The enormous cavern was filled with sharp rocks scattered all around, while molten magma surged overhead, as though some invisible barrier kept it from cascading down. Amidst this hellish scene, a small figure emerged from behind a massive boulder, briskly leaping to a flat surface. She looked around, finally confirming that she wasn’t trapped in some kind of illusion.
Where is this place? A small secret realm? A barrier? Or is it still within the core?
Lu Yaoyao couldn’t be sure. The only thing she knew for certain was that the thing in the magma had brought her here. She continued walking in one direction, but the scene barely changed, as if she were treading in place endlessly. Yet Lu Yaoyao was sure she was moving—the place was just that massive. As far as she could see, it was barren everywhere, the exposed soil turned to rock in varying shades, not exactly monotonous.
Unconsciously, Lu Yaoyao compared this place to the Abyss. Thanks to ever-glowing magma, it was relatively bright here, but there were no living creatures, not even a single grass or ant. She extended her spiritual senses but caught no sign of life, suggesting that whatever had brought her here was not nearby.
Just as she thought the cavern was completely barren, Lu Yaoyao’s vision suddenly brightened as she passed a rocky area. She was startled by the sight of a sea of flowers. Orange-red Hehe Spark Blossoms bloomed in full glory, filling her vision and extending endlessly.
Lu Yaoyao remembered what Bu Yang from the Tianyan Sect had said—Hehe Spark Blossoms were rare and difficult to harvest, but it turned out they didn’t exclusively grow aboveground!
Looking at the sea of flowers, Lu Yaoyao was already pondering how much wine could be brewed from them. These flowers clearly had a long growth cycle, brimming with aura—some should have even existed for thousands of years. If these were brewed into wine, it would probably be even better than the wine the Tianyan Sect had served them. Father and Daddy would be thrilled!
Overjoyed, Lu Yaoyao quickly ran over. Instead of immediately picking the flowers, she rummaged through her small pouch and took out a plain-looking ordinary box. This box was a special artifact—it had neither offensive nor defensive function but was perfect for storing freshly harvested spiritual materials. With its protective properties, the box ensured that whatever was placed inside would remain in its initial condition until taken out, preserving all its potency. Such boxes were specially made by the Guiyuan Sect, and each disciple of their South Fifth Peak had several, considering their constant need to deal with spiritual materials.
Lu Yaoyao placed the box on the ground, then squatted down, eagerly using a small trowel to dig up and collect the flowers. She pondered for a moment, eventually refraining from picking the ones with the most abundant aura. Lu Yaoyao knew that when a spiritual plant’s aura accumulates to a certain level, given the right opportunity, it could develop spiritual consciousness, cultivate into a humanoid form, and transform into a plant demon. However, such transformation was generally extremely difficult, requiring the perfect combination of timing, environment, and luck. Even in this vast sea of Hehe Spark Blossoms, where every plant was full of aura, perhaps only one might gain sentience and transform into a demon in several thousand years. Once a plant succeeds, it’s unlikely that another demon will emerge from the same area.
The aura in some flowers was so dense, and Lu Yaoyao could tell that they only lacked one single step to develop a spiritual consciousness—it just depended on which one took shape first.
As Lu Yaoyao continued digging, a thought occurred to her—could it be that the thing she encountered was a Hehe Spark Blossom that had become a demon? The more she thought about it, the more it made sense. She looked down at the flower she had just dug up, hesitated, but she quickly dismissed her guess—if that thing were truly a Hehe Spark Blossom demon, it wouldn’t have led her here and would have already jumped out when it saw her digging the flowers.
Moreover, plant-based demons were generally peaceful in nature and were not prone to attacking humans or other beings. Or maybe this volcanic environment had given it a fiery temperament?
Until the thing appeared again, no matter how much Lu Yaoyao speculated, it remained just that—speculation. She had already dug up several flowers, yet there was no sign of the mysterious creature.
Well, if it didn’t appear, so be it! She didn’t have time to deal with it now; digging up the flowers was more important. Lu Yaoyao’s enthusiasm grew as she focused entirely on the task, even putting down her sword to free both hands.
Perhaps sensing a chance when Lu Yaoyao was too engrossed in digging, or maybe enraged seeing her digging up too many flowers, but the creature could no longer hold back and decided to cause trouble. Just as Lu Yaoyao reached out with her chubby little hand toward another flower, it suddenly burst into flames, and she grabbed it just in time. Golden flames enveloped her hand, the fire flickering between her white, tender fingers. Although she wasn’t injured, seeing her hand suddenly engulfed in flames startled her.
Lu Yaoyao quickly reacted, pulling her hand back. The burning Hehe Spark Blossom disintegrated into ashes and vanished before her eyes. She picked up her soft sword and stood up, warily scanning her surroundings.
“Eh?” Lu Yaoyao’s eyes widened—it seemed she guessed wrong; the thing that attacked her and was almost certainly the source of Yanhuo Mountain’s disturbance wasn’t a Hehe Spark Blossom that had awakened spiritual consciousness, but rather a small flame.
Lu Yaoyao’s spiritual senses caught a fleeting glimpse of the little fireball, which disappeared almost immediately, but she knew it was hiding within the sea of flowers. Lu Yaoyao could no longer continue digging up flowers, but her lips curled up into a smile nevertheless. Born within a volcano, this little flame was innately spiritual, one of the celestial-grade elemental fire—specifically, of the fire attribute.
In the Yuanqi Continent, spiritual fires were categorized by levels of power. Ordinary mortal flames were the most common, differentiated by their purity and aura. Spiritual fires were hard to come by, and the rarest among them was the celestial fire of the five elements, which were the ultimate treasures sought after by all alchemists. Lu Yaoyao’s own father possessed a celestial fire, but it was water-elemental and had already developed spiritual consciousness. Among the five-elemental fires, wood and fire attribute fires were the most valuable for alchemy.
In short, this kind of treasure was exactly what she needed the most! Lu Yaoyao was silently resolved to tame it.
The spiritual fire was temperamental and quite violent, but it also had some intelligence and understood how to use guerrilla tactics. Perhaps because it had been tainted with blood from its birth, the fire that Lu Yaoyao had lured out was tinged with a red aura, full of aggression.
Lu Yaoyao initially thought that since the fire had become sentience, she could try to initiate communication—it would be best if it could peacefully accept her as its master. But when she saw that layer of blood-tainted aura and remembered that not only beasts but also several disciples of the Tianyan Sect had perished because of it, she changed her mind.
This fire had tasted blood and taken human lives—it was dangerous.
Lu Yaoyao changed his mind instantly—if something could be solved with brute force, there was no need for words! So she stopped holding back and chased after the fire, causing it to scatter in all directions. Even though her cultivation had been restricted to the Foundation Establishment stage, she had an abundance of offensive artifacts and talismans. Without hesitation, she hurled various artifacts equivalent in power to the Nascent Soul and Soul Transformation stages, as if they cost nothing.
Moreover, she also had the incredibly powerful Yunxiu Sword, which she used to occasionally smack the misbehaving creature.
At first, the fire was furious. It swelled in size, transforming into a fire dragon that attacked Lu Yaoyao with all its might—unfortunately, despite being the all-powerful celestial fire, it was only recently born and its cultivation was comparable to the Golden Core stage.
But Lu Yaoyao didn’t let her guard down. Celestial fires were very resistant to spiritual control; even if she managed to subdue it, there was no guarantee it would acknowledge her as its master.
Of course, it wasn’t yet time for that step. Lu Yaoyao’s current plan was simply to beat the fire again and again into submission.
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