Chapter 348: Jing Yuheng Returns, Bringing Warmth

The Pill Fire's temperature rose, its color deepened, it incorporated the strangeness of the red‑moon fox fire, the ravage of earth fire, and the traits of various flames, creating a unique Pill Fire; merging all of these became the distinctive characteristic of Hunyuan True Fire.

Chen Chuyang looked at the Pill Fire before him and smiled faintly: "The Pill Fire has advanced again; Pill Refining and artifact forging become simpler. According to the Pill Fire's temperature, producing the same batch of pills gains at least a one‑fifth increase in efficiency, and the pills' effects will also rise."

"No wonder those pill refiners and artifact smiths love flame so much; they even risk death to find a good flame, willing to sacrifice a life to devour a flame, because flame is the very foundation of pill refiners and artifact smiths."

A single flame can change many things, including the future.

Chen Chuyang's Pill Fire, strictly speaking, does not belong to any single flame type—heaven fire, earth fire, Pill Fire, beast fire—no flame is concretely categorized. Simply put, the classifications arise from how a flame forms, and strength is not absolute; it's not that heaven fire is inherently supreme, only that most heaven fire is strong and rare, leading many to deem it absolutely formidable.

Earth fire is no weaker, and beast fire likewise; the stronger the demonic beast, the stronger its beast fire, and some beast fire even surpasses heaven fire. Pill Fire is comparatively unique: after pill condensation, whether a void pill or an inner pill, one can brew one's own Pill Fire, whose power and attributes depend on the individual's cultivation method and physique.

Most are fire‑attribute; a minority blend other attributes. Pill Fire can be enhanced, rising with the cultivator's level, and one can practice fire‑based divine abilities to strengthen the Pill Fire's power. Chen Chuyang's Hunyuan True Fire, strictly speaking, falls within the Pill Fire category, just with some differences.

For example, after devouring earth fire it gains earth‑fire traits; after devouring beast fire it can be called beast fire. After swallowing several flames and forcibly advancing, it becomes a special flame that merges many fires—does this still count as Pill Fire?

Each type belongs to it; some are just special.

How powerful this mass of Hunyuan True Fire is, Chen Chuyang can feel—it can devour flames, even devour everything; the strangeness of red‑moon fox fire can scorch souls, even compel you to willingly sacrifice your soul, extremely bizarre.

He opens his mouth, and the Hunyuan True Fire returns to Chen Chuyang's dantian, burning his dantian and body.

A layer of impurities is expelled—impurities that even earth fire cannot purge; Hunyuan True Fire expels them easily, the gap between the two is clearly visible.

Chen Chuyang nods in satisfaction; this Pill Fire's advancement was beyond his expectation. He thanks his mother's red‑moon fox fire, and at that thought a notion springs up in his mind.

"Mother has many good things in her hand, what if…?"

If I get more of this flame, my Hunyuan True Fire will surely rise again.

Unfortunately, Mother's strength has not yet recovered; the good things in her hand have been largely consumed. To obtain flame, the only hope now is Jing Yuheng's side, hoping the Eldest Princess can bring some surprise.

Looking again at earth fire, its power has waned; the flame has been heavily absorbed and needs time to recover.

He cannot keep devouring; he does not wish to damage earth fire, which can restore itself automatically.

"Next time I'll devour it again."

Chen Chuyang decides: every so often he will devour once, using it to boost his Hunyuan True Fire's power and make himself stronger.

Having leapt out of earth fire, Chen Chuyang changes into new clothes; his flesh and blood become sturdier, water and fire cannot harm him—a true Strong One's body.

He clenches his fist; his strength rises again, his body improves, driving up his Qi and combat power.

After long accumulation, his cultivation remains the same; he cannot accelerate improvement that quickly.

The Hunyuan Dao Scripture remains unchanged, showing no sign of Advancement; Chen Chuyang is not anxious about this. The scripture itself requires accumulation, needing Qi a hundred times that of an equal realm. After his body improves, the required accumulation expands again. One can say that an overly strong body is not always beneficial; excessive accumulation is also problematic, causing his cultivation to rise slowly—each realm demands several hundred times the accumulation of others.

The required resources multiply exponentially, and Longshe Shan can only barely supplement his cultivation. The appearance of Wild Dragon Snake corpses frees him from resource worries; he can refine pills, exchange them for more resources, and his cooperation with the Eldest Princess stems from this.

All pills must be converted into resources to elevate himself, to raise the Chen Clan, and to boost the cultivation of everyone on Longshe Shan.

The stronger the Chen Clan becomes, the more resources it can gather; for example now the Chen Clan's collected resources are several times what they were before. After his father's second and third uncles condensed pills, Longshe Cheng's commerce began expanding, and its influence spread. In a sense, Longshe Cheng is now safe and naturally becomes a commercial hub for many families.

Many people flock to Longshe Cheng, bringing it huge profits.

Because of Chen Chuyang, many of the Chen Clan's businesses become easier; once they leave Longshe Shan, anyone who wishes to challenge the Chen Clan must weigh their own strength.

In short, resources are limited; for the Chen Clan to rise it needs resources. If its own are insufficient, then it begins to plunder.

The Chen Clan and the Shang Clan together, after Shang Yingnian condensed pills, deepened their ties with the Chen Clan; business‑wise, the connection grew deeper, and the previous worries vanished at this moment.

They develop together, jointly exploit families in other towns, and even gradually eat them away.

Chen Chuyang doesn't care about these, nor does he mind; his father and mother know what to do, so he need not worry.

After checking the Formation and earth fire, Chen Chuyang returns to Longshe Shan.

On Longshe Shan, Shang Hongxue has been waiting so long her neck feels stretched; Brother Chuyang hasn't returned for a month, and there's been no word.

"Brother Chuyang, you must not get into trouble."

The little girl, after each cultivation session, looks outside, waiting for her husband to return.

"You're just hoping I get into trouble?"

Shang Hongxue's expression brightened, her frown vanished instantly; she turned around, saw Brother Chuyang standing behind her, and rushed forward, her whole body hanging on

Chen Chuyang, constantly swaying.

"Brother Chuyang, you scared me to death; you've been gone so long, everyone thought something happened to you."

"Next time you can't do that; tell me in advance—if something happened to you, I'd cry myself to death."

Chen Chuyang, holding the little girl, soothed: "It's fine; Brother Chuyang went to a secluded cultivation retreat, made you worry; Brother Chuyang was wrong."

"Alright, don't be angry; Brother Chuyang will make it up to you now."

He carries the little girl and goes straight back to the room.

Three days later.

Longshe Shan welcomes a new guest.

The long‑absent Jing Yuheng reappears.

【49】 The darkness arrives; each time it is the night's arrival, and it's unclear whether it's intentional or…