Chapter 97: finally get divine flame
The white jade chamber grew completely quiet after the phantom guardian dissolved into dead gray pixels. Min-jae slowly stood up from the stone floorboards, the massive weight of the Sovereign Golden Greatsword resting effortlessly over his right shoulder. The brilliant golden aura radiating from the blade felt clean and warm, perfectly balancing the cold, unrefined spiritual drafts of the underground mansion.
Beside his flank, Liu Xiao slowly let go of his neck, though her cheeks were still flushed a deep, sultry pink. Her long green-and-white silk gown rippled gracefully as she stepped toward the back of the pedestal, her emerald eyes catching a faint shimmer in the dark recesses of the wall.
"Min-jae, look behind the altar," Liu Xiao voiced softly, her tone carrying a sudden wave of genuine curiosity. "The phantom wasn’t just guarding the blade. There is an entire hidden cache of ancient cultivation resources hoarded back here."
Min-jae walked over, He looked down into a small, carved stone basin hidden beneath the jade blocks. Resting inside were five ancient wooden chests filled with glowing silver spirit-herbs and a thick, leather-bound scroll pulsing with deep gold law-light, The Unsealed Core-Refining Method.
The golden smoke of his system unsealed in mid-air before his black eyes, scanning the cache to verify the quality.
[Sovereign Cultivation Interface Active!]
[Harvested: 50 True Immortal Spirit Herbs and 1 Ancient Scroll!]
[System Sync Notification: Refining these materials through your dual cultivation loop will permanently increase the breakthrough speed of your entire family by 150%!]
"Pack everything into the spatial bag, Xiao," Min-jae commanded flatly, his low baritone voice quiet and steady. "The energy here is starting to thin out. We need to find an exit before the outer rifts collapse."
"Leave the spatial path to me, husband," Liu Xiao said with a confident, beautiful smile.
She raised her slender hands, channeling a thread of her unsealed nature energy straight into the golden greatsword’s crossguard, using its immense, space-cutting sharpness to anchor a new trajectory. With a single sharp mental command from Min-jae, the massive white jade stone wall in front of them violently fractured like brittle glass, opening a clean, emerald-tinted exit portal.
The two of them stepped through the spatial tear, completely leaving the heavy, silent labyrinth of the underground mansion behind.
When their vision cleared, the hot, dry ash of the volcanic border sectors was entirely gone. They found themselves standing at the edge of a breathtakingly vast, ancient Spiritual Forest. Towering trees with translucent emerald leaves stretched hundreds of feet into the sky, their massive trunks wrapped in glowing silver vines that pulsed with pure, unrefined nature-law energy. The ambient pressure here was incredibly crisp, carrying the deep, clean scent of rain and thousand-year moss.
"This is the heart of the valley," Liu Xiao whispered breathlessly, her exceptionally voluptuous hourglass figure and heavy chest pressing tightly against Min-jae’s left arm as they walked down a mossy dirt path. Her large emerald eyes scanned the vibrant landscape with absolute adoration. "The spiritual density here is perfect, Min-jae. My internal channels are automatically pulling in the energy."
A sudden wave of standard human shyness hit Min-jae’s chest under her close physical touch, a deep crimson flush creeping up his neck beneath his collar as his ears burned pink. Even after conquering supreme thrones, dealing with the direct, close-proximity affection of his wives always short-circuited his cold fixer brain. He quietly cleared his throat, maintaining his calm composure.
"Keep your guard up, Xiao," Min-jae muttered, his voice a low, flustered baritone. "The flame coordinates should be intersecting right through this place."
They followed the trail for a few minutes until the dense tree line suddenly parted, revealing a stunning, crystal-clear river cutting through the center of a wide green meadow. The water didn’t look ordinary; it was glowing with a soft, pulsing crimson light beneath the surface, the liquid current moving with a rhythmic, heavy warmth that made both of their internal meridians violently combust in perfect unison.
"Min-jae... do you feel that?" Liu Xiao gasped softly, her hand trembling slightly as she pointed toward the deep center of the running water. "The baseline heat... it’s matching your solar core perfectly. The Divine Flame isn’t hidden in a volcano. It’s incubating inside the riverbed!"
Min-jae stepped to the water’s edge, his dark eyes narrowing into a cold focus as he felt the intense elemental pull. "The water-law of the stream is acting as a natural suppression blanket to hide the heat from the outer ancient clans. Xiao, use your nature roots to fish it out before the pressure shifts."
"Right away, husband," Liu Xiao murmured, her face flushing pink with a fierce determination.
She took a graceful stance at the riverbank, her green-and-white silk train billowing softly in the wind. She slammed her palm flat against the damp earth, unleashing a thick cluster of glowing green roots that dived straight into the crystal-clear water. The roots wrapped tightly around a brilliant, tennis-ball-sized sphere of pure, blinding crimson fire resting on the riverbed, forcefully pulling it up into the open air.
The moment the Divine Flame emerged from the water, the pristine quietness of the forest was violently shattered.
The crimson fire pulsed with a blinding, white-hot solar wave that instantly turned the surrounding grass into ash. Before Min-jae could reach out his hand to touch the relic, an earsplitting, terrifying chorus of hundreds of deep-frequency monster roars and ancient spirit beast shrieks violently erupted from the deep tree line all around the meadow. The sheer presence of the unsealed flame had just triggered a localized sector alarm, drawing every single apex predator in the forest straight to their coordinate lane.
"The beast waves are mobilizing, Min-jae!" Liu Xiao said quickly, her voice carrying a deep thrill of suspense as she floated the burning flame closer to his chest. "We can’t refine it out in the open meadow! The noise will bring the local clan patrols down on us in minutes!"
"We need a safe zone," Min-jae commanded flatly, his low baritone steady as he grabbed her wrist. "Move toward the higher ridge."
They sprinted through the dense brush for several minutes, the terrifying sound of snapping branches and low, beastly growls echoing closely behind their flanks. After navigating a narrow rock crevice near the upper valley, they stumbled into a completely hidden, majestic sanctuary.
In the absolute center of the clearing stood a colossal, ancient World Tree whose massive canopy spread out like a shield over the sky, completely blocking out the external tracking rays. Nestled directly beneath its giant, moss-covered roots was a wide, perfectly quiet pool of glowing blue spiritual water. The air inside this hidden hollow was incredibly serene, carrying a pure, unrefined energy that completely neutralized the suffocating heat of the flame. It was an absolute, un-trackable safe haven.
Min-jae dropped heavily onto a flat stone block near the edge of the blue pool, his black silk shirt damp with sweat as his Vajra World-Breaker Core violently compressed the ambient heat. He looked up into Liu Xiao’s beautiful, anxious face, a cold, predatory, and ruthless grin slowly spreading across his face as he prepared to absorb the treasure.
"I’m going to force the refinement loop right here," Min-jae murmured smoothly, his golden eyes flashing with a commanding, god-like authority. He looked up at her emerald eyes, his flustered shyness completely replaced by absolute trust. "Xiao, Don’t let a single beast or clan elder cross the roots while my channels are open."
Liu Xiao stood firmly at the entrance of the root archway, her long green-and-white silk gown billowing wildly as she raised her jade world-staff, her face flushed with a fierce, fanatical love as she locked her field to protect his throne. "I will guard you until my last drop of mana dissolves, husband. Start refining flame."