Chapter 495: Flame Demon's True Form, Unrestrained Demonic Bloodlust

Zuo Fan’s succession as the Peak Master of Azure Flame Peak caused a massive uproar within the Yanghuang Sect.

The matter was far too unexpected, because there were simply too many other candidates who could have taken over as the Peak Master of Azure Flame Peak.

In terms of either seniority or strength, it should not have been a young man like Zuo Fan.

He wasn’t even in the running, even if he’d cut in line.

This action naturally led to all sorts of dissatisfaction and doubt, which was to be expected.

A young man lacking strength, seniority, and prestige taking power was enough to plunge Azure Flame Peak into all kinds of chaos.

However, none of this could change Sect Leader Xu Ziyang’s mind. In his view, young people needed to be tempered through more experience.

And so, amidst a chorus of doubt, Zuo Fan became the Peak Master of Azure Flame Peak.

Many people were watching coldly, waiting for the hot-headed young Zuo Fan to take a nasty fall and then be stripped of his Peak Master title.

“To be honest, I never wanted to be this Peak Master.” Zuo Fan’s gaze swept over the senior members of Azure Flame Peak.

They had all shown up, and their attitudes were polite enough, but that was as far as it went. They refused to obey his orders.

Logically, the new Peak Master was most likely to have come from among them. After all, this group of senior members was more than qualified in terms of both seniority and strength.

How could they possibly accept being leapfrogged by Zuo Fan, a former subordinate?

Therefore, after colluding with one another, they planned to sideline Zuo Fan completely.

When the crowd heard Zuo Fan’s words, they only offered cold glares. ‘You’ve already taken the position, and now you’re being insincere and saying you didn’t want it? Isn’t that just twisting the knife?’

“It seems you’re still not convinced.”

“But that’s fine. I just need to beat you into submission.” Seeing their attitudes, Zuo Fan sighed.

He had originally intended to talk things through, but their attitude made it clear they had no intention of communicating. In that case, he would just have to use cruder methods.

“Peak Master Zuo, you…” A senior member of Azure Flame Peak was about to mock him. ‘For a young punk with no real strength, you sure have a big mouth.’ But before he could finish, a wave of heat washed over him.

A dense layer of flames materialized around Zuo Fan, emitting a blinding light.

Under the molten radiance of the flames, he swelled into a massive, humanoid fiery silhouette.

Curved horns spiraling like magma, burning yellow eyes, and a mane of scorching flames that gave off steam.

From his long, powerful arms, which ended in steel claws, two giant swords took form.

At that moment, the senior members of Azure Flame Peak present were thrown into utter disarray.

Just as Qi Suian had said, once Zuo Fan had entered the initial stage of his Flame Demon Body Refining Technique, he could directly manifest the True Body of the Flame Demon, transforming into a terrifying Flame Demon and causing his combat power to skyrocket.

“My Flame Demon True Body can last for fifteen minutes, so I hope you all manage to survive. Otherwise, I’ll be sure to approve the maximum possible compensation for your families.”

As Zuo Fan’s voice fell, his two Li Huo Giant Swords each unleashed a different move from the Innate Li Fire Sword Technique, engulfing the entire conference room.

One of the senior members refused to believe it and attacked without hesitation. As a result, he was instantly swallowed by a Li Huo Giant Sword and the swirling flames.

When he died, forget about leaving a complete corpse—he was turned directly into ash, without even a bone remaining.

This wasn’t just due to the three Spiritual Techniques. With the help of the Pure Yang Fire Seed and the Yang Flame Spirit in his body, on top of his Yang Fire Spiritual Power, Zuo Fan’s strength was approaching that of a top-tier Spirit Master.

Even if he had only just begun to learn these various top-tier abilities, he was already on a level this group of Spirit Masters couldn’t hope to match.

“Zuo Fan, you’ve gone mad! How dare you slaughter your own sect brothers!”

“Everyone, attack together! We will purge this traitor from the Yanghuang Sect!” someone roared upon seeing this, and then attacked Zuo Fan without hesitation.

Zuo Fan had killed a senior member of Azure Flame Peak. For them, this was the perfect excuse to act. It would even be a justifiable reason to kill him.

“A pack of rebels. Heh.” Zuo Fan laughed with contempt. His Li Huo Giant Swords changed their attack, and the man who had just spoken was instantly burned to ash on the spot.

At the same time, the others who dared to make a move also died in the flames.

In just two moves, the survivors were made to understand that they were no match for Zuo Fan.

They immediately turned to flee.

At this point, the best course of action was to find the Sect Leader, Xu Ziyang.

“Trying to escape? Finally, someone understands how to play a battle royale.” Zuo Fan gave a savage grin. He swung his Li Huo Giant Swords, and a fiery dragon abruptly materialized, charging toward the fleeing crowd.

Its speed was incredible. Before the crowd could get far, the fiery dragon struck their center and exploded.

Luckily, everyone had already put up their defenses, so there weren’t many casualties. But because of this move, no one dared to continue fleeing.

At this moment, Zuo Fan seemed to wake from a dream, realizing he had caused a huge disaster.

He hastily canceled the Flame Demon True Body, a bitter smile appearing on his face.

‘It’s called Flame Demon for a reason. I haven’t even mastered it, yet it’s already affecting my sanity, making me so bloodthirsty and vicious.’

It was only because his Spiritual Power was low, and because he had vented some of his aggression through the slaughter, that he was able to regain his senses.

This was actually his first time using the Flame Demon True Body from the Flame Demon Body Refining Technique. His usual training only involved the body-refining part; he had never used this transformation.

The Spiritual Technique described the Flame Demon True Body as a transformation and amplification-type ability, which wasn’t a lie. But it failed to mention how easily one could be influenced by demonic thoughts.

In less than three minutes, at least five senior members had died, and the impact had been enormous.

“Peak Master Zuo, spare us! We submit, we submit!” Someone with sharp eyes saw Zuo Fan walking toward them. Even though he was no longer in his previous Flame Giant Demon form, they didn’t dare have any other ideas.

They hurriedly begged for mercy, terrified that he would finish them off.

“You have yourselves to blame for this.” Zuo Fan immediately shifted the blame, then continued, “The Sect Leader chose me, which proves I have sufficient strength.”

“It’s one thing for outsiders not to believe in me, but you are all veterans of Azure Flame Peak. Even as the new Peak Master, I would still have to rely on you.”

“But you were swayed by just a few words of provocation. How muddle-headed.”

As Zuo Fan spoke, he had an expression of utter grief and indignation.

The survivors endured their pain and agreed that they had been in the wrong. Then, a quick-witted one hurriedly said, “The Peak Master is absolutely right! We were misled by those traitors.”

“Thankfully, the Peak Master is powerful. By slaying the rebels and upholding justice, you have allowed us to see the error of our ways.”

At this point, Zuo Fan could not be the one in the wrong.

And if they wanted to live, they couldn’t be in the wrong either.

Therefore, the only ones who could be wrong were their unlucky colleagues whom Zuo Fan had killed.

With one person starting, the rest naturally followed suit. Soon, the “truth” was twisted: the dead ‘traitors’ had deliberately sown discord and were even preparing to seize power by force.

The new Peak Master Zuo Fan had tried his best to persuade them, but they wouldn’t listen, forcing him to fight back. In the end, the ‘traitors’ pushed their luck, and Peak Master Zuo, in order to protect his subordinates, had accidentally killed the rebels.

With each person adding a line, the slaughter of sect brothers became a purging of traitors.

This left even Zuo Fan feeling a bit numb. He had thought this would be a huge incident, but it was being resolved so quietly.

‘Sure enough, with enough strength, many problems can be easily solved,’ Zuo Fan thought to himself.

As for the Flame Demon True Body, he would have to be more cautious with it next time. Using it made him fall into a demonic state of uncontrollable bloodlust.

He didn’t blame Qi Suian or the Spiritual Technique. It had been clearly stated that it was best used after reaching mastery. He had used it right at the entry-level; could he really blame it for not being perfect?

“Then let’s do that. Report it to the Sect Leader and request an expedited resolution,” Zuo Fan said. He wasn’t at all afraid that this group would report the truth.

After all, he had demonstrated sufficient strength. It was more likely that the Sect Leader would help cover for him, just like with the Shen Family back then.

As for this group, he thought, ‘after this is over, every last one of them will have to die.’

As the saying goes, “better a friend dies than I do.” He didn’t believe for a second that this group would put themselves in danger for the sake of a few so-called colleagues.

Still, he had to go explain things to the Sect Leader personally. After all, he had killed senior members of Azure Flame Peak; he had to show the proper attitude.

“I’m going to see the Sect Leader. You all handle the rest.”

“I hope I don’t come back to any more of this nonsense.”

“A few more traitors dying isn’t a big deal.” With that, Zuo Fan left without the slightest hesitation.

“Now this is more interesting. A protagonist ought to be a bit reckless.”

“But the Flame Demon Body Refining Technique is still a bit low-level. I’ll have to give him some more powerful Spiritual Techniques.” Watching Zuo Fan’s massacre, Qi Suian was in a truly pleasant mood.

The Yanghuang Sect’s Sect Leader, Xu Ziyang, had taken his Spiritual Technique, and he was not happy about it. So, he had to vent.

Killing was the best way to vent.

It wasn’t convenient for him to act personally, so letting Zuo Fan do it was just as good.

“After Zuo Fan became a Peak Master, the progress on his ‘protagonist halo’ shot up quite a bit. I estimate that after he becomes Sect Leader, it should be about two-thirds complete.”

“Hiss~ Doesn’t that mean for it to be complete, he’d have to become Alliance Leader Zuo?”

Qi Suian suddenly thought of the matter Xu Ziyang had been trying to push for.

“Worthy of the surname Zuo. They all have a dream of becoming the Alliance Leader.”

“In that case, Xu Ziyang is getting in the way. I’ll find a chance for Zuo Fan to kill him and take his place.” Qi Suian mused that his next move would have to be a bit more drastic.

Normally, Zuo Fan would be unlikely to turn against Xu Ziyang. After all, there was no major conflict of interest, and Xu Ziyang would most likely just be tolerant of such a junior.

“Now there is a conflict of interest: the Flame Demon Body Refining Technique.”

“Xu Ziyang naturally won’t give up on it. When the time comes, if he practices the Flame Demon True Body and fries his own brain, that would be much more interesting.”

As he thought of this, Qi Suian was struck by a strange sense of déjà vu. If he were to modify the Flame Demon Body Refining Technique a little, wouldn’t he be able to see rivers of blood?

“That’s not very nice, is it? I seem to recall I’m supposed to be cultivating my moral character…” Qi Suian said this aloud, but at the thought of the show he’d get to watch, he couldn’t suppress the smile at the corners of his mouth.

‘I haven’t gotten my hands dirty in so long. It’s only natural that I want to see something bloody now. It must be a withdrawal symptom.’

‘A perfectly reasonable explanation!’