Chapter 2204.1: Capturing a Fire Spirit
The fires of heaven and earth gave birth to fire spirits when they evolved to advanced levels. Fire spirits were as if spirit beasts—they possessed domineering strength and could deploy the full might of their flame.
Most fire spirits could evolve into monster spirits and ascend to incredibly powerful monster immortals. Once they reached immortality, they were at least dao immortal and wholly unafraid of immortal overlords.
However, it was exceedingly difficult for a fire of heaven and earth to bloom. After it came into being, another one hundred million years of accumulation was needed for a fire spirit to be born from said flame. And for one to become an immortal… there had only ever been one in the world of immortals of old.
The Undying Immortal King under the High Lord of the Southern Sky had been the greatest beneath the immortal emperor. Lu Yun hadn’t anticipated meeting a spirit of Hadal Fire here!
Hadal Fire itself was a formidable spirit beast. This one was untamed and simply confined by a gourd that was a paramount rank dao weapon. The most likely story was that someone had captured its core essence soon after it metamorphosed into a spirit. Otherwise, even a paramount rank dao weapon wouldn’t be able to keep it confined.
No wonder Sui Ge was so confident, he had a spirit of Hadal Fire!
“Go!” Lu Yun cast his own hand seal when he saw the enormous bird of fire rushing toward him. A loud bird cry sounded behind him as a giant bird of golden-red flame soared out.
A piercing bird croon shook the skies.
“A Three-Footed Aureate Bird formed from Sol Truefire!” Many were the knowledgeable cultivators present who could immediately identify the bird.
“Should I go help?” Blue fire danced in Kong Mengqian’s hand as she watched nervously from the city walls. Sol Truefire was ranked a little lower than Hadal Fire, not to mention her master faced a fire spirit.
Fire from a true Aureate Bird wouldn't shy away from the fire spirit, but Lu Yun’s Sol Truefire was only derived from the core of a divine beast with the Three-Footed Aureate Bird’s bloodline.
“There’s no need.” Terra Demon calmed her nerves. “Sui Ge is nothing but a joke to the young master.”
Bam!
A black bird collided with a gold bird and surprised everyone when Lu Yun’s weaker Aureate Bird Truefire withstood the Hadal Fire Spirit!
Lu Yun took advantage of the opportunity to bring Immortals Forbidden down on Sui Ge.
“You seek death!” Sui Ge sneered to see the young man come for him. Another pillar of flame spewed from the gourd when he spun it, forming a second Hadal Fire Spirit in bird form.
With the fire spirit’s core essence trapped in the gourd, Sui Ge could summon any number of its replicas at will so long as he held the gourd.
Lu Yun paused when he saw the second bird and spun on his heel. He left an afterimage in the air and suddenly appeared behind Sui Ge, bringing his sword down with an overhang slash.
BAM!
When sword light bit into a curtain of light, Sui Ge bounced backward like a rubber ball. Lu Yun’s eyes also widened as he rapidly backed up, dispersing the enormous recoil.
“A paramount dao rank defensive treasure…” His eyes twitched as he looked at the little prince.
Not even the three ninth rank cultivation empires possessed that many paramount rank treasures. Even the law enforcers wielded only upper rank! Yet Sui Ge easily took out two paramount ranked ones with a flip of his hand? Damn, he’s richer than me!
“Chenguang, what do you think that thing on Sui Ge looks like?” came a taunting voice from the city walls—Yu Shuai.
“Ummm… a turtle shell?” responded a confused Zhao Chenguang.
“Yep, it’s a huge turtle shell!” Yu Shuai burst into uproarious laughter.
“Dang, that’s a huge turtle down there!” Zhao Chenguang joined his friend with hoots of mirth, drawing chuckles from others in the vicinity.
It was as if Sui Ge shouldered a massive turtle shell on his back as he solidly protected his body, leaving only his head and limbs outside. He truly did look like an enormous turtle.
“That should be a paramount rank defensive treasure refined from a ninth rank Black Tortoise…” Situ Wenxian sucked in a sharp breath. Lu Yun had no hope of winning this battle. A Hadal Fire Spirit raised the offensive while another paramount dao rank treasure brought up the rear. Although Sui Ge couldn’t deploy its full power, such treasures could instinctively defend their masters.
In either case, they were something that the current Lu Yun couldn’t overcome.
Aouuu!
The Hadal Fire Spirit devoured Lu Yun’s Sol Truefire. In the absence of an opponent, the fire spirit swallowed its copy and rushed the Lu young master again.
“Tsk…” Lu Yun snorted with laughter and waved another Aureate Golden Bird into existence.
Much weaker than the one before, it took only a few exchanges before the Hadal Fire Spirit swallowed the new bird.
Then there was a second, third, fourth, and fifth golden bird… Aureate Bird Truefire filled the skies and formed palm-sized birds of golden flame that flung themselves at the fire spirit.
The seemingly inexhaustible fire spirit devoured all comers; no one noticed a faint sheen of gold began to creep through its black eyes.
Humm!
An ancient pill cauldron with a simple design appeared over Lu Yun’s head. Rays of Aureate Bird Truefire rushed out with abandon and formed another flaming golden bird. The light in the Hadal Fire Spirit’s eyes intensified as it devoured more of the attacks, its aura growing more formidable as well.
“Hahaha, Lu Yun! Who could’ve thought that you’d bring out a lower dao rank weapon!” Sui Ge roared with laughter when he felt the fire spirit’s power grow stronger. “But so what? All the Aureate Bird Truefire is doing is just strengthening my Hadal Fire Spirit!”
“What an absolute idiot.” Lu Yun curled his lip and sent out more hand seals. The pill cauldron shook and spewed fire at a faster pace.
“Crafty kid.” The handsome young man within the Dark Orchid delegation smiled coolly. “He’s feeding Aureate Bird Truefire to the Hadal Fire Spirit to enhance its strength. He’s trying to help it break free of the Immortal Suppression Gourd. But heh, that’s so much easier said than done.”
The young man had accurately identified Lu Yun’s plan. Once the Hadal Fire Spirit broke free, it would immediately turn on its previous master. Although a paramount dao rank treasure protected Sui Ge, he would be burned to ashes regardless and left without a single bone fragment to his name.
The gourd was a second rank immortal treasure, but had been immensely damaged through the course of trapping the newly born fire spirit. Though it declined to a paramount dao rank treasure, it was still able to confine the fire spirit’s core essence.
As for Aureate Bird Truefire, the level that Lu Yun was producing it at wouldn’t help the fire spirit break free even in a hundred years. All it did was strengthen the bird’s power.
“Your dao treasure’s not bad to be able to release Aureate Bird Truefire. It can feed my fire spirit, so now it’s mine!” Sui Ge had run out of patience for the fight. He simply wanted Lu Yun to die right now.
He sent out another gout of Hadal Fire, keeping it in the form of fire instead of crafting a fire spirit. Black flames filled the sky as they churned toward Lu Yun.
“Heh, you won’t die if you don’t tempt death.” Lu Yun’s smile deepened. Instead of meeting it head-on, he deployed the Nine Forms of the Cloud Dragon and roamed the area as nine faint images.
While Hadal Fire was everywhere, Sui Ge couldn’t easily control it. If he could utilize a method like Kong Mengqian’s art of fire control, then Lu Yun would have no other choice but to run for his life.
Sadly for Sui Ge, all he mastered was rudimentary control over Hadal Fire.
“This is how you use fire.” Lu Yun suddenly paused and pushed out with one palm. A crimson fire dragon more than thirty meters long flew from his hand and snarled at the Hadal Fire.
Boom!
The two flames canceled each other out when they collided.
“Again!” Lu Yun pushed out another dragon of fire.
“Brahman Fire!” gasped the handsome young man in the delegation.
Brahman Fire was the lowest on the ranking of earthly fires, making it the weakest. But even so, it was not to be underestimated. A stunning genius of Great Xia once created a ninth rank formation thousands of years ago, calling it the Nineheavens Brahman Formation. It could summon any of the forbidden fires in the world. If Lu Yun was able to coalesce a dragon of Brahman Fire, that meant he’d subdued a bloom of said fire and brought it completely under his control.
“But I don’t sense the aura of any fires of heaven and earth…” The handsome young man frowned.
“Master, your grandson is impressive beyond belief…” Situ Wenxian clucked his tongue with amazement as he saw Lu Yun withstand Sui Ge equipped with a Hadal Fire Spirit.
The nearby officials, residents of Dark City, and cultivators gaped at the noble young man renowned for being trash in both deed and thought. They couldn’t connect the person flitting through the fight with the good-for-nothing called Lu Yun.
Aouuu!
Before anyone could react, the black bird in the sky suddenly shrieked a piercing cry.
PFFT!
Fully focused on controlling the Immortal Suppression Gourd, Sui Ge trembled and spat out a mouthful of blood.