Chapter 12: Smelting the Earth Fire, Long Ming and Shang Hongxue Finally Meet?

Several tens of li away.

On a mountain peak, a person appeared.

From a dense forest, he walked into a barren land, the temperature rose rapidly, scorching dizziness rose in midair; under the sunlight, this temperature became even more scorching, Chen Chuyang's true qi all over his body was also affected by this scorching heat; he reached out, touched that heat.

The heat rising from underground indiscriminately attacks all creatures entering this area; Chen Chuyang feels that temperature, about fifty or sixty degrees, the temperature is very high; he squats down, presses his hand to the ground, the temperature is higher, the lower he goes, the higher the temperature; under this scorching heat, no vegetation grows in the entire area.

The ground was baked hard like stone; the scorched earth had been burned by the intense heat, leaving a expanse of blackened soil.

Walking forward, Chen Chuyang frowned; ahead lay the desolate land, the mountain peak loomed, the volcanic vent still spewed hot air, ready to erupt again at any moment; a grayish vapor hovered in midair, then fell—these were the ashes scattered after burning.

After walking for half an hour, Chen Chuyang had encountered neither a person nor a demonic beast.

「No one comes here; this is a desolate place, almost devoid of vitality. 」

「Such a place, no one wants to approach; without reaching the Condensed Pellet stage, entering this land means nine deaths out of ten; no one wishes to cultivate here, let alone set foot, for the subterranean fire that could erupt at any moment is beyond what ordinary people can endure. 」

The further one goes inward, the higher the temperature; upon approaching the innermost peak, that mountain is the one bred by the earth fire; an opening has formed at its summit, through which a faint red firelight can be seen.

The sky was also shrouded in red; Chen Chuyang quickly approached, his true qi all over his body twisted by the blaze, yet he paid it no heed.

Hunyuan true qi insulated him from this heat; Chen Chuyang approached the volcanic crater, the temperature was so high that he could sense the aura of death, his true qi seemed on the verge of collapse, yet his flesh had begun to gradually adapt to this temperature.

「The temperature is extremely high; my flesh, tempered by Hunyuan true qi, is now like that of a demonic beast, yet I still cannot directly withstand the scorching of the earth fire. 」

「In such a place, it is unlikely that demonic beasts exist; nevertheless, I must not be careless. 」

This world is perilous; anything could happen.

Within the earth fire, there might exist some terrifying demonic beast.

Chen Chuyang approached cautiously; along the way he encountered many demonic beasts and people, all of whom he avoided; whatever he met on the road, he avoided them all, not wishing to entangle himself in others' karma, only thinking of harvesting the earth fire seeds and then returning to Longshe Shan.

Those who meddle in others' affairs often die the fastest.

「The earth fire lies within. 」

「If one goes down, perhaps…」

Hunyuan true qi can resist these earth fires; moreover, it can even use the earth fire to temper the body.

Chen Chuyang stayed on the summit for an hour; his body adapted to the temperature here, his strength increased slightly.

The Hunyuan Dao Scripture circulated, his adaptability formidable.

He devoured the scattered fire elements, tempering his body.

Chen Chuyang opened his eyes; the flames on the summit could not harm him, he leapt forward and jumped into the earth fire.

「Hum. 」

Flames blazed, the earth fire's lethal qi filled the space around his body, constantly seeking gaps to enter Chen Chuyang's body.

That lethal qi was terrifying; Chen Chuyang could sense that threat, the threat of death.

「The earth fire's lethal qi cannot be absorbed. 」

「Shield. 」

Having fallen, he finally reached the center of the earth fire, standing on a piece of blackened stone.

The hard rock was blackened yet glowing red.

Inside was a furnace, the temperature extremely high.

The leaping earth fire roared incessantly, ready to erupt at any moment.

「What a rich fire element; the earth fire's core is truly terrifying—I must quickly pluck an earth fire seed and leave this place. 」

「In this place, I can stay at most the length of half an incense stick. 」

Time is pressing; he cannot be careless.

He reached out, seized a strand of earth fire, Hunyuan true qi wrapping around it.

Chen Chuyang leapt straight upward, accelerating his departure from the earth fire's center.

After a quarter of an hour.

Chen Chuyang jumped to the summit; upon landing, his whole body was scorched crimson by the earth fire, his garments also seeming ready to burn.

「Whoosh whoosh whoosh. 」

The exhaled breath was also fiery qi, the temperature extremely high; his whole body was being burned by the earth fire, those earth fire temperatures were too high, exceeding ordinary earth fire; after entering it, Chen Chuyang dared not take a deep breath, lest he inhale the earth fire's lethal qi.

A mass of earth fire in the palm of his right hand was wrapped, emitting a dazzling light.

「The earth fire has been captured. 」

A cluster of flame from the earth fire's core—this is what Chen Chuyang brought out after great effort.

Such a mass of earth fire is of considerable value, a priceless existence.

Those capable of seizing the earth fire care not for those few spirit stones; the powerless have long since been melted by the earth fire.

The earth fire exists in the earth fire's core; that is the true earth fire seed, whereas the flames outside are merely ordinary fire, inferior in power and thus also in value.

「This mass of earth fire is hard to carry away; once leaving this place, it will gradually weaken and finally extinguish. 」

Chen Chuyang had brought nothing capable of storing the earth fire; ordinary objects cannot preserve it, at least they would need to be magical artifacts, and not all artifacts can store earth fire—one requires an artifact with a special fire attribute, and it must also withstand the earth fire's scorching temperature.

This earth fire can burn part of a magical artifact.

Moreover, the storage time for earth fire is not long; this is also why earth fire is rare, and no one dares to risk harvesting it, for it is too dangerous.

This place is indeed excellent, a pity that no faction can occupy it.

「Earth fire, smelt. 」

Chen Chuyang began to refine this mass of earth fire.

Hunyuan true qi enveloped the earth fire, smelting it; then he circulated the Hunyuan Dao Scripture, gradually refining the earth fire.

Imprinting the soul, forcibly refining.

Shang Clan.

Shang Hongxue stared in astonishment at Long Ming before her, somewhat at a loss.

When she heard that she wanted to chat with her alone, Shang Hongxue grew even more flustered and looked to her mother for help.

Jiang Luolan comforted her, "It's fine, Hongxue, this is Aunt Long. Have a good talk between the two of you."

After saying that, Jiang Luolan temporarily left, giving the space to the two of them.

In the courtyard, the atmosphere was very awkward.

Shang Hongxue wanted to leave; she couldn't stay any longer.

Long Ming held her hand and smiled, "Hongxue."

"Hongxue greets Aunt Long."

Long Ming pulled her to sit down and said affectionately, "Hongxue, I wonder what your impression of Chuyang is?"

Direct—far too direct.

Shang Hongxue's eyes widened, blinking.

Her little eyes blinked, startled by her directness.

"Aunt Long, I... that... no..."

Panicked, Shang Hongxue hurriedly waved her hands, stammering so much that she couldn't get out a single complete sentence.

She was truly too nervous, her mind a complete blank.

She didn't know how to answer this question.

"No need to be nervous, have a proper talk with Auntie. My Chuyang is very reserved and also a homebody. Sometimes he doesn't know how to express himself. Auntie came to find you this time for the sake of your matter."

"Auntie wants to hear your thoughts. What do you think of my Chuyang?"