On Mount Kunlun, at Thundercliff.
A towering cliff stood alone above a sea of clouds, where fierce winds howled.
Li Qingshan stood bare-chested, his jade-like skin shimmering with a faint golden luster beneath the dim sky, as though a miniature sun lay within him.
Eyes closed in concentration, he stood at the most treacherous point on the cliff's edge, beneath thunderclouds churning like ink.
Lightning danced like silver serpents, tearing across the sky and crashing down with the might of heaven and earth.
"Crack!"
A blinding bolt struck him squarely on the shoulder, bursting into a dazzling blaze of electricity.
Lightning and fire intertwined with a crackle, a terrifying force capable of vaporizing refined iron in an instant.
Yet it left only a faint red mark on his skin, one that quickly faded.
"After three months of arduous cultivation, the body-tempering method in the Foundation Establishment chapter of the Sun True Scripture has finally brought this Sun True Body to initial mastery."
He slowly opened his eyes, a golden divine flame seeming to flicker briefly in their depths.
He gently rolled his neck, and the joints throughout his body immediately erupted in a continuous chorus of dragon roars and tiger howls.
His Qi and blood surged like the tide, causing the surrounding air to ripple and revealing the immense power contained within him.
A white figure slid lightly down from a boulder behind him. It was Xiaobai, the little white snake whose entire body was like jade.
Xiaobai raised its head, gazing at Li Qingshan with glassy eyes as it conveyed a clear thought:
[Qingshan, doesn't it hurt to get struck by lightning every day? That rock that breathed fire was blasted to pieces last time.]
Li Qingshan turned, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth, and bent down to casually pick up a piece of dark iron stone from the ground, as hard as refined steel.
His five fingers tightened slightly.
"Pop."
With that soft sound, the millstone-sized chunk of dark iron stone crumbled like a crisp biscuit in his hand, powder sifting down between his fingers.
"Lightning is also a form of heaven and earth's energy, no different in essence from the Sun True Fire.
"I use the Sun True Scripture's cultivation method to guide it, borrowing the power of lightning to temper my flesh and purify my divine power.
"The results are even better than simply absorbing the sun's essence."
He explained, feeling the "true sun within" formed from solar divine power in his body growing ever more substantial.
"Although my cultivation of this Sun True Body is still far from the realm of great mastery, taking ordinary flying swords and magical treasures head-on is no longer a problem."
Before his words had faded, the thunderclouds on the horizon churned again.
A bolt of purple lightning several times thicker than the last plunged straight toward the crown of his head like a spear of heavenly punishment, bearing an air of destruction!
Startled, Xiaobai's jade horn instantly lit up with white light, and it instinctively wanted to do something.
Li Qingshan, however, remained standing where he was, not even raising a hand to block.
The faint golden light around him suddenly flared, and countless tiny golden runes seemed to flow and flicker beneath his skin.
"Boom!"
The deafening thunder arrived a moment later.
The purple lightning struck true, but like a mud ox sinking into the sea, it was completely absorbed by his body.
Only a layer of tiny, dancing arcs remained on his skin before vanishing in an instant, leaving not the slightest trace behind.
[Wow! Qingshan, you're harder than Kunlun dark iron now!]
Xiaobai slithered over cheerfully and wound itself around his wrist with practiced ease, its cool, smooth scales rubbing against his skin.
Li Qingshan smiled and gently stroked its head with a fingertip.
"Hardness is only one aspect. The Sun True Body's true profundity lies in its source divine power, which is supremely yang and supremely firm, capable of burning all things to ash.
"It also has a natural affinity for and control over all the fires under heaven.
"Let's go. I don't have enough materials for artifact refinement, so it's time to find a solution."
Back in the cave where he was staying, Li Qingshan took out the various materials he had gathered in recent days from his Bitter Sea Secret Realm.
The fragment of Great Luo Silver Essence shimmered with a cool, mysterious silver light. Though only the size of a palm, it was extraordinarily heavy;
The incomplete bones of the Crimson Flame Hou were dark red, with scorching fire Qi still curling between them;
There was also the Sun Sand gathered from the shattered remains of the ancient sundial. Like flowing grains of golden sand, it radiated a pure solar Dao resonance.
He spread the materials on the ground, his brows furrowing slightly.
"The Great Luo Silver Essence is the core material for forging the body of the Dao Bell. The Crimson Flame Hou's bones can be fused into it to increase its might.
"The Sun Sand can nourish a potential artifact spirit, but there's too little of it, and its quality varies.
"If I want to forge a Dao Bell that can grow alongside me and has boundless potential,
"I still need a high-quality earthfire furnace, as well as a large quantity of supplementary spirit materials to strengthen the artifact spirit's resilience and spirituality."
[Qingshan, are you making that big bell that makes a nice sound?]
Xiaobai curiously nudged the fragment of silver essence with its head.
[I remember sensing something similar near a very old stone stele, and there was warm fire too.]
It suddenly raised its head, its jade horn glowing ever more brightly, its thoughts tinged with urgency.
[That's right! I remember now! There's a very big, warm fire like that at the bottom of a very, very deep fissure! There are also lots of shiny stones on the rock walls that feel nice and warm! But...]
A trace of fear seeped into its thoughts.
[There's a very, very fierce giant lizard guarding it down there. Its fire is incredibly powerful. I caught a glimpse of it from far away last time, and it nearly roasted me alive!]
"An earthfire abyssal fissure? Fire Marrow Crystals?"
Li Qingshan's eyes flashed.
"Earthfire is the first choice for smelting high-grade materials, and Fire Marrow Crystals are excellent supplementary materials for nourishing an artifact spirit and improving a magical artifact's resilience. I've worn through iron shoes searching in vain, only to find them here.
"How strong is the fire lizard guarding them?"
[Very fierce and very strong!]
Xiaobai emphasized in its thoughts.
[The fire it spits is much hotter than ordinary fire!]
"No matter. This is a good chance to test the Sun True Body's combat ability after reaching initial mastery, and gather some resources while I'm at it.
"Lead the way."
Li Qingshan put away all the materials and rose to his full height.
Xiaobai immediately shot out of the cave like an arrow from a bow, weaving nimbly through the mountains, among towering ancient trees and jagged rocks.
It knew the route extremely well and was always able to avoid dangerous areas with obscure auras in advance.
It also skillfully skirted the edges of several naturally formed remnant formations.
Li Qingshan moved like a drifting breeze, his footwork mysterious as he easily kept pace behind Xiaobai.
At the same time, his divine sense spread out like quicksilver spilling across the ground, keeping watch over their surroundings.
After roughly four hours, a scorching smell of sulfur began to fill the air, and the surrounding vegetation grew sparse.
The terrain ahead suddenly dropped away, revealing a vast abyssal fissure tens of thousands of zhang across, so deep its bottom could not be seen!
Scorching heat waves rose constantly from the depths, warping the air above them.
Through the hazy heat, reddish-gold magma could just be seen flowing and churning slowly at the bottom of the abyss. It was pure earthfire.
Embedded in the rock walls on either side of the fissure were countless orange-red crystals, translucent and shaped like perfect diamonds, radiating rich yet gentle fire-element essence Qi.
"Sure enough, this is an earthfire spirit vein of excellent quality. These Fire Marrow Crystals are also top-grade."
Standing at the edge of the abyss, Li Qingshan sent fine threads of divine sense probing downward.
In an instant, he sensed a violent, scorching presence lying dormant amid the dense earthfire essence Qi below.
Its strength was roughly equivalent to a human cultivator at the peak of the Dao Palace Secret Realm, and in this environment of earthfire, it was like a tiger with wings.
He made no attempt to conceal himself. Stepping straight off the cliff, he drifted down into the abyss like a feather.
As he descended, a faint golden halo naturally appeared around him.
It was a protective divine light formed of its own accord by his solar divine power, completely shutting out the terrifying heat of the earthfire. Not even the hem of his robe curled.
His arrival was like a drop of cold water falling into a pot of boiling oil, instantly shattering the stillness of the Earthfire Abyss.
"Roar!"
A muffled, thunderous roar erupted from deep within the earthfire, surging upward with a blast of violent demonic Qi.
The entire wall of the abyss trembled, and fragments of rock tumbled down.
The next moment, the tranquil surface of the magma lake below exploded! A colossal creature burst forth from the fire!
It was nearly a dozen zhang long, its entire body covered in thick, dark red scales like cooled lava.
Its fearsome head closely resembled a lizard's, but a single crimson horn grew from its forehead.
Scorching white flames poured from its mouth and nostrils as they opened and closed, and its vertical pupils were cruel and cold.
They locked onto Li Qingshan as he slowly descended through the air, and its violent killing intent spread out like a tangible substance.
It was the overlord of the Earthfire Abyss, a great fire lizard demon that had cultivated for centuries!
Faced with a fearsome creature that would make an ordinary Dao Palace cultivator brace for battle or even beat a hasty retreat,
Li Qingshan's expression remained calm and unruffled. He did not use the purple-gold Dao Bell in his Bitter Sea.
He merely raised his right hand slowly, spread his fingers slightly, and pressed down through the air at the fire lizard charging toward him with a roar.
"Hum!"
Within his body, waves surged in the Sea of Bitterness Secret Realm, providing a vast supply of divine power;
In the Dao Palace Secret Realm, all five divine treasures shook in unison,
And the divine treasure of the heart, representing "fire," blazed with light! The Sun True Scripture circulated, and solar divine power poured forth.
He used no fancy combat techniques, merely gathering incomparably pure solar divine power in his palm.
It became a miniature, scorching "true sun"!
Though small, this true sun radiated a supremely yang presence far purer and more terrifying than the earthfire below.
It seemed capable of burning everything in the world to ash.
The fire lizard felt the power contained in that "true sun," and even its soul trembled.
Its charge faltered, and it felt an instinctive fear.
But its ferocity had been thoroughly roused. It opened its enormous maw, and earthfire essence accumulated over centuries mingled with its demonic power.
It formed an immensely concentrated pillar of deep crimson fire over a zhang in diameter and blasted toward Li Qingshan like an erupting volcano!
This was its strongest innate divine ability, capable of melting gold and iron and evaporating rivers.
Li Qingshan's gaze was indifferent. He merely gave the "true sun" in his palm a gentle push forward.
"Hiss!"
There was no earth-shaking explosion. The instant the seemingly tiny "true sun" touched the massive pillar of earthfire,
The deep crimson fire melted and vaporized from the point of contact, like ice and snow beneath the blazing sun!
Absolute suppression and dominion!
The true sun continued forward without slowing, beneath the fire lizard's vertical pupils filled with terror and disbelief.
It landed lightly on the single horn atop its forehead, the hardest part of its body.
"Pff."
A faint sound rang out, like rotten wood being scorched.
The fire lizard's horn, as hard as refined gold, and the tough skull beneath it were instantly melted through like ice thrown into a steel furnace, leaving a charred hole!
Violent, pure solar divine power drove straight into its brain and sea of consciousness!
The fire lizard's enormous body stiffened abruptly in midair, all its roaring and ferocious flames coming to an abrupt halt.
The light vanished from its violent vertical pupils in an instant, leaving them dull and empty.
Its life force was utterly burned away the moment the solar divine power invaded!
"Boom!"
Its lifeless, massive body crashed back into the churning magma, sending fiery rain spraying across the sky before it was quickly swallowed by the earthfire.
Only a fiery-red tailbone, its most essential part, containing the greater portion of its source, slowly floated to the surface.
From the moment Li Qingshan made his move to the fire lizard's death, the entire process had taken no more than a breath.
A battle that should have been fiercely intense had ended in a nearly overwhelming rout.
Such was the Sun True Body's absolute advantage over ordinary fire-element demons after cultivation of the Sun True Scripture's supreme body-tempering method, as well as the fundamental gap in their strength.
Li Qingshan reached out and grasped through the air, collecting the fiery-red tailbone and a great swath of high-quality Fire Marrow Crystals from the rock wall into his Bitter Sea.
He looked down at the surging earthfire below, felt the abundant power contained within it, and nodded in satisfaction.
"The earthfire is pure and vigorous, and the Fire Marrow Crystals are excellent. This is the perfect place to enter seclusion and refine an artifact.
"Xiaobai, we'll stay here for a while and forge my Dao Bell."
[That's wonderful!]
Xiaobai flew excitedly around Li Qingshan.
[Once the bell is forged, let it ring for me every day!]