Love Burning Amidst the Ashes. - Chapter 30 - Battle to the Death Against the Flame Lizard
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- Love Burning Amidst the Ashes.
- Chapter 30 - Battle to the Death Against the Flame Lizard
**ROAR—!!!**
The roar of the Twin-Headed Flame Lizard was no longer a mere sound. It had transformed into destruction made manifest!
Two streams of sulfurous breath, each as thick as a palace pillar and carrying viscous, blazing golden-red magma, erupted from its two enormous mouths like two enraged dragons of fire!
The air instantly vaporized beneath the extreme heat, releasing a piercing shriek. Light refracted wildly through the scorching, distorted air, illuminating the entire bottom of Soulbreak Cliff as a hellish furnace!
Before the breath even arrived, the scorching storm that could incinerate everything had already swept over them!
Xu Qing Xuan leaned against a cold stone pillar. His already feeble breathing flickered like a dying candle caught in the wind beneath the terrifying wave of heat!
The hem of his cyan alchemist robe instantly turned yellow and curled from the heat, while the smell of singed hair filled the air. Needle-like pain seared across his skin, and every breath he drew through his nose and mouth felt like swallowing red-hot iron sand.
The gray-white glow of the Yin-Yang Jade Pendant in his arms trembled violently under the impact of the heat wave. The crack across its surface twisted and expanded like a living creature!
His sea of consciousness was completely overwhelmed by scorching heat and agony. All he could see were two rapidly approaching pillars of destruction, filling his entire field of vision.
The shadow of death had never been this scorching… nor this clear!
“Brother—!!!”
Behind a rock on the other side, Xu Qing Feng’s eyes nearly split from rage!
The sight of his elder brother on the verge of death acted like the most violent catalyst, completely igniting the Thunder Fiend energy surging through his bloodline, along with that trace of chaotic aura!
Fear was crushed.
Pain was ignored.
A fierce will to burn everything together and die alongside his enemy, mixed with his determination to protect his closest kin, erupted in his chest like a volcano!
It overwhelmed the agony of his shattered dantian.
It overwhelmed the cold darkness of the demonic seed’s corruption!
“AAARGH—!!!”
A beast-like roar burst from the depths of Xu Qing Feng’s throat!
His bloodied left hand no longer tried to gather the faint remnants of lightning. Instead, his five fingers curled like claws and viciously plunged into his charred, mangled right arm—the very place where the black demonic-seed markings pulsed most violently!
**SPLURT!**
Scalding black blood, carrying a strange, bone-chilling aura, instantly sprayed into the air!
Pain!
A pain that reached deep into his bones, a pain that seemed to tear his very soul apart!
Yet that agony became the fuse that completely detonated the destructive energy within his body—energy that the Lightning-Pattern Fruit had forcibly brought under control, yet which still remained locked in a violent conflict!
**BOOM—!!!**
Every blue-violet lightning crack beneath his skin instantly blazed to its limit, resembling the crust of a volcano on the verge of eruption!
Countless dazzling strands of silver-white lightning essence mixed with a trace of deep, chaotic dark-purple energy. No longer clashing in disorder, they were forcibly fused and compressed by that desperate will.
The energy surged along his bloodied left arm and poured madly toward his palm!
**HUM!**
The dormant jade-pendant mark on his left shoulder suddenly erupted with an unprecedented gray-white radiance under the stimulation of its master’s will and the violent energy!
It carried with it a strange guiding force.
Like the most precise furnace, it instantly enveloped the destructive energy gathering in Xu Qing Feng’s left arm, which was on the verge of losing control.
Chaos!
Embrace!
Channel!
The gray-white light of the jade-pendant mark violently intertwined with the raging silver-white lightning and the deep, chaotic purple aura!
A profound rhythm, as though touching the very origin of Heaven and Earth, flashed through Xu Qing Feng’s consciousness, which was already on the verge of shattering.
**With Chaos as its foundation, Lightning as its edge—shatter all laws!**
“Now… CONDENSE!!!”
Xu Qing Feng’s eyes were filled with bloodshot veins. Within his pupils, silver-white lightning and chaotic purple light spun wildly as he locked his gaze upon the two streams of annihilating breath rushing toward him!
His bloodied left hand suddenly spread open.
He reached toward the lava dragons that could burn everything to ashes and clenched his hand in midair!
**CRACKLE—!!!**
A lightning spear suddenly materialized before his palm!
Its entire body was wrapped in dazzling silver-white arcs of lightning, while deep, chaotic dark-purple light flowed through its core.
The spear was not physical.
It had been forcibly compressed and shaped from the violent essence of lightning and the aura of Chaos!
At the very tip of the spear was a point of darkness so profoundly purple that it seemed capable of devouring all light. The surrounding air twisted violently, emitting a mournful cry under the unbearable pressure.
On the body of the spear, faint and extraordinarily intricate gray-white runes appeared—runes originating from the same source as the jade-pendant mark on his left shoulder.
**The Chaos-Shattering Thunder Spear!**
A spear forged with the body as its furnace, the soul as its guide, Chaos as its foundation, and Lightning as its edge!
A spear born from the resolve to perish alongside one’s enemy!
The instant the spear was completed, it felt as though all the blood in Xu Qing Feng’s body had been drained away.
His skin visibly withered before the naked eye. All the blue-violet lightning cracks suddenly went dark, transforming into charred black scars.
The black markings of the demonic seed on his right arm pulsed madly at their limit. Dark-red blood light surged outward as they greedily devoured his remaining vitality. Deep within the markings, tiny cracks even began to appear.
From his dantian came a series of crisp, bone-chilling **cracks**, like the most exquisite glass vessel being crushed into dust.
The agony had surpassed its limit.
And beyond that limit came a strange numbness.
This single spear had drained everything from him.
His life.
His cultivation.
Even… his future.
“Qing Feng! Don’t!”
Through his blurred vision, Xu Qing Xuan caught sight of his younger brother’s body suddenly withering and the Chaos Thunder Spear radiating an aura of destruction.
His heart nearly shattered!
With a hoarse roar, he ignored the unbearable pain caused by his collapsing sea of consciousness and desperately formed a complicated hand seal with his bloodied fingers!
The last traces of pale-green wood spiritual energy mixed with the final drop of his heart’s blood before he fiercely pressed them against the cold ground beneath him, already soaked by the Blood Pool.
“**All plants, heed my command! Bind!**”
The hoarse, broken incantation carried the determination of someone making his final gamble.
His heart’s blood, mixed with his faint wood spiritual energy, seeped into the cracks of the wet rock.
Then—
A miracle happened!
Between the cracks in the rocks and along the edges of the Blood Pool, tenacious dark-purple moss covered in the heavy scent of decaying organic matter suddenly began to surge with life.
Several short, dark-green shrubs resembling thorns, which had been barely clinging to life beneath the scorching waves, also began to stir.
It was as though they had been injected with a violent surge of vitality!
**HISS—HISS—HISS—!!!**
Countless tough vines as thick as a man’s arm, covered in dark-purple slime, along with thorny branches bearing dark-green barbs, erupted from the rocks and blood-soaked ground like enormous venomous serpents awakening from hell!
They ignored the terrifying heat and primordial pressure radiating from the Flame Lizard.
Carrying the stubborn binding will of the earth and the very essence of vegetation, they fiercely coiled around the Flame Lizard’s four colossal legs, each one as massive as a pillar of Heaven.
And then—
They wrapped around its two thick necks, which were still unleashing streams of annihilating breath!
The moment the vines and thorns wrapped around it, they released a harsh **hissing** sound!
The Flame Lizard’s dark-golden scales were scorching hot. The dark-purple vine slime and dark-green thorns rapidly dried and carbonized before the naked eye.
Yet the power of vegetation that Xu Qing Xuan had summoned with his final drop of heart’s blood and the last remnants of his wood essence possessed an almost law-like attribute of **binding** and **slowing**.
Like unbreakable roots locking onto a mountain, the vines were continuously burned away, only to draw strength from the cracks in the rocks and the blood-soaked ground and regenerate again.
They coiled tighter.
Again and again.
Desperately holding the Flame Lizard back!
More importantly, the two streams of annihilating breath locked onto the brothers were forced into an extremely brief—but crucial—pause and deviation.
**Now!!!**
“**KILL—!!!**”
The last trace of clarity in Xu Qing Feng’s eyes was swallowed by an endless will of destruction!
A non-human roar rumbled from his throat.
The muscles in his left arm ruptured inch by inch under the overwhelming strain, blood flowing freely.
The Chaos-Shattering Thunder Spear hovering before his palm contained everything he had left.
It carried a brutal momentum capable of piercing the void and annihilating all things.
It transformed into a streak of silver-white lightning wrapped in dark-purple chaotic radiance.
Ignoring the distance between them, it struck first despite being launched later!
It shot violently toward the head of the Flame Lizard on the left—
Toward a relatively small patch of slightly lighter dark-golden scales beneath its molten eye, precisely where its neck connected to its head!
That was the one weakness Xu Qing Feng had detected in the instant the Flame Lizard emerged from the cave.
It was an instinct honed through countless battles to the death.
A flaw perceived by the instincts of a beast that had survived countless brushes with death.
And it was also the very place where the gray-white light of the jade-pendant mark had faintly flickered.
**Faster!**
Faster than words could describe!
Wherever the Chaos-Shattering Thunder Spear passed, space itself seemed to tear apart, leaving behind a twisted, dark-purple chaotic scar that lingered for a long time.
The scorching air was forcibly pushed aside, forming a vacuum passage in its wake!
The left head of the Twin-Headed Flame Lizard seemed to sense the fatal threat. The fury within its molten eyes was instantly replaced by a trace of alarm!
It suddenly tried to turn its head away, straining its neck to dodge.
However—
**SPLURT! CRACK!!!**
The deep-purple vines and dark-green thorns wrapped around its neck erupted with their final reserves of strength under Xu Qing Xuan’s desperate control!
Like countless shackles rooted deep within the earth, they tightened around its neck at that very instant!
It was only a thousandth of a breath.
But it was enough!
The silver-white Thunder Spear wrapped in dark-purple chaotic radiance was like a spear of judgment from the depths of the Netherworld. With terrifying precision, it plunged violently into that relatively small patch of dark-golden scales!
There was no earth-shattering explosion.
Only a sharp, grating **hiss**, like a red-hot iron brand being plunged into icy water!
The profound dark-purple Chaos at the tip of the spear erupted first!
Like the most ravenous black hole, it instantly corroded and dismantled the terrifying fire-element defense contained within the dark-golden scale.
Immediately afterward, the violent silver-white essence of lightning encountered no resistance.
Like a flood breaking through a dam, it poured violently into the depths of the Flame Lizard’s powerful neck!
**ROOOAAR—!!!**
The left head of the Flame Lizard let out an earth-shaking scream of agony!
The pain and fury contained within that roar caused the entire bottom of Soulbreak Cliff to tremble!
The flames within its molten eyes flickered wildly before dimming.
Around the spot where the Thunder Spear had pierced its neck, the dark-golden scales instantly lost their luster. They turned black, carbonized, and curled outward.
A horrifying wound the size of a washbasin appeared!
Its edges flickered with dark-purple Chaos and silver-white lightning.
Golden-red blood, thick as magma and reeking of scorching sulfur, erupted from the enormous wound like a volcanic eruption!
As the blood splashed into the Blood Pool below, large areas of the viscous crimson water instantly evaporated into scalding, foul-smelling mist!
**BOOM! BOOM!**
The two streams of annihilating sulfur breath that had originally been aimed at the brothers completely lost their accuracy after the injury to the Flame Lizard’s head and the restraint around its neck.
One swept past the top of Xu Qing Xuan’s head, roaring through the air before melting a massive section of the rock wall dozens of yards behind him.
The resulting crater was terrifying, with molten lava flowing along its edges.
The other shot diagonally into the depths of the viscous Blood Pool, triggering a violent explosion that sent a wave of dark-red blood soaring dozens of yards into the air!
One strike!
A devastating blow!
“Ugh…!”
Xu Qing Xuan let out a muffled groan beneath the terrifying heat of the breath as it passed over him.
His body, already completely exhausted, could no longer hold on.
His vision went completely black.
His consciousness sank into endless darkness, and his body collapsed limply beside the cold stone pillar.
Only the faint rise and fall of his chest proved that he was still alive.
The spiritual energy sustaining the vines and thorns instantly dispersed.
As for Xu Qing Feng—
The moment the Chaos-Shattering Thunder Spear left his hand, his entire body seemed to have been stripped of every bone.
All his strength, along with his life force, was drained in an instant!
His skin completely lost its luster, covered in charred black marks like a piece of burnt deadwood.
The black markings of the demonic seed on his right arm pulsed so weakly that they were almost imperceptible. The dark-red glow had nearly gone out, while spiderweb-like cracks covered the markings.
From within his dantian came a complete, silent sensation of shattering.
It was like the deepest abyss of winter, swallowing the final trace of his consciousness.
He could not even manage a muffled groan.
His body pitched forward rigidly and crashed heavily onto the cold, slippery rock, splashing viscous blood and mud into the air.
His breathing was like a dying candle flickering in the wind, so faint that it was almost impossible to detect.
The flame of his life could be extinguished at any moment.
“ROAR!! ROAR!!”
The right head of the Twin-Headed Flame Lizard unleashed an earth-shaking roar of fury!
With its left head severely wounded, the agony drove it into complete madness!
It violently whipped its injured neck.
The overwhelming force instantly tore apart and burned away the remaining vines and thorns!
Its molten eyes locked onto Xu Qing Feng, who lay motionless on the rocks, his breath barely detectable.
They were filled with boundless hatred and savagery.
It was this insignificant ant!
This ant had severely wounded it!
Its enormous body began to exert its strength as it attempted to crawl completely out of the collapsed cave entrance.
It intended to crush this ant who had wounded it, along with his companion, into bloody pulp, using their flesh and souls to quell its rage!
However—
Just as its massive body was about to emerge completely from the cave entrance—
**HUM!**
The dim Yin-Yang Jade Pendant in Xu Qing Xuan’s arms, as well as the faded mark on Xu Qing Feng’s left shoulder, suddenly produced another extremely faint yet unmistakably clear resonance.
Two barely perceptible gray-white halos flashed simultaneously.
Then—
**RUMBLE—!!!**
The massive rock wall swept by the residual force of the Chaos-Shattering Thunder Spear, especially the cracked runes surrounding the cave entrance, seemed to have been awakened by this final resonance between the two jade marks.
The last remaining power of the restriction was triggered!
All the runes instantly erupted with dazzling light, like a final burst of brilliance before death.
An even more violent and chaotic spatial fluctuation suddenly erupted from deep within the rock wall!
Space twisted and folded violently like the surface of water.
Countless fine spatial cracks appeared and vanished around the cave entrance like black lightning flashing through the air.
A powerful, irresistible repulsive force mixed with chaotic spatial tearing force suddenly descended upon the massive body of the Twin-Headed Flame Lizard!
“ROAAAR—?!”
The right head of the Flame Lizard released a roar filled with both shock and fury!
Its enormous body was forcibly halted and pushed backward by the chaotic spatial force originating from the core of the seal.
Half of its body had already emerged.
Yet it was forcibly pushed back, inch by inch, into the cave that glowed like a golden-red furnace!
It struggled frantically.
Its enormous dark-golden claws scraped against the edge of the cave entrance, melting the hard rock into flowing lava and leaving behind deep grooves.
But it was completely unable to resist the repulsive force originating from the very essence of space!
**BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!**
The rock wall shook violently.
After erupting with blinding brilliance, the runes rapidly dimmed and went out, finally falling into complete silence.
Only countless savage cracks remained across the wall.
Amid the chaotic spatial fluctuations, the cave entrance rapidly twisted and shrank.
In the end, falling rocks and flowing lava once again blocked it completely, sealing the entrance shut!
Only the Flame Lizard’s final roar of unwillingness and unimaginable fury faintly echoed from deep within the sealed cave.
Like muffled thunder, it reverberated endlessly through the vast and blood-soaked depths of Soulbreak Cliff.
It was filled with boundless hatred and killing intent.
The scorching storm of heat slowly subsided.
The air remained saturated with a suffocating mixture of scorched sulfur, blood, and the acrid stench of molten rock.
A layer of golden-red oil and charred debris floated upon the surface of the viscous Blood Pool.
Silence.
A false calm, like the stillness after a violent storm.
Xu Qing Xuan lay beside the cold stone pillar, his breathing faint, unconscious and motionless.
Xu Qing Feng lay facedown upon the slippery rock.
His body was cold and charred black, resembling a corpse.
Only the dim jade-pendant mark on his shoulder gave the faintest pulse, so weak and slow that it might have been nothing more than an illusion.
And deep within his completely shattered dantian—
A trace of dark-purple chaotic aura, so faint that it was almost nonexistent, struggled desperately to preserve the final ember of its existence amid the endless darkness and silence.