"What? What did you just say?" Ryan Ling's anger, which had just barely subsided, instantly shot back up. He'd spared this bastard for the sake of the bigger picture, and instead of being grateful, the guy actually dared to turn around and bite him.
"I want your life! I want your life!" Quentin Qin screamed like a madman. Suddenly, his whole body burst into flames—endless ghostly blue fire erupted from nowhere, engulfing him completely. Deep inside the flames, the howls of ghosts and wolves echoed.
"Young Master Qin, the organizers have already announced the results. Just accept it—there's a gap between you and Ryan Ling..." One of the referees rushed over, trying to calm Quentin down.
But before he could finish, Quentin suddenly roared, and a jet of flame instantly burned the referee to bare bones.
"Bullshit! I'm the eldest young master of the Qin Family—how could I lose? Whoever says I lost, I'll kill! Die, die, die!" As Quentin ranted, he swept out four or five blasts of flame, instantly burning several innocent bystanders to bone dust.
"You deserve eighteen layers of hell!" Ryan Ling clenched his fists and charged straight in, howling. At this point, there was no way he'd spare Quentin again—today, this bastard had to die!
"Kid, everything before was just the Qin Family's beginner moves. Now, this is my true skill—Hellfire!" Quentin shouted, and a surge of blazing fire swept out from above his head. The crowd scrambled back; inside the flames, countless dead faces appeared, as if Quentin had unleashed all the evil ghosts from hell at once.
In an instant, Ryan Ling was completely surrounded by the raging flames, with evil ghosts gnawing at him from every side. The whole scene flipped one-eighty, turning into utter chaos.
"Damn it, Quentin Qin is way too out of control!" One referee burned with rage—the judge who'd just been incinerated was his younger brother.
"Don't be reckless! That's the famous Hellfire of the Qin Family—legend says Quentin's grandfather Philip Qin snatched it from the Netherworld itself. This fire is insanely strong; it can burn through anything. Even the hardest diamond would melt to liquid in seconds." Another referee hurriedly held him back.
"The Qin Family—damn, they're just too evil!" The referee had just lost his brother, but when it came to Quentin Qin, there was nothing he could do. In Jinling, the Qin Family was basically the emperor—no one dared mess with them. And right now, it looked like even Ryan Ling had fallen into their trap.
"Ha! You think you're worthy of being champion of the Jiangnan Martial Arts Tournament? Worthy? Just for daring to fight me for the title, you deserve to die. Burn! Burn this bastard alive!" Quentin Qin raged, his flames going wild—within a hundred meters, everything was under his Hellfire's control.
"Ryan Ling!" Up on the viewing platform, Sophie Su and the other girls all cried out. They'd been ready to go celebrate on stage, but who could've guessed things would flip so fast? Quentin Qin was out of control, and now the crowd was furious. Sure, the Qin Family was Jinling's number one clan, but they couldn't just treat everyone else like dirt.
"Don't panic—Ryan Ling will be fine. With this guy's strength, there's no way he can beat Ryan. He's just asking for it!" On the other side, Serena Yan spoke up. As a Fifth-Rank Spirit Officer, she knew Ryan's level and power. This Hellfire couldn't possibly hurt him; it was Quentin who was digging his own grave. He'd actually had a shot at surviving earlier, but now he was definitely dead meat.
But why wasn't Ryan Ling making a move yet?
Serena Yan was a little puzzled.
But of course, she couldn't have known—Ryan Ling's attention wasn't even on Quentin Qin anymore. He'd already seen through Quentin's strength: just a rookie who'd barely broken into the Earth-Tier Void Realm. Compared to Ryan, he was no match. Hell, even ten Quentins wouldn't make a difference.
Right now, Ryan's focus was on the distance—the real top dogs of Jinling were heading this way, and he needed to figure out the lay of the land.
"Five Earth-Tier Void Realm experts, no more, no less. And every one of them's stronger than Quentin Qin. If you fight them now, best-case scenario is a draw." Inside, the Ghost Elder had already done the math.
"A draw?" Ryan Ling gritted his teeth. Suddenly, dark clouds gathered overhead. He felt a jolt and grinned, "Good omen! Clearly the Qin Family's gone too far—even Heaven's coming to help me out!"
"It really is a good omen. If the thunderclouds help out, you should get a thirty percent boost to your odds!" the Ghost Elder chimed in.
"Thirty percent is enough. Today, I'm going to see what Jinling's top dogs are really made of—otherwise, I'll never get to the bottom of what happened to my parents!" Ryan Ling clenched his fists, fully ready to fight to the death.
At this point, the Martial Arts Tournament had completely changed in Ryan's eyes. This was no longer about winning or losing—it was life and death.
"Champion of the Martial Arts Tournament? I'll burn you alive, you worthless champion! The Qin Family is number one in Jinling, number one in all Jiangnan. Anyone who stands against us dies!" Quentin Qin was losing it—his face twisted into a mask of rage, looking utterly monstrous. It was like the Hellfire was burning him too, but he didn't care. As long as he could wipe out Ryan Ling today, he'd pay any price.
And with Quentin's shameless counterattack, his henchmen jumped in too—charging at Gabriel Xue, Jason Lin, Warren Yuan, and the others. It was like the last fight hadn't ended, and now the real battle was starting. Crooks in the crowd even reached for Sophie Su, Lily Liu, and the other girls.
The situation instantly got worse—the whole arena was slipping back into chaos.
"Ha! Ryan Ling, you still lost to me in the end! Hellfire at full power!" Quentin Qin shouted, and in a flash, a hundred meters of flames closed in on Ryan, turning him into the epicenter of a blazing inferno. The heat shot up to the max in an instant.
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As Quentin Qin yelled, all the rich kids watching from the stands in Jinling started shouting too—this time, they didn't hold back, yelling all kinds of nasty things.
"Is Ryan Ling... really done for?" Everyone around was stunned. On the livestream platform, one message after another flooded the screen.
"Is Ryan Ling about to become the shortest-lived champion in tournament history?"
...
For a moment, waves of emotion crashed over everyone.
"Quentin Qin, do you really think you've won?" Just then, Ryan Ling's voice rang out, crisp and clear—as if the Hellfire hadn't affected him at all.
"You—you can still talk?" Quentin Qin froze, his face going pale. He knew just how strong the Hellfire was, and right now it was at maximum power—no one should've been able to withstand it!
"Hell Furnace, come out—let them see what real Hellfire looks like!" Ryan Ling ignored him. Instead, he shouted, and the massive Hell Furnace appeared in an instant. All the Hellfire wrapped around him was sucked inside.
"Burn! Burn everything! Kill everything! Destroy everything!" With the Hell Furnace unleashed, torrents of true hellfire blasted out, instantly incinerating the thugs who'd attacked Gabriel Xue, Sophie Su, and the others.
In a flash, the sound of bodies exploding filled the air. Five or six surviving thugs were pulverized into dust, and the Hell Furnace wasn't even close to satisfied. Its flames surged out, sweeping up all the rich brats who'd been shouting before—over a hundred of them were dragged in and stuffed into the furnace.
With a roar, the furnace's flames shot thousands of meters into the sky, lighting up all of Jinling.
"Who—who the hell are you? There's no way a furnace like this could exist in the human world! Who are you really?" Quentin Qin stared, eyes wide. He'd studied Hellfire for years, and knew plenty about underworld treasures—but now he was completely lost.
"Do you even deserve to know? Now get ready for hell!" No matter who tried to stop him today, Ryan Ling was going to kill this bastard...