Chapter 225 : Chongming Golden Flame
Chapter 225: Chongming Golden Flame
“What the hell is this thing?”
Ruan Caihong felt the golden flame burn its way through some mysterious connection, igniting the Gangyuan within his body.
Not good!
He instinctively circulated his Gangyuan, wanting to force the strange flame out of his body.
Boom!
As the Gangyuan surged, it was like adding oil to fire—the golden flame suddenly flared up violently, rushing along his meridians and burning straight toward his dantian’s qi sea.
At this moment, he seemed to have turned into a man of fire, golden flames spraying out from his pores, flames rising three feet high above his head.
“This—”
Chen Ming never expected that just a wisp of golden flame could possess such terrifying power. A First Grade expert, upon touching even a trace of it, was like a barrel of oil set alight—the more it burned, the fiercer it grew.
Judging by the current scene, Ruan Caihong was likely to be burned alive.
“What flame is this? How can it have such power?”
He was stunned.
Originally, he was unable to command the golden flame within the Phoenix Cry Sword, at most borrowing a trace of its might, but never its true essence.
Only after he raised the Controlling Artifact Art to the ninth layer did he finally gain the ability to control all the power within the Phoenix Cry Sword, including that golden flame.
Yet he had only separated out a wisp of it, not even one percent of the whole.
Unexpectedly, its power was far beyond imagination.
Then again, Chen Ming thought, it was not strange—after all, this golden flame could even suppress the primordial spirit of the Undying Demon Venerable.
…
On the other side, Luo Zhouwu, who had been meditating and expelling demonic qi from his body, suddenly opened his eyes. When he saw Ruan Caihong’s miserable state, his eyes twitched.
“That is—”
“Could it be the legendary… Chongming Golden Flame?”
He had once read in an ancient tome that in primordial times there existed a spiritual flame called Chongming Golden Flame. It was said to originate from the Chongming Secret Realm, a golden fire that burned specifically the primordial spirit of martial artists.
This flame was not too dangerous to ordinary people or low-level martial artists, but for any above First Grade, even the slightest touch would burn away both Gangyuan and primordial spirit—utterly terrifying.
Ruan Caihong’s current condition was exactly as described in that book.
However, the Chongming Secret Realm had already been destroyed during the ancient war, and this spiritual flame had been lost for over ten thousand years. Where did this brat obtain it?
…
Beside Chen Ming, Zhou Yilan, who had fainted earlier, was stirred awake by Ruan Caihong’s screams. She opened her eyes, saw his miserable figure, and her gaze flickered with extremely complex emotions.
Even she herself could not distinguish between the entangled love and hate.
“Ah—”
Ruan Caihong felt the agony of his very soul being scorched. Unable to endure any longer, he suddenly stretched out his hand and grabbed the Zhi Chi Sword beside him.
“Demon Venerable, grant me power!”
He roared, and a green light surged up his arm, little by little extinguishing the golden flame burning upon him.
First the arm, then half his body, and finally the flames vanished completely.
Strangely, the golden fire had not burned his clothes, nor had it singed a single hair or eyebrow.
With the demonic sword in hand, Ruan Caihong’s eyes glowed scarlet, filled with searing hatred. “You deserve to die!”
For the sake of survival, he had been forced to borrow the power of the demonic sword, thus branding himself with its mark. For the rest of his life, he would be nothing but its slave.
From now on, his martial path was severed.
Even if one day he broke through to the Divine Repository Realm or even the Heaven-Man Realm, he would never escape the control of the demonic sword, doomed to a lifetime without freedom.
Thinking of this, his heart bled with anguish, and he only wished to tear apart the Gu Xianyu before him, piece by piece.
Boom—
The Gangyuan he had just lost instantly recovered, and under the aid of the demonic sword, his cultivation even surged to the very peak of First Grade.
“Die for me!”
He locked onto Gu Xianyu once again, slashing with the demonic sword.
A sword-gang tore across space, suddenly appearing right before Chen Ming.
Luckily, he had prepared. Running Phoenix Dances Through Nine Heavens to the extreme, he managed to evade in the nick of time.
He cursed in his heart, “Damn it, this is cheating!”
This was simply outrageous.
Ruan Caihong’s eyes narrowed. That brat’s movement technique was so strange that he even dodged the Zhi Chi Sword. Unbelievable.
“I’ll see how many strikes you can dodge!” he roared.
Sword after sword fell, sealing every direction.
Yet, as though he could teleport, Chen Ming dodged each attack at the very last moment.
He shouted hoarsely, “Senior Luo, if you don’t step in, I’m dead for sure! And if I die, he won’t spare you either—”
In the span of a single sentence, he had already evaded more than ten times.
Not good!
He felt his Gangyuan draining rapidly, about to run dry.
Though Phoenix Dances Through Nine Heavens was unimaginably fast, its consumption of Gangyuan was terrifying.
If he kept passively dodging, he could not last much longer.
Damn it, if pushed too far, I’ll release the Undying Demon Venerable—let’s see who dies first!
Chen Ming steeled his heart.
“Youngster, what’s the rush? Catch this!”
Suddenly, Luo Zhouwu’s voice rang in his ear. Before Chen Ming even wondered what he meant, a surge of immense power rose from the ground into his body.
“Holy crap!”
It was the power of a First Grade expert!
Luo Zhouwu had transmitted his own Gangyuan through the earth into Chen Ming’s body.
“This works too?”
Chen Ming had no time to dwell on it. With this added power, he pushed Phoenix Dances Through Nine Heavens to the limit.
“Now, it’s my turn!”
His heart roared.
For a moment, it was as if all air resistance disappeared. With a single flash, he arrived behind Ruan Caihong.
The swing of Ruan Caihong’s blade looked sluggish, as though in slow motion.
Chen Ming’s sword slashed toward his neck. In the face of absolute speed, the gap in cultivation no longer mattered.
Just as the blade was about to fall on his neck, the Zhi Chi Sword in Ruan Caihong’s hand flashed with green light.
Clang!
Chen Ming was blasted away by a sword-gang, smashing into a wall ten zhang away. Coughing, he staggered to his feet, both hands gripping swords, his right hand trembling violently, tiger’s mouth split open and bleeding.
“I already guarded against that move.”
Yet Ruan Caihong’s body froze, still standing, while his head rolled to the ground, blood spraying out.
Chen Ming had seen how Luo Zhouwu was injured earlier, so he had been prepared. With the Phoenix Cry Sword in his right hand, he blocked the fatal sword-gang, and in that instant of being blasted away, his left hand wielded Po Jun Sword to sever Ruan Caihong’s head.
“Don’t be careless!”
Suddenly Luo Zhouwu’s voice sounded.
Alarm bells rang in Chen Ming’s heart. Without thinking, he vanished with Phoenix Dances Through Nine Heavens. Almost at the same moment, a sword-gang slashed where he had been standing.
The headless Ruan Caihong moved again—the sword strike had come from him.
“He’s not dead?”
Chen Ming was dumbfounded. Was the vitality of a First Grade expert this tenacious?
Luo Zhouwu warned, “Careful. That body is now being controlled by the demonic sword.”
This works too?
Chen Ming felt a chill. If it wouldn’t die, how could he fight it?
As he thought this, pain flared in his chest—he had already been pierced by a sword.
He hadn’t even seen the strike.
It’s over!
His heart sank. With the demonic sword controlling Ruan Caihong, his strength had increased not by one tier, but by an unfathomable degree.
“Then let’s die together!”
Without hesitation, Chen Ming released both the golden flame within the Phoenix Cry Sword and the primordial spirit of the Undying Demon Venerable.
The violet primordial spirit appeared, instantly breaking free from the flame’s suppression, circling in the air, then suddenly stalling.
“Undying Demon Venerable?”
Luo Zhouwu’s eyes nearly popped out as he exclaimed. His Dao heart almost faltered—never could he have imagined that the primordial spirit of the Undying Demon Venerable would emerge from that brat’s sword.
The demonic sword of the Nine Nether Sect was fearsome, yes—but as long as one resisted greed and didn’t touch it, there was no danger.
The Undying Demon Venerable’s primordial spirit, however, actively sought to possess others.
And now—how could anyone resist it?
This was the end!
Luo Zhouwu felt his heart sink. He was merely a minor First Grade expert, yet here he had stumbled into both a demonic sword and the primordial spirit of the Undying Demon Venerable—the two greatest devils of the world.
What kind of cursed fate was this?
…
The moment the primordial spirit of the Undying Demon Venerable appeared, Ruan Caihong’s headless corpse faltered, and the demonic sword in his hand vibrated violently.
The primordial spirit seemed to sense something amiss. Instead of fleeing the strange golden flame and even stranger divine weapon, it suddenly braked, circled once in the air, then dove straight toward Chen Ming.
“Again?”
Chen Ming almost swore aloud. With three other First Grade experts present, it ignored them all and targeted him. What kind of logic was this?
Unfortunately, just after being struck by the Zhi Chi Sword, he was gravely injured and unable to dodge.
“You want to possess me? Over my dead body!”
Without hesitation, he opened his mouth and swallowed the golden flame.
Come on, then!
Chen Ming glared at the violet primordial spirit.
Whoosh!
But the demonic sword flew over first, stabbing into his shoulder.
【You have slain an LV95 enemy. Gained 2,500,000 experience points.】
A prompt flashed before his eyes.
At the same time, a cold aura invaded his body, making him shiver uncontrollably.
Seeing this, the hesitant violet light-ball no longer wavered—it pounced onto him.
…
“This—”
Not far away, Luo Zhouwu stood dumbstruck.
Both the demonic sword and the primordial spirit of the Undying Demon Venerable had chosen that brat simultaneously.
“I am a堂堂 First Grade—”
Of course, the thought vanished in a flash.
What he saw next made his scalp tingle. Golden flames spewed from the boy’s seven orifices, the Zhi Chi Sword stabbed into his shoulder glowed bright green, and atop his head, violet light surged more than a zhang high.
Clearly, three powers were struggling within him.
Luo Zhouwu’s hair stood on end. This was… far too tragic!