Chapter Ninety-Four: The Agony of Cultivation

When Luo Tian opened the lid of the jade box, a scorching wave of heat struck him at once.

It truly deserved to be called a fire essence spirit.

Luo Tian felt the air before him grow rapidly hot, rippling like water, and admiration welled up in him for this spirit of fire.

In the center of the box, a flame was blazing fiercely. Its outer layer was much like an ordinary fire in color, but from the fluctuation it gave off, it was by no means comparable to any flame seen by common eyes.

The inner flame, meanwhile, was a deep violet, trembling faintly with the motion of the outer fire. Luo Tian could not yet discern anything especially remarkable about it.

As for the core of the flame, it was black, like a deep pool without a visible bottom, arousing in one an urge to probe further even as it made one hesitate and recoil, afraid to let a single improper thought arise.

The surrounding heaven and earth essence energy suddenly stirred.

A flash of insight passed through Luo Tian’s mind, and he activated his divine sight, sending its power into his eyes.

He saw that the heaven and earth essence energy around the Transmuting Origin True Steel Fire was being continuously consumed by its blazing heat, as though this fire spirit were using that energy as its fuel.

What startled Luo Tian even more was that, as the surrounding energy vanished into the flame, the Transmuting Origin True Steel Fire did not weaken in the slightest. On the contrary, it burned all the more fiercely.

The Transmuting Origin True Steel Fire was indeed overwhelmingly fierce.

Only a special material like jade, belonging to the earth element, could contain and hold a number of elemental spirits.

Luo Tian’s heart gradually stirred with excitement. The reason the Transmuting Origin True Steel Fire was such a rare fire spirit, coveted by countless fire-element cultivators, was not merely because it could break through elemental defenses. From Qin Tianyu’s memories, it seemed to be faintly connected to an extremely formidable true intent.

But there was no time to dwell on that. The urgent task was to first try refining a trace of this fire essence energy.

Just as Luo Tian was about to begin, he suddenly thought of something else. He took the Boundless Life-Giving Wood from his bracelet, absorbed some more life force from it, and then placed it beside him within easy reach.

Begin.

Taking a deep breath, Luo Tian recalled the method of cultivation from the Fire Essence Classic and slowly closed his eyes.

The flame within the Transmuting Origin True Steel Fire was not yet ownerless. Thus, like the life force of the Boundless Life-Giving Wood, under Luo Tian’s guidance it quietly split off a minute spark and flew slowly yet resolutely toward him.

This was the power of the Transmuting Origin True Steel Fire.

Luo Tian’s heart swelled with excitement.

The energy of an elemental spirit could not only allow a cultivator to absorb the purest essence energy and cultivate at a far greater speed, but it was also something that drove cultivators mad with desire for its tempering of the body, its forging of the meridians, and its aid to body-refining secret arts.

Once that spark was drawn into Luo Tian’s meridians, it erupted with terrifying destructive force. Not only did its unbearable heat cause him a pain like a thousand needles stabbing him at once, but within this Transmuting Origin True Steel Fire there also seemed to lurk a majesty capable of incinerating all things.

Pain!

Luo Tian clenched his teeth, his entire body trembling faintly.

It was pure torment.

Imagine a spark, carrying searing heat, suddenly forcing its way into fragile meridians. What sort of sensation would that be?

If it were only an ordinary spark, that would be one thing. But the Transmuting Origin True Steel Fire was an exceptionally rare existence even among fire spirits, famed for its brutal, overbearing power. Luo Tian had never experienced anything like this before. Even though he had prepared himself mentally, this impact still made him feel worse than dead.

And in the very next instant, the life force he had drawn into his body began to take effect. The damaged meridians, nearly broken apart under the power of the Transmuting Origin True Steel Fire, immediately began to heal at high speed.

Sensing the change within his body, Luo Tian let out a quiet breath.

Fortunately, he had prepared the Boundless Life-Giving Wood in advance. Even if the power in his body were exhausted for the moment, he could recover again in no time and return to fighting this Transmuting Origin True Steel Fire for three hundred more rounds.

He could not help but silently admire his own foresight. Ordinary fire essence energy already made one feel a scorching force when circulating it, let alone this fire spirit.

However, that smug feeling did not last long. Under Luo Tian’s guidance, the spark of Transmuting Origin True Steel Fire advanced yet another step.

Hiss.

Luo Tian could not help sucking in a sharp breath of air. If he had not reacted quickly, he would have bitten off a chunk of flesh from his own lip with his clenched teeth.

His upper and lower rows of teeth were pressed together so tightly, with such force, that Luo Tian could even feel the strain spreading through the muscles of his face, leaving him faintly aching.

As the meridians were repaired once more, the energies of the Transmuting Origin True Steel Fire and the Boundless Life-Giving Wood began their faint clash within Luo Tian’s body, though one was overt and the other hidden. Moreover, both energies were ownerless; one destroyed and advanced, and the other only came afterward to clean up the wreckage, so no direct collision occurred.

That tiny spark, wrapped and pushed forward by Luo Tian’s essence energy, continued advancing through the meridians. Only after a full circulation of one cycle did the dense true fire essence energy formally enter Luo Tian’s dantian.

This feeling.

With his eyes gently closed, Luo Tian sensed that the Transmuting Origin True Steel Fire, now partially refined, no longer radiated the wild and violent ferocity it had at first. Instead, it gave off a warm, soothing sensation, with not the slightest trace of torment or unbearable pain.

Although this initial attempt could be said to have been extremely successful, Luo Tian was still baring his teeth in silent grumbling. His face had once again gone pale, and a layer of bean-sized sweat beads covered his forehead, dropping one by one.

Even if life force could help Luo Tian recover from his injuries, the pain itself could not be lessened in the slightest. At most, it would last a little less time.

Even so, Luo Tian could still feel a faint ache in the meridians the spark had passed through.

When Martial Brother Luo’s divine art reaches great completion, he will no doubt have to take a few true elite descendants of the Four Great Clans to task, properly establishing the majesty of an elder brother. By then, not only will his essence cultivation be able to break through quickly to the Meridian Flow Realm, but even his divine sight will be able to advance further and reveal even more wondrous abilities.

Luo Tian painted a rosy future for himself in his heart. Otherwise, he truly could not summon the courage to try cultivating with this spirit power again.

Looking at the fiercely burning Transmuting Origin True Steel Fire, Luo Tian sighed inwardly. He had gone through countless hardships to obtain this fire spirit; even if he had to cry blood, he would still refine its power to the end.

Thus, Luo Tian once again threw himself into the painful process of cultivation, the destruction and restoration of his meridians repeating in endless cycles.

Every second of that process was torment beyond words, enough to make one feel worse than dead. Yet each increase in essence energy left Luo Tian deeply satisfied.

Painful and happy at once, that was likely the only way to describe it.

Only when he felt that his meridians were nearly at their limit did Luo Tian end the day’s cultivation.

This rate of progress!

Luo Tian clenched his fist in excitement. Though the pain inside his body still raged, he had already grown somewhat used to it, and so he carried on with composure.

He dragged Fang Zheng’s corpse to the place where Shen Qingkong had died and casually dug a hole to bury Fang Zheng in. He had not the slightest fondness for the man, but he could not simply leave the body here to be gnawed on by demonic beasts. After some thought, that was the decision he made. As for it being dug back up by a beast later, there was nothing to be done about that.

As for Shen Qingkong, since his inner core had exploded at the dantian, and he had already had little essence power left to begin with, the fellow’s corpse had been miserably severed in two. Judging by the present state of things, it was far from intact.

Luo Tian naturally could not be bothered with any sort of body-puzzle game. He made another simple grave beside Fang Zheng’s resting place and tossed Shen Qingkong in as well.

This master and disciple pair had their share of detestable faults. As for right and wrong, Luo Tian could not be bothered to care. Let the two of them go down and keep each other company; at least they would not be lonely.

After finishing the few simple tasks at hand, he would return to the sect. As for these next few days, it would be fine to continue cultivating in this way. It would not take long before he broke through.

The Meridian Flow Realm was within reach.