The fire that surrounded Andrew right now was no longer the Lava Fire. Despite having the same color,
it looked distinctively different from Andrew's previous one. It was apparent that Andrew must had
cultivated the Beast fire that he had just obtained from the last trial, and now he was able to put it into
play in a very clever way.
"Little bastard, this is called the Heaven Burning Fire. You should feel lucky and grateful to be killed by
such an honorable Beast Fire!" Andrew sneered. As he channeled more power into the Beast fire, it
promptly spread to cover all of his body and made him look like a fierce, predatory fiery bear. Then he
shouted and charged at Ricky without a sign of hesitation. Meanwhile, the predator opened his bloody
mouth like a sacrificial bowl, as if one bite would be enough to take Ricky's life!
"I have already told you. You will never beat me, no matter how hard you try. Remember that you will
always be nothing but a loser in my eyes!" Ricky replied indifferenly, calmly facing Andrew's fury. Then
he threw a quick punch towards Andrew, fully confident that he would defeat Andrew again.
Ricky didn't think that the pagoda was able to restrain his power, because his regained spiritual
meridian was so strong that it would have the capacity to resist the pagoda's boundaries.
Without wasting too much effort, Ricky released the Devouring Fire to combat Andrew's Beast Fire.
The Devouring Fire could not only protect Ricky from being hurt by Andrew's Beast Fire, but also easily
swallow Andrew's Beast Fire with its strong devouring ability. So when Andrew charged at him with his
Beast Fire in play, Ricky couldn't be happier.
In a flash, the Devouring Fire morphed into a big mouth, even bigger than that of Andrew's Beast Fire,
and began to consume the power of Andrew's Beast Fire.
"What the hell is happening? What the fuck are you doing!? What kind of Beast Fire are you
manipulating?" Andrew stammered in a trembling voice, alarmed at the sudden loss of the power of his
Heaven Burning Fire.
"You don't deserve to know!" Ricky replied coldly. Withholding no mercy, he decided to use Chaotic Fire
Skill and strengthen the power of the Devouring Fire.
Andrew could hear his impending demise in Ricky's tone. He struggled to get rid of Ricky's Devouring
Fire and then seized a chance to fight back. However, Andrew soon realized that this Ragged Iron
Pagoda he was in right now had taken away all his spiritual energy as soon as this trial began. So there
was no other way to fight against Ricky if he lost his Beast Fire.
"Very well! Since you're now forcing me to kill you, how could I refuse your request?" Andrew shouted
with gritted teeth. Knowing he couldn't stop Ricky from devouring his Heaven Burning Fire, Andrew
decided to use his secret weapon!
He suddenly released the Lava Fire again with full power. Once released completely from his body, it
seemed even more powerful than the Heaven Burning Fire. Immediately, the Lava Fire transformed
itself into a fiery dragon, diving and roaring at Ricky like a rapacious predator.
"Did you have enough of devouring my Beast Fire? Now let me give you my Beast Fire as much as you
want. I will satisfy you to death!" Andrew shouted loudly, with a rather hideous look on his already
unsightly face.
"Hahaha, what did you say? You'll satisfy me to death with your Beast Fire? I beg to disagree! You are
just going to make me laugh to death!" Ricky couldn't help but roar with laughter. Even as he was still
chuckling, he quickly maximized the Devouring Skill by deploying more power from the Devourer Zone.
In fact, Ricky was fully aware that his body wouldn't be strong enough to contain Andrew's two different
kinds of Beast Fire, if he only had an ordinary Beast Fire. Because his spiritual energy hadn't been
suppressed by the Ragged Iron Pagoda, it would be highly possible that the powers from these two
kinds of Beast Fire were too much to control. His body would explode if it were pushed too far or too
long.
However, Andrew would never know the fact that it wasn't the Beast Fire, but the Chaotic Fire Zone
that helped Ricky devour all of the other Beast Fires. The Chaotic Fire Zone could absorb thousands of
kinds of Beast Fire with only the slightest effort-- not to mention just two kinds of Beast Fire, which were
just a piece of cake!
What Andrew was trying to do right now was exactly what Ricky had wanted all along.
Both of them got excited, each confident that he would completely obliterate his opponent as he had
been planning all along. They let out a loud roar as they continued to fight each other with their magic
fire. Sinister smiles crossed their faces, as a promising hint that this battle would soon come to an end
once either of them buckled under the pressure.
But that one to fall first would be Ricky!
However, Ricky suddenly detected something fishy as he kept absorbing Andrew's Lava Fire. There
was another sort of power inside the Lava Fire which really took him by surprise. Even though he had
the Chaotic Fire Zone to protect himself, he couldn't help but feel rather frightened when detecting that
mysterious power.
Besides, what surprised him even more was that he found out it was not totally unfamiliar to him. He
had once seen that power exerted by both Zenith and Elder Alexander. Undoubtedly, that power only
belonged to the innate spiritual energy, the supreme power owned only by those innate spirits!
Ricky felt too shocked to believe what he himself had realized. He questioned, "What is that? Inside
your Lava Fire, is that the innate spiritual energy? Why do you have that sort of power?"
Meanwhile, Ricky quickly tried his best to withdraw his Devouring Fire, only to find it was too late!
Attached to the Devouring Fire, the innate spiritual energy swiftly spread its way into Ricky's body, even
before Ricky had a chance to activate the Fifth Degree of Nine-degree Body Refining Formula.
"Boom!!!" After a earsplitting explosion, Ricky was covered in a cloud of dust and smoke. The chances
of his survival were slim under such terrible conditions.
'Is this what the innate spiritual energy is capable of? I finally get a chance to have an insight into his
supreme power! Even if I am at the Sixth Degree of Nine-degree Body Refining Formula, I might have
slim chances of survival and instead vanish in a puff of smoke...'
Only darkness met his eyes. He said faintly, with a wavering will, "I shouldn't have been so careless.
Am I going to die here?"
"Ha-ha! You little bastard! You are far from being on my level! Now it's time to send you to hell!" Andrew
laughed heartily at the tremendous explosion.
Then he heaved a deep sigh to relieve himself. The indistinct frown at the corner of his forehead which
had carved itself there since the day he met Ricky finally disappeared without a trace. He had been
nursing a grudge against Ricky and always had wanted to be responsible for his death. And now that
he had accomplished it, his rage and hatred began to drain away.
Then he signed, "Such a shame! To fuse that powerful innate spiritual energy into my Lava Fire, my
mother paid a great price. That is my most secret weapon which I was supposed to show only when I
would be totally backed up in a corner. Instead, I wasted it on killing that pathetic little bastard."
Gauging the pros and cons, Andrew regretted his impulsive, hot-tempered decision a little.
"But if I didn't rely on the power of the innate spiritual energy just now, I might have been in real danger.
Anyway, I finally get a chance to end Ricky's life with my own hands. As for what kind of difficulty might
come my way, I will try my best to get over it!"
"Besides, I don't think anyone here dare to lay their fingers on me except Ricky. Otherwise, my mother
would not let that guy get away! I believe she would pay any price to seek revenge for me!" Andrew
smirked as he managed to comfort himself and lift his own morale.
"You are right. Your mother will avenge you one day, because you are going to die soon," Ricky's voice
suddenly whispered into Andrew's ear. Ricky's last position was still a smokey spot of chaos. But
suddenly, a figure leaped swiftly into the air and directly charged at Andrew, who was taken by surprise.
With no signs of wounds on his skin nor holes on his clothes, Ricky seemed to be perfectly immune to
Andrew's attack. He looked as energetic as what he had been before.
In fact, it was all due to the same shield of flame light above his skin, which was generated by the
Flame Zone to protect Ricky. Right when the explosion happened, the Flame Zone sensed Ricky's life
was in a critical state, so it released a bright light to wrap Ricky's whole body. The bright light spread
across Ricky's body so quietly and quickly that Ricky didn't even notice it himself.
"What, how could it be possible? Why are you still alive?" Andrew screamed in fear. Seeing Ricky
coming out of the fire alive and well, Andrew was scared out of his wits. Gone was the excited look on
his face. Instead, panic and desperation were pitifully obvious in his eyes.
"It's time for you to go to hell. Let me do you the favor!" Ricky snorted, as he charged at Andrew. He
activated the power of the Devouring Fire again inside his body and threw a straight punch to Andrew's
chest. With a thud, Andrew's heavy body landed on the ground, and then the Devouring Fire started to
burn all over his body. Bursts of screams could be heard and echoed sharply in the space surrounding
them.
Before Andrew died, the residual powers of the two kinds of Beast Fire in his body had been absorbed
completely by the Devouring Fire.
Ricky then took a long breath of relief.
He thought to himself, 'What happened just now was insanely risky. I almost got killed! If it weren't for
the help of the Flame Zone, the ending of this fight between me and Andrew would have been
completely different!'
He sighed, "If something goes wrong, I must be in danger. How could I possibly have predicted that
Andrew's Beast Fire would be fused with the innate spiritual energy? Still, I was being too careless. It
must have cost a lot for his mother to go through that fusion process."
At the thought, Ricky finally became aware of why Andrew had the nerve to take this trial! After all, a
warrior at the first grade of Blood Purification like him was not usually equipped at all to go through
such an event. Without that secret weapon, Andrew's decision to compete in this trial would be only
regarded as a joke!
"I can't afford to be too careless again when it comes to matters like this! Next time when I run into an
odd and strange thing like this, I have to beware," Ricky admonished himself and took a long breath
again.
Then, he sat with his legs crossed, closed his eyes and quieted his mind as he prepared for his
meditation. He had to take a rest after the tiring battle.
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