Black Fire Hidden Within
"I'm hiding at your grandma's house! Why are you joining in?" Yue Qianchou was utterly speechless. He'd only gotten this Storage Bag for show; he used it to retrieve and store everything in Utopia. Who would normally rummage through his Storage Bag? It was only because of Nong Zhu's unreasonable behavior, taking things without permission.
"I must get my revenge!" Yue Qianchou steeled his heart and said with a look of sudden realization, "Senior Nong Zhu, I almost forgot something. Someone asked me to ask you a question."
Nong Zhu chuckled and said, "Trying to change the subject? Among all the people you know, who else knows me?"
"You old fool! You'll regret this!" Yue Qianchou was overjoyed inside, but on the surface he said with a serious face, "Someone asked me to ask you if you know someone named Xiaoyao?"
Nong Zhu's playful, mischievous grin froze on her face; she probably wouldn't recover for a while. Bi Changchun had also opened his eyes at some point, giving the father and daughter a strange look before closing them again as if they hadn't been seen.
After a long while, Nong Zhu glanced guiltily at the Ziyi who was staring at her, coughed, and said, "Yue Qianchou, who sent you to ask me this?"
"It's Fairy Qionghua, the sect leader of the Wangyue Sect Righteous Path the Huaxia Cultivation World. She asked me to come and ask you. I wonder if you know her, senior?" Yue Qianchou said seriously, but Nong Zhu caught the smug look in his eyes.
Nong Zhu's face darkened, and he asked Ziyi, "You've also met that sect leader?"
"I've met her. That woman is quite annoying. But she's very generous; she gave us a lot of Spirit Stone for free," the Ziyi said with a smile.
"Since they gave you Spirit Stone for free, how could you speak ill of them behind their back?" Nong Zhu scolded. However, he breathed a sigh of relief. Clearly, Yue Qianchou already knew something, but Ziyi was still in the dark.
The woman in Ziyi stuck out her bright red tongue and quickly shut her mouth. Her master rarely scolded her like that.
Nong Zhu stared coldly at Yue Qianchou and said in a deep voice, "I don't know any Xiaoyao. Don't ask me questions like that again. I hate it when people ask me pointless questions. If there's a next time, I'll break your legs, and then even your master won't be able to protect you."
The warning in his words was quite strong! Yue Qianchou nodded in agreement, guessing that after his actions, the other party would back down and stop making things difficult for him.
However, he miscalculated. Nong Zhu was clearly unafraid of his threats and said indifferently, "Enough with the idle talk. Take out your treasure. If you keep hiding it, I'll strip you naked and search you." Judging from his expression, he wanted to grab Yue Qianchou and give him a good beating right now.
Yue Qianchou's expression twitched, and he thought to himself, "Fine, you're ruthless. When I bring Fairy Qionghua to the South Sea Purple Bamboo Forest, I'll make sure you and your husband are reunited and have a good time!"
"To be honest Senior Nong Zhu, I really don't have any treasures. The so-called treasure is just a method of forming fire into shape that I learned under my master's guidance. It might fool others, but it's really not worthy of being presented to you," Yue Qianchou smile.
"Gathering fire into shape? What kind of Method Formula is that? I've never seen your master use it. Come on, show it off and see if you can fool me." Nong Zhu immediately became interested.
Ziyi had been following Yue Qianchou for so long, and this was the first time she had heard this claim. Her face turned cold, and she mentally dismissed Yue Qianchou as a liar!
"How could I dare to show off in front of a senior? No need."
"Stop talking nonsense! Hurry up!"
Yue Qianchou scratched his head, and under the watchful eyes of the father and daughter, he held out his palm... Inside the room, a bluish shadow flickered, and a ball of bluish flame ignited in Yue Qianchou's palm, spinning rapidly. As the fire gradually subsided, the bluish glow inside the room disappeared, and a bluish flying sword floated on his palm.
Bi Changchun remained silent on the matter; he knew when Yue Qianchou had mastered this technique. Ziyi, however, was dumbfounded. It turned out that Yue Qianchou's flying swords were all formed from condensed fire. No wonder his sleeves were like Storage Bag, allowing him to conjure flying swords with a flick of his wrist.
"Hehe! Interesting!" Nong Zhu raised his hand and directly caught the cyan flying sword. His slender fingers flicked the gleaming blade, producing a metallic clang. He exclaimed repeatedly, "A thousand Law Technique, countless possibilities, endless possibilities! Truly amazing, truly amazing!"
Ziyi tilted her head and looked for a while, then suddenly frowned and said, "Yue Qianchou, you didn't use a cyan flying sword to defeat those two late Tribulation Transcendence stage Transcending cultivators! What I saw was clearly a black flying sword. Could it have been formed from black fire?"
She didn't actually know what the blue and black flames meant; she just subconsciously thought that blue flames could condense into blue flying swords, and that black flying swords were naturally formed from black flames.
"Black Fire?" Nong Zhu exclaimed in surprise, staring at Yue Qianchou in disbelief. Even Bi Changchun opened his eyes instantly, his gaze sharp as a blade, making Yue Qianchou feel extremely uncomfortable.
Oh no! Ziyi, you big gossip, you're ruthless! Yue Qianchou's eyes flickered, feeling extremely guilty. He didn't know what the consequences would be if he hid these things from Bi Changchun, and he quickly calculated a solution in his mind.
"You can conceal black fire within your body?" Bi Changchun asked, enunciating each word clearly.
Nong Zhu looked at him in astonishment and asked, "Old Bi, you don't know either?"
According to his deduction, Yue Qianchou, as the disciple, could subdue the black flames, then Bi Changchun, as the master, could naturally do the same. In that case, wouldn't Bi Changchun already possess the strength to cross the Netherworld Sea of Fire with his own flesh and blood and open the Netherworld Gate? But judging from his question, it seemed that even he didn't know about his disciple.
Ziyi looked the two experts up and down, surprised by their reaction to her words. After a moment's thought, she realized she was also taken aback. She remembered her master's words about the Three Flavored True Fire. If Yue Qianchou truly possessed black fire, wouldn't that be the second-ranked black fire among the legendary Three Flavored True Fire?
This realization startled even himself. Those were the legendary Netherworld Ghost Fire guarding the Netherworld Gate! They were the barrier separating the human world from the underworld! How could Yue Qianchou possibly possess them?
"Yes, Master!" Yue Qianchou stammered, but he had a plan in mind and breathed a sigh of relief.
Nong Zhu tapped the cyan flying sword in her hand and asked in surprise, "You mean you can carry the Netherworld Ghost Fire just like you can carry this cyan fire?"
"It should be!" Yue Qianchou continued vaguely.
"Yue Qianchou, don't scare me! What do you mean by 'should be'? Don't joke about me and your master. It's either yes or no," Nong Zhu asked, her eyes wide.
Bi Changchun stared intently at his disciple and said, "Release your black fire and let's see."
"Since Master has spoken, then this disciple will do as he says!" Yue Qianchou stood up and bowed to the two of them.
Bi Changchun and Nong Zhu stood up together and slowly backed away, their expressions solemn, as if facing a formidable enemy. Seeing that her daughter was still sitting next to Yue Qianchou, Nong Zhu immediately shouted, "Ziyi, come here and stand behind your master. The power of the black fire is not something you can withstand."
The woman in Ziyi frowned, thinking to herself, "Is it really that terrifying? I've seen it before. That Black Fire flying sword wasn't that powerful!"
Despite his hesitation, he still stood up as instructed and quickly walked behind his master. Bi Changchun nodded and said, "Begin!"
Yue Qianchou bowed again, his fire technique silently activating. The three suddenly noticed that Yue Qianchou's eyes had turned pitch black, each displaying a strange black flame leaping about. Then, with a soft "hum," Yue Qianchou was enveloped in a blazing black flame. Although bizarre, it didn't seem to possess much power.
Bi Changchun and Nong Zhu exchanged a glance, both looking puzzled. Ziyi looked at the two elders, then walked confidently to Yue Qianchou's side, curiously examining the black fire and asking, "Yue Qianchou, is this the legendary Netherworld Ghost Fire? It doesn't look that impressive to me!"
Nong Zhu turned his head and said, "Old Bi, didn't you say you lingered in front of the Netherworld Sea of Fire? Take a look and see if it's true or not?"
"It looks similar, but it lacks the power of the Netherworld Ghost Fire," Bi Changchun said, frowning.
"That's strange." Nong Zhu shouted at Yue Qianchou, "Hey kid, did you put something fake to scare people?"
This is my trump card for critical moments, and it's the first time I've shown it to anyone. How dare you doubt the power of my trump card? Yue Qianchou rolled his eyes and respectfully said to Bi Changchun, "Master, I have restrained the power of the black fire. If you want to see it, I can release it at any time."
"Alright! Release it and let's see," Bi Changchun said without hesitation. Nong Zhu called out again, "Ziyi, come back!"
Ziyi was unimpressed by the two old men's overreaction, thinking to herself, "What's there to be afraid of?" Not wanting to disobey her master, she slowly walked back.
Yue Qianchou glanced at her and said, "Serves you right for being so talkative. I'll teach you a lesson today."
A chilling, eerie aura erupted from Yue Qianchou's body in an instant. Despair, desolation, loneliness, tyranny, and death—all sorts of extreme negative energies—filled the entire room in a flash, giving one the feeling of being forever trapped in a sea of suffering, unable to escape.
Bi Changchun and Nong Zhu's pupils contracted sharply, with the former shouting, "That's right, it's the Netherworld Ghost Fire!" At this moment, Yue Qianchou, enveloped in black fire and various extreme auras, appeared like a messenger from the underworld, descending upon the mortal realm to trample on happiness and spread the glory of death.
Under Yue Qianchou's deliberate interference, the Ziyi in the hall shivered violently. She had been walking towards her master, but suddenly stopped, her mind reeling. She was lost in endless sorrow, thinking of her parents whom she had never met. Why had they abandoned her after giving birth to her? If even her parents didn't want her, what was the point of living? She might as well be dead...
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