Chapter 1342: Seven Deadly Sins
The words of the Flame of Burning Wrath made Bai Zemin pause for a moment to remember and think about events that he previously took for granted precisely because of his limited knowledge and information in general.
The power of the Endless Blue Lotus Flame allowed Bai Zemin to exert constant pressure on his opponents throughout the entire battle without consuming any energy except when he wanted to launch extremely destructive attacks.
Having a power against which the enemy needed to continuously consume their energy reserves and divert their attention throughout the entire battle was without a doubt terrifying.
The Heaven Devouring Flame, on the other hand, was even simpler but no less terrifying. With the ability to devour 30% of the power of incoming attacks, the Heaven Devouring Flame was literally reducing the damage Bai Zemin received throughout the fight tremendously.
In fact, if not for the Heaven Devouring Flame, Bai Zemin knew better than anyone else that during his battle against the Fifth Order angel Sonnata or in his fierce combat against the Sixth Order basilisk Akumi he would definitely have died.
Until now, he had never really stopped to think about how abnormal these two flames were. Much more than he thought per se.
But the words of the Flame of Burning Wrath were like a great wake-up call that shook Bai Zemin from the depths of his being... This was because he had, in fact, been oblivious to the fact that both Divine Flames were still extremely weakened even now!
As if seeing through his thoughts, the Flame of Burning Wrath said in a slightly mocking voice, "The power of each Divine Flame is far fiercer than you think. I can feel the aura of Heaven Devouring in you so let's use it as an example. At its peak state, Heaven Devouring can devour even the damage of the heavens and any living being below God King level couldn't even cause you a scratch including if you fell asleep and an army attacked you."
"..." Bai Zemin couldn't help but suck in a breath of cold air. The shock he felt was so great that he even forgot all about the Soul Contract requested by the Flame of Burning Wrath or the "baptism" it mentioned.
He had no idea what level represented an existence in the "God King" realm, but Bai Zemin knew instinctively that it was probably the peak of the cosmos and dimensions.
"But how could the previous Heaven Devouring Flame master have fallen defeated in combat while having such a frighteningly high devouring defense?" Bai Zemin couldn't help but ask.
The crimson dot representing the existence of the Flame of Burning Wrath floated in the air and was silent for a long time before slowly saying in a low voice, "Who said he was defeated?"
"Ah?" Bai Zemin stared with a stupid expression on his face.
The Flame of Burning Wrath continued in a deep voice, "That person indeed did fall in battle while fighting his enemy. But dying in battle does not always mean losing."
Seeing Bai Zemin's expression becoming more and more marvelous, the Flame of Burning Wrath sighed in exasperation and said, "Rascal, let me put an analogy here... Let's say there is an extremely terrifying and invincible enemy targeting the lives of your loved ones; an enemy that is simply not possible to defeat. Somehow you manage to take down your enemy, but the cost you paid was your life. Would you consider it a defeat?"
Bai Zemin thought about it for a moment and then said slowly, "'If... I mean just if... If I could protect my loved ones and put an end to that invincible enemy, then I would consider it a victory even though I am one of those who firmly believe that the most important thing is to live one more day to defeat tomorrow."
The Flame of Burning Wrath was very satisfied with his answer as it firmly said, "That's how it is. The former master of Heaven Devouring had no choice but to face the most powerful existence of all for the sake of someone else. He didn't win, but he didn't lose either. You could say that, though just barely, it was a little temporary victory."
Bai Zemin noticed that the Flame of Burning Wrath seemed to fall into deep memories as the dot of fiery crimson light seemed to continuously glow and dim. Before he could ask any more questions, however, he was interrupted directly.
"Forget about those things. There's no point in you asking questions that are useless. What do you gain even if you know these things? Let's better deal with what concerns us to make us stronger, don't you think?"
After a moment of silence, Bai Zemin finally nodded without saying more.
In fact, he had no use for that information. Not only did it have nothing to do with him, but neither would it benefit him in the long run to come into contact with things too deep that might divert him from the path he had decided to walk in this life of his.
The Flame of Burning Wrath was satisfied with Bai Zemin's mentality. After watching him push all distracting thoughts to the back of his mind, the Divine Flame continued, "Anyway. After I merge with your soul I will begin to slowly become one with your Ancestral Bloodline so that I can regain my peak as quickly as possible and unleash much more power than should generally be possible. Once you and I become one your destructive force will easily increase tenfold every time you use the Wrath power."
"Tenfold?!" Bai Zemin exclaimed but quickly covered his mouth and glanced at Lilith sleeping beside him.
Seeing her turning over on her side and continuing to sleep he let out a small relieved sigh before looking at the Flame of Burning Wrath again with an expression of disbelief on his face.
Tenfold his destructive power... Bai Zemin couldn't even imagine such a thing.
Even his most powerful skill - Overlap Regeneration - only multiplied his destructive power by two!
Of course, Overlap Regeneration was an extremely versatile skill that could increase not only his destructive power since if Bai Zemin so wanted, he could increase his speed, his overall stamina, his defenses, and so on. However, multiplying x10 times his destructive power was simply...
Too crazy!
In a simple example, if Bai Zemin was only able to break a ten centimeter thick branch before forming a Soul Contract with the Flame of Burning Wrath, his future self after forming the Soul Contract would be able to easily destroy the trunk of a full meter wide tree!
"Hmph, it's not that simple, kid." The Flame of Burning Wrath snorted and if it had eyes it probably would have rolled them in ridicule. "My power is the power of Wrath. The higher your wrath level the greater the boost you will get. In theory, as long as your physical body and soul can handle it, your destructive power can escalate to the infinite and turn you into an unmatched being. Back then, if it weren't for the soul of..."
Suddenly, the boastful voice of the Flame of Burning Wrath stopped abruptly as it realized that almost spoke too much.
Bai Zemin made no comment but partially understood what the Flame of Burning Wrath meant even though it stopped before finishing.
... If the original master of the Flame of Burning Wrath had a stronger soul, the multiplicative level of Wrath would have made them invincible and they would never have fallen in battle.
"Don't overthink it. For your current self to achieve a multiplier of x10 would be more than an amazing feat so don't look too deep into a hole if you can't even see beyond five meters in front of you." The Flame of Burning Wrath calmly continued, "Do you know why I previously found it amusing that you call us Divine Flames?"
Bai Zemin shook his head as he really didn't know.
"The word "Divine" makes reference to Gods, but you humans associate things like sins to Demons while Gods are related to pure, holy, and beautiful things."
"You mean..." Bai Zemin was surprised as he understood where this was going.
"I won't talk too much about others, but there's no problem talking about myself." The Flame of Burning Wrath said in a deep voice, "I represent the Sin of Wrath of the Seven Deadly Sins, and in terms of pure destruction I am probably second to none. Bai Zemin, to form a Soul Contract with me and to have me join your Ancestral Bloodline you have to endure the baptism of the Sin of Wrath for an unknown amount of time for me."
"During this time, your mood will become easily irritable. Even the smallest, most insignificant things like the disappearance of your favorite pair of shoes or the appearance of a color too annoying to your eyes can become sparks of rage that will ignite a sea of destructive flames you will use to tear through everything in your path..."
The Flame of Burning Wrath continued to talk and explain more things but Bai Zemin was no longer listening at all.
He was already in a complex state with his Blood Berserker Wrath skill active all the time... If to this was added the baptism of the Sin of Wrath...
Alas...