A Mortal's Start in the Spirit Beast Mountain

Chapter 170 Refining Demons with Spiritual Fire

Time passed slowly, and in the blink of an eye, several hours had passed.

The spirit fire of the Zhiyang Bird still burned fiercely, showing no signs of weakening. However, its wings drooped slightly, and a hint of fatigue appeared in its eyes. Clearly, activating its primordial spirit fire for a long time had taken a heavy toll on it.

Looking at the Bloodthirsty Blade inside the Spirit Gathering Cauldron, it still appears as black as ink on the outside, with a smooth blade, seemingly unaffected by the burning of the spiritual fire. However, only the demon soul itself knows that the power of the spirit fire from the Fat Sun Bird has already penetrated the blade and reached its deepest interior.

The space inside the Bloodthirsty Blade was no longer as cold and gloomy as before. Countless dense demonic energies, under the scorching heat of the spiritual fire, churned and melted like boiling water, turning into strands of pure yet sinister energy. A portion of this energy was frantically absorbed by the demonic soul, which was relying on these remaining demonic energies to struggle against the burning of the spiritual fire and maintain its own soul from dissipation.

The demonic soul's aura grew increasingly weak, and its once solid divine soul phantom became illusory and ethereal. Each time it resisted the invasion of the spiritual fire, it had to consume a large amount of its original power. The fear and resentment in its heart grew stronger, but it was helpless and could only be trapped inside the blade, passively enduring this endless torment.

"As long as you hand over control of your primordial spirit to me, this fire will be unable to harm you."

A deep voice resounded within the demon soul's body, and at the same time, golden light began to emanate from the demon soul's originally pitch-black primordial spirit.

"Shut up! Don't even think about it. If it weren't for your meddling, how could this human brat have discovered my existence?"

The demonic soul roared at a certain entity within its body, struggling to resist the erosion of the flames while pondering a solution.

On Luo Ming's side, the situation wasn't much better. The twelve Xuan Yuan Pearls were just ordinary magic treasures, not some indestructible objects. Furthermore, without Luo Ming's magic power to sustain them, they had been baked by the extreme yang power of the spiritual fire for a long time and were already overwhelmed.

The Xuan Yuan Pearl, which was originally as solid as crystal, has now softened and melted, turning back into a large mass of viscous Xuan Water, which flows slowly along the inner wall of the Gathering Spirit Cauldron. The original Xuan Water force field is still maintained, struggling to resist the terrifying scorching of the external spiritual fire.

The portion of Luo Ming's consciousness left inside the Xuan Yuan Pearl was subjected to double torment. If it weren't for the fact that he had frequently used this fire to temper his consciousness in his early years and had developed strong resistance, it would probably have already vanished into thin air.

On one side, the terrifying high temperature transmitted through the spiritual fire and the Xuan water pierced through the cauldron, baking his soul with a stinging pain, as if it would shatter at any moment; on the other side, the melting Xuan water was constantly baked and boiled by the spiritual fire, and his divine sense was immersed in it, and he had to endure the repeated tempering like boiling water. The excruciating pain was several times more intense than when he was cultivating the Spiritual Fire Forging Technique.

Outside the cauldron, Luo Ming trembled violently, his clothes soaked with cold sweat that dripped onto the shell of the Xuan Turtle. The excruciating pain in his sea of ​​consciousness almost consumed his reason. He wanted to give up several times, but the thought that if the demonic soul inside the cauldron were to escape, he would surely perish, so he could only grit his teeth and persevere.

"Instead of passively enduring it, I'd rather take this opportunity to cultivate the Spirit Fire Forging Technique!"

A thought suddenly occurred to Luo Ming, and a resolute glint flashed in his eyes.

The Spirit Fire Forging Technique inherently requires using spiritual fire to temper the divine consciousness and refine the divine soul. Now, this desperate situation has become an excellent opportunity for cultivation. If one can use the supreme yang spiritual fire, which has been enhanced by the Spirit Gathering Cauldron, to forcibly cultivate this technique, not only can one consume the terrifying burning power within the body, but one may also take the opportunity to break through the bottleneck and refine an even more powerful divine consciousness.

Having made up his mind, Luo Ming no longer resisted the burning and boiling pain. Enduring the excruciating agony in his sea of ​​consciousness, he sank his mind deep into its depths. (The system has matched you with a Xianxia novel category; click to view details.) Following the incantation of the Spirit Fire Forging Divine Technique, he slowly circulated his divine sense.

He manipulated his divine sense from the outside, actively guiding a wisp of pure yang spiritual fire power that had seeped into the Xuan Water, carefully enveloping his divine sense, tempering and refining it little by little, like forging refined iron.

Each forging was accompanied by excruciating pain that tore at the soul, but Luo Ming's eyes grew more and more determined. In any case, he no longer held much hope for the divine consciousness within the Xuan Yuan Pearl. If he succeeded in cultivating it, it would be as if he had unintentionally discovered a new cultivation method, which might be even stronger than the original.

Outside the cauldron, the Fat Sun Bird persisted, its spiritual fire, though slightly weakened, still resolutely burning the Spirit Gathering Cauldron; inside the cauldron, the roar of the demonic soul gradually weakened, its demonic energy dissolving faster and faster, its divine soul essence being devoured little by little by the spiritual fire, and its original demonic soul phantom was already much dimmer than before.

Three more hours passed, and the demonic soul was completely exhausted. Its ethereal soul was so faint that it almost merged into the heat wave inside the cauldron. It had almost no strength left to absorb demonic energy. The burning sensation of the spiritual fire had already penetrated the very source of its soul. The overwhelming pain made it completely abandon all its arrogance.

It knew that if it continued like this, it would be completely refined and its soul would be destroyed within half an hour.

"Boy, stop! Stop refining!" The demonic soul's will was no longer frenzied, but instead carried a deliberate gentleness, attempting to tempt Luo Ming. "I know you are an ambitious cultivator. The mere Core Formation realm is by no means your end! As long as you spare me and stop the spiritual fire refining, I will impart to you the Holy Realm Demonic Art! This kind of technique far surpasses your human realm's cultivation methods, helping you break through to the Nascent Soul stage, the Deity Transformation stage, and even ascend to the Holy Realm—all will be a piece of cake!"

If these words had been spoken by other cultivators who were eager for quick success and instant benefits, they would probably have been tempted long ago. However, Luo Ming remained unmoved and indifferent.

He sneered inwardly. The other party's original body was at least a demon cultivator at the Nascent Soul stage. It was estimated that he came here when the demon realm invaded the human realm in ancient times. For some unknown reason, his body was destroyed, and only his demon soul hid in a demon artifact to eke out a living.

It's estimated that when Wen Tianren summoned the Six Extremes True Demon, the aura from the Demon Realm awakened him from his slumber, which led to what happened later. His ultimate goal was definitely to take his life.

Luo Ming wouldn't dare to discuss any deal with a cultivator of this rank.

The opponent's weak attitude was merely a delaying tactic born of desperation. Once he stopped refining it and it regained its strength, it would undoubtedly devour him first. Forget about any holy realm demonic arts; it would probably even completely devour his soul. He wouldn't believe such nonsense for a second.

Luo Ming's silence, like the sharpest blade, shattered the demon soul's last glimmer of hope. It panicked completely, its tone becoming urgent and humble, which stirred Luo Ming's pity.

Hearing the demon soul's pleas for mercy, Luo Ming had just begun to waver when a flash of spiritual light ignited within him, instantly bringing him back to his senses.

"Hmph! It seems this demon is nearing its limit. If we hold on a little longer, we can completely eliminate this threat."

He knew that this demonic soul's realm far surpassed his own. Even though it was severely injured and its essence damaged, its true strength was far beyond what a Core Formation cultivator like himself could control. Keeping such a terrifying demon by his side would be tantamount to raising a tiger to cause trouble, and it would eventually turn on him. He dared not take that risk, and no matter how humble the other party's words were, he would never agree.

Just then, a faint bird call came from outside the cauldron. Luo Ming focused his attention and saw that the wings of the Zhiyang Bird were drooping lower and lower, the spiritual light around its body was becoming dim and dull, and the flames of the spiritual fire were also significantly weakened. Clearly, after activating the Zhiyang spiritual fire for a long time, its magical power was severely depleted and it was about to give up.

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