Chapter 278

278. Chapter 275: Postnatal Fire Seed

After learning that Ding Huan was the one who saved her in Zi Yuan Zhongshan, Liu Yinyu's attitude changed immediately.

Now that Ding Huan said he needed her help, she said without hesitation:

"Lord Ding, please speak. Whatever I can do, I will give it my all."

At this moment, she even regretted not giving Ding Huan enough support in the meeting hall earlier.

If she had known Ding Huan was the one who saved her, she would have struck back at Shi Qiqiu the moment he dared lay a hand on Ding Huan.

Fortunately, Ding Huan had all along shown dominance, effortlessly toppling Shi Qiqiu and slaying Shi Chuncang.

Ding Huan nodded; at least he hadn't saved the wrong person—this Liu Yinyu knew gratitude.

Since that was the case, there was no need to hide anything:

"Lady Liu, you saw how that old bastard Shi Qiqiu behaved today."

"I suspect his mind has shattered—he's been arrogant for too long; if he doesn't retaliate, he'll have nightmares every night…"

Hearing Ding Huan's words, Liu Yinyu found them somewhat amusing.

Still so young—his way of speaking was blunt, with not a single twist or turn.

How wonderful it would be if she could live as freely as Ding Huan—do whatever she wanted, say whatever she wanted?

"So I suspect that old bastard is watching me. The moment I leave Wanbao City, he'll ambush and kill me on the spot."

Hearing this, Liu Yinyu seemed to understand something. She looked at Ding Huan:

"Lord Ding, if you need me to accompany you into the Daoist Realm, that's no problem—I can even invite a few friends along."

Ding Huan laughed heartily:

"If all I needed was to go there, I wouldn't have asked for your help."

What joke is this—was he hiring her as a bodyguard?

Liu Yinyu stared blankly at Ding Huan; she finally understood his meaning—he intended to kill Shi Qiqiu when the old man ambushed him.

No wonder Ding Huan dared kill Shi Jiantian and stab Shi Chuncang with a single spear in the meeting hall—this man's audacity knew no bounds.

Although Ding Huan killed Shi Chuncang with one spear, she was certain he was at most a True God Realm beginner.

Shi Qiqiu, however, was a seventh-layer Human Immortal. A seventh-layer Human Immortal lying in wait to ambush a True God Realm beginner—and that beginner wasn't trying to flee, but to kill the attacker.

Did he not know the difference between a Human Immortal and a True God Realm cultivator?

Even with her added, they still couldn't match Shi Qiqiu—she was only a second-layer Human Immortal.

Besides, Shi Qiqiu might very well invite allies.

"Lord Ding, what I'm about to say may sound harsh, but with just the two of us, killing Shi Qiqiu is utterly impossible."

"I'm not afraid of death—I just know this has no chance of succeeding," Liu Yinyu shook her head.

Ding Huan said:

"Lady Liu, you misunderstand—I'm not asking you to kill him. I'll be the one acting. You only need to distract the old bastard for a few breaths."

Liu Yinyu stared at Ding Huan in silence.

"Lord Ding, first, I can't distract him. With my second-layer Human Immortal strength, I can barely hold off seventh-layer Shi Qiqiu for ten breaths at most."

"Second, Shi Qiqiu might bring allies—we'd stand no chance against him."

Ding Huan's tone turned serious:

"Lady Liu, you only need to distract Shi Qiqiu for a few breaths—not ten. Second, Shi Qiqiu is unlikely to invite allies."

Ding Huan was one hundred percent certain Shi Qiqiu wouldn't invite allies—Shi Qiqiu was after his storage ring and the treasures he'd acquired.

Inviting allies would expose his own gains—how could he hoard everything then?

Liu Yinyu fell silent for a long while before saying:

"Fine, I agree. But I must tell you—I'm not afraid of death, but I can't die now. So if it comes to the worst, I may use a forbidden technique to escape, but I won't be able to take you with me."

"No problem."

Ding Huan said without hesitation, though inwardly he looked down on Liu Yinyu.

You use a forbidden technique to escape? If you could, you wouldn't have been nearly killed by Shi Jiantian in Zi Yuan Zhongshan.

"Lord Ding, you train in the left chamber—it has the strongest spiritual energy," Liu Yinyu decided to give her room to Ding Huan.

Ding Huan stood up:

"I won't train here—I need to rent a forging workshop to refine a few artifacts."

Forging was a lie; Ding Huan wanted to craft a pile of talismans to crush Shi Qiqiu.

His current talismans were mostly sixth-grade; he had only one seventh-grade Hellvine Talisman.

Now he wanted to craft a batch of seventh-grade talismans.

He didn't believe that after the Hellvine Talisman locked Shi Qiqiu down, he couldn't overwhelm him with a barrage of seventh-grade binding and killing talismans.

Seventh-grade materials were rare—just buying them could bankrupt Ding Huan.

But Ding Huan didn't care—he had a thousand-zhang piece of seabed blue crystal, which could also be used to forge talismans.

It was a ninth-grade material; if he added some battle-soul crystals, even more Shi Qiqius wouldn't survive his barrage.

The reason he needed Liu Yinyu's help was only two-fold: first, he feared he wouldn't have time to activate the talismans before Shi Qiqiu subdued him.

Though the chance was slim, Ding Huan still wanted to prepare.

He needed Liu Yinyu to act—just distract Shi Qiqiu for a few breaths.

Second, he feared Shi Qiqiu might flee—he intended to kill Shi Qiqiu, and he had to prevent escape.

He couldn't refine ninth-grade seabed blue crystal with his true fire—he had to find a forge workshop with earth fire.

"You want to forge artifacts?" Liu Yinzhu frowned at Ding Huan.

Ding Huan said: "I'm not forging—I'm just borrowing earth fire to refine some things."

Hearing that only earth fire was needed, Liu Liu Yinyu immediately said:

"Go to Lei Yun Danfang. This alchemy shop has an extremely powerful earth fire, ranking among the top three—or even number one—in the entire Ascension Realm."

……

Lei Yun Danfang.

The shop's business was merely average, mainly due to its slightly remote location and higher prices for pills compared to other places.

When they heard Ding Huan was here to rent earth fire, the shop's assistants showed no surprise.

In fact, one-third of Lei Yun Danfang's business came from renting out earth fire—there were far too many people like Ding Huan who came to rent it.

Renting earth fire at Lei Yun Danfang was not cheap.

The deposit was one hundred thousand superior-grade spirit stones, and the daily fee was ten thousand superior-grade spirit stones.

Without hesitation, Ding Huan immediately produced one hundred thousand superior-grade spirit stones as deposit and rented one of the shop's earth fire chambers.

Ding Huan rented Earth Fire Chamber Jia-3. Upon entering, he was quite satisfied; though the price of ten thousand superior-grade spirit stones per day was steep, the space was adequate.

The earth fire chamber was at least one hundred square meters, with a central earth fire vent. In one corner stood a large alchemy furnace.

If an alchemist did not bring their own furnace, this one could be used free of charge.

Ding Huan began setting up talisman seals. He planned to cultivate talismans here for some time and did not wish to be disturbed or for anyone to know what he was doing.

One by one, he set up seventh-level defense arrays, concealment arrays, and protective arrays.

After finishing these, Ding Huan intended to retrieve all his materials and prepare to cut a piece of seabed blue crystal for talisman cultivation.

While organizing his materials, his spiritual sense brushed against a gray-brown box still inside his Star House.

To be honest, if not for this talisman cultivation, Ding Huan had planned to use up all usable materials—he'd genuinely forgotten about this gray-brown box.

He had obtained this box during his Star Cloud period, taken from the body of a Primordial Soul realm cultivator.

Back then, Hao Wudao of the Nine Sounds Sect had been chasing Liu Liu Yinzhu; Ding Huan had blocked his path with an array and slain him, claiming this gray-brown box.

Upon first acquiring the box, Ding Huan sensed a powerful aura within and dared not open it.

After some divination, he became even more reluctant to open it, so he had left it buried in his Star House ever since.

Now that his cultivation had reached Star Transformation realm, perhaps it was safe to open this box.

Even so, Ding Huan performed another divination.

The result still showed some visions, but they were within acceptable limits.

Ding Huan then set up several additional defensive seals and cautiously opened the gray-brown box.

As soon as the box opened, a violent, scorching aura surged forth; Ding Huan immediately activated his defensive seals.

Boom!

The aura slammed into the seal array, shaking Ding Huan's defenses violently.

Ding Huan stared in shock at the object before him—it was merely a tiny seed, no larger than a pea.

The seed leapt continuously through the void, yet the violent aura gradually calmed, growing weaker and weaker.

This is…

Ding Huan frowned at the pea-sized seed as its aura faded, pondering what it could be.

At that moment, information about the seed suddenly appeared in Ding Huan's mind…

Ding Huan was overjoyed—the parchment had truly been invaluable, having given him far too much aid over time.

A Postnatal Fire Seed, condensed from Primordial Qi, could not form naturally due to insufficient primordial fortune and fire elements.

After countless eons of gestation, absorbing postnatal fire elements, it spontaneously crystallized into a fire seed.

Compared to primordial fire seeds, it lacked primordial potency, yet it was still a top-tier treasure for cultivators…

The potential of a Postnatal Fire Seed depended entirely on the cultivator who obtained it and how far they could nurture it.

The natural seals of a Postnatal Fire Seed were extremely fragile; once breached, fire primordial energy must be supplied immediately, or the seed would gradually degenerate into an ordinary fire seed due to neglect.

Without celestial or terrestrial fire primordial energy to nourish it, an ordinary fire seed would continue to degenerate until it vanished.

Ding Huan was stunned—no wonder the flame's aura had been weakening; it was degenerating on its own!

But he was unprepared—he had never imagined such an incredible treasure could be on Hao Wudao, a mere Primordial Soul cultivator!

Fire seeds were not easily encountered; merely encountering one was a tremendous stroke of fortune. Ding Huan could not let this seed perish.