Hunyuan Immortal Sect

Chapter 439 Azure Profound Flame
"Fifty years? Who said that?" Lin Xingyu's face instantly darkened.

In reality, he and Ma Ming weren't particularly close; he had simply used his connections to secure Ma Ming a leadership position. Now, after Ma Ming got into trouble, he had someone contact him again, offering all his possessions in the hopes that he could intervene and help him avoid punishment.

Considering that he had personally promoted Ma Ming to his position and had received a considerable amount of spirit stones from him, he approached Yu Lian and obtained his assurance that he would do his best to help Ma Ming.

Unexpectedly, he was still convicted of a serious crime and sentenced to fifty years in prison.

He didn't care whether Ma Ming lived or died, but it made him lose face.

Moreover, Yu Lian did not offer any explanation afterward. Instead, Liu Fang came to tell him the news, which made him feel even more slighted.

"The disciples of the Punishment Hall told me that, supposedly, not only will he be sentenced to fifty years, but he'll also be taken to the Tianshan gambling den, given a hundred lashes first, and then publicly sentenced." Liu Fang covered her mouth and chuckled, "I bet Ma Ming is in prison right now, cursing you out!"

Lin Xingyu's face turned ugly. He snorted coldly, pushed the woman off him, and got up to walk outside.

"Are you angry? Why bother? He brought this on himself, it has nothing to do with you, why are you so concerned about his affairs?" Liu Fang still smiled.

"I have to go out for a bit, you go back first! I'll come find you later." After saying that, Lin Xingyu strode out of the room, rode his flying magic weapon to Lin Zixiang's residence, found Lin Huairou, and recounted what had happened.

"I already know what you've said." Lin Huairou looked at him with doting eyes. "Yu Lian sent someone to tell me."

"He told Mother?" Lin Xingyu asked in astonishment.

“If it weren’t for your mother’s intervention, do you think Yu Lian would have agreed to protect Ma Ming? To tell you the truth, the very night you went to see Yu Lian, he sent someone to tell your mother about this. It was your mother who asked him to help out, and that’s why he agreed. Son! From now on, you should tell your mother everything. Why do you have to do things secretly behind your mother’s back? No matter what it is, your mother will support you.”

Lin Xingyu pursed his lips; he hated being treated like a child.

Lin Huairou affectionately patted his head, but he impatiently brushed it away with his hand: "What did Yu Lian say? Why was Ma Ming sentenced so severely?"

"He spoke up for Ma Ming, but Xiao Ling and Huang Ye both advocated for a heavy sentence, so Jiang Zichen listened to their opinions."

Did Mother mention this to him?

"No, even if I mentioned it, Jiang Zichen wouldn't completely listen to his mother. It's more likely that your father would go to him."

Lin Xingyu grumbled in dissatisfaction, "Why is Jiang Zichen so biased towards Xiao Ling? Who is he on his side anyway?"

Lin Huairou shook her head helplessly: "Yu'er, these things are not as simple as you think. Although Jiang Zichen has a good relationship with us, he is not your father's subordinate. How can he be expected to obey us blindly? He has his own ideas. He is a very shrewd person who never offends anyone easily, but that doesn't mean he can be manipulated at will."

"Although Xiao Ling is an outsider, you know her relationship with Su Zhirou. She is also in charge of the External Affairs Hall now, so she has a certain amount of influence within the sect."

"Huang Ye is someone the sect leader trusts, and he usually discusses secret matters with the sect leader. Both of them demanded severe punishment, so how could Jiang Zichen let him off easily just because of Yu Lian's words?"

"Let alone him, even Yu Lian, although he usually respects your father, is not someone you can summon and dismiss at will. You are still young, so don't meddle in the sect's affairs. Your father is doing this for your own good."

Lin Xingyu frowned: "I'm almost thirty, don't treat me like a child."

"Yes, you're thirty now, it's time to find a woman. How are things going with that Liu Fang?"

Lin Xingyu was startled, then realized that his affair with Liu Fang was already known. He scratched his head awkwardly and asked, "Why did you bring her up?"

"I don't object to you finding a woman, but I don't like this Liu Fang. I've heard she's a flirtatious woman and not a decent person. If you're going to find a wife, you need to find a virtuous one. This kind of person isn't suitable."

"There's nothing between me and her."

"It's alright. You're all grown up now, and I don't want to control everything you do, but marriage is a serious matter that I can't let you do whatever you want. If you want to get married, I need to give you my opinion."

"Mother, I have something to do, I'll be going now."

Lin Xingyu, impatient with the nagging, got up and left.

.........

Dark clouds covered the sun, torrential rain poured down, a fierce wind howled, and the sea surged with towering waves.

In mid-air, a streak of light flashed past, heading towards an island not far away. From high above, it was a small island, no bigger than the palm of a hand, and oval in shape.

This is Xuanguan Island. When Song Xian descended to the island, all he could see was lush greenery, with towering hills and dense forests everywhere.

He flipped his hand and took out a green bead, which was called the Spirit Detection Bead.

The Soul-Severing Crystals contain a rich Yin energy and form in clusters. In other words, the place where they are located must be a mineral field. With so many Soul-Severing Crystals gathered together, it is easy for the detection bead to detect something abnormal.

Song Xian poured his spiritual power into the bead, and the surface of the bead emitted a faint light. He held the bead and slowly swept it across the area. As he reached the center of the island, the detection bead clearly changed. The bead, which originally shone with green light, became increasingly crimson.

Song Xian was overjoyed. This proved that there must be a place with evil spirits here. It seemed that his trip had not been in vain.

He immediately put away the beads, took out a shovel-shaped magic tool, and began to dig at the mountain in front of him.

Whether it is a spirit stone or a soul-severing stone, they are quite fragile. In essence, they are condensations of spiritual energy and yin energy, but they are wrapped in a layer of stone ore. That layer of stone ore is equivalent to a collector or a protective shield.

Let alone cultivators, even ordinary people can break the outer layer of stone ore with a single blow of a hammer, causing the spiritual and yin energies inside to dissipate. As a result, the stone loses its value, so one must be extremely careful when mining it.

If supernatural powers and magic are used to bombard a large area, the Soul-Severing Stones hidden in the mountains or underground will inevitably shatter, so they can only be dug out little by little with tools like shovels.

Song Xian's spiritual power surged into the specially made magic shovel, which shone brightly. With one shovelful, it directly crushed the hard rocks inside the mountain, and the shovel plunged into the interior, bringing out a full handful of soil.

He was working hard when suddenly a noise came from there.

Song Xian initially thought it was just noises from the excavation of the mountain, so he didn't pay much attention. But then the noises continued to ring out, seemingly coming from a distance. Only then did he realize that the noises were coming from other parts of the island.

He then put away his shovel, and as a precaution, took out a concealment talisman and affixed it to his body before heading towards the direction of the commotion.

As he drew closer, the vibrations grew louder, and he could see faint, shimmering lights in the distance. Someone was fighting here; he was startled.

This is a deserted island, so why would anyone be fighting here?

Guided by the light, he quietly approached and saw two figures locked in combat in the distance. It turned out that it was not two cultivators fighting, but a battle between a cultivator and a demon beast.

It was a huge black toad, its body covered with dense black pustules and bumps, which was very unsettling to look at.

His opponent was a man dressed in a blue and green robe. He was clearly at a disadvantage because the black toad had gotten close to him, and the defensive shield he had built around his body had been twisted and deformed by the impact of the black toad's flesh.

The man retreated rapidly, his hands clasped together, and countless golden threads crisscrossed and enveloped the demonic beast. The toad clung to the man like a leech, its head repeatedly slamming against the golden shield around him, producing loud thuds.

The toad's enormous body was bound tightly by countless intertwined golden threads. The toad twisted and turned in an attempt to break free, but to no avail.

Taking advantage of the toad's immobility, the man fled quickly, but the next moment, a large amount of black mist surged from the toad's body, and the golden threads wrapped around it melted away like snow.

A large amount of black mist enveloped the toad's body and quickly caught up with the man. In an instant, the entire world was shrouded in thick black mist, and the man's figure was also submerged in it.

Within the thick black fog, the toad and the man were no longer visible; only the sounds of impact could be heard, and occasionally a ray of light would shoot out from within, only to be quickly swallowed up by the churning black fog.

Song Xian glanced at the man, pondered for a moment, and then decided to make his move. He rose into the air and arrived in front of the black mist. He clasped his hands together and used the Flame Meteor Technique. Flames rose from his palms and transformed into huge fireballs that shot into the black mist.

His intervention was not out of male pity or a sense of compassion for the dying, but out of necessity.

With such a powerful demonic beast on this island, how can he continue to mine Soul-Severing Crystals with peace of mind? He will need to send people to guard the island and mine for a long time. Without eliminating the demonic beast from the island, who would dare to do this job? Therefore, he must kill this demonic beast.

The fireballs charged into the black mist one after another, instantly turning into a sea of ​​fire. As the flames burned fiercely, the black mist was gradually swept away.

With a roar, the black toad conjured up enormous ice pillars that shot towards the ball of fire.

At this moment, the man staggered and fell from mid-air. His entire body was black, clearly caused by the poisonous fog.

It turned out to be a sixth-order demon beast. Previously, Song Xian had only observed it from a distance and his divine sense had not been able to detect the spiritual energy fluctuations around the toad. Now, at a distance of a hundred feet, he was able to sense the demon beast's spiritual energy aura.

Seeing the man plummeting downwards, Song Xian remained expressionless. His intervention was not to rescue the man, but to eliminate the monsters on the island so that he could send people to guard the area and mine Soul-Severing Crystals in the future.

Of course, he also hoped that this person could lend him a hand in dealing with the toad.

However, since the person was already dead, he didn't feel any regret.

The ice pillars and fireballs collided with a loud bang. Song Xian used his Flame Wall to protect himself, and then continuously used Flame Meteor to condense one fireball after another and smash it towards the toad.

Under his keen observation, the toad spirit's power was only 1050 points, and it would consume 130 points of spirit power to cast the ice pillar spell, resulting in a power of only 600 points.

Song Xian currently has 2000 points of spiritual power. He only needs 75 points of spiritual power to unleash a Flame Meteor, which has a power of 1700 points.

Even with opposing attributes, the power of a single Fire Meteor spell is still equivalent to the power of two Ice Pillar spells cast by a toad.

Due to their inherent characteristics and physical structure, demonic beasts, while possessing resilient physical bodies, consume more energy and techniques than cultivators.

Taking a high-level second-grade spell as an example, a cultivator with two spiritual roots needs 75 points of spiritual power to cast it, a cultivator with three spiritual roots needs 100 points, a cultivator with four spiritual roots needs 125 points of spiritual power, and a cultivator with five spiritual roots needs 150 points.

The ice pillar cast by this toad is almost as powerful as a second-tier high-grade spell, but it consumes 130 points of spiritual power, more than a cultivator with four spiritual roots.

With its current spiritual power, the toad can only cast spells a maximum of eight times before its spiritual power runs out.

Based on this calculation, Song Xian only needs to use Flame Meteor four times to exhaust its spiritual power.

Once its spiritual power is exhausted, it can only rely on its physical body to withstand the damage.

Huge fireballs, trailing long tails of flame like shooting stars, rained down on the toad one after another, leaving a trail of flames in their wake.

Under his suppression, the toad could only parry and had no power to fight back, let alone get close to him or engage in hand-to-hand combat.

As the massive fireballs continued to rain down upon it, the toad let out a roar, and billowing blue flames suddenly surged from the black bumps on its body.

Rolling blue flames surged from his body, gathering into a ball above his head, taking the shape of a toad.

Song Xian's eyes narrowed, and he couldn't contain his joy. The Azure Profound Demonic Flame was actually the Azure Profound Demonic Flame, which ranked twenty-fourth on the Strange Flame Ranking.

Unexpectedly, the toad absorbed and melted the strange fire. It was truly a case of finding something without even looking for it.

He had only come here to find the Soul-Severing Crystal, but he never expected to encounter a demonic beast that had absorbed the strange fire. Seeing the Azure Profound Evil Fire condense into a toad several meters in size and come toward him, he quickly withdrew his Flame Meteor Technique to avoid destroying the strange fire itself.

The Azure Profound Flame is a Yin-attribute flame, ranked twenty-fourth. Its power is very weak, with only a mere 1,800 points of attack power, which is about the same as a fire meteor.

Song Xian pulled out a crimson lantern, and his spiritual power surged into it continuously. The golden runes on it began to swim like fish, emitting a dazzling golden light. As more and more spiritual power surged in, the runes spun faster and faster, and the light became brighter and brighter.

The raging flames of the Pure Mystic Flame, enveloped by the light of the crimson lantern, were involuntarily drawn inwards.

The toad finally realized something was wrong. It kept making gurgling sounds, its neck swelled up and its black bumps grew larger and larger. As if summoned by something, the Qingxuan Niehu struggled to escape the restraints of the crimson lantern.

Upon seeing this, Song Xian flipped his hand and took out a puppet. At the same time, a golden light flashed from the spirit beast pouch at his waist, and golden armored ants crawled out from it.

In addition, he flipped over the Blood Soul Banner, and a flash of light appeared on the banner, from which Number One emerged.

The puppet, the spirit beast, and the ghost general all possessed the strength of Foundation Establishment cultivators. Under his command, they split into three groups and headed towards the toad.

(End of this chapter)