Ten Suns in the Sky

Under the relentless bombardment of fireballs and the Qi of Metal Wu, the entire Fire Vein showed signs of shaking. A fierce wind swept through, dispersing the smoke and dust. A massive crater lay where they had stood; all the lava essence stones had been reduced to nothingness, and even Daoist Buyu was obliterated into ash. "Your Five Elements Sect elders sure don't pull their punches," Lu Yang clicked his tongue, appearing beside Meng Jingzhou. Just what had his master done in the Five Elements Sect to stir up such universal fury? Yuan Gang stared at Lu Yang as if he had seen a ghost, jumping in fright. "Why are you here?! Who was that just now?!" Lu Yang said lazily, "A clone, of course. Couldn't you tell? A wood clone! Doesn't a wood clone go naturally with a wooden sword?" If not for that, the Fire Vein Elder and the Metal Vein Elder wouldn't have struck with such exaggerated ferocity. If he had used his real body to transform into his master, he wouldn't even know how he had died. "Heheh, truly worthy of Dao Seeking Sect disciples. Quite an impressive performance, and remarkably quick-witted." Song Duantian's hearty laughter rang out from empty air. The elders of the Five Veins and Qiu Jin'an appeared one after another. "Yuan Gang, remember that there is always someone better and a sky beyond the sky. Take this lesson to heart, and do not be so arrogant and conceited in the future." Setting aside Meng Jingzhou harnessing the continent's gravity and Lu Yang transforming into Daoist Buyu to draw aggro, the artifact crafting philosophy demonstrated by Li Haoran's infinitely accelerating ox-hair needle was also far superior to Yuan Gang's. "Yes, Master. This disciple will surely keep this lesson in mind." Yuan Gang tactfully withdrew. "Your Dao Seeking Sect has won this contest. That unworthy disciple of mine promised you could freely choose a type of True Fire here, and that wager still stands. This is your karmic opportunity—you may make your choice in our Fire Vein. However, each of you has only one chance. Whether you succeed in learning it and comprehending the profound mysteries of True Fire will depend entirely on yourselves," Song Duantian chuckled, seemingly unconcerned. What was a True Fire? It was something even Golden Core stage cultivators struggled to master. Even for those with outstanding talent who had the capability to master True Fire, there were a hundred and eight kinds—could anyone possibly master them all? One could only master the True Fire that suited them best. As for what was most suitable, that was beyond human control; it all came down to affinity. Song Duantian snapped his fingers. The ground cracked open, and the crimson earth collapsed inward, releasing white smoke as the temperature soared rapidly. Clusters of True Fire surged forth. Some were ethereal and hazy, veiled in drifting mist; some emitted melodious phoenix cries; others resembled blooming red lotuses, concealing profound mysteries... "Chaos True Fire, Nirvana True Fire..." Li Haoran recited the names of these True Fires one by one, deeply astonished. These True Fires possessed solid foundations and tremendous force, a whole order of magnitude above what his master possessed. Song Duantian puffed up with pride. "How could the True Fires possessed by the likes of Zhou Xin ever hold a candle to this seat's? These True Fires are the accumulation of our Five Elements Sect's Fire Vein over one hundred thousand years!" The True Fires Zhou Xin had gathered alone truly could not compare to what the Five Elements Sect had accumulated over one hundred thousand years. The disciples of the Five Elements Sect looked on with envious eyes. Just how many sect missions did they have to complete to earn a single True Fire? "Though the two of you didn't participate in the contest, you are also Dao Seeking Sect disciples. Come and choose." Tao Yaoye and Man Gu hadn't expected that they would get to choose a True Fire as well. However, neither of them were fire-attribute cultivators, nor did they possess Lu Yang's heaven-defying comprehension. They had no confidence in whether they could obtain a suitable True Fire. "Is this Liuding Divine Fire?" Li Haoran stopped in front of a cluster of flames, glowing with excitement. Liuding Divine Fire was another True Fire well-suited for artifact crafting. Embodying the momentum of civil and martial fires and the Qimen Dunjia, it could burn away impurities and was peerless for engraving inscriptions! The Fifth Elder had Liuding Divine Fire as well, handed down through generations of peak masters. Li Haoran had originally planned to ask his master to teach him after returning from the Five Elements Sect, but since the opportunity to learn Liuding Divine Fire was right in front of him, it proved that affinity was at play here, and he could not let it pass. At the Golden Core stage, one could at most learn two kinds of True Fire. Learning any more would only become a burden. Li Haoran had already mastered Great Yan True Fire, so the spot for a second True Fire was naturally reserved for Liuding Divine Fire! "True Lunarfire?" Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou were browsing the True Fires when a cluster of pure white flames exuding a chilling cold caught their attention. "Old Meng, you should learn this one. You already have Pure Yang True Fire; add True Lunarfire, and you'll have both Yin and Yang complete!" Lu Yang nudged Meng Jingzhou with his elbow, grinning mischievously. "Get lost, get lost! With my meager cultivation, trying to harbor both Yin and Yang would just make me blow myself up!" "Phoenix Nirvana Fire?" The two arrived at another cluster of True Fire from which faint phoenix cries could be heard. "They say this is the bloodline True Fire of the Phoenix clan, possessing the power of nirvanic rebirth," Meng Jingzhou said, eyeing the Phoenix Nirvana Fire with keen interest. However, because it was the bloodline True Fire of the Phoenix clan, outsiders faced endless difficulties trying to master it. "Don't even think about nirvanic rebirth; that's just a rumor," Lu Yang said, recalling the story of phoenix nirvana the Fairy had told him. "Still, while rebirth is false, healing wounds is real. It's actually quite suitable for you." Meng Jingzhou fought with his bare body and was often wounded, making him an easy target to wear down. The Phoenix True Fire was perfect for patching up that shortcoming. "Then I'll choose this one!" Meng Jingzhou declared firmly. That left Lu Yang alone. His attention was drawn to a cluster of scorching flames where the phantom silhouette of a Golden Crow flickered as if alive—True Sunfire. True Sunfire, also known as Golden Crow True Fire, was one of the two great extreme-Yang True Fires alongside Meng Jingzhou's Pure Yang True Fire, possessing immense offensive power. Moreover, ancient legends told of ten suns in the sky, where ten Golden Crows emerged together, sweeping across the world until not a blade of grass could grow, bringing calamity and destruction upon the earth. An immortal, unable to bear the world's suffering, shot down nine of them and left one to illuminate the world—showing just how perilous Golden Crows were. "Just as well. Three-Flavor True Fire lacks offensive power, so True Sunfire can make up for it," Lu Yang muttered to himself. "A Golden Crow! Immortal Jiuchong liked those the best," the Immortal Fairy suddenly chimed in. "Immortal Jiuchong?" "Yup! Back then, Immortal Jiuchong was researching the Yin-Yang Dao fruit and hit a bottleneck, so he looked everywhere for ideas. "One of his ideas was to bring together Golden Crows representing extreme Yang and Jade Rabbits representing extreme Yin to mate, to see if they could give birth to the Dao of Yin and Yang and give him some inspiration. "Worrying that one pair wouldn't be enough, he rounded up ten Golden Crows and ten Jade Rabbits. "Those ten Golden Crows mated day and night until they finally couldn't take it anymore and fled under cover of night. When all ten Golden Crows took to the sky at once, boy was it hot! Seeing his test subjects escape, Immortal Jiuchong went, 'How dare you!' and pulled out his bow right then and there to shoot down nine of them. But since he still needed to keep them for experiments, he didn't kill them. "I was standing right next to him, pointing at the tenth Golden Crow and saying I'd never tasted what a Golden Crow was like. I suggested he shoot the tenth one dead so I could treat the four of you to some meat! Immortal Jiuchong's hand shook and he accidentally missed, letting that Golden Crow get away. What a pity!" The Immortal Fairy bobbed her head, still finding it regrettable to this day.