As dozens of Flame Dragons were about to complete their encirclement, dozens of fireballs, akin to miniature stars, suddenly soared upward from below.

These large fireballs were not Xuanming's moves but my secret cards. Previously, when Xuanming's sky Fire Sea completely engulfed the ground city, the Fire Sea I spread across the ground did not disappear but instead sank underground, silently compressing and accumulating power.

Xuanming's flames and my flames have one slight difference: his flames, although generated by his soul's will, cannot completely become an extension of his soul. I can transfer back and forth between flames and the soul, even to the point that my flames and soul are two sides of the same coin, a trait only possessed in the Manifestation Realm, which Xuanming does not have.

The orange fiery sea surrounding us can hide the process of Xuanming accumulating power, but it also makes it more difficult for Xuanming to detect events outside the Fire Sea, especially when he's focused on attacking me. In a certain sense, this main Fire Sea field is also a closed Barrier; while trapping me, it also confines him within.

Having said that, if I truly were to mobilize this external force against Xuanming, he would notice immediately, so I've been unable to find the right moment to strike. At this moment, I chose to use this power against these Flame Dragons.

Dozens of large fireballs and Flame Dragons tangled in pairs, with part of them exploding and vanishing after colliding with each other. Taking advantage of this opportunity, I broke through once more towards Xuanming. However, the gap between us became evident again—Xuanming maintained distance while using only half the number of Flame Dragons to hold off all my fireballs, with the other half once again encircling me.

It's not because his Flame Dragons are mightier than my large fireballs. If we liken the conflict of our powers to a battle of military strategy, with both sides evenly matched, the battlefield experience of the commander becomes crucial.

This was an issue I had consciously acknowledged before this battle. The opponent was an ancient Impermanence with battlefield experience, while I was a new generation Impermanence. Although my experience in fighting opponents of the same level was not insignificant, it could not compare to Xuanming. In such circumstances, how could I reverse the disadvantage?

—To be honest, I no longer exist at that disadvantage now.

When I hadn't fully digested the Catastrophe Demon power's experience, Little Bowl's blessing mainly helped me fight in a completely digested state; not long ago, I used the Power of Blessing to truly convert that experience into my capabilities. The Power of Blessing no longer aids my early grasp of power experience, so what aspects of me does it now enhance?

The answer lies in my intuition and inspiration. Now, I am in a state of extraordinary performance.

Humans, when in an excellent Spirit state, may suddenly find their spirit in high-intensity clashes, playing one unexpected hand, sometimes even catching seasoned veterans off guard with a newbie's ingenious ideas. Under the Power of Blessing, this experience of divine inspiration is as frequent as breathing for me. Even though Xuanming's battlefield experience far exceeds mine, I can catch up to him in this astonishing state.

This is not my first time entering such a state. Long before gaining the Catastrophe Demon power's experience, Little Bowl's blessings primarily provided assistance in the form of "extraordinary performance." Now it merely returns to this originally destined mode.

In a normal battle, even with extraordinary performance, it's unlikely for the side with too many flaws to truly narrow the gap in experience this way. But in a clash between Impermanences, the space for skills and tactics is inherently limited. The advantage brought by experience can be offset by incredibly strong intuition and inspiration.

I feigned an inescapable disadvantage. Considering that both of us could comprehend each other's true thoughts from the Mana conflict, this act might get seen through by Xuanming.

However, since he was able to continue using concealed sneak attacks in this conflict, there's no reason I couldn't do the same. I carefully concealed my real intention, and in the instant the Flame Dragons were about to complete the surrounding encirclement, a portion of the fireballs broke free from the drag of the other half of the Flame Dragons and rushed towards me at high speed.

A look of unexpected surprise appeared on Xuanming's face.

He might not have anticipated that I could reverse the situation but probably thought I had another hidden card, never expecting that I, who always relied mainly on brute force, would use the most unlikely "technique" to resolve the crisis. The encirclement of the Flame Dragons was pierced by the approaching fireballs, and capturing his moment of wavering, I sprinted forward to him, colliding with momentum.

Xuanming instantly gathered flames, and a Flame Wall suddenly appeared between us. Its density was unlike flames, more like a solid copper wall. This wasn't a hastily summoned defense; he indeed prepared for emergency defenses.

However, it was apparent that this defensive force was not fully prepared, and besides, flames are inherently weak for defense. I crashed into the Flame Wall and broke through it swiftly. Xuanming had no time to execute the next defensive or evasive move and was hit squarely by my charge.

That collision was an explosive collapse of mountains and rivers.

Xuanming was blasted far away by the explosion. Being an Impermanence like me, controlling flames, I didn't think he would die so easily under flames and explosions; plus, part of the impact from the charge was reduced by the Flame Wall, which made it hard to be decisive. The orange fiery sea showed no signs of receding, so I pursued, pressing on.

The next moment, Xuanming, flying backward, halted mid-air and suddenly looked at me, and a flame-formed shockwave rapidly shot out from the orange fiery sea, forcing me to dodge.

Immediately, countless flame shockwaves attacked from different directions. I rapidly evaded, simultaneously launching fireballs to counteract the unavoidable flame shockwaves.

Xuanming seemed unable to hold it anymore, his face twisted in pain as he spat out a mouthful of blood.

For the first time, I caused Xuanming significant harm!

This achievement is the turning point of the contest, and I am convinced the scales of victory will tilt in my favor from here.

"You actually… Last time you didn't seem capable of such responses. Why can you act like that now?" Xuanming looked at me heavily, "… So that's it, from the start, you had a way to handle my offensives. Previously, I surprised you with unexpected tactics, and now it's your turn to catch me unprepared!"

As soon as he finished speaking, I once again pretended to barely handle his attacks, secretly guiding several fireballs behind him. He seemed to have eyes on his back and suddenly turned around, firing multiple flame shockwaves, shattering them all.

"Just as I had a preconceived notion of you at first, you also have such a preconceived notion of me. But, Xuanming, you should have realized by now with your own body that I am not an opponent you can underestimate," I said.

"I never underestimated you, but you really exceeded my expectations," Xuanming said, "Now, there's no significant difference between us worth mentioning. Power, skill, mindset… all are the same.

"But don't forget, I entered this place before you. This is my main field, and your defeat was destined from the start."

I retaliated sharply: "Before bragging, wipe the blood from the corner of your mouth. Your first strike didn't harm me properly, whereas my strike severely harmed you. Who is truly at a disadvantage? The one to be defeated is you."

"Are you saying... because I got hurt first, I'm at a disadvantage?" Xuanming laughed.

Isn't it so? That was my only thought. In a life-and-death fight, the side that bleeds first will have its strength reduced first, making it easier to be overwhelmed; the disadvantage will snowball. Perhaps there could be strategies against this if fighting other Impermanences, but we are both Impermanences with similar strength and attributes; "who gets injured first" is the easiest turning point to determine victory or defeat.

"Zhuang Cheng, if you are the flame, then I am the one who controls the flame," he revealed a solemn demeanor, "Now, let me show you the true essence of the flame."