Chapter 72: The Ice Pith Fire
From afar, the Ice Pith Fire flickered like a ghostly cluster of faint blue wisps, barely piercing the gloom. Up close, its true nature clawed into view—an azure blaze, vivid as a pure innocent sky. Born from the subterranean chill essence of the Skeletal Roost Mire, it radiated an unnatural brilliance that mocked the mire's dim, death-shrouded stillness.
As Oen Shinae drew near, the once-dormant flame shuddered awake. With a guttural roar, it erupted into a towering inferno—yards high, a ravenous specter of blue fire clawing at the heavens. The marsh's lingering chill vanished in a heartbeat, swallowed by a scorching wind. Yet beneath the blistering heat lurked an eerie marrow-deep cold—a sinister frost that slithered up the spine, as if an icy wraith ghost clutched their souls while their flesh baked. The clash of sensations—freezing dread and searing sweat—twisted their guts, leaving them trembling in a nightmarish haze.
Lordi Payne's breath hitched, his body recoiling from the unearthly torment. Then Oen Shinae snorted. Unflinching, she thrust her slender, corpse-pale hand straight into the heart of the blaze.
The Ice Pith Fire snarled in defiance, its azure fury flaring brighter, swelling into a colossal beast of flame. In an instant, it engulfed her, a ravenous maw of blue fire swallowing her whole.
Lordi Payne's heart lurched into his throat, and Fang Jit was about to dashed forward to rescue. But before that, a tiny piece of glowing Dao Fulu slipped free from the inferno. Unscathed by the flame's wrath, the edge of Fulu paper fluttered like a moth drawn to death, latching onto the fire's core. The Dao Flame thrashed, its roars growing wilder, more desperate, as another Fulu followed, then another—each one a leech sapping its fury, shrinking its monstrous form inch by agonizing inch.
Sensing its doom, the roaring flame spat Oen Shinae out—untouched, her pale figure emerging like a wraith from a grave. The Dao Flame bolted to free, streaking toward the mire's shadowy depths with frantic speed. But Oen Shinae was faster. She snapped the core array banner aloft with a flick of her wrist, and a thunderous BOOM shook the swamp as the Siege Array slammed shut, hurling the bloom of this Dao Flame back into its cage. Seizing the moment, she jabbed a finger, another Dao Fulu slicing through the air to latch onto its blazing hide.
The Dao Flame veered, rocketing skyward in a blind panic. But this newborn fire lacked a mind—its instincts crude, its movements stiff as a puppet jerked by unseen strings.
Boom!
It barely clawed into the air before Oen Shinae blocked again with the array, her next Fulu snapping onto the flame body like a predatory clip. The flame dimmed, its azure glow guttering as it shrank once more.
Trapped in the Seige Array's jaws, the Ice Pith Fire flailed—a caged beast leaping and thrashing against invisible bars.
Oen Shinae shadowed the Ice Pith Fire like a wraith unbound, her slender presence a spectral whisper in the Skeletal Roost Mire's gloom. Her footwork art—a mastery of ghostly grace—sent her form flickering, a wisp of pale blue smoke that clung to the flame like a curse etched into its body. With each darting step, she slapped a piece of Dao Fulu onto its azure hide, her movements swift and relentless, a hunter ensnaring a thrashing soul.