Xu Du flinched at the words, genuinely scared. He believed Shang Qi would keep his promise.
Xu Du’s men were intimidated by Shang Qi. They watched Xu Du’s defeat, hesitant to intervene. Shang Qi had single-handedly defeated Xu Du and incapacitated several of their key fighters. How could they not be afraid?
“I surrender. I’ll pledge allegiance to you. I’ll be your subordinate, just spare my life, boss.” Faced with death, Xu Du’s bravado crumbled. He knew how to grovel and beg for mercy when his life was on the line.
Shang Qi was not the type to be swayed by pleas for mercy.
With his foot on Xu Du’s face, pinning him down, Shang Qi grinned with a bloodthirsty, indifferent expression. “I don’t waste words on the dead.”
Having said that, Shang Qi threw a fireball onto Xu Du’s clothes. The fireball seemed to have a life of its own, igniting and spreading rapidly once it touched Xu Du’s attire.
After discarding the fireball, Shang Qi removed his foot from Xu Du’s face and turned towards Su Ling.
As soon as Shang Qi’s foot was off his face, Xu Du scrambled to his feet, trying to extinguish the flames. He reached out and patted, but the fire didn’t die down. Instead, his hand began to burn.
This terrified Xu Du. The searing heat on his back felt like a constant threat. Everyone present watched as the flames on Xu Du’s back grew, quickly reducing his clothes to ashes. Despite Xu Du rolling on the ground, he couldn’t extinguish the fire.
Amidst Xu Du’s pained cries, his clothes were burned away, and his skin fared no better. He had thought the fire would cease after burning his clothes, but it seemed to have a life of its own. After consuming his clothes, it began to burn his skin.
Xu Du writhed in agony on the ground, unable to put out the flames. Xu Du’s men witnessed this entire spectacle, their faces filled with fear as they looked at Shang Qi and then at the suffering Xu Du. At that moment, they all feared Shang Qi’s terrifying power, and the possibility of suffering the same fate as Xu Du.
Xu Du was in excruciating pain, wishing for death. He screamed his lungs out, sweat pouring down his face, the smell of roasting flesh emanating from him as he crawled towards Shang Qi. “Boss, I surrender, I surrender! Spare my life! I’ll go through fire and water for you, I’ll be loyal to you forever, obey your every command, just spare this worthless life of mine.”
Shang Qi had already reached Su Ling’s side and stood there, unmoved by Xu Du’s kneeling pleas.
Xu Du was in agony. He couldn’t understand why the fire, once it touched his skin, couldn’t be extinguished. The more he struggled, the more ferociously the flames burned his flesh. He could smell his own skin cooking.
Everyone watched as Xu Du transformed from an arrogant and boastful man into a pathetic figure kneeling before Shang Qi, his former arrogance completely gone.
“Where there is mercy, let there be mercy. I’ll let you go, if you spare my life,” Xu Du pleaded, enduring the intense pain and looking at Shang Qi. Sweat streamed down his face, and his body trembled uncontrollably. His body was his own, and he knew better than anyone how agonizing his current condition was. It was as if he were being roasted over a fire. At first, the flames were small, and the pain was bearable. As the flames grew larger, the pain intensified, becoming a torment worse than death. Initially, it was just his skin burning, gradually losing sensation. Then, it spread to his internal organs, feeling as if his insides were boiling in a pot, with flames raging and water bubbling, his organs churning in the boiling liquid.