Chapter 387: Controlled

If the Nine Heavens Fire Spring uses the roaring of the fire spring to resonate with the internal organs, achieving the effect of body refinement, then the first stage of entering the Zhurong Tomb is to allow 'fire elements' to enter the body, illuminating the entire form and manifesting the meridians.

Now, under Hua Changxi's inner sight, the meridian network surrounding her body had fully manifested; next was to illuminate the eighty-one nodes where the meridians intertwined.

Hua Changxi had already used the Zhurong Stone from Jing Sheng to illuminate one node. She knew that to illuminate the other nodes, she would have to delve deeper into that blood-red bone mountain ahead.

And to enter the bone mountain, she first had to deal with that imperial descendant beneath it.

Zhu Yan also discovered Hua Changxi immediately. Finding that someone could still enter this blessed land of caves and heavens despite the tight surveillance of the Zhu clan and the Marquis of Cheng'en's residence, he was extremely astonished.

Two fire figures, separated by dozens of meters, gazed at each other from afar.

Although both regarded the other as a threat, neither acted rashly.

For no other reason than that both were currently enduring unimaginable pain from burning and scorching.

On the surface of their bodies, flames covered them; inside their bodies, fire elements roasted every cell.

This pain, penetrating deep into the marrow, constantly tested the will of both; even the slightest disturbance would amplify the suffering they endured.

"Who are you?"

Zhu Yan could not maintain his composure as well as Hua Changxi and spoke first.

Hua Changxi: "The master of this place!"

Hearing her say this, Zhu Yan immediately sneered: "If you were the master of this place, I would not be able to enter at all."

Hua Changxi: "Not yet, but soon I will be."

Zhu Yan laughed as if he had heard a joke: "Fellow Daoist's tone is rather too arrogant."

Hua Changxi had no patience for idle words with him and directly flung a fire lotus at Zhu Yan.

The fire lotus expanded at a speed visible to the naked eye in mid-air. Zhu Yan wanted to dodge it, but alas, his speed of evasion was not fast enough.

The fire lotus enveloped Zhu Yan, landed, took root, and in an instant, formed a sealed lotus domain space!

Zhu Yan wanted to burst out of the fire lotus, but alas, he could not break through the lotus domain. He tried to transform into flame to escape, but that also ended in failure.

To eliminate Zhu Yan, Hua Changxi also flew into the lotus domain and directly summoned the Floating Light Sword, intending to end the battle quickly.

Alas, several sword strikes only injured Zhu Yan without killing him; before reaching the critical moment, Zhu Yan could always narrowly avoid fatal crises.

Hua Changxi did not want to waste too much time on Zhu Yan. Knowing she could not kill this person in the short term, she decided to seal him inside the fire lotus and exhaust him to death.

Just as she prepared to leave the fire lotus, a layer of black flame suddenly emerged on Zhu Yan's body.

Upon seeing the black flame, Hua Changxi immediately felt her mind blur; her pupils were instantly filled with the black flame, and immediately after, an unquestionable voice rang out in her mind: Draw your sword and cut your own throat.

Hua Changxi's eyes flickered; the hand tightly gripping the Floating Light Sword trembled violently. Meanwhile, the black flame branded onto her pupils swayed continuously, like a flame about to be extinguished at any moment in a storm.

Seeing that Hua Changxi did not comply, Zhu Yan's expression changed. Realizing the person opposite possessed a firm mind that could not be controlled, he hesitated for a moment, then spoke again with slight reluctance: Dispel the fire lotus.

This time, Hua Changxi complied; with a wave of her hand, the fire lotus turned into a rain of fiery petals and quickly disintegrated and dispersed.

Zhu Yan felt the Yin Flame's control over Hua Changxi weakening. Although he very much wanted to kill her, he rationally chose to retreat temporarily and quickly rushed toward the bone mountain.

Just as he had run a hundred meters, the black flame in Hua Changxi's eyes extinguished, and her mind recovered its clarity.

She did not pursue Zhu Yan but clutched her chest, panting heavily in lingering fear.

Just moments ago, the black flame on her Nascent Soul heart had submerged her entire heart, instantly seizing all her consciousness and turning her into a mindless being.

Had it not been for the cries of Zhu Que occasionally ringing out from her dantian, briefly pulling her consciousness back, she feared she would truly have become a marionette controlled by another.

Hua Changxi watched Zhu Yan's figure fly into the bone mountain, her eyes filled with killing intent.

That person must die!

Originally, Hua Changxi had planned to obtain a few pieces of Zhurong Stone and then leave the Zhurong Tomb, but now she had changed her mind. No matter how important the situation in Nanxiang County was, it could not compare to her life; if that person did not die, she would not leave the Zhurong Tomb.

After calming her panicked thoughts, Hua Changxi went to pursue him.

Unfortunately, once inside the bone mountain, Zhu Yan disappeared without a trace.

Recalling that Zhu Yan possessed the ability to transform into fire, Hua Changxi could only patiently delve deeper into the bone mountain to search slowly.

If entering the Zhurong Tomb and embarking on that path of flames burning the body and 'fire elements' entering the body constituted the first stage, then now, entering the bone mountain, was the second stage.

The qi and blood energy emanating from the bone mountain was extremely rich and pure; the deeper one went into the mountain, the purer it became.

Having experienced using spiritual sense to guide the qi and blood energy within the Zhurong Stone to illuminate meridian nodes while with Jing Sheng, Hua Changxi immediately understood upon entering the bone mountain that the second stage of entering the Zhurong Tomb was to guide the qi and blood energy from the bone mountain into the body to illuminate the meridian nodes.

Afterwards, Hua Changxi delved deeper into the bone mountain to find the person while simultaneously cultivating the 'Zhurong Meridian Expansion Technique'.

Cultivating the 'Zhurong Meridian Expansion Technique' within the bone mountain yielded excellent results; it felt as though not much time had passed before she illuminated the second meridian node, followed by the third, the fourth...

Each time a meridian node was illuminated, Hua Changxi felt grateful that before entering the Zhurong Tomb, she had first met Jing Sheng and learned the 'Zhurong Meridian Expansion Technique'.

Otherwise, even if she had entered the Zhurong Tomb, facing such a bone mountain, she would have had no choice but to watch helplessly.

Cultivating the 'Zhurong Meridian Expansion Technique' required using spiritual sense to guide qi and blood energy into the body, consuming a great deal of spiritual sense. Fortunately, Hua Changxi possessed Soul River Water, which could replenish her spiritual sense in time; had it been anyone else, they likely would not have been able to persist for long.

Walking within the bone mountain, the passage of time became imperceptible.

When half of the eighty-one meridian nodes had been illuminated, Hua Changxi reached the heart of the bone mountain and saw a chaotic space shaped like a chicken egg.

And the person she intended to kill was currently within that space, frantically chasing a fire axe engulfed in flames.

Upon seeing this, Hua Changxi's expression became somewhat anxious; could that fire axe be the token of the master of the Zhurong Tomb?

Anxious as she was, Hua Changxi did not rashly enter that chaotic space. Instead, she sat cross-legged and focused on cultivating the 'Zhurong Meridian Expansion Technique', intending to quickly illuminate all eighty-one meridian nodes.

The more her strength improved, the more counter-attacking power she would have against that imperial descendant should he attempt to control her again.

Within the egg-shaped space, Zhu Yan secretly breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing that Hua Changxi had not entered, but seeing that she could guide the qi and blood energy from the bone mountain into her body, he became somewhat anxious again.

He truly had not expected that person to know an ancestral witch secret technique that even the Zhu clan did not possess.

The sense of crisis in Zhu Yan's heart grew increasingly intense, forcing him to chase that fire axe with even greater urgency.

Meanwhile, in the outside world, the imperial court had secretly contacted the Phoenix clan of the Yao race, intending to seize the blessed land of caves and heavens closest to the Lingguang Hall.

The imperial court's original plan had been to expose the location of this blessed land of caves and heavens to divert the attention of the master of Lingguang Hall and various factions away from the Ghost Fire Well.

Therefore, from the very beginning, they had never intended to proceed secretly.

As soon as the Yao of the Phoenix clan appeared, the imperial court spread the news.

As expected, the Zhu Que Army was quickly drawn in, and almost upon first contact, they engaged the Phoenix Clan in battle.

Simultaneously, the attention of various factions was drawn here, yet none of them entered the fray.

First, each faction believed defending Nanxiangchengcheng was the duty of the Zhu Que Army and had little to do with them; joining the battle would inevitably cause casualties, and no one wished to deplete their own strength.

Second, each faction wanted to seize the opportunity to test the depths of the Zhu Que Army and the demon race.

Third, the Hall Master of Lingguang Hall had recently arrested and killed people on a large scale, causing widespread discontent; this time, standing by with folded arms served as a form of retribution.

The imperial family's plan was highly successful; the only thing that dissatisfied them was that although the Phoenix Clan and the Zhu Que Army had fought several rounds, the Hall Master of Lingguang Hall still had not appeared.

Due to the appearance of the Phoenix Clan, the situation in Nanxiang County became increasingly chaotic.

Fortunately, the Zhu Que Army single-handedly withstood all the storms brought by the Phoenix Clan, demonstrating through action their fearlessness and bravery in guarding Nanxiangchengcheng.

Previously, an incident where the Zhu Que Army was impersonated had caused the people of Nanxiang County to lose trust in them; after the great battle against the Phoenix Clan, the Zhu Que Army restored their military prestige.

The Phoenix Clan deployed only demons above the Core Formation Realm; while the overall strength of the Zhu Que Army was somewhat inferior, every participating soldier wore a Zhu Que Token, and whenever danger arose, a Zhu Que spiritual shadow would fly out, inflicting heavy casualties on a large swath of demons.

After several engagements, the Phoenix Clan had gained no advantage.

Initially, the situation developed exactly as the imperial family had envisioned: the Phoenix Clan and the Zhu Que Army checked each other, while the imperial family plotted in the shadows for a chance to enter the blessed land.

Unfortunately, the imperial family had underestimated how eagerly other factions coveted the blessed land.

While the imperial family sought opportunities to seize the blessed land, other factions also employed frequent tactics; because the barrier was attacked so often, it eventually became visible.