There were countless wondrous fires in the world.
Not even a Soul Formation sacred ground could record them all.
Yet there were always legendary flames that even low-level rogue cultivators could name with ease.
For instance, the Nirvana Holy Fire, which could reverse life and death; the Solar Divine Fire, which shone across all creation to banish all evil; and the Vermilion Bird Holy Fire, reputed to burn everything without exception.
Over tens of millions of years, debates concerning these three had been endless.
Each represented the ultimate extremity of fire, truly supreme sovereigns among ten thousand flames.
Yet arguments over which was the greatest and mightiest had never ceased.
High-level cultivators like Luo Chen would naturally never entangle themselves in such pointless discussions.
To them, so-called wondrous fires were just like spells and magic treasures—there was no inherent superiority or inferiority, only the capability of the master wielding them.
It was just like Luo Chen's refined Wither-Bloom True Fire. Nurtured over many years and continually refining the vitality of demon beasts, it had steadily swelled and strengthened. Its current might was vastly superior to when he was still at Incense Valley in the Yan Alliance.
If judged by fixed tiers, back in Incense Valley the Wither-Bloom True Fire had only just advanced to Tier 4, whereas now it had at least reached mid-Tier 4. Moreover, it harbored terrifying life force within, possessing an incomparably dreadful foundation.
The life force within the Wither-Bloom True Fire was beyond question!
Every time he incinerated and refined living demon beasts, Luo Chen could only take ten to twenty percent of the extracted vitality; the vast majority was swallowed by the flame itself.
Even so, it had forged Luo Chen's mighty Desolate Ancient Tier 4 physique.
From this, one could see the immeasurable extent of the foundation the Wither-Bloom True Fire possessed today!
Even so, upon hearing of a Tier 5 Vermilion Bird Holy Fire, Luo Chen's pupils still constricted, flashing with disbelief.
"Truly?"
"How could it be false!"
Taisui murmured in a low voice, a flicker of dread in his eyes as well.
"Within the Five Elements Heavens, the one I fear most is that slumbering Iron-Eating Beast in Thousand-Blade Mountain, followed by the Vermilion Bird fire spirit in Vermilion Bird Mountain. Speaking of which, it is rather strange. A thousand years ago, there was no Vermilion Bird Holy Fire in the Blazing Purgatory at all. Yet after the True Monarch passed away, such a fire spirit appeared out of nowhere, seizing the original Beacon Tower and spawning spirit progeny."
Toward the end, Taisui seemed lost in bewilderment himself.
Luo Chen knew nothing of the deeper secrets. He wished to ask, but since Taisui did not understand the truth either, he naturally had nothing more to share.
Changing the subject, Luo Chen inquired about other matters.
...
"Whoa, that's a rumored Flame Demon Core! To think such a treasure is here!"
A cry of surprise burst from Cave Master Moyun. Unable to contain his eagerness, he descended on his magic cloud and reached out to seize the object.
It was fiery red throughout, emanating an unbearable heat.
Luo Chen watched from the side without overbearingly claiming it, even though that Flame Demon Core was of Tier 4 rank!
Cave Master Moyun stole a cautious glance at Luo Chen before solemnly stowing the core away.
The reason for his wariness was simply that Luo Chen's domineering conduct had grown increasingly brazen.
Forcibly taking the top-grade Nine Yang Geng Gold, demanding the earth-yellow crystals... Every single time, Luo Chen had taken them without the slightest discussion.
Bowed under his oppressive might, Cave Master Moyun could only yield them with cupped fists.
Unexpectedly, after entering the Blazing Purgatory, Luo Chen seemed to have had a complete change of character. Along the path to Vermilion Bird Mountain, he stood idly by and took none of the fire-attribute treasures they encountered.
*Could he have had a change of heart?* Cave Master Moyun muttered to himself.
A short while later, he descended from the sky again and gathered a large haul of top-grade Fire Spirit Diamonds.
These were the very Fire Spirit Diamonds Luo Chen had searched for in vain years ago when crafting his lifebound magic treasure, the Hunyuan Cauldron; yet here in the Blazing Purgatory, they lay scattered everywhere.
Luo Chen pursed his lips and said nothing.
Taisui eyed him covertly, feeling puzzled as well. *This makes no sense. Demonic Lord Qingyang is hardly a generous soul. There is no reason for him to turn a blind eye to resources that would benefit his own cultivation.*
*Could he be after something else?*
Luo Chen paid no heed to their thoughts.
Ever since he revealed his might and forced Taisui to swear an oath, he had firmly established his leadership over their trio.
There was no need to care about what they thought.
This was originally the dynamic Ding Yi had dreamed of enjoying, only for Luo Chen to take the upper hand and turn the tables.
Luo Chen extended his gaze and divine sense as far as possible, scouring the surrounding environment.
In his mind, he replayed what Taisui had shared with him earlier.
*Thousand-Blade Mountain abounds with mineral deposits, the Quicksand Sea has a master, but the primary resource of the Blazing Purgatory is not these fire-attribute ores or demon cores at all—it is sourceless fire!*
Indeed!
According to Taisui, the Blazing Purgatory had been Demonic Lord Heaven Refining's base specifically dedicated to collecting and cultivating sourceless fires.
No one knew why Demonic Lord Heaven Refining had gathered so many varied kinds of sourceless fires with differing uses.
Yet hidden throughout this place were numerous sourceless fires!
Those fire-attribute ores and demon cores were merely byproducts of the myriad wondrous flames.
And Luo Chen's true goal was these sourceless fires!
"Are they hidden so deeply?" Luo Chen murmured. He searched the vicinity for any clues as thoroughly as he could, paying close attention to the restlessness of his source true fire within.
Beside him, magic power surged once more.
Cave Master Moyun had spotted another rare treasure and descended to gather it.
Luo Chen cast a glance and felt a slight stirring of interest.
It was a precious tree growing by the mouth of a volcano. Crystal-clear and radiant like colored glaze, it was clearly of immense value.
Suddenly, Luo Chen's gaze froze.
*Whoosh!*
Cave Master Moyun, who had just produced a small trowel and was diligently digging, froze in place as Luo Chen landed right beside him.
"Demonic Lord, do you want this..."
"Keep going!"
Startled, Cave Master Moyun resumed his work, though his movements were somewhat slower than before.
Luo Chen frowned. "Faster."
Compelled by his demonic might, Cave Master Moyun had no choice but to speed up his digging. As the surface soil was cleared away, the roots beneath the glazed tree were gradually exposed.
"Eh?"
Cave Master Moyun scraped away the topsoil in surprise, staring at the layer beneath.
Slabs of multicolored glaze were paved deep within the earth.
The roots of the glazed tree extended downward through those variegated glazes like blood vessels.
Seeing this, Luo Chen could no longer suppress the excitement surging in his heart.
*Indeed! This is the legendary Glazed Fire Fir. And wherever a Glazed Fire Fir grows, Glazed Fire must exist!*
Over the years, Luo Chen had never ceased reading ancient records.
Those texts were not limited to cultivation methods; they included medical classics, pill scriptures, forging manuals, and, even more so, miscellaneous records of local customs and various resources across the lands.
Perhaps these assorted texts were not always entirely accurate, but they had genuinely broadened Luo Chen's horizons.
At roughly one hundred and sixty years of age, his sheer breadth of knowledge was by no means inferior to veteran Golden Core cultivators.
In fact, due to the sheer diversity of his reading, he was arguably a cut above them!
Thus, at first glance, Cave Master Moyun had treated the Glazed Fire Fir merely as a fire-attribute plant, whereas Luo Chen had looked beneath the surface to deduce the reason for its existence and the essential element required for its growth.
Glazed Fire!
A sourceless fire of ancient legend.
Legend had it that in antiquity, there was a famous mountain so translucent that its interior could be clearly seen from without, named Guanyu Mountain.
A sourceless fire dwelt within. If any living creature touched it in the slightest, they would be burned into glaze.
No one dared approach Guanyu Mountain; even beings as formidable as desolate beasts dared not cross its path.
Regrettably, with the passage of time and the shifting of seas and continents, Guanyu Mountain had vanished.
Yet the name of the sourceless fire that could reduce a person to glaze had been preserved.
It was none other than Glazed Fire!
*There must be one beneath here!*
Luo Chen took a deep breath. The instant Cave Master Moyun gleefully pulled up the Glazed Fire Fir, Luo Chen struck the ground with his palm.
"Demonic Lord, what are you doing?" Cave Master Moyun gasped.
Luo Chen rebounded backward. Glancing at the debris on his hand, his brow furrowed slightly.
Then, he soared into the air, raising a single palm high.
Suddenly, he swooped straight down.
Surging blood qi bolstered boundless brute force—the Mountain Breaker Form of the Seven Loose Hands!
*Hum!*
A dull rumble echoed through the air.
The next instant, to the horror of Cave Master Moyun and Taisui, the mountain where the Glazed Fire Fir had grown began to tremble violently.
Massive chunks of earth sloughed off the mountain's surface,
Revealing dazzling glazes that reflected crimson fiery light.
Under the crushing impact of the Mountain Breaker Form, those glazes were now splintering continuously.
*Crack! Crack! Crack!*
Within just a few breaths, the previously crystalline mountain fractured apart, covered in web-like cracks.
Luo Chen let out a cold snort and stomped his foot!
The next moment, the peak beneath him collapsed like a sandcastle, crashing down in heaps.
"It truly is here!"
With a single glance, Luo Chen spotted an exquisite flame hovering right in the center of the scattered glaze.
"A pity the grade is not high—only around Tier 2."
A trace of regret surfaced on Luo Chen's face, but he quickly grew spirited again.
"Tier 2 is fine as well; it makes it easier to subdue. If it were higher, it would be troublesome instead."
As one of the most perilous sourceless fires of the Mountain Sea Realm's ancient era, even Tier 3 or Tier 4 variants were extraordinarily tricky to handle. A Tier 2 flame was comparatively much easier to tame.
Having lost the protection of the precious mountain, the flame seemed to sense danger and moved to dart away.
Right at that moment, an atmospheric pressure resembling the might of heaven and earth bore down from above.
Senluo Fire Prison, spanning a hundred zhang across!
Standing within it, Luo Chen exhaled, and the Wither-Bloom True Fire flew out cheerfully.
The azure flame cast down like a giant net.
Sensing danger, the glazed spark flared violently.
Wherever it passed, the azure flame began to freeze and solidify, burned into chunks of glaze.
Yet the absolute suppression of tiers made such resistance appear like a mantis trying to stop a chariot.
With an undeniable momentum, the Wither-Bloom True Fire completely enveloped the glazed spark.
Seated cross-legged atop the shattered mountain, Luo Chen circulated the Heavenly Phoenix Nirvana Scripture to accelerate the devouring of this flame.
All of this sounded drawn out, but from Luo Chen's initial strike to shattering the mountain and enveloping the flame, merely a few breaths had passed.
Watching this scene, Cave Master Moyun and Taisui felt their eyelids twitch wildly.
"What is he doing?" Cave Master Moyun asked, bewildered.
Taisui said in a raspy voice, "He seems to be using his source true fire to refine that sourceless fire."
Cave Master Moyun's pupils dilated in sheer disbelief.
"How is that possible? A cultivator's true fire is unique and singular; how could it be mixed with external substances? Has he lost his mind?"
Taisui spoke slowly, his expression overwhelmed with shock.
"Nothing is impossible. Someone has done this before."
"Who?"
Taisui stared fixedly at Luo Chen. "What do you think this part of the Five Elements Heavens was meant for? And why was it named a purgatory?"
Cave Master Moyun's heart pounded wildly. "Are you saying Demonic Lord Heaven Refining did something similar? That he even arranged a place like this to keep various sourceless fires in captivity just to devour and refine them?"
Perhaps witnessing this familiar scene had stirred more memories within Taisui's remnant soul.
He looked somewhat dazed, muttering words Cave Master Moyun could not comprehend.
"The Nine Refining Method... beacon fire and signal smoke..."
Eventually, he looked around blankly. "All of these are merely the leftovers of the True Monarch."
The leftovers of a Void Refinement True Monarch were an immense fortune to a mere Golden Core cultivator.
After spending nearly half a day thoroughly consuming the Glazed Fire, Luo Chen's Wither-Bloom True Fire grew even more vigorous.
In the void, the faint phantom of a verdant little tree even began to materialize.
Branches spread outward across the little tree.
Looking closer, those were no branches at all, but tongues of incomparably pure flame.
The red-robed Daoist sat cross-legged in the air, gazing up at the verdant tree of fire with a thoughtful expression.
Seeing this again, Cave Master Moyun recalled what he had witnessed previously.
"So back then, Demonic Lord Qingyang had already devoured a sourceless fire?"
Taisui's body trembled uncontrollably, as though he were beholding a natural nemesis.
Meanwhile, upon Luo Chen's chest, the Soul Nourishing Wood tablet grew restless.
Han Zhan gazed out at the phantom of the little tree, his divine soul churning with agitation.
"The Five Elements Heavens! The Five Elements Heavens!"
"This is no mere gathering ground of resources; it is clearly a domain permeated by the five fundamental laws of Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth!"
"With sufficient patience to collect them one by one and comprehend them, one might even have the chance to grasp the power of laws right here!"
"Damn it all! Why do I lack a physical body, missing out on such a colossal fortune!"
...
When Luo Chen returned was no longer important.
Taisui and Moyun only understood that once they set off again, Luo Chen's previously strange behavior made total sense.
He paid no attention to various rare resources.
All of his focus was devoted to seeking out the sourceless fires hidden within the Blazing Purgatory.
Those fires were concealed exceedingly deep.
Yet somehow, as though guided, Luo Chen could always locate their approximate whereabouts.
When Luo Chen once again stepped into a magma valley and used Senluo Fire Prison to capture a flock of fluttering fire butterflies, the other two stood outside the valley entrance, completely silent.
...
"Tier 3 Red Lotus Earth Fire!"
"Tier 2 Glazed Fire!"
"Tier 1 Variegated Demonic Butterfly Flame."
"Tier 3 Amber Flame!"
"Tier 3 unnamed demonic fire!"
"Tier 2 unnamed demonic fire!"
Two months later, Luo Chen took stock of the sourceless fires he had collected along the way.
Most were ones he could identify, while a small portion were unfamiliar.
Those unfamiliar flames were suffused with overbearing demonic qi; some resembled the aura of He Yuan's magic power from the Yuan Demon Sect back then, yet were even more potent.
Luo Chen's mood grew increasingly exhilarated!
He could feel his source true fire growing stronger, and even the fire-attribute spells he occasionally unleashed, such as the Qingyang Great Handprint and the Blazing Sun Art, were becoming noticeably mightier.
When Luo Chen halted once more beneath a sea of clouds spanning a thousand li,
Taisui, who had remained silent all this time, finally spoke up.
"How long will it take this time?"
Luo Chen looked up at the sky and said softly, "It will likely take a very long time, for I can sense that the Sky-Burning Fire within that cloud bank is of an exceedingly high tier, rare in this world!"
It was at least Tier 4!
Refining such a sourceless fire would not only require an enormous amount of time, but could also be accompanied by tremendous danger.
Taisui said in a low voice, "Vermilion Bird Mountain is just three hundred li ahead. Are you truly going to delay any longer? That Five Elements Lotus Platform concerns your Grand Dao of Nascent Soul formation!"
Luo Chen smiled faintly.
"Nascent Soul formation is indeed precious, but how could I refuse a fortune that has fallen right before my eyes? I can sense that this journey through the Blazing Purgatory will bring immense benefits to my future cultivation. I must not miss it!"
Taisui parted his lips, but in the end, he voiced no objection.
"Then take care. Cave Master Moyun and I will go ahead and wait for you at the foot of Vermilion Bird Mountain."
"Mm."
Luo Chen nodded gently. Then, before their very eyes, his magic power erupted outward.
Over his red Daoist robes, a layer of qi armor spontaneously coalesced.
Not only that, the Poyue Wings unfurled! The Senluo Fire Prison expanded!
His entire body was enveloped in a layer of azure flames.
He directly entered the second form of the Senluo Fire Prison: the True Fire form!
Then, he soared straight into the sky, stepping into the thousand li of fiery sunset clouds.
Almost the instant he stepped inside, the red clouds across the sky suddenly boiled!
Strange phantoms rose and fell within the crimson clouds.
Some were galloping steeds, some roaming dogs; others were rocs spreading their wings and owls crying out.
Clearly, the Tier 4 Sky-Burning Fire dwelling within the fiery sunset clouds had already gained rudimentary spirituality and possessed boundless might!
Chapter 668