After an intense battle, five corpses were lying in the hall.
Tang Jie was still the one standing, though his body bore more wounds and there was fatigue on his face.
But after this tough battle, Tang Jie had gained the pellet of the Goldmane Lion and the Extraviolet Flame of the Violet Fire Salamander.
Tang Jie used the Contraflame Mantra to draw that violet flame into his body.
The Contraflame Mantra was meant for subduing exotic flames, and since it was a spell art, the original body could use it without a problem. It was just that he had lacked an appropriate target, though now he had finally found one in the Violet Flame Salamander.
This sight threw the spectators above into an uproar.
“What… what art is this? It lets him absorb the Extraviolet Flame so that he can use it?” a Great Sun Sect elder shakily said.
The Great Sun Sect was famous for its mastery of Fire spell arts, but despite all their spell arts, they didn’t have one like the Contraflame Mantra.
This wasn’t strange. The Contraflame Mantra had been Zuo Quanming’s most valuable art, and Tang Jie had seen traces of the Dao in it. It had to be the heritage of some Titan of High Antiquity and thus not something that ordinary people could possess.
Even Yuan Tianzhong felt tempted. He wondered if this art worked against all exotic flames or only on low-level exotic flames like the Extraviolet Flame, or if it had any other restrictions.
He instinctively refused to believe that the Contraflame Mantra could subdue most exotic flames, for this was far too unreasonable, as unreasonable as the Weapon Mantra being able to shatter all weapons and forge the Sovereign Blade.
But even being able to absorb low-level exotic flames made it valuable.
After absorbing all the fiend pellets and resting, Tang Jie entered the fire basin.
At the fifth floor was a Primal Astral Burst Pill.
This was also a medicine that could increase one’s cultivation, but it was very special, because it was actually a failed medicine.
A pill refiner could fail to create a pill for various reasons, but one type of failure was particularly rare. When the pill refiner was refining the pill, the pill would explode in the furnace, and the medicinal power would scatter and seep into other pills, which would cause them to explode too.
In this process, some of the pills would miraculously survive. These pills were known for containing an entire furnace’s worth of medicinal power within a single pill, which made them extremely powerful and violent medicines. If a person who took it failed to digest all the medicinal power in a short period, they would explode. Thus, this pill was called the Primal Astral Burst Pill.
This pill was both a supplement and a poison.
This pill wasn’t originally a reward, but an elder of the Great Sun Sect had the idea of offering it to see just how strong Tang Jie’s digestive powers were. Thus, he made the decision on his own to switch it in.
Tang Jie was startled when he saw the pill, but then he laughed.
This was exactly what he needed. This Tang Jie was no longer so weak that he couldn’t eat too much. He now had a huge appetite, and he would devour anything that was thrown at him.
As he swallowed the Primal Astral Burst Pill, he felt an immense medicinal power filling his dantian and then surging through his meridians like a hurricane, filling his body in a flash.
More medicinal power was still erupting out of the pill, so if he didn’t digest the medicinal power quickly, he would explode and die.
Tang Jie calmly stimulated all of his cells, which began to cry out in hunger, sucking up every bit of medicinal power like parched soil finally receiving rain.
That vast sea of medicinal power seemed to be flowing into a limitless void. No matter how much it raged, it would instantly disappear into Tang Jie’s body.
At the same time, Tang Jie’s law cultivation began to rapidly rise.
His starved body cried out in joy, every cell cheering and dancing in celebration, and his cultivation was soaring.
On the thirteenth floor of the Spiral Flame, the Violet Palace Titans could see Tang Jie growing stronger and stronger.
“Middle-phase… He’s gotten to middle-phase Spirit Ring. How?” a Great Sun Sect elder said in shock.
Without the help of medicine, it would take several decades to go from early-phase Spirit Ring to middle-phase Spirit Ring. But Tang Jie had needed just one day to reach this threshold, so how could they not be shocked?
But once they considered how much medicine Tang Jie had digested, such progress wasn’t strange. It was just that his digestion speed was rather freakish.
This was particularly true with regards to the Primal Astral Burst Pill. Even Violet Palace True Lords were unwilling to use its berserk medicinal power, but this kid had just swallowed it, digested it, and grown stronger.
What sort of freak was this?
Everyone was silent, even Yuan Tianzhong.
Tang Jie seemed to realize something, and after some thought, he basically guessed at what was going on. Bowing, he looked up at the ceiling and said, “If possible, I would like some more Primal Astral Burst Pills in the later rewards. Tang Jie is willing to guarantee with his life that he will do all he can to strengthen the Flame Yang Formation, working to ensure the survival of humanity.”
“If Sir wants them, Sir can have them. It is just that Primal Astral Burst Pills are failed products that are only produced by chance, so we have only three. You have already used one, leaving only two. Let these serve as the rewards for passing the middle four floors and final four floors.”
Tang Jie smiled. “You have my utmost gratitude.”
He continued forward.
The fiends on the fifth floor consisted of a single middle-grade Transformation fiend and five lower-grade Transformation fiends.
The combined might of these six fiends outmatched the previous groups in both strength and numbers, but Tang Jie recklessly charged in and began to fight them.
It was a most refreshing battle.
Having advanced to the middle phase of Spirit Ring meant that he could use many more of his abilities.
One of these was the Nine Heavens Calamity Blade.
This was one of his self-created spell arts, but his Earth Immortal avatar had little use for it. But for the Celestial Heart original body, it was still an immensely powerful spell art, though he needed to be at middle-phase Spirit Ring to truly unleash its power.
Tang Jie could finally use it now, and those crescent blades descended from the ceiling. There was nowhere to run in the limited confines of the hall, and as the blades slammed into the Transformation fiends, despite their best efforts and numerous abilities, they were still left covered with wounds, some of the fiends even ending up chopped into pieces.
One snake fiend was particularly unfortunate, its body so long that it was struck by several dozen blades. This large snake that could spit out clouds of poison was sliced into countless pieces before it could even do anything.
There were also fiends that could transform into the wind, rain, or clouds to evade this storm.
But a moment later, Tang Jie spat out a mouthful of Extraviolet Flame, which was the bane of such ethereal beings, and they were soon roasted to death. In a flash, Tang Jie had taken the dominant position.
Alas, he had yet to integrate the Nine Heavens Calamity Blade as he had with the Devil Crushing Fist and the Evil Punishing Seal, so it was purely a spell art. Once he modified it to maximize the abilities of his perfect body, it would be even more powerful such that even when he reached Earth Immortal or True Immortal, it still wouldn’t fall behind.
This fight against the fiends was even easier than the last, and as before, he collected the fiend pellets and rested before going to the sixth floor.
There was no Primal Astral Burst Pill on the sixth floor, so Tang Jie asked for some more herbs that could improve cultivation. As for the fiends on this floor, they were still no match for him.
Tang Jie soon reached the seventh, and then the eighth. This was the final trial for the Heart Demon floors. The average Heart Demon cultivator could be proud to get this far and dare to claim that they were unrivaled among their peers. But now, Tang Jie had reached this floor while at Spirit Ring, which left all the bigshots on the thirteenth floor speechless.
However, the eighth floor had five middle-grade Transformation fiends, with two of them being elites, so getting past them wasn’t easy.
“Do you think he will pass?” Yuan Tianzhong softly asked.
“If he’s not hiding any more of his strength, this trial should be where he finally stops,” Chang Xiran said.
It was apparent from the last few battles that Tang Jie had been having a rough time, and unlike the other challengers, he didn’t have any treasures, only fighting with his bare hands.
To get this far like this was a miracle, and Chang Xiran didn’t think he had any hidden trump cards.
The white-bearded Meng Qihong said, “Since he heard you say that you would give out the last two Primal Astral Burst Pulls at the end of the eighth and twelfth trials and gave no objection, he must be very confident, so the eighth floor shouldn’t pose any problem to him.”
The two elders had given two completely different opinions, which drew other objections and agreements. The majority favored Chang Xiran’s view, believing that Tang Jie couldn’t overcome this trial, since he had already been showing difficulty. As for the confidence to pass the last four trials, that could only be understood as the brashness of youth. Wu Xiuqian was even ready to go to his rescue.
Fairy Hong Luan supported Meng Qihong, not because she believed in him or in Tang Jie, but simply because she liked to be on the opposite side to Chang Xiran.
The fact that almost everyone thought that Tang Jie would lose irked her, and she suddenly took out a crimson lotus and said, “Since you say that Tang Jie will lose, why not have a wager?”
Chang Xiran’s eyes widened at the sight of the crimson lotus. “A Flowfire Lotus! Old granny, you’re actually willing to gamble with that? Haha, fine, fine, I’ll take that wager.”
He took out a black metal pellet.
The other cultivators whispered, “The Windchase Sword Pellet! That’s a treasure he’s refined over many years! I can’t believe he’s willing to gamble with it!”
“Nonsense! Nothing else can match the Flowfire Lotus.”
Chang Xiran loudly said, “I will gamble with you using this. I don’t believe that this kid has anything else to show.”
As Chang Xiran spoke, Tang Jie, who had been gradually losing ground against the fiends, suddenly bellowed and unleashed a punch.
The heaven-shaking might of this punch made Chang Xiran shriek:
“A body cultivator! He’s a goddamn body cultivator!!!”