That day, the Three Pure Ones and the others took their leave, preparing to return to their mountains for secluded cultivation. Seeing this, Jieyin and Zhunti also bade farewell.
Jiang Yun, Qingfeng, and Mingyue said their goodbyes as well. All three were somewhat reluctant to part.
There were no peers at Wuzhuang Temple for them to chat and play with, so their days were terribly boring. Neither of them enjoyed cultivation, and only when Ancestor Hong Yun visited would he sometimes joke around with them.
Jiang Yun had come from later generations and knew quite a few forms of entertainment. Whenever Qingfeng and Mingyue were with him, they felt that even casual conversation was interesting. Of course, this was limited by their own knowledge. If Jiang Yun knew what they were thinking, a term would immediately come to mind: "downward compatibility." When someone chatted with a person who was more knowledgeable and emotionally intelligent than them, they would usually feel as if they were bathing in a spring breeze and find the conversation delightful. Sometimes, this was not simply a matter of shared interests—it might be that the other person was adapting downward to accommodate them.
Zhenyuanzi and the others could actually see this, but when they saw Jiang Yun interacting with the two, he never showed the slightest impatience or distress. Instead, he listened and conversed earnestly, so they did not interfere. Communicating with outstanding people would itself exert a subtle influence and make one better. It was a good thing.
Everyone said their farewells in front of Wuzhuang Temple's mountain gate. Jiang Yun took Senior Mysterious Turtle with him and followed his two teachers back.
Along the way, Jiang Yun shared his thoughts with the two of them. He wanted to go to the southern volcanoes to find the Fire Spirit Pearl, so he would not accompany them back to Mount Sumeru for the time being.
Considering that Jiang Yun's physical cultivation had already reached the Great Luo Realm, and that he had Senior Mysterious Turtle, a mighty expert, protecting him, the two felt at ease letting him seek his opportunity to break through.
At that moment, Jiang Yun recalled some plans he had made not long before. The last time he had returned from the Northern Sea Dragon Palace, he had passed by the Dao Fields of Spirit Bamboo Mountain and Pengxuan Grotto-Heaven. Seeing that the Hall Masters of those two offices had performed well, and that their cultivation and Root Foundations were fairly good, he had thought about taking them as disciples. Thus, he brought the matter up with the two of them again.
Speaking of which, the timing of Jiang Yun's emergence had actually been rather awkward.
Those who had emerged before him were all mighty figures of the current age. They possessed the Root Foundations of innate demon gods and cultivation above the Great Luo Realm, such as his teachers and martial uncles, the Three Pure Ones, Zhenyuanzi, and the others. Those who emerged after him, meanwhile, were the future second-generation figures of the various races and sects, such as his junior disciples Duobao and Guang Chengzi. These people had yet to mature, and their cultivation was all below the Golden Immortal Realm.
This had resulted in an awkward situation: his cultivation was inferior to those above him but superior to those below him, making it difficult to arrange his position!
Jieyin carefully considered his temperament and cultivation before simply allowing him to leave the tutelage. That way, he would have the qualifications to accept disciples. From then on, he would no longer need to remain at the Dao Field of Mount Sumeru and could freely travel throughout the primordial world.
The master had not founded his sect and accepted disciples for long, yet the disciple was already preparing to accept disciples himself. This was rare even among the many mighty figures of the primordial world.
However, when he thought of the enormous changes this disciple had brought to the West, Jieyin felt deeply gratified. Before departing, he instructed Jiang Yun not to forget to seek help at Mount Sumeru if anything happened, and to return to the mountain and reunite with them before the second sermon.
After parting with Jieyin and Zhunti along the way, Jiang Yun took Senior Mysterious Turtle and headed straight for the southern volcanoes.
The southern region of the primordial world had a complex and diverse terrain. Across this vast land stretched rolling mountain ranges extending from the ancestral vein of Kunlun Mountain. There were also surging rivers formed by underground waters converging beneath the mountains. Compared with these rivers, the eight-hundred-li Tongtian River from the time of the Journey to the West was nothing more than a Great Witch beside an ordinary person—hardly worth mentioning. The great river swept across the central region before splitting into two tributaries that flowed separately into the East Sea and West Sea. Downstream, it formed vast plains and marshlands created by sediment deposits. Farther south lay the southern volcanic region.
After crossing the great river, the closer they came to the southern region of the primordial world, the drier the air became and the more agitated the spiritual energy grew. With little moisture, the ground began to crack, as if it might erupt into flames at any moment.
On this day, Jiang Yun followed the route revealed by his deduction and arrived before a volcano. The southern region was extremely strange. Although this place was a volcano, the flames it emitted carried a dense Life Force even as they burned. As a result, quite a few plants and living beings had grown around the volcano. They used the flames frequently spewed from the volcano to temper their bodies, removing impurities through the burning and then repairing themselves with the Life Force within it. Their bodies became incomparably sturdy.
"Hmm... Jiang Yun, have we arrived at the Immortal Volcano? Why do I sense the aura of the Southern Bright Departing Fire?" Senior Mysterious Turtle yawned on Jiang Yun's shoulder and spoke.
"Senior Mysterious Turtle, we've already reached the southern volcanic region. The Immortal Volcano is still a long way away!"
According to legend, the Phoenix Clan possessed the Southern Bright Departing Fire, an extremely wondrous and powerful flame.
The Southern Bright Departing Fire was vermilion in color. As it flickered, it seemed capable of incinerating all evil and filth in the world. It was born in the most yang regions between heaven and earth and had countless connections with the power of the sun.
Its flames were extremely hot. Once ignited, ordinary metal and stone would instantly turn to dust. Even some powerful magical treasures would find it difficult to withstand the scorching of the Southern Bright Departing Fire without special defensive abilities. Moreover, its flames contained an immense Life Force. The Phoenix Clan relied on this tremendous Life Force to achieve nirvana and be reborn from the flames.
In the eyes of countless cultivators, the Southern Bright Departing Fire was truly a treasure that could only be encountered by chance. It had always remained in the hands of the Phoenix Clan.
If someone obtained this flame by chance, they could use it not only for alchemy, greatly improving the quality of pills and removing their impurities, but also use the Life Force within the flames to raise the pills' grade another level. In battle, it could also serve as a powerful offensive weapon.
The mountain range Jiang Yun had found contained flames that could not reach the level of the Southern Bright Departing Fire, but the qualities hidden within them were indeed extremely similar.
He used his magical power to protect his body and arrived at the volcano's mouth. As he had done when retrieving treasures last time, he released the four spirit pearls on his person, hoping to use the resonance between the pearls to bring the Fire Spirit Pearl into the world.
Sure enough, after circling above the volcano for a while, the four spirit pearls plunged headfirst into the volcanic magma. Before long, the flames inside the volcano began to contract inward, with all the energy converging toward the center.
The magma gushing from the volcano gradually solidified as it lost its heat, no longer retaining its original bright-red appearance. Once all the energy had finished gathering inward, five spirit pearls slowly floated out from within the volcano. A cluster of flames still danced around the Fire Spirit Pearl, while a steady stream of fire-attributed spiritual power flowed from it into the flames, as if nourishing them.
"It's actually a flame seed of the Southern Bright Departing Fire. This is a wonderful thing." Senior Mysterious Turtle had come into contact with members of the Phoenix Clan during the Fierce Beast Era and knew a little about the Southern Bright Departing Fire.
Upon hearing this, Jiang Yun first waved his hand and collected all the spirit pearls.
After losing the spiritual energy of the Fire Spirit Pearl, the originally stable flames began to grow agitated. They erupted toward the surroundings all at once, and the protective barrier of Jiang Yun's magical power was pierced through by the Southern Bright Departing Fire in the blink of an eye. He hurriedly summoned the Twelve-grade White Lotus, which finally blocked the flames outside his body.
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