67: Chapter 67 Crimson Fire Fox

On the evening of the thirteenth day, he arrived at the edge of a cliff.

The cliff was not high, about ten zhang, and its walls were grayish-white limestone, the surface covered in grooves carved by rainwater erosion.

Several gnarled old pine trees grew on the cliff top, their roots squeezing out from the rock crevices, the exposed roots thicker than the trunks themselves.

At the bottom of the cliff was a dried-up creek bed, covered with round pebbles, with waist-high withered grass growing in the cracks between the stones.

The setting sun pressed in from the west, dyeing the cliff walls a dark red.

He was preparing to find a place on the cliff top to spend the night.

Suddenly, a crimson shadow darted out from the withered grass at the bottom of the cliff.

The speed was extremely fast. Like a streak of flame drawn across the air, it surged straight from the bottom of the cliff to the top.

Jiang Yan's Divine Sense caught that scorching spiritual energy fluctuation the instant before it darted out—fire attribute, with extremely high concentration, rapidly approaching.

With a light tap of his feet, he retreated rapidly for three zhang, landing on the branch of a gnarled old pine.

The crimson shadow landed on the edge of the cliff top, and the withered grass instantly ignited under its claws, emitting a series of crisp crackling sounds.

Red Fire Fox.

It was over a zhang long, with shoulders higher than a human chest, its entire body covered in bright crimson fur, looking like a ball of burning flame solidified into the shape of an animal.

The tips of its ears and tail were pure black, and its black fox tail was as fluffy as a large broom, swaying slowly behind it.

Its eyes were orange-red, with two points of fire dancing at the bottom of them. When it opened its mouth, it revealed two rows of fine, sharp teeth, with tiny sparks jumping between the gaps.

There was only a distance of three zhang between Jiang Yan and the branch of the old pine.

The Red Fire Fox's nostrils were gently fluttering, sniffing for his scent in the air.

The standoff lasted only for a single breath.

The Red Fire Fox did not make any probing moves and launched an attack directly.

As it opened its mouth, a stream of orange-red flame gushed out from the depths of its throat.

The stream expanded into a fan shape in the air, a zhang wide, rolling towards Jiang Yan like a burning piece of silk.

Before the flames even arrived, the scorching heat wave had instantly ignited the withered yellow pine needles of the old pine.

The pine needles curled, charred, and turned to ash in the fire; in just a few breaths, the entire old pine became a burning tree of fire.

The pine resin on the trunk was melted by the high temperature, hissing and emitting white smoke.

Jiang Yan had already leapt into the air from the branch the instant before the flame stream reached him.

He flipped his body in mid-air and landed on the rock wall to the left of the cliff.

The moment his boot soles touched a protrusion on the rock wall, his Divine Sense had already finished assessing the battle situation on the cliff top.

Red Fire Fox, Late Stage of Qi Refining Yao Beast, fire attribute, extremely fast speed, wide attack range. Must seal its movement space.

His right hand reached into his bosom, pulled out the Li Fire Killing Array Formation Plate, and threw it towards the center of the cliff top.

The one-foot-tall fire copper Formation Plate flipped several times in the air and landed with a thud on the gravelly ground of the cliff top, creating a shallow pit.

The moment the Formation Plate landed, seven array patterns activated simultaneously—the nine-grid pattern on the fire copper base plate lit up with blinding crimson light, spreading outwards from the array eye, like molten iron flowing along the grooves of a mold.

The fire jade array eye in the center suddenly erupted with a dazzling blaze; flames shot up from the array eye, expanding in the air into a pale red light shield about a zhang in radius.

The Li Fire Killing Array fully deployed within a few breaths.

The pale red light shield enveloped the Red Fire Fox, and layers of flame walls surged from inside the light shield, squeezing towards the fox's body from all directions.

The Red Fire Fox hissed and opened its mouth to spray a stream of flame at the flame wall.

Its intention was to use its own flames to counter the Formation, but it did not expect that the characteristic of the Li Fire Killing Array was to add fuel to the fire.

The moment the flame stream it sprayed hit the fire wall, it was directly swallowed by the wall, and the flames rolled back, instead scorching half of its own tail.

The Red Fire Fox let out a sharp hiss, charging crazily within the array.

It tried to use its speed to break through the blockade of the flame walls, but every time it hit a wall, it was bounced back by the flames.

Its crimson fur was scorched black after several collisions, and the air was filled with the pungent, burnt smell of singed fur.

Jiang Yan did not give it a chance to catch its breath.

The flame gold flying sword shot out from the Storage Pouch; nine Restrictions on the dark golden sword body lit up simultaneously, and the crimson centerline on the sword spine was particularly striking under the setting sun.

The Flying Sword lunged straight at the front of the Red Fire Fox, its tip pointing at its throat.

At the same time, the purple-veined thunder sword circled from the left, the pale golden thunder arcs on the bamboo sword body crackling, tracing a pale blue arc in the twilight.

The Red Fire Fox dashed left and right in the array, trying to avoid the flame gold flying sword pressing in from the front.

But the flame walls of the Li Fire Killing Array limited its range of movement, and every time it dodged, it was forced back to its original position by the flames rebounding from the fire walls.

The flame gold flying sword wove between the fire walls, precisely sealing off its forward evasion space.

The purple-veined thunder sword cut in from the flank.

The moment the sword tip pierced the Red Fire Fox's hind leg, pale golden thunder arcs exploded from the tip, spreading up along the fox leg, the crackling electric light burning a charred pattern onto the crimson fur.

The Red Fire Fox's entire body went numb, its hind legs went weak, and its fox body knelt forward.

It was this very instant.

Jiang Yan's other Flying Sword—that first-grade superior Flying Sword after repairs—silently shot into the Red Fire Fox's mouth, which was wide open due to paralysis, from the front.

The sword tip pierced in from the open fox mouth, passed through the throat, through the upper jaw, into the cranial cavity, and then exited from the back of the head.

With a muffled thud, the sword tip brought out a spray of dark red blood mist, mixed with fine bone fragments and brain matter, which sprayed onto the gravel ground in a fan shape under the setting sun.

The Red Fire Fox's body stiffened in place.

It maintained the posture of hissing with its mouth open, its mouth still wide open, tongue still sticking out, but it could no longer make any sound from its throat.

The firelight in its orange-red fox eyes began to slowly extinguish, gradually changing from bright orange-red to dark red, then dimming to grayish-red, and finally fading out completely.

The black tail tip swept unconsciously on the ground, sweeping away a few small stones, and then stopped moving.

The cliff top became quiet.

The flame walls of the Li Fire Killing Array slowly dissipated, and the pale red light shield flickered a few times before poofing out.

The seven array patterns on the fire copper Formation Plate dimmed, leaving only a faint red light remaining at the array eye, resembling a half-closed eye in the darkening twilight.

Jiang Yan leapt back to the cliff top from the rock wall.

The Red Fire Fox's corpse lay across the gravel ground.

Its entire body of fur was scorched black, its hind legs were burned with dense black patterns by the thunder arcs, and dark red blood was still flowing out of its mouth, dripping onto the gravel along its tongue, quickly congealing into a pool of black bloodstains.

He crouched down and pressed his palm onto the Red Fire Fox's chest.

Beneath the scorched fur, he could still feel the residual body heat; the heart inside the chest cavity had stopped, but the Bloodline around the heart still had warmth.

The Bloodthirsty Demon Scripture circulated.

The Red Fire Fox's essence blood turned into a scorching torrent and surged into his Dantian.

The essence blood of a Late Stage of Qi Refining Yao Beast was several times more scorching than that of a Rock Boar.