Minglong

Chapter 226 Zhuling Fire Mansion
stomping on...

Beneath the Fire Phoenix Valley, light footsteps echoed through the crevices of the rock strata. Three figures, protected by the Yin-Yang Ruler, moved swiftly through the narrow space, occasionally glancing back.

Xie Jinhuan had already obtained the divine gift from Lingguang, and felt as if a small heater had been added to his body, constantly nourishing his physique. Even the extreme yang energy within Phoenix Tomb felt a bit softer, but he couldn't feel proud at all at this moment.

After all, he had fooled a top-tier immortal. Unless the other party was a clay Bodhisattva, there was a high chance they would come to demand an explanation.

Given Lü Yan's status in Northern Zhou, the three of them were no match for him. Northern Zhou and Great Qian were still rivals. If he were caught up, even if he didn't die, he would have to give up any opportunities he had gained.

Nangong Ye didn't know how a perfectly good opportunity for good fortune had turned into a temple escape, with an old ancestor of the Northern Zhou Dynasty chasing after him. In an instant, the boring treasure hunt became a ghost story. While running, he suggested:
"We should probably quit while we're ahead. Getting even one piece is already incredibly lucky. If we stay in this dangerous place, and Lü Yan comes after us, we might not even be able to keep the Yin-Yang Ruler..."

Although Bu Yuehua desired the opportunity, her life was more important, and she hesitated for a moment:
"The power of heaven and earth here is excessive, and the space is narrow. A master of fire magic can hold off ten thousand men here..."

Xie Jinhuan shook his head: "The location of the opportunity is hard to fathom. No matter how cunning Lü Yan is, he wouldn't expect that after we stirred up trouble and obtained one opportunity, we would dare to go looking for another. He will most likely chase us back to the exit we came from. If we go back, we will definitely be blocked by him. We should go directly to the next opportunity and then find another exit."

After careful consideration, the two agreed that it made sense, and Bu Yuehua asked again:

Are you sure you can find another place?

Xie Jinhuan looked up at the ghost wife who was floating ahead and leading the way.

Ye Hongshang led the three of them in a hasty retreat, keeping an eye on what was happening behind them:

"The next source of fire is estimated to be over a hundred miles away."

Xie Jinhuan turned around upon seeing this: "We can find it. The distance isn't too far. Let's save our energy and try to finish it in one go tonight. Go quickly and come back quickly."

……

Seeing this, Nangong Ye and Bu Yuehua said nothing more, but simply kept their heads down and continued forward, paying close attention to the movements behind them.

Xie Jinhuan followed the ghost wife's guidance and wandered through the intricate maze. Since the fire source was bound to be connected to the outside world and he wouldn't get lost, he arrived at the destination after traveling more than a hundred miles in half an hour.

The second opportunity's location is quite unique. It's inside a cave that's about three zhang in diameter and two zhang high, forming a semi-circle. It's naturally formed yet very regular, with cracks in the ground rocks. The golden-red fireball floats in the center of the cave, which is two zhang high.

There are even ancient inscriptions on the rock face, which probably say something like "I was here". They are probably no less than a thousand years old. They were probably treasure hunters from ancient times who found this special cave and left a mark on it.

Xie Jinhuan found the place, but fearing that an enraged Lü Yan would come after him to settle scores, he had no interest in appreciating the historical sites and asked:
"Who wants to go first? There's another opportunity thirty miles away. If we take it, we can go back."

Although Nangong Ye was eager to get started, he knew that there was no point in stalling at this point. Worried that the demoness would end up with nothing and then betray him, he simply turned his head away.
"Hurry up."

Bu Yuehua originally wanted to whisper, "Sister Nangong, you don't want Qingmo to know either..." but when she found that Nangong Ye was so sensible, she didn't waste any time. She gave a very elegant bow, then walked to the fireball and raised her hands to wrap and refine it with her qi.

The protective range of the Yin-Yang Ruler was compressed by the power of heaven and earth to only about ten feet around its body. Ling Guang Shenci himself was also within the shielding range. Therefore, when refining it, one must control the distance. One should stand at the edge of the protective area, while the fireball remains outside, slowly peeling away the Yang fire.

Nangong Ye had been wielding the Yin-Yang Ruler for a long time, and he was inevitably a little tired. However, he remained highly vigilant, standing at the entrance of the cave, watching for any movement from the cracks outside.

Xie Jinhuan, with two weapons hanging from his waist to protect him, moved closer to the ice block and subtly rubbed the back of his hand against the side of the block's buttocks, because it was not appropriate to talk to the ghost wife.

?

Nangong Ye's gaze sharpened. He first turned to look at the alluring woman with her slender waist, then his icy eyes widened slightly, clearly warning Xie Jinhuan to be mindful of his actions and to leave if he insisted on touching her...

Xie Jinhuan had been traveling for four or five days and was indeed craving Tuotuo, but she didn't overthink it; she simply waited quietly with one hand behind her back...
-
Meanwhile, deep underground directly below.

A colossal pillar, entirely forged from amethyst, stands tall in the boundless darkness, inscribed with eight characters of mantra:

Zhu Ling Fire Palace, burning away the ancestors.

The characters carried a profound weight accumulated over tens of thousands of years, with strands of golden-red light flowing from the earth above into the giant pillar, turning the eight large characters, and even the Vermilion Bird relief on the pillar's surface, into a golden-red color, as if they were living things suspended in the void and darkness.

Within the groove at the very top horizontal stroke of the character '朱', a red-haired figure clad in golden armor sat cross-legged, absorbing the five elements' spiritual energy within the giant pillar. It looked like, well…

Golden termites devouring the main pillar?

While calling her a little ant is a bit of an underestimation of the golden-armored woman, she is not much different from the giant pillar made entirely of purple-gold stone.

The woman in golden armor didn't know where the pillar came from, but just as mortal beings discover unclaimed territory and feel that the land belongs to them, she found this place first, so it naturally became her cultivation cave. Originally, this seclusion was supposed to last for a month, until after the winter solstice when the leakage of the five elements' spiritual energy ceased, at which point she would leave.

However, this seclusion was not as smooth as usual. Just as the golden-armored woman was quietly cultivating, there was a sudden commotion above.

Looking up, one can see that the rock strata at the top of the giant pillar originally had three golden-red lines that spread out in all directions, but one of them suddenly broke off and disappeared.

This was a sign that divine spiritual essence had been taken away by living beings. The woman in golden armor had seen this before, and had only thought that the cultivators had arrived very quickly this time.

However, after more than half an hour, the other spiritual vein also gradually faded away.

?

The Five Elements spiritual energy leaking from the Vermilion Bird Mausoleum appears randomly underground in the Thousand-Mile Fire Phoenix Valley. Being underground and with extremely strong Yang fire, any detection magic tool will fail, and cultivators will find it difficult to use their supernatural powers. They also have to return to the surface from time to time to replenish their Qi Sea. Therefore, it is already a blessing from Heaven that a group of people can succeed in obtaining one place. There has never been a case of successive success.

Judging from the location and time of the disappearance of the spiritual vein, it seems that the fellow cultivators who were digging for treasure there immediately went to the second location after taking the first one, without even going through the normal procedures of surveying, resupplying, or taking a detour.

It feels like holding a map and searching for a lucky break...

Who is this person...?

The woman in golden armor looked puzzled. After a moment's thought, she got up and followed the giant pillar upwards, arriving at the bottom of the rock layer. She entered through a crevice and followed the spiritual vein, eventually arriving at the bottom of a rift valley.

The spiritual energy of the five elements has spread to this point, making it difficult to see with the naked eye, but golden-red flames are shining in the cracks of the rock strata above.

The woman in golden armor looked up from over a hundred feet away. Through the gap, she could vaguely see a serene and dignified face, who was concentrating on refining a great opportunity. A man and a woman were standing nearby.

It's quite a coincidence that she knew all three of them!
The man was a great opportunity she had picked up three years ago after hearing a 'divine oracle,' and he has not yet given back to her. However, judging from the fact that the three of them were able to find their way here 'as if divinely aided,' this boy has obviously found what she has been longing for.

The icy female warrior beside her was a disciple and grand-disciple of an old friend. Let's not dwell on the past grievances, but ever since she encountered that ruthless bandit who was "as short as a scallion," she has never had a peaceful life.

As for the girl who is currently cultivating her destiny, she is the head of a small mountain village in the southern border region.

For more than a decade, she had been cultivating here. When the spiritual energy was weak, she would go out and wander around, sometimes passing by the small mountain village outside Fire Phoenix Valley.

The first time she saw this little girl, she was only a few years old. She was raising gu and practicing poison at home, and was chased around by poisonous snakes. Later, as she grew up, she began to resemble a witch.

But one day when she passed by, she suddenly noticed that the girl was holding a knife and chopping at a wooden stake.

She hadn't paid much attention at first, but when she passed by for the next two years, she noticed that the girl was diligently practicing martial arts and had even made some progress. Out of curiosity, she went down to ask her why.

It turned out that the little witch's father had been murdered, and she had to shoulder the heavy responsibility of the sect. However, the poison witch had little combat power and did not want to cultivate the corpse witch sect to raise puppets, so she prepared to cultivate both witch and martial arts to become an ancestor who could take care of both internal and external affairs.

The combined practice of witchcraft and immortality/Buddhism is recognized as the most powerful in the cultivation path. The two schools complement each other, possessing both extreme output and remarkable physique.

However, very few people practice this way because it is inefficient. The two schools are basically incompatible. You have to go through the whole process of martial arts body tempering and learning techniques, and witch training poison to forge the soul. But the result is that you have no weaknesses when facing opponents of the same level. Even if you are proficient in all five teachings, a first-grade person cannot compete with a super-grade person who specializes in one.

Therefore, cultivators usually specialize in one path to advance their cultivation level. When they can no longer break through, they then explore various schools of thought to broaden their knowledge. A representative figure of this is Shang Lianbi.

Seeing that the girl had some perseverance and ambition, she casually gave her a few pointers and taught her a set of sword techniques. Later, when she passed by, she also secretly provided some assistance—for example, when the Phoenix Feather Grass sprouted, she secretly notified the girl to come and get it, lest someone else get there first; she also caused the ground to collapse, providing guidance to the entrance of Phoenix Tomb...

The reason she doesn't show herself is because she 'martyred' during the witchcraft rebellion, and her strength has not yet recovered. She can only recuperate in secret. If her enemies find out she is still alive, they will inevitably take advantage of her misfortune, or she may be robbed by some ruthless bandit...

……

At this moment, the woman in golden armor was quite pleased to find Xie Jinhuan, who had changed his appearance, leading two girls up there to seek opportunities.

After all, there was a time when she was forced to team up with "Old Demon Gao without Onions" to exorcise demons. The process was the same: when encountering mountains, find a way; when encountering rivers, find a bridge. You didn't even need to use your brain; just blindly follow along.

She had always wanted that ability, but unfortunately, she couldn't obtain it. Now that Xie Jinhuan had this foundation, he would surely be able to make great strides in Northern Zhou and help her solve many problems.

Although she had heard of Xie Jinhuan's deeds, she had never witnessed them firsthand. She wondered how strong his abilities were, and whether he could rival the legendary "No Onion Old Demon" of yesteryear...

Thinking of this, the golden-armored woman searched her surroundings, then turned her gaze to the ground...

(End of this chapter)