Immortal and Martial Dual Cultivation
chapter-617

Swallowing Another Origin Flame

“Azure Dragon Tail Whip!”

Xiao Chen shouted, and an ancient Azure Dragon appeared under his feet. It swung its tail gently, and a mighty force surged out, flinging him forward in a long arc in an instant.

He had already practiced the Azure Dragon Cloud Soaring Art to Small Perfection. Only his low cultivation had prevented him from bringing out the true might of this Heaven Ranked Movement Technique all this time.

Now that Xiao Chen had advanced to Martial Monarch and had the support of Quintessence, when he used Azure Dragon Tail Whip, its might was horrifyingly strong. A strong wind blew, and he instantly arrived by the blue-robed old man’s side.

“Spring Thunder Chop! Die!”

Moving together with the gust of wind, Xiao Chen executed the first move of the Four Season Saber Technique; spring thunder roared overhead. He used his Quintessence to activate the power of seasons. As the saber hacked down, it gave off an unmatchable bright light. When the blue-robed old man saw this, he felt fear.

“Extreme Yin Flame, explode!”

The blue-robed old man knew that he was no match for this incomparably bright attack. A pale white flame wafted out of his palm. A white ball of light floated in the middle of the flame, looking as resplendent and dazzling as starlight.

This brilliant light was the blue-robed old man’s Extreme Yin Flame’s Origin Flame, which he had refined for several decades. At this moment of life and death, he intended to detonate this Origin Flame to buy time to escape.

“Hu! Hu!”

The starlike Origin Flame flickered continuously, emitting waves of horrifying energy. Xiao Chen’s face sank. That Origin Flame already reached the size of a chicken egg. If it detonated, it would explode with great violence.

At such a close distance, Xiao Chen would not be able to avoid injury. However, if he retreated, it would be hard for him to catch up with the blue-robed old man.

This person was a Martial Monarch. Furthermore, he believed that Xiao Chen had killed his son. Even if Xiao Chen was not afraid of him, this person might harm Xiao Chen’s friends and family, instead. Chasing him at that time would be too late. Xiao Chen could not let this person live.

First I have to stabilize this Extreme Yin Flame. After making up his mind, Xiao Chen quickly sheathed his saber, neutralizing the energy of the Spring Thunder Chop.

However, as Xiao Chen had just advanced to Martial Monarch, he still could not move his Quintessence around as he pleased. He could not help leaking some Quintessence, which opened a long fissure in the ground.

“Lunar True Flame, go!”

Xiao Chen pulled off the blue strip of cloth on his forehead, and an even paler white flame floated out from between his eyebrows. Within the flame was a grain of resplendent white light.

This light was the Lunar True Flame’s Origin Flame. However, it was merely the size of a rice grain. Nevertheless, when it flew out and crashed into the egg-sized Origin Flame, the egg-sized Origin Flame turned from unstable and frantic, seemingly on the verge of exploding, to quiet and peaceful in an instant.

The rice-grain-sized Origin Flame did not care how much larger the other Origin Flame was. It immediately went over and gobbled it up greedily.

The Lunar True Flame was a Yin-attributed flame of the highest grade. No matter how much the Extreme Yin Flame struggled, the Lunar True Flame would still swallow it up. Xiao Chen did not even bother looking. He leaped over the two flames contending against each other and continued chasing the blue-robed old man.

“Damn it, how did that fellow catch up again?” The blue-robed old man’s complexion blanched as he increased his speed some more.

“Azure Dragon Tail Whip!”

No matter how fast the blue-robed old man was, it would be impossible for him to escape the true might of the Azure Dragon Cloud Soaring Art that Xiao Chen demonstrated.

“Spring Thunder Chop!”

“Burning to Desolation!”

Xiao Chen caught up with the blue-robed old man. This time, he did not give the blue-robed old man a chance to use any of his trump cards. He executed Spring and Summer with the power of seasons fueled by Quintessence in close succession. The entire place started shaking violently.

Xiao Chen sheathed his saber. With these two attacks, the blue-robed old man’s body immediately turned into blood and dust.

A dim flickering spatial ring appeared amidst the rain of blood. Xiao Chen casually waved his hand and pulled the spatial ring over with a suction force. Then, he tossed the spatial ring into his Universe Ring and ignored it.

Xiao Chen looked around at the surroundings. Saber Qi made from purple Quintessence filled the entire place, piercing thousands of pitch-black holes in space.

He frowned slightly and said, “After just advancing to Inferior Grade Martial Monarch, I really have to spend some time perfecting my control of Quintessence. Otherwise, it would be very problematic for me if I faced a Medial Grade Martial Monarch with such a wasteful way of fighting.”

Xiao Chen calmly analyzed the battle just now, not displaying any pride at defeating an Inferior Grade Martial Monarch. He was the King Grade True Dragon, weaker than none in the same cultivation realm.

Xiao Chen cultivated a Heaven Ranked Cultivation Technique and had advanced to Martial Monarch by swallowing a Spirit Vein’s origin. It would be odd if he could not handle an ordinary Inferior Grade Martial Monarch.

“Boom! Boom! Boom!”

At the same time, within some lava in the distance, an intense battle was taking place. All sorts of energy explosions resounded without pause.

The lava did not give off any surging heat waves or thick smoke. Instead, it was gloomy and dark. A cold Qi pervaded the place, making the place incomparably grim; it seemed extremely odd.

A green flower bloomed in the middle of the lava. Its petals were jade-green and crystalline. A green flame in the middle of the flower gave off a dim but eye-catching glow, emitting an endless chill.

Needless to say, this green flame was the Netherworld Flame Seed. Two ten-meter-tall black fire spirits stood in front of the flower. These black fire spirits were different from the regular fire spirit. They had eyes, a nose, and a mouth on their faces. A light flickered in their eyes; clearly, they were somewhat sentient.

A black layer of skin, which looked like natural solid armor, covered the bodies of these two black fire spirits. The Holy Fire Manor’s people were currently locked in an intense battle with these Netherworld Fire Spirits.

The gray-robed old man faced one Netherworld Fire Spirit alone while the remaining half-step Martial Monarchs and peak Martial Kings worked together to handle the other one.

Comparing the two battles, one could easily see the vast difference between half-step Martial Monarchs and Martial Monarchs.

The gray-robed old man faced the Netherworld Fire Spirit alone, but he was not at a disadvantage. Instead, he had the upper hand. In another few hundred moves, the Netherworld Fire Spirit would definitely lose.

On the other hand, the group of a hundred people had ten half-step Martial Monarchs. Even so, they could only barely block the attacks of the Netherworld Fire Spirit. They would have to wait for the gray-robed old man to finish his battle and come over to help.

“I wonder how much longer First Brother is going to take? If he was here, we would have been able to obtain this Netherworld Flame Seed long ago,” the gray-robed old man muttered to himself. However, he was not worried for the blue-robed old man’s safety. He understood the blue-robed old man’s strength well. If the blue-robed old man were to meet with a strong Demonic Beast, even if he could not defeat it, he should still be able to flee easily.

Xiao Chen, who had just finished off his opponent, returned to where the Extreme Yin Flame and the Lunar True Flame were contending against each other. The Lunar True Flame had already swallowed a significant part of the Extreme Yin Flame’s Origin Flame, causing it to shrink noticeably. However, the Extreme Yin Flame continued to struggle.

The Lunar True Flame’s Origin Flame was still too weak in the end. If the blue-robed old man were still here and could control the Extreme Yin Flame, the situation might have reversed; the Extreme Yin Flame might have ended up swallowing the Lunar True Flame.

However, the blue-robed old man was already dead, and Xiao Chen had rushed back. No matter how this Extreme Yin Flame resisted, it could not avoid its fate.

Xiao Chen focused his gaze and sent out his Spiritual Sense, taking active control of the Lunar True Flame. One was a flame with a master and the other, masterless. The speed at which the Lunar True Flame swallowed the other flame increased.

Time slowly went by. After an hour, the final spark of the Extreme Yin Flame died out. The Lunar True Flame finally finished consuming it.

Xiao Chen breathed out heavily. Then he said softly, “This method of actively swallowing another flame really exhausts the spirit. However, I am quite satisfied with the results.”

Floating in front of him, the Lunar True Origin Flame grew ten times larger than when it was the size of a rice grain—now, it was the size of a pearl.

Xiao Chen casually pointed forward, and the palm-sized Lunar True Flame crashed into a stone pillar ahead. The stone pillar quietly burned into a pile of ash.

The serene destructiveness of the Lunar True Flame stood in stark contrast to the Purple Thunder True Fire’s berserk nature.

Xiao Chen entered deep thought. Now that the Lunar True Flame possessed some combat capability, it would not be very convenient to bring it out from the sea of consciousness when fighting.

“Since the right eye contains the Purple Thunder True Fire, let’s place the Lunar True Flame in the left eye.”

“Xiu!”

A light flashed, and the Lunar True Flame entered Xiao Chen’s left eye together with its Origin Flame. Xiao Chen closed his eyes and familiarized himself with the Lunar True Flame in his left eye.

After a moment, Xiao Chen opened his eyes. A purple light spread in his right eye, blazing with a fierce fire. His left eye flickered with white light as a cold Qi spread out, its aura clearly weaker than the right eye.

With a thought, the mysterious phenomenon in his eyes all vanished. Xiao Chen muttered, “In order to execute that Taiji Yinyang Flame Diagram I saw in the gate of desire, I have to achieve a balance between Yin and Yang first. The Lunar True Flame is still too weak. Even if I lower the Purple Thunder True Fire’s might by half, they would not be able to achieve balance.”

“Boom!”

Just at this moment, a muffled explosion resounded. A cold flame soared into the air at the limits of Xiao Chen’s vision, illuminating this dark underground space with a pale-white light.

“That should be the other Holy Fire Manor’s Martial Monarch preparing to harvest the Netherworld Flame Seed. Let’s go and take a look.”

Executing the Azure Dragon Cloud Soaring Art, Xiao Chen immediately soared into the air. As Quintessence circulated in his body, his body issued dragon roars.

An indistinct Azure Dragon appeared under Xiao Chen’s feet, not letting them come in contact with the ground. It quickly moved up and down, advancing at Mach 5. His body tore through space, creating shock waves behind him that looked like two waves rising.

In just ten minutes, Xiao Chen arrived at where the battle was taking place. A vast pool of lava appeared before his eyes. Under the leadership of the gray-robed old man, the Holy Fire Manor’s people worked together to attack the final Netherworld Fire Spirit.

The gray-robed old man’s strong attacks forced the Netherworld Fire Spirit into a continuous retreat. The morale of the Holy Fire Manor’s people soared, making them more enthusiastic.

Standing on a nearby mound, Xiao Chen watched everything happen, his white clothes fluttering.

Looking up slightly, Xiao Chen saw the jade-green petals behind the Netherworld Fire Spirit and the green flame in the center of the flower giving off a boundless cold light.

That is the Netherworld Flower. However, the Netherworld Flame Seed does not seem to be fully mature yet. The Holy Fire Manor’s people are rushing. Back then, the flame seed that the Thunder Emperor extracted was orange, Ao Jiao said softly from the Lunar Shadow Saber.

Xiao Chen felt disappointed. An immature flame seed was like an unripe fruit. No matter how valuable or useful that fruit was, its value or utility would be far lower when unripe.

“Let’s go. There is no need to keep waiting here.”

The flame seed was not mature yet, so Xiao Chen lost interest in contending for the flame seed. After taking one last look at the blooming Netherworld Flower, he turned around and prepared to leave.

Wait a moment. If they harvest the immature flame seed, the Netherworld Flower will immediately wither. The Netherworld Flame in this world will go extinct. Rather than letting these people waste it, you might as well pull out the Netherworld Flower together with its roots and hold on to the flame seed temporarily.