91: Chapter 91 My Critical Strike Isn't Your Revenge

Chen Fan's fist was still suspended in mid-air, dual-colored flames churning like living things at his fingertips.

The dark purple seeping from the crack in the sky had not yet fully receded when he suddenly felt a sharp sting in his chest, as if someone were using a red-hot thin needle to poke upward along his spine—the golden patterns of the critical hit system twisted into a mess in his palm, and the characters on the system interface looked as if ink had been splashed on them, the two words 'Chen Fan' being torn into fragments, their edges tinged with a nauseating grayish-green.

"They're getting serious!" Su Shuang's nails dug into the corner of his robe, the fox tattoo spreading from the corner of her eye to behind her ear, blood seeping along the lines. "The brushstrokes on the book of fate are stained with blood; they're using the souls of the living as ink—Look!"

She tilted her face up, her starlit eyes reflecting the churning purple clouds. "A new fate is taking shape: 'Ashen Fire · Awaiting Ignition'... They want to burn you until not even ash remains!"

Chen Fan's throat bobbed, his back molars aching from clenching them so hard.

The system prompt pierced his eardrums painfully: "Warning: Fate modification in progress..." The red light flickered across his retina.

He suddenly recalled three days ago before the kindling stele, when Xiao Ma's name was burned down to just half a stroke. Back then, the kid had slapped his shoulder and laughed, "Old Chen, if our names can burn bright, it's worth it." Now, that warmth suddenly rushed to his eyes, and he fiercely shut them tight, only to open them again, the depths of his eyes burning red.

"Don't let them change your roots," Luo Yan's voice scraped across his mind like sandpaper, carrying the hoarseness unique to remnants. "A name is the soul's anchor. Change the root, and even the strength to swing your fist will be drained—Strike back with one punch, let the name ring out, and a critical hit will naturally arise!"

Chen Fan's fingers trembled.

He looked at the bloodstain on Su Shuang's face and remembered how she coughed up blood the day before yesterday, covering her mouth with her sleeve and smiling sideways, "Fox demon blood is sweet, want a taste?" He also recalled Yan Li holding up a torch in the bronze dungeon, shouting, "Old Chen, I'll light the way with this torch for you, you carve my name on the tower top!" Those voices exploded into a cacophony in his mind. He suddenly clenched his fist, fine sweat seeping from the golden patterns. "My name is the water Xiao Ma handed me, the torch Yan Li held, the tea Shuanger served—"

He roared at the crack in the sky, "It was built up by a pile of living people! Why should you get to change it?!"

The dual-colored flames at the tip of his fist suddenly soared three feet.

Chen Fan felt something surge up from the soles of his feet, like a spring that had been compressed for too long suddenly snapping open—the critical hit system's prompt exploded almost like a scream: "Critical Hit Triggered: Flame Burst!"

The flames transformed into crimson-gold wolf hairs, surging upward against the dark purple patterns of the book of fate.

Chen Fan stared at that streak of firelight and saw the characters 'Chen Fan' burning fiercely within the crack: the turned-up cuff when Xiao Ma handed over water, the arm bent when Yan Li held the torch, the drooping eyelash when Su Shuang brewed tea.

When The Fate Official's vermilion brush paused above 'Chen Fan,' those two words were already burning bright red, sparks splashing onto the book of fate, scorching black holes into it.

"Fate modification interrupted, critical hit backlash on the Life Recording Division—Experience x 150%"

Before the system prompt finished, Chen Fan staggered and leaned against the tower wall.

Su Shuang leaned softly toward him, her fingertips icy cold. "They used a triple seal... the Starlight Tower's writing authority, Earth Fire as the seal, and bloodline as the guide." She wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth; the fox tattoo had faded slightly. "That Earth Fire seal... used the remnant blood of Qing Jin."

Chen Fan narrowed his eyes and looked into the distance.

Dark red mist rose from the direction of the Earth Fire entrance. He remembered that Qing Jin was a girl he had saved last month in the silver dungeon; when she died, she was still clutching half a roasted sweet potato, saying she wanted to save it for her younger brother. "Changing a living person's fate with the blood of the dead?" He tugged at the corner of his mouth, revealing a hint of ruthlessness. "I'll just burn this seal into a funeral fire."

He bent down and carried Su Shuang onto his back, the golden patterns on his palm still hot.

As soon as he stepped off the stairs, the ground suddenly trembled. The blood mark of the Molten Heart Eye flared up with a 'boom,' reflecting an afterimage—inside the Starlight Tower, The Fate Official in the bronze mask was pressing a drop of blood into the book of fate, the tip of the brush slowly moving, the target clearly being 'Su Shuang · Soul Dissipation.'

Chen Fan's pupils contracted to pinpoints.

The critical hit system shook violently. The prompt, "Bloodline crisis detected, 'Guardian Anchor' triggered: Next critical hit is guaranteed to be [Frost Devour], cooldown 5 minutes," made cold sweat bead on his back.

He immediately sat cross-legged and pulled out the earth core flame marrow from his embrace, placing it in his palm—Su Shuang had risked going to the earth fire layer to dig this up the day before yesterday. At that time, her hand was burned bright red, yet she still laughed and said, "It's worth it to be material for your fire-type skill."

"Shuanger, Shuanger..." He stared at Su Shuang's pale face, remembering how she gently stroked the stele mark before the kindling stele, her fingertips stained with ash, yet she smiled like the tea sprouts of spring. "You said when a name is written into fire, the fire gains a soul.

Then my fire's soul is you." He closed his eyes and silently recited 'Protect,' and frost energy spread from his palm, condensing into thin armor covering Su Shuang's heart. Ice shards fell onto her eyelashes like a layer of snow.

A faint sound came from the depths of the earth veins, like someone blowing a cracked clay flute.

Chen Fan looked up and saw the residual sound of Stone Throat wandering on the rock wall: "Luo Yan once said—'When a name is written into fire, the fire no longer obeys.'"

"A fine 'no longer obeys.'" Chen Fan tore off a piece of his robe and used the earth core flame marrow fire to write names on the cloth. The horizontal stroke of 'Qing Jin' was thicker—that girl's spine was straight when she carried her brother; the vertical stroke of 'Xiao Ma' was tilted upward, his wrist always shaking when he handed over water; the dot of 'Yan Li' was round, just like the dimples when she smiled; 'Lin Qi'... After writing the last name, the corner of the cloth was already scorched black.

He tied the cloth to his fist, took a deep breath, and looked toward the direction of the Earth Fire entrance.

When this punch landed, the fire in the earth veins would burn along the names he wrote, burning through The Fate Official's seal and scorching their brushes. "You use blood to change fate, I'll use fire to write names." He let out a low roar and punched fiercely into the earth—

"Critical Hit Triggered: Flame Burst!"

The flames surged along the earth veins. Chen Fan seemed to see those names churning in the fire: Qing Jin's roasted sweet potato scent, Xiao Ma's sweat, Yan Li's torchlight, mixed with the jasmine fragrance from Su Shuang's tea cup, causing the mist at the Earth Fire entrance to explode with a 'boom.'

The system prompt sounded on schedule: "Fire Seal source contaminated, Life Recording Division writing delayed by 12 hours."

"Their brushes... are stuck," Su Shuang's voice came from behind him, laced with a bloody laugh. "But they won't stop, Chen Fan... The next move will be even crueler."

Chen Fan looked down at her and saw the fox tattoo at her eye corner faintly reddening again, yet she was still smiling.

He reached out and wiped the blood from her lips. The dual flames on his fist intertwined into a dual-colored vortex in his palm. "Then let them see—my critical hits never rely on luck." He looked up toward the Starlight Tower; the character 'Luo' on the tower top shimmered with bronze light in the twilight. "They rely on... people who can never be forgotten."

He picked Su Shuang up onto his back and continued walking down. In the ruins of the Star Gazing Platform, the fiery character 'Chen Fan' was still burning, sparks drifting with the wind toward the depths of the earth veins.

The path of light underground had dimmed somewhat at some point, and the residual flames of the kindling stele flickered, as if someone were blinking in the darkness.

Chen Fan paused his steps, hearing a faint, inaudible cracking sound coming from the direction of the Earth Fire—like some kind of seal beginning to loosen.