Back on the bustling streets of Blackstone Market, Chu Bai felt as though a lifetime had passed.
The clamorous hawking in his ears and the sulfurous smell in his nose instantly pulled him back into this world of everyday bustle.
Without lingering in the market, Chu Bai tightened his black robe and lowered his bamboo hat. Following the directions in the jade slip, he crossed several chaotic alleys and headed straight for Blackstone Market's underground entrance.
There lay the true heart of this extinct volcano—the Earthfire Hall.
The farther he descended, the hotter and drier the air became.
The muddy black-earth path gradually turned dry and cracked, even growing hot beneath his feet.
The crude shacks on either side gave way to heavy stone chambers, with blasts of scalding white vapor occasionally spurting from the cracks.
This was a paradise for artifact refiners and alchemists, and a sacred haven for those cultivating fire-element arts.
Although Chu Bai did not specialize in the fire element, his Five Phases Returning to the Celestial Palace Art emphasized the cycling of the five phases, sustaining life without end.
After traveling through the Bitterly Cold Lands of the Far North for an entire month, he had accumulated a great deal of frost baleful intent within his body. His spiritual power kept it suppressed, but it remained a hidden danger.
As the saying went, lone yin could not give birth, and solitary yang could not grow.
The pure-yang earthfire deep within the earth's lungs would not only dispel the cold poison in his body. By the principle of fire overcoming metal, he could temper metal in fierce flames, honing his recently advanced Geng Metal Body-Forging Art and his life-bound magical treasure.
"Stop."
At the entrance to the Earthfire Hall, two burly men with bare, bronze-colored torsos