Spirit Flame Mutation

"Elder Wu, please!"

Wei Ding raised his hand and gestured towards the entrance of the forbidden area, indicating that Song Wen should go first.

Seeing that Wei Ding had lifted the restrictions on the forbidden area, Song Wen was secretly pleased, but his face remained humble.

"There are other restrictions within the underground passage. I am not familiar with the situation inside, so I will have to trouble Elder Wei and Senior Sister Zuo to lead the way."

Wei Ding nodded and stepped into the passageway.

Seeing this, Zuo Shuiyun pondered for a moment, then gritted her teeth and walked into the passageway.

Song Wen quickly followed.

The passageway spirals downwards.

Wei Ding led the way, holding the pass token, and unlocked the layers of restrictions.

A little over fifteen minutes later, the three of them descended to a depth of about ten miles underground.

A cave several acres in size came into view.

In the center of the cave, there is a four-legged square cauldron that is ten feet tall.

Inside the square cauldron, blue flames were burning fiercely.

Flames shot skyward, reaching several meters high.

At the top of the cave, there is a Vertical Tunnel about ten feet wide, leading directly to the summit of Pill Peak.

In each Alchemy room and cultivator's cave abode on Pill Peak, there is a deep hole the size of a bowl.

These deep caves are all connected to the large Vertical Tunnel, making it convenient for cultivators to draw on the residual heat from the Earthcore Smelting Flame to refine elixirs.

The square cauldron is engraved with countless inscriptions used to seal the Earthcore Smelting Flame, preventing the spiritual fire from leaking out and burning down the Pill Peak.

Without the seal of the Fangding Cauldron, the Earthcore Smelting Flame would have long since turned this underground cave into a world of Lava.

As soon as Song Wen stepped into the cave, he felt a wave of heat rushing towards him.

Looking at the square cauldron and the blue flames burning within it, Song Wen was deeply shocked. The Spirit Flame nurtured by the power of an entire sect was indeed extraordinary.

"Elder Wu, please wait here for a moment while I retrieve a wisp of Flame Core for you," Wei Ding said.

Since I've decided to serve under Song Wen, I might as well try to please him to the end.

As he spoke, Wei Ding began to use his fire control technique.

Upon seeing this, Zuo Shuiyun's eyes flashed with mockery.

In the past, Wei Ding treated Song Wen coldly and indifferently.

Now that she needed Song Wen's Song Wen, she was even more attentive to him than she had been.

She felt a pang of regret, cursing herself for not seizing the opportunity to curry favor with Song Wen first.

"Then I'll have to trouble Elder Wei."

Song Wen stood behind Wei Ding with a smile on his face, watching Wei Ding perform the spell.

Wei Ding's fire control technique, while not particularly advanced, was extremely proficient, clearly indicating his diligent practice.

He took out a small stove, about a foot tall, and hung it in front of him.

He continuously made hand Method Formula to control the fire.

The Earthcore Smelting Flame within the square cauldron, guided by the fire control Method Formula, gradually detached from the cauldron and drifted towards the small furnace.

The flame appeared somewhat ethereal and transparent, as if it might dissipate at any moment.

Just as Wei Ding concentrating intently, preparing to collect the Flame Core.

Song Wen, who was standing behind him, suddenly raised his hand.

Lightning crackled around his palm.

With palm raised like a knife, he struck Wei Ding in the back of the heart with lightning speed.

Wei Ding's cultivation was inferior to Song Wen's, and he was completely unprepared.

By the time he realized what was happening, Song Wen had already successfully launched a sneak attack.

The violent lightning bolts traveled along Song Wen's palm and entered Wei Ding's body.

Lightning surged into Wei Ding's dantian.

The spiritual energy within his Dantian immediately went out of control and rampaged through Wei Ding's body.

"Bang"!

Lightning exploded within his Dantian.

A fist-sized hole blew out of Wei Ding's abdomen.

At the same time, he was sent flying by Song Wen's palm strike.

He flew several meters before Wei Ding.

With his Dantian destroyed, his spiritual energy rapidly dissipated.

In the blink of an eye, Wei Ding lost all his cultivation, his aura weakened, and he was powerless to resist.

The sudden turn of events startled Zuo Shuiyun, who abruptly retreated.

With a thought, she summoned a blood-red monster, the very same Blood Demon she had subdued back in the Cheng Family.

The Blood Demon bared its teeth, its eyes filled with ferocity, and pounced on Song Wen.

A cold glint flashed.

The Blood Demon that Zuo Shuiyun had painstakingly acquired couldn't even withstand a single move from Song Wen. Its head was immediately severed from its body, splitting in two, with its head flying off and blood splattering everywhere.

At this moment, Zuo Shuiyun retreated two zhang (approximately 6.6 meters) away.

Suddenly, she felt a sharp pain in her lower back.

Distracted by his Divine Sense, he probed further and only then did he realize it.

Unbeknownst to her, a tiny Gu Worm burrowed into her body from behind and invaded her Dantian.

Zuo Shuiyun only had the Foundation Establishment Early Stage, and she was powerless to resist the Sacred Beetle Gu, which was about to break through to the Foundation Establishment Late Stage.

Soon, her Dantian was pierced by the Sacred Beetle Gu.

His spiritual energy dissipated, his cultivation was destroyed, and he collapsed to the ground.

The Soul-Splitting Blade flashed by, severing the connection between Wei Ding and Zuo Shuiyun's right hands.

Both of them wore their storage rings on their right hands. Without the storage rings, they would be unable to retrieve the communication devices within them to notify others.

"Wu Sheng, what are you doing?" Wei Ding asked sternly, lying on the ground.

"Ah... my Dantian, my cultivation..." Zuo Shuiyun cried out in pain.

Song Wen ignored the two of them. With a thought, a three-foot-tall Bronze Furnace suddenly landed in front of Song Wen.

Song Wen sat cross-legged on the ground in front of the Bronze Furnace.

This bronze Bronze Furnace was just purchased from the Refining Artifact Peak; it is a high-grade Spirit Artifact used to seal the Earthcore Smelting Flame.

He redirected his spiritual energy and activated the <Limitless Fire-Control True Formula>.

Over the past nine years, he has gained a general understanding of the <Limitless Fire-Control True Formula>.

While I can't say I'm an expert yet, it's enough for my current needs.

He wanted to extract a fragment of the Earthcore Smelting Flame from the four-legged cauldron.

The difficulty of separating a flame fragment is hundreds of times greater than that of plucking a flame core.

Song Wen's Method Formula moved with incredible speed and power, his boundless spiritual energy and profound Divine Sense continuously invading the core of the Earthcore Smelting Flame, attempting to tear the spiritual fire apart.

The Earthcore Smelting Flame seemed to possess a spirit, as if it knew that the spiritual power and Divine Sense that Song Wen had infused into it were not well-intentioned.

It emitted intense heat, aiming to burn and annihilate Song Wen's Divine Sense and power.

The sealing of the Earthcore Smelting Flame by the Four-Legged Square Cauldron made things much easier for Song Wen. Otherwise, the intrusion of his spiritual power and Divine Sense would have caused the Earthcore Smelting Flame to erupt, making the difficulty of separating the flames more than ten times greater.

Two hours later, Song Wen's forehead was covered with fine beads of sweat.

With his full power of fire control, a blue flame the size of a washbasin was separated.

The flames were solid and thick, radiating intense heat.

Song Wen's expression turned solemn; the most important step was about to begin.

The separated Earthcore Smelting Flame was drawn out from the four-legged square cauldron and stored in Bronze Furnace.

As Song Wen unleashed his fire-controlling Method Formula, flames shot up from the four-legged square cauldron and swept towards Song Wen.

Suddenly.

An unexpected scene unfolded for Song Wen.

The Earthcore Smelting Flame within the four-legged square cauldron suddenly erupted, its intensity increasing dramatically, as if it were about to break through the cauldron's seal.

The Fangding was specially crafted by the Beast Taming Sect to seal the Earthcore Smelting Flame; it was not something that could be easily broken.

The surging Earthcore Smelting Flame was suppressed in an instant.

But the sudden surge in the fire caused the temperature inside the cave to rise abruptly.

The temperature inside the large Vertical Tunnel at the top of the cave also rises sharply.