Chapter 752: Night Crow Harbor (2)

It shot straight toward the bandits.

PSSSH!

The bandit at the very front didn’t even have time to react before the line of fire swept past his limbs.

Like a hot knife through butter, it met no resistance.

His arms and legs were severed at the joints, the cuts charred black as coal. Not a single drop of blood spurted out.

The severed limbs fell with a THUD.

He stood stunned for a second before letting out an inhuman scream and collapsing into the mud.

The other bandits froze in place.

Some instinctively raised their blades, while others trembled as they reached for their flintlocks.

However, it was too late.

The bonfire suddenly erupted, and a whip-like line of fire lashed out, sweeping across them!

HISS! HISS! HISS…

Severed limbs flew through the air as the stench of burning flesh spread.

There were no screams, no struggles.

The pain had yet to catch up to their nerves.

Until a second later.

“AHHH!! You… You’re a Devil…”

A bloodcurdling wail burst from the lead bandit, tearing through the rainy night.

The horses beneath them whinnied in terror. Having lost their limbs, the bandits could no longer hold the reins.

The mounts threw off the mutilated bodies on their backs and charged madly into the dark mountain forest behind them.

Witnessing this scene,

Old Butte and his group stood rooted to the spot, dumbfounded.

Their gazes turned to Hu Qi.

Their bodies couldn’t help but tremble.

A wave of terror washed over Old Butte.

‘To think we actually considered having malicious thoughts about a being like this.’

‘If we had really made a move, their fate would have been ours.’

Paying the group no mind,

Hu Qi looked at the bandits lying on the ground.

A hint of satisfaction appeared on his face.

A Sequence Nine Arsonist was certainly stronger than an ordinary person.

But they were absolutely incapable of something like this.

Even a veteran like Ired couldn’t achieve such meticulous, microscopic control over flames.

This required a Professional to have almost tyrannical control over their Spirituality.

But for Hu Qi, it was just a simple parlor trick.

“Bring them all inside. I’m going to hold an execution by fire for them. Let them repent for what they’ve done!”

Hu Qi said casually.

As he spoke, he made a religious gesture of prayer common in this world across his chest.

“Yes! Yes!”

The group trembled.

They didn’t understand why Hu Qi was so insistent on execution by fire,

but that didn’t stop them from obeying his command.

A short while later,

thirty-four men were carried inside and laid upon a pile of firewood.

There were only thirty-four because one unlucky soul had been trampled to death when a panicked horse stepped on his neck during its escape.

The high temperature from the fiery cuts had instantly cauterized their severed limbs, and not a single drop of blood seeped out.

This cruel method of cauterization was precisely what had saved the bandits from bleeding to death.

Hu Qi looked at the wailing bandits and said calmly,

“Do you confess your sins?”

“Pah! To hell wi—”

The bandit leader, a true desperado, had his ferocity ignited by the desperate situation.

He spat out a mouthful of bloody spittle, about to let loose a string of curses.

Before he could finish, a blazing line of fire sliced through the air.

—HISS!

Amidst the sound of tearing flesh, the bandit leader’s body was neatly split in two.

A mixture of red and white matter, along with his internal organs, cascaded like a waterfall onto the firewood below.

“I’ll ask again. Do you confess your sins?” Hu Qi’s voice remained calm.

“We confess! We confess! Mercy… Spare us, my lord!”

“Very good!”

Hu Qi flicked his finger, and a serpent of fire shot into the pyre.

Even though the wood was soaked with rain, it ignited instantly before the Extraordinary Traits of a Sequence Nine Arsonist.

—BOOM!

Flames instantly shot toward the sky, completely engulfing the thirty-three remaining limbless men.

Before the eyes of the onlookers,

these bandits, who had killed without number,

let out bloodcurdling screams from within the flames. The stench of their charring flesh mixed with the crackling of burning wood,

weaving a deathly dirge with the curtain of rain outside the cave.

…

After all this was done,

once the screams from within had stopped,

Hu Qi felt a slight change in the Extraordinary Traits within his body.

It was the signal that a Professional’s advancement ritual was complete.

A thought crossed Hu Qi’s mind.

He summoned his panel.

[Sequence Nine: Arsonist △ (Ability: Flame Manipulation, Partial Fire Damage Immunity)]

…

[Modification Points: 138,957 (51%)]

“Crimson, modify and upgrade Sequence Nine Arsonist for me!”