Chapter 638: Chapter 258: Scorching the Firmament, Celestial Flame Dragon Breath

Threads of pure dragon fire, like living sprites, slowly coiled and rose around him, casting him in the image of an ancient deity born from flame and destruction.

He slowly raised his head, his vertical pupils burning with blazing golden flames, and gazed down without a shred of emotion upon the inferno he had single-handedly created.

Apathetic, majestic, and unchallengeable.

At the edge of the endless sea of fire, a tiny figure struggled in agony under the searing heat of the magma.

Xia Lianxue’s Protective Gang Sha had long since shattered.

The extreme heat was rapidly melting away the ice-elemental body she took so much pride in.

She struggled to lift her head, and through the distorted air, she saw the god-like figure in the distance.

A miserable, bitter smile appeared on her face.

So this was it...

The ultimate attack she had risked everything to unleash...

...was still so utterly insignificant before him.

He had even used the power of the Fire Element to utterly crush her.

The last glimmer of light in Xia Lianxue’s eyes faded completely.

She closed her eyes, allowing her body to turn into a streak of white light and disappear into the endless sea of fire.

The battle was officially over.

...

「In the conference room.」

Even Sun Lie, who was typically the most boisterous and outspoken, didn’t say a single word.

He just stared blankly at the apocalyptic scene on the screen. After a long moment, he slowly shook his head, his Adam’s apple bobbing.

"That’s just insane..."

"Damn it... The rookies these days... they’re just on another level..."

Yi Jiugao took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing his shock and trying to calm himself with rational analysis.

"The Fire Element... I never expected his personal control over the Fire Element to be in no way inferior to Xia Lianxue’s, whose entire combat style is centered on elemental manipulation..."

Hou Guanghe, who had been silent all this time, stared at the figure bathed in flames on the screen. His seemingly murky old eyes were frighteningly bright.

"Not ’in no way inferior.’"

He spoke slowly, his voice deep and powerful.

"He surpassed her."

"Of course, this is limited to the Fire Element."

"If he hadn’t achieved absolute superiority in his understanding of and affinity for the elemental source, there’s no way he would have been the one left standing in this ultimate duel of ice and fire."

Zhu Mingyi felt both admiration for Lin Ye’s bottomless strength and deep sympathy for Xia Lianxue.

"This is going to be a problem..." He rubbed the bridge of his nose, his voice tinged with a rare exhaustion.

"That girl is far too proud. It would be one thing if she just lost... but to be crushed head-on by Lin Ye using the purest form of elemental power, in her own area of greatest strength... I’m genuinely worried her Dao Heart... might shatter."

As soon as he said this, everyone in the conference room fell silent.

It was true. This was too cruel.

To give your all, to burn yourself away, to finally reach a height you never imagined possible, only to find your opponent still standing somewhere higher, looking down on you with detached indifference.

What was even more devastating was that he used the very ability you had built your life around, the one you’d dedicated all your youth and time to, to grind you to dust.

Sun Lie cursed under his breath, "Damn it, that’s not just killing someone, that’s destroying their spirit! Everyone knows the kid didn’t do it on purpose, but for a genius who specializes in elements, this is worse than getting stabbed to death!"

On the path of martial arts, the most fearsome thing isn’t temporary failure, but the collapse of one’s convictions.

Xia Lianxue’s conviction was her absolute control over the elements.

And today, with a blaze that seemed to incinerate the very heavens, Lin Ye had burned her conviction—along with that thousand-meter pillar of ice—to nothingness.

...

Back on the battlefield, the sea of magma slowly subsided.

The dragon scales on Lin Ye’s body silently faded away, his fearsome dragon horns retracted back into his body, and his vertical pupils, once burning with golden flames, returned to their deep, dark black.

[Dragon Descendant Incarnation] deactivated.

A massive sense of exhaustion washed over him, but it was overshadowed by an unprecedented sense of closeness to and enlightenment regarding the source of the Fire Element.

[Ding! Detected that the Host has undergone a deep interaction with high-intensity, high-purity elemental power...]

[Elemental Mastery triggered!]

[Fire Element Affinity +12,800!]

[Ice Element Affinity +9,500!]

[Wind Element Affinity +3,100!]

[Wood Element Affinity +2,800!]

[Perpetual Quest: Infamy Complete! You have obtained 8.11 Skill Points. The excess will be awarded upon reaching a whole number!]

...

A series of system notifications flashed before Lin Ye’s eyes.

He could clearly feel that his connection to the various elements between heaven and earth had become tighter than ever before.

Especially fire and ice.

It was as if he could now command a power far greater than before with just a single thought.

The rewards from this battle were substantial.

Lin Ye’s gaze swept over the edge of the sea of magma. Where Xia Lianxue had vanished in a flash of white light, four palm-sized fragments lay scattered quietly.

He beckoned with his hand, and the fragments flew into his grasp.

Xia Lianxue must have been a loner, just like him.

This meant that she had eliminated at least three other people before she ran into him.

A thought struck Lin Ye.

To his surprise, two of Xia Lianxue’s four fragments were uncontaminated.

He breathed a sigh of relief.

Counting the two he already had, he had now collected four intact fragments.

This meant he could finally learn the exact location of the ancestral land.

With a flicker of intent, Lin Ye held the four intact fragments in his palm.

As if drawn by some invisible force, the fragments automatically floated up, and the ancient inscriptions along their edges began to glow faintly.

CLICK.

CLICK.

They rotated and drew closer on their own, finally fitting together with perfect seams to form an irregularly shaped stone disc.

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