74: Chapter 74 Three Punches, Burning Away Your Rules

Chen Fan stood before the Third Prison Gate, the blue veins on his palm burning so intensely they nearly pierced his bones.

The markings looked like living spirit snakes, climbing up his arm along the blood vessels, bringing a patch of scorched red skin with every inch they advanced.

He looked down at Su Shuang, who was unconscious in his arms. Her eyelashes trembled slightly under the high temperature, and beads of sweat still clung to her forehead—proof that she was still alive.

"I need to settle her down first." His Adam's apple bobbed, and he turned toward the Stone Heart Statue.

That dusty gray stone statue had stood for who knows how long, its eye sockets filled with half an inch of volcanic ash. But as he approached, the stone dust suddenly rained down, and a pair of amber stone eyes slowly opened.

"To cross this bridge, the heart must hold no obsession." The Stone Heart's voice sounded like two rocks grinding together, making Chen Fan's eardrums ache.

He looked down at Su Shuang's pale face and recalled a time when he was hauling bricks at a construction site. During a downpour, his coworkers crowded into a leaky shed, and he gave the only dry towel to Old Zhang, who was sick—back then, he too had an obsession: to ensure that even in their miserable lives, someone could catch a breath.

"I do have one," Chen Fan tugged at the corner of his mouth, gently rubbing his fingertips over Su Shuang's hair. "I want her to live."

The Stone Heart's eyes flickered in the firelight.

Chen Fan thought he would be rejected again, but he saw a crack on the statue's shoulder 'crack' open, and the massive body slowly shifted sideways by half a foot. "Obsession is not greed, but protection. Pass."

The bridge surface suddenly roared like thunder, and a black stone path emerged from the fissure where lava surged, like a path of life cleaved open by an invisible hand.

Chen Fan gently placed Su Shuang at the foot of the Stone Heart and pressed his fingertip against her wrist pulse—the beat was weak, but steady.

When he stood up, the blue veins on the back of his neck had already burned to behind his ears, causing him to grit his teeth in pain, yet the corner of his mouth actually curved into a smile.

"Wait for me," he murmured to Su Shuang, then turned and stepped into the Third Prison.

The heat wave inside the gate was almost enough to steam a person alive.

Chen Fan narrowed his eyes and saw Crimson Nightmare standing in the center of the lava pool. His dark red robe shone under the heat of the earth fire, and he held a dim blue Fire Core in his palm, which pulsed 'thump-thump' like a heart.

"This is the Source of Law Fire, also my only 'heart.'" Crimson Nightmare's voice was mixed with the hissing roar of boiling lava. "If you are willing to self-immolate and enter the furnace, I will grant her a path to life."

Chen Fan's gaze swept over the Fire Core and landed on Crimson Nightmare's chest—the lava markings there were fainter than elsewhere, as if something had been pressed against it long-term, wearing away the fire's intensity. "You lost your heart long ago," he sneered, his boot crushing a piece of red-hot rubble. "Only a fire pot containing others' suffering remains."

Before his words faded, three dark shadows shot out from the lava with a 'boom'!

Chen Fan took half a step back and clearly saw Fire Puppets—lava dripped from their joints, and dim green ghost fires burned in their eye sockets. Compared to the puppets in the first two prisons, these had an additional golden chain wrapped around their necks.

"Pre-Burn Countdown... 3." Chen Fan stared at the raised claws of the Fire Puppets as the system's mechanical voice sounded in his ears.

He remembered working odd jobs at the construction site; when carrying 200-pound cement bags, he had to wait for the foreman's whistle. Using force before the whistle blew risked throwing out his back.

At this moment, the Fire Puppets' movements were like that whistle; the arc of their raised claws and the frequency of the dripping lava all contained a rhythm.

"2..." He sidestepped the claw attack from the Fire Puppet on the left, feinted with his right fist, causing the Fire Puppet on the right to lunge and miss.

"1!" Chen Fan sank his weight, his left fist smashing down like an iron hammer onto the chest of the center Fire Puppet.

The golden light of Critical Hit Pre-Burn exploded from his fist. The puppet was blasted backward, and when it hit the rock wall, the golden chain around its neck snapped halfway with a 'clank.'

He did not pursue.

The Fire Puppets' attack rhythm was broken, and they were swaying as they adjusted their stance.

Chen Fan retreated to the edge of the lava pool, feeling the heat rising from the ground—this heat helped him gauge the charging speed of his Pre-Burn gauge.

The first two punches consumed two bars; now the third bar was ticking 'drip, drop' upwards.

"Clever," Crimson Nightmare tapped the Fire Core, and the blue flame rose three inches. "Using my earth fire to nourish your pre-burn."

Chen Fan did not reply.

He stared at the Fire Puppet on the right, which was raising its claw again, counting the number of times its joint turned—seven times, the same as before.

When the joint clicked 'kaka' for the seventh time, he suddenly bent down, and the fire claw grazed the back of his neck, taking a few strands of scorched hair.

"Pre-Burn 3... 2... 1!"

The second punch slammed into the knee of the Fire Puppet on the left.

This time, a blue vein appeared within the critical hit's golden light; it was Su Shuang's fox blood resonating.

The puppet's leg bone instantly shattered. As it fell into the lava pool, splashed lava mixed with a fragment of the golden chain, landing at Chen Fan's feet with a 'ding.'

He bent down to pick up the piece of golden chain. Engraved on the inside of the link was the extremely small character 'Ye.'

The third bar of the Pre-Burn gauge lit up with a 'buzz.'

Chen Fan looked up and saw the three Fire Puppets surrounding him in a triangular formation. Lava formed a ring of fire beneath their feet, intending to trap him in the middle.

He took a deep breath, his Adam's apple bobbing—this was a habit he developed while hauling bricks at the construction site: sinking his Qi to his Dantian before exerting force.

"Here they come," he shouted low, and his figure suddenly lunged forward.

The Fire Puppet on the left swung its claw; he tilted his head to dodge. The Fire Puppet on the right swept its leg; he bent down to avoid it. The fist of the center Fire Puppet, trailing lava, smashed down, but instead of dodging, he met it head-on, his right fist colliding with that fist.

[Visible Critical Hit × 3 Activated!]

[Hidden Critical Hit × 2 Triggered (Fox Blood Resonance)!]

[Environmental Resonance Critical Hit × 2 (Earth Fire Energy Stacking)!]

The golden light of the seven-layered critical hit exploded on his fist like a small sun.

The center Fire Puppet's arm instantly exploded into lava, and the remaining torso was driven by the impact against the torch on the rock wall. With a 'boom,' the torch's base shattered, and the flame that had burned for a century 'poofed' out. The fire chain 'clattered' and broke apart, and a thumb-sized ink pellet rolled out from the ashes, stopping at Chen Fan's feet.

He crouched down to pick up the ink pellet and wiped the dust off the surface with his fingertip—it was densely engraved with numbers, all being the identification codes of New Players.

The topmost number belonged to the little fatty he had met in the Newbie Village, the one who said he was saving money to treat his sister's illness.

"Damn your mother," Chen Fan's pupils shrank to pinpricks, his voice squeezed out from between his teeth.

He clenched the ink pellet until his knuckles turned white. "Burning living people as fuel, you dare talk about evolution?"

Crimson Nightmare's face cracked for the first time.

He stared at the extinguished torch, then looked at the ink pellet in Chen Fan's palm. His Adam's apple bobbed: "That is... a necessary price."

"Price?" Chen Fan sneered. "Ask them if they were willing to be the price!"

The lava pool suddenly surged violently.

A figure covered in festering sores crawled out of the magma. Half of his face was burned down to the white bone, but the other half still retained a trace of handsomeness.

He staggered toward Chen Fan, his festering hand raised and then lowered, as if trying to touch something, finally resting at his side.

"Don't... let him burn again..." His voice was like a broken bellows; every word he spoke forced out black blood. "I beg you..."

Before Chen Fan could react, the person suddenly turned and rushed toward Crimson Nightmare.

Crimson Nightmare's pupils constricted sharply. He tried to dodge but couldn't move—until the man lunged into his embrace, pressing his festering hand onto the Fire Core on his chest.

"Heart... I finally... found you..."

Crimson Nightmare's body began to tremble.

He looked down at the person in his arms. Beneath the lava robe, half of a jade pendant was revealed—which perfectly fit the other half that slipped from the man's embrace to spell out the words 'Crimson Heart.'

"Ye Pao... is that you?" Crimson Nightmare's voice shook, and the blue light of the Fire Core flickered intensely. "I've been looking for you for a hundred years... how could you..."

"Stop burning..." Ye Pao's fingers sank into the Fire Core, and his festering skin began to burn. "It hurts... it really... hurts..."

His body gradually turned to ash, and the final half of the jade pendant fell to Chen Fan's feet with a 'dang.'

Chen Fan bent down to pick it up. When he looked up, he saw a thin crack appearing on Crimson Nightmare's Fire Core, with streaks of black blood seeping from the blue flame.

"You said suffering is evolution?" Chen Fan walked toward Crimson Nightmare, clutching the jade pendant. The blue veins had already covered his arms, and Su Shuang's fox blood boiled in his veins. "But look—the ones truly suffering are those who died for you."

Crimson Nightmare suddenly looked up, and for the first time, there was warmth in his molten eyes.

He gazed in the direction Ye Pao had disappeared, and the crack in the Fire Core grew wider: "I thought... by burning away their weakness, I could... I could..."

"Could what?" Chen Fan stood before him, the three bars of the Pre-Burn gauge flashing wildly on his retina. "Could you fill the hole in your heart?"

The Earth Fire suddenly roared.

The lava beneath Chen Fan's feet split open, and ten-thousand-degree Earth Fire surged out like a giant dragon, rushing straight toward his face.

Crimson Nightmare raised his hand, the blue light of the Fire Core almost extinguished: "Then I will let you... be reborn in the flames!"

Chen Fan advanced instead of retreating.

He felt the burning heat of the blue veins spreading to his heart, felt the resonance of Su Shuang's fox blood with his own bloodstream, felt the piercing pain as all three Pre-Burn bars lit up simultaneously—this was the strength he accumulated hauling bricks at the construction site, the resentment he swallowed when his wages were delayed, and the fire that ignited when he saw Su Shuang unconscious.

"This punch, I've been charging for three lifetimes," his voice mixed with the roar of the Earth Fire, shaking the entire Fire Prison. "I'm smashing your rules!"

The Earth Fire descended like a waterfall.

Chen Fan stood in the center of the sea of fire, the three bars of the 'Critical Hit Pre-Burn' gauge flashing with blinding golden light in his eyes, like three swords about to be drawn.