Mountain and River Festival

Chapter 61: Anuo's Struggle

Dugu Qingli ran, which was much faster than the bumpy and chaotic run he took when he came. Before Lu Xingzhou could figure out what was going on, he had already gone out the door.

Shen Tang stood in a corner at the core of the cave with his hands behind his back, looking around. He saw a shelf carved out of the wall. There was nothing special on the shelf, just a few jade slips.

"This wall was sealed before. While he and I were fighting, he happened to punch through the outer wall, revealing this." Seeing the two people come out, Shen Tang curled his lips and said with a stern face, "These jade slips must be the skills and various techniques of the original owner of this place. There may also be alchemy notes and recipes. Xingzhou is currently lacking inheritance. Regardless of whether these are suitable for use, you can study them first."

I'm out there fighting for my life, and I'm still thinking about your cultivation method, while you guys are playing Jenga inside...

Lu Xingzhou also felt a little afraid of seeing Shen Tang at this time. He coughed dryly and put the jade slip away: "Take it back and study it slowly... Hmm... There shouldn't be anything else here."

Shen Tang nodded. "Yes, I checked around again before you guys came out so hastily. This place doesn't look like our old nest, it's just a temporary cave, a private garden at best, so there won't be too many things here."

Every word this sister said was filled with thorns. Dugu Qingli remained expressionless, "The magic weapons and talismans should have been used by the original owner in the battle with the corpse puppet. There won't be any left. If you're worried about any remaining, let's come back after we've rested. We're all in poor condition right now, and it would be difficult to handle if something unexpected happens."

Lu Xingzhou fled from this strange vortex as if for his life: "Let's go out and find An Nuo. She's been out there alone for too long, I wonder if she'll wander off."

Anuo didn't run around aimlessly. Since the couple came in, he ran around in circles outside, trying to find out why there were no flowers or plants here.

The place was very big, and Anuo ran for a long time without sensing anything. However, he became more and more certain of his suspicion that there must be a ghost here.

She finally returned to the intersection of the dragon and the tiger and sat cross-legged, stroking her round chin and looking at the pit in the center in deep thought.

There is no sense of anything around. If there is anything, I guess it will land here.

The master determined that this must be the original location of the alchemy furnace, and Ah Nuo also felt that this was definitely the case. But the master didn't dig deeper after all. Could there be something else underneath?

In fact, An Nuo had roughly guessed that this was a place for alchemy. If there was something underneath, it must be underground fire. This was normal. The master probably didn't dig deeper because of this judgment. If he dug deeper, underground fire would probably gush up.

Anuo is very afraid of fire.

She wasn't just incompatible with fire; she was afraid of it. Even Dugu Qingli could see that she had a strong Wood element, and people with a strong Wood element were naturally afraid of fire.

After all, he had cultivated to the current level, and could overcome his fear of ordinary flames. He could even roast sweet potatoes and use the earth's fire to help his master refine pills, but deep down he still didn't want to touch fire.

Anuo is not a burden, he is just a ground fire, what’s so great about it!

Anuo sniffed, took out a bunch of talismans from his pocket, and stuck them all over his body.

They are all fire-avoiding talismans.

Then he took a deep breath and punched the bottom of the pit with his short hands.

Earth and rocks flew everywhere, and the underground fire that had been covered by years of accumulation suddenly erupted, instantly making Anuo covered in dust.

There are several ways that underground fire can form. The first is from ordinary volcanoes. This type of fire is ordinary and unstable, so no one would use it to make elixirs. The second type is fire from special earth veins. This fire is stable and often has unique properties. Many alchemists specifically seek out such locations when choosing cave dwellings. The downside is that this type of fire is relatively low in temperature. If it were really hot enough, no one would survive.

Another type is created with special natural treasures, which has many benefits.

Danxia Mountain is a land of earth fire. This place is essentially connected to the base of Danxia Mountain, so theoretically it is also a land of earth fire. But Anuo felt that this was not possible. Ordinary land fire would at most affect the plant species that are suitable for growth, but would not cause all grass to grow. Just like the warmth of Danxia Mountain is particularly suitable for growing medicinal herbs.

Even if it is the fire of the earth veins, it is very likely that something else has been added to it. It is probably this addition that has caused the place to be barren.

Anuo gritted his teeth and jumped directly into the underground fire.

The fire-avoiding talisman on his body had begun to curl up, and the scorching heat made it impossible for Anuo to open his eyes.

But Anuo felt happy in his heart, thinking that his judgment was correct, there was space below!
"Step..." The little feet touched something and the shoes were instantly burned to ashes.

Anuo quickly turned in the air and landed on the ground below.

The so-called ground was mostly black, hard rock, with a few magma-like fluids interspersed between the rocks. An Nuo had to concentrate his Qi to protect the soles of his feet, otherwise he would be burned if he stepped on this ground. The entire environment was on fire, and An Nuo was standing in the center of the flames.

She was in no mood to care about anything else and stared blankly at a crystal floating in the flames.

She had never seen it before, but four words inexplicably popped up in her mind: Essence of Fire.

Then an indescribable fear arose in my heart, and it seemed as if I saw the face of a devil appearing on the crystal, and my flesh and bones began to ache all over my body.

It seemed as if it had been dismembered and crushed by this demon, then kneaded into a ball and made into a bun.

More messy memories flashed through my mind, but they didn't make sense.

Anuo stepped back in fear, and his other shoe stepped on the lava and turned into ash with a sizzling sound.

Anuo seemed to have just woken up from a dream, suddenly let out an angry shout, and punched the crystal fiercely.

The crystal trembled slightly, and dark demonic energy seeped out from it, passing through Anuo's fist and rushing straight to the spiritual platform. The devil's low laugh could be heard faintly: "I never thought that one day, delicious food would be delivered to my door..."

This is not the protection of the original owner's will imprint in the spiritual water crystal, but a true demon was born in this treasure... Because it has been in the Prison of Flames for a long time, and because it is in a treasure like the Essence of Fire, the destructive intent of the gathered flames gradually condensed into a bit of spirituality. This is the most typical birth of the Fire Demon.

I'm afraid the original owner didn't expect the birth of the Fire Demon when he placed this thing here... It was the birth of the Fire Demon that made the surrounding area desolate.

However, it seems that this fire demon is still a nascent form, and even its flaming body has not yet condensed, so it is relatively weak.

An Nuo was wrapped in flames, his spirit platform flickering, and he suddenly asked, "Have you seen me?"

The Balrog was stunned: "I have never seen other creatures..."

"I don't know why, but I always feel like I've seen you before. Is it in a dream?" An Nuo scratched his head in confusion: "Never mind, a demon like you is just a child anyway."

Flame Demon: “…”

You're not a child anymore.

The next moment, the Flame Demon let out a scream, and its demonic energy rolled back. Anuo punched the Flame Spirit hard, revealing his neat white teeth. "My master is a Soul Banner user. He was afraid that I would be attacked accidentally, so he asked Sister Yu to place a God and Ghost Ban on me. How dare you break in!"

The Fire Spirit was pinned to the ground, punched left and right, and the Demon Shadow was trapped inside and roared, "Little devil, you are looking for death!"

"Boom!" Flames gathered from all directions. Anuo, who was already burning in the flames, could no longer bear it. The fire-avoiding talismans on his body burned out one after another, and the ends of his hair began to singe.

Ah Nuo grabbed the essence of fire and shot out of the cave like lightning. The flames below followed him closely, like a living fire dragon chasing him.

Anuo took out a piece of...cake from the ring.

The pancake shook and became bigger than the manhole cover. It snapped shut at the entrance of the hole with a clang, fitting perfectly.

Ah Nuo also has a magic weapon! It can be used for both offense and defense, but he usually doesn't like to use it when there are outsiders around.

What kid would take out a manhole cover and smash it on someone's head... An Nuo still cares about his image.

The fire spirit struggled hard to break free from Anuo's grasp. Anuo almost couldn't catch it, so he pressed it to the ground with both hands, almost covering it up.

The Fire Demon roared, "Are you crazy?! What good will it do you to hold me down like this?! The fire-avoiding charms on you are gone! If you hold me down now, you're setting yourself on fire!"

Flames burst out from the crystal, surrounding An Nuo's small body.

Ah Nuo gritted his teeth and said, "I just need to control you and wait for Master and the others to come out... I don't know if this crystal will be effective for Master's legs, but I think it should be... I need to let Master take a look..."

"Just to show people something that may or may not be useful!" The Flame Demon was furious and went berserk: "You are obviously very afraid of fire, aren't you afraid of death?"

Anuo was so burned that his face was twitching, but he couldn't hide his smile: "But Master is Anuo's life..."

The fire demon felt unable to communicate with humans and frantically tried to escape. However, the child's strength was so great that it was like the power of a dragon or a tiger, holding it there tightly.

The mountain-like skeletons of dragons and tigers on the left and right stand still, as if guarding them.

Anuo was a little confused due to the burns and vaguely remembered the first few days when he had memory.

A baby was in the valley, feeling cold, hungry and scared.

She could faintly hear the roar of wild beasts, and she didn't know when they would come and eat her.

I wanted to escape, but I had no strength left and couldn't move at all...

I don’t know how long it was, the sun rose and the moon set, and when I felt like I was about to starve to death, someone hit my head and it hurt so much.

Is he going to be eaten? Ah Nuo cried.

But a dying child rolled over to her side and weakly stroked her face: "Here...why is there a little glutinous rice ball...so cute..."

"Somehow I have some strength again... I seem to be able to save myself... But I can't just leave her here..." The child gritted his teeth and tied the baby to his back. He dragged his broken leg and climbed up Danxia Mountain bit by bit using his knees and hands.

The mountain road was covered with bloodstains left by him.

Then the scene changed back to that day. The handsome master, now with sharp eyebrows and bright eyes, stuffed the pill into her mouth without saying anything: "There are medicines for leg treatment everywhere, but there is only one for An Nuo!"

Suddenly, I heard footsteps and the sound of wheels, and the voice in my memory rang out anxiously: "Anuo! Why are you all on fire?"

Ah Nuo looked up at the familiar face, and neat white teeth were revealed on the dark face: "Master, there is a fire demon here, help me beat it."

(End of this chapter)