Up above on the Sun Disc.
Seeing the black flame spreading all over the arena, Ma Pei almost jumped to his feet in shock.
"Isn't that the heaven-grade flames that got stolen by that evil spawn?!"
Tai Yinjun cracked a wily old fox's smile. "Aye, aye, but what you're seeing is just a rootless ember of the source. Not worth mentioning, not worth mentioning..."
"Not worth mentioning?! Pei!" Ma Pei slapped his armrest in anger.
"Even we will have a hard time dealing with such a fierce fire once it gets outta hand! And you let that untrained dog of yours bring such a thing on stage?!"
"Aye… what can I say?" Tai Yinjun sighed and showed a helpless face. "Everybody has their opportunities. That little dollie just happened to pick it up in the secret realm. Heaven's will, ah."
"Heaven's will, your mother!" Ma Pei almost jabbed his finger at the old thing's shameless face. "You think we're all blind?!"
Tai Yinjun shrugged. "Hey, hey, believe it or don't. It's the truth."
Ma Pei nearly choked on the "truth" and his face turned a shade redder than a boiled crab.
"Old Thief, can you get any more shameless! You know full well which of us were there when all that happened! A wet behind his ears brat like that dog of yours doesn't even have the gall to get involved!"
Tai Yinjun shut his eyes and smiled like a scarecrow sunning itself on the field.
"Now, now, things can't be said like that. Like a sage once said, anything can happen when Lady Luck is smiling..."
"Since that evil dollie can capture the mother flame under all our noses, it's perfectly normal for a little dollie to pick up a leek by chance."
"Pei!" Ma Pei almost couldn't resist throwing a teacup at the other's face. "Stinky Thief, just listen to your nonsense! Can any stray cat or dog get their hands on a sealing scroll of that caliber?!"
"I say even your mother will crawl out of her puppet box to slap you for being so shameless!"
Tai Yinjun's smile dropped like a rock. His eyes snapped open and glared over like knives.
"Watch your mouth, Old Fart... there's a line. Best you remember it. Don't go too far."
"Hoh?" Ma Pei slapped the table. "So what if I do! What? Going to have your mother bite me now?"
Bang! The scarecrow's bony hand slapped the table even harder, so hard that the rim almost got crushed by his fingers!
"Say that again! I dare you!"
Ma Pei didn't back down. "You think I won't?! I'll say it twice, thrice! Your mo—!"
Qi flared. Just when things were about to explode, the younger Tai Yinsu hurriedly held the scarecrow down with a strained smile. "Yoh! Uncle, uncle, chill, chill!"
Mo Badao also stepped in to hold his buddy down.
"You too, Old Stallion. Calm down. Reign it in, will you? There's many eyes watching. You two don't want to drag the faces of our clans through the mud, right?"
"Yea, Uncle, just let it go for today..."
"Nonsense! Anybody can insult my father, but not my mother! Today, I must get to the bottom of this! My good nephew, don't tell me you aren't supporting me and actually want to help outsiders?!"
"Pei! You're getting to the bottom of this? Stinky Thief, I haven't even settle accounts with you about the old matter and now this?! You're just asking for it! Old Devil, you'll support me right?!"
"Gah?! Just because you pull the big one, you think I'm afraid?! Bring it—"
"Okay, enough!" Grand Elder Jia's spiritual pressure finally suppressed the rest, shutting everybody up.
Once the pressure subsided, he sighed. "You lot, there's no need to ruin your harmony over a bet."
"It's indeed that boy's fortune to procure such a powerful helping hand, and it's also that junior's luck to survive up till now."
He then glanced back at the statue lording above them all.
"Since His Majesty hasn't said anything, what say we follow his example—let our hearts be still like water and watch the changes?"
The old things at loggerheads with each other broke up with unhappy faces. "Humph!"
Grand Elder Jia shook his head exasperatedly and surveyed the endgame below once more.
"Young devils rise from the ashes, and true warriors can only be forged through fire. So what if ashes pave the way?"
Down below.
Feeling his exhilarating power fade away, Ge Tianqi stopped fanning away the flames and gasped for breath.
A recovery pill popped into his mouth to relieve his strained meridians. Following that was a spirit bean.
Crunching on the bean, Ge Tianqi's vision swam around the steamy battlefield.
He stood in the only safe patch of dry land—backed by a wall on one side and bordered by shallow water to shape out a half-moon bay.
Beyond this bay area, the hazy fog of war shrouded the area all around, and his bloodshot eyes could barely make out the black fire burning like oil over the water.
The water eventually stilled. There was not a movement nor sound. Only dead silence all around.
"Dead?" Ge Tianqi grit his teeth. "Has to be! Even late-stage monsters will get burned into ashes by this fierce fire! There's no way this lowlife can survive!"
But even as he said that, his confidence dwindled with each passing second...
Once he felt that his spiritual power recovered somewhat, his spiritual sense pulsed out like a radar.
Immediately, his head whipped around toward the wall behind.
"No! That's impossi—!" Swoosh!
The predator rocketed down from the wall above with a leg fully extended for a dynamic entry!
Ge Tianqi barely had time to cross his arms and hold up his fan as a shield when the foot arrived—Bak!
The kick landed like a hammer on a gong, forcing him a few paces back, but… he stood firm!
Blocked!
But when Ge Tianqi wanted to swing his fan to counterattack, he discovered...
His opponent actually stuck to his fan like he did to a wall!
Then the man forcefully twisted around and a leg lashed out toward his skull from the side!
BAM! An arm straight and tough like bamboo caught the kick!
Ge Tianqi felt the sting from the kick, but had no time to care about it because...
The monkey, hanging upside-down on his fan, suddenly tucked in like a spring to enter a crouching stance and two deadly claws attacked his lower body!
Monkey Steals the Peaches!
WHAT?! This lowlife dares to—?!
The fan jerked up a few inches just in time to let those claws barely miss by a hair's breath.
But those claws did not stop.
They twisted around to latch onto the fan's edge like a rock climber gripping a cliff's ledge...
Then both legs sprang off the fan and kicked straight out at his chest! "Scram!"
WUMP! That kick brutally slammed into Ge Tianqi like a runaway ox!
"KUH—!" He lost his grip on his fan and got sent flying back a few meters with blood spraying from his mouth!
Seeing that he successfully snatched the fan, the airborne Bubai laughed out loud like a bandit. "Hahaha! Thanks for the donation!"
But before the fan can even warm up Bubai's hands, its grounded owner formed the universal control seal and growled.
"Want my fan? Then go burn in hell with it!"
At that instant, Bubai felt the fan try to escape from his hands.
He held on tight, only to be dragged forward through the air…
His eyes widened when he saw the fan flying him straight towards the sea of black fire around them!
"Bloody Merlin! So ruthless?!"
Feeling the heat that that was getting closer and closer, Bubai was forced to let go and a kick off helped him jump all the way back to the safe area.
Landing back inside the downsized ring, Bubai tapped-danced a few steps back until he backed up all the way to the base of his bestie: the wall.
Facing off against the fire-wind fiend who staggered to his feet like a zombie and caught his flying fan once more, Bubai clicked his tongue with a disgusted face.
Bah! Flight-capable magic weapons are so unfair!
Too bad, they're legally classified as a weapon instead of flight tool, and just like spirit swords, they aren't banned.
Only using it for flight is.
Then again… those old fogeys might just bend the rules if he kept using his Cloud Ascending Steps to hide and delay time.
That's why, instead of playing tag this round, he opted for a frontal clash.
A mere early-stage foundation builder? Nothing he couldn't handle!
Or so he thought… for the most part.
What he didn't expect was the hidden field-wiping killer the other possessed!
That hellfire almost got him good. Pity…
The panting Ge Tianqi suppressed his uneven breaths and his bloodshot eyes glared over, burning with disbelief.
"You actually survived all that! How?!"