Lin Fan was only able to keep up with Ming Ze because of the stat boosts that came from his items.
If he didn't have them, there was no chance that he would be able to fight Ming Ze who was at a higher level of cultivation than him.
When he used his Appraisal Eyes on Ming Ze, he found that all of his stats were higher than his when he didn't have his items.
So now that Ming Ze had surrounded himself in these black flames, he knew that this was a very bad situation for him.
If he wasn't able to fight in close range, then there really was no chance that he would win…
He could see with his Appraisal Eyes that these flames were not normal.
These were the flames of hell.
He didn't know how Ming Ze was able to summon these flames, but according to the description from the Appraisal Eyes, he knew that these flames wouldn't be extinguished after they started burning something. He shouldn't touch these flames or else he would be in danger.
But Ming Ze wasn't going to give him time to catch his breath.
After he adjusted to having these black flames surround him, he charged at Lin Fan.
Wherever he went, there was a trail of black flames that appeared behind him, burning away everything that it touched. Even after burning away everything that it could burn, the black flames still remained there on the ground without disappearing.
Lin Fan used his speed to dodge out of the way of Ming Ze's tackle, but Ming Ze didn't stop as he kept trying to charge Lin Fan with his body.
Lin Fan had no choice but to continuously dodge out of the way as he tried to figure out a way to deal with Ming Ze.
But no matter what he thought of, there was nothing that he could think of that would be able to deal with these black flames.
So in the end, he threw everything that he had at Ming Ze, hoping to take care of him first.
But everything that he threw at Ming Ze was completely useless.
The flames that he threw were all swallowed by the black flames, the icicles that he shot were all melted by the black flames, even the ice mirror that he used just had a large hole melted in the center of it when Ming Ze crashed right into it.
It was as if there was nothing that could stop Ming Ze's black flames.
Lin Fan was about to gather all his spiritual energy into a single attack with his flame covered icicles when the system's voice suddenly rang out.
"Host, use the Clear Water Bead to condense the Clear Water and then use the mimicked Water Control skill to use that water against the black flames."
Lin Fan was stunned when he heard this voice ring out in his mind and he was almost hit head on by Ming Ze's charge. Luckily he was able to come back to his senses at the last second and dodge out of the charge.
After he landed, he couldn't help saying to the system out loud, "What are you talking about? You're saying that the Clear Water can put out those flames?"
Ming Ze saw Lin Fan talking to himself and he wondered if Lin Fan was going crazy from the pressure, but he also smiled to himself since this was a sign that Lin Fan was getting desperate. The desperation of his enemy was naturally a good sign for him.
As Lin Fan dodged the various charges from Ming Ze, the system explained, "The Clear Water is a highly condensed form of spiritual water, just like how those Hell Flames are a highly condensed form of spiritual flames. The Clear Water is strong enough to put out the Hell Flames."
Lin Fan still had his doubts, but since the system was even speaking up at this time, he had no choice but to accept its advice.
After all, the system had never guided him wrong until now.
So gathering his spiritual energy in his dantian, he induced the power of the Clear Bead Water and formed a drop of Clear Water.
Sensing that spiritual energy fluctuations from Lin Fan were dropping, Ming Ze revealed a wicked smile as he thought that it was his chance. He thought that this was a sign that Lin Fan was weakening and that his speed would finally drop.
But what he didn't know was that this speed was the effect of equipping the Green Jade Boots, so even if Lin Fan ran out of spiritual energy, he would still be able to run that fast since it was an added effect of the Green Jade Boots. It wasn't his own cultivation technique that used his own spiritual energy.
After condensing that first drop of water, Lin Fan couldn't help revealing a bitter smile as he thought that this drop clearly wasn't enough to extinguish all these flames.
But to his surprise, the system thought differently, "This drop of Clear Water is more than enough to deal with these flames."
Lin Fan was once again surprised by the system's words, but he trusted it as he started using the Water Control skill on it.
He found that the system was indeed correct.
This Clear Water drop was a condensed form of the Clear Water, there was actually more than just a single drop of water there.
When he used the Water Control, he found that it was like there was a sea contained within this one single drop of water. With a single thought from him, he was able to create a jet of water that came out of the drop of water.
Seeing this, he raised his hand at Ming Ze charging at him without any hesitation. As his hand was pointed at Ming Ze, there was a jet of water that suddenly flew out of his palm aimed at Ming Ze.
Ming Ze saw this jet of water and gave a disdainful snort as he continued charging forward.
He knew how strong these black flames were and he didn't believe that a bit of water would be able to extinguish it.
But he was shocked to find that as soon as the water touched the flames, there were smokes created as the water put out the flames.
He was hit with the jet of water, so all of the flames around his body were extinguished and he was completely drenched. Even if he wanted to create more flames, the water wouldn't allow him to do so.
Seeing that the flames were gone, Ming Ze knew that it was him who was in the bad situation now. Without the protection of these flames, he wouldn't be able to block Lin Fan's attacks.
So without hesitation, Ming Ze turned to run, but Lin Fan didn't give him that chance.
Lin Fan had an almost blind kind of faith in the system since it had shown its power many times and had gotten him out of many different bad situations.
So as soon as he shot the jet of water at Ming Ze, he also gripped Gramr in both hands and charged at Ming Ze, swinging the sword down at Ming Ze's head.
Ming Ze wasn't able to stop himself right away and that momentum carried him right into Lin Fan's sword that was already falling down on him. Even if he wanted to dodge, with the momentum forcing him forward and Lin Fan's speed, it was already too late for him to do anything.
He wasn't even able to raise his arms to guard himself as the sword fell down over his head, becoming bigger and bigger in front of his eyes.
As the sword cut into his head, his last thought was, "Xiao Xin, I'm sorry…"
Ming Ze's body was stronger than the other Foundation Realm Cultivators, so Lin Fan wasn't able to cut him in half like he had done with the other ones. His sword was only able to cut halfway through his head before it was stopped, but that was enough.
Lin Fan could see the dim eyes in front of him and he knew that the fight was over.
Pulling the sword out of Ming Ze's head, Ming Ze's body collapsed onto the ground. At the same time, there was something that dropped out of Ming Ze's pocket that rolled its way to Lin Fan's feet.
Lin Fan looked down at it and found that it was a locket.
He picked it up and opened it to see that there was a cute little girl's picture there. This little girl looked very similar to Ming Ze, so it should be his little sister.
But that didn't mean anything to him, so he turned his attention away to look around him.
All around him were those black flames that had come from Ming Ze.
As he had charged around, he had left black flames in his wake and now those black flames were completely destroying the surrounding area. Slowly but surely, the black flames were spreading all around the forest and burning away everything that they could get in contact with.
If he were to leave these black flames here, it was certain that it would burn down the forest by the end of the day. It was even possible that it would burn down the surrounding villages and even reach Brilliant Light City.
Lin Fan couldn't just leave these black flames here since they would never extinguish, even if rain fell. He was the only one that could extinguish these flames with his Clear Water.
So Lin Fan used his Water Control skill to pull out more water from that drop of Clear Water and was about to use it to put out all the flames, but before he could shoot it out, the system stopped him.
"Host, don't put out the flames."
Lin Fan revealed a confused look as he asked, "Why not? They will destroy this place if we leave them be."
The system explained, "Host, you can absorb the flames instead."
Lin Fan revealed an even more confused look as he asked, "What do you mean by that? How can I just absorb these flames?"
The system said, "These flames are concentrated spiritual energy flames, so the host can absorb them with your cultivation technique."
Lin Fan was still confused as he asked, "Even if they are spiritual energy flames, isn't the flame part of it bad for me? Wouldn't it burn me if I tried to absorb it?"
The system said, "That is the case for normal people, but the host has a special spirit root. The host's Five Elemental Heavenly Root allows the host to hold spiritual energy of five different elements in the host's dantian and use them at will."
Lin Fan was about to ask something, but then he realized something as well, "That's why the Clear Water Bead went into my dantian!"