novelraw Chapter 86 : . Eruption
Chapter 86 : . Eruption
Su Qian halted about twenty meters from the edge of the deep hole. With a wave of his hand, two figures suddenly appeared from nowhere, stopping about ten meters from the hole's entrance.
Xiao Han glanced at the two figures. They were likely also elders of the Inner Court, though they didn't often appear in public.
"Everyone, sit down," Su Qian instructed, pointing to an area where ten specially crafted jade platforms stood, gleaming jade-green.
After everyone was seated, Su Qian turned and spoke quietly with one of the elders. Then, the two elders slowly approached the deep hole, their hands forming seals with lightning speed before uttering a low, deep shout.
As their shout faded, a sudden ripple appeared around the seemingly empty deep hole. Then, a somewhat illusory energy ripple slowly materialized before everyone's eyes.
After the energy ripple screen appeared, the two elders made a gesture. Instantly, a pale white light screen about the size of a human head slowly floated out from the deep hole, penetrating the energy ripple and hovering two meters above the ground, undulating up and down.
Shortly after the first pale white light screen floated out, more followed in succession. After a while, a total of ten light spheres appeared before Xiao Han and the others.
Blinking, everyone looked with confusion at the egg-like white light screens.
Seeing their bewildered expressions, Su Qian smiled faintly. With a wave of his sleeve, the pale white light screens rapidly became transparent, revealing their contents to everyone.
As the color faded, what appeared inside the light screens was a seemingly formless flame that was somehow visible to the naked eye. These flames rose and flickered within their respective spheres, but their temperature seemed to be completely isolated by the light screens, as Xiao Han and the others didn't feel any heat.
"This is the Origin Heart Flame," Su Qian said, gazing at these formless flames. "This type of Origin Heart Flame is extremely difficult to obtain. Every year, we expend great effort to acquire only three to four of them, and that's if we're lucky... This doesn't have much use for those above the Dou King rank, but it's extremely beneficial for those below. Of course, there are significant risks. The pain of tempering is extremely difficult to endure. One misstep not only leads to failure but can also cause considerable harm to oneself."
"Grand Elder, what's the success rate of this Origin Heart Flame tempering in previous years?" one of the male students asked, extending his hand cautiously.
"Among the top ten of the Strong Ranking who come here for tempering each year, the failure rate is not low. About half fail each time," Su Qian said casually, his words causing cold sweat to break out on some foreheads. A 50% failure rate... that seemed a bit high.
"If anyone doesn't dare to accept the tempering, speak up now. This Origin Heart Flame is extremely precious, and if we can save it, that would be best," Su Qian said offhandedly.
Hearing this, everyone exchanged glances, but no one dared to suggest withdrawing. As Su Qian said, advancing to Dou King was too difficult. With such an opportunity, if they gave up, they might regret it later...
Xiao Han glanced indifferently at the light screen before her and said, "Grand Elder, this student has already touched the threshold of Dou King. This seems to have little benefit for me."
Hearing Xiao Han's voice, Su Qian looked at her, then revealed a faint smile. The others looked at her with shock and confusion, unable to understand why she would give up such a great opportunity within reach. After all, she had only touched the threshold of Dou King, not actually advanced to it. Regardless, this Origin Heart Flame should still be immensely beneficial to her.
Ignoring all the puzzled looks, Xiao Han calmly stepped down from her chair. The Origin Heart Flame was of no use to her, and accepting it would only incur a debt of gratitude to Jia Nan Academy, which wasn't worth it.
Removing the Origin Heart Flame from in front of Xiao Han, Su Qian smiled at her and said, "If that's the case, you can wait here. After everyone has finished their tempering, we'll all leave together."
Xiao Han gave a slight bow, accepting his words.
The others exchanged glances, then shook their heads, no longer focusing their attention on Xiao Han.
Seeing no one else speak, Su Qian waved his hand. The nine light spheres flew above everyone's heads. Then, under everyone's gaze, they burst with a "pop," and the formless flames within fell straight down, entering through the tops of their heads.
⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱
The bottommost level of the Sky Burning Qi Refining Tower.
The scene here was drastically different from the upper levels. Scorching heat rose in the vast space, making even the air shimmer and distort.
Xiao Han narrowed her eyes slightly, a faint silver tinge coloring her pupils.
Outside the deep hole, a visible energy barrier formed a cylindrical shape, tightly sealing it. The surface of the energy barrier was covered with various intricate patterns, like the winding traces left by giant snakes. The energy barrier here was extremely turbulent, with waves of powerful energy constantly spreading out. Faintly, even extremely low rumbling sounds of energy explosions could be heard.
"This is the Fallen Heart Flame," Su Qian said, standing beside her with his hands behind his back, his face showing a hint of gravity.
Xiao Han raised her hand, making a gesture as if pinching something between her thumb and forefinger. She then pursed her lips, her brow furrowing slightly.
"Something's not right..."
The energy contained in the surrounding temperature seemed to be mixed with some unusual impurities. Xiao Han, possessing the purest heavenly energy, sensed this anomaly almost instantly.
Su Qian nodded: "You sensed it too? Indeed, the Fallen Heart Flame seems very abnormal, but for some reason, even with the Inner Court elders joining forces, we couldn't detect any anomalies."
Licking her lips, Xiao Han called upon the system.
After diligently scanning the area, the system also didn't detect any anomalies: [No abnormalities detected, Honored Host. Could it be that you're overthinking this?]
Xiao Han, however, grew more serious. The absence of anomalies was the biggest anomaly. In the original story, the Fallen Heart Flame erupted at this time, so there should be anomalies in the energy surrounding the current Fallen Heart Flame.
Hearing Xiao Han's words, the system also realized something was amiss: [Then I'll investigate more thoroughly. You must be careful, Host.]
Acknowledging the system's well-intentioned reminder, Xiao Han refocused her attention on the Fallen Heart Flame. In the next second, her expression changed slightly.
"Boom!"
Suddenly, a faint sound emerged from the magma world, traveling through the deep hole of unknown length to reach their ears.
This subtle sound, like a heartbeat, made the listeners' hearts skip involuntarily.
Su Qian's face changed dramatically, his gaze fixed in horror towards the magma world at the bottom. There, an extremely violent and vast energy was slowly surging up from beneath the magma. As this turbulent energy rose, the calm of the magma world was abruptly shattered.
Fierce winds of unknown origin howled across the magma surface, stirring up fiery waves tens of zhang high, which then crashed down heavily. The momentary thunderous sound was like mountains collapsing and the earth splitting!
"This energy..." Sensing the suddenly surging familiar energy, Su Qian's face turned ashen.
"What has this thing done? How did its energy suddenly become several times more powerful than before?" Su Qian muttered in shock.
Xiao Han's pupils contracted slightly: "Step back! The seal can't hold!"
As soon as she spoke, a thunderous roar erupted from the bottom of the deep hole. In the endless magma world, the dark red magma suddenly began to churn violently, an extremely turbulent energy permeating it.
As the magma churned, it was as if something was about to break through the surface. After a while, the churning magma suddenly calmed, but neither of them relaxed their vigilance. Xiao Han clearly sensed that the violent energy was getting closer and closer to the magma's surface.
"Puff!"
The calm magma surface suddenly surged up in a wave. Amidst the flying magma, a nearly transparent fire python, its head a full zhang in size and its body covered in formless flames, broke through the magma. It brought with it a vast energy that shook the very space around it, appearing in their field of vision.
"Screech!"
Breaking through the magma, the enormous transparent fire python, its body so large that the end couldn't be seen, raised its massive head as if it had been imprisoned for a thousand years. A piercing soundwave, capable of instantly shattering the body of an ordinary Dou Ling, rapidly spread out.
As the soundwave spread, the magma world seemed as if countless bombs had been dropped into it. Deep, rumbling sounds constantly rang out, magma sprayed, and flames erupted everywhere.
After this near-frenzied outburst, the enormous transparent fire python seemed to sense the gaze from above. It suddenly raised its massive head, its triangular pupils, flickering with formless flames, locked firmly onto Su Qian at the mouth of the deep hole.
Su Qian instantly felt a chill run through his body.
The snake's eyes locked onto Su Qian, and in just an instant, its not-low intelligence recognized this old opponent. Immediately, an extremely terrifying energy wave suddenly rose from its enormous body. The ferocity and vastness of this energy made even Su Qian feel a chill in his heart.
"Screech!"
Another violent, piercing soundwave erupted. The formless fire python's enormous body suddenly slapped against the magma. Instantly, its body, nearly twenty to thirty zhang long, shot up the deep hole like an invisible lightning bolt, bringing with it scorching heat and violent energy!
"Step back!"
Xiao Han shouted, her right hand forming a claw. Blood-red tribulation lightning instantly exploded forth, bringing with it terrifying pressure, coalescing into a giant dragon beside her.
Sensing the terrifying heavenly energy, the fire python seemed to shrink back for a moment. But it no longer wanted to be imprisoned here, in endless darkness without freedom. So despite its fear, it still roared in anger, its speed suddenly increasing as it darted towards the hole's entrance.
"Boom!"
A thunderous sound erupted, carrying an unparalleled energy wave that violently shook everything around!
The intense airflow sent Su Qian stumbling back two steps. After steadying himself, he couldn't help but feel shocked.
Was this the power of a high-level Dou Zun?
"Evacuate all students immediately," Xiao Han said in a deep voice. "I'll hold it back for now."
Su Qian took a deep breath and nodded: "Be careful."
With these words, he turned and quickly left.
Seeing Su Qian leave, the fire python roared in anger. A column of blood-colored magma, tens of meters wide and long, erupted from the deep hole like a volcanic eruption!
"Lightning Prison!"
No longer holding back, Xiao Han's hands formed seals at high speed. Streams of blood-colored lightning, as thick as bowls, suddenly exploded forth. Centered on Xiao Han, they formed a terrifying lightning cage within a radius of about fifty meters.
The boiling red magma was instantly decomposed upon contact with the tribulation lightning. Xiao Han took a small step back, then suddenly charged towards the fire python.