A Mortal's Start in the Spirit Beast Mountain

Chapter 169 The Intent of Departing Fire

"How could a broken cauldron possibly trap my true form? In that case, I'll seize your natal magic weapon first!"

As soon as the demonic soul's thoughts settled, a monstrous demonic aura suddenly surged within the Bloodthirsty Blade. Countless miniature primordial spirit phantoms surged out from the blade, some strong, some weak, and all different in form. If Luo Ming concentrated and looked closely, he could clearly identify one of them as Liu Shi's primordial spirit, which had been devoured by the Bloodthirsty Blade earlier.

When these illusory primordial spirits first appeared, they were all in a daze, with empty eyes, drifting around the Bloodthirsty Blade like rootless duckweed, without any order or pattern.

Until the demonic soul let out a deep and domineering roar, a sinister divine soul power swept out, and those primordial spirit phantoms instantly turned blood red, their soul power surged, and they instantly lost their dullness. Enveloped in rolling demonic energy, they rushed madly towards the twelve Xuan Yuan Pearls floating nearby like madmen.

"What are you going to do?"

Luo Ming's heart skipped a beat. Although he couldn't figure out the demon soul's intention for a moment, his instinct to protect his natal magic weapon made him react instantly without thinking too much.

With a thought, the twelve Xuan Yuan Pearls, which were suspended inside the Spirit Gathering Cauldron and were as blue as the deep sea, moved in response and began to spin rapidly. At the same time, the mysterious water patterns on the surface of the pearls lit up, and strands of viscous Xuan water power poured out, instantly weaving into an airtight gravity field that firmly protected the twelve Xuan Yuan Pearls.

The illusory primordial spirits, driven by the demonic souls, crashed headlong into this layer of Xuan Water Force Field. Instantly, they were as if they had sunk into an extremely viscous quagmire, their movements becoming incredibly sluggish. The demonic energy surrounding them was constantly being worn down and dissolved by the power of Xuan Water, emitting a soft hissing sound. For a moment, they could not advance an inch and could only roar and crash madly outside the force field.

"Hmph! A mere Core Formation cultivator's natal magic weapon dares to stop me? How utterly presumptuous!" The demonic soul's thoughts pierced through the Spirit Gathering Cauldron, carrying a harsh mockery and disdain, echoing in Luo Ming's sea of ​​consciousness.

Temporarily trapped by the power of the Xuan Shui, the illusory primordial spirits, urged on by the demonic soul, unleashed their last remaining obsessions and ferocity. They shrieked as they tore and merged with each other, and the originally scattered phantoms gradually coalesced into several more solid blood-red demonic shadows. The demonic energy around them became increasingly dense, and their impact force increased several times over, as they ruthlessly charged towards the Xuan Shui force field once again.

With a muffled boom, the force field was impacted, causing violent ripples to spread. The dark blue light of the Xuan Yuan Pearl flickered and trembled slightly, clearly unable to hold on for much longer.

"Relying solely on defense won't work; we'll be breached sooner or later!" Luo Ming's gaze sharpened, and he instantly made a decision, knowing that passive defense was ultimately not a good strategy and that he had to take the initiative.

And the most effective weapon in his possession to subdue these evil demons was the supreme Yang spiritual fire of the Fat Yang Bird.

As soon as Luo Ming had a thought, a flash of light appeared in the spirit beast pouch, and the Zhiyang Bird flapped its wings and flew out. Understanding the signal, it opened its mouth and spat out a cluster of blazing white flames with golden light. The fire flared up and instantly enveloped the entire Spirit Gathering Cauldron.

The flames roared, yet no smoke was visible; only a scorching heat spread. Luo Ming, who was standing nearby, immediately sensed the terrifying power and hurriedly summoned his protective spiritual light to defend himself.

However, the protective aura was no longer as pure as before; instead, it carried wisps of black energy, making it look somewhat eerie.

"This black energy has corroded the Golden Core, and I didn't expect that even activating my magic power would become sluggish. Once I've refined this demon, I need to quickly resolve the Golden Core issue."

Luo Ming sensed the unusual state of the Golden Core. Although he was extremely anxious, he knew that things had to be done one step at a time. He stopped thinking about the Golden Core and began to focus all his efforts on dealing with the situation inside the cauldron.

After the spirit fire of the Zhiyang Bird devoured the remnant soul in the scroll, its power increased significantly.

Inside the Spirit Gathering Cauldron, relying on the divine sense restriction within the Profound Origin Pearl, Luo Ming clearly sensed the changes within the cauldron.

Although no flames rose from the cauldron, the temperature inside soared instantly. A pure and supremely yang energy, capable of cleansing all filth and evil in the world, spread out. Even a wisp of this energy caused Luo Ming's divine sense, which remained inside the cauldron, to feel an intense burning sensation, as if he were about to be refined at any moment.

Luo Ming had long been familiar with the spirit fire of the Zhiyang Bird. In the past, in order to cultivate the Spirit Fire Forging Technique, he had directly introduced the spirit fire into his sea of ​​consciousness to burn his divine sense. The excruciating torment was something that ordinary cultivators would find difficult to withstand if they had not already refined that spirit fire.

For some reason, even though there was a Spirit Gathering Cauldron between them, the burning sensation inside the cauldron was several times stronger than when he directly used spiritual fire to burn his divine sense. The wisp of divine sense that Luo Ming left inside the cauldron felt like it was about to melt and dissipate as soon as it came into contact with it. He was so shocked that he quickly shrank his divine sense into the Profound Origin Pearl and dared not peek out again.

"This is truly a case of shooting oneself in the foot. In order to refine the demon, one is about to refine oneself as well. I'm afraid there are very few cultivators in the entire cultivation world who would do such a thing."

Luo Ming gave a bitter smile to himself, but stopped thinking about it—at most, he would only lose some of the divine consciousness within his natal magic weapon. Although it would damage some of the divine consciousness power, it wouldn't be fatal. As long as he could refine the demonic soul within the cauldron, it would all be worth it.

After the spirit fire of the Zhiyang Bird continued to envelop the Spirit Gathering Cauldron, the once bustling space inside the cauldron became completely quiet in just a short while.

Those low-level primordial spirit phantoms were already weak in foundation. Under the scorching heat of the supreme yang spiritual fire enhanced by the Spirit Gathering Cauldron, they had nowhere to hide. Like snowflakes under the blazing sun, they vanished in an instant, turning into wisps of green smoke and dissipating into the cauldron without leaving a trace.

"How could you, a mere Core Formation stage human cultivator, possibly control the legendary Southern Bright Flame? Just who are you?!"

After sensing the true meaning of the Li Fire permeating the entire space within the cauldron, the demonic soul was filled with extreme terror for the first time. Its roar was trembling uncontrollably, and all its former arrogance was gone.

Although he did not see the true form of the flames, he deeply felt the scorching heat that reached his soul and seemed to melt him completely.

He still remembered that before descending to the human realm, he had witnessed the Ancestor fighting with a Vermilion Bird True Spirit from afar. The Southern Bright Fire released by the Vermilion Bird True Spirit possessed terrifying power that could burn the heavens and destroy the earth. Even the Ancestor dared not touch it lightly.

Although he was thousands of miles away at that time, he was still affected by the terrifying aura that burned his soul. And now, the feeling inside the cauldron is exactly the same as before.

"Nanming Fire? Is it really that exaggerated?" Luo Ming hid inside the Xuan Yuan Pearl, his body enveloped in layers of cool Xuan Water, barely resisting the high temperature outside. Hearing the demon soul's terrified roar, he was filled with doubt.

He knew that his Zhiyang Bird carried a trace of Vermilion Bird bloodline, and that its spiritual fire had a natural ability to restrain evil spirits, but he never imagined that it could reach the level of the legendary Nanming Li Fire.

"Could it be because of the Spirit Gathering Cauldron?"

Luo Ming's heart skipped a beat, and he instantly thought of this possibility. He could clearly feel that the burning sensation inside the cauldron was several times stronger than being directly burned by the spirit fire of the Zhiyang Bird. It must be the mysterious power of the Spirit Gathering Cauldron itself that amplified and enhanced the extreme yang power of the spirit fire, causing the demonic soul to mistakenly believe it to be the true meaning of the Nanming Li Fire. Thinking about it this way, it was not impossible.