Fire Tribulation (Part Two)

Hard to say how many kilometers away it was — somewhere far off in the distance — yet the rolling waves of heat had already reached them, hitting like a physical blow and leaving their skin parched and throats bone-dry.

Mo Fan understood the principle well: when something is so distant yet still dominates everything the eye can see, it means that by the time it actually reaches you, it will be dozens of times larger than what you're looking at now.

The roiling flames on the horizon had already risen to the height of mountain ranges. If they kept rolling this way, what awaited them would be an inferno beyond all imagining — a Fire Tribulation of the most terrible kind.

"Honestly, if that thing actually sweeps over here — can we even survive it? There's nothing out here. Not a single place to hide." Zhao Manyan stared at the churning mountain-wall of fire, his expression pale with terror.

Like everyone else, his eyes were bathed in a vivid crimson glow, and behind them lived a fear that rose from somewhere deep and primal — the dread of something utterly beyond understanding.

"Then let's run the other way — anything is better than being swallowed whole! Whatever that force is, it isn't mere destruction. It's nature's punishment for every living thing. Like the wrath of a god hurled down from the heavens!" Chenying said, trembling.

No one needed to think twice. None of them had any idea what those flames truly were — but in that moment, raw instinct and the desperate will to survive had buried every other concern somewhere beyond the clouds.

They ran. The furious, all-consuming flames were indeed advancing toward them. Fortunately, the Fire Tribulation was still a very great distance away.

**BOOM — BOOM — BOOM — BOOM — BOOM!!!**

After they had fled several kilometers in the opposite direction, the ground suddenly began to shake. Looking back over their shoulders, they could see massive clouds of dust churning behind them — a huge herd of creatures charging at full speed.

Through the swirling sand and grit, silhouettes took shape: massive, bull-built forms. Every part of them — head, limbs, even the joints — was encased in dense, unyielding armor. The plating was a deep reddish-brown throughout, as though it had been tempered in fire again and again over the ages.

Their numbers were staggering. The thunder of iron hooves sent shockwaves trembling through the earth.

"What are those things — they're not chasing us, are they?" Zhao Manyan looked back, his stomach lurching.

The armored creatures radiated a domineering, war-hardened presence. One look was enough to know these were no ordinary beasts.

"Those are Kill-Armor Beasts — Battle-General-class Demon-Beasts famous for their unrivaled defense. Unlike most Battle-General-class creatures, which either lead a Nest or two or simply roam alone, Kill-Armor Beasts are pack creatures. Their armor makes excellent material for Armor Enchanted Gear, but killing even one of them usually means having to face the iron hooves of the entire herd." Lingling identified them without hesitation.

Hearing this, Mo Fan felt his pulse quicken. An entire herd of Battle-General-class Demon-Beasts — their combined fighting power and destructive force would rival a full military battalion. And yet here they were, stampeding in blind panic like startled birds. If anything, that only made the distant Fire Tribulation seem more terrifying.

Under ordinary circumstances, a herd of Kill-Armor Beasts stampeding through another Demon-Beast pack would be a one-sided massacre. Yet here were these onetime butchers, fleeing in desperate disarray, hunted now by something else entirely.

Mo Fan and the others kept running. After what seemed an eternity, they finally spotted the sands of the Shamang River. They had hoped that crossing it would leave the worst of the danger behind them — only to find that the mysterious northern reaches of the Blazing Plains were even less welcoming, delivering divine wrath directly from the sky itself.

Before entering the northern Blazing Plains, they had rested and recovered. Xinxia's Magical Energy in particular had been fully replenished.

So retreating back into the Shamang River posed no great risk for them.

The Kill-Armor Beasts, however — driven half-mad with terror by the Fire Tribulation — still knew better than to set foot in the Shamang River. That place was death. When the herd reached the bank, they ground to a halt, more agitated than ever, unable to bring themselves to go further.

"The stronger the creatures that enter the Shamang River — and the more there are — the stronger and more numerous the White Sand Demon-Beasts it rouses will be. We need to stay well clear of that herd. With their aura and sheer numbers, they'd likely awaken Bone-General Demons of equal Battle-General-class rank. Those are not something we can deal with." Xinxia warned the group carefully.

Everyone nodded without hesitation. No one had any thought of using the panicked Kill-Armor Beasts as cover to force their way through.

Back within the Shamang River, their group was small and their collective aura nowhere near as powerful as the Kill-Armor Beasts'. As long as Xinxia, with her Mind Element abilities, had Magical Energy to draw on, the Shamang River would remain safe for them.

The Kill-Armor Beasts were not so fortunate. They now faced a grim choice: plunge into the Shamang River and continue their flight westward, or stand and try to weather the Fire Tribulation.

That was not Mo Fan's concern. The moment they were back within the Shamang River's borders, the group put their heads down and ran west without looking back.

Only after they had fled deep into the Shamang River did the Fire Tribulation on the horizon finally begin to show signs of fading. There was no doubt, though, that those searing flames had blanketed every scorched inch of that already-smoldering land. The only place that seemed to have been spared was the Shamang River itself.

**WHOOOOSH —**

Blasts of superheated air surged toward them from not far away, enveloping everyone in suffocating waves of heat.

They had escaped the worst of the blaze, but even these lingering gusts of scorching air were almost more than they could bear.

In the direction of the northern Blazing Plains, the entire horizon had turned a deep, wall-to-wall crimson — it looked like nothing less than a kingdom of fire, vivid and searing, the whole landscape dissolved into a boundless sea of flame.

"I'd heard the Shamang River was a river of death. The number of White Sand Demon-Beasts sleeping beneath its sands is a record of how many living creatures have died here. I used to wonder — how could a single sand river harbor so many..." Lingling watched the northern Blazing Plains, a chill still lingering in her eyes. "Now I think I understand. A large part of it must be the Fire Tribulations — driving fleeing creatures into this river like an execution ground, again and again, year after year. That's how the Shamang River became what it is."

"We should just leave." Zhao Manyan was the first to say it. "That Fire Tribulation was beyond anything — if we'd gone any deeper into the northern Blazing Plains before it hit, we wouldn't have made it out."

The Fire Tribulation's appearance had caught everyone completely off guard. And yet none of them had ever come across a single piece of information about it — which made no sense. Surely someone had encountered this phenomenon before. Surely it would have been written down somewhere.