Chapter 170: The Power of the Plot

"..."

Every cultivator present could feel the surging rage overflowing in the heart of Jiufang, who was suspended in mid-air.

Jiufang's complexion had turned black.

Lu Ren was clearly stepping on his sore spots.

And he was slapping him in the face while doing it.

Yet, what could he do? He took a deep breath, decided to ignore it to save himself the annoyance, turned his gaze away, closed his eyes, and sat cross-legged in meditation.

Seeing him act this way, and with one person already having stepped forward to break the rules he had originally set, the other cultivators secretly gathered their strength and began to absorb the threads of fire revealed in the rift.

What a joke!

If they didn't hurry and put in the effort now, when would they?

This Wanzhen Liuli Fire was not something easily encountered.

Anyone who could take this opportunity to subdue the Wanzhen Liuli Fire would absolutely be able to completely transform their own foundation! What? Could it be that there were still people who didn't know?

The reason the Wanzhen Liuli Fire was famous was not just because of its power and toxicity, but precisely because...

Once the Wanzhen Liuli Fire was absorbed into the human body, it would begin to secretly reshape the cultivator's aptitude and meridians.

Over time, even a piece of trash or a fool could be transformed into someone like an ordinary cultivator.

It could be said...

Although the Wanzhen Liuli Fire was not the most powerful flame on the Strange Fire ranking, it was an existence that all cultivators in the world flocked to.

Could Jiufang not know what the people below were doing?

Of course he knew! But making an example of someone once was enough.

If he did it again, he feared it would provoke a backlash from these cultivators.

Although he relied on his own powerful strength and did not fear what they might do, he could not so arrogantly violate taboos.

Especially...

He could just walk away and not care about these cultivators.

His own personality was also extremely solitary.

But what about Long Tian'ao?

Could Long Tian'ao not care? Of course he couldn't! Because of this, Jiufang could only secretly steady his temper, though his complexion grew darker and uglier by the moment.

Lu Ren, however, didn't care at all about what was going on in Jiufang's mind.

The Wanzhen Liuli Fire was indeed a good thing.

The Compass he was secretly holding began to spin rapidly the moment he encountered it.

Since the Wanzhen Liuli Fire happened to match the type of flame he needed, Lu Ren naturally could not let this great opportunity slip by.

Furthermore.

To take a step back.

If he could snatch the Wanzhen Liuli Fire, that would mean snatching Long Tian'ao's opportunity, and even shaking Long Tian'ao's foundation.

Lu Ren didn't even dare to imagine how many Qi Luck Value points he could obtain from this operation.

He secretly absorbed the Wanzhen Liuli Fire faster and faster.

Although subduing the Wanzhen Liuli Fire was not about speed, the more Wanzhen Liuli Fire one contained within their body, the faster they could harmonize with it.

Everyone understood this principle.

But not everyone had the courage, like Lu Ren, to absorb so much Wanzhen Liuli Fire into their own body.

After all, if one were careless and didn't handle it well, they wouldn't gain a shred of benefit; not only that, but it could backfire and cause indelible consequences.

The four corners formed an incredibly astonishing scene.

Countless cultivators were all secretly hiding in their own corners, or sitting near the rift, doing their best to absorb more Wanzhen Liuli Fire.

The flames burned fiercely.

Under the scorching of the Wanzhen Liuli Fire, the rift became larger and larger, and more and more fire threads surged out.

Long Tian'ao sat steadily atop his Flying Magical Artifact, his expression becoming increasingly painful.

Lu Ren secretly took a trace-less glance, and his heart was clear about what was going on. Long Tian'ao and the Wanzhen Liuli Fire were not a match for each other.

If his experiences were written into a book, then the plot in the book should be like this: Long Tian'ao sees the Wanzhen Liuli Fire and is overjoyed.

Alas, the Wanzhen Liuli Fire is unwilling to submit to him.

The Wanzhen Liuli Fire has its own intelligence and its own pride; Long Tian'ao is not the master it wants to wait for.

But with Long Tian'ao's pride, how could he be willing to let something he had already regarded as being in his pocket slip away?

He immediately turned his head and said to Jiufang, "I ask Senior Jiufang to lend me a hand!"

Jiufang naturally agreed without hesitation.

"No problem, I will protect you; you absorb as much fire energy as you can."

"The Wanzhen Liuli Fire will definitely be yours."

Long Tian'ao revealed a grateful smile toward Jiufang.

However.

Although this sudden senior had provided him with much help, his motives were unclear; even though he kept saying he was the child of his senior brother, a sense of vigilance still remained in Long Tian'ao's heart.

He had always been an extremely alert person.

And he did not believe that pies would fall from the sky.

Therefore.

Even though Jiufang was protecting him, Long Tian'ao secretly left his own measures in place to protect himself.

Until the very end, the Wanzhen Liuli Fire was finally, albeit unwillingly, absorbed by Long Tian'ao into his own Spirit Mansion, where all its spirituality was extinguished, turning it into a docile flame.

……

……

From the memory belonging solely to Long Tian'ao regarding his absorption of the Wanzhen Liuli Fire, this was exactly what Lu Ren saw.

From a normal perspective.

Long Tian'ao has ambition, strength, courage, and even more so, a guarded heart; he is a rare protagonist.

Furthermore, the Wanzhen Liuli Fire was not an item with an owner, so it could not be considered something he snatched; besides, in the world of cultivation, things naturally belong to those capable of holding them.

Long Tian'ao seizing the Wanzhen Liuli Fire was a matter of course.

However.

If one were to say it was a pity, then it was indeed a great pity.

The Wanzhen Liuli Fire had spent an unknown number of years and time to finally cultivate a glimmer of intelligence.

Yet, under the powerful pressure of the protagonist's halo, that faint intelligence of the Wanzhen Liuli Fire, even after the Wanzhen Liuli Fire exhausted all its power to resist, was still crushed into dust.

It ultimately became no different from any other Strange Fire.

The most absurd part is...

The reason Long Tian'ao wanted to absorb the Wanzhen Liuli Fire was merely to better refine his own foundation.

Yet he was already a Heavenly Human Body, and he had the buff granted by the Heavenly Dao.

As the Child of Luck, all the good things in the world were rightfully his.

His constitution also had its own issues.

So, after absorbing the Wanzhen Liuli Fire, Long Tian'ao discovered it did not help much with changing his constitution, cursed it for being useless, and thereafter, barely ever touched the Wanzhen Liuli Fire again.

To Long Tian'ao, the Wanzhen Liuli Fire was a useless object he had gone to great lengths to refine.

But to the Wanzhen Liuli Fire, it was all just an unprovoked disaster.

Lu Ren lowered his eyes indifferently.

Whether it was the buff granted by the Heavenly Dao, or if it was according to the plot and Fate that Long Tian'ao was meant to obtain the Wanzhen Liuli Fire, by now, the Wanzhen Liuli Fire had almost been pulled over by Long Tian'ao.

It looked as though it was about to become Long Tian'ao's destined fire.

(End of chapter)