The Mysterious Figure Reappears!

Black energy surged violently from the Abyss Demon's flame-wreathed body, miraculously extinguishing every trace of the heavenly flame! Xiao Chen's pupils instantly shrank to needlepoints. Rage... despair... unwillingness... A swirl of emotions flooded his heart. He had kept his heavenly flame concealed until now solely to catch the fiend off guard and destroy it in a single strike! Never had he imagined the creature could snuff the flames out merely by paying a small price! *Boom!* The Abyss Demon's eyes narrowed, and its form flickered dozens of times in rapid succession. Over a dozen black-and-gold sword lights whistled past its flanks, the destructive power in every single beam striking terror into its core. The Abyss Demon rasped in a hoarse, guttural voice, "The... aura of... this power..." *Whoosh!* Ye Feng flashed into view, planting himself firmly in front of Xiao Chen. Gripping his sword in his right hand, he thrust his left hand toward the sky in an empty grasp. "Yinming Profound Flame—Seal!" *Boom!* Heaven and earth shuddered, and the void trembled violently. An eerie, invisible flame abruptly materialized in midair. With no warning whatsoever, it sprang into being and locked the Abyss Demon within a hundred-foot cage of space! The Abyss Demon panicked, detonating an immense burst of power to batter wildly at the seal. A strange, nameless dread gripped its soul. That bizarre flame was steadily devouring its very source power! Even worse, the man standing before it exuded an aura that frightened it to its core! "No... impossible! How could he possess such power?!" "Break for me!" *Boom! Boom, boom, boom!* The deafening rumbles echoed continuously. Catching sight of Ye Feng out of the corner of his eye, Xiao Chen finally relaxed his mind. His body gave out, plummeting straight toward the earth below. Ye Feng reached out and caught Xiao Chen steadily. Behind him, Meng Wanshu and Li Changqing arrived as well. Meng Wanshu's gaze sharpened. Raising a hand, she instantly encased the barrier sealing the Abyss Demon in thick ice. Frost condensed between heaven and earth, freezing the enclosure solid in the blink of an eye. She, too, wanted to examine what manner of creature this was. Ye Feng hurriedly checked the heavily wounded Xiao Chen, breathing a sigh of relief only after his divine sense lightly probed the youth's vitals. Fortunately, Xiao Chen's reflexes had been swift; otherwise, that lethal blow would have pierced straight through his heart. Seeing his state, Meng Wanshu swiftly produced a healing pill from her storage ring and fed it to him. Yet Xiao Chen was too grievously wounded; the dense wounds covering his body were already turning black and festering. Meng Wanshu extended her hand to examine him, only to find that the channels inside his body had also been thoroughly ravaged by that sinister demonic energy. Xiao Chen's aura was critically weak. If they could not purge the demonic energy from his body quickly, he might not even be able to preserve his current cultivation realm. A thread of frost energy surged into his body, but Ye Feng's face fell instantly. He immediately checked her, shouting, "Don't!" Meng Wanshu looked up in confusion, speaking rapidly, "What is it? If we don't help him right now, it will be too late!" Ye Feng took a deep breath, gazing down at the battered man with profound emotion. The festering sores and rotting flesh were all too familiar to him... During those years in the Purgatory Abyss, practically every waking moment of his life had been spent enduring this exact torment. Ye Feng sighed. As he explained, he pressed his ghost hand against Xiao Chen's chest. "Once this demonic energy invades a cultivator's body, it behaves like a living thing, wildly gnawing away at their primal energy. When their primal energy is depleted, it begins devouring their meridians and flesh until nothing remains." Demonic energy billowed from Ye Feng's ghost hand, turning into a pool of black liquid that enveloped Xiao Chen entirely. Pitch-black and profound as a vat of dark ink, it wriggled and churned, greedily devouring every shred of residual demonic energy lingering in Xiao Chen's body. Behind him, Li Changqing's eyes flickered as he watched this bizarre scene. Ye Feng spoke up in a calm, flat tone, "Don't stare at me like that. It pisses me off..." In the elder's eyes, Ye Feng had sensed an inexplicable hostility—as if he were no different from the Abyss Demons butchering the clan. Li Changqing's expression shifted slightly. Concealing the emotion in his gaze, he replied softly, "My apologies." Knowing Ye Feng must be feeling unsettled, Meng Wanshu glared back at the elder. Just as she was about to reprimand him, Ye Feng raised a hand to stop her. Ye Feng did not deny that his ghost hand shared the same source of power as these Abyss Demons. But what was sealed within his arm was leagues above these lowly fiends. Besides, with the Yinming Profound Flame Li Guanqi had given him, he was fully capable of controlling the ghost hand's power. Looking back now, Ye Feng even suspected that Li Guanqi had noticed the potential threat lingering within his ghost hand and had deliberately given him the perfectly compatible Yinming Profound Flame for that reason. It might not rank among the highest heavenly flames, but it was undoubtedly the one that suited him best. Recognizing that lingering would only breed further awkwardness, Li Changqing tactfully took his leave to gather more help. A moment later, a hint of color finally returned to Xiao Chen's pale face. Everyone let out a collective sigh of relief. In truth, not many Abyss Demons had invaded the Xiao clan, and Ye Feng had slaughtered every one he encountered along the way. The true culprit behind the devastation was this creature whose strength rivaled the peak of the middle Void Refining Realm. Ye Feng stood up and surveyed the horrific scene across the Xiao clan's domain, barely able to stomach the sight. The clan had suffered immense casualties because the Abyss Demons were virtually impervious to cultivators' weapons. Most primal energy attacks could not harm them directly either; only cultivators wielding fire- or lightning-aligned primal energy could inflict meaningful damage. Consequently, the Xiao clan disciples had been decimated, and every single victim had met an agonizing, gruesome end. It was hard to imagine how desperate Xiao Chen must have felt before their arrival. Just as Meng Wanshu and Ye Feng were pondering their next course of action... Suddenly! Meng Wanshu's expression shifted, and she raised her hand to construct an exceptionally sturdy ice prison around Ye Feng and Xiao Chen. The thick ice walls measured a full ten feet across, and only then did Ye Feng abruptly sense a terrifyingly formidable aura descending without warning! "A half-step Body Integration expert!" *Boom!* Near the barrier sealing the Abyss Demon, space warped. A black-robed figure wearing a scarlet mask squeezed his way out from the void. The man possessed a profound, suffocating presence, his features hidden beneath the mask. Slowly extending an arm, he unleashed a thunderous punch! *Thump!* A piercing sonic boom rang out as the man's fist, shrouded in terrifying black primal energy, punched clean through several layers of the seal in a single blow! Meng Wanshu drew her sword and streaked across the sky toward him. "Apocalypse: Frozen World!"