Chapter 386: The Zhu Rong Tomb

Inside the Zhu Rong Tomb, everything was a sea of blood red.

This place was nothing like Hua Changxi had imagined.

It was not a world of raging flames; let alone a sea of fire, she could not spot even a single spark or flicker.

Yet, the stifling, scorching air she inhaled and the intense burning pain her body felt were so obvious that it seemed as though she were trapped inside a sealed pressure cooker.

If the sea of fire beneath the Li Fire Cliff was a world of flames, then what she witnessed now was the world of 'Fire' itself—invisible, yet omnipresent.

Beyond that, the air was thick with the scent of blood, emanating from dense and pure qi of blood and vitality, which did not induce nausea but rather a sense of comfort.

This was the sense of dissonance the Zhu Rong Tomb gave her: on one hand, she felt suffocated and heavily suppressed; on the other, she felt exhilarated, as if her physical body had become more full and vibrant.

Hua Changxi walked cautiously through the Zhu Rong Tomb but saw no sign of the imperial descendant who had entered before her.

A blood-red sky above, blood-red earth below, with nothing in between, evoking the desolation and vastness of walking across a blood-soaked Gobi desert.

There was nothing!

No high platforms, no waterfalls, no cliffs...

If there was nothing, then what trial did the Zhu Rong Tomb present?

At first, Hua Changxi walked with relative ease, but soon after her feet touched the ground, sparks began to rise beneath them.

Shortly after the sparks appeared, wavering flames crawled up Hua Changxi's feet, instantly amplifying the burning pain transmitted from her feet several times over.

Looking at the flames on her feet, Hua Changxi roughly guessed the nature of the Zhu Rong Tomb's trial; she halted her steps, gazed forward with hesitation, unsure whether to continue.

Having experienced seizing the Karma Fire Platform, the Nine Heavens Fire Spring, and the Li Fire Cliff, she knew that becoming the master of a blessed land required both a specific opportunity and passing corresponding trials.

When she seized the Karma Fire Platform, because she had first cultivated the Karma Fire Red Lotus and mastered the 'Karma' law, achieving high compatibility with the platform, she obtained the cave master's token in very little time.

When she seized the Li Fire Cliff, because she had absorbed and refined a drop of Zhu Que's essence blood, it took her only three months to subdue the Ancient Li Fire Flame.

However, when seizing the Nine Heavens Fire Spring, lacking any special opportunity, it took her a full three years to become the Palace Master of the Fire Spring Palace.

Regarding the Zhu Rong Tomb, whether outside the barrier or deep within it, Hua Changxi felt no special connection.

In other words, there was no special opportunity between her and the Zhu Rong Tomb.

Therefore, if she wished to become the master of the Zhu Rong Tomb, she must, like conquering the Nine Heavens Fire Spring, surge upward against the current again and again until reaching the Fire Spring Palace.

Gazing at this blood-red world before her, Hua Changxi did not know the true size of the Zhu Rong Tomb, nor how long she would have to walk, but she could guess that the trial would undoubtedly take no short amount of time.

In the past, she would not have hesitated so much, but now the situation in Nanxiang County was treacherous and unpredictable; with the Zhu Que Army having recently faced incidents of impersonation and unexplained disappearances, she worried that if she suddenly left for too long, the Zhu Que Army would not be able to hold on.

Yet, after only a brief moment of thought, Hua Changxi stepped forward once more.

Since she had already entered, she must at least obtain some Zhu Rong Stones to refine her body; furthermore, she had to find that imperial descendant and prevent him from seizing the Zhu Rong Tomb.

Thinking of the Zhu Rong Stones, Hua Changxi regretfully tapped her own head, then tried circulating the 'Zhu Rong Meridian-Expanding Technique' that Jing Sheng had taught her; soon, the qi of blood and vitality in the air was drawn into her body.

Hua Changxi's face lit up with joy; however, perhaps because the qi of blood and vitality in the air was not as abundant as that within the Zhu Rong Stones, it could not strengthen her physical body or widen her meridians, though it did alleviate some of the pain in her feet.

For the rest of the journey, Hua Changxi continuously circulated the 'Zhu Rong Meridian-Expanding Technique'.

The further she walked, the denser the qi of blood and vitality became, and simultaneously, more of her body was engulfed by flames.

Although the qi of blood and vitality drawn into her body by the 'Zhu Rong Meridian-Expanding Technique' helped offset part of the pain of being burned, it failed to illuminate the meridian nodes; feeling the results were minimal, Hua Changxi immediately stopped circulating the technique and switched to cultivating the body-refining mantra from the seventh chapter of the 'Nine Revolutions Profound Art'.

"Hiss~"

As soon as the body-refining mantra began to circulate, the omnipresent 'fire elements' in the air rushed into her body; in an instant, Hua Changxi felt as though every cell in her body was being roasted by flames, pain so intense it made her gasp sharply.

However, the effect of the body refinement was surprisingly good.

As the 'fire elements' entered her body, Hua Changxi felt as though her interior was illuminated, and one by one, crystal-clear and brilliant meridians began to float into her 'vision'.

When the flames engulfed her head, the network of meridians wrapping around her brain also manifested under her inner sight.

After the meridian network within her body fully manifested, Hua Changxi transformed into a figure of fire; by this time, she did not know how long she had been advancing, but a blood-red mountain of bones, resembling a mountain range, appeared in her sight.

Without needing to approach, she recognized it at a glance: the bone mountain was the Zhu Rong Stone!

She also saw that beneath the bone mountain stood another figure of fire, just like herself.

?? Stuck here, not many words today, haha.