Chapter 39

A scorching energy coursed down his throat, extending into his abdomen, making it feel as if he were being tormented in a fiery pit, burning so intensely that his soul trembled! The energy of the Primordial Fire Seed was incredibly violent and proud, and seeing this human dare to try to subdue it, it was unwilling to give up. So it instantly unleashed its violent energy, intending to make this overconfident human suffer the agony of being scorched by toxic fire, burning him to death instantly would be too merciful. It wanted to use a slow fire to roast him, making him feel as if he were in hell, experiencing the cruelest fire torture in the world, and then die in agony!

Song Li could clearly "see" the tissues in his body being consumed by the flames, with burning embers everywhere in his abdomen, the pain driving him nearly mad! He wanted to howl, but his throat was burned, and he could only open his mouth without making a sound! He wanted to roll on the ground, but the intense pain caused his muscles to contract, leaving him unable to move!

At this moment, he cursed the "Emperor Fire Seed" with every vile word he could think of! Damn it, wasn't it said that swallowing this fire seed would be fine? Why did it turn out like this? He felt as if his bone marrow was being boiled dry, and his soul was being refined, the extreme pain driving him mad! All his grand ambitions turned to ashes in this hellish fire, and Song Li's greatest wish now was for a quick death, preferring to die immediately rather than endure this endless torment!

The violent energy emitted by the small flame continued to torment Song Li's body, and this energy soon reached the location of the "Emperor Fire Seed." The purple flame flickered joyfully, like a child who had been hungry for days, devouring the energy in large gulps. This energy was clearly more suitable as fuel for the "Emperor Fire Seed" than the medicinal power of the "Triple Transformation Reversion Pill," so just by consuming a small portion of the energy, the Emperor Fire Seed was activated!

The Primordial Fire Seed seemed to sense a powerful pressure! Its spiritual nature allowed it to discern that this pressure clearly came from a more powerful and terrifying existence, like a creature in nature encountering a predator higher up the food chain, making it instinctively feel fear!

The red flame hastily stopped releasing energy and began to flee in a panic! It wanted to escape from Song Li's body and return to the depths of the earth, where it felt safe.

However, the activated "Emperor Fire Seed" wouldn't let it go so easily. The purple flame flickered violently, releasing a massive amount of energy, which split into two parts. One part was used to repair the damaged tissues in Song Li's body, while the other part was used to deal with the Primordial Fire Seed.

The energy of the "Emperor Fire Seed" was far purer and more powerful than that of the Primordial Fire Seed, so the damaged tissues in Song Li's body were quickly repaired. The pain gradually subsided, and Song Li felt a surge of violent energy within him, causing him to be overjoyed, forgetting all the curses he had just uttered! He knew the opportunity had come, so he sat cross-legged on the ground, activating the "Crimson Emperor Purple Flame Technique" to convert the energy into true qi and store it. He had been at the peak of the Body Tempering stage for a long time, stuck in a bottleneck, unable to break through due to a lack of sufficient energy. The transition from the Body Tempering stage to the Qi Induction stage was like a chasm, requiring an enormous amount of energy, which ordinary pills could no longer sustain. The energy of the Primordial Fire Seed had clearly activated the "Emperor Fire Seed," and Song Li could clearly feel that this time, due to the abundance of "fuel," the energy output of the "Emperor Fire Seed" was more violent than ever before! Today might be the turning point! If he could break through the Body Tempering stage and reach the Qi Induction stage, it would be a pleasant surprise!

The Primordial Fire Seed tried to escape, but the other part of the energy released by the "Emperor Fire Seed" quickly caught up and surrounded it. The "Emperor Fire Seed" was like the owner of a kite, and the energy surrounding the Primordial Fire Seed was like the kite string. It began to reel in the string, dragging the Primordial Fire Seed toward the "Emperor Fire Seed." The Primordial Fire Seed struggled desperately to break free from the energy's grip, but the energy was its nemesis, and no matter how it tried to break free, it was firmly held in the center. As the Primordial Fire Seed got closer to the "Emperor Fire Seed," it finally understood why this person dared to swallow it. It realized that there was a more advanced existence within him. Although it didn't know the origin of the purple flame, it was clearly not something it could resist! Despair spread, and the Primordial Fire Seed struggled and wailed, though it had not yet transformed into a true fire spirit, so the wails were inaudible to others.

Seeing the delicious meal right in front of it, the purple flame flickered joyfully and then swallowed the red flame!

Song Li could now see that after swallowing the Primordial Fire Seed, the purple flame had expanded by a third, and even more violent energy was released, quickly flowing into his meridians! Song Li, of course, wouldn't waste such a good opportunity. He activated the "Crimson Emperor Purple Flame Technique," converting the energy into true qi bit by bit. The true qi in his dantian grew more and more, and he felt his abdomen filled with true qi, but he didn't stop refining the energy. He wanted to fill his dantian to the brim, and then release the true qi suddenly, like a flood breaking through a dam, generating a power many times greater than ordinary true qi, which might help him break through the bottleneck and reach the Qi Induction stage!

The purple flame continued to release more and more energy, and Song Li accelerated his refinement. When he felt the true qi in his dantian swelling to the point where it could burst, he stopped refining and released the true qi to impact the barrier. He felt the true qi in his dantian surge like a mountain flood, powerful and surging, rapidly flowing through his meridians and rushing toward the invisible barrier!

Although the true qi surged like a mountain flood, the invisible barrier was like the most solid dam, standing firm under the violent impact. Song Li had anticipated the stubbornness of the barrier. If the transition from the Body Tempering stage to the Qi Induction stage were so easy, 70% of cultivators wouldn't fail at this stage. So he gritted his teeth, continued to refine the energy released by the "Emperor Fire Seed" into true qi, and then channeled the true qi along a fixed path to join the flow impacting the barrier!

What reassured Song Li was that the energy of the Primordial Fire Seed was so pure and powerful, far surpassing the medicinal power of ordinary pills. The "Emperor Fire Seed" had ample fuel, and the energy it released seemed endless. This way, he didn't have to worry about the true qi running out, and he could focus on refining and continuously channeling the true qi to impact the barrier.

After Song Li swallowed the small flame, the flame floating and burning above the Langya Cave lost its energy source and quickly extinguished. The flowing lava also calmed down and quickly retreated, though some had already flowed out, ravaging the area around the Langya Cave. But just as the lava was about to continue flowing down the mountain, Song Li swallowed the Primordial Fire Seed. Without the support of the primordial energy, the flame extinguished, the temperature dropped, and the lava quickly solidified, with no new lava being produced!

The people fleeing below soon noticed the change, as the continuous burning sensation gradually disappeared, and the temperature returned to normal. The fleeing crowd hesitantly turned back and saw that the flame at the entrance of the Langya Cave had extinguished, and the flowing lava had stopped! Although the mountain top was still steaming, the danger was over!

"Heaven! The fire from the earth's core has actually extinguished!"

"Does that mean we're saved?"

"It looks like it!"

"My goodness, what kind of deity could extinguish the fire from the earth's core?"

"It seems even the deities couldn't bear to see ten thousand lives perish. Fellow villagers, we're saved!"

"Finally, we're saved! The people of Langya Town won't have to die!"

"Heaven bless us, the gods have shown their power!"

"..."

The people who had escaped experienced an instant reversal from hell to heaven, and each was overjoyed! They gathered in groups, discussing the situation, their words filled with the joy of surviving a disaster. If they knew that the savior who saved ten thousand lives and extinguished the fire from the earth's core was not a deity but just a person, they would be amazed beyond measure.

However, since the danger had just been averted, people didn't dare to approach immediately. They needed to wait a while to ensure that the fire from the earth's core wouldn't erupt again before they dared to return.

"Huh? Why did the fire from the earth's core extinguish?" Song Qingshan, riding a horse, put down his telescope and frowned. He and Song Mo Fei had retreated thirty miles away, but the telescope in his hand was the best made by the most skilled craftsmen in the capital, allowing him to see clearly at this distance. Now that the flame had extinguished, he naturally saw it.

"What's going on? Didn't the princess say that the fire from the earth's core would erupt and completely destroy the area within twenty miles of Langya Mountain?" Song Mo Fei scratched his head in confusion. "Is the fire from the earth's core just a show, looking good but not useful?"

"The records in the books should be correct. It seems something unexpected happened," Song Qingshan said, his gaze fixed on the entrance of the Langya Cave. "But that's not important. What's important is that I saw Song Li enter the Langya Cave, and then the fire from the earth's core erupted. Even if it only burned for a while, do you think that waste of a person, Song Li, could survive?"

"You're right," Song Mo Fei slapped his thigh and said joyfully, "Whether the fire from the earth's core will completely destroy Langya Mountain is none of our business. Our goal was just to burn Song Li to death, and now we've achieved it, right?"

"Let's wait a bit longer. If the fire from the earth's core doesn't erupt again, we'll go and check it out," Song Qingshan said calmly.

"That's great! Don't people often say, 'I'll recognize you even if you turn to ashes'? Third Brother, guess if you'll still recognize Song Li's ashes? Hahaha." Song Mo Fei laughed wildly.