook his head and finally regained his senses. His face changed when he noticed the chaos around him.

Though Ou Yangming had completely lost his senses earlier, he was not a fool, hence he quickly figured out the culprit behind the mess when he saw what was happening.

He flashed and dashed out.

Ou Yangming swiftly went past the area covered by the light shield, and he arrived in front of the raging fire.

"Be careful!" Ni Yinghong called out to him.

While in mid-air, Ou Yangming turned to look, and he noticed her worried eyes.

He felt warmth in his heart because he knew Ni Yinghong was worried about him.

That being said, Ou Yangming did not slow down at all. He reached out his palm and released a hint of mental power, then his Military Fire burned in his palm. Next, the flames around Ou Yangming, which could not be extinguished by normal people, left what they were burning and headed toward him instead.

"Whoosh…"

The blazing flames gathered at his hand and became one with his Military Fire.

Without any delay, Ou Yangming sped around the area. His body seemed to have become a powerful fire source. The flames were attracted to him wherever he went. There were no exceptions, whether it was the stubborn sparks on the ground or the violent fire that was burning a house.

Ou Yangming was immediately surrounded by flames, and he became a giant fire man that burned in fiery flames.

Nonetheless, it was extremely strange that not a single spark was seen even though his body released vigorous heatwaves.

After Ou Yangming ran one round around the area, the fire was entirely quenched, leaving only thick black smoke rising to the sky.

However, Ou Yangming had completely turned into a giant pillar of fire, and the raging flames forced everyone else to stay away.

Ni Yinghong moved her lips a little and subconsciously cried, causing the area in front of her chest to be wet. Nevertheless, she seemed to be unknowing, and her body swayed as she wanted to run toward Ou Yangming.

She quickly felt a tightness on her wrist because Elder Universe grabbed her.

Elder Universe had a grim look on his face too. He had performed a secret technique to save his medicinal farm as much as he could, but he consumed a lot more power than Ou Yangming did.

It was easy to destroy but difficult to build—a well-known saying that remained unchanged over the years.

Elder Universe was the only powerhouse who could protect such a vast medicinal farm on his own. If the flames had fallen onto his plants, his hard work of a few decades would have been destroyed.

"Master…" Ni Yinghong wailed.

"Why are you crying? He's not dead yet!" Elder Universe exhaled, and his breath seemed to be carrying a surging heatwave.

Ni Yinghong was stunned, and her eyes instantly lit up. "Master, what did you say?"

Elder Universe did not know to cry or to laugh. "These flames were released by the young fella through his mental power, and it's a power that he controls, so they won't hurt him as long as they don't exceed his controllable limit."

"But… Such a huge fire?" Ni Yinghong asked as she looked at the pillar of fire.

"The fire is actually scattered and much weaker than the watermelon-sized one," Elder Universe said disdainfully, "He has controlled the flames, and they're slowly getting weaker. Can't you see that they're slowly diminishing?"

Ni Yinghong studied the fire for some time before she confirmed that the flames were indeed wearing out although they looked fearsome. Besides, the process was becoming faster. The smart Ni Yinghong smiled through her tears once she had a clear understanding of the situation.

Elder Universe remarked snappily, "Hmph, you're crying and laughing. You're still so immature!"

"Master, what did you say?"

"Huh, I was saying that the young fella should be almost done."

As soon as the elder's voice died away, the burning fire suddenly flashed and disappeared strangely in front of them.

No. The fire did not completely disappear because a ball of flame was still burning on Ou Yangming's right hand.

The flame danced like a fairy.

Everyone could tell that the flame was like a part of Ou Yangming's body. He appeared to be like an ancient God of fire, who was controlling and playing with the flame, but he kept giving out a threatening feeling.

In the distance, many people kowtowed to him and prayed.

Elder Universe sighed and mumbled.

When Ni Yinghong pricked up her ears curiously, she only heard continuous mumbles.

"What the hell, what the hell. Seriously, what the hell…"