For soone who looked so unassuming, the Black Qilin was surprisingly endearing—if you could overlook the fact that he never seed to stop talking.
When she saw him master the Polar Lightning Art in such a short ti, the red-clad woman’s opinion of him shifted. She had been impressed despite herself.
Truth be told, the mont she first laid eyes on him, she had been stunned. The Qilin race had been extinct across countless worlds for ages. And here stood not just any Qilin, but the Black Qilin—the sovereign of his kind.
Yet the very first thing this rare, mythical being did upon eting her... was drool.
Like so sleazy drunk leering at a girl on the subway.
That was why she had treated him with such disdain from the start.
In the sixth layer of the Spirit realm, Blackie had just inherited his ancestral power and hadn’t even had a chance to explore before the entire Spirit Realm shattered. A sha, really—they hadn’t even realized they were the first spirits to reach that floor.
The fifth layer’s Ascension Staircase was where the real trials began, and everyone knew it. Only those with strength beyond reckoning dared to climb it. The spirits who lingered there were already considered the peak of their kind.
"I can’t... I can’t... you guys, hit him!"
The red-clad woman had barely glanced at Blackie before he suddenly shouted at Julian and Micah.
Neither man knew what he was on about—until they noticed the lightning sphere on Blackie’s chest dissolving. Its glow dimd, then vanished entirely. The arcs dancing across his body fizzled out, and his blur of motion ca to a dead stop.
"Holy hell... Blackie... are you a three-second wonder?" Micah swore.
Julian slapped a palm to his forehead. No choice—they’d have to go in themselves. He charged forward with his blade raised.
Their opponent—monts ago drawn helplessly toward the Polar Lightning—now wore a look of pure terror. Regaining control of his body, his first instinct was to run.
He managed a single step before a hand like an iron vice clamped around his neck.
Crack.
A choked grunt escaped his lips as his neck snapped cleanly. The newly ascended War-God-rank spirit dropped without another sound.
"Brother!"
"Ethan!"
"Boss!"
Micah, Julian, and Blackie all shouted at once, eyes lighting up as if salvation had arrived.
"Haha! Boss is here, you’re saved!" Blackie added cheerfully.
Ethan’s expression darkened. What did he an, ’you’re saved’? He could barely keep himself alive.
"Saved my ass," Ethan muttered. "I can hardly save myself."
"Boss, you’re quick—take them and get out of here! The flas don’t hurt or my wife!" Blackie puffed out his chest as he said it.
"Who’s your wife? Don’t lump in with your shaless fantasies!" the red-clad woman snapped, cheeks flushing.
"Oh, co on. We’re the only Qilins left in existence. Have you seen another besides ?" Blackie grinned smugly.
"You—!" She was practically shaking with anger.
Ethan pinched the bridge of his nose. Blackie’s hide was thicker than dragon-scale; he could spin any nonsense into an excuse.
"Wait. Did you just say the flas don’t hurt you?" Ethan asked sharply.
"Yeah... I’ve got fire, water, earth, and wind—" Blackie began, but Ethan cut him off, rummaging through his pack.
"Try this." Ethan pulled out a fiery red orb and shoved it into Blackie’s hands.
The mont the orb appeared, the raging fire all around them guttered out. Even the fla shield the red-clad woman had cast vanished. Lava rained down in sheets, forcing them to dodge aside.
"Heart of the Earth Core...? How do you have that?" the woman gasped, eyes fixed on the orb.
"Heart of the—what? This is an Infernal Core—" Ethan started to say, but she had already snatched it from Blackie.
"With this, we’re saved!" she exclaid.
Ethan bit back a sigh. I just told you it’s an Infernal Core.
It was the sa artifact-grade item he’d picked up alongside the Frostbound Reverie in the Larson Basin. In his last life, he’d heard it was rely a crafting material. Only after obtaining it had he discovered it had other powers.
[Infernal Core]
Grade: Divine-tier
Attribute 1: Creates a 50x50-yard fla shield, completely immune to fire-elent attacks for five minutes (24-hour cooldown).
Attribute 2: Calms all agitated fire elents.
Attribute 3: Can be socketed into any equipnt with a gem slot.
Attribute 4: Functions as a Divine-tier crafting material for fire-elent gear.
Restrictions: Requires 20% fire resistance to use without harm; below 40% causes heavy continuous damage.
Back then, seeing the requirent, Ethan had tossed it into his inventory and forgotten it. Even now, after gaining fire resistance from the Fire-Eyed Toad, he still didn’t et the threshold.
But Blackie’s immunity made him the perfect candidate. The mont Ethan handed it over, the Core’s power had instantly cald the volcanic fury—so much so that even the woman’s own fla shield had been disrupted.
Now, clutching the Core, she shot skyward, and a massive, blazing barrier blood around them—far stronger than the one she’d conjured before.
The second wave of molten rock hit the do above and rolled downward in a blazing rain. Fiery boulders pounded the ground, splitting the cracked earth wide. It was hell made real—but when the lava t the barrier, it cooled and slid harmlessly aside.
Inside the shimring shield, they stood in the only safe space for miles.
"The shield lasts five minutes! We need to move!" Ethan called up to her.
"I know—go on ahead!" she shouted back.
Ethan froze. Wasn’t she supposed to keep the shield over them while they retreated? What did she an, you go first?
"Ah... her compassion is kicking in again," Blackie groaned, covering his face. "I swear, I need to sit her down and knock so sense into her."
Instead of falling back, she endured several waves of lava, then—seeing the barrage thinning—turned and flew straight toward the volcano’s heart.
The volcano roiled as if on the verge of a cataclysmic eruption.
"She’s not seriously going to try to calm it from the inside, is she?" Ethan muttered.
If she actually threw the Infernal Core into that thing... she might just be insane.
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