Chapter Seventeen: "The Crimson Flame Nine-Infant" (Part One)

By circulating the Ninefold Heart Method, Liu Junhuai’s injuries healed swiftly over two days, aided by the Spirit-Gathering Array. Relishing the exhilarating sensation of rapidly absorbing spiritual energy, his meridians were nourished and quickly grew stronger and wider. Torrents of true essence power surged in cycles within him, flowing unimpeded along his meridian channels.

The liquid within his dantian became even denser, and the ever-purer true essence filled even the gaps between his bones with a sense of comfort. The Lightness Technique he had obtained in the mountain pool was a profound-grade art, nearly forgotten in his storage ring. Now, taking it out and practicing its basics, he found that, though not as uncanny as the Phantom Blade Step, it was indeed swift and nimble—a single-purpose technique, but much more convenient in use.

With everything prepared, Liu Junhuai left the Myriad Phenomena Pavilion, quietly appearing inside the cavern. The sound of water dripping in the passage remained unchanged; after only a few steps, he felt the warmth emanating from the magma pool.

Drawing ever closer, he proceeded with the utmost caution. At last, he could see the churning magma within the pool. Suspended above the lava was that faint green glow, still present, shimmering amid thick steam and the blaze of boiling magma.

After observing for a while, Liu Junhuai set up a Spirit-Gathering Array about a dozen yards from the pool, took out a formation plate, arranged a Confinement Array, and scattered dozens of extreme cold crystals within it.

Moving stealthily toward the magma, Liu Junhuai tensed every muscle, his mind highly focused, his divine sense scanning intently for the Scarletfire Nine-Infant.

Beneath the Scorching Lotus, in the depths of the magma, half a yard of a beast’s spine undulated with the movement of the molten rock. The creature’s skin resembled parched, cracked earth, and from between the fissures, wisps of heat rose intermittently.

Ignoring the seemingly slumbering beast for now, Liu Junhuai’s greedy eyes fixed upon the Scorching Lotus lying on the edge of a stalactite above.

Before he could examine it closely, the surface of the pool broke with a splash—a serpentine head, as thick as a python’s, twisted toward Liu Junhuai, two green, bean-sized eyes flashing with vigilance.

Moments later, another snake head burst from the lava, glaring at him, followed by head after head emerging successively.

The Scarletfire Nine-Infant had appeared, and Liu Junhuai’s hair bristled in terror, cold sweat soaking his back as he instinctively retreated. One of the beast’s heads let out a wail like a crying infant, the shrill, piercing sound stabbing directly into Liu Junhuai’s sea of consciousness.

Terrified, Liu Junhuai turned and fled, his divine sense locked on the Scarletfire Nine-Infant. All nine heads, dragging a massive body over a dozen yards long, erupted from the pool with a tremendous splash, lunging at him and simultaneously spewing nine streams of scalding magma.

Liu Junhuai unleashed the Flickering Shadow to its utmost, racing toward the array, not daring to care as magma broke through his protective true essence and scorched his back.

Suspended in midair, the Scarletfire Nine-Infant’s colossal body dripped with magma. Its wings, delicate as cicada’s wings, fluttered. Eighteen eyes on nine heads stared with disdain at Liu Junhuai’s desperate flight, regarding him as little more than an ant.

His feet did not stop, but in his heart, Liu Junhuai cursed the cunning beast—it seemed to sense danger and refused to chase further, leaving him deeply frustrated.

Stopping several dozen yards from the formation, Liu Junhuai was utterly helpless. Not only did the Scarletfire Nine-Infant refuse to step into the trap, but its strength was overwhelming—a single attack had nearly cost him his life. They weren’t even in the same league; how could he lure it in now?

He strongly suspected the Scarletfire Nine-Infant had awakened intelligence—its mocking gaze suggested as much. After one strike, it hovered nonchalantly in midair, swatting him away like a fly.

Clearly, the strategy must change; a frontal assault would be as reckless as grasping burning coals, nothing less than suicide.

The Scarletfire Nine-Infant had already slipped back into the magma. Liu Junhuai sat cross-legged on the spot, racking his brain for a countermeasure.

If a direct attack wouldn’t work, then he would have to strike by stealth. His divine sense could conceal his presence; if he could get close and hit it with the First Fragmented Blade, perhaps he could enrage it enough to give chase.

The key was the exhaustion of true essence after releasing the Fragmented Blade—he would still need strength to escape.

One hour passed.

Then another...

In the end, Liu Junhuai decided to first practice the First Fragmented Blade outside the cave—better to sharpen the blade at the last moment than go in unprepared.

Outside the cavern, he considered that he now had two dantians, but the golden orb in his sea of consciousness could not compare in capacity to a dantian, and the two could not merge. He turned his thoughts to the golden orb.

For this ambush on the Scarletfire Nine-Infant, he did not seek to wound it, only to make enough commotion to enrage the beast and then escape.

He first used his divine sense to envelop half his dantian’s true essence and unleashed the First Fragmented Blade. A crack appeared in a nearby rock, chipping away bits of stone—but this power would barely tickle the beast’s thick hide.

Seated, he replenished his true essence, then again enveloped his dantian’s power with his divine sense and struck. The rock shattered—a satisfactory result—but dizziness still followed. Worse, switching to the golden orb’s true essence took at least two breaths, more than enough time for the beast to kill him many times over. Another failure.

Undeterred, Liu Junhuai tried drawing a thread of divine sense to wrap around one of the golden threads entwined about the orb, carefully refining and merging it. The golden thread had already been refined by him. As his divine sense approached, the thread slipped in, only to be expelled once inside.

The golden thread seemed to resonate with his will, splitting into over a dozen finer strands, which again attempted to enter his divine sense.

Within his sea of consciousness, true essence flowed like blood, slowly engulfing a single golden thread, which then transformed into faint golden vapor and merged into the true essence, circulating with it. One by one, the threads were engulfed and fused; within half a stick of incense, the entire golden thread had merged thoroughly.

After two hours, more golden threads fused into his divine sense. That wisp of awareness, now a blend of gray and gold, slipped into the dantian and fused with the true essence there.

With the fusion complete, Liu Junhuai activated his technique, continuing to merge more of this special hybrid true essence.

After several circulations, he guided this transformed true essence outward with the First Fragmented Blade. With a resounding bang, the target rock exploded to dust—no dizziness this time. The true essence, laced with golden divine sense, was indeed formidable, consuming at most only a fifth of his dantian’s reserves.

His divine sense in the sea of consciousness had been greatly depleted. Liu Junhuai quickly drew out two pieces of gold essence stone and absorbed them, restoring his awareness to robust strength.

He entered the cavern once more, resetting the formation plate and carefully searching for a route to approach.

The magma pool was fan-shaped, and Liu Junhuai positioned himself at its narrow tip. On either side of the pool, the ground was covered with a layer of magma ash thicker than a man. His plan was to burrow into the ash, then bide his time for an opportunity to approach the Scarletfire Nine-Infant.