Chapter 159: Red Glow Fire

The high temperature in the room where Zhang Nuo was staying suddenly vanished, to the point that Zhuge Qing did not even notice when the temperature had returned to normal.

Although the heat had receded, Zhang Nuo still had not come out; it was unknown whether he had succeeded or failed, and the young woman felt anxious for him.

At this very moment, Zhang Nuo was lying flat on the bed, his naked body still radiating heat, though on the surface he looked much stronger than when he had been refining the Red Glow Fire Seed.

Recalling all that had happened before, it truly felt like living two lifetimes! But with the achievement before him, all the suffering endured was worth it!

Taking a Pill from his Storage Bag, Zhang Nuo laboriously stuffed it into his mouth and swallowed it after a few chews; the moment the Pill entered his empty stomach, it emitted a 'squeaking' sound, as if the high temperature within his body had not yet dissipated.

"Don't be too impatient! This takes time! Rest for a few days first!"

Chunyangzi chuckled; perhaps because Zhang Nuo had succeeded, his mood had also improved significantly.

"The only thing I feel right now is thirst!"

His lips, cracked and covered in sores, moved slightly, but he still could not make a sound; in the end, Zhang Nuo had no choice but to transmit his voice back.

"You cannot drink water now! Once the high temperature in your body dissipates, use your Spirit Power to nourish your internal organs; in a month, perhaps you will be able to live the life of a normal person!"

Another chuckle came through, and Chunyangzi could not hide the joy in his heart as he patiently explained to Zhang Nuo.

A month later, when Zhang Nuo sat up from the bed, he saw that the skin on his body had returned to normal, without leaving any scars from the high temperature during the refining of the fire seed.

Closing his eyes slightly to look within, he saw a red flame the size of a soybean resting quietly in his dantian; under the constant nourishment of his Double Spirit Sea, its vitality was much more vigorous than when it had first been refined into his body.

Finding a set of clothes, Zhang Nuo put them on and left the room; the moment he pushed the door open, the brilliant sunlight felt somewhat blinding, and after easing for a moment until his eyes adapted to the outside environment, he saw three people standing in the small courtyard: Bai Xiu, Xun Zhen, and Zhuge Qing.

The three were staring at Zhang Nuo as if looking at a monster; Zhang Nuo now looked much thinner than before, his eye sockets were deeply sunken, his hair was disheveled like withered grass, and his hands, exposed outside his robe sleeves, were nothing but skin and bone, like the hands of an elderly person.

"Senior Brother!"

Xun Zhen exclaimed; was this still the young Senior Brother from before? He could practically be listed among seventy-year-olds.

"I am fine, I will recover after some time!"

Zhang Nuo's gaze fell upon Zhuge Qing, and he saw that she was as beautiful as ever, though at this moment, not a trace of a smile could be seen on her face.

"Did you succeed?"

Zhuge Qing walked up to Zhang Nuo and, looking at his haggard appearance, felt a sense of sadness for reasons unknown; what she cared about most was whether the Red Glow Fire had been refined into his body.

Zhang Nuo gave a bitter smile, his skin-and-bone palm lifted slightly, and as his five fingers clenched and relaxed, a cluster of red flame the size of a rice grain slowly rose in his palm.

At this moment, Zhuge Qing could hardly believe her eyes; at the Foundation Establishment Stage, Zhang Nuo had actually refined the fire seed into his body—it was truly incredible! Everything felt like a dream!

With a sudden flip of his palm, the Red Glow Fire vanished; Zhang Nuo smiled, revealing a somewhat proud expression, though his smile looked rather ugly and bitter at this time.

"I finally managed to refine it into my body, but it will still take some time before I can use it for cultivation!"

Seeing the Red Glow Fire in Zhang Nuo's palm with her own eyes and hearing the affirmative answer, Zhuge Qing was almost overwhelmed with joy. The Nanxuan Sect had produced such a figure; looking at the Four Great Sects in the future, Zhang Nuo's achievements would far surpass others!

The two chatted a bit more, and Zhuge Qing rose to take her leave; Zhang Nuo did not ask her to stay, and after seeing her to the door, he returned to his room and began to ponder the cultivation process of the Red Glow Fire Body Refining Technique.

Another half a year passed, and when Zhang Nuo appeared in the small courtyard again, what Bai Xiu and Xun Zhen saw was a Zhang Nuo exactly the same as before. Only, both felt in their hearts that Zhang Nuo was different from before, though they could not quite say where the difference lay!

Utilizing the half year, Zhang Nuo had completed the cultivation of the Red Glow Fire Body Refining Technique; his physical body was indeed stronger than before, but the fly in the ointment was that the technique recorded in the Jade Slip was only sufficient for the Foundation Establishment Stage, and did not record how to cultivate after reaching the Golden Core stage.

This made Zhang Nuo shout "profiteer" several times in his heart again! He had not expected that the thin man had only given him the first part of the technique; according to common logic, there should have been specific cultivation methods for the Golden Core and Nascent Soul stages following it.

However, having finished the Foundation Establishment portion of the Red Glow Fire Body Refining Technique was already enough for Zhang Nuo; when using the Spiritual Qi vortex to impact his meridians, his physical body could withstand greater intensity, and after a few months, the fourth layer of the 'Shangqing Sword Art' was already more than half cultivated!

But as he reached the later stages, the same trouble returned; there were too many meridians, and he could not open them all at once, so he could only do it bit by bit; it seemed there was still a long road ahead to reach the fourth layer of the 'Shangqing Sword Art'.

Recently, Zhang Nuo had been much more relaxed; after finishing his daily cultivation, he spent the remaining time guiding the two women, Bai Xiu and Xun Zhen. Their aptitude was decent, and as long as he gave them a little guidance, they would grasp the concepts. This saved him quite a bit of trouble.

…………

In the dark of night, a person stood at Zhang Nuo's door; this person's eyes flashed with a sinister cold light, not at all like human eyes, but more like the eyes of some cold-blooded animal.

With a 'swish', this person spat out a tongue a foot long, then quickly retracted it; a moment later, the figure flashed and disappeared into the empty street.

Zhang Nuo was completely unaware of all this; at this moment, he was sitting cross-legged on the bed, the Red Glow Fire coursing through his body, constantly tempering his physical flesh.

Just at this time, in the dead of night, a scream of extreme agony rang out, a sound that almost echoed throughout the entire Nanxuan Sect; Zhang Nuo frowned, his figure flashed out, and as soon as he arrived in the small courtyard, he saw Bai Xiu and Xun Zhen also walking out of their rooms upon hearing the sound!

"Stay here and behave! Do not wander about!"

After Zhang Nuo finished speaking, he steered his Flying Magic Tool and rushed toward the place where the scream had originated; at the same time, lights of various colors rose within the Nanxuan Sect, and streams of light flew toward the source of the scream.

By the time Zhang Nuo arrived, many people were already gathered in mid-air; Zhuge An and his daughter Zhuge Qing had arrived almost immediately, and they looked solemn, with threads of anger shooting from their eyes.

Looking down, Zhang Nuo also gasped; in the small courtyard below, a male cultivator, looking no more than twenty years old, lay on the ground like a dried corpse, his eyes wide open, the blood in his body drained by something unknown.

Even in death, that cultivator's eyes still held terror, as if he had seen something extremely horrifying!

"Sect Master! You arrived quite quickly! What exactly happened here?"

Zhang Nuo arrived at Zhuge An's side and asked, puzzled. The old man just shook his head slightly and then said:

"When this old man arrived here, it was already this scene before us!"

Hearing this, Zhang Nuo was greatly shocked; one had to know that the escape speed of a Golden Core Cultivator far exceeded that of Foundation Establishment disciples, and even with Zhuge An's speed, he had not discovered who had done it, which showed the level of cultivation of the perpetrator.

"I feel this was not done by a cultivator; look, the deceased disciple's cultivation was at the Foundation Establishment Early Stage, all the blood in his body was drained away, and he only had time to let out one scream; even a Golden Core Cultivator would likely not be able to do this!"

With her head slightly lowered, Zhuge Qing observed the scene for a while before analyzing it.

"I agree with Qing'er's view! Do not move! This old man will go down and take a look!"

Zhuge An's body slowly descended to the ground, and he walked up to the deceased disciple; after looking carefully for a while, he suddenly discovered two small black dots on the disciple's neck! These two dots looked as if they had been caused by a sharp weapon piercing the skin! It appeared that all the blood had been drained through here.

Zhuge An frowned slightly, narrowed his eyes, and his vast Divine Sense quickly enveloped the entire courtyard, simultaneously beginning to search inch by inch.

The crowd in the sky did not even dare to breathe, their eyes fixed on the Sect Master; a moment later, Zhuge An opened his eyes abruptly, his figure flashed, and he arrived at the edge of a courtyard wall; at the base of the wall, he reached out and picked up something—it was the size of a fingernail, pitch black, yet it emitted a faint glimmer under the reflection of the moonlight.

Zhuge Qing was the first to rush over, her beautiful eyes staring at the object in the old man's hand for a long time, and finally, she said thoughtfully:

"It looks like the scale of some kind of demonic beast!"

Zhang Nuo also slowly descended and walked to the side of the father and daughter; the moment he first saw the scale in the old man's hand, he had a feeling of familiarity.

"Young Sect Master, don't you find this scale somewhat familiar?"

Zhuge Qing was stunned for a moment, then shifted her gaze back to the scale; after a long while, she shook her head slightly.

"Brother Zhang, do you know what demonic beast this is from?"

"I haven't had much contact with demonic beasts before, especially those with scales on their bodies, so I might remember it quite clearly! If I am not mistaken, this scale should belong to that two-headed snake we killed in the Trial Ground, and specifically from the black snake!"

As soon as Zhang Nuo said these words, Zhuge An and his daughter immediately gasped, and the old man threw the scale onto the ground as if he had seen a ghost.

"This is impossible!"

Zhuge Qing lowered her voice, fearing that this matter would spread too far and cause panic among the disciples in the sect; after all, Chu Budong had told almost everyone in the sect about their mission to slay the two-headed snake!

"I also know this is unlikely! But I cannot be mistaken about a black scale! When the black snake head was severed, my Flying Sword had one just like this stuck to it!"

Zhang Nuo looked toward the scale on the ground, a flash of light passing through his eyes, and said with absolute certainty.