Battle Through the Heavens: The Rock King Emperor's Leisurely Wanderings in the Mortal World

Chapter 97 The Sixth Brother's Strange Fire, Xuanhuang Flame

Gu Qiu swayed, each step appearing extremely difficult, as if he were carrying a thousand-pound burden. His steps were dragging and heavy as he slowly moved forward on the uneven ground, large beads of sweat rolling down his forehead and soaking his slightly disheveled clothes.

Finally, he arrived at a relatively clean place where a towering tree stood, its branches and leaves lush and verdant, like a giant green umbrella, bringing a rare touch of shade to this small space. Gu Qiu slowly walked to the tree, leaned against the trunk, and sat down, his eyes revealing a hint of weariness and weakness.

He took out a recovery pill and swallowed it. Then, Gu Qiu took a deep breath, slowly closed his eyes, and began to activate the Xuanhuang Flame within his body. A faint, deep yellow light gradually emanated from around his body, indicating the quiet surging of the Xuanhuang Flame's power. Guided by his will, the Xuanhuang Flame began to accelerate its digestion of the pill.

Before long, Gu Qiu's complexion gradually returned to normal color, and his originally pale face regained a glimmer of life.

He exhaled a deep breath, as if expelling all the impurities from his body. At this moment, Gu Qiu was completely bathed in the deep yellow flames of the Xuanhuang Flame. This could be considered as making full use of one of the most outstanding characteristics of the Xuanhuang Flame as a strange fire—concealing one's aura.

Although the Xuanhuang Flame completely surpasses other beast flames and battle qi flames in strength, becoming the undisputed master of all flames, it ranks last among all strange flames. In the world of strange flames, each flame has its own unique status and abilities. It can be said that any other strange flame has the ability to devour the Xuanhuang Flame. It's like a chicken's head and a phoenix's tail—seemingly incredibly powerful, yet in an indescribably awkward position.

However, this is also where the power of the Xuanhuang Flame lies. Its unique stealth properties mean that even a semi-saint level expert cannot detect its presence unless it reveals itself. Only a super-powerful expert who has reached the Dou Sheng level might be able to detect even a trace of it at the void rift where the Xuanhuang Flame is hidden.

This is why most Xuanhuang Flames, thanks to their stealth characteristics at the level of a different kind of flame, are able to cultivate steadily until they develop sentience. In this long and challenging process, they silently absorb the essence of heaven and earth, constantly growing and evolving.

Once a strange fire develops sentience, the rankings on the Strange Fire Ranking may change slightly.

For example, a Xuanhuang Flame that has developed human intelligence can detect nearby other flames through the unique connection between them. It will not make contact with flames ranked within its top seventeen that have already developed sentience; however, it may devour flames ranked less than five places higher that have not yet developed sentience.

This is why the number of people who have seen the Xuanhuang Flame is basically as small as the number of people who have seen the Emperor Flame. As the top existence among the strange flames, the Emperor Flame is naturally mysterious and rare, while the Xuanhuang Flame, although relatively weak, is also particularly mysterious in the world of strange flames due to its unique stealth characteristics.

Even though the Xuanhuang Flame has such a rudimentary development process, because it is the weakest of all the strange flames, it can only absorb a portion of the strength of the strange flame's seed when it devours other strange flames. Most of it will be absorbed because the Xuanhuang Flame's own seed source cannot accommodate it all at once. Since the source of the devoured strange flame has disappeared, the original strange flame energy can only silently dissipate into the world. It can be said to be the terminator of strange flames. However, because of this, the Xuanhuang Flame's speed of improving its cultivation is also extremely slow.

The Xuanhuang Flame that Gu Qiu possessed had devoured countless low-level exotic flame buds. When Gu Qiu devoured it, its strength had reached the peak of the Ninth Rank Dou Zun realm, and it was faintly touching the Half-Saint level. Even so, Gu Qiu still encountered considerable difficulties when actually devouring the Xuanhuang Flame. If he hadn't acted cautiously, not devouring it immediately, but instead returning to the Ancient Clan to inform the elders and report to the Clan Chief Gu Yuan, he probably would have expended even more effort.

The ancient clans have always looked down on low-ranking strange flames, especially since the Xuanhuang Flame that Gu Qiu brought back was ranked very low on the strange flame list. Therefore, many elders thought that Gu Qiu's actions were making a mountain out of a molehill, and no one was willing to protect him. However, Gu Yuan, as the clan leader, although he also looked down on the Xuanhuang Flame, still gladly witnessed Gu Qiu's process of absorbing it, out of consideration for his responsibilities as the clan leader.

According to Gu Yuan's calculations, this Xuanhuang Flame, which has reached the peak of the Ninth Rank Dou Zun, may have been born before the ancient clan's ancestor became an emperor...

When Gu Qiu realized that many elders had not arrived as expected, a doubt arose in his heart: had he been too cautious? However…

Gu Qiu vividly remembered this incident. If it weren't for the timely presence of the alchemy hall elders and Gu Yuan, and Gu Yuan's assistance in suppressing the Xuanhuang Flame with the Golden Emperor Burning Heaven Flame, he would likely have been devoured by the Xuanhuang Flame. While he wouldn't have lost his life, his strength would have been severely diminished, making further progress impossible.

After all, the other party has cultivated for thousands of years, how could he easily let Gu Qiu succeed?

"call……"

Gu Qiu slowly rose and used an ancient clan secret technique to urgently send a message back to his clan.

"To injure me so badly, and yet I didn't even see his face, he must be a seven or eight-star Dou Sheng from another ancient family. Hmph, is the rule that ancient families' five-star Dou Sheng and above cannot act arbitrarily just a formality? I came here to gather intelligence, not to seize the strange fire, but I didn't expect other families to send seven or eight-star Dou Shengs. It seems my ancient clan is still too rule-abiding. After sending the message, I must hurry into the city to confirm the safety of Xuan'er and the young lady."

Before long, a thin, deep yellow needle of light shot into the sky, which Zhong Li happened to see.

Zhong Li first read the fiber optic content in half a second, then snapped his fingers with his right hand.

In just one second, the fiber optic communication cable that had flown away from the Gama Empire self-destructed.

As the manufacturer of optical fibers, Gu Qiu was naturally very aware of all of this.

His body jolted violently, a chill running from his feet straight to his heart. He swallowed hard, shivering, and thought in fear:

"What...what...what kind of being is this? Could it be the Nine-Star Dou Sheng Soul Emperor? No, that can't be! Even if it were the Soul Emperor, he could recognize this as my ancient clan's secret technique, but he shouldn't have been able to stop it in time. What should I do now?! The opponent's strength far surpasses mine, and I can't contact my clan. The entire space of the Jia Ma Empire has been sealed off by him. Is today truly my end?"

……

[Voting Section: Monthly Pass]

[Voting Section: Recommendation Vote]

(End of this chapter)