The howl emitted by the fierce beast from underground shook Nie Tian to the point that he spat out blood, while his brain rumbled continuously.

His eyes showed astonishment. He subconsciously took a few steps back as he moved slightly further away from the huge hole. He was shaken to the extreme. 

It was merely one howl but it was already enough to cause slight damage to his physical body that even he himself considered to be incomparably strong. This had instilled a bit of fear in him. 

He couldn’t imagine just how strong the blurry fierce beast, that moved about within the magma, actually was. 

Just a moment ago, he also noticed that just as the indistinct fierce beast slightly showed its presence, the immemorial runes that flowed within the crystal-shaped coloured ribbons, which covered the magma, unexpectedly became dazzlingly bright.

He remembered clearly that during the three times when the Flame Dragon Armor attempted to sink down, only a small part of the immemorial runes within the coloured ribbon had lit up dazzlingly. 

He suddenly came to his senses and realized that the real purpose of the coloured ribbons that existed deep within the volcano was to stop the fierce beast from rushing out from the earth’s core. 

“Aooo!”

Once again, a world-shaking roar burst out from the raging magma within the earth’s core. This time, Nie Tian, who had prepared in advance, circulated his spiritual energy and tightly guarded his inner organs and eardrums. Only then did he manage to endure and resist it. 

He saw that within the magma below the huge hole, there seemed to be three long tails moving around.

“It lives inside the earth’s core’s magma. Furthermore it also possesses three tails…”

He calmed down his mind and thought back carefully, recalling the formidable spiritual beasts that his master had mentioned to him before. Suddenly, he had an epiphany.

“Earth Flame Beast! It"s an Earth Flame Beast!”

Wu Ji had once told him that there was a unique spiritual beast that resided in the middle of the magma of the earth’s core. This kind of beast was known as the Earth Flame Beast. 

The Earth Flame Beast was a kind of flame spiritual beast that was extremely vicious and violent. They appeared to possess the blood vessels of flame unicorns.

The growth, cultivation, and advancements of the Earth Flame Beast greatly relied on the magma in the earth’s core. 

Once they had found a suitable lava lake, they would stay within it and spontaneously collect the flame energy and condense it into the lava lake

Whatever place Earth Flame Beasts inhabited, even if those places were once damp and had a rainy climate, it would, due to their existence, slowly evolve into a fiery place with volcanoes that frequently erupted.

The flame energy nearby would be absorbed by them and slowly flow into the earth’s core’s lava lake where they resided, given that they survived for one day.

Over a long period of time, the mountains within the area where they were active would one by one turn into volcanoes, and following their cultivation, condense even more flame power which would caused the volcanoes to erupt more frequently.

Could it be that… the real reason why the Scarlet Flame Mountain Range was formed was all because of this Earth Flame Beast?”

Nie Tian’s face changed colour as he looked at the threads of the crystal-shaped coloured ribbons. Suddenly it became clear to him. He realized that the Ling Bao Court experts that had reached their apex must have already found out about the existence of the Earth Flame Beast at an earlier time. 

Or else, the crystal-shaped coloured ribbons wouldn’t have extended up to this place and covered the whole Scarlet Flame Mountain Range. 

He guessed that a past expert from the Ling Bao Court must have only built the Ling Bao Court in the Scarlet Flame Mountain Range after discovering the existence of the Earth Flame Beast. 

With the Earth Flame Beast around, the magma lake deep within the earth’s core would forever gather flame energy. This would cause the three volcanoes to unceasingly erupt. 

The Lianqi warriors that practiced their heaven and earth spiritual energy inside the Spirit Sect and the Lianqi masters that refined spiritual weapons in the Treasure Court were mostly reliant on the blazing flame energy. 

The existence of the Earth Flame Beast had caused the heaven and earth spiritual energy nearby Ling Bao Court to contain extremely dense flame energy.

The fierce flame from the earth’s core was drawn out for many reasons. Some of it was used to form the enormous “Heaven Burning Earth Fire” array, while some would flow into the caves as a material for the Lianqi masters in the Treasure Court to refine spiritual weapons with.

However usually, the flame energy wasn’t infinite. Originally, the flame energy on this land would have been completely used up after hundreds of thousands of years with the amount consumed by the numerous disciples from the Ling Bao Court.

But the Earth Flame Beast could change everything!

It could cause an unending stream of fiery aura near the Scarlet Flame Mountain to be absorbed into the lava lake.

Its existence could let the Ling Bao Court live on the Scarlet Flame Mountain Range with an infinite amount of flame energy to be used for cultivation and spiritual weapon creation.

“Ao! Ao!”

While Nie Tian was pondering, the Earth Flame Beast within the magma once again roared madly. It attempted to rush out of the chains and break away from the restriction of the crystal-shaped coloured ribbons and escape from the earth’s core’s lava pond.

“It should have also noticed the changes that have occurred to the enormous “Heaven Burning Earth Fire” array and wants to seize that opportunity. That’s the reason why it’s so violent and impatient.”

Fang Hui had decided to shatter it, which gave the Earth Flame Beast within the lava pond a sign of hope.

- Hu! -

At that moment, the Flame Dragon Armor, that had stopped for a while, once again suddenly flew out.

“Will you stop messing around?” Nie Tian froze for a moment. Then he persuaded with a forced smile, “Even that beast can’t rush out of the earth’s core, so you should stop wasting your energy.”

From Nie Tian’s point of view, all the runes within the coloured ribbons had now turned dazzlingly bright because of the frantic behaviour of the beast. 

Compared to before, the forbidden force of the large net that was formed by the crystal-shaped coloured ribbons had also multiplied by who knows how many folds. 

If the Flame Dragon Armor were to give it a try now, not only would the Flame Dragon Armor not stand the slightest chance, its energy would also be completely extinguished due to the force of the backlash. It would be better for it to know its own place and wait quietly for the Earth Flame Beast to rush out of its bindings.

As if it had heard his call, this time, the Flame Dragon Armor really did not act recklessly. Rather, it turned motionless while floating half a metre above the crystal-shaped coloured ribbons.

An odd aura, that he could briefly feel, started to overflow from within the animal bone that was on the Flame Dragon Armor. It was like mist and smoke as it stealthily began to flow downwards.

This time, the Flame Dragon Armor did not rush to sink down. But rather, it tried to find a path using the aura.

Even though Nie Tian could feel the aura, he didn’t understand its true significance. 

However, the Earth Flame Beast, who was previously swaying its three tails in the lava pond, appeared to have noticed the strange aura that came from the Flame Dragon Armor.

The Earth Flame Beast immediately stopped its frantic roaring and appeared to swim towards the aura. 

While Nie Tian observed with rapt attention, he noticed that the crystal-shaped coloured ribbons were right above the lava pond. The Earth Flame Beast seemed to be concerned with the formidable power of the coloured ribbons, so it didn’t dare to show its presence.

Therefore, Nie Tian could only vaguely see the enormous and indistinct shadow. He could not distinctly see the physical appearance of the Earth Flame Beast. 

He only saw the Earth Flame Beast, that was deep within the magma lake, stopping right below the Flame Dragon Armor as if it sensed the animal bone’s aura within the Flame Dragon Armor. 

Separated by the thin but giant crystal net, Nie Tian’s mental consciousness was not able to perceive the beast. But, he was aware that the Earth Flame Beast and the Flame Dragon Armor were communicating in a way that he could not understand. 

Suddenly, Nie Tian was dumbfounded.

The animal bone in the Flame Dragon Armor and the Earth Flame Beast communicated for a bit and then appeared to reach a certain agreement. 

Soon after, Nie Tian saw a perilous, raging wave rising abruptly in the lava pond where the Earth Flame Beast was located. 

There appeared to be some kind of bizarre magnetic field forming inside the lava lake. The magnetic field was formed abruptly, as if it had been influenced by the changes in the heaven and earth spiritual energy. 

The Earth Flame Beast could pull out the flame energy and add it to the lava lake, enabling the fierce magma in the earth’s core to maintain its vigorousness. 

At that moment, the Earth Flame Beast appeared to have aroused its innate blood vessels’ talent. 

Very quickly, Nie Tian noticed the thick heaven and earth spiritual energy that was flowing over from within the stone path from which he had descended. The heaven and earth spiritual energy contained a plentiful amount of flame energy. 

As soon as the threads of flame energy flowed into the hole, it was absorbed and stored by the animal bone within the Flame Dragon Armor. 

Although he couldn’t see, he was able to predict with certainty that the blood drop within the animal bone was gradually strengthening. 

It had only been a short while but a large portion of heaven and earth spiritual energy had begun to gather above the huge hole. Slowly, the st.u.r.dy stone wall started to emit heat. 

The flame aura stored within the heaven and earth spiritual energy was being absorbed by the animal bone within the Flame Dragon Armor. However, there was an even larger amount of heaven and earth energy dispersing within the stone path that congealed into bunches of milky-white clouds. 

Nie Tian remained frozen for quite a while. He immediately felt that every breath that he took made him more carefree and relaxed and made his whole body feel comfortable. 

He began meditating and revolved his Lianqi art As soon as he began practicing his Lianqi art, he felt that his spiritual sea suddenly became violent and chaotic. 

The colour of his face changed abruptly. “The excessive spiritual energy seems to be pushing me, making me forcefully break through the bottleneck to the Houtian Realm!”

The extremely thick spiritual energy, the fiery magnetic field formed by the Earth Flame Beast, and the changes occurring to the Flame Dragon Armor created a special environment. That environment, coupled with Nie Tian’s disoriented mental state, had unexpectedly triggered an odd change to Nie Tian’s spiritual sea. 

His spiritual sea could no longer stay calm, as if it was being warped by a weird magnetic field. 

Suddenly his mental state changed!

He immediately understood that the bottleneck that had been blocking him for a long time was being overcome with the help of an odd situation and environment. It had reached an unusual stage where he simply had to break through.

His long period of cultivation in the Lianqi Realm, accompanied by his acc.u.mulation of spiritual energy, was like a volcano that continuously stored flame energy.

By the time it had reached a certain extent and met a perfect opportunity, the volcano would need to erupt. 

If the volcano didn’t erupt, it would explode underground and thoroughly release a violently surging power. 

If he didn’t break through at that moment, then it was possible that both his body and his spiritual sea would be annihilated.

After realizing that, even though Nie Tian knew that it was not an opportune moment, he could not be bothered anymore. 

He forcefully calmed himself down, ignoring the stone path that was getting increasingly hot, ignoring the changes occurring to the Flame Dragon Armor, as well as ignoring the existence of the Earth Flame Beast below, and immediately attempting to break through his bottleneck. 

Also at that moment. 

By the entrance of the cave that he had earlier left, An Shiyi and the group were waiting impatiently. Suddenly, a look of amazement appeared in their eyes.

“Do you guys feel anything?” An Shiyi asked. 

Everyone, who had stopped cultivation, nodded their heads one by one. Pan Tao said, “A huge amount of heaven and earth spiritual energy of the Scarlet Flame Mountain Range appears to be converging towards us. 

“The heaven and earth spiritual energy contains a thick flame aura within it.” An Shiyi practiced cultivation using flame energy, so her perception of flame energy was more sensitive. “We all know that part of the reason why we chose the Scarlet Flame Mountain Range as the location for our sect was because of the thick spiritual energy here and the strong flame aura in the spiritual energy.”

“Such an astonishing huge change normally doesn’t happen to the heaven and earth spiritual energy. It shouldn’t happen unless there would be some odd sign.”

“But now, I can sense the flame aura within the whole Scarlet Flame Mountain Range mixing within the heaven and earth spiritual energy and madly rushing towards us!

While they talked, they had also slowly noticed that the stones beneath them were all warming up. 

If they were to walk out of the stone cave at that moment, they would discover that the short mountain that they were at was scalding and little by little, turning red. It looked as if it was slowly being painted red. 

“It couldn’t have been Nie Tian who triggered the odd changes at this place, right?” An Ying said in a low tone. 

“Impossible!” Pan Tao shook his head. “ What realm is he in? He is still far from reaching the realm needed to control the heaven and earth spiritual energy like this. If he could already trigger such a huge change to the heaven and earth spiritual energy while being only in the Lianqi realm, wouldn’t Elder Fang Hui’s and his master Wu Ji’s entire life have turned into a joke? Wouldn’t they have trained so long for nothing?”

“All of you stay here, I will do some investigation underground!” An Shiyi stood up anxiously. 

She practiced cultivation using flame energy. She also had the highest realm among all the people present. If they were to really send out one person to get a clear understanding of the situation, it could only be her. 

“Sister, please be more careful!” An Ying felt worried. “I don’t know why my right eyelid keeps on twitching (bad omen), but I keep on having the feeling that something big is about to happen.”

“I too feel my qi and blood being unfavorable and my chest feels as if it’s being compressed by a stone. I keep having the feeling that something is off.” Jiang Lingzhu said. 

“You guys stay alert. I’ll go and take a look at just what Nie Tian is actually doing and urge him to leave!” After saying that, An Shiyi followed the deep and gloomy stone path, attempting to find Nie Tian. 

……

Translator: Amazon Aaron
Editors: Zesty Zach and s.l.u.tty Sietse
From XianXiaWorld