Chapter 896

The two looked at each other coldly from afar. "It seems that without external help, you are so weak that you can't even withstand a single blow."

Zi Chen's body flashed with a golden light as his wounds healed. The previous battle had drained him greatly. He took out a high-grade yuan liquid and swallowed it. Hearing the words of the flaming man, he only snorted coldly.

The flaming man was indeed very strong. He was the strongest enemy Zi Chen had encountered so far. Zi Chen even felt that the flaming man was no weaker than the guardian of the passage, Sophie. If the flaming man was in the Mortal Yuan realm, Zi Chen would have accepted it. Unfortunately, the flaming man was only in the late Core realm, the same realm as him.

Seeing Zi Chen swallow the high-grade yuan liquid to recover, the flaming man's eyes flashed with a hint of ridicule. "Without becoming a spirit body, you will never be able to experience the boundless might of a spirit body. As for recovering yuan energy, a spirit body's will is enough."

As soon as the words fell, the surrounding yuan energy swirled and rushed towards the flaming man. The violent energy was refined as soon as it entered the flaming man's body. The flaming man was recovering at an extremely fast speed.

In the blink of an eye, his yuan energy was restored. The killing intent in the flaming man's eyes intensified. He said to Zi Chen in an extremely cold voice, "Now, I will show you my strongest battle strength."

The flaming man's hands began to form seals. A fiery red light flowed between his fingers. The yuan energy in the surroundings suddenly became violent and formed an energy storm. With the flaming man as the center, the energy storm began to spin. As it spun, the yuan energy in the surroundings madly rushed towards the storm.

The energy contained in the storm was extremely terrifying. Zi Chen's expression became more and more solemn. At this moment, he was thinking about what kind of powerful means he had. He had several xiantian realm techniques. If he cultivated them to the peak, he would definitely be able to kill the flaming man. Unfortunately, he had only just comprehended them and had not made much progress. Not to mention killing the flaming man, he couldn't even protect himself in front of it.

The energy storm in front of him grew to a size of several thousand meters. The yuan energy in the surroundings madly converged towards it. When the energy storm reached a limit, it began to shrink under the control of the flaming man's spiritual sense.

The firestorm was getting smaller and smaller, but the aura it contained was getting more and more terrifying. When it was compressed to one meter, the aura it contained caused everyone's expression to change.

However, this wasn't the end. As the fiery person's hand formed seals, the firestorm began to change, turning into a one-meter-wide flaming square seal. At this moment, there were all kinds of runes flashing on the square seal, and the terrifying aura had reached its peak.

Zi Chen sensed a dangerous aura from the flaming square seal. This was a feeling that only appeared when one's life was in danger. His expression instantly changed. Clearly, this attack from the flaming figure had the strength to kill Zi Chen.

At the back, Wang Xian 'er and the rest were also shocked when they saw the flaming square seal. This square seal had the power to kill Zi Chen. Everyone was anxious and wanted to rush forward.

A ray of light flashed. It was Huo Ming, who had stopped the crowd. He chuckled and said disdainfully, "It seems that life and death are about to be decided. A Xiantian martial artist is still a Xiantian martial artist. Even if he is a little unconventional, he can't be compared to a spirit body."

Lin Xue anxiously begged the old man beside her, "Senior, please save Zi Chen."

The old man shook his head and said seriously, "Zi Chen is definitely not an ordinary Xiantian martial artist. He has two types of Xiantian Essence Force and several Xiantian Techniques. He is not weaker than the flaming figure."

Lin Xue said anxiously, "But he has not comprehended those Xiantian Techniques."

The old man said, "If he hasn't, then it's because his skills are not as good as the flaming figure. If that's the case, he deserves to die. After all, this world is cruel."

Just as they were talking, the flaming square seal in front of the flaming figure flew towards Zi Chen. Zi Chen's pupils shrank, and he dodged with extreme speed like a silver lightning bolt.

The flaming square seal was too powerful, and Zi Chen had to avoid it. When Huo Ming and the rest saw Zi Chen dodging, they laughed disdainfully again. The old man also shook his head and said, "Blindly dodging won't solve the problem."

Indeed, as he dodged, the flaming square seal's power grew stronger and faster. In the end, Zi Chen had nowhere to run. Blindly dodging just now had caused him to lose the opportunity to attack.

"Boom!"

The flaming square exploded in front of Zi Chen, and a terrifying surge of energy swept across. Zi Chen was instantly blasted away by the energy.

The defense around his body was broken by the energy, and the wounds that had just healed opened up again. This time, there were more wounds, and they were deeper. He looked extremely miserable.

Zi Chen fell from the sky and landed heavily on the ground. With a loud bang, a cloud of dust flew up.

Gasps could be heard from the surroundings, and the anxious and concerned voices of Wang Xian 'er and the rest could be heard. Zi Chen stood up and looked up. His body was covered in a mixture of dust and blood. His face was extremely dirty, and his clothes were torn in many places. He looked extremely miserable.

At this moment, Zi Chen felt as if he had been knocked off his pedestal. Ever since he obtained the Thunder Yuan, Zi Chen had never been defeated by anyone of the same level. Moreover, his battle history had always been against those of a higher level.

He had killed geniuses, demons, houtian, and xiantian warriors. These kinds of killings were all against those of a higher level. He was known as the strongest among those of the same level. However, today, Zi Chen was defeated by the flaming figure, and the flaming figure's strength was comparable to Zi Chen's.

The sounds from the surroundings made Zi Chen feel a little dazed, and he also felt that the sounds were extremely harsh.

The flaming figure looked down at Zi Chen from the sky and said coldly, "You have lost, but I will not let you go. Because losers only have one path to walk, and that is death."

"We have already lost. Why do you still want to kill us?" Lin Xue's voice sounded.

The flaming figure sneered, "Because he deserves to die. Of course, this is not the most important thing. The most important thing is that I am willing to do it."

The flaming figure was stronger than Zi Chen, so he was willing to do it. Therefore, he wanted to kill Zi Chen, just like how Zi Chen had killed others along the way, such as Huo Si and Tu Luo. They were no match for Zi Chen, but they were killed by Zi Chen because Zi Chen was willing to do it.

The winner was the king, and the loser was the bandit. As for whether the loser would live or die, it was up to the winner.

"Damned thing, I will fight you." Tyrant shouted. The demonic ape raised the black stick in its hand again.

The three strange beasts, Longhu, Barbaric Dragon, and Flying Divine Tiger, were also surging with powerful auras. However, before they could rush forward, they were stopped by someone.

The ones who stopped Zi Chen were not Huo Ming and the others, but two old men from the Ancient Race. One of them, who was familiar with Zi Chen, said, "This battle can only be settled by Zi Chen."

"Zi Chen is no match for him. If this continues, he will die." Wang Xian 'er cried out involuntarily.

"If he can't win, he will die. This is the world of cultivators."

The crowd didn't try to suppress their words, so Zi Chen heard them all. Today's defeat made him feel a bit absent-minded, a bit hesitant. It was as if at this moment, he had been knocked off his pedestal, lost his direction, lost his goal.

"Zi Chen, we believe in you."

Su Mengyao's voice resounded between heaven and earth. It was like some kind of law that reverberated in Zi Chen's sea of consciousness, reverberating between heaven and earth.

Her voice was filled with determination and trust. It was as if she had enlightened him, causing Zi Chen's body to tremble.

Zi Chen felt that he was wrong. What pedestal? What strongest in the same realm? These were all fabricated by his own arrogance. In the eyes of others, Zi Chen was Zi Chen. The pedestal was also a joke.

Zi Chen felt that he was thinking too much. In fact, he was a cultivator. Along the way, he had experienced countless battles. If he didn't kill his enemies, he would be killed. However, he was still alive. His enemies died because he was strong.

Combat strength was everything. As for the others, they were all false names.

At this moment, in the face of a life-and-death crisis, he should be thinking about how to deal with his enemies and not worry about the pedestal.

Zi Chen stood up again. The flames of battle reignited in his eyes. He raised his head and said to the flaming man, "I lost."

The flaming man laughed proudly in the air. "It's useless to admit defeat because I won't let you go. There is only one outcome for losing, and that is death."

Zi Chen raised his head and said calmly, "Yes, there is only death for losing. In the previous battle, you have proven to me the strength of the spirit body. However, the real battle of life and death has just begun."

"Just begun, haha."

The flaming man laughed unscrupulously. "I say, Zi Chen, are you stupid? Do you think that you are a match for me now?"

"I admit that I am not a match for you in a pure battle. However, a battle of life and death is not a battle of life and death." Zi Chen's figure rose into the air again. Although he was in a sorry state, an extremely powerful aura surged around him.

"If you want to die, I will fulfill your wish."

The flaming man shouted. Then, he attacked Zi Chen again. It was the same attack as before, but this time, it was even more terrifying.

The flaming man's face was full of ridicule. After the attack, he laughed loudly. "Dodge, you can continue to dodge."

Zi Chen looked at the incoming attack calmly and said calmly, "From now on, I, Zi Chen, will not dodge in a battle of the same level."

His voice was low, but it was like an oath that echoed between heaven and earth. At that moment, many people's minds were shaken, and they seemed to have understood something. However, more people sneered when they heard it.

"Shameless boasting." The flaming man was one of the people who sneered.

Zi Chen indeed did not dodge. He stretched out his hand and clenched his fist. Then, he mobilized the Level Eight strength in his body and evolved the Innate Strength Technique. He punched forward.

This was a powerful and terrifying punch. It carried Zi Chen's determination and confidence as it hit the flaming square seal.

The two collided, and a violent explosion sounded in the air. The fist light was instantly shattered by the flaming square seal. At the same time, the flaming square seal broke apart and turned into a firestorm that swept towards Zi Chen.

Zi Chen's body was instantly engulfed by the firestorm. The destructive power within it was raging on Zi Chen.

After two breaths, Zi Chen turned into a golden light and rushed out of the firestorm. However, as soon as he rushed out, his body became unstable and he fell from the sky again.

Zi Chen fell to the ground again, and this time, he was even more embarrassed than the last time. The flaming man's disdainful laughter came from the sky again. "Today, I want to tell you that confidence and strength are not the same. If you dare to fight with confidence without strength, you are courting death."

Zi Chen stood up from the ground. His body was covered in dust and he looked very embarrassed. However, his eyes were as bright as Xing Chen's.

He did not take any elixirs to heal his injuries. Instead, he rushed directly towards the flaming man. The flaming man gave him too much pressure, and he did not want to leave himself a way out. As Zi Chen said before, he would not dodge in the face of the same level.