Chapter 371: Ancient Li Huo Gu Yi

Li Huo Cliff—the name alone suggested a connection to Li Huo.

Regarding Li Huo, Hua Changxi knew a little; it was the innate companion fire of Zhu Que.

She just didn't know if this particular Li Huo Cliff actually contained Li Huo.

Hua Changxi gazed at the sea of fire at the bottom of the cliff for a while, then withdrew her gaze and turned toward a deep, dark stone cave at the other end of the precipice.

Compared to exploring the cliff bottom directly, investigating the stone cave first seemed safer.

Hua Changxi carefully entered the stone cave; it was vast and deep, filled with an extremely dense concentration of fire spiritual energy.

After penetrating more than ten meters into the cave, man-made stone chambers began to appear, arranged symmetrically on both sides; their size and layout indicated they were meant for living quarters.

Continuing deeper, Hua Changxi silently calculated that there were over a thousand such chambers.

"Could Li Huo Cliff be a cultivation site specifically for the Zhu Que Army?"

Soon, Hua Changxi dismissed this speculation.

For no other reason than that behind the chambers appeared a series of forging furnaces.

"Li Huo Cliff is actually a place for weapon crafting!"

At the entrance of each forging furnace room, a serial number was carved, ranging from one to one thousand, totaling a thousand forging rooms.

The walls inside the furnace rooms were inscribed with much common knowledge about weapon crafting, even including the forging processes for various weapons, and beneath each forging furnace lay an underground pit.

She had visited the Artifact Saint Palace and seen their crafting rooms; the forging furnaces there were all connected to earth fires.

Thus, Hua Changxi immediately thought of the sea of fire at the bottom of the cliff.

The forging furnaces must have been designed to draw upon that sea of fire at the cliff's base for crafting!

Hua Changxi moved quickly through the furnace rooms, and the more she saw, the greater her joy became.

In Furnace Room Number One, the forging process for the Zhu Que Token was inscribed; in Furnace Room Number Ten, the forging process for the Zhu Que Armor.

In Furnace Room Number One Hundred, the forging process for the Zhu Que Spear was inscribed; in Furnace Room Number Five Hundred, the forging process for the Zhu Que Bow.

Several pieces of Zhu Que Army equipment she cared about most could all be forged and crafted here!

Hua Changxi continued further inward; the deeper she went, the denser and purer the fire spiritual energy became.

Behind the forging furnace rooms, stone chambers began to appear again.

Unlike the residential chambers in the front section of the cave, these rear chambers were noticeably larger and more spacious, likely intended for administrative work and storage.

Going even further inward, the cave gradually narrowed, while the terrain began to slope downward.

Hua Changxi immediately formed a hypothesis: the end of the cave should lead to the bottom of the cliff.

As she descended, Hua Changxi distinctly felt the blood within her body growing increasingly turbulent, and a stronger and stronger 'desire' rose in her heart.

She had only experienced this sensation before when absorbing and refining Zhu Que's essence blood.

Her body screamed wildly, urging Hua Changxi to quicken her pace; before long, she saw the glow of fire.

Stepping out of the cave mouth, she was greeted by a vast ocean of fire.

After cultivating 'Ten Thousand Fires Paying Homage,' Hua Changxi had become nearly immune to flames; even amidst this sea of fire, she would suffer no harm.

Yielding to her body's pull, Hua Changxi walked deeper into the sea of fire; after walking for an unknown duration, amidst roaring flames, a ball-sized cluster of fire captured all her attention.

At first glance, that cluster of fire resembled the crimson radiance of the rising sun, emitting boundless power that dispelled all darkness, making one feel an oncoming wave of light and warmth.

Looking again, the fire changed color; violet-gold flames wrapped in seven-colored rosy clouds emitted a sacred, inviolable brilliance.

Finally, the fire gave the impression of burning to the utmost extreme, presenting a purest, cleanest white, as if intending to purify all filth and evil.

Hua Changxi had never known that fire could stir so many emotions within a person.

"Is this Li Huo?"

The blood within her body boiled even more fiercely; Hua Changxi confirmed her body's desire: it wanted to absorb the 'Li Huo' before her.

Recalling that she possessed the Zhu Que bloodline, had absorbed and refined a drop of Zhu Que essence blood, and sensed no danger from the flames before her, she tentatively employed the method for subduing exotic fires, outputting spiritual energy to try to separate a wisp of flame from the fire cluster for absorption and refinement.

Separating the fire, she had expected it to be difficult, yet unexpectedly, the moment her spiritual energy touched the Li Huo, a wisp of Li Huo voluntarily followed the spiritual energy downward, attaching itself to Hua Changxi's body.

Previously, enduring the fire that burned her body had been the hardest pain to bear, but this time, there was no anticipated excruciating agony; however, the Li Huo proved extremely difficult to absorb and refine, merely covering and roaming across her body's surface.

Since normal absorption and refinement proceeded poorly, Hua Changxi activated the divine ability 'Ten Thousand Fires Paying Homage'; indeed, the speed of Li Huo absorption increased significantly.

Although she had drawn the Li Huo into her body, obstacles arose again when she began the refinement process.

Finally, after multiple attempts, Hua Changxi activated the physical divine ability 'Five Elements Fire Virtue Furnace,' allowing the refinement to proceed smoothly.

As the refinement deepened, a spiritual shadow of Zhu Que began to manifest and condense above the sea of qi in Hua Changxi's dantian.

"Cry~"

When the Li Huo was completely refined, a radiant fire bird flew out from within Hua Changxi's body; the bird was bathed in flames, within which seven-colored halos circulated.

The fire bird circled once above the sea of fire, then suddenly flew back into Hua Changxi's body.

Hua Changxi slowly opened her eyes, which flashed with exhilarated light.

Compared to her previous Zhu Que spiritual shadow, the current one was far more vivid and lifelike; moreover, it was now enveloped in a layer of holy and mysterious Li Huo halo, emitting a sacred aura that made one dare not look directly at it.

"Ancient Li Huo Gu Yi!"

Hua Changxi now realized that the cluster of fire in the sea of flames before her was actually the Ancient Li Huo Gu Yan that had existed since the creation of heaven and earth.

Thinking back on the process of absorbing and refining the Li Huo, she sighed with emotion.

No step taken in life is ever wasted.

Her ability to absorb and refine the Li Huo was accomplished only through the combined assistance of the bloodline divine ability 'Ten Thousand Fires Paying Homage' and the physical divine ability 'Five Elements Fire Virtue Furnace.'

If either of these two divine abilities had been missing, she would have been unable to subdue the Li Huo.

Hua Changxi raised her right hand, and the wisp of Li Huo she had absorbed appeared in her palm.

Li Huo could illuminate the world with light; it could encompass the Five Elements and rule heaven and earth; it could also purify all evil in the mortal realm. It represented light, order, and purification.

With the Li Huo subdued, the clamor within her body ceased, and Hua Changxi could finally attend to other conditions at the bottom of the cliff.

Her first discovery was finding the Li Huo Token within the sea of fire—a fire-red token the size of a palm, with the three characters 'Li Huo Cliff' carved on one side, and a three-dimensional Li Huo wisp, constantly changing colors and appearing to 'burn,' on the other.

It is truly the Li Fire!

Hua Changxi marveled at the artifact-forging techniques of ancient times, unable to imagine how the artifact forgers had managed to 'seal' the Li Fire within the token.

This Li Fire Token was undoubtedly the credential of the Master of Li Fire Cliff.

After her sigh of admiration, she refined the Li Fire Token.

Having already subdued the Li Fire, she succeeded with ease.

Once the Li Fire Token was refined, the situation of Li Fire Cliff became clear in Hua Changxi's mind.

Li Fire Cliff was indeed the place where the Zhu Que Army forged weapons; by mobilizing flames nourished by the ancient Li Fire, they could produce armor and weapons best suited for the Zhu Que Army's combat needs.

At the same time, nourished by the ancient Li Fire, Li Fire Cliff had given birth to an exceptional fire-attribute ore—Nanming Stone.

Whether used to forge armor or weapons, Nanming Stone was a supreme material.

Hua Changxi left the sea of fire at the cliff base and returned to the cliff top; gazing at the stone cave, she worried aloud, "I have a place for forging artifacts, but no artifact forgers!"

Should she seek cooperation with Tong Yao again?

Regarding this, Hua Changxi was somewhat reluctant; the quantity of equipment the Zhu Que Army needed was too vast, and cooperating with Tong Yao would inevitably alert others in the Artifact Saint Palace, and she did not wish to expose too much of her own information.

Yet, apart from the Artifact Saint Palace, it seemed no one else could handle such a massive business deal.

Hua Changxi felt a headache coming on; just as she decided to go out first to discuss matters with Tong Yao, she sensed someone outside attacking the barrier of Li Fire Cliff.

"Are you sure this is the place?"

"It is this place; I heard the bird cry with my own ears. If you don't believe this, you can sense the fire spiritual energy in this rift valley; isn't it several times denser than when we passed through a few days ago?"

Inside the rift valley, five Nascent Soul cultivators, accompanied by more than ten Golden Core cultivators, were searching everywhere and launching attacks in all directions.

"Here is the plan: you continue searching the rift valley, while I immediately report this news..."

The leading Nascent Soul cultivator had not finished speaking when he saw a giant hand, vast enough to blot out the sky and sun, extend from the depths of the rift valley, seize everyone inside the valley in one grab, and then swiftly retract back into the depths.

The giant hand vanished, and the rift valley returned to silence once more.