The skeletal ghost flame Luo Zhen spat out was barely the size of a washbasin, a flickering ember that was just a twentieth of his true power. In stark contrast, the Sand Scorpion Demon General commanded a beast flame as vast as a room.
Yet, the moment Luo Zhen's ghostly fire appeared, the Sand Scorpion's massive yellow flame recoiled, seeming to shrink back in fear.
A heartbeat later, they collided.
Boom.
The Sand Scorpion's house-sized inferno shattered like cheap glass. Luo Zhen's flame, however, remained unbreakable, a core of searing white light burning steady and true.
"My flame!" the Sand Scorpion cried out, snatching the remnants of his power back. He stared in horror. A single clash had cost him nearly a tenth of his reserves.
Luo Zhen calmly inhaled, drawing his skeletal flame back into himself.
"What… what grade is that thing?!" the Sand Scorpion demanded, his voice a mix of fury and shock.
"Fifth-grade," Luo Zhen said flatly.
"Fifth-grade?!" The Sand Scorpion was stunned. The nearby Earth Mouse and Lizard Demon Generals were equally speechless.
Hong Yu chose this moment to chime in, a sly smile playing on her lips. "Oh, right, I forgot to mention," she began. "You all know that Camel Demon General back in the city? The lone wolf with mad blood coursing through his veins?"
"Yeah, we know him," the Sand Scorpion grumbled. "Famous lunatic. Fights like he has a death wish. Most of us, myself included, know better than to cross him. What about him?"
"Brother Luo killed him," Hong Yu said, gesturing to Luo Zhen. "Camel Street is now called Golden Snake Street."
A fresh wave of shock rippled through the group. "He killed that maniac?"
Hong Yu nodded. "And it was his beast flame that did it. Any more objections to his strength?"
"No. No objections," the Sand Scorpion muttered, shaking his head. Luo Zhen might only be at the Heaven Profound Realm, but a fifth-grade beast flame put him on their level. There was no arguing that.
"Good," Hong Yu declared. "Since we're all on the same page, let's move out."
With Hong Yu in the lead, they set off. For ten solid days, they journeyed until the red sands gave way to a desolate, pale black desert. Luo Zhen looked down, noticing the ground was saturated with fine iron powder, giving the landscape its bleak color.
"This is it," Hong Yu announced, pointing across the expanse. "This desert is teeming with iron, which makes it the perfect home for a creature called the Flying Fire Poison Ant."
She continued, "Deep in their nest lies a poison crystal. That's my target. The ants have it sealed away, and the only way to melt that seal is with beast flames. That's why I brought you all here."
"I see," the Sand Scorpion said, catching on. "You have a poison attribute, don't you, Hong Yu? You plan on consuming the crystal to boost your own power."
"Exactly," she confirmed.
The Earth Mouse Demon General suddenly spoke up. "Ant colonies always have a queen. What level is she?"
Hong Yu hesitated. "She's… Demon King level."
"What?!" The three Demon Generals yelled in unison.
Luo Zhen's posture tensed as he waited for an explanation. If her plan involved a suicidal charge against a Demon King, he was out.
"Calm down," Hong Yu said quickly. "The queen is in seclusion, meditating. She won't emerge unless it's a life-or-death emergency. Our only real problem will be the ordinary worker ants. And you know how swarms work—besides the queen, the rest are just cannon fodder."
The Demon Generals exchanged uneasy glances. "Are you sure about that?" the Sand Scorpion asked, his voice laced with doubt.
"I'm positive," Hong Yu insisted. "Besides, I'm going in with you. Do you really think I'd risk my own neck?"
That gave them pause.
Luo Zhen flickered his tongue, silently consulting his internal system. "System, is she telling the truth? Is it dangerous?"
"There is a calculated risk," the system replied. "Hong Yu is correct. The queen is dormant and will not interfere unless the nest is threatened with annihilation. The strongest ants you will face are standard poison ant generals. Your beast flame is more than a match for them."
"Good enough for me," Luo Zhen thought, relieved. "But let's see what the scorpions have to say."
After a tense moment, the Sand Scorpion spoke. "Hong Yu, I'll trust you on this. I'll help you get the crystal." He held up a hand before she could celebrate. "But I have two conditions."
"Name them," she said. "If they're reasonable, I'll agree."
"First: if we get in there and it's a bust, or if those ants are more than we can handle, I'm out. No questions asked. You can't hold it against me, and you don't get your deposit back."
"Done," Hong Yu agreed without hesitation. "If our lives are on the line, all bets are off. Survival comes first."
"Alright. Second condition," the Sand Scorpion said, his eyes glinting. "You're going to double my payment."
Hong Yu's face fell. "Double it?"
"You heard me," he pressed. "I'm putting my life on the line for this little adventure. It's only fair I get compensated for the risk."
"But the original offer was already incredibly generous," she protested.
"Yes or no?" he snapped.
She thought for a long moment, then sighed in resignation. "Fine. I agree."
She turned to the others. The Earth Mouse Demon General spoke up immediately. "Same two conditions for me."
"Me too," the Lizard Demon General chimed in.
"Fine, fine, I agree to everything," Hong Yu said, looking drained. She finally turned to Luo Zhen.
Before he could say a word, she cut him off. "Don't worry, Brother Luo. Your payment is doubled, too."
Luo Zhen offered a faint smile. "Much appreciated." He wasn't about to turn down free money.
"Alright, everyone," Hong Yu said, taking a deep breath. "Now that we've settled the terms, let's get this done."
And with that, she stepped into the black desert.
Meanwhile, on the far side of the same desert, seven human cultivators arrived, their movements swift and precise. They wore matching robes, marking them as members of the same order. Each carried an ornate longsword, and all of them radiated the power of the Origin Core Realm.
The man in the lead, who had a square jaw and the aura of a seasoned warrior, was the strongest among them—a peak Origin Core cultivator.
"Alright, brothers," he said, surveying the bleak landscape. "This is it. The home of the Flying Fire Poison Ants. I don't need to tell you how valuable their iron essence is. If we can get into that nest, we'll be rich."
One of the younger cultivators spoke up. "Senior Brother Fang, isn't there a Demon King-level queen in there?"
The leader chuckled. "She's in seclusion. If we're quiet, she'll never even know we were here. And even if she does wake up," he added with a confident smirk, "are the Seven Sons of the Big Dipper afraid of one little Demon King?"
"Never!" the others cheered.
"So what if she's a king? She'll learn to regret messing with our Big Dipper Sword Formation!"
"That's right! We've taken down a Demon King before!"
"Everyone in the Red Desert knows our name!"
Buoyed by their own bravado, the seven cultivators laughed and strode confidently into the black desert.
Luo Zhen's group hadn't been walking for long before trouble found them.
The sand erupted. Fist-sized yellow ants swarmed out of the ground, a chittering carpet of claws and fangs that surged toward them.
The group sprang into action. Hong Yu and the Lizard Demon General unleashed torrents of fire. The Sand Scorpion and Earth Mouse sent jagged earth spikes, tearing through the ground. Luo Zhen spat bolts of pure lightning.
Under the barrage, the yellow ants were annihilated, their bodies littering the sand.
"Stay sharp," Hong Yu warned. "Those were just the grunts. The real fight is still ahead."
They pressed on, facing a new wave of yellow ants every few miles. They were weak, barely at the Demon Spirit Realm, and easily dispatched. But as they neared the halfway point, the ground began to tremble.
This time, the ants that burst from the sand were the size of washbasins, their carapaces a glossy, menacing black. Every single one of them had the strength of an Earth Profound Realm fighter.
One or two wouldn't have been a problem. But there were thousands.
Luo Zhen reared up, his serpentine body rising dozens of meters into the air. He looked out, but he couldn't see the end of the swarm. They were surrounded—a writhing, clicking sea of black ants closing in from all sides.
Even the hardened Demon Generals looked pale. An ant can't kill an elephant, but a million of them can. Getting bogged down here meant certain death.
"We have to push through, now!" Hong Yu shouted over the din. "They're calling for reinforcements! The longer we wait, the more of them will show up!"
"She's right!" the Sand Scorpion yelled, his face grim. "I've heard these colonies can have millions of soldiers!"
The thought of facing a million poison ants sent a shiver down their spines.
Holding nothing back, they all unleashed their beast flames. The powerful flames incinerated the ants in their path, turning them to ash in an instant. But for every one they killed, two more scrambled over the corpses of their fallen comrades, their advance relentless. They were trapped in a brutal stalemate.
Ten minutes passed. The Earth Mouse and Lizard Demon Generals were the first to show signs of strain.
"It's no good! There are too many of them!" the Earth Mouse shrieked. "I've already burned through a fifth of my beast flame!"
"I'm not far behind!" the Lizard cried out.
When a beast flame met a tough defense or was simply of a lower grade, it would weaken and deplete. Replenishing it was a long, arduous process.
"Hong Yu and I are holding up better, but not by much," the Sand Scorpion grunted. Their second-grade flames offered more durability than the others' first-grade ones.
Only Luo Zhen remained unaffected. His fifth-grade skeletal ghost flame was in a league of its own, effortlessly turning everything it touched to dust without losing an ounce of its power.
"Sand Scorpion, you have to do something!" the Earth Mouse pleaded. "You're the strongest here! Get us out of this!"
"Yeah, think of a plan, quick!" the Lizard added.
"A plan, a plan… I've got it!" The Sand Scorpion's head whipped around, his eyes landing on Luo Zhen with a predatory gleam. "You! Get to the front and clear a path!"
Luo Zhen's eyes narrowed. "And why should I?"
"Because you're the weakest one here!" the Sand Scorpion sneered. "You're dragging us down! Get up there and draw their fire so the rest of us can get through!"
Luo Zhen let out a short, harsh laugh. "What if I refuse?"
"You refuse, you die!" the Sand Scorpion snarled. "Don't think that little fifth-grade flame of yours makes you special. I'm a Demon General. I have magical artifacts that can snuff you out in a heartbeat!"
Fury surged through Luo Zhen. He opened his mouth, ready to unleash the full, terrifying force of his ghost flame and settle things right there.
But just as he was about to act, Hong Yu darted between them. "Stop it! This is not the time for infighting! We need to get out of here!" she yelled. Then, she lowered her voice, speaking to Luo Zhen alone. "Brother Luo, I know you're strong. Please, for my sake, don't rise to his bait. I still need him."
Luo Zhen stared coldly at the Sand Scorpion, then his gaze shifted to Hong Yu. After a long, tense moment, he spoke, his voice dangerously low. "Fine, Hong Yu. I'll let it slide for you. But this is the last time. If he provokes me again, I won't be so merciful."
With that, a pair of magnificent, dark-gold wings unfurled from his back. With a powerful beat, he launched himself into the air, soaring above the fray.
Below, the others could only stare.
"Holy hell… the snake can fly?!" the Earth Mouse blurted out.
The Sand Scorpion was stunned into silence, and Hong Yu's jaw hung open.
It took them a long moment to process what they had just seen.
"That… that thing can fly?" the Sand Scorpion stammered, his throat suddenly dry. "What in the world is he?"
"I have no idea," Hong Yu admitted, a wry smile on her face. "He's always been a mystery. But since he can fly, the ants on the ground are no longer a threat to him. Now let's go! We have to get out of here!"