82: Chapter 82 My Fist, Dedicated to Burning False Gods

Cold sweat seeped from Chen Fan's palms.

As the dull thud of the Bronze Door closing exploded behind him, he stared at the dark red molten iron churning within the fissure ahead. His Adam's apple bobbed—it wasn't lava; it was alive. Every drop emitted a faint hiss, sounding like the screams of countless people whose throats had been scalded through.

"Brother Fan..." Su Shuang's forehead rested against the back of his neck, her breath abnormally scorching.

He could feel her fingernails digging into his shoulders, beads of sticky blood seeping through his coarse canvas work clothes.

This was a sign of backlash from her Fox Demon Bloodline. Three days ago, she could still hold a teacup and make sarcastic remarks; now, she couldn't even manage a complete sentence.

"Hold on tight." He reached back and pressed down on her hands crossed over his chest, his thumb brushing against the faint silver fox tattoo on her wrist—the mark of the Qingqiu bloodline. It was currently glowing with an eerie ghostly blue, as if it were about to burn through her skin.

The fissure suddenly shuddered violently, and the dark red molten iron erupted with a boom, condensing in the void into a vertical drop—the Molten Heart Rift.

Chen Fan stared into the bottomless abyss of the rift and heard the wail of the gray bell crashing down from above: "...Save me... Mama..."

He looked up to see the bronze bell suspended above the rift at some unknown point. Grayish-white mist seeped from the cracks on its surface. With every chime, a remnant soul rose from the molten lake—charred humanoid figures wrapped in flames, clawing and tearing at them before being ripped to shreds by the heatwaves.

"The one hundred and third... final words: 'Crimson Nightmare said, surviving is the punishment'."

Stone Throat's voice rolled out from the depths of the rock walls, sounding like layers of rock grinding against each other.

Chen Fan's pupils suddenly constricted—in the firelight of the altar at the bottom of the rift, he saw Xiao Ma.

This was the young man who had saved his life in the Bronze Dungeon last month. Now, his limbs were chained to a stone pillar by fire chains, and the "New Flame Lord" sigil on his chest was sizzling with blood.

His face was so swollen he was unrecognizable, yet the moment he saw Chen Fan, he shouted at the top of his lungs, "Brother Fan!

Don't come over here!

This sigil..."

"Shut up!" Chen Fan roared until his throat ached.

He could see Xiao Ma's blood flowing through the rock crevices into the vortex at the center of the lake, every drop draining his life force.

"Jump," Su Shuang suddenly said in his ear.

Her silver hair had begun to float at some point, with tiny frost flowers condensing on the tips. "The earth fire of the Molten Heart Rift can temporarily suppress the bloodline backlash... I can still hold on."

Chen Fan looked down at her.

Her eyes were half-closed, but the corners were flushed with an abnormal redness, as if they were about to catch fire.

He knew this was her Fox Demon Bloodline forcibly gathering power, just like the workers on a construction site who endured heatstroke just to earn a few extra coins—if you made it through, it was fate; if not...

"Pardon me." He tightened his grip and, with her on his back, leaped into the rift.

Wind carrying the scent of sulfur rushed into his nose. The moment tongues of fire licked his ankles, Chen Fan heard the system roar in his mind: [Danger level increased to SS. Critical Hit Module entering emergency mode].

He watched the altar below become clearer and clearer. He felt Su Shuang suddenly grab his collar, her breathing erratic. "That's... Brother Li's aura?!"

"Brother Li?" Chen Fan's heart skipped a beat.

He remembered Su Shuang mentioning that she had a childhood playmate named Yan Li, who had disappeared when the system purged Qingqiu.

"The fire tattoo..." Su Shuang's nails nearly embedded themselves in his flesh. "It's the same... as the fire tattoo on Brother Li's neck..."

Before she could finish, a roar echoed from the earth's core.

Chen Fan looked up and saw a figure standing on a high platform in the middle of the molten lake—black robes fluttering, fire tattoos crawling from the sleeves onto a mask like living snakes.

"Chen Fan, you've come at the perfect time." Crimson Nightmare's voice sounded like a red-hot iron block. "Today, I'm going to make you watch with your own eyes as the person she loves most becomes a fire shell even emptier than I am."

He raised his hand, and a hundred-foot pillar of fire exploded from the lake's surface.

Chen Fan's pupils shrank—the fire chains on the altar suddenly tightened. Xiao Ma's scream pierced through the heatwaves as blood sprayed like a fountain toward the vortex at the center of the lake.

"Let him go!" Su Shuang struggled to get down, the frost-fire in her silver hair suddenly surging and scorching burn marks onto Chen Fan's back.

He reached back and grabbed her waist, pressing her tight against him. "If you collapse now, there really won't be anyone left to save him!"

These words were like a bucket of cold water.

Su Shuang's struggling paused, the frost-fire weakening until only the tips of her hair still held tiny ice crystals.

Chen Fan took the opportunity to charge toward the altar, his left fist igniting with a brilliant white light—[Critical Hit Charge x4].

The system suddenly vibrated, and red text exploded before his eyes: [Dual-Source Resonance detected (Earth Fire + fox blood). Activating "Dual-Source Critical Hit"]!

The force of his punch slammed into Crimson Nightmare's flame shield. What exploded wasn't a simple shockwave, but a Flame Burst that spread like creeping vines.

Chen Fan watched helplessly as three guards who rushed forward were ensnared by the flames and instantly incinerated into ash.

His heart jolted. "This critical hit... is starting to listen to me?"

"Does it hurt?" A cold laugh came from beneath Crimson Nightmare's mask.

He raised his hand, and the molten lake, which had just been cracked by the blast, suddenly churned. The damage healed at a visible rate. "I have been like this every day for three hundred years."

Chen Fan retreated to the rock ridge, his back pressing against the scorching stone wall.

The gray bell rang again, this time with the cry of a New Player: "He said... as long as I don't scream in pain, I can live..." As Stone Throat recounted this, Chen Fan suddenly noticed that whenever the fox blood fluctuated within Su Shuang, the critical hit on his fist would glow with a pale blue frost, adding the Frost Devour effect.

"Shuanger, lend me your fire one more time." He bit the tip of his tongue and smeared the blood onto his gauntlet.

The blood droplets fell onto the silver fox tattoo on Su Shuang's wrist, and the ghostly blue light flared up instantly.

He closed his eyes and recalled her usual breathing rhythm when brewing tea—slow while boiling the water, rapid when steeping the tea, and slowing down again when pouring it.

On his ninth charge, he timed his punch to a faint breath from Su Shuang.

[Triple Stacked Critical Hit]!

The first layer of Frost Devour froze Crimson Nightmare's right arm; the second layer of Frost Devour locked his knee joint; the third layer of Frost Devour struck the fire source at his heart directly!

Crimson Nightmare's flame shield developed spiderweb-like cracks.

Chen Fan took the chance to leap up, compressing all the critical hit energy in his body to its limit—like holding his final breath while carrying a hundred-pound steel beam on a construction site.

"Boom!"

[Flame Burst Finishing Strike] exploded in the center of the lake!

Crimson Nightmare's mask shattered upon impact.

Chen Fan stared at the youthful face, his Adam's apple bobbing—the Qingqiu fire tattoo on his neck and the silver fox tattoo on Su Shuang's wrist could actually form a complete Star Map.

The system suddenly whispered, sounding like someone speaking right into his ear: "You are not the only Critical Hitter... but you are the first to 'hear' it."

Crimson Nightmare staggered back, his originally violent flames suddenly weakening slightly.

Gazing at the emotions churning in his eyes, Chen Fan suddenly remembered the "living memories" Gray Pupil had mentioned—the Star Whisper High Priest from three hundred years ago, a soul locked at the very bottom of the book of fate...

And at this moment, the fire tattoo on Crimson Nightmare's neck was vibrating in the same way as the bronze bell.