Chapter 56: The Fiery Counterattack and the Consultant’s Challenge

Minutes earlier, as a puppet drew near Lu Chen, attempting to touch his cheek, a brilliant wall of fire erupted at the young man’s feet, surging upwards from the ground.

The flames roared, devouring the puppet and instantly reducing it to charred, crumbling fragments.

A scorching wave of heat rippled outwards, yet it bypassed Lu Chen entirely, as if possessing a life of its own to avoid the young man.

The red-haired young woman stepped out from the wall of fire, extinguishing the blazing inferno with a casual flick of her hand.

She quickly approached, scrutinizing him. Seeing that Lu Chen was unharmed, she finally relaxed, a faint smile gracing her lips as she reached out to smooth his disheveled bangs.

“Don’t be afraid,” she murmured. “I’ve been here all along.”

Her ethereal voice, the warmth of her fingers, and her luminous eyes—there was no doubt. The woman before him was truly Fireworks.

Lu Chen let out a breath, but his anxiety immediately resurfaced as he glanced around nervously.

“There’s more than one puppet!” he exclaimed. “We have to immediately—”

Mid-sentence, the young man froze.

The mist, which had been as dense as ink moments ago, had largely dissipated, and the puppets that had swarmed the area vanished without a trace.

He then looked down at the ground before him. There were no puppet remnants as he had expected, only scattered clumps of dark grass ash.

The young woman smiled faintly.

“Though I don’t know precisely what you saw, it was all merely illusion magic,” she explained. “Stay clear-headed, and you won’t fall for it again. The spellcaster is hiding somewhere nearby.”

Lu Chen calmed himself amidst the confusion, letting out a long sigh.

“Nearby, you say… Then is it really wise for us to just stand here talking?” he wondered. “Won’t they discover us?”

The young woman ignited a small flame at her fingertip, using it to part the mist before them.

“Don’t worry, I’ve made arrangements,” she assured him. “To avoid detection, the enemy didn’t cast the magic directly, but rather dissolved it within the mist.”

She intensified the flame’s glow, sending it drifting towards the other end of the magic circle.

As the flame flickered, the mist slowly parted. Old Nie sat slumped on the grass, his gaze vacant as if his soul had been drained.

Lily of the Valley stood beside the middle-aged man, cradling a large, vibrant azalea in her hands. Firefly-like pollen drifted from it into the mist.

The red-haired young woman continued.

“Lily of the Valley has cultivated an azalea potent enough to induce hallucinations,” she explained. “She’s infused her illusion magic into the mist, concealing our presence.”

“However, the enemy should be realizing something is amiss by now.”

The young woman glanced towards Envy’s hiding spot, a playful smile flickering in her eyes.

“I’ll tell you the battle plan in a moment. It’s time for our counterattack.”

****

Excruciating pain erupted, his mind reeled, and every inch of his body screamed in terror.

“Ugh… Aaaah…!”

Envy let out a guttural, indistinct roar, scrambling backward in a frantic retreat. In a desperate scramble, he sprouted several arms, stuffing them into the gaping hole in his chest, barely restoring his form.

Ling Wei observed her old colleague’s wretched state for a moment before slowly raising her fiery bow.

After acquiring the magic book from Old Nie’s hands, she quickly detected the magic imbued within it, realizing that Envy was at work.

Ling Wei had always wanted to discuss matters concerning him, The Consultant, and Heart of the Moon with ‘Big Brother Envy’.

But the fellow had social anxiety, making it incredibly difficult to get an audience with him.

Now, with him having conveniently delivered himself to her doorstep, the young woman truly didn’t want to miss this opportunity.

“I thought you were just a stronger sort of weirdo,” she mused. “I never imagined you’d come here yourself.”

Ling Wei’s voice was as calm as still water, yet Envy’s shoulders trembled, his panic as profound as if he had encountered a demon from the depths of hell.

He bit his tongue, forcing himself to adopt an enraged expression, and bellowed.

“Fireworks…! You scum, you tra—”

“Enough. Die.”

Another fiery arrow shot through the air, this time piercing and incinerating Envy’s head with unerring precision, abruptly silencing his shouts.

The sheer power gap between Envy and Xia Shi wasn’t so vast that he couldn’t have put up a fight.

Had he seriously retaliated, while the outcome wouldn’t change, he might have at least inflicted some damage.

‘However, the moment he found himself at a disadvantage, his legs would turn to jelly and his mind would go blank.’

He showed no inclination to resist, immediately tearing through the ground, intent on escape.

Yet, the young woman was faster.

With a gentle flick of her finger, a third fiery arrow shot forth, piercing his calf like lightning and melting the limb, flesh and bone, into ash.

“Uwaaah—”

The Incarnation of Sin lifted its charred jaw, letting out a wail, then suddenly exerted its power, forcefully splitting its body into more than a dozen pieces!

Each fragment instantly sprouted countless limbs, bracing itself against the ground, scurrying in all directions like crippled spiders. They twisted and lurched across the grass, heading straight for the depths of the forest.

The young woman sighed silently.

She was a staunch connoisseur of body horror, but ‘Old Brother Envy’ was merely toying with chunks of flesh, which she found incredibly dull.

While visual appeal holds its weight, true monstrosity also demands depth of character. No matter how disgusting or terrifying an exterior might be, if the interior is a shameless, incompetent, and utterly predictable piece of trash, it’s difficult to stir any real emotion in an audience.

Go re-watch *The Thing* three hundred times and learn!

…Alright, enough with the complaints. It’s time to end this farce.

The young woman lightly tapped the ground, then floated upwards. She nocked an arrow, and brilliant magic erupted from her fingertips.

With surging magic, scorching fiery arrows rained down like a tempest.

They whistled as they tore through and dispersed the forest mist, each one striking with unerring accuracy, piercing every single fragment of Envy as they frantically fled!

The instant they were impaled by the fiery arrows, most of Envy’s fragments disintegrated into ash from the intense heat.

Only one fragment of Envy still clung to life, even attempting to sprout new limbs and repair itself.

‘—This was his core.’

Once it was destroyed, he would be kicked to death like a stray dog, sent to meet the Primeval Witch.

That said, this fellow’s core was quite resilient, capable of absorbing significant damage. When pushed, he would even ‘hiss’ and enter a second phase, displaying an extraordinary tenacity for survival. He was, in essence, a top-tier punching bag.

Ling Wei flipped her palm, conjuring an exceptionally scorching fiery arrow, and aimed it at her dear colleague.

“Miss Fireworks, please wait a moment.”

An androgynous voice echoed from not far away.

As the mist churned, The Consultant pressed their bandage-wrapped palms together. Within the blink of an eye, dark magic coalesced at their fingertips, forming a shadowy, hundred-headed dragon.

They softly uttered four words.

“You must die.”

Amidst the continuous roars, the dark glow at their fingertips erupted instantly. The forest mist was violently pushed aside, and countless drooling dragon mouths were already lunging towards Ling Wei.

A chilling malevolence washed over her. The young woman raised her palm. A sudden crimson light flared, and a surging tide of flames erupted with a roar, evaporating the dark dragon’s body along with the surrounding mist.

As the fiery glow dissipated, The Consultant, using the explosion as cover, had already closed the distance to within a step, a deathly glow pulsing erratically in their palm.

“Oh dear.”

Ling Wei flipped her hand, conjuring a circular shield of blazing flames. The Consultant abruptly accelerated, their palm’s dark glow slamming hard against the shield’s surface.

Amidst a deafening roar, a tsunami-like surge of power erupted and poured forth, pushing the shield and the young woman behind it skyward, straight through the heavens.

In the blink of an eye, the two had torn through the cloud layers, finding themselves in the frigid high altitudes.

The young woman spread her hands towards The Consultant, a faint smile gracing her lips.

“As you wished, I’ve left the ground, so you needn’t worry about Envy seeing through your true form.”

“Now, can you finally unleash your full power?”

The bandages on The Consultant’s face twitched, forming a vague arc that suggested a smile.

“That won’t do. Haven’t you also been holding back considerably?”

“Heh… I’m growing increasingly interested in you. Consider this a greeting; shall we spar a little?”

“With pleasure. However, while Envy is severely wounded, he is still not someone Lily of the Valley can contend with.”

“Are you truly alright with leaving them alone in such a deadly place?”

Ling Wei paused, then burst into unrestrained laughter. She laughed so hard her body rocked back and forth, her crimson hair dancing wildly in the wind.

“Ah, ah, that’s truly enough. It’s been days since I’ve laughed like this. You’re The Consultant, correct? Thank you for your humor.”

“…I don’t quite understand what you mean.”

The young woman wiped away the tears that had welled up from her laughter, and said.

“That question would be more appropriate coming from me. Are you truly alright with leaving Envy to face those three alone?”