Chapter 426 - The Flames of the Southern Vermilion Bird (1/2)
They walked towards where the sounds were coming from. With each step, the voices could not be more clearer as they drew nearer. The younger voice spoke again, “But this magical field has been here for thousands of years… I’m afraid… Wait, Teacher! There’s somebody!”
As they came closer, Xiao Chen saw not far away two men, one with white hair and beard that reached down his shoulders, clad in robes of green while another, a tall and fair-looking young man. From the looks of it, they have both suffered burns with charred spots and blackened patches sprinkled all around their clothes.
“What have we here! Master Liku! Of all places, I do not expect to meet you here!” Zi Mo barked jeeringly.
The elderly man turned, the tails of his teal robes rippling as he spun so quickly with surprise. He looked intently, but for a brief few seconds he could not quite recognize us, although he could feel that the powers of the newcomers were nowhere below his. “Y-you… you are…” He stammered but before he could say anymore, the young man in white robes beside him spat viciously, “YOU!”
The man was staring at Xiao Chen. There were anger and hate in his eyes; so strong as if he wanted to swallow Xiao Chen whole. Xiao Chen knew who he was. Yu Wenmu, the Third Prince of the State of Zhou of the Eastern Continent. It was he who then wanted to force Luo Shangyan to marry him but his designs were thwarted when Xiao Chen stormed into the palace and took Luo Shangyan away. The whole matter was nothing but an embarrassing disaster to him, a blot in his past that he would never forget nor forgive.
“ARGHH!” Yu Wenmu roared and lunged. He turned into a flash of light that streaked towards Xiao Chen, tossing up dust and gravel in his wake. He had come a long way to achieve the powers of the Nascent Soul Realm.
Clang! The ringing of steel resonated across the area and everything came to a still. With hardly any effort, Xiao Chen had stopped Yu Wenmu’s attack by simply using two fingers to stop his charging blade with a vice-like pinch and that definitely took the young prince by surprise. No matter how he heaved and pulled, he could move his sword not even an inch.
Since his disgrace, he had left the comfort of the palace to live in the mountains with his teacher, Perfected Immortal Liku to work on his study and training of magecraft. Since then, he has sweat and toiled, vowing that one day, he would exact revenge upon Xiao Chen for the ignominy of having his bride taken away. But in his efforts, he had heard not a word about the heroics and exploits of Xiao Chen faraway. And now, he was most shocked with disbelief that a simple student of magecraft just a few years ago was now one of the strongest mages across the lands!
“Come back here, boy!” His teacher called frantically, having immediately realized Xiao Chen’s powers and fearing he might put the young prince to death.
With another crisp clang, Xiao Chen flicked the sword away with a burst of his magical powers, propelling the young prince back to his mentor’s side. Yu Wenmu could hardly dare utter a word, although his face was seething with shame and anger.
The elderly man breathed more easily, seeing that Xiao Chen had no ill will upon Yu Wenmu. Then he threw another look at Zi Mo and finally recognized him. “You! Y-you’re… You’re Xiaoyao Zi!”
“Look at your student! What an anxious little chap! Is he suffering from a heatstroke?”
“How dare you!” Yu Wenmu hissed fiercely. But his teacher laid a hand on his shoulder to prevent him from doing anything as stupid as angering the three men before them.
Indeed, this was Perfected Immortal Liku. He was once the State Counselor of both the States of Qing and Zhou. But his ambitions for politics waned following the separation of both states and he chose to be a prelate no more. He promptly left the Eastern Continent and came to the South where he forsook his former name, going by Liku Zi now. Hence his startlement and surprise when Zi Mo was addressing him by his former name earlier.
It has been more than two years since he last saw Xiao Chen. But Xiao Chen was a fledgling then. One which name he had hardly bothered to know then. But Yu Wenmu’s reaction was enough to refresh his memories and he remembered Xiao Chen.
“So, what brings you here, Master Xiaoyao?” He asked, feigning ignorance even though he knew precisely the purpose of the party of three.
“I am inclined to think that we are after what you are after as well,” Zi Mo sniggered.
That reply made the complexion on Liku Zi’s face pale a little. “It is said Thou shalt not covet,” Liku Zi observed dryly, “My student and I have been here long before you. We have been trying to defeat the defenses of this magical field of the Flames of the Southern Vermillion Bird for many a day now. It’s hardly fair nor honorable for you to step in now. Surely you don’t want the good name of the Jade Qing Sect to suffer if you intend to rob us?”
“Heh heh heh heh… Say what you will. I am only here for the magical field and I am not leaving without it.”
“How dare you!” Liku Zi seethed venomously. But that was just all that he could do. He no longer wielded the respect and prestige like he used to since the coming of the Times of the Annihilation when his progress slacked far behind his peers. That was precisely the reason he needed the Flames of the Southern Vermillion Bird: to help multiply his powers.
But out of nowhere came Zi Mo who wished to thwart his plan, a person known to be crude and blunt in his manners and, as if it could not be any worse, intransigently stubborn. But suddenly he remembered: the magical field was powerful. So powerful that it would take more than him to defeat it. Liku Zi sneered abruptly, “I see. Be my guest then. Just be careful to not let that long beard of yours to be aflame.”
“Ahem,” Zi Mo feigned a cough to evade the jab. Brushing lazily at his beard, he barked at his two younger companions, “Come on, let’s go! Let’s find the magical field!” They walked abreast, drifting past the young prince and his mentor with hardly any more look at them, pressing deeper into the hot and dry valley that felt more like a desert than an idyllic wilderness.
Liku Zi threw a look at his ward and they immediately shadowed the footsteps of Xiao Chen and his companions. Not a leaf of grass grew in this vicinity and not a drop of moisture could be felt in the air. Before long, they came upon the yawning mouth of a long cave once formed when hot boiling magma flowed through during a volcanic eruption. They drew closer and a gust of steaming hot air slammed into their faces as if to give them a malignant welcome by nearly scorching their very skin. Down at their feet, red-hot magma flowed through the cracks and fissures under their feet like tiny rivers of blood that stretched far and wide.
Xiao Chen’s face hardened and he quickly cast a magical shield that shrouded around him in an orb of True Energy with Zi Mo and Yu Yifeng following suit. Then they leaped into the air, morphing into three radiant streaks of light that charged into the caverns.
Since stepping into the cave, Xiao Chen was already facing the immense heat threatening to incinerate him to crisp. The swelter in the cave was unbearable that he almost felt as if he was a piece of log, burning slowly into charred timber.
The terrain was rocky and jagged inside the caverns and blazing magma could be seen everywhere, coursing in narrow cracks and fissures on the ground and the walls like veins glowing in the darkness. The heat only grew the more they moved inside that even breathing was hard. Xiao Chen felt himself suffocating so badly that even his face turned pale. “Are you fine?” Yu Yifeng asked with concern and immediately produced a skin of water from his Divine Vessel and offered it to him.
Xiao Chen took over the waterskin and took several gulps, emptying it quickly. But it was hardly enough with the heat around them. It took another two more waterskin’s worth of water to finally quench his thirst. “What is wrong with you, boy?” Zi Mo asked, puzzled, “Just don’t get yourself sick. We need you to defeat the Spirit of the magical field.”
“It’s fine. I’m all right,” Xiao Chen croaked, feeling much better now. But before he could say more, a fire-demon leaped out of the magma, its figure burning with flames. Yu Yifeng’s Startling Rainbow Sword rang menacingly as it escaped its sheath and Yu Yifeng swung it at the flame elemental, forcing it back into the magma where it disappeared.
They walked deeper, enduring the staggering torridity that seemed to bounce off the walls of the caves to gnaw on their spirit and their vigor. The air was stifling and muggy, filled with the horridly odoriferous stench of sulfur that made it all even more difficult to breathe. They exited the stone passages and reached a wide stone chamber. There, at the center, was a long sword with its three-feet-long blade driven into the ground. It was a weapon ornately designed and forged; the top half was gleaming red-hot, the center of its blade glowing with a purplish shade and the rest of the length of the blade until its tip was a bright emerald-green. The entire sword was engulfed in flames, flames that burned with the same three hues.