Chapter 426 - The Flames of the Southern Vermilion Bird (2/2)

This was one of the legendary relics of the ancient, the Sword of the Vermillion Bird. A weapon of immense power that could vanquish all that is evil. It was a weapon comparable with the Autumn Water, if not better, although it has been forgotten after so many years and no one thought of including it into the ranks of the most powerful weapons in the lands.

The sword sat in the center of a large ring of fire spanning almost a hundred yards wide. This must be it, Xiao Chen mused, the magical field of the Flames of the Southern Vermilion Bird. Out of nowhere, a voice rang suddenly. The boyish voice of a young man, saying, “What is this? Did you bring help this time?”

Magical fields of the most ancients manifest their own spirits called Formation Spirits and the Spirit of the Flames of the Southern Vermillion Bird was named Li Xie, a spiritual entity in the form of a young teenage boy. Yet in truth, Li Xie was at least tens of thousands of years old, although his memory would be utterly wiped clean once every millennia.

“Would you yield to me if I am able to defeat you?” Xiao Chen openly admitted his purpose.

“Hahahahaha! I like you! You’re straightforward one, unlike the old man which had come two days ago! What a veritable petulant geezer, that one!” Li Xie’s youthful voice came from inside the ring of fire, “But let’s see what you can do!”

“Can I take your word of it?” Xiao Chen asked aloud, his gaze hardly leaving the Sword of the Vermillion Bird a hundred of yards away.

“Hahahaha! By all means! This I stake upon my pride as a Formation Spirit! Come on, boy! Dawdle no more!”

“So be it then!” Xiao Chen barked and marched forth. But Yu Yifeng placed a hand on his shoulder and stopped him, “Be careful. This is not your ordinary flames. This is fire that can melt and incinerate everything.”

“Hahahaha! Is that fear I am sensing in your voice?” Li Xie’s sardonic voice called from inside.

With a dip of his eyebrows, Xiao Chen looked into the magical circle of flames and dove inside. He immediately felt the throbbing heat gnawing past his flesh, devouring even his insides and his very bones and he emitted an anguish “Argghhh!”

“Hahahaha! And here I am, thinking that you would at least be more of a challenge than that old senile! I’m disappointed Hahahaha!”

Xiao Chen grimaced painfully at the woe and suffering that he had never once felt before. Feeling as if he was burning like a piece of charcoal, life was ebbing away slowly for him but he knew that he has yet to feel the true strength of the Flames of the Vermillion Bird, which was so much more terrifying beyond comprehension.

Standing at a distance away, Liku Zi watched on with narrowed eyes, grunting in a low voice, “This boy might be powerful, but he appears to fear this Flame of the Vermillion Bird. Let’s see, the Flames belonged due South and the twilight is of the West… According to esoteric cosmology, those of the wood element, of the East towards the North, is weakest against fire…”

Just outside the ring of fire, Yu Yifeng was startled and worried sick. “What’s going on with Lil Chen?” He asked hushedly, “Is it because of the Yin energies in his body?”

Zi Mo’s face contorted into a troubled frown as he mumbled, “Wait… Something’s not right… The Flame is of the South in Fengshui esotericism and is strong against the Wood element… Oh no… It can’t be…” As if struck by a sudden fit of insanity, he screamed, “COME OUT, BOY! COME OUT NOW!”

But Xiao Chen paid no heed to the calling. He concentrated on the notion of Muxue suffering the torments of the Ice Keep and swallowed hard, enduring the pangs of broiling heat lashing at him. He gritted his teeth and plunged deeper into the centermost area of the circle where the true Flames of the Vermilion Bird awaited and true enough, a shaft of the incinerating Flames whipped at him and Xiao Chen could only shield himself with his arms. He howled in pain again when the Flames struck his arm and it immediately became so numb from the sting as if the limb was severed from him.

“Is this how you intend to defeat me, boy?” The mocking sneer of Li Xie resounded from the center of the flaming circle.

“Heavens! The boy is insane!” Zi Mo stomped and leaped into the air, diving into the flames himself. But he had barely past the peripheral edge of the magical field when an invisible wall stopped him. Li Xie’s cruel voice snapped like a cracking whip, “How dare you interfere! I allowed him to come in, not you!”

Xiao Chen bit hard and reminded himself to remain calm, tapping on his arms to seal a few of his meridian channels and ease the pain of his wounds. Zhen Trigram shifts to the West, the Kun Trigram shifts to the North, while the Kan Trigram is absent… The Xun Trigram remains at South-east, unchanged, and… As he quickly made his calculations he moved at once, stepping barely half of an inch to his left and moved forward again, an inch slanted right this time. His calculations have proven true! A few bolts of the Flame scarcely evaded him, hissing by harmlessly and nearly searing off the edges of his clothes.

“Oh? You seemed to have discovered something, boy? Let’s see it again!” Li Xie jeered with excitement and eight dashes of searing flames shot at him, closing off any avenues of evasion.

The heat continued its rampage, stinging and biting deep into his flesh while suffocating Xiao Chen’s breath. He was closer to dying the longer he remained inside the roasting swelter. Yi Yifeng felt his palms slick with sweat out of concern for his friend and he could see how close is Death coming at Xiao Chen. “Lil Chen!” He screamed frantically, “Come out first!”

If Xiao Chen had heard him, he certainly made no sign of it again. He stayed inside for more than an hour and he was so badly burned with blood caking almost every inch of his melting flesh. He was too tired to feel much of anything beyond numb, his eyes set only on his purpose: the Sword of the Vermillion Bird barely a meter away from him.

“BREAK!” Xiao Chen thundered audaciously, his fingers closing on the hilt of the sword, only to feel as if his fingers were clasping on a red-hot iron instead, threatening to rasp the skins off his digits while the agony stabbed deep into his flesh, sending a jolt of pain into him.

“Think carefully, boy,” Li Xie’s voice came again, only this time, he was hardly mocking or cynical; rather, he began to sound worried and fearful, “Draw the sword and you’d lose your arm!”

“YIELD!” Xiao Chen roared with all his might, giving the sword the strongest tug he could manage. The blade of the sword slid out of the ground and with it came a pillar of flames that shot out of the hole where the sword once filled, swallowing his arm whole with the Flames of the Vermillion Bird and another shot of pain came just as his arm numbed almost at once and the sword clattered on to the ground.

With his teeth gritted, Xiao Chen bent down and picked up the sword with his left arm. He lifted the legendary weapon and aimed its tip towards South-east at a block of frozen magma. The jet of the Flames gushed forth from the blade and engulfed the giant block, reducing it to molten rock.

Such was the terrifying power of the Sword of the Vermilion Bird. A sword so dangerous and deadly that not even the Unsullied and Autumn Water came close to comparison. While others fight with steel and iron, the wielder of the Sword of the Vermillion Bird fights with fire that could instantly incinerate any foes into charred and blackened crisps in just an instant.

The Sword reverberated in his grasp like a maniacal beast waiting to pounce and hissed with all his fury, “And with this weapon, I’ll slay you, Red Sleeve! Just you wait!”