Chapter 73: Fusing with the Essence Flame (II)

As Zen prepares himself to get closer to the BloodJade Flame, Cecilia flicks her hand and a huge wind impact pushes Zen back 10m away.

*Whoosh*

"What's the meaning for this Cecilia?" Zen asked slowly when Cecilia suddenly pushed him away from fusing with the essence flame.

"I was trying to save your foolish life from dying. Look at your skin already." Cecilia replied with a fierce expression on her face.

Hearing her words, Zen looked at his body that was almost about to tear apart from the intense heat.

'How come I couldn't feel any pain when my body was like this?' Zen was frightened by the condition of his body.

It was completely red and the skin was about to scrape off if Cecilia didn't push him away from the essence flame.

"If you stayed for another 3 seconds, you would have been melted by the intensity of the flame. You're always like this when you become excited." Cecilia sighs when Zen never changed his behavior.

He was calm and collected in any type of situation, to the point where he would even act like a fool or an idiot to fool the enemies.

However, when he became genuinely excited, his brain stopped thinking and would just act without caring about the consequences.

Zen scratches his head in embarrassment when Cecilia scolded him as a wife would do to their foolish husband.

"Sorry, I will definitely change my behavior," Zen said in an unconvinced tone to Cecilia.

After all, it's hard to change one natural habit since it takes time and not something to be done in one day.

*Thump*

Cecilia didn't even bother to lecture him for talking just to get away from his foolish action before. Instead, she waved her hand and a crystal clear pill that was emitting coldness appeared on the floor.

The temperature suddenly drops from the appearance of this pill where it starts countering the heat from BloodJade Flame.

Both of them are now competing to see who is superior in their prowess and Zen was freezing at one moment. Another moment, he started sweating from the intense heat.

"C-Cecilia, what's this pill that's making the temperature here go crazy," Zen asked shakily when he kept feeling extreme cold and heat.

"That pill is called the Ice Steel Armor and consuming this pill will make your temperature drop to sub-zero degrees. It's mainly used in the Divine world in an environment that is extremely hot where you'll need this pill to counter." Cecilia pointed at the pill and explained the usage of it.

"Extremely hot? Aren't cultivators that are extremely strong use their spiritual qi to cover themselves from such heat?"

Zen asked in confusion since he has used his spiritual qi to counter the heat from the volcano before and it was relatively easy for him.

To Zen who doesn't know much about the Divine world, he believed such a pill was uncommon.

Meanwhile, Cecilia gave a soft sigh before pointing her finger to Zen's brain where information suddenly flooded him.

"Aargh," Clenching his head from the sudden information without any preparation, Zen screamed in agony for a while before calming down.

Having the new information, Zen finally knew that the Ice Steel Armor pill was an essential pill when exploring some areas.

*Cough*

"You could have given me some hint that you were going to inform me like that." Touching his head with one hand, Zen looked at Cecilia with a pitiful expression.

Cecilia completely ignored his complaint as she flicked her hands and another pill appeared.

Zen didn't need Cecilia to inform him on what the pill is about because she has given him the process of how cultivators fuse with the essence flame.

'Soul calming pill, a pill used to calm one's mind and soul when they are about to lose consciousness from a certain situation.'

Nodding his head in understanding, Zen was ready to absorb the BloodJade Flame into his core. 

Absorbing an essence flame is an extremely dangerous move but at the same time, very rewarding.

If you don't risk everything then there's no reward for you. This comes from the term of no risk no gain.

"Well, time to do this," Zen said as he consumed the Ice Steel Armor pill while getting frostbite in his hand.

'Such coldness, no wonder why cultivators consume this pill when trying to absorb an essence flame.'

*Gulp*

As soon as Zen consumed the pill, his inside started to turn sub-zero where his breathing became difficult.

"Hurry up and approach the BloodJade Flame otherwise, you'll turn into an ice statue from the inside. If that happens, your chance of survival is basically over." Cecilia shouted when Zen was about to fall unconscious from the excessive coldness.

Zen didn't reply and moved forward to the essence flame which started to increase his temperature slowly.

*Creak*

The ice that is covering his body is starting to crack and melt from the heat intensity.

"Devour the essence flame directly to your mouth and make sure to direct it into your core. That's the only place that can store it and prevent it from going into havoc in your body." 

Cecilia instructs further because she doubts Zen still has the consciousness to remember about the process she gave him.

Learning and doing it practically are two different things. You can learn everything but without any experience in actually doing it, you will struggle for sure.

When Zen hears Cecilia's voice, he instantly uses his hand to grab the BloodJade Flame where it starts going wild and spraying multiple flames into the ground.

The BloodJade Flame has just been born so his consciousness wasn't strong but his instinct is still intact.

When Zen grabbed him, he could feel his existence would be gone and absorbed by Zen, thus he's doing everything in his power to prevent that.

Cecilia wanted to help but couldn't do anything in this situation. 'Zen, I can only instruct you and not do anything. If I helped, it would only make the situation worse and ruin your chances.'

Cecilia has done everything she could to guide Zen into fusing with the essence flame. This final step could only be done by him alone and she has complete trust that Zen will succeed.

"You are destined for greatness, Zen. Just one essence flame is only a stepping stone in your path." Cecilia clenched her fist when she saw Zen devour the essence flame into his throat.