Under One Person: Dressed as Lü Liang, with vests all over

Two days later.

In Chengdu, at the martial arts training ground of the Huode Sect.

Zhuge Qing had his hands casually in his pockets, a hint of a smile in his narrowed eyes, as he leisurely looked at the person opposite him.

Standing opposite him was Hong Bin, nicknamed "Little Fire God".

Little Fire God Hong Bin is getting into a fighting stance, his face full of eagerness:
"Zhuge Qing, we didn't get enough of a match last time! Come on! Let's have another round!"

"Sure," Zhuge Qing said, hands in his pockets, eyes slightly narrowed. "But don't forget the bet you promised me."

“Unforgettable!” Hong Bin said casually. “Hey! Come on! Stop dawdling, let’s have some fun first.”

At this moment, jeers and jeers also rose from the crowd watching around the training ground.

"Yeah, Zhuge Qing, don't be a coward. You dare to storm my Huode Sect all by yourself, so you can't be too scared to even fight, can you?"

"Attack quickly! Attack quickly! I want to see what kind of fire magic can suppress our Fire Virtue Sect's techniques. Maybe that kid Hong Bin isn't skilled enough..."

"You fart!"

Hearing his fellow disciples' discussion, Hong Bin angrily threw a fireball in that direction while cursing loudly.

"Li Er, you've already forgotten about the time I burned your head the day before yesterday? Be careful, or I'll burn your head again!"

After shouting for a while, the surroundings finally quieted down a bit.

Hong Bin turned his gaze back to Zhuge Qing, raised his chin, and said:
"Hey, don't hold back, you bastard."

"My strength is different from last time. I obtained the Destiny Talisman and underwent the baptism of the Holy Fire. Now I am an evolved version of the Little Fire God!"

Upon hearing Hong Bin's childish remarks, Zhuge Qing narrowed his eyes and a smile appeared on his lips.

"A baptism by the sacred flame?"

This made him more interested in the competition.

The next instant, Zhuge Qing gracefully extended her hand to Hong Bin, making an inviting gesture:

"please!"

"Hmph! I'm sure I'll beat you this time!"

Hong Bin didn't hold back and launched an attack forward.

"Fire bomb!"

Before he finished speaking, dozens of fiery red missiles carrying intense heat shot straight toward Zhuge Qing.

"boom!"

The fireball struck the earthen wall that had suddenly appeared in front of Zhuge Qing, creating a huge explosion that sent dust flying and shrouded the training ground in a gray haze.

The immense impact forced Zhuge Qing to take a step back.

Upon seeing this, Hong Bin immediately grinned and said:
"Zhuge Qing, if you're still at the same level as during the Luo Tian Grand Ceremony, you're doomed to lose today!"

Upon hearing this, a smile flashed in Zhuge Qing's eyes, accompanied by a hint of approval.

It must be said that Hong Bin's progress can be described as rapid.

It has only been a little over two months since the Luo Tian Grand Ceremony, and the power of these fireballs is more than twice as strong as they were back then.

It seems that the baptism of the sacred fire was very effective.

The advantage of the first move made Hong Bin even more excited.

He raised his hands, his Qi surging forth, and launched a fierce attack forward!
"Take this fireball! I'll blast you clods of dirt to smithereens!"

While attacking, Hong Bin moved quickly around the field, occasionally jumping up and down like a monkey.

Seeing this somewhat amusing scene, Zhuge Qing raised an eyebrow and asked with interest:
"Little Vulcan, are you trying to avoid the influence of the Qimen Formation by jumping around like that?"

"Of course! I, Little Vulcan, will not fall in the same place twice!"

Hong Bin's attacks became increasingly fierce, but Zhuge Qing did not use water-based magic to suppress him as he had expected.

Moreover, he did not experience the unpleasant feeling of "having strength but not being able to use it" when mobilizing Qi.

Hong Bin was both excited that his tactics were effective and somewhat puzzled.

He shouted at Zhuge Qing:

"Zhuge Qing, you don't still want to fight me with fire, do you?"

"Your so-called Qimen Dunjia directional influence is no longer effective against me. Now, if you try to fight me with fire, you're just asking for death!"

"Oh, really?"

Zhuge Qing responded.

His demeanor remained elegant, his eyes narrowed with a smile, his gaze fixed on the fiery phoenix poised to take flight in Hong Bin's right hand.

"Golden Bird Blazing?"

"Hmph! I know you'd better admit defeat quickly. I can't control the power of this move, so don't blame me if you get hurt!"

"Do not blame you."

Zhuge Qing chuckled and said slowly, "Today, let me test the strongest attack technique of the Fire Virtue Sect."

Before he finished speaking, a cluster of eerie blue flames appeared in his palm.

"Zhuge Qing, do you look down on me?"

Seeing the tiny flame, no bigger than an egg, in Zhuge Qing's palm, Hong Bin was so angry he almost jumped up.

He angrily unleashed the phoenix flames in his hand, roaring, "Zhuge Qing, if you want to lose, I'll grant your wish—"

The next moment, Hong Bin's voice stopped abruptly, the rest of his words stuck in his throat, his eyes wide like copper bells.

The entire training ground fell into shock and silence, with gasps rising and falling in waves.

Because they saw that the fiercely attacking fire phoenix disappeared inch by inch when it came into contact with the cluster of dark blue flames in Zhuge Qing's palm.

It was as if it had been burned.

Even the Fire Virtue Sect members, who were extremely familiar with fire, sensed a chilling aura emanating from that cluster of dark blue flames—a suppression of their fire-based techniques.

Just as everyone was stunned, the fire phoenix had burned out completely. Zhuge Qing smiled and withdrew his hand, then said to Hong Bin:

"Little Vulcan, a bet's a bet! Let's go, let's talk privately."

Hong Bin was stunned for a moment, then immediately pulled Zhuge Qing towards the sect's exit, while waving away the onlookers.

"Let's go! Have you had enough of the excitement? Don't stop me from asking Brother Zhuge for advice."

The crowd around the training ground dispersed, but the discussion about the "ghostly blue flames" did not stop.

...Outside the Huode Sect, Zhuge Qing responded with a smile to the prying eyes at the door.

Hong Bin, however, had already turned his gaze away and was now looking expectantly at Zhuge Qing:
"Zhuge Qing, what exactly was that blue flame you just used? It actually suppressed my fire. Why didn't I see you use it during the Luo Tian Grand Ceremony last time?"

Zhuge Qing smiled and said, "What? You're allowed to improve, but I'm not?"

Upon hearing this, Hong Bin gave Zhuge Qing a resentful look and muttered, "Your improvement is too great."

"Hmph! If our Fire Virtue Sect's sacred artifact, the Crimson Sun Furnace, hadn't been accidentally lost, my fire control technique would definitely have reached another level."

At this point, Hong Bin quickly covered his mouth with both hands, his eyes darting around awkwardly, and he denied it somewhat guiltily, saying, "I didn't say anything just now."

Zhuge Qing gave a cryptic smile, but instead of immediately pressing for an answer, he changed the subject:
"Little Fire God, I've heard that your Fire Virtue Sect has a secret technique called 'Fire Escape Technique.' Do you know it?"

"Of course!"

Hong Bin patted his chest proudly, a look of pride in his eyes.

But this pride did not last long and soon turned into vigilance.

He stared wide-eyed at Zhuge Qing and asked in a low voice:

"Your Zhuge family wouldn't also know this kind of technique, would you?"

"No." Zhuge Qing smiled and shook his head.

Hearing this answer, Hong Bin breathed a sigh of relief, and a smile returned to his face.

"Hehe, that's good, hehe."

He proudly puffed out his chest. "How about it? Want to see my Fire Release technique? As long as there's a source of fire, I can travel super long distances."

"Okay." Zhuge Qing continued to smile, his eyes narrowed.

“Okay, pick a place. Where do you want to go using Fire Release jutsu?” Hong Bin asked eagerly.

“Qinling Mountains,” Zhuge Qing replied.

"Qinling Mountains?" Hong Bin looked surprised. "So far?"

"What, you can't do it?"

"Pshaw, what's so difficult about that? Of course I can do it!"

Hong Bin thumped his chest loudly to demonstrate and prove his confidence.

However, he quickly realized what was happening.

What are you going to do in the Qinling Mountains?

"Find something, something that might be very important to you."

Zhuge Qing looked at Hong Bin: "Your sacred artifact, the Crimson Sun Furnace, was lost during the Jia Shen Rebellion, wasn't it?"

"how do you know?!"

Hong Bin's mouth dropped open in surprise, but seeing Zhuge Qing's half-smiling, narrowed eyes, he quickly realized what was going on:

"Zhuge Qing, you're going to find the Crimson Sun Furnace? Do you have a way?"

Zhuge Qing nodded slightly and took out a piece of tortoise shell from the food pouch he carried with him.

The tortoise shell was densely engraved with many patterns, exuding a mysterious aura, but before Hong Bin could see it clearly, Zhuge Qing put it away again.

"This tortoise shell is the sacred artifact 'Eight Trigrams Formation' passed down from my Zhuge family ancestors."

"With the Eight Trigrams Formation, one can glimpse the secrets of heaven, determine directions, and find talented individuals... Finding a sacred artifact is naturally a piece of cake."

Zhuge Qing spoke the lines he had discussed with Lü Liang with a natural expression, while observing Hong Bin's expression.

"Little Vulcan, you lost the contest and you owe me a request. My request is that you come with me to the Qinling Mountains to search for the sacred artifact... Will you go or not?"

"Go! Of course I'll go!" Hong Bin said excitedly. "Hehe, that's a sacred object! I've never seen what our Huode Sect's sacred object looks like before."

Upon hearing the words "sacred object," a fleeting memory flashed quickly in Zhuge Qing's narrowed eyes.

Two days ago, Lü Liang barged into Zhuge Village and talked with the old man in his study for two hours.

After coming out, the old man took out the Eight Trigrams Formation and handed it to him, and tacitly allowed him and Lü Liang to recreate the ritual together.

Although the old man remained silent about the reason for doing so, Zhuge Qing had a gut feeling that this matter must be related to the prophecy left by their ancestor, Marquis Wu.

……

"Hey, Zhuge Qing, are you still going or not?"

Hong Bin's voice interrupted Zhuge Qing's thoughts.

"go."

"Alright, then grab my wrist and I'll show you the unique secret techniques of our Fire Virtue Sect."

……

Half a day later.

Outside the Qinling Mountains.

Hong Bin looked around, a look of joy in his eyes.

Immediately afterwards, he raised his hand and scratched his head, looking slightly embarrassed as he said to Zhuge Qing:
"Hehe, we didn't get lost this time... We've finally reached the Qinling Mountains..."

Zhuge Qing smiled and shook his head.

He glanced at the campfire that Wang Ye had prepared in advance on the outskirts of Qinling, but did not immediately step into Qinling. Instead, he took out a sound transmission ring from his pouch and channeled Qi into it.

"Old Lu, I've finished what I needed to do here, and I'm already outside the Qinling Mountains."

"Okay." Lü Liang's voice rang out from the other end of the communication ring, "I'm not in the Qinling Mountains right now, you go in first and meet up with Lao Wang and the others."

"Hmm," Zhuge Qing responded, then asked, "Old Lü, where are you now?"

"Western Hunan," Lü Liang replied succinctly.

With Hong Bin present, Zhuge Qing didn't press for details, but only asked:
"Is everything going smoothly?"

"Yes, it should be done soon."

Lü Liang responded and quickly hung up the call, turning his gaze to the center of the room.

There, a huge bathtub was placed.

The bathtub was filled with a dark green medicinal liquid that emitted a peculiar smell. Liu Yanyan sat inside with her eyes closed, her whole body soaked.

At this moment, her brows were furrowed, sweat was beading on her forehead, and her lips were bleeding from being bitten in pain.

(End of this chapter)