38 Ifrit

After a short break, we continued to move on, following the brightly lit corridors. Torches blazed, their flames a furious, dancing conflagration that resembled miniature suns. The temperature also climbed the deeper we progressed in, and I wiped a sheen of perspiration from my face.

"We should be close to the central chamber," Hong Yao Yao said, unable to keep the excitement from her voice. "That should be where they store all the secret techniques and treasures."

"Remember, the Nine Yang Divine Energy is mine," Chi Yan growled. Nobody objected. Hong Yao Yao simply giggled.

"Don't worry, I have my eyes set on something else. Besides, I have no use for fire techniques. I would prefer something more material." She glanced at me. "Don't worry, I'll make sure you and your wife have your fair share for helping us."

"Thanks, but what about He Shan Jie?"

"I'm fine," He Shan Jie said, but Hong Yao Yao raised a hand.

"There should be more than enough treasures for the four of us. Chi Yan just wants the fire techniques, right?"

"Yeah."

"Then it's all good."

"Well, I guess we should only worry about that once we get there, and not before," I muttered under my breath. No use counting chickens before they hatched.

We proceeded further in, but there was no sign of any spirit beasts on the way in. I wasn't sure if I should be worried. The emptier the ruin seemed, the more unsettled I felt. It was almost as if this was a calm before a storm…or that the rest of the spirit beasts had been scared away by something much more terrifying than them.

Just what could be scarier than a Hell Wolf King?

I didn't have to wait long to find out.

The corridor widened to a colossal chamber at the end, one that was guarded by statues of armored warriors, most of whom held bows. Again, I was struck by their choice of weapons. Archers weren't usually revered or respected. For some reason, swords were considered the strongest. Nonetheless, their golden armor gleamed under the blazing firelights that the twin rows of torches produced along the walls.

The statues stood to either side of a massive double door, which was currently closed. There were engravings on it, including ten suns floating across a detailed diagram. Hong Yao Yao brightened when she saw it.

"That's the central chamber! We're finally here!"

"Be careful," I warned, looking around. "It can't be this easy. I bet there's a trap somewhere."

"Oh, there's definitely a trap," Hong Yao Yao agreed. "The question is, what kind of trap?"

"Do you have any idea, Instructor Hong?" Lan Bei Er asked nervously. Hong Yao Yao shook her head.

"I guess there's only one way to find out."

"Whatever trap this ruin have, we'll just burn our way through it," Chi Yan said dismissively. Before any of us could stop him, he recklessly charged toward the double doors. He cautiously drew his big broadsword, though, just in case he found himself running straight into an ambush.

"Whoa!"

He skidded to a stop and jumped back when a massive fireball swerved toward him from above, detonating violently and leaving a glowing crater in the ground. The fire cultivator looked up at his assailant, a scowl spreading across his face.

Flames billowed about and coalesced into a titanic humanoid form. An angel of fire, or at least that was my first thought. But it solidified, bronze skin emerging from under the flames, and a spear of fire clutched in one gigantic hand. Muscles bulged across its broad chest and thick arms, and blazing wings stretched from his back. His eyes were twin crimson infernos, glaring at us with the intensity of a laser. Horns of fire curled from the top of its head, giving it a bull-like, almost demonic visage.

"An Ifrit," Hong Yao Yao gasped, her eyes wide. "I didn't expect to see one here!"

"Well, it makes sense. This place is where fire type spirit beasts gather, after all. Given the potent yang qi that saturates this place, it's an ideal place for high-ranking fire type spirit beasts to nourish themselves and advance their cultivation."

"I don't think this is the time for analysis," Hong Yao Yao snapped at me. I shrugged.

"You were the one who said that you didn't expect to see one here. I was simply explaining why you should."

"Let's focus on explanations later," He Shan Jie said, placing his palms together to summon his golem. His fellow disciple, Chi Yan, was struggling to evade the fireballs from the Ifrit. With a bellow, the angel of fire swung its flaming spear, forcing Chi Yan to parry it with his broadsword. Despite successfully blocking the blow, he was still hurled back by the impact, an explosion buffeting him.

"Strong!" He growled through gritted teeth as he rolled back to his feet, his clothes and skin singed from the flames.

He wasn't given much time to catch his breath, though. The Ifrit's flaming spear thrust at him, but this time Chi Yan was wise enough to not block it directly. He dove to the side, only for a flaming fist to come at him this time, pulverizing a scorched crater into the stone. Coughing, Chi Yan hurled himself several paces back, drawing a lotus flame with his broadsword and launching it at the Ifrit. The Ifrit simply cleaved the lotus fire in half, causing it to dissipate harmlessly.

While it was distracted by Chi Yan, I used Shadow Steps to sneak behind it. Clutching my Abyssal Edge in both hands, I swung it and unleashed Shadow Sword Strike.

"Lunar Fang Splits the Heaven!" I shouted, mimicking my favorite god of death. The black qi arced from my blade and slammed into the Ifrit, engulfing its wings and detonating fiercely. Cursing, the demonic angel flapped its fuming wings as it crashed, twisting around to retaliate against me.

Then He Shan Jie's golem towered over it, bringing its clasped fists down to smash it against the ground, crushing its body. Flames exploded and expanded all over the golem, rocking it back and turning its rocky surface black, but the golem continued to pummel the poor Ifrit.

Its assault didn't last very long.

The Ifrit stabbed its flaming spear through its opponent's abdomen. Even if the golem couldn't feel any pain, the force of the blow sent it staggering back. Planting both of its talons against the golem's trunk, the Ifrit kicked it away. The golem flailed about before crashing on its back.

By then, however, both Chi Yan and I were coming from both flanks, striking the Ifrit from opposite directions. A lotus flame hit it from the left while a Shadow Sword Strike struck it from the right. Black and crimson waves of qi billowed and exploded, engulfing the entire space. The Ifrit roared and intensified its fiery aura to blast away the two attacks, but clearly it had been hurt.

Unfortunately, hurt wasn't the same as defeated.

With a bellow, the Ifrit swung its fiery spear and conjured a tsunami of flames that bathed the entire corridor. Both Chi Yan and I tried to evade, but there was no place to run. The torrent of demonic flames washed over us and flung us to the far ends of the enclosed space, leaving us battered. The Ifrit lunged at Chi Yan, ready to finish him off, but its path was suddenly blocked by a cloud of pink butterflies that detonated in its face, driving it back.

"Bei Er!" Hong Yao Yao shouted, and my wife nodded, already rushing forward to tend to Chi Yan's grievous wounds. Her hands glowed white and she suffused his battered body with healing qi, causing the burns to slowly fade away.

The Ifrit stumbled to its feet, but before it could lurch forward, the golem grabbed it from behind, wrapping its bulky arms around the winged demon's chest and bringing it to a halt. The Ifrit roared in frustration and attempted to burn the golem, but even though the gigantic puppet was scorched black by the extreme heat, it refused to let go of its target.

Until the Ifrit's aura surged and it created a colossal conflagration that almost blew the poor golem to smithereens, sending fragments scattering across the ground. The golem, having lost whole sections of its arms, fell to its knees, unable to withstand the shockwaves that pounded its heavy body.

"Ugh…!" He Shan Jie gasped, dropping to a knee and heaving. Blood trickled from his mouth, but he looked up determinedly and continued to pull what was left of his golem together.

I didn't waste the chance that his golem had bought for us through its sacrifice. Using Shadow Steps, I emerged from a shadow right in front of the Ifrit and stabbed its chest with Abyssal Edge. It roared and clutched my black blade, intending to tear it out of its breast, but before it could, I unleashed Shadow Sword Strike while my weapon was still lodged inside its body. Black qi rippled throughout the Ifrit and exploded, almost blowing it apart from the inside out.

Yet, miraculously enough, the Ifrit was somehow still alive.

With a snarl, it swung its fiery spear down at me. I yanked Abyssal Edge out of its bleeding claws and vanished into the shadows before I could get cleaved apart.

"Huff…"

I had just emerged from the shadows when I saw the Ifrit right on top of me. What the…? Oh, right. Even if I used Shadow Steps, the Ifrit or any opponent could use their qi sense to detect my location or which shadow I would exit from. It wasn't a technique meant for hiding, but one for transporting myself across distances in an instant…or speed.

And somehow the Ifrit was unnaturally swift. Then again, it was borne aloft upon wings of fire.

I somehow avoided the fiery spear that was thrust toward my head by sheer luck, but I wasn't able to dodge the next strike – a torrent of hellish fire that erupted from the tip of the spear and washed over me. Even though I defended myself with Abyssal Edge, I felt as if my flesh was being burned away, my body incinerated.

Honestly, if I wasn't at Innate Realm and had mastered Heaven and Earth Formula, the fire attack would have killed me outright. The Ifrit was at least at the same cultivation level as I was, and I felt as if it was drawing upon an endless well of qi to replenish its energy. It continued to bombard me, intent on incinerating me to dust despite my protective aura of Heaven and Earth qi.

Fortunately, pink butterflies bombarded the Ifrit from one side and a lotus flame from the other, distracting the Ifrit away from finishing me off. While it bounded away to deal with Hong Yao Yao and Chi Yan, Lan Bei Er hurried over to me, her hands glowing.

"Stay still," she warned me, already conducting the healing techniques that White Herb Sect was so famous for. She really was a priestess, huh? Sometimes I felt as if she was in the wrong story. I wondered if she should belong instead to a western medieval fantasy isekai (another world). I could almost imagine it now. There was a cute girl in the hero party, so I tried to confess to her.

"Husband? Are you all right?" Lan Bei Er frowned. She placed a hand on my forehead and checked for something. "You don't seem to have any head injuries, so why are you zoning out?"

"Sorry, I was busily breaking the fourth wall."

"Huh?"

I didn't waste any time explaining my nonsense to her. Picking up Abyssal Edge, I was flinging myself back to battle once more. This time, Hong Yao Yao was the one who needed healing, and my wife tended to her.

While Lan Bei Er healed Hong Yao Yao, Chi Yan and I flanked the Ifrit from the sides, launching our attacks once more. The Ifrit bellowed in frustration when its view was obscured by the smoke and flames of the lotus inferno that Chi Yan bathed it in, and the moment it emerged, I unleashed my Shadow Sword Storm, piercing its fiery body with countless shadow swords. It staggered, slicing several of the shadow swords apart, but there were too many of them for it to defend against. It fell to a knee, its body punctured by several of them.

A fiery aura erupted from its body, incinerating the shadow swords, and it staggered to its feet. I watched in awe as its wounds patched up, the fiery blood burning and then regenerating. It was almost as if its body was made of flame.

Snarling, the Ifrit made to lunge at us, but it was struck from the side by the golem and sent hurtling away. Crashing into a wall, it slumped, but then its broken body rapidly regenerated, the flames blazing within its essence reforming and reconstructing its shattered bones.

"We can't keep this up forever," Chi Yan said wearily, his breath coming out in short pants. He brought his broadsword up for another swing, flames dancing along its edge. "We've to figure out how to stop it from regenerating. Do we keep beating it up until it runs out of qi to heal itself?"

"That's assuming it doesn't have infinite qi to keep healing itself," He Shan Jie remarked, perspiring profusely as he directed his golem to limber forward to shield us from another blast of flames from the Ifrit. "It doesn't feel like its aura is getting any weaker."

"That's right," Hong Yao Yao agreed, already back on her feet and rejoining the battle now that Lan Bei Er had healed her. "It's possible that it's drawing continuously from an unlimited supply of yang qi from the ruins to regenerate and attack."

At that, I frowned and thought for a while. Pushing my glasses up my nose, I took a deep breath.

"If that's the case, then I might have a plan to deal with it. But you guys will need to buy me the time I need."