Chapter 231: Giant Demon and Flame Demon

Su Mu, the mastermind behind the scenes, watched quietly from the sidelines as Chu Shang took hit after hit. A smirk tugged at the corners of his lips.

He hadn't spent his days at the base doing nothing. Dropping a master hypnotist into a sealed facility was no different from locking a fox in a henhouse.

In just a few days, he had hypnotized every ordinary soldier in the base, along with a number of Bronze Transcendents. He hadn't touched the Silver Transcendents; the risk of them noticing his tampering was simply too high.

This was more than enough, however. Aside from the Silver Transcendents and Chu Shang himself, it was no exaggeration to say the entire base belonged to him.

Bang, bang, bang...

A dense hail of gunfire erupted as the soldiers madly opened fire on Chu Shang.

"What are you doing!?" a Silver Transcendent roared in shock and fury. His only response was a hail of bullets.

"For the Leader!" the soldiers screamed like zealots.

"What the hell is going on!?" Chu Shang's bewilderment only deepened. He had no time to think, however; Lin Canyang had already caught up.

A crimson flame suddenly flared around Chu Shang's right hand, radiating a terrifying heat that distorted the surrounding air.

Boom!

He drove his fist into the corridor wall, his flames instantly blasting a massive hole straight through the solid barrier!

Chu Shang lunged through the breach, escaping outside.

Behind him, the soldiers swarmed the Silver Transcendents in a chaotic, tangled brawl.

A flash of surprise crossed Lin Canyang's eyes at the sight. He immediately guessed this was Pride's handiwork, and his awe for the man's methods only deepened.

He closely pursued his target outside. By this time, Chu Shang had already pulled out another healing potion. While its effects couldn't rival a Divine Healing Potion, it was better than nothing.

Swallowing the liquid, Chu Shang finally managed to stop his wounds from deteriorating.

"Chu Shang, you can't escape!"

"Escape?" With his injuries slightly stabilized, Chu Shang finally regained his composure. No matter how poorly he had performed thus far, he was still a Gold.

If he hadn't been caught off guard by two consecutive sneak attacks at the very start, he wouldn't be in such a miserable state now.

"Lin Canyang, look at your broken body. If you hadn't relied on the advantage of a sneak attack, do you honestly think you'd still be standing here talking to me?" Chu Shang's expression turned ice-cold.

"Speak! How exactly did you recover your power? And what is going on with my subordinates?"

Lin Canyang flashed a savage grin. "Go to Hell and ask your mother!"

He shoved off violently, shattering the earth beneath him into a spiderweb of cracks. Wreathed in black mist like an evil spirit, Lin Canyang charged straight at Chu Shang.

He pushed his speed to the absolute limit, leaving a trail of afterimages in the air.

Chu Shang's gaze chilled. In close-quarters combat, he was naturally no match for a Giant Demon. That was exactly why he had needed to escape into an open area.

Out here, with vast space to maneuver, an extremely weakened Giant Demon was no match for him.

He threw his hand out. Directly in the path of Lin Canyang's charge, a massive pillar of fire erupted into the sky. Like a volcanic explosion, the blaze bathed the entire base in a crimson glow.

Lin Canyang was instantly swallowed by the inferno. But a split second later, he swung his arms outward, and his black-mist-wreathed body tore right through the endless flames.

Chu Shang immediately threw himself backward to open up the distance. Extending his ten slender fingers, he set them dancing in a strange rhythm. Motes of fire gathered at his fingertips and spewed out as a barrage of Flame Bullets, searing scorching trails through the air.

"Five-Finger Flame Bullet?" Su Mu muttered to himself. "It seems one of the Laws contained within the Flame Demon pathway is the Five-Finger Flame Bullet."

Chu Shang's Gold Law was the Flame Demon. He had learned this piece of information back when he first hypnotized the base personnel.

Watching the two men clash reminded him of the very first time he entered the Nightmare World and witnessed the battle between Ye Fanyu and Yang Dongqing—one wielding the Five-Finger Flame Bullet, the other utilizing the Heart of Steel.

Only, the combatants fighting before him now represented the absolute endpoints of those two Transcendent pathways: the Flame Demon and the Giant Demon.

By this time, Lin Canyang had already powered through the barrage of Flame Bullets and closed the gap. A savage, bloodthirsty light filled his eyes. Wisps of black mist wreathed his fists as he ruthlessly brought them smashing down toward Chu Shang's head.

Bang!

The punch, packed with years of bitter hatred, landed dead center. But Chu Shang's figure instantly detonated into a shower of magma-like flames, and the scorching shockwave sent Lin Canyang flying backward.

Lin Canyang let out a muffled groan and staggered back several steps before managing to steady himself. Large swaths of his body had been scorched black, though the burns were already beginning to heal at a visible rate.

"You think you can kill me, Lin Canyang? You can't do it now, and you couldn't do it back in your prime, either." A flare of light erupted on the eastern side of the plaza, and Chu Shang stepped out from the flames with a cold sneer.

The scorching flames coiled quietly around his body like tamed pets.

He advanced on Lin Canyang step by step. Raising his hand, he gathered a vast mass of fire in his palm before blasting it upward—a towering pillar of flame that pierced straight into the thick cloud cover above.

In an instant, the heavy clouds ignited. They burned a brilliant, terrifying crimson, forming an apocalyptic sea of fire across the heavens. The rolling flames churned above them like an omen of the end times, radiating a suffocating heat and an oppressive aura that struck terror into the soul.

"Crawl back into your cage." Bathed in the glow of the burning sky, Chu Shang looked like a god of fire descended from the heavens. Every movement he made bled an indescribably terrifying pressure.

Lin Canyang clenched his fists. His previously staggering frame straightened until he stood perfectly upright, like a sword freshly drawn from its scabbard. The blazing sky reflected in his bloodshot eyes, making it look as though his very irises were on fire.

"Don't make me say it twice!" Chu Shang roared. The sea of fire instantly churned. A blinding ray of light tore across the sky, scattering the clouds to reveal a colossal crimson fireball slowly descending like a second sun.

With its appearance, the temperature across the entire base skyrocketed. The sheer heat distorted the surrounding landscape, casting the entire world in a crimson hue.

Yet, faced with such a terrifying display, Lin Canyang suddenly burst into laughter. A deep mockery coated his lips. "Haven't you been dying to know how I recovered my powers, and why your subordinates turned on you?

"The answer is simple. Someone helped me."

Chu Shang narrowed his eyes, locking his gaze on Lin Canyang. "Who helped you?"

Lin Canyang grinned. In that instant, an unimaginable wave of confidence seemed to erupt from his battered body as he slowly enunciated the name: "Seven Deadly Sins!"

"What!?" Chu Shang's pupils quaked. Within the Chiyan Empire, those words were like a thunderclap to the ears. Even someone as powerful as a Gold could not ignore the sheer power they carried.