Strongest War Emperor

When Shen Lang’s finger poked at the Barrier formed by the Candle Dragon Black Flame, Yan Bing practically jumped out of his skin. Naluo King, the Reincarnation Marquis, however, remained silent from beginning to end, merely watching Shen Lang’s actions with a thoughtful expression.

Even with his Cultivation completely sealed and his Divine Thought unable to leave his body, the Reincarnation Marquis could clearly see Shen Lang’s Cultivation Realm with his naked eye.

King Martial Realm, First Heaven. There was no doubt about it.

But ever since Shen Lang appeared, Naluo King hadn’t taken his eyes off him. The more he looked, the more he felt he couldn’t see through Shen Lang at all.

From Shen Lang’s composed demeanor and calm gaze, an absurd thought naturally arose in Naluo King’s mind: it was as if the young man before him could control everything—absolutely everything, including the life of him, the Reincarnation Marquis!

It was an extremely strange, absurd, and utterly unimaginable feeling.

But Naluo King trusted his judgment, and he trusted his instincts.

So, as he watched Shen Lang touch the Candle Dragon Black Flame, he did not shout for him to stop as he had initially.

WHOOSH!

The moment Shen Lang’s finger touched the Candle Dragon Black Flame, his body acted like a magnet, drawing a whole stream of the black flame onto himself with a great RUSH!

In an instant, the Candle Dragon Black Flame engulfed his entire body and began to blaze fiercely!

Yan Bing, standing to the side, was completely dumbfounded...

’Since Naluo King thinks so highly of him and even asked me to assist him, this kid should have some skill, right?’

’How could he be this stupid?’

’Even if you’ve never seen the Candle Dragon Black Flame before, you’re a King Martial Realm Martial Artist, for crying out loud! Can’t you sense the destructive aura coming off it?’

’The expression ”playing with fire” is usually a metaphor for bringing trouble upon yourself or courting disaster, but Yan Bing truly couldn’t imagine someone would actually be stupid enough to do it literally!’

’And he was playing with the Candle Dragon Black Flame, of all things!’

’Let alone in his current heavily injured state, even Naluo King’s clone at its peak wouldn’t dare to touch this Candle Dragon Black Flame lightly!’

’And this kid actually...’

Yan Bing was stunned for a moment and didn’t move to help Shen Lang extinguish the Candle Dragon Black Flame on his body.

It wasn’t that he was unwilling, but with his abilities, he was completely powerless to help!

Forget a mere King Martial Realm Martial Artist; even if Yan Bing himself were to be touched by this Candle Dragon Black Flame, death would be almost certain!

’What a waste. To reach the King Martial Realm at such a young age... with that kind of talent, he would have been qualified to enter our War God Hall, yet he’s going to die here...’

Yan Bing sighed, shook his head, and turned his gaze back to the Barrier.

’No matter what skills this kid had, he was about to be reduced to ashes. Rescuing Naluo King was still up to me.’

Yan Bing readied the Light of a Thousand Years and began to rack his brain for a plan.

Just then, Naluo King, who was on the cross, suddenly widened his eyes in utter disbelief!

”Hm? What’s going on?” Yan Bing couldn’t help but stare, noticing Naluo King’s expression.

’With Naluo King’s temperament, he didn’t even flinch when the Soul-Locking Spirit-Binding chains pierced his Divine Soul. What could possibly make him lose his composure like this?’

In the brief moment Yan Bing was stunned, the surrounding temperature suddenly soared!

In just an instant, Yan Bing felt as if he had been plunged into underground magma!

For Yan Bing, who cultivated the Ice and Fire Marvelous Technique, no one was more familiar with the sensations of fire and ice.

A flame that could erupt with such heat in an instant and make his heart pound with dread was definitely no ordinary fire!

Yan Bing spun around abruptly...

As he turned, Yan Bing, who was already shocked, felt his jaw drop. It hung open for a long moment!

He saw a ring of red flames erupt from Shen Lang’s body, pushing the Candle Dragon Black Flame away!

A ring of red flames, and outside of it, a ring of pitch-black Candle Dragon Black Flame. This unimaginable sight was happening right before Yan Bing’s eyes!

”Vermilion Bird Divine Fire!”

Yan Bing gulped hard a few times, struggling to force out the four words.

’There are countless types of flames in the world, but one so vibrantly red, with such a terrifying aura, and capable of suppressing the Candle Dragon Black Flame... What else could it be but the Vermilion Bird Divine Fire?’

”Are you from the Vermilion Bird Race?” Wary of the Vermilion Bird Divine Fire, Yan Bing held the Light of a Thousand Years horizontally, took two steps back, and assumed a guarded stance.

The Vermilion Bird Race was the most mysterious of all the Divine Beast races. So far, all Yan Bing knew was that one of the Demon God Hall’s Five Great Demon Generals was the Vermilion Bird, Lan Mengling.

’If this kid is from the Vermilion Bird Race, then they are enemies, not friends!’

A King Martial Realm Martial Artist was like an ant before him, but one with the Vermilion Bird Divine Fire was another matter entirely.

At this moment, Naluo King, who had been silent all this time, finally spoke up. ”He is not of the Vermilion Bird Race. He’s from the Human Race. While this Vermilion Bird Divine Fire is powerful, it lacks the most crucial component: the Vermilion Bird Origin. Furthermore, it doesn’t match his own aura. It’s not his innate Talent Ability.”

”Huh? How is that possible?” Yan Bing was utterly bewildered.

’The Vermilion Bird Divine Fire is a Talent Ability of the Vermilion Bird Race. Even members of the Vermilion Bird Race with mediocre aptitude might never awaken this ability. How could such a Divine Beast’s ability possibly appear in a Human Race Martial Artist?’

’It’s too inconceivable...’

Just then, a sharp glint flashed in the eyes of Shen Lang, who was focused on releasing the Vermilion Bird Divine Fire. He raised his hands and pushed forward!

The Vermilion Bird Divine Fire, as if it were sentient, surged violently and directly enveloped the Candle Dragon Black Flame outside it!

A large swath of the Candle Dragon Black Flame was instantly burned into nothingness by the Vermilion Bird Divine Fire, leaving only a small, flickering wisp in front of Shen Lang.

Just as Yan Bing was rendered speechless, Shen Lang did something else that nearly made him jump three feet in the air...

Shen Lang extended his left hand and made a circling motion around the small wisp of Candle Dragon Black Flame!

A vortex appeared and vanished in the blink of an eye, instantly swallowing the wisp of Candle Dragon Black Flame!

With that, the Candle Dragon Black Flame that had rushed onto Shen Lang’s body vanished completely, without a single trace left behind.

”...”

This time, it wasn’t just Yan Bing who was stunned; even Naluo King was dumbfounded.

A great figure, one of the Eight Celestial Kings of the War God Hall, an old monster who had lived for tens of thousands of years... and yet he couldn’t understand what Shen Lang was doing, or rather, what Shen Lang had just done!

For a Human Race Martial Artist to manifest the Vermilion Bird Divine Fire was already inconceivable to the extreme.

But that last move... what did that mean?

’Did he just directly swallow that last wisp of Candle Dragon Black Flame?’

’He can even swallow a destructive flame like the Candle Dragon Black Flame?’

’Even in a place like the War God Hall, which had produced countless prodigies and breathtaking geniuses over millions of years... he had never heard of such a thing!’

At this point, Naluo King spoke cautiously, ”Young friend, from the looks of it... are you planning to use the Vermilion Bird Divine Fire to forcibly break the Candle Dragon Black Flame Barrier?”

Shen Lang pressed his hands together, one over the other, to pacify the turbulent Spiritual Power within him. Only then did he shake his head and say, ”It’s not that simple. The Vermilion Bird Divine Fire can indeed suppress the Candle Dragon Black Flame, but without enough of it, how could I deal with a Black Flame Barrier personally set up by the Candle Dragon?”

Yan Bing craned his neck and asked, puzzled, ”Then what do we do? If even your Vermilion Bird Divine Fire can’t break this barrier, how are we going to rescue my lord?”

”By the way, who exactly are you? And why do you have Vermilion Bird Divine Fire?”

Shen Lang didn’t answer him. Instead, he turned his gaze to the Array on the ground and said leisurely, ”If you have the free time to investigate my background, you’d be better off thinking about how to get him out. My nine Spirit Pattern Pillars have pulled this entire plot of land underground, and they can’t maintain this state forever.”

As Shen Lang spoke, he extended a hand toward Yan Bing and asked, ”Do you have any Top Grade Spirit Stones?”

Yan Bing was taken aback. ”I do.”

But the man was an old fox; he said he had them but made no move to take out a single Spirit Stone.

Shen Lang said nonchalantly, ”My nine Spirit Pattern Pillars pulled this entire plot of land underground. The Energy consumption is immense. At most, they can only sustain this for about an hour. If we can’t rescue him within an hour, and Scorpio is still outside... none of you will escape.”

Yan Bing’s eyelid twitched. He immediately took out a Sumeru Ring. ”Here are a thousand Top Grade Spirit Stones. With the help of these Spirit Stones, can you maintain it for a bit longer?”

Shen Lang took the Sumeru Ring, swept his Divine Thought inside, and saw the thousand Top Grade Spirit Stones within. He immediately broke into a smile. ”This will be enough.”

With that, he pocketed the Sumeru Ring.

Yan Bing was stunned watching Shen Lang put the Sumeru Ring away. He wanted to ask several times why he wasn’t using the Top Grade Spirit Stones now, but seeing the look on Naluo King’s face, he swallowed his words.

At that moment, Shen Lang pointed to the Soul-Locking Spirit-Binding Array on the ground and said, ”First, stand in the Qian Position. Left foot on the Qian Position, right foot on the Xun Position...”

”Hold on!” Yan Bing called out. ”The Soul-Locking Spirit-Binding Array is ever-changing. How can you be sure this one is related to the Qiankun Trigrams? Are you certain you know how to break this Array? This was personally set up by the Candle Dragon, one of the Five Demon Generals of the Demon God Hall. If you make a mistake...”

Shen Lang snapped impatiently, ”Just do as you’re told! Are you going to whine endlessly? Do I have to spend half the day explaining every little thing to you? Do you want to rescue him or not?”

”You!” Yan Bing was so angry he rolled his eyes.

But Naluo King had told him to be this kid’s assistant. Though he was extremely reluctant, he could only swallow his anger and endure.

Yan Bing cautiously walked to the side of the Array. Looking at the formation that was releasing chains to pierce Naluo King’s body, he couldn’t help but swallow hard.

’This was no joke. These chains might not cause much physical damage, but the harm they did to one’s Divine Soul far surpassed that of any powerful Magical Treasure!’

’An Array that could even hold Naluo King fast...’

’If he stepped inside and his Divine Soul was instantly pierced by these chains, it would all be over!’

Looking up at Naluo King on the cross, Yan Bing paused. Despite having more than ten chains piercing his body and being nailed to the pillar by Death God Nails, Naluo King’s gaze was as calm as ever.

The only difference from usual was a faint trace of curiosity in his eyes.

It seemed he was curious about the abilities of this strange young man...

Yan Bing gritted his teeth. ”To save Lord Naluo King, I’ll risk it all!”

With that resolve, Yan Bing lifted his foot, stepped into the Array, and stood on the Qian Position within it.

WHIRRR!

The Array seemed to detect an external force and immediately began to operate on its own. Countless black chains whipped ferociously toward Yan Bing!

’I’m done for... This kid got me killed... Damn it, I knew it! What could a King Martial Realm brat possibly understand? If an Array set up by that bastard Candle Dragon could be broken by a King Martial Realm kid, wouldn’t that be a cosmic joke?’

Yan Bing let out a long sigh, closed his eyes, and waited for death to come...