# 1089
Chapter 1090: Fire Burns the Body
"You're still alive?"
Aesis narrowed her eyes as she gazed at Lin Qiye before the Nation-Protecting Divine Stele, as if sensing something. "On your body... there is the aura of life and youth..."
Lin Qiye's palm gripping the sword was gradually covered by flesh and blood, the newborn tender skin glowing with a faint pink. Bearing the excruciating agony of his soul, he parted his lips slightly, and an ancient, rhythmic Western chant emerged from his throat:
"...Following the fragrance of blood, I found the hall of rest,
A scene of ruin and decay, ghosts wander and sing,
Black rosemary blooms, vines twist and grow,
Souls peer out, worshipping the blood-red moonlight..."
As Lin Qiye's voice rang out, the sky darkened visibly. The earth beneath their feet suddenly trembled violently, and jet-black vines like tentacles burst forth from the snow, lunging frantically toward Aesis in her blue jacket.
A faint crimson glow descended from the sky, and grayish-black winds of the netherworld swirled around her, carrying countless eerily pale faces that opened their maws wide, tearing voraciously at her body.
Not a trace of emotion flickered in Aesis's narrowed eyes. She lifted her fingertips, and delicate seedlings sprouted from the earth beneath her feet, instantly covering the surface of those black vines, greedily draining their nutrients and spiritual energy.
In mere seconds, those vines withered and shattered. With a casual wave of Aesis's hand, the malevolent wind and wandering spirits were torn to shreds by a breeze imbued with vitality.
"...Following the fragrance of blood, I found the hall of rest,
A statue lies in the distance, its severed arm cast aside,
'Tis the goddess's mad fancy, pointing the way with her middle finger,
Little red flowers bloom beside her—that is paradise..."
Before Aesis could act again, Lin Qiye's voice rang out once more.
Boom—!
Aesis's pupils contracted. Her form vanished from its spot in an instant. A deafening thud echoed as a massive blood-stained goddess statue materialized from the void, slamming heavily into the place where she had stood.
Snowflakes danced in the air. That statue gazed down at Aesis on the snow, its thick right arm raised, five fingers splayed as if grasping the entire heavens, pressing down toward Aesis's head!
"Enough of this."
A glimmer of fury surfaced in Aesis's eyes. From beneath her blue jacket, a slender jade-like hand extended, colliding with the blood-stained goddess statue's palm!
At the moment the two palms met, cracks glowing with green light spread instantly across the statue's surface. Aesis's five fingers clenched deep, directly crushing the statue's right arm. The terrifying vitality crushed the entire statue to pieces.
Lin Qiye let out a闷哼, a trickle of blood flowing from his nostrils as he bent over in agony.
He drew a sharp breath, opened his mouth, and was about to recite something more when a palm clamped around his throat, slamming his entire body into the snow!
Centered on his spine, a massive pit over a hundred meters in radius exploded outward!
Dust and snow swirled and fell like a curtain. Aesis in her blue jacket seized Lin Qiye by the throat with one hand, pinning him at the center of the pit. Blood seeped from Lin Qiye's seven apertures, gradually staining the surrounding ground.
"I see now. You want to use the youth divine power within you to desperately buy time with your life, waiting for reinforcements to arrive."
Aesis coldly regarded Lin Qiye's blood-streaked face. "Unfortunately, you're too weak... No matter how tenacious a cockroach's life may be, it can never halt a god's steps."
As Aesis spoke, seedlings sprouted from the earth beneath her feet, climbing along Lin Qiye's right arm and advancing up his body like a rapidly spreading tide of green.
As the seedlings grew, Lin Qiye's body transformed into soil itself, firmly anchored to the earth and utterly immobile. He stared fixedly at Aesis's eyes, but his vision was gradually obscured by the seedlings.
Aesis slowly withdrew her hand, rising from the pit. She cast one final glance at the verdant green expanse, then stepped out of the pit and walked toward the Nation-Protecting Divine Stele.
As she raised both hands, seedlings crept up from the stele's base, racing upward along its surface. They burst forth from the seamless monument, greedily absorbing its energy, growing more numerous and denser by the moment.
A tint of green slowly devoured the black stone's surface.
"What terrifying divine power!" Aesis's brow furrowed slightly. "This thing... it's certainly not something an ordinary god could shatter... No, not even a Supreme God could easily destroy it.
But fortunately, my life force can gradually erode its power. Once the plants have absorbed enough of its divine energy, it will become much more vulnerable..."
Just as Aesis murmured to herself, the figure submerged beneath the seedlings in that pit slowly clenched its fists.
Lin Qiye could clearly sense his own strength and vitality being drained away by the seedlings, bit by bit. Had he not borne Idun's soul, possessing abundant youth force within him, he would have been desiccated long ago.
But even so, as the seedlings grew with alarming speed, Lin Qiye felt his body growing heavier and heavier. They were like nails, pinning him firmly to the ground.
As vast amounts of spiritual energy drained away, his consciousness blurred rapidly.
Just then, Aesis's words transmitted through spiritual perception into his mind. His eyes flew open, and his consciousness briefly returned to clarity.
No... He absolutely could not just sit here waiting to die.
If Aesis truly drained the stele of its power, it would all be too late.
A ruthless glint flashed in Lin Qiye's eyes. With tremendous difficulty, he parted his lips and, in a voice only he could hear, rasped:
"Wildfire cannot burn them out... The spring wind... blows them anew..."
Whoosh—!!
Blazing flames exploded violently, engulfing the seedlings that bound him, along with Lin Qiye's body itself.
With Lin Qiye's realm elevated to the peak of "Klein," the effects of 【Skyward Bard】 were amplified severalfold. This burst of flames was already beyond any ordinary mortal fire.
Under the scorching flames, the verdant seedlings withered and withered, along with Lin Qiye's physical form teetering on the brink of death.
These seedlings had taken root entirely within Lin Qiye's flesh. In other words, to thoroughly burn them away, Lin Qiye had to let the flames consume his own body... As the fire blazed brighter, Lin Qiye's body carbonized rapidly.
When the last seedling was incinerated, the pit fell into silence once more. After an unknown duration, a figure, charred black and a mass of bloody flesh, slowly crawled out from the pit's depths.
Lin Qiye was now utterly unrecognizable. Not only had all his clothing been incinerated to ash, but there was not a single patch of intact skin on his entire body. Had his body not been tempered by the power of faith and had he not eaten the Peaches of Immortality, he would have died countless times over already.
The charred figure stood weakly upright. Just then, an object slipped from his chest and landed on the pristine white snow.
He lowered his gaze and froze.
It was a gleaming Coat of Arms.