Records of Mysterious Things in the Southern Dynasties

Chapter 460 Divine Fire
On the boat a thousand miles away, Ren Yuan felt extremely sad and had that feeling of being scammed by a gang again.

“It doesn’t matter if you haven’t seen it, we have. We can vouch for you that Master truly exists!” His two senior brothers quickly reassured him.

"Yes, yes, Master is definitely not a fictional character, and he's still alive..."

"Then who exactly is my master?" Ren Yuan asked angrily.

"When the time is right, Master will tell you personally..." At the crucial moment, the two of them became mysterious again.

Ren Yuan rolled his eyes, having already guessed they would say that. He replied irritably, "I know who Master is!"

"Who?!" the two asked curiously.

"Old riddle teller!" Ren Yuan said, looking determined to give up.
"Anyway, I'm not taking this position as sect leader! If the sky falls, someone else has to hold it up. My two senior brothers are both demigods, there's no reason for someone like me, a mere nine-aperture cultivator, to become the sect leader."

"Hehe..." To his surprise, the two were not afraid of his threats at all, and still laughed calmly: "What's so special about being a demigod? If you want to be one, you can be one right now!"

"Really?" Ren Yuan's eyes lit up, and his attitude immediately changed.

"Hahaha." Chen Qingzhi couldn't help but laugh. He knew this kid was like this: anyone who could help him advance was his ancestor; anyone who couldn't, he didn't care...

"When have I ever lied to you?" Zu Chongzhi was, after all, a mathematician, and was more straightforward than Chen Qingzhi.

"Hasn't my senior brother lied to me enough? He's been hiding everything from me from the very beginning," Headmaster Ren said, arms crossed.

“That doesn’t count.” Zu Chongzhi didn’t waste any more words with him, and with a flick of his hand, he revealed a ball of leaping golden flame. The golden flame radiated a light that was too dazzling to look directly at. It was surrounded by a purplish-red mist, looking noble and full of divine power.

"This is... divine fire?" Ren Yuan, though he had never eaten pork, had at least seen pigs run, and his eyes widened in astonishment.

“That’s right, and it’s the kind you can use.” Zu Chongzhi nodded with a smile.

"Don't worry, senior brother. It's our duty to rebuild the sect's glory. I'm determined to be the sect leader!" Ren Yuan patted his chest and said without hesitation.

"You're not forcing me anymore?" Zu Chongzhi teased.

"Not at all, not at all. This is the innate sect leader's holy body!" Ren Yuan shook his head vigorously.

Chen Qingzhi watched the two amusingly from the side with a smile, but his feelings were somewhat complicated, because this ball of divine fire was something he had personally taken from the Imperial Seal of the State, and it had been refined by Zu Chongzhi before it could be used by Ren Yuan.

In fact, this divine fire was the accumulated national fortune of the Liang Dynasty, accumulated by Emperor Xiao Yan over twenty years. Due to the curse of the Ancestral Dragon, the Emperor was unable to use it and thus stored it within the Imperial Seal…

This was the first time Chen Qingzhi had ever done something to offend the emperor, and he naturally felt extremely guilty. But his master told him that the emperor was destined not to need this divine fire, and whether he took it or not would not have any impact on the emperor.

Trusting his master, he complied. Unexpectedly, the emperor later decided to abdicate and become a god… Upon hearing this, Chen Qingzhi panicked. He knew that the emperor's first act upon abdicating would be to draw upon the divine fire within the imperial seal!

Not only would that expose my own deception, but it would also ruin the Emperor's important plans!
He quickly asked his master for advice, asking what to do. His master told him to remain calm and observe the situation.

As a result, the crown prince committed suicide during the abdication ceremony, and the emperor's plan completely failed. The divine fire was truly wasted! Clearly, the master had foreseen the crown prince's suicide and the failure of the abdication ceremony, but did not try to stop it. Instead, he watched the tragedy unfold, using the outcome to his advantage and plan his next move.

It's clear that the master has transformed into a cold, calculating machine. Is it only through absolutely rational planning and execution that their enemies can be defeated?

Thinking of this, Chen Qingzhi smiled self-deprecatingly. He, a general who risked the lives of thousands of soldiers on the battlefield, was indeed of the same ilk as his master.

Add to that the patriarch, a mathematician who only believes in calculations, and Junior Sister Ayao is practically inhuman. Their sect is truly devoid of humanity.

No wonder Master wanted his junior brother to be the sect leader; he's already the most humane person in the entire Shangqing Sect.

~~
"Don't blame your senior brother for not warning you, this divine fire will burn your mortal body to ashes—you might be reborn from the ashes, or you might be burned to death." Zu Chongzhi finally reminded Ren Yuan:

"And once you take this step, whether you succeed or not, you will no longer be a human being."

"Yes, I'm going to become a god." Ren Yuan was so excited that he had no time to appreciate the deeper meaning behind his senior brother's words.

“That’s not what I meant…” Zu Chongzhi sighed and said, “Never mind, you’ll understand eventually.”

"Alright, senior brother, come on over!" Ren Yuan knew the importance of taking things easy and securing the gains, so he didn't want to delay for even a moment.

"You said it yourself!" Zu Chongzhi didn't waste any more time. After saying that, he slapped the ball of purple-gold divine fire onto Ren Yuan's head!

A pillar of purple-gold flames rose a hundred feet high, instantly enveloping Ren Yuan. The dazzling light illuminated the Yunmeng Marsh, making it shimmer with golden light.

Ren Yuan felt as if he had been thrown into a red-hot furnace, his screams echoing through the heavens...

The blazing divine fire surged wildly into his body from his limbs and bones, like thousands of fire pythons rampaging through his meridians. The pain caused him to arch his back, the veins on his neck throbbing and bulging, his whole body twisted and deformed in the flames, as if he would be reduced to ashes by this intense power at any moment.

His spirit was like a red-hot iron block, being repeatedly hammered. Amidst the excruciating pain, mysterious star patterns bloomed layer by layer deep within his soul, each pattern's appearance accompanied by agonizing, bone-crushing agony!

His nine orifices were also scorched by the divine fire, and endless pain surged in waves, completely engulfing him...

Ren Yuan, however, with unimaginable resilience, stubbornly fought against this overwhelming pain. He persisted in maintaining his clarity of mind—from the very first day of his cultivation with his senior sister, he knew that a cultivator must always keep that inner light burning brightly!
Ren Yuan held fast to this single thought, from morning till night, and from dusk till dawn, for an unknown amount of time...

To the two senior disciples protecting him, Ren Yuan had been burned to a crisp... His eyeballs had long since vaporized, and only two holes remained in his nose and ears. His lips had also been burned away, revealing two rows of snow-white teeth, and his head was now just a skull.

Fortunately, they were both experienced, otherwise they would have thought Ren Yuan was already dead.

But they could see that Ren Yuan's inner fire had not yet been extinguished. As long as the light in his heart remained, he would surely be reborn!

After an unknown amount of time, the divine fire that had enveloped Ren Yuan gradually disappeared... or rather, it transferred into Ren Yuan's body. His already charred body finally slowly peeled away its blackened outer shell, revealing a new skin as white as jade.

Like a withered tree coming back to life in spring, it is reborn!
(End of this chapter)