In the span of a millisecond Ryu had a frenzied debate in his brain, he wasn’t going to roll over and die. Should he use one of the Seven Forgotten Professions? If his cultivation was higher he could create Enchantment capable of blocking the attack, nullify the incoming fire Qi with Sage Arts or transmute the white flames into a harmless element. Physical techniques won’t get him out of this predicament. Even with his profound movement skills, he can’t dodge this. In the end he decided to use all the skills practical in this situation.

In the span of one second, invisible blocks intricately weaved together by Enchantment formed in front of him. An invisible stream of pure Qi shot forth towards in attempt to dilute the harmful flames with Sage Arts. A Gold Keeper holding a grand shield formed as well, created by True Alchemy and his own Qi.

Another half a second passed and Ryu’s own body had a layer of crimson translucent color as he twisted his body around to run away. The only option was to delay this attack and run away while defending himself! Of the four Seven Ancient Beast Arts, the Eternal Phoenix School specializes in flames and self-recovery.

Before Ryu’s first line of defense came in contact with the hellish white flames, his expression turned grim. He could already feel the skin on his back burning up. The obstacles he erected to stop the flames all melted down in a flash before they even got to touch the deadly flames. He was also in the elemental mutation mode already. Usually a user in this state would be immune to most attack unless the attack was imbued with a much superior Qi. Ryu knew that he would be devoured and ashes of his corpse wouldn’t even remain if he got hit by the incoming flames.

The Infinity Tomes pages flipped madly, giving Ryu the ability to think slightly faster. The indirect burns on his body quickly healed up with the Return of the Phoenix stance.

If I don’t have any skills that can save me… I’ll just have to make one! Ryu thought grimly. There was another specialization he had in mind, he was going to form it just before he entered the Emperor Domain. However, his life came first. He could always form that particular specialization when he reaches the Supreme Domain.

A specialization that’ll help me avoid this… Even if he managed to increase his speed to the point where he could dodge the falling rain of infernal, the unbearable heat from the aftermath is enough to burn him to a crisp still. As miraculous as specializations are, they are not invincible or all mighty. What specializations can grant him enough speed to dodge this problem or take it head-on? The simulations in his head all end in complete failures!

The flames slowly neared in Ryu’s slow motion cognitive view. The regenerative and fire-resistance from the Eternal Phoenix School are already showing signs that they couldn’t hold up, the burns on his body became more severe.

If only I could avoid without trying to dodge and not worry about getting hit… that’s it! Avoid without avoiding. Ryu suddenly thought of an idea. The deepest chasm of his first Qi reservoir roared as he tried to establish his latest specialization with his original reservoir. The other reservoirs linked to individual Infinity Tomes have predetermined specializations that he can’t use so this was his only chance.

A new sensation never felt before by Ryu vibrated from within him and Ryu realized instantly that his attempt at the new specialization has failed. This was his first failure at establishing a specialization. Specializations are difficult to establish by default. Only a few out of a hundred cultivators ever establish just one. The specializations are ranked as such – Poor, Regular, Rare and True. The odds of establishing a True Specialization is lower than one in a million. Poor Regular and Rare Specializations will give a power that could be attained if one trained long enough. True Specializations provide logic defying powers but they come at a high price.

Ryu tried establishing the specialization that’ll get him out of this predicament continuously, regardless of the consequences. The flames aiming for his life reached a close to fatal distance from him now. Finally Ryu bit his lips as he was forced to make a great sacrifice. A moment later the flames made contact with Ryu and devoured his figure.

From a third person perspective, the blanket of dominating unstoppable white flames covered the area where Ryu was at. The hungry flames engulfed the earth and started spreading rapidly like a parasite. Unless the user willed it or an external force with equal strength intervened then the fire will burn for weeks.

The grotesque magma covered golem that looked like a demon from hell stopped in its tracks and let out a roar which stirred up a tempest. He had searched the ground for any traces of Ryu’s Qi but his Qi sense turned up nothing. Ryu’s Qi had vanished completely. General Suun wasted bits of his Soul Qi in this endeavor but what pains him more is the opportunity lost at obtaining an unranked skill. He slammed his arms down and channeled all his fury into it. A fist size cannon ball of Qi shot downwards faster than the eye could follow and a pillar of all-consuming flames shot towards the heavens.

He whipped his head around and stared with his blood-shot eyes at the teenage kid with foreign clothes. The Spear Lord already started attacking the culprit responsible for killing their prey. His thoughts were the same with the Spear Lord at the moment, this magician must have wanted Ryu too but knew he couldn’t have him so he killed him! The teleportation of Kong Suun’s fire must have been done on purpose they thought.

The Spear Lord also held a high position in the Toko Empire like General Suun does with the Yasha Empire. He does not belong to a reputable sect or powerful clan, he was a self-made man whose fame earned him the right to train the heirs of the Toko Empire. He even fought General Suun’s own father on the battle field a few times, the two had nothing but respect for each other. Actually most active Supreme Domain and even Sovereign Domain experts know each other quite well. Unless one had extreme grievances against another, they were actually on decent terms.

Even though the provinces were at war almost constantly, the armies contained low level cultivators fighting for small pieces of land. It was just unethical politics at play that leads them to fight. The provinces never truly intends to go all out against each other because only chaos would ensue. The provinces that lose would be annexed and the weakened province would probably follow suit.

That’s why most Supreme Domain experts actually use wars as an opportunity to exchange pointers with another Supreme Domain expert on the battle field. After fighting him for the first time, Kong Suun developed a similar respect his father has for the Spear Lord as well. Now that there’s no reason for them to butt-heads, Suun dashed over in a streak of blinding light to help him.

Even though rewards offered by the Thousand Swords Graveyard could be comparable to unranked skills, there’s no guarantee that his Kong Family will win. The rewards are weapons and essences supposedly which can only help one person but if a whole army was taught an unranked skill… who else on the continent can stop them? Perhaps Shaolin Temple and Wudang Sect since they are rumored to have unranked skills as well. They are the true super powers of the continent but they never take part in mortal affairs unless mass killings or Dark Continent are involved. This was why he couldn’t shake off this loss.

“Why isn’t the spell working?” XieXu cried out as he desperately tried to preserve his own life. He was faced against a madman wielding an eccentric spear that shoots out like a whip. The Blink Spell used by most magicians as a means to travel or escape wouldn’t activate. How could he have anticipated that the area around him had the time and space fractured which interfered with his spell.

If only I had my original body! He cursed to himself. XieXu is a magician and magicians are just another type of cultivators. He had reached the end of his longevity ages ago when he failed to advance past Entry Supreme Domain. In order to stall his inevitable end, he used a taboo spell that rewinds his body back to his younger days one month each year. This lowers his cultivation greatly. Right now he is barely holding up by using the Mana Shield spell which creates a blue circular bubble around him. The magma golem arrived and started pounding on his shield too.

“Stop! You barbaric fools. Trashes like you are not worthy of killing me. Don’t you know that I’m from the Magic Continent? If my school finds out about this… your family will be ripped out by the roots!” XieXu shrieked. It was insult mixed with a threat. Deep down XieXu was scheming of a way to fire off a Six-Circle Spell. Magicians were generally weak in terms of close combat. They needed time to channel and launch spells. If he could get a proper spell out then he could turn the tide of the battle around instantly. Problem is that the two veterans of war knew that as well so they are not going to give him a chance to cast a real spell.

“Pft. You are right, we might be trash compared to the Magic Continent but you are just garbage that even the Magic Continent doesn’t want.” Kong Suun sneered as his aura skyrocketed. The golem suit started growing rapidly, reaching twice its original size.

The two Supreme Domain expert native to the Heaven Continent were outraged by the magician’s comments. Even if it’s true that their continent is the weakest, they still had their pride. Besides, they know that only the “failures” of other continents that couldn’t make it in their own land would come to the Heaven Continent. They might act like big shots around the Heaven Continent but back in their homeland, they were nothing. This was true with XieXu who was just a third-rate magician that got expelled from a no-name magic school. He decided to come to the Heaven Continent with two junior school mates because he wanted to be the big fish in the small pond.

The moment the giant monstrous golem stopped enlarging, the illusionary spear became clear and landed on the invisible shield. There was no real force behind it, you could say it was placed there. Then the golem held both hands together and slammed downwards, hammering the enormous dragon-like spear. Before XieXu could utter another word in response, he was split in half cleanly. The spell he was preparing broke apart with his body.

The proud magician was hired by the Blue Fire Phantoms Guild, one of the top guilds of the continent. They even designated a floating castle which is a huge fortune by all accounts to this magician. He thought he was a clever and mighty magician by receiving such treatment in the “trash” continent. Never did he think he would die in this “trash” continent.

A moment ago in a place hundreds of kilometers away, one of Ryu’s clone created by his Divide and Conquer Specialization started to dim as if he was fading. This clone was currently on the way to the Lin Empire’s capital with Exoe, the founder of the Infernal Fist School that Ryu grew up from. Exoe exist in the form of his essence only. The fact that Exoe has an essence means he is at least in the Emperor Domain. Ryu’s clone was accompanying Exoe mainly to get this shady character who had been less than forthcoming away from his grandparents.

When Ryu was physically stabbed by the corrupt elder of the Golden Lion clan earlier, the clone lost consciousness. However, the Infinity Tomes were still guarding over Ryu and his clones. Exoe was weary about the abrupt change that came from Ryu’s clone. After an internal debate Exoe decided not to act on it.

Now Ryu’s using all his power to oppose the attack that could claim his life, the clone’s complexion changed. The clone’s aura also faded. The seemingly inactive and docile essence belonging Exoe observed for a little while and suddenly turned pitched black. A sinister aura was finally released and Exoe abandoned all pretenses of a good role model. The black aura enveloped Ryu’s clone before the essence itself slammed into it. The moment he was waiting for came sooner than he thought. It turned out that Exoe intended to take over Ryu’s real body via the connection from the clone.

A tinge of pain rang through Ryu’s mind on top of all the mental activities he has going on trying to stay alive. The clones are all connected to the real body. It’s not the skill or the Qi consumption that’s difficult in creating clones, it’s the mental strain that comes with it. Creating a second clone is like writing with both hands but harder. On top of staying alive in the all-consuming white flames, Ryu now has to fight for supremacy over his real body.