Liu understood all too well that the other party had no intention of letting him go, and a fierce look flashed in his eyes.
Death awaited him either way; he might as well fight this kid to the death!
Furthermore, a sliver of doubt lingered in his mind—he suspected that Shen Xuan had merely used some special trick to catch the Explosive Flame Lotus and was actually just putting on a bluff.
Though Liu knew deep down that this possibility was extremely slim, someone driven to a desperate corner like him would inevitably cast aside reason to believe in that one glimmer of hope.
Driven by this thought, Liu raised his staff once more:
"O passionate Fire Spirit! Hear my summons, and with your blazing feathered arrows, purify everything..."
As he chanted, a phantom radiating intense heat seemed to descend upon the world, and fire elements within a kilometer gathered completely, transforming into a divine bird covered in dark red flames from head to toe.
Because of its appearance, the fires inside the library blazed even more fiercely, and the waves of scorching heat alone were enough to cause suffocation!
The divine bird spread its wings, and tens of thousands of fiery feathers stood on end, densely packed like burning arrows poised to strike.
Liu's hawk-like, sharp eyes remained fixed on Shen Xuan, seemingly trying to catch a glimpse of fear on the youth's face. Unfortunately, faced with the spell about to be completed, the boy neither made a move to interrupt the casting nor showed the slightest trace of terror.
Shen Xuan's abnormal behavior caused Liu's heart to skip a beat, making it even harder for him to fathom the youth's true depth.
Regardless of all else, summoning the Fire Spirit was the strongest fire-type spell within his mastery. If even this move failed to kill his opponent...
Liu dared not imagine the consequences. May the gods preserve him.
Watching the other's performance quietly, right at the instant the volley of fire feathers was unleashed, Shen Xuan raised a hand and snapped his fingers lightly.
The crisp sound echoed through the library, which was on the verge of turning into a sea of flames, and time seemed to freeze right then and there.
"Your magic still falls quite short."
As his words fell, the divine fire bird in front of Liu suddenly contracted. Its half-man-sized body turned into a speck of dust in the blink of an eye and finally vanished without a trace!
Liu stood dumbfounded. After a blank moment in his mind, his knees went weak and he dropped to his knees. He finally abandoned all hope and let despair wash over his heart.
"Tell me, who on earth are you?" Liu asked in a trembling voice, uttering the final question of his life.
Shen Xuan smiled, revealing two rows of white teeth. "Just an ordinary librarian."
The youth raised his hand, flicked his finger, and a ball of golden flame shot out at extreme speed.
Liu froze for a moment. Whether it was his eyes playing tricks on him or not, he seemed to see a noble king of birds flying toward him!
Seeming to answer his confusion, the phoenix shrieked and flapped its wings. A single splatter of flying spark instantly turned into a sea of fire, and the hurricane stirred up by its beating wings whipped up a fiery tsunami that surged forward!
The high-temperature flame mass instantly swallowed Liu's body. Nothing was left in his field of vision but a sea of fiery red. The burning pain of the intense fire scorching his skin and muscles made him scream miserably, but his shrieks were drowned out by wave upon wave of explosions...
Shen Xuan looked at the pile of black ash left in front of him and waved a hand, letting a gust of hot wind carry the ashes far away.
Faintly, Liu's resentful curses could still be heard lingering in the air.
[Master, do you need me to cast water-type magic?]
Hearing the other voice deep within his heart, Shen Xuan shook his head slightly. "No need. Let's just say Liu set the fire and fled."
Afterward, he scooped the young girl up in a bridal carry and stepped right into the sea of fire.
***
News of the massive fire at the Winter City Library quickly reached the City Lord's Mansion.
Jin Kela, who was still weighed down by various trivial matters, was startled upon hearing the news. Shocked and enraged, he rushed back to the library at top speed.
Along the way, his mind was filled with Luo Xiaoxue's safety.
Naturally, Shen Xuan crossed his mind as well.
In front of the library, towering flames continued to consume everything flammable. The rolling waves of heat still prevented ordinary people from getting close, forcing them to watch helplessly from a distance.
At that moment, several figures descended from the sky.
When the onlookers recognized the newcomers, they let out excited shouts.
"Look, it's Lord Jin and the others!"
"That's wonderful!"
In stark contrast to the excitement of the crowd, Jin Kela was burning with anxiety. Before even landing, he instructed the three water-type Mages who had hurried along with him: "Quickly go put out the fire!"
"Understood, Lord Jin!" The three did not dawdle and immediately began casting water-type magic.
Afterward, Jin Kela swept his gaze across the surrounding crowd, failing to find the figures of Luo Xiaoxue and Shen Xuan, but he spotted an elderly woman wearing glasses.
He hurried over, grabbed the old woman firmly by the shoulders, and asked, "Stanley, have you seen those two children?"
When the old woman recognized Jin Kela's face, tears instantly streamed down her aged cheeks. "Ah-Jin, someone said they just heard a scream from inside..."
By the end, she was sobbing uncontrollably and could speak no further.
Jin Kela clenched his fists. "There's no time to wait for the fire to be put out. I have to go inside and see for myself!"
After casting a Fire Wall spell on himself, Jin Kela plunged directly into the sea of flames, ignoring whatever calls Granny Stanley shouted from behind.
As a fire-type Mage capable of manipulating fire elements, he was actually better suited to enter a burning building to save people than a water-type Mage.
As soon as he stepped into the library, Jin Kela sensed unnatural fire elements in the air. It seemed someone had cast a fire-type spell here earlier, and quite a powerful one at that.
In Winter City, he only knew of two people capable of producing fire magic of comparable might: himself, and the other was Liu!
Yet there was no time to dwell on that now; saving lives was paramount.
"Shen Xuan, Xiaoxue, are you in here?"
The old man Jin Kela called out over and over again, but the only response he received was the sound of snapping wood.
About five minutes passed, and the Fire Wall spell was finally on the verge of collapsing. Looking at the sea of flames before him, Jin Kela hesitated whether to go outside to rest for a moment or search a little longer.
The very next second, however, a weak voice drifted from the deepest part of the library: "Curator Grandpa, we are in here..."