Chapter 88: Earth Fire Burns the Heart
The surging magma deep within East Continent’s Lihuo Abyss elongated Lu Qingyang’s shadow on the cave wall. He flicked away a dripping drop of lava, and the Qingming Sword at his waist hummed with a hungry sound. From a fissure three zhang away, wisps of purple Qi seeped out—a sign that the Earth Core Jade Marrow was about to form. This item was precisely what was needed to repair the cracks in his Nascent Soul.
“Fellow Daoist, hiding like this, are you waiting to pick up what’s already made?” He suddenly flung three Soul-Devouring Nails at a stone pillar to his right, and the sound of metal clashing echoed from the shadows. Chu Zhaonan, a Disciple of Lei Yu, appeared, wielding a Lihuo Banner. The lightning patterns on the banner and the earth fire formed a strange balance.
Lu Qingyang squinted, examining the seven lightning beads hanging from the other party’s waist, then suddenly grinned. “Fellow Daoist Chu’s Kanli Lightning Fire Art has indeed improved a lot, but unfortunately…” He stomped his foot, shaking open the rock layer beneath him, and thirty-six fire spirits rose from the boiling magma. “Lihuo Abyss belongs to Mr. Lu now!”
Chu Zhaonan sneered and formed a hand seal. The Lihuo Banner stirred up a ten-zhang wave of fire. “Just a mere early-stage Nascent Soul…” Before he could finish speaking, his expression drastically changed. The fire wave actually condensed into a cage in mid-air and enveloped him. Lu Qingyang’s pupils ignited with golden light, and the Taiqing lines, unique to the 《Tai Xu Ning Yuan Jue》, appeared on his palm. While speaking just now, he had quietly set up an Earth Fire trapping formation.
“Is this all a Lei Yu Disciple knows?” Lu Qingyang approached, stepping on the magma. The sword light from the Qingming Sword carved scorched marks into the ground. “Lihuo gives birth to earth, and earth contains metal essence. Your Kanli Lightning Fire…” The sword tip suddenly stabbed a certain spot on the rock wall, and the entire lava cave trembled violently. “It’s time for a change!”
Amidst the falling rubble, a cluster of crimson crystals was revealed—it was fire-attribute starfall iron. Chu Zhaonan’s pupils constricted, and the lightning dragon talisman in his sleeve instantly activated. As the Golden Core Stage lightning dragon spirit body just materialized, the damaged sword spirit in Lu Qingyang’s embrace suddenly flew out on its own. The rusted sword fragment, which he had picked up in the ruins of Taiyi Pavilion three years ago, now erupted with Soul Transformation Stage pressure.
“Go!” Lu Qingyang bit his tongue and sprayed out a mouthful of vital blood. The sword spirit, enveloped in a bloody light, pierced through the lightning dragon’s vital spot. Chu Zhaonan staggered backward, two of the lightning beads on his waist exploding consecutively to block the residual force. Just as he was about to activate a life-saving secret art, he saw the other party suddenly clutch his chest, and wisps of black Qi seeped from the cracks in his Nascent Soul.
Seizing this gap, Lu Qingyang threw out twelve Soul-Sealing Nails, pinning down the starfall iron, then turned and scoffed, “Didn’t the Lei Yu Elder teach you? Using lightning arts in Lihuo Abyss…” He deliberately drew out his words, and the sword spirit suddenly changed direction, stabbing towards the rock layer above his head. “Is asking for death!”
The thousand-year-old Xuanhuo rock collapsed with a roar, and Chu Zhaonan’s protective lightning hummed and crackled in the high temperature. Lu Qingyang took the opportunity to snatch the starfall iron, but froze the moment he touched the crystal cluster—embedded in the iron core was half a bronze talisman, which fit perfectly with the fragment he had obtained during the Golden Core Stage.
From deep within the earth pulse, the sound of chains breaking suddenly echoed, and the suppressed remnant soul of the Witch Tribe broke free. The soul body resembled a withered old woman, and the cursed chains entanglement around her resonated with the black lotus mark on Lu Qingyang’s arm. “The blood curse hidden in the land of fire meteorites… Boy, you won’t live past three cycles of sixty years…”
“Noisy!” Lu Qingyang threw out seventy-two Soul-Suppressing Talismans, but the talismans ignited upon touching the remnant soul. The old woman cackled and transformed into sand, her last wisp of Soul Power injecting into his glabella. “The Blood Maple Forest in the Southern Border… has the solution…”
The cave began to collapse. When Lu Qingyang flew out of the magma on his sword, the black lotus on his arm had already spread to his shoulder. He pressed the starfall iron against the mark with his backhand, and the intense pain of the earth fire essence surging into his Meridians made his veins bulge. In his Divine Sense space, the phantom of the Nine Luminaries Astrolabe was devouring the Profound Truths of the fire Law.
Three days later, at midnight, Lu Qingyang lay panting in a temporary Immortal Cave. The starfall iron floating before him had been forged into the rudimentary form of a compass, but black lotus curse power seeped from its cracks. He pulled out his wine gourd, took a gulp of strong wine, and then suddenly sneered at the Void Realm. “Is True Person Chijiao’s nose even sharper than a dog’s?”
A hoarse laugh came from outside the rock wall, and nine Soul-Locking Hooks broke through the barrier. “Daoist Lu, if you hand over the starfall iron, the Loose Cultivator Alliance can protect you…” Before he finished speaking, Lu Qingyang suddenly crushed the jade bottle in his embrace, and an bone-eroding Cold Wind swept through the cave—this was Yin Lei Sha refined from Chu Zhaonan’s lightning bead fragments.
Taking advantage of the pursuers’ temporary retreat, he crashed through the back mountain rock wall and escaped. The Realm Map in his embrace displayed the newly emerged coordinates of the Southern Border; under the moonlight, the three characters “Blood Maple Forest” looked like congealed blood. As the eastern sky gradually brightened, it suddenly became covered with thunderclouds. Lu Qingyang looked at the black lotus on his arm and suddenly burst out laughing, “Three cycles of sixty years? Mr. Lu insists on living for three thousand years!”
A hundred li away, by the sea cliff, True Person Chijiao crushed a message Jade Slip, and three hundred black-scaled warships emerged from the waves. And deep within the earth pulse, the resonance of the bronze talisman was awakening an ancient altar…