While the figure, who seemed to be the leader, lit the stick with the Everlasting Scorchfire, two more cloaked figures leaped from the group and landed beside Zhang Yu, swiftly subduing him.
One of the figures held Zhang Yu's hand as the leader brought the blazing stick near his index finger, slowly searing it.
"AAHHHHHH… mmmphhh!"
A heart-wrenching scream tore from Zhang Yu as the flames touched his finger, though he was quickly silenced, as the other figure placed their hand on his face, not allowing him even to vocalize his pain.
When Bai Chen saw the tears streaming down Zhang Yu's face, combined with the description of the pain Everlasting Scorchfire inflicts on its victim that he had read in the books, his body involuntarily shuddered as he tried imagining Zhang Yu's agony.
Still, he had no intention of dragging himself into someone else's mess or trying to pose as a messiah.
He was very clear about the way this world worked: either you are always right, or you are too weak. You can never be weak and right at the same time.
Meanwhile, the Everlasting Scorchfire had already consumed Zhang Yu's entire index finger, turning it into black charcoal that crumbled into dust the next moment.
Seeing this, the leader pulled back the burning stick and willed the flame to stop burning Zhang Yu for a moment.
"So… are we ready to talk now?" the leader asked, his voice carrying a tint of amusement and pleasure.
"Haa… haaa… haaa, do you really want to know how I ruined your mother's asshole? I didn't know you enjoyed that kind of stuff, Ye Ming!"
After taking a few deep breaths, Zhang Yu finally spoke, his tone laced with sarcasm and ridicule, while his eyes showed clear defiance.
As soon as those words left Zhang Yu's mouth, the air around them seemed to have stiffened, and all the figures paused for a moment.
Though the leader's face was obscure, Bai Chen was vividly able to imagine extreme fury twisting it. Zhang Yu has struck a sensitive nerve.
"Hold him firmly," the leader commanded, the amusement and pleasure gone from his tone, replaced with raw viciousness and anger.
The other two cloaked figures, sensing their leader's fury, tightened their grip around Zhang Yu, afraid that a single misstep might lead them to become the next target of Ye Ming's wrath.
"I hope you enjoy what's coming next for you," the leader then said to Zhang Yu as he once again brought the stick close to Zhang Yu's hand.
Only this time, instead of burning a single finger, Ye Ming increased the intensity of the flames, covering Zhang Yu's entire hand.
At this moment, Bai Chen was pitying Zhang Yu, even more so when he recalled the two main properties of the Everlasting Scorchfire.
Eternal Burning and Soul-Flaying Heat.
Eternal Burning ensured that the flame would not stop until it had completely consumed its victim's soul, while Soul-Flaying Heat increased the agony by peeling the soul layer by layer rather than consuming it all at once.
When these two effects worked together, they made sure that the target would continue to feel pain even after their body is destroyed, burning them until their soul is no longer able to reincarnate.
And the worst part? Unless one has a stronger flame than the Everlasting Scorchfire or kills the user, it is impossible to stop the flame against the will of its owner.
Time flew by, and thirty minutes were gone in a flash.
At this moment, Zhang Yu's remaining arm had also turned into ash, completely burned.
The defiance in his eyes had receded, and his muffled screams had turned into deep and forlorn gasps.
Seeing Zhang Yu's condition, Ye Ming finally stopped, but not out of mercy; instead, the venom in his voice had increased as he spoke, "Zhang Yu, you have insulted my mother despite knowing that she is the only one I care for in this entire world."
"I won't kill you like the organization told me too. No, that would be too easy of a death for you…" Ye Ming paused for a second, "I would plant a slave seal on your soul, turning you into my pet, a pet that I can torture and humiliate all I want."
"And the fun part? With the body-changing technique, no one would realize that you are still alive. I will put you through unimaginable pain, I will make sure to grind your will to dust—slowly."
The more Ye Ming spoke, the crazier his tone got until any trace of sanity was gone.
On the other hand, when Bai Chen heard about the slave seal and the body-changing technique, his interest was piqued.
He really needed these two techniques for his future plans and had planned to buy them off someone or somewhere in the future, though it would cost him a hefty sum of money.
But now, since these techniques had appeared right in front of him, he seriously started to plan on how to take them for himself.
First of all, he would need to get rid of all the figures standing there, or it would just lead to endless trouble with the Book of Satan, a giant in the assassination industry.
There were four Core Formation Realm Martial Artists, two Golden Core Realms, and the leader, who was at the Full Core Realm, totalling seven opponents he needed to deal with.
Bai Chen started to consider his odds of winning against them and realized that if he could seriously injure or perhaps even kill the leader with his element of suprise, he could really deal with them.
And if his sneak attack failed, he was confident in being able to escape unscathed.
After formulating a plan for a few moments and refining it for the next one, Bai Chen was finally able to come up with a somewhat crude method to deal with them.
Taking a deep breath, Bai Chen took out a Gladius Sword that his father had given him along with the rest of the stuff and started to wait for the right time to attack.
Which arrived very soon as the leader started to look through his spatial ring for something, which Bai Chen inferred to be materials for a slave seal.
Realizing that the leader was distracted and the two Golden Core Realms had their hands tangled with Zhang Yu, Bai Chen leapt from the bush and directly swung his sword at Ye Ming, the leader.