Reincarnation Paradise: The Crucible.

Chapter 498 The End
In the vast, desolate forest, the magnificent blooming of the Fire Lotus is like a golden-red spark exploding in the night. It seems tiny from above, but when the view is zoomed in, you can clearly see that large swathes of trees and wolves are being easily blown away by the raging winds stirred up by the Fire Lotus, and even before they hit the ground, they are burned into piles of indistinguishable black charcoal.

Centered on the Fire Lotus, the entire area within a hundred meters radius was transformed into a desolate wasteland of death by the extreme heat, where all things were burned, soil and rocks were fused together, and where the burning wind passed, only lava flowed and formed rivers.

Just a few thousand meters away from this desolate region, deep in a dense forest, a faint spatial fluctuation caused ripples to spread, and a wolf that was lying down to rest vanished from its spot in an instant, replaced by the wolf king Cang Yue, whose right arm was severed at the elbow.

"Oh!"

His intact left fist slammed heavily into the ancient tree beside him, causing the branches and leaves above to tremble violently. At the same time, the dappled moonlight cast down illuminated the pale, distorted face under the shade of the tree, filled with lingering fear.

Just a little bit closer!
If he hadn't made the decisive decision to sever his arm to save his life, and had he been completely enveloped by that fire lotus, even if he hadn't died, he would have at least ended up in a sorry state and severely injured.

It's an utter disgrace that a mere human who hasn't even broken through to the Immortal level could push him to this extent!
Suppressed breathing echoed through the dense forest. When the anger in his eyes finally subsided, Cang Yue slowly straightened up under the shade of the tree. He gripped the tree trunk with his left hand, and the next moment, the vibrant ancient tree beside him withered and disintegrated at a speed visible to the naked eye, until it turned into ashes.

As the smoke and dust dissipated, countless emerald green dots appeared out of thin air and began to surge toward his broken right forearm, quickly outlining, filling, and forming a solid arm with a pale green skin.

With the five fingers slightly spread, the movement is exactly the same as before, except that what flows inside is no longer the surging blood and spiritual power, but the pure but also more fragile spiritual essence of plants and trees.

"You're just a pretty face, useless thing. Cang Yue, it's been a long time. You've become more and more pathetic. Not only were you being overwhelmed by the wolf pack, but you even lost an arm to a human."

A slightly languid and flirtatious teasing voice abruptly broke the silence of the forest. As soon as the words were spoken, Cang Yue, who had just finished repairing his arm, turned his head sharply and saw a tall woman in a red dress slowly walking out of the shadows in the dense forest. Her pretty face under the moonlight was full of undisguised mockery and schadenfreude.

“Crimson Smoke.” Cang Yue’s voice was icy. His gaze swept over the other person, then turned to look at several darker shadows surrounding the dense forest, and continued:
"Since you're all here, there's no need to hide. What's wrong, folks? The mantis hasn't even finished catching the cicada yet, and you orioles are already getting impatient?"

As soon as he finished speaking, the atmosphere around him fell silent for a moment. Then, several figures emerged one after another from the dark corners. Pairs of eyes, some scrutinizing and some malicious, all looked at Cang Yue in the center. Although their expressions were different, they all exuded a fierce aura that was almost overflowing.

"Heh, the mantis is useless, so naturally we orioles have to step up. Don't you think so, Your Majesty the Wolf King?" The fairy named Wusui sneered, but was quickly interrupted by another figure above.

"Stop making sarcastic remarks, Wusui. If it were you or me rashly confronting that human, we might not necessarily gain much advantage. Cang Yue did a good job, at least he forced out this fire lotus."

Above the demons, Yanqiu, suspended in mid-air atop the tree, ignored the gloomy gazes cast upon him from below. His emerald green eyes looked towards the golden-red fire lotus several kilometers away. Even from a great distance, he could still feel waves of heat constantly pounding against every inch of his exposed skin.

The high temperature alone might not be a big deal for these immortal beings, but certain properties contained in the flames made alarm bells ring in their hearts.

Sensing the seriousness in Yanqiu's tone, Feiyan, who was under the shade of the tree, immediately leaped up. Her suspended figure also looked at the dazzling fire lotus in the distance and asked in confusion:

"What did you sense?"

“Great Sun, and… there is another deadly threat targeting all non-human beings.” Yanqiu’s tone grew increasingly grave. “This flame is dangerous, at least for us. Let’s not waste any more time. Cang Yue has lost an arm, and the other party won’t fare much better. We can deal with Qiongqi later, but this human must die in the Savage Forest today!”

The next moment, figures shot into the sky from the dense forest. On the spot, Cang Yue, with a gloomy face, let out a low roar, and his solitary figure vanished in an instant.

…………

The magnificent fire lotus on the battlefield lasted for nearly a minute before finally dissipating. When the flames subsided, the once scorched battlefield had long been divided into sections by the rampant flow of crimson lava. The only living thing left was the tall figure standing in the center of the lava pool.

He forcefully pulled the charred arm deep into his chest, and before blood could gush out, a large amount of scarlet blood gushed out from behind Xu Yue. Soon, the scarlet liquid solidified into armor, sealing the wound tightly and supporting his nearly exhausted body.

"Tsk, space-based magic is indeed troublesome."

With a light click of his tongue, feeling the nearly depleted magical power and the constantly recovering life force within his body, Xu Yue slightly curled his lips, then decisively summoned a magic mirror and controlled it to rapidly expand behind him.

The repeated battles, coupled with his previous act of using himself as bait, have caused him to suffer a series of injuries, which have brought him to the lowest point. Even with the blood energy recovery provided by the Crimson Prison Armor, it will be difficult for him to return to his peak condition in a short period of time.

If we don't retreat now, we might be stuck here forever.

As for the wolf king Cang Yue, he was even more decisive and fearless than he had expected. Space-type ability users might not be able to say that they are the best in terms of pure combat power, but their ability to survive is definitely at the top level among their peers. With the other party determined to escape at all costs, even he could only sigh in despair.

Of course, one can run for a while but not forever. His previous ambush was not without its gains. Xu Yue tossed the black severed arm in his hand, his expression softening slightly. With this thing, he could chase the other party to the ends of the earth, it would just take a little more time.

His severed arm was carefully stored in the space, and the mysterious mirror behind him gradually expanded to about two meters. Just as it was about to be completely connected, several bursts of air-piercing sounds suddenly broke the silence. He looked up and saw beams of light swooping down from the sky above the battlefield, forming an encirclement that subtly sealed off all directions around him.

A fierce aura mixed with a chilling killing intent instantly enveloped his entire body. Before the streaks of light even arrived, the deadly threat transmitted through his intuition had already made Xu Yue's hair stand on end. Clearly, unlike the rabble of the Wolf King's Guard, each streak of light that was now surrounding him possessed a formidable strength that was comparable to his own.

"Five? You really think highly of me."

Five immortal-level warriors simultaneously besieging one person makes it almost impossible to fail. The only thing to be wary of is preventing the opponent from fleeing for their life.

That's why none of the fairies within the flowing light showed any sign of tension until they noticed the enormous mirror behind Xu Yue. Only then did the playful, cat-and-mouse expression in their eyes suddenly change. "That's... a spatial magic artifact! Stop him, quick!"

"Don't worry, he can't escape, but I want this magic weapon."

"I'm more interested in his halberd."

"Don't rush, kill him first, then we'll see who gets what!"

.........

During their conversation, Wu Sui and the other demons increased their speed again, while Yan Qiu, who was already at the bottom of the demon ranks, quietly slowed down.

Something's not right! This human is behaving too calmly.

Her cautious nature made her the first to notice the abnormality of the target. As far as she could see, the humans in the encirclement showed no signs of fear or fleeing. They simply took out a fist-sized golden-red sphere as the demons approached, and then... crushed it!
The next instant, before the flames arrived, came a terrifying intimidation that defied description. The five figures rushing down suddenly stopped, and then... turned and fled in a frenzy.

"run--!"

"boom!!!"

explode?

No, it's destruction!
The first thing to arrive was an intensely white flame!
The night was torn apart, the moonlight was driven away, and even the darkness of the ground was completely swallowed up. In that instant, all the colors on the battlefield were reduced to an endless expanse of white.

Immediately afterwards, the earth began to evaporate, not melt, but dissolve and vanish like fireworks burning through the mist. Centered on the entire battlefield, a blazing white sun, thousands of meters wide, was shining brightly in the barbarian forest.

The terrifying shockwave swept outwards in a perfect sphere, like the scythe of death, instantly destroying everything in its path until... utter silence!
Under the wrath of the sun, everything was burned and deathly still. But in the vast area outside the affected zone, everything was instantly boiling like a pot of hot soup. Tens of thousands of fairies of all kinds poked their eyes out, some confused and some horrified, all looking at the blazing white sun shining in the distance.

"Is it dawn yet?"

"Wait... what's that?"

…………

Beyond the vast forest, the endless mountain ranges layer upon layer are enough to block out all the brilliance and noise, leaving only the tranquility under the moonlight.

Therefore, Afu and the cat demon Feilian, who had successfully escaped from the barbaric forest and temporarily settled in a hidden cave, were unaware of the magnificent sun that was descending thousands of miles away. At this moment, their attention was focused on the mysterious mirror that was nearly two meters high in front of them.

"Why haven't you come out yet?"

"Quiet."

As they were talking, ripples suddenly appeared on the mirror in front of them, and then a charred 'remains' that was almost unrecognizable as human fell straight down from the mirror.

"master!"

With a low cry, the falling 'charred body' was caught by Afu before it even touched the ground. Behind her, Feilian, who hadn't yet reacted, was about to say something, but with a flick of Afu's wrist, several ferocious giant insects that rapidly expanded and took shape completely blocked the view in front of her, and a phantom longsword with a faint purple light was pressed straight against her neck on the left.

A chilling killing intent instantly enveloped her entire body, but all that responded to her was a cold declaration devoid of any emotion.

"A rash move will result in death!"

.........

[Warning: The hunter's health has dropped below 3% and is about to enter a dying state]

[Note: The passive effect of the 'Undying Black Ring' is now active. Dropping health is forcibly stopped, near-death status is delayed by 10 seconds, and health regeneration speed is increased by 50%.]

【10…9…8…7……】

[Alert: The hunter has been detected ingesting a large amount of recovery items. Health is recovering, and the near-death state has been lifted...]

[Hint: Hunter's Fire Resistance +31]

(End of this chapter)