Chapter Seventy-Six: Radiant Aurora Flame

Having arranged everything perfectly, the Palace of Rejecting Dust saw to it that Fang Keyin and his wife finally took up formal residence in the Chaos Space. After emerging from the Mountain and River Gourd, it took them another two days to return to Cloud Valley.

Once they had purchased all the necessary supplies at the trading market, Liu Junhuai and Mo Sitong bid farewell to everyone and sought out a secluded spot, arriving at the Hall of Myriad Phenomena.

It had been days since they had seen the old steward, but he had already made all the preparations for seclusion. Upon Liu Junhuai’s return, he discussed in detail the specific plan for their closed-door cultivation.

Mo Sitong’s focus was in the alchemy chamber. Liu Junhuai left her the Hongyuan Chaos Furnace, set up a time array, and had the old steward stand by to offer careful guidance.

Liu Junhuai’s primary training site was to be the Crimson Flame Valley, where his spiritual awareness, true essence, and body-forging techniques could all be cultivated in tandem, ensuring balanced advancement in every aspect.

In a flash, he arrived at Crimson Flame Valley. The space was still saturated with searing heat waves, and in no time, his clothes were drenched in sweat.

He now descended far deeper than the cavern’s previous position; his increased strength was one reason, but his mastery of the Cutting Technique had also played a crucial role.

At present, Liu Junhuai was experiencing his most arduous moment. Within the range of the valley’s restrictions, his spiritual awareness had reached seventy zhang, yet he still could not see the bottom.

The resistance grew to its utmost; every inch of descent required the Cutting Technique to painstakingly carve countless fissures, while the mere act of sustaining his body with true essence nearly drained him dry.

Yet Liu Junhuai persisted, for only by exhausting himself completely and then replenishing would true improvement be possible.

It was only when his sea of consciousness throbbed with pain from depletion that he ended this first tempering.

Weary, he returned to the cave. Without pausing to catch his breath, he sat cross-legged within the supportive arrays and began circulating his cultivation technique.

Immediately, a faint white mist enveloped him. Spiritual energy coursed through his meridians, entered his dantian to be purified and refined, gradually moving toward liquefaction.

At the same time, the golden sphere in his Niwan Palace was drawn by the metallic essence within the spiritual energy, spinning wildly. Visible threads of gold began to materialize, condensing and refining; now, the concentration of metallic energy no longer needed to be extracted thread by thread as before.

The “Golden Chalice” sensed the replenishment of golden radiance and began to generate cyclones within its belly. As the cyclone accelerated, golden light from his sea of consciousness was drawn into the chalice, merging with the golden orb’s glow. As the golden hue of true essence within the chalice deepened, the true essence itself became increasingly refined and robust.

Spiritual energy in the dantian condensed drop by drop, and the accumulated droplets continued to merge into a lake of true essence, whose surface rose steadily.

After thirty hours within the time array, the lake of true essence had reached its capacity, pressing relentlessly against the barrier of his current realm, which was thinning by degrees.

The transformation within his sea of consciousness completed, and for a moment, the cave was ablaze with golden light. As the brilliance faded, Liu Junhuai rose and once again stepped onto the stairs, beginning another round of tempering.

Thus the cycle repeated. After two months in Crimson Flame Valley, Liu Junhuai finally caught a glimpse of the valley floor at the very limits of his spiritual awareness.

Overjoyed, he found renewed vigor after the monotony of two months of arduous cultivation.

During this time, Liu Junhuai’s spiritual awareness had extended to a hundred zhang even under the valley’s restrictions, each strand of it ever more condensed and solid, its offensive power greatly increased.

The golden energy and golden spiritual awareness in his sea of consciousness became ever more resilient through repeated depletion and refinement, their force more than doubled.

The lake of true essence in his dantian had also grown, and the barrier at its edge continued to thin, albeit slowly.

In truth, Liu Junhuai could have broken through this barrier immediately by consuming a pill or a Fire Lotus petal, thus forming his golden core and advancing to the next stage. Yet he chose to rely on the bitter cultivation of this seclusion, preferring to ascend through his own efforts to avoid an unstable foundation from advancing too rapidly.

Now, with the valley floor in sight, Liu Junhuai was certain that new opportunities awaited him at the end of this grueling journey.

He employed the Cutting Technique continuously, hastening his descent until his spiritual awareness and true essence were once again depleted. He returned to the cave to replenish himself.

Three days later, Liu Junhuai’s feet finally touched the valley floor. The restrictions within the valley vanished instantly, and he felt an immense lightness. Only the aerial restrictions remained—he could not yet fly by sword.

The entire valley bottom was shrouded in flames, the air so hot it distorted the void. This was precisely the environment beloved by the blazing Scarlet Nine-Infant. Could it absorb these flames to strengthen itself? This place seemed perfectly suited for it.

With this thought, Liu Junhuai swiftly summoned Ajiu. The moment it set foot in this giant furnace of a valley, Ajiu let out an excited roar and leapt into the heart of the flames. Its nine magma-dripping mouths devoured the fire greedily, while waves of heat poured from the cracks in its magma-like flesh.

Ignoring Ajiu’s frenzied feasting, Liu Junhuai shielded himself with true essence and began to search deeper into the valley.

Whether the rocks beneath his feet or the sky overhead, everything was suffused in a red haze. Even protected by true essence, the searing heat was palpable.

With the restrictions lifted, his spiritual awareness could now reach hundreds of miles, making his search much easier.

The deeper he went, the hotter it became. After advancing a hundred zhang, his protective true essence was nearly overwhelmed, creaking ominously under the strain. Hastily, he swallowed a drop of spiritual liquid, and only under its wild infusion did his shield stabilize.

Suddenly, his spiritual awareness detected, ten miles ahead, a red-blue cliff wall that stood out sharply against the surrounding crimson haze, as though at odds with its environment.

Now with a clear goal, Liu Junhuai quickened his pace. Half an hour later, he stood beneath the red-blue cliff.

Two zhang above the ground, a fissure in the rock was partially veiled by withered branches and leaves, and from within the crack, a faint red glow shone.

Delighted, Liu Junhuai leapt to the crevice, carefully brushed aside the branches, and found a two-zhang-wide depression within, the flickering red light emanating from beneath a large stone.

He stepped forward and bent low to examine it. With a surge of strength, he lifted the stone, revealing a cluster of pink flames about three feet across.

At the cluster’s core, a crimson flame sent out rays of red light.

“The Solar Aurora Flame!” Liu Junhuai exclaimed in astonishment. This was a celestial fire that absorbed the power of light and heat, and at its highest level, its flames rivaled the sun itself. It was ranked among the Four Great Celestial Fires alongside the Earthcore Smelting Flame, the Demonic Blaze, and the Scorching Golden Nine-String Flame.

The Solar Aurora Flame was of the same divine grade as Liu Junhuai’s Heavenly Lotus Heart Fire. That the latter was not listed among the Four Great Celestial Fires was only because it existed within the Chaos Space, and the chaos qi had long since vanished, replaced by primordial qi; the Four Great Celestial Fires arose after the advent of primordial qi.

Outside the Solar Aurora Flame, the cluster of pink fire was its derivative, the Illusory Pink Starfire. While not as heaven-defying as a divine fire, even in the Immortal Realm it was a remarkable flame—though, unable to advance further, it was relegated to the rank of immortal fire.

At this moment, Liu Junhuai’s breath nearly stopped; intense excitement made him tremble. Only after several attempts to calm himself did his nerves settle.

Carefully, he used spiritual awareness to separate the Illusory Pink Starfire from the Solar Aurora Flame, then summoned Azi. From the rapid flicker of Azi’s flame, Liu Junhuai could see that it was as thrilled as he was.

There were more than thirty blossoms of Illusory Pink Starfire. Eagerly, Azi wrapped itself around one and began to consume it.

Gazing at the pure red Solar Aurora Flame, Liu Junhuai took a deep breath and placed several pieces of extreme-cold crystal around it. Sensing the temperature change, the Solar Aurora Flame unleashed a terrifying heat, causing the crystals to melt at an accelerated rate.

Quickly, Liu Junhuai enveloped the fire with his spiritual awareness and began to refine it. The flame struggled fiercely, but restrained by the cold crystals, its radiance began to dim, its frantic quivering slowed.

After half an hour, the Solar Aurora Flame ceased its struggle, shrinking into a delicate, tiny flame resting in the palm of Liu Junhuai’s hand. Rather than force it with essence blood, he breathed a mouthful of fresh blood upon it, to aid Mo Sitong in refining it in the future.

Meanwhile, Azi continued devouring its blossom of Illusory Pink Starfire, while Liu Junhuai refined the remaining thirty or so and stored them away.

Patiently, he waited two more hours until Azi had fully consumed the first blossom.

Azi’s core remained violet, ringed with three bands of reddish-brown light—Azi had successfully advanced to a third-level divine flame.

Watching Azi dance joyfully on his fingertip, Liu Junhuai felt a deep sense of fulfillment.

Just as he was about to put Azi away, it suddenly leapt onto the large stone Liu Junhuai had moved aside.

Curious, Liu Junhuai extended his spiritual awareness, only to find he could not penetrate the stone. Elation rose within him—surely there was something extraordinary hidden inside!

Approaching the stone, Liu Junhuai gathered true essence in both palms and struck it with force. The stone crashed against the cliff, breaking off a few fragments, but it remained largely intact despite the impact, while the cliff now bore a two-zhang-deep indentation.

Amazed by its resilience, Liu Junhuai produced the Shadow Blade and repeatedly sliced at the stone. Dozens of strikes later, he finally managed to carve a few cracks.

He did not feel discouraged; on the contrary, the greater the difficulty, the more precious the treasure within must be, Liu Junhuai thought optimistically.