Female Protagonist Assistance System

Chapter 35 : . Earth's Core

In the cave.

Xiao Han lightly tapped her index finger on the lotus seed floating before her. The seed rolled once, then was intercepted by an invisible force, slowly rolling back.

If other knowledgeable individuals saw Xiao Han's actions, they might cry out in anguish at such wastefulness, seeing such a precious natural treasure being played with like a toy to pass time, considering it a terrible waste.

However, Xiao Han was unconcerned. As a Formless realm cultivator in her previous life, what precious items hadn't she seen? Although the lotus seed was rare and its energy enticing, it didn't warrant excessive caution from her.

Moreover, what of it being a natural treasure? It wouldn't be damaged by playing.

Qing Lin leaned against the two-headed fire spirit snake, dozing off. Her small head nodded up and down, looking quite adorable. Gu Xun'er remained cross-legged on the lotus platform, absorbing the Heterogeneous Flame.

Three full days had passed since they found the Heterogeneous Flame, and Gu Xun'er had spent the entire time absorbing it. Xiao Han could judge Gu Xun'er's progress by the density of energy enveloping her body. Clearly, she was now at a crucial moment in absorbing the Heterogeneous Flame.

Just then, Xiao Han suddenly sensed an unusual fluctuation.

Xiao Han's brow furrowed slightly. This fluctuation was very faint, but it resonated with the Tribulation Lightning within her. If not for this, she might have overlooked this extremely weak anomalous fluctuation.

Suppressing the somewhat restless Tribulation Lightning within her, Xiao Han looked up at Gu Xun'er again. After some thought, she set aside the idea of investigating, as Gu Xun'er was currently at a critical stage of absorbing the Heterogeneous Flame. A small accident could turn her efforts to ashes, so Xiao Han couldn't possibly leave now.

Just as Xiao Han settled her thoughts, waves of energy ripples suddenly appeared rapidly. Then, a powerful aura abruptly spread out from the young woman on the green lotus platform.

Xiao Han was slightly stunned, somewhat surprised. The system had said that refining a Heterogeneous Flame could increase combat power but not cultivation level, so why had Gu Xun'er's aura strengthened so much?

Unable to understand after much thought, Xiao Han didn't bother thinking further. Perhaps this was also some kind of fortuitous encounter.

On the cyan lotus seat, the young woman in light cyan robes sat cross-legged. Her slightly closed eyes trembled faintly, then slowly opened after a moment.

In her ink-black eyes, faint cyan flames swirled. After a while, they even dyed her entire eyes cyan.

However, the cyan flames in her pupils didn't last long, soon receding. When the cyan fire completely faded, her eyes returned to black.

For some reason, seeing those cyan eyes, Xiao Han felt a vague sense of familiarity. She felt as if she once knew someone very well whose eyes were a crystal-clear cyan, a shade lighter than the cyan in Gu Xun'er's eyes just now, but even clearer.

Cyan...

Who was it?

Xiao Han suddenly felt a faint pain in her head. She repeatedly checked her memories, confirming she had no experience of memory loss.

Shaking her head slightly, Xiao Han forced herself to focus on Gu Xun'er, so she didn't notice the soothing-like fluctuations emitted by the system when she had the headache.

Standing up from the lotus platform, Gu Xun'er sensed the changes in her body, unable to help curving her lips.

Xiao Han, hands behind her back, asked calmly, "How is it?"

"Very smooth," Gu Xun'er smiled. "Smooth enough to surprise me."

How could it not be smooth? The complete version of the Flame Mantra was from a higher plane of existence, with an 80% success rate. If it wasn't smooth, Xiao Han would have considered changing disciples.

"I sensed your aura became stronger just now. Check how many stars you've reached?" Xiao Han asked.

Nodding, Gu Xun'er calmed her mind to sense, then exclaimed joyfully, "Six-star Dou Master now."

To have increased by two full stars...

Xiao Han clicked her tongue. This speed was indeed surprising.

System: Someone who once absorbed Tribulation Lightning for three months and jumped directly from three-star Dou Master to nine-star Dou Ling, even breaking through to the "Forgetting Self" realm, has no right to be surprised.

"Then, Senior Sister, what do we do next?" Gu Xun'er asked, glancing at the lotus seed floating in front of Xiao Han, then at the lotus platform.

Xiao Han, still mindful of that strange fluctuation, considered for a moment before saying, "The fire attribute energy is most concentrated here. You should first consolidate your realm on the lotus platform with the energy. Remember, consolidate, not improve. I have something I need to leave for a while to attend to."

Gu Xun'er blinked, seemingly not expecting Xiao Han to leave: "Then when will you return?"

Xiao Han didn't dare set a random number, as she didn't know the source of that strange fluctuation. If she set a time limit now and exceeded it later, it wouldn't be good.

So she gave a vague answer: "As short as one or two days, as long as two or three months."

Gu Xun'er: "......"

How is that any different from not answering?

Although very curious, Gu Xun'er wasn't the type to casually inquire about others' private matters, even if it was Xiao Han, with whom she had an extremely good relationship(?). So she just smiled reservedly and nodded to indicate she understood.

Seeing Gu Xun'er had no objections, Xiao Han didn't explain further. She glanced at the still-dreaming Qing Lin and said, "Stay alert at all times."

Having experienced training in the Magic Beast Mountain Range, Gu Xun'er naturally knew this principle. Even without Xiao Han's reminder, she would subconsciously remain vigilant to prevent unexpected situations.

Xiao Han returned the lotus seed to her system space. Although the lotus seed could assist Gu Xun'er's cultivation, this was after all a place of molten lava with extremely abundant fire attribute energy. Using the lotus seed here would indeed be somewhat wasteful.

[Host, where are you going?] Seeing Xiao Han suddenly leaving, the system was puzzled. Nothing unusual had happened during this time, so why was its host suddenly going off alone?

Xiao Han asked back somewhat strangely: [You didn't sense it?]

System with a black person question mark face: [?? What are you talking about, Host?? Didn't sense what? Should I have sensed something?]

Hearing the system's confusion, Xiao Han rubbed her chin, her doubts deepening.

She had lived with the system for a full seventeen years and had seen firsthand how sensitive it was to abnormal energy fluctuations. Now, this system, which could be called an energy fluctuation sensing radar, hadn't sensed the fleeting energy fluctuation just now.

But Xiao Han didn't think she had sensed wrong, after all, how could she mistake an energy that could cause her innate lightning source to stir? Even now, she still felt the Tribulation Lightning somewhat restless.

[I just sensed an unusual energy fluctuation, seeming to have some connection with the Tribulation Lightning, so I wanted to investigate.] Xiao Han took a few steps in the direction she remembered the energy fluctuation coming from, finding it was towards the depths of the cave.

The system found this incredible. Energy fluctuations? How had it not felt anything? This wasn't scientific!

But the system didn't doubt Xiao Han's perception. It knew all too well how inhuman its host was.

After saying goodbye to Gu Xun'er, Xiao Han soared towards the depths of the cave.

Flying in the air, Xiao Han finally sensed the vastness of this cavern. The flowing lava around had almost converged into a huge lava lake here. Occasionally, as a scorching air wave surged, a pillar of fire-red lava would suddenly surge up from the lava lake.

However, this molten lava meant nothing to Xiao Han. With her strength, even without the protection of Tribulation Lightning, she wouldn't fear this lava.

Xiao Han's speed was very fast, but despite this, after flying for nearly a quarter of an hour, she still hadn't reached the end. Instead, the lava lake below began to gradually narrow, finally becoming several extremely thin tributaries.

The surrounding heat disappeared, replaced by an extremely domineering pressure.

As Xiao Han went deeper, the Tribulation Lightning within her began to become active. It was as if something ahead was attracting the Tribulation Lightning, causing it to silently clamor, urging Xiao Han to speed up.

[Host, this... we're getting closer and closer to the earth's core.] The system scanned the surrounding terrain distribution, its mechanical voice carrying a hint of shock and hesitation.

"If it's the earth's core, why is the temperature getting lower?" Xiao Han frowned slightly. Logically, the closer to the earth's core, the higher the temperature should be. This also proved Xiao Han's guess that something different ahead was affecting the temperature here.

Just then, the fluctuation Xiao Han had sensed earlier surged again, and its intensity was rapidly increasing.

This time, even the system clearly sensed this strange energy fluctuation.

The system was surprised for a moment, then quickly initiated a scan. However, under its scanning perception, it didn't detect any abnormal items.

Hearing the system's surprised query, Xiao Han's previously furrowed brow actually relaxed. For some reason, she felt this fluctuation had a kind of familiarity that seemed to seep into her bones, and the Tribulation Lightning was becoming increasingly active.

As the fluctuation intensified, the flow of Dou Qi within Xiao Han's body became slower and slower, finally seeming to solidify. She was forced to land, only able to walk forward step by step.

The path ahead became narrower and narrower, soon becoming a small path that could only accommodate one person. Many protruding rocks grew on the surrounding rock walls, with white stalactites hanging from the ceiling. Xiao Han's progress became increasingly difficult, her pace slowing more and more.

In the darkness, the perception of time's passage also seemed to become blurred. Xiao Han didn't know how long she had walked. Her footsteps echoed in the narrow tunnel, sounding somewhat eerie.

After an unknown amount of time, Xiao Han's vision suddenly brightened. Silver light spots began to flicker faintly around her, like starlight, weak yet unexpectedly eye-catching.

She had a premonition that what she was looking for was not far away.

As she went deeper, the surrounding silver became more and more abundant, and among it were interspersed some blood-red colors, that red exactly the same as the color of Tribulation Lightning.

Soon, Xiao Han reached the end of the cave and saw what was before her.

It was an extremely large milky-white stone platform, with more than half buried in the ground. On top of the platform was a depression less than half a chi deep, filled with two inches of silver liquid. Above the emulsion floated a faint white mist, and within the white mist clustered a silver lightning ball.

When Xiao Han focused her gaze on that silver lightning ball, she felt the Tribulation Lightning within her begin to boil. That cluster of lightning was like a black hole, exerting an extraordinary attraction on the Tribulation Lightning.

What... is this?