The White-Cloth Figure — Mind Element!

Chenying stared at her mother Jiang Feng in absolute shock. She couldn't understand why Jiang Feng would ask her to do this — and with white cloth wrapped around her mother's face, she couldn't read her expression at all.

"Have you lost your mind? How can you send her in?" Zhao Yulin shouted.

Even a High-Level Mage who drew close would be incinerated. Sending Chenying in was nothing short of a death sentence. Just because the ambush had worked once didn't mean the now-wary Flame Enchantress would show her any mercy a second time!

"Trust me." Jiang Feng said with absolute certainty.

"But I..." Chenying hesitated, unsure what to do.

"Chenying, listen to me — go now. The ice won't hold her much longer. Do you want to watch everyone here get slaughtered by that fire demon? Do exactly as I say and nothing will happen to you. Kill her, and no one else has to die. The Fire Calamity Fruit will restore my health, and your father's standing will rise even higher..." The white-cloth figure of Jiang Feng spoke with barely contained urgency.

Chenying bit her lip.

She believed her mother would never deceive her. A snow-white ice spike materialized in her palm.

It resembled a spear but came to a point at both ends, with only the center left as a grip for two hands. A cold green light shimmered along its edges — unmistakable proof that this was a lethal-venom Enchanted Gear.

"Walk over to her. You'll be fine — I promise. Go straight up to her and drive it through her heart!" Jiang Feng continued to urge her.

Moved by her mother's words, Chenying actually did it. She wrapped both hands around the snow-white Enchanted Gear, Pomie, and began walking toward the Flame Enchantress one step at a time — the creature frozen solid into the earth below.

The Flame Enchantress stood like an ice sculpture, completely immobile. Through the transparent shell, it could clearly see Chenying advancing — already less than a hundred meters away.

Within a hundred meters, the dark flames could incinerate anything. A few more steps and the dark flame Domain would reduce Chenying to ash.

"You weren't like this before," Zhao Yulin said, turning his gaze to the white-cloth-wrapped figure of Jiang Feng.

"People change," she replied.

"But what if the dark flames burn Chenying to death?" His voice dropped low.

"They won't."

"You're that certain?"

"I would never gamble with your daughter's life."

"She's your daughter too," Zhao Yulin reminded her quietly.

With the Flame Enchantress frozen, the ever-spreading sea of fire was finally being suppressed.

Mo Fan and the others had been searching for a way out, and found that the only area largely clear of fire was the zone where Zhao Yulin, Jiang Feng, and Shi Gui had gathered. They were making their way through to reach the rear slope of the mountain when they spotted Chenying in the near distance, walking steadily toward the Flame Enchantress.

"Brother... wait... wait..." At that moment, the half-unconscious Xinxia let out a faint, strained voice.

"What's wrong?" Mo Fan asked, puzzled.

"Stop... Chenying... stop her..." Xinxia could barely get the words out. The crushing mental strain had trapped her in a false Nightmare Curse state — she couldn't fully wake, and could only force out fragments between shallow breaths.

Her words were painfully indistinct. There seemed to be more she was trying to say, but no one could make it out.

From what Mo Fan could piece together, Xinxia wanted him to stop Chenying — she had apparently caught a glimpse of what was happening during a moment of half-consciousness.

"Take care of her." Mo Fan set Xinxia down and sprinted toward Chenying.

Xinxia had clearly been fighting to tell everyone something — something important.

She couldn't wake herself up, as though submerged in someone else's dream. The fact that she had spent every ounce of her strength to force those words out only confirmed that whatever it was, it mattered enormously.

"Chenying, don't go any further — you'll be burned alive!" Mo Fan shouted from a hundred meters back.

Chenying's steps faltered. She turned to look at him.

Mo Fan had spent enough time around the Flame Enchantress to know it commanded two distinct types of fire. The last time had been a surprise attack — the Flame Enchantress caught off guard, wounded before it could react. That wouldn't happen again. Walking in now meant walking to her death.

"Don't listen to him! Do as I say — nothing will happen to you. Don't you even trust me anymore?" The white-cloth figure of Jiang Feng saw Chenying waver and let out a sharp, urgent cry.

Her eyes snapped to Mo Fan. "Mind your own business!!" she snarled.

Mo Fan had no interest in meddling — but the Flame Enchantress had saved his life before, and he couldn't bring himself to stand by and watch.

*Jiang Feng must have used some special method to condition Chenying's body — to build immunity to the dark flames.* How long had the white-cloth figure been planning this? From the initial ambush, to the relocation, to the defensive magic formations, and finally to Chenying as the killing stroke — every step had been calculated in advance.

In the end, Chenying chose to heed her mother's words. She stepped into the Flame Enchantress's Domain.

That step cost her everything to take. To her, it was no different from stepping through the gates of death itself — but she truly wanted to free her mother from suffering. More than a decade of pain and despair. If the Flame Enchantress had been willing to surrender the Fire Calamity Fruit, she would never have come to this...

Zhao Yulin and Shi Gui both held their breath. Chenying had crossed into the Flame Enchantress's Domain. The next second could see her reduced to cinders.

And yet — it didn't happen.

Chenying didn't die. She had walked into the Flame Enchantress's Domain and emerged completely unharmed.

She opened her eyes and looked down at herself in disbelief.

"Hurry — she's about to break free from the ice!" Jiang Feng called out.

Chenying's face broke into a wide smile. Her mother really hadn't deceived her. She didn't know how or why — but answers could wait. First, finish the Flame Enchantress.

She tightened her grip on Pomie. A hundred meters — a single Earth Wave could close that gap in an instant. She surged forward, positioning the tip to drive clean through the Flame Enchantress's heart.

Mo Fan stood a short distance away, staring at the scene in stunned disbelief.

Chenying had passed through the Flame Enchantress's most powerful Domain???

Her body actually had some kind of special resistance??

*No. That's wrong. It's completely wrong.*

*Chenying has no resistance to the dark flames at all!!*

"Chenying, stop!!" In the span of a heartbeat, it all clicked into place. Mo Fan roared with everything he had. "She's—"

"Mind your own business!" Jiang Feng shrieked from the floor above.

Beneath the white cloth, her eyes blazed with a strange, unsettling light. Her pupils seemed capable of piercing straight through flesh, driving directly into the mind. The soul itself trembled under that gaze.

*Mind Element!!*

Chenying's mother was a Mind Element Mage.

Mo Fan had been on the verge of stopping Chenying — but the moment that soul-seizing Mind Element magic struck him, his body refused to obey. He couldn't even make a sound.

"What are you standing there for — **kill her!!**"

The white-cloth figure erupted into near-frenzied screaming. Having turned the soul-seizing magic on Mo Fan, Jiang Feng now unleashed that same powerful Mind Element spell on Chenying herself.