He had indeed suspected that Xuanyuan Xiao Zhan's army might have Soul Masters present, but he never imagined there would be so many Manifested Soul Masters cooperating to unleash such a colossal Fire Dragon...

The power of this single Fire Dragon was enough to blast open a section of the city wall. If it had truly struck them head-on, his army of ten thousand iron troops might not have been completely annihilated, but those four hundred Horned Rhinoceroses would certainly have perished, and the Chiyi warriors mounted on their backs would have been unable to escape death. They represented the most crucial fighting force for this entire plan; to have them wiped out like that would render everything attempted utterly futile.

How could he allow such a thing to happen? At this thought, Ye Jingyu, mounted on Ni Bo, suddenly shot forward, charging directly into the rapidly approaching Flame Dragon with his own body...

Everyone stared, dumbfounded, watching this spectacle. Wasn't this suicide? The Flame Dragon was enormous, easily several hundred zhang long and immensely thick. Compared to it, Ye Jingyu looked like a tiny mouse confronting a python—destined only to be swallowed whole. Even if he wished to die, did he need to be in such a hurry?

Chiyi Xiu, riding the King of the Horned Rhinoceroses, showed concern when he saw Ye Jingyu charge forward. However, he knew Ye Jingyu wasn't an idiot and would never commit suicide. Still, he gripped his Sky-Rending Battle Axe tighter, as if offering silent strength to Ye Jingyu.

Above the city wall, famous generals like Xiao Geng and Qin Yunxiao watched Ye Jingyu rush toward the Flame Dragon with expressions akin to watching an imbecile. Did the man actually intend to resist the Flame Dragon conjured by twelve Soul Masters single-handedly? Even a Martial Saint couldn't manage that.

Xuanyuan Lin and the Mr. Lin beside him also watched Ye Jingyu charging the Flame Dragon with confusion. Was this the commander of this iron cavalry? Truly an individual of supreme idiocy? It seemed he possessed nothing more than brute strength.

Except for those who knew Ye Jingyu well, everyone else believed his action was suicidal. After all, that was a Flame Dragon that even a Martial Saint would retreat from in dread.

Ye Jingyu's black robes billowed in the wind, his white hair striking against the backdrop. The Overlord Essence Art circulated ceaselessly within him as he hurled himself toward the Flame Dragon...

"Hiss, hiss, hiss..." Ye Jingyu's body was seemingly devoured in an instant, yet the Flame Dragon began to shatter entirely. Instead of continuing its advance after engulfing Ye Jingyu as others expected, it coiled around him, twisting incessantly...

The Fire Acupoint in Ye Jingyu’s chest spun wildly, frantically absorbing the Fire Essence. The absorption rate accelerated, and the red mist within the Fire Acupoint grew thicker. His body glowed incandescent red, and the clothes upon him instantly disintegrated into ash...

Completely naked, he stood suspended in the void, allowing the intensely high temperature of the flames to scorch his flesh. The heat was indescribably intense. Even with his Chaos Body, he suffered agonizing discomfort. Any sweat that appeared was instantly vaporized, leaving him feeling as though he were meat roasting over a pyre...

The sheer power of the Flame Dragon was too immense; the Fire Acupoint could not absorb it all at once. The extreme temperature nearly refined his Chaos Body to nothingness. Just as Ye Jingyu was about to lose consciousness from the burning, a vast expanse of water-blue mist surged from his Water Acupoint. Instantly, he felt as a traveler lost in the desert for days would feel upon seeing a clear spring, plunging into it entirely. The sensation of relief was beyond expression...

After an unknown duration, the flames of the Flame Dragon diminished, and Ye Jingyu's body gradually reappeared. Viewed from a distance, his form was still enveloped in fire, making him appear like a God of Fire descending from the heavens—majestic and extraordinary.

Everyone was stunned, especially Xuanyuan Lin and Mr. Lin. They stared, mouths agape, at Ye Jingyu hanging in the void. How could that be a human body? To absorb the power of the Fire Essence—was he born with a Celestial Fire Body?

Above the wall, Xiao Geng and Qin Yunxiao also watched dumbfounded. They had been certain Ye Jingyu was doomed, yet he was directly absorbing the power of the flames...

At this moment, Ni Bo had already rushed beneath Ye Jingyu, black flames erupting from all four hooves. These flames devoured the residual fire, and the flames covering Ye Jingyu's surface vanished completely. He swiftly retrieved a garment from his Qiankun Bracelet, put it on, mounted Ni Bo, and charged once more toward Xuanyuan Lin's army.

Just then, in an arrow tower atop the city wall, Hu Yanqi held an arrow nocked on his bowstring, his gaze fixed upon a man beneath the central command banner of the hundreds of thousands strong army—it was Xuanyuan Lin...

With three hundred thousand troops besieging the city, though divided into four directions, each front held close to one hundred thousand men—a truly terrifying spectacle. The distance from the central command, where Xuanyuan Lin and his retinue stood, to the city wall was several li. Only experts who had reached the Grand Master realm could maintain precise control over the rhythm of battle over such a distance.

At this range, aside from Soul Arts, no ordinary archer could keep a target in sight, let alone strike. And facing the threat of Soul Masters, with one Soul Immortal and twelve Manifested Realm Soul Masters present, Xuanyuan Lin had no need to worry. If the enemy truly sought his head, the only way would be to break through the layers of the army and reach the center. But how easy would that be? Even if the charging Horned Rhinoceroses possessed formidable combat power, they could at best disrupt the formation; by the time they reached this point, how many would remain? After all, these soldiers were the most elite warriors of the Tianyuan Empire, unafraid of any challenge.

However, Hu Yanqi was different. As the finest archer of the Hu Yan Tribe, several thousand meters meant nothing to him. Furthermore, he had cultivated the Sun-Shooting Art to its third stage, granting him the strength to threaten a Martial Saint, let alone a Grand Master.

Ordinarily, finding a single man within an army of a hundred thousand would be like searching for a needle in a haystack, especially across such a vast distance. But Hu Yanqi possessed exceptional eyesight, and since Xuanyuan Lin was currently the commander, the central banner served as the perfect target. Coupled with the luminous aura emitted when the twelve Soul Immortals unleashed their Soul Arts, this had already drawn Hu Yanqi’s attention.

Staring coldly at the still-startled Xuanyuan Lin, Hu Yanqi’s right hand—clutching the bowstring—suddenly released. A black meteor ripped across the sky...