Netherworld Ghostfire

Zhang You sat cross-legged where he was.

He felt every drop of blood, every shred of flesh, and every bone in his body being wrapped in an inexplicable force.

It was as though tens of millions of needles were picking away the impurities within, the pain boring deep into his marrow.

But the effects were also incredibly obvious!

Black qi visibly began to seep out from all over his body, while a layer of black-gray residual impurities slowly oozed from the surface of his skin.

Threads of blood were mixed within them.

At this moment, he could only spare a small portion of his attention to monitor the situation outside.

Most of it was devoted to resisting the torment brought by Great Body Tempering!

At this time, another group of Mist Ghosts gradually gathered around them!

After Qingyuan Old Daoist saw Zhang You's condition, he swallowed several pills to replenish his depleted spiritual power and set up several layers of defensive talisman formations.

Then he began clearing out the Mist Ghosts surging in from all around.

Other than the Head Mist Ghost and Tree Demon Mist Ghost that had been dealt with earlier, not a single one of them could put up a fight.

Though the Old Daoist could handle them with ease, his stamina gradually began to fail him!

Zhang You received another great amount of blue-white qi, and his body-tempering progress accelerated once more.

It had originally needed half an hour, but now, in less than a quarter of an hour, the tempering was already complete.

"Limitless, you Heavenly Venerable!"

The Old Daoist's clothes were already in tatters. After repelling a wave of attacks, he retreated.

"Thanks for your hard work! Rest and recover—the Mist Ghosts are mine!"

Suddenly, Zhang You patted the Old Daoist on the shoulder and stepped forward.

The ninth Great Body Tempering was complete!

An even denser surge of blood qi erupted from him.

With two punches from Zhang You, large numbers of Mist Ghosts turned into calamity ash!

"This really is a fine place to farm experience!"

After several violent tremors, the surroundings fell quiet.

Before long, Zhang You returned.

The yin qi in the surroundings had dropped several grades. Outside, only scattered Mist Ghosts remained, fleeing in every direction.

"I reckon it'll take at least ten years for the Mist Ghosts to recover to their former numbers. There's absolutely no way it'll happen sooner!"

The Old Daoist had already recovered half his spiritual power and came to Zhang You's side.

Very quickly, the Old Daoist controlled the Charm Ghost again and learned the route out.

"We're finally out!"

Zhang You looked at the houses not far ahead, then turned back to glance at the Burial Ground of Yin behind them.

The cluster of houses ahead was no simple place either. At the very least, the density of its yin qi was comparable to that of the Burial Ground of Yin they had just left.

It was clearly no place of goodness!

When the two of them approached the cluster of houses, they were stunned by the sight before them!

The ground as far as the eye could see was covered in countless gray-black flames!

Before they could even approach, they felt as though their souls were being scorched!

"This is... this is..."

The Old Daoist's eyes widened, and he was so shocked that he could not speak!

"What is it?"

Zhang You was rather curious. What could make the Old Daoist so eager yet so fearful?

That was right—he saw shock, longing, and fear in the Old Daoist's eyes.

"If I'm not mistaken, this is the legendary Divine Fire—Netherworld Ghostfire!"

The Old Daoist swallowed hard. Even now, he still found it difficult to believe.

How could the legendary Divine Fire appear in a place like this?

"Is it powerful?"

Zhang You had no real concept of it, but just from the name alone, he could tell it was something incredibly badass!

"Nonsense! Netherworld Ghostfire is said to have existed since the birth of the world. It is a Divine Fire unique to the underworld and the nether realm, and it is especially potent against souls!"

The Old Daoist had only heard of it from certain records.

If the outside world learned that such Divine Fire existed here, it would turn the heavens and earth upside down. Xiaolin City definitely would not be able to keep itself intact!

"Do you know how to collect it?"

Zhang You's heart stirred, his face full of eagerness to try!

Who would not want a divine treasure?

"Divine Fire has a spirit. It depends only on fate and opportunity; it cannot be forced!"

The Old Daoist was truly afraid Zhang You would charge straight in recklessly, so he hurriedly warned him.

"Damn! Then it all comes down to luck!"

Zhang You shook his head and sighed. His interest instantly dropped by more than half!

"No one can say for sure with this thing! We don't even know whether this is a source flame!"

After saying that, the Old Daoist found the notion rather laughable.

How could the source Divine Fire possibly appear in such a tiny place?

"A source flame?"

Zhang You caught a key term.

"That's right. Divine Fires are divided into source flames and Branch Fires.

"A source flame is the core origin of a Divine Fire. It is equivalent to the Divine Fire's true body, its most fundamental existence. So long as the source remains undying, the Divine Fire will continue to exist.

"A Branch Fire, meanwhile, is a wisp of flame separated from a Divine Fire.

"Only a source flame deserves the title of Divine Fire.

"Branch Fires are classified as Exotic Fires. They are already immensely powerful flames and possess a trace of the original's might!

"They can enhance cultivation, combat, pill refining, artifact refining, and more. Their uses are boundless!

"A Branch Fire is controlled by its source flame and can be recalled by the source flame at any time!

"I guess the one here should be a Branch Fire of Netherworld Ghostfire!"

The Old Daoist explained.

Zhang You had picked up another batch of strange knowledge!

He nodded and looked around again.

Although they might be able to avoid Shopkeeper Ling and the others' schemes here,

there was neither food nor water in this place. It would be fine if they left within a few days, but if they stayed too long, they might really starve to death here. That would be utterly undignified!

Especially after so many battles, he had expended a great deal of blood qi. Without timely replenishment, he had already grown noticeably thinner!

He had eaten the Old Daoist's pills before, but to him, they were poison!

Though he had not explicitly said that he cultivated Martial Arts, the Old Daoist had more or less guessed it.

According to the Old Daoist, the current world rejected Martial Arts. The pills and spirit herbs of the immortal path were poison to practitioners of Martial Arts!

Moreover, Zhang You had a premonition that when the next Great Body Tempering came, a great terror would descend!

It seemed that some existence in the heavens had set its sights on him!

No longer letting his thoughts run wild, he mobilized a thread of blood qi for defense. Sure enough, the feeling of his soul being scorched vanished!

To reduce consumption, Zhang You had the Old Daoist set up a defensive talisman formation around them to ward off that soul-scorching sensation.

Afterward, they chose a direction and entered the cluster of houses.

The place was eerily quiet. Aside from their footsteps, there was not another sound.

Though every house was enveloped by Netherworld Ghostfire, all of them remained perfectly intact, showing no sign of having been burned. They could not even hear the sound of flames burning.

In the depths, however, there was an immense aura. Even when they gazed into the distance with all their might, and even with the protective formation in place, they could still feel their souls being pierced by pain.

Clearly, some powerful existence occupied that area.

Zhang You believed that the only way out might lie over there!

After taking only a few steps, he casually glanced around.

"Hm?"

Slightly surprised, he pulled the Old Daoist over and stopped beside the window of a house.

"Did you find something?"

The Old Daoist looked around but did not discover anything unusual.

"Doesn't this seem to record a Martial Arts cultivation method?"

Zhang You pointed at several sheets of paper pasted over the window.

"Wind God Leg! Oh, it really is a Martial Arts cultivation method! More precisely, it's a Martial Skill!"

"The immortal path has spells; Martial Arts has Martial Skills!"

The Old Daoist nodded.

"Are the things that appear in a ghost domain real?"

After entering the house, Zhang You asked the question that concerned him most.

Just as the two discussed the matter, the flames outside suddenly flickered several times, as though they were brewing something!