Chapter 61: A Nuo's Struggle

As soon as she ran, Dugu Miss Qingli was far faster and less bumpy than her arrival; before Lu Xingzhou could form a thought, she was already out the door.

Shen Tang stood at a corner in the core of the cave dwelling, hands clasped behind her back, examining a shelf carved into the wall. The shelf itself was nothing special, holding only a few jade slips.

"This wall was sealed before. While he and I were circling each other in combat, he happened to smash the outer layer of the wall with a punch, revealing this shelf." Seeing the two emerge, Shen Tang pursed her lips and said with a stern face, "These jade slips must contain the original owner's cultivation methods and various techniques; there may also be alchemy notes and formulas. Xingzhou currently lacks a legacy; regardless of whether these are suitable, we can study them for now."

I'm out here fighting for my life, even considering cultivation methods for you, while you two are inside playing stacking games...

Lu Xingzhou, feeling somewhat afraid to face Shen Tang at this moment, coughed dryly and casually stored the jade slips: "Take them back to study slowly... hmm... there shouldn't be anything else here."

Shen Tang nodded: "Yes, before you two dawdled your way out, I checked around again. This doesn't look like a main lair, just a temporary cave dwelling, at most a villa; there wouldn't be many things to begin with."

This sister's every sentence now has a thorn in it. Dugu Miss Qingli, expressionless, said, "Artifacts and talismans should have been used during the original owner's battle with this corpse puppet; nothing should remain. If you worry about leftovers, we can come back after we rest. Right now, everyone is in poor condition; if something unexpected happens, it will be hard to handle."

Lu Xingzhou fled this strange vortex as if escaping: "Let's go, find A Nuo outside. She's been alone out there for so long; I don't know if she'll start wandering blindly."

A Nuo hadn't wandered blindly; from the moment the dog couple went in, she had been running in circles outside, trying to find the reason why there were no flowers or grass here.

The place was huge. A Nuo ran for a very, very long time but sensed nothing, yet her conviction grew stronger: there was definitely something fishy here.

She finally returned to where the dragon and tiger met, sat cross-legged, stroked her round chin, and gazed at the pit in the center, deep in thought.

Sensing nothing everywhere, if there was something, it was likely tied to this spot.

Master judged this must be where the alchemy furnace originally stood; A Nuo also felt it was certainly correct. But Master ultimately didn't dig deeper; could there be something below?

Actually, A Nuo could roughly guess: this was a place for alchemy. If there was something below, it would be earth fire; that was normal. Master probably didn't continue digging because of this judgment. If they dug down, earth fire should gush up.

A Nuo was very afraid of fire.

It wasn't just that she lacked fire affinity; she was afraid of fire. Even Dugu Miss Qingli could see her wood attribute was strong; people with strong wood attributes were naturally very afraid of fire.

At least now, with her cultivation progress, she could overcome fear of ordinary flames, could roast sweet potatoes, and could borrow earth fire to help Master refine pills, but deep down she still didn't want to touch fire.

A Nuo wouldn't be dead weight. Earth fire? What's so great about it!

A Nuo sniffled, pulled a bunch of talismans from her pocket, and plastered them all over her body.

They were all Fire-Avoidance Talismans.

Then she took a deep breath and punched the bottom of the pit with her small fist.

Earth and stone flew everywhere; the earth fire, buried and covered by time, erupted with a boom, instantly soot-staining A Nuo's face and hair.

Earth fire forms in several ways. The first is ordinary volcanoes; that kind of flame is mortal fire and very unstable; no one would use a volcano for alchemy. The second is fire brought by special earth veins; the flame is stable and usually carries some unique attributes. Many alchemists specifically seek such places when choosing cave dwellings. The drawback is that this kind of flame has a relatively low temperature; if it were truly hot enough, no one could live there.

There is another kind, created by special heavenly treasures and earthly gems; the benefits are numerous.

Danxia Mountain is earth-vein fire; this place is essentially connected to the bottom of Danxia Mountain, so theoretically it is also earth-vein fire. But A Nuo felt that shouldn't be right. Ordinary earth-vein fire could at most affect the types of plants suitable for growth; it wouldn't cause not a blade of grass to grow. Just like the warmth of Danxia Mountain was especially suitable for planting medicinal herbs.

Even if it was earth-vein fire itself, it was highly possible something else had been added. That addition must be what caused this place to be barren.

A Nuo gritted her teeth and jumped straight into the earth fire.

The Fire-Avoidance Talismans on her body had already started curling at the edges; the scorching heat made A Nuo unable to open her eyes.

But A Nuo's heart grew happy instead; her judgment was correct; there was space below!

"Tread..." Her small foot touched something; her shoes instantly burned to ash.

A Nuo urgently spun mid-air and landed on the ground below.

The so-called ground consisted mostly of black, hard rock blocks, with small amounts of lava-like fluid weaving intermittently between them. A Nuo had to solidify her primal qi to protect the soles of her feet; otherwise, stepping on such ground would scorch them. The entire environment was fire; A Nuo was standing right in the center of the flames.

She had no mood to attend to anything else; she stared blankly at a crystal floating in the flames.

She had never seen it before, yet four words inexplicably rose in her mind: Essence of Blazing Fire.

Then an indescribable fear rose in her heart; vaguely, it seemed she saw some devil's face revealed on the crystal; her flesh, blood, and bones all began to ache with phantom pain.

It felt as if she had once been dismembered and crushed by this devil, then kneaded into a ball and made into a bun.

More fragmented memories flashed through her mind, forming no coherent story.

A Nuo retreated in fear; her other shoe stepped on lava and sizzled into ash.

As if waking from a dream, A Nuo suddenly let out an angry shout and fiercely smashed her fist onto the crystal.

The crystal trembled slightly; dark demonic qi seeped from it, shooting straight through A Nuo's fist to her Spirit Platform.

Faintly came the devil's low laugh: "I never thought there would be a day when a delicious meal would come knocking..."

This was not the will imprint of the original owner protecting the Spirit Water Crystal; a true demon had been born within this treasure. Because it had long been in the Hell of Blazing Flames, and because it resided within a treasure like the Essence of Blazing Fire, the destructive intent of the gathered flames gradually condensed into a spark of sentience. This was the most typical birth of a Fire Demon.

The original owner probably didn't expect that placing this object here would give birth to a Fire Demon... It was precisely the birth of the Fire Demon that made the surroundings barren.

However, it currently appeared that this Fire Demon was still a newborn; it hadn't even condensed a body of fire yet, relatively weak.

A Nuo, wrapped entirely in flames, her Spirit Platform flickering bright and dim, suddenly asked, "Have you seen me before?"

The Fire Demon, instead, was startled: "I have never seen any other living creature..."

"I don't know why, but I always feel like I've seen you. Could it be in a dream?" A Nuo scratched her head in confusion: "Never mind. Anyway, a demon like you is just a child."

Fire Demon: "..."

As if you aren't a child yourself.

The next moment, the Fire Demon let out a scream; the demonic qi recoiled. A Nuo smashed her fist heavily onto the Essence of Blazing Fire, baring neat white teeth: "My Master plays with Soul Banners. Afraid I might be accidentally invaded, Sister Yu specially cast the Divine-Ghost Ban on me. You dare try to sneak in!"

The Essence of Blazing Fire was pinned to the ground, beaten left and right with heavy punches. The demon shadow trapped within roared: "Little brat, you are asking for death!"

"Boom!" Flames from all four sides converged. A Nuo, already burning in the flames, began to falter. One by one, the Fire-Avoidance Talismans on her body burned out; even the tips of her hair began to char.

A Nuo grabbed the Essence of Blazing Fire, launched herself like lightning, and shot out of the cave. The flames below followed like a shadow, like a living fire dragon chasing straight after her.

A Nuo pulled a... cake from her ring.

The large cake flickered, becoming bigger than a well cover, and with a "clang" slammed down over the cave entrance, sealing it perfectly.

A Nuo had artifacts too! Offensive and defensive, but she generally didn't like to use them when outsiders were around.

Which child would pull out a well cover and smash someone's head to pulp? A Nuo still cared about her image.

The Essence of Blazing Fire struggled fiercely to break free from A Nuo's grasp. A Nuo almost lost her grip, so she pressed it down with both hands, her whole body nearly covering it.

The Fire Demon roared: "Are you crazy? What good does pinning me do you? Your Fire-Avoidance Talismans are gone! Now, pinning me means placing yourself in the fire to burn!"

Flames erupted from the crystal, surrounding A Nuo's small body.

A Nuo gritted her teeth: "I just need to control you until Master and the others come out... I don't know if this crystal will help Master's leg, but I think it should... I must let Master see it..."

"Just to let someone see something that might not even be useful!" the Flame Demon, enraged, went berserk: "You are clearly terrified of fire; are you not afraid of dying?"

Burned until her expression twitched, A Nuo could not hide her smile: "But Master is A Nuo's life..."

The Flame Demon felt unable to communicate with humans and desperately wanted to flee. Yet this dead child's strength, somehow, was immense, like the power of a dragon and tiger, holding it firmly in place.

On the left and right, the dragon and tiger bones stood motionless like mountains, as if guarding.

Burned until her mind grew somewhat muddled, A Nuo vaguely recalled the first few days she had memories of.

An infant lay in a mountain hollow; it was so cold, so hungry, and so afraid.

Faintly, the howling of wild beasts could be heard, not knowing when they would come to eat her.

She wanted to flee, yet had absolutely no strength, unable to move a single inch...

Not knowing how much time passed, with sun rising and moon setting, just as she felt she was about to starve to death, someone bumped her head; it hurt terribly.

Was she about to be eaten? A Nuo burst into tears.

Yet it was a dying child who rolled to her side, weakly stroking her face: "Here... how could there be a little sticky rice ball... so cute..."

"Somehow I have a bit of strength again... I seem able to save myself... but I cannot just leave her here..." The child gritted her teeth, tied the infant to her back, and dragged her broken leg, crawling up Danxia Mountain inch by inch with knees and hands.

Upon the mountain path, nothing remained but the bloodstains she had left behind.

Then the vision shifted to that day; the handsome Master, whose eyebrows were like swords and eyes like stars, without a word, stuffed the pill into her mouth: "Medicine for legs is everywhere; A Nuo is only one!"

Suddenly, footsteps and the sound of rolling wheels came from nearby, and the voice from her memories rang out in panic: "A Nuo! Why are you covered in fire?"

A Nuo looked up at that familiar face; on the soot-blackened face, a row of even white teeth appeared: "Master, there is a Flame Demon here; help me beat it."

(End of this chapter)