Chapter 339

Chapter 339: Burned Three Days and Nights Until He Crumbles

Qi Yan had been born in Shadowmist Ravine when he was still ignorant and knew nothing about his surroundings or Devil Qi. He grew a little older and finally learned his identity and duty. But by then, Devil Qi had already started to affect his body.

At first, he tried to resist and thought the Heavenly Dao would never just watch him be tainted. But as time passed, the Devil Qi sank deeper into him, and the Heavenly Dao still did nothing. He found that even his Divine Spark had been influenced, like he had been abandoned.

Grievance grew in his heart, then grew worse. He began to let himself fall. Later, he became a Devil Beast stained by Devil Qi and lived free and easy in Shadowmist Ravine, throwing away the duty of the Five Divine Beasts.

He thought he had accepted that life and that self, but in truth, his hatred for the Heavenly Dao never faded. [He wanted to be a true member of the Five Divine Beasts, not some twisted Devil Beast wearing a Divine Beast’s skin.]

So when he heard Shen Sang Ruo’s words, his defenses shattered.

He bared his teeth and said: “Yes, your flame can clear part of the Devil Qi’s influence on me, so what?” Her eyes lit up. He snapped: “Why should I clear it? He tossed me here and washed His hands of it, and I have to find the cure myself? Why?”

“I will stay a Devil Beast. I want to see if He will show up and fix it in the end.”

What he did not say was this: the part her flame could clear was tiny, like a cup of water against a raging fire. He feared that if he let himself hope again, he would only be let down again. That might truly push him into darkness. Right now, he was only half lost.

He glared at her and said fiercely: “So you think you can use that to threaten me and bargain with me? I am telling you…”

Before he could finish, a wave of Glazed Flame rushed over him, and he howled. Shen Sang Ruo folded her Luan Feather Fan and answered with a calm, “Oh.”

Then she added, as if offering him a choice: “If you do not want it, put it out.”

With Qi Yan’s strength, putting out the Glazed Flame would not be hard. Yet though the blaze roared on him, Qi Yan felt as if a bucket of cold water had splashed over his head. The pain sliced through all his wild thoughts and left him suddenly clear.

[Do I extinguish it or not?] He hesitated. [If I leave it, what was that speech I just gave? I said all that, and if I do not put the fire out, I will lose face. But if I put it out… I do not really want to.]

Qi Yan froze, tied in a knot. Seeing him stunned and unsure, Shen Sang Ruo spoke as if she saw through everything: “Do not pretend to be dazed to stall for time, Young Master Qi Yan. Make your choice.”

[See? He says he does not want it, but his body is very honest.] Qi Yan clenched his teeth. [Cursed woman, she saw through me.]

[She wants to help me clear the Devil Qi, so what is wrong with letting me stand here like a statue? Why tear my cover off? Is she not afraid I might get stubborn and really put the fire out?] The embarrassment burned almost as much as the flame.

His mind spun, and a heartbeat later he shouted with exaggerated outrage: “What a vicious trick, what did you do to me? I cannot move at all!” He yelped again, “It must be your flame. The moment it touched me, I could not move. It hurts so much I do not even have the strength to put it out! You wait, when this flame is done burning, I will not let you go!”

His face and voice were so over the top that anyone could tell he was acting. Shen Sang Ruo fell silent, then shook her head. She had acted as Ya Lan so well earlier, but he had learned none of the essence.

Qi Yan, oblivious to everyone’s blank looks, felt proud of his “genius.” He was still baring his teeth and threatening how she would pay later when Shen Sang Ruo added another gust of flame to him.

Qi Yan gaped. She copied his dramatic tone, patted her chest with the Luan Feather Fan, and said: “How scary. I do not want him to take revenge on me later.”

Snake Maiden changed into Little Shi and asked with wide, frightened eyes: “What should we do, Elder Sister?”

Shen Sang Ruo lifted her fan and decided: “Since the flame makes him unable to move, we will keep it burning.” With one wave, the fire blazing on Qi Yan surged higher.

Little Shi sparkled and chimed: “Wow, Elder Sister, you are a genius.”

Qi Yan fell silent. [Fine. Since I said it, I will carry it to the end even if I have to cry.] He gritted his teeth. He did not believe she could burn him to death. Her spiritual power could not be endless. It would run out.

Every time the flame began to fade, Shen Sang Ruo added more. It burned from day to night, then from night to dawn. When Qi Yan thought her spiritual power was finally about to fail, she took bottle after bottle of pills from her cosmos pouch and said with relief: “Good thing Fourth Senior Sister prepared plenty of spirit replenishing pills for me.”

Qi Yan’s face stiffened.

Two more days passed. Her pills seemed endless, one bottle after another. He never saw her spiritual power run dry. Instead, he was the one who broke first. He could not take it. Shen Sang Ruo’s staying power was terrifying. [Does she not have anything else to do? Is she not worried about the Radical Faction?]

Ordinary people would never dare burn Qi Yan. She not only burned him, she burned him for three whole days and three whole nights. He no longer doubted that if he did not call for a stop, she would burn him until the end of time. At that point, he really might die.

He finally understood what it meant to lift a stone and smash his own foot. The worst part was that while he held the same pose for three days and nights, Shen Sang Ruo and her group made a campfire right in front of him and had a lively picnic. He no longer needed to eat, but the scent of those spirit dishes was too delicious. They even used his fire to grill skewers. A dignified Divine Beast, a Qilin, was used as a stove. It was a humiliation for the ages.

His heart grew more and more sour. The flames hurt too. Even a Qilin could not stand being burned for three days and nights.

With a fierce slap, he knocked away the skewers that Kui Ox had propped against its horns and snarled: “Stop grilling.”

Kui Ox blinked, then let out a high, indignant bellow. Its skewers!

Little Shi gasped on cue and asked: “Elder Sister, was he not unable to move?”

Shen Sang Ruo widened her eyes too and said: “Yes, how can that be?” It would have been more convincing if she had not taken a bite from the skewer in her hand as she spoke.

Qi Yan felt the vein in his temple throb. She was doing it on purpose. She had never taken him seriously at all. He snapped: “Drop the act. You knew I was pretending, and you just wanted to torment me, right? Now you got what you wanted. I cannot keep pretending. Are you satisfied?”

Shen Sang Ruo lifted a brow and, following his words to the end, answered with perfect calm: “Satisfied.”