Mortal: The Path to Immortality

On this day, at the Demon Flame Sect's headquarters in the Yuanwu Kingdom.

The once heavily guarded gate now appeared exceptionally solemn.

Sun and Mo, the two Core Formation stage protectors of the Demon Flame Sect, were leading a group of Foundation Establishment stage core disciples, waiting respectfully in front of the sect's gate.

The two Core Formation Ancestors, usually imposing figures, now wore solemn expressions, occasionally glancing up at the horizon.

Before long, a loud bird cry suddenly came from the silent horizon.

Immediately afterwards, a column of dozens of elite cultivators from the Demon Flame Sect flew in from the horizon.

In the very center of this group, a "Crimson Peacock" engulfed in raging flames spread its wings and soared through the air.

When the team landed on the open ground in front of the camp, a wave of heat hit them.

From the magnificent palanquin on the back of the Crimson Flame Peacock, the beaded curtain was lifted, and a young woman dressed in a tight-fitting outfit with several braids stepped down.

The woman's eyes revealed a hint of wickedness—she was none other than Lian Feihua, the beloved daughter of the Demon Flame Sect Master.

The two Core Formation Guardians, who had been waiting for a long time, exchanged a glance, then stepped forward in unison, cupped their hands in greeting, and called out in unison:

"We pay our respects to Your Highness, Young Master!"

"Thank you for your formalities, Uncles." Lian Feihua casually raised her hand, as if to offer a helping hand.

However, her eyes swept over the faces of the core cultivators gathered in front of the camp, and after a moment, she frowned and asked with a half-smile:

"Eh? I heard before I came that this Yuanwu Kingdom's territory was under the command of that brat Helian. Why haven't I seen him today?"

Sensing a hint of displeasure in Lian Feihua's tone, Protector Sun stepped forward first and replied somewhat helplessly:

"To be honest, Young Master Helian went out for training a month ago and has not returned yet."

"Oh?" Upon hearing this, Lian Feihua's eyelashes fluttered slightly, and a hint of suspicion flashed in her eyes.

She circled the two Core Formation cultivators halfway around, then continued asking with great interest:

"Elder Blood Torch usually values ​​Helian Bo more than his own life, which is why he specially sent the two of you to protect him."

"What, aren't you two senior uncles afraid that the boy might be harmed outside, incurring the displeasure of the elders?"

At this moment, Protector Mo stepped forward, sighed, and added:

"Young Master, you may not know this, but we were supposed to accompany the Young Envoy on his trip. However, for some reason, the Young Envoy's attitude was extremely firm this time, and he even invoked the elders' orders to sternly refuse our request to follow. We are also troubled by this matter."

"Interesting... Even two Core Formation cultivators find it a nuisance." Lian Feihua stroked her chin and smiled meaningfully. "I'm quite curious about the opportunity that would make a Heavenly Spirit Root cultivator, who has no shortage of resources, so discreet."

However, she quickly composed herself and, with a serious expression, gave the two instructions:

"Fine, we'll settle that kid's score later."

This time, I, the young master, am here on the orders of the sect leader to dispatch elite personnel to Yue Kingdom for immediate reinforcement.

Now those stubborn guys from the seven factions are at their last gasp, and the war is almost over.

As for how much benefit we can ultimately gain from that piece of fat, that will depend on our individual abilities within the six sects.

"We will follow the lead of the Sect Master and the Young Master!" Protector Mo immediately bowed and accepted the order, his expression becoming solemn.

"We will immediately issue orders to the few Yuanwu Kingdom cultivation families that are affiliated with our sect, instructing them to gather manpower and resources within three days to accompany the young master to reinforce the Yue Kingdom."

......

Two days later.

In the Kingdom of Dongyu, beneath the Sea of ​​Fire, lies a secluded cave, hidden very deeply.

Lu Nanzhu was sitting cross-legged with his eyes closed, guiding his breath into his body and regulating his breathing.

He had to go to great lengths to find this safe place to rest amidst the chaotic underground ruins.

Along the way, he not only had to avoid the gaze of other rogue cultivators, but also managed to kill more than a dozen low-level demonic beasts that were blind to his presence and ambushed him from the shadows.

Thanks to the rich spiritual energy of this place, coupled with the medicinal power of his own foundation-strengthening pills, he recovered all the magical power he had consumed in the past few days in just a few hours.

"call--"

Lu Nanzhu opened his eyes and took a deep breath. "The magma calm period in this Fire Abyss can only last for a short ten days, and now half of that time has passed."

He stood up and put the items beside him into his storage bag.

"We can't linger on the outskirts for the next few days; we must intensify our search for the whereabouts of 'Heavenly Fire Liquid'."

Having made up his mind, Lu Nanzhu no longer hesitated and withdrew the several concealment array flags that had been set up around the cave.

It transformed into a streak of blue-green light and left the cave.

This Fire Abyss Secret Realm is indeed quite large, far exceeding Lu Nanzhu's previous expectations.

Over the next few days, he led "Mancang" through the ruins and fissures in the ground.

Whenever "Mancang" twitches its nose and points excitedly in a direction rich in spiritual energy, Lu Nanzhu would carefully sneak over to investigate.

Unfortunately, these places mostly only nurture ordinary spiritual objects and medicinal herbs of decent age, which are not only of little use to him in forming his core, but also often lead to him encountering rogue cultivators who are already waiting there.

Those rogue cultivators searching for treasures in the secret realm were all like startled birds; at the slightest sign of unusual activity, their expressions turned serious.

When his divine sense swept over and found that Lu Nanzhu was all alone, he was filled with evil intentions. He could no longer suppress the greed in his eyes, and without saying a word, he took out his magic weapon and tried to kill and steal the treasure with red eyes.

Lu Nanzhu had no intention of getting into a conflict with these rogue cultivators, and he had no interest in those ordinary spiritual objects, but these guys kept following him and relentlessly pursuing him.

Adhering to the principle of "cutting the weeds out of the roots to avoid future troubles," he had no choice but to reluctantly use his methods to wipe them all out, and incidentally tear off their storage bags and collect the spiritual items on the ground.

By the tenth day after entering the secret realm, even Lu Nanzhu himself couldn't remember how many fools he had provoked.

Along the way, he evaded a group of cunning individuals and killed a group of greed-driven people. His storage bag was filled with a considerable amount of various miscellaneous cultivation techniques, pills, and common medicinal herbs.

However, there is still no clue as to any trace of "Heavenly Fire Liquid".

Just as he was about to give up and abandon the search, "Mancang," who had been hanging his head, suddenly straightened up.

Its small eyes shone with an unprecedented light, and its two front paws gestured rapidly in mid-air, tugging at Lu Nanzhu's clothes, leading him to a "dead end" on the edge of a secret realm.

Lu Nanzhu stopped in his tracks. Before him stood a thick rock wall made of basalt that had been piled up for countless years, where spiritual energy seemed to be completely isolated.

However, looking at "Mancang's" front paws, which were stuck to the rock wall and were almost scratching sparks, Lu Nanzhu instantly understood what the little guy meant.

A sacred land that can deceive countless treasure-hunting cultivators must be hidden in the deepest part of the land.

Without further hesitation, he took out a treasured intermediate-level "Earth Escape Talisman" from his storage bag.

As the talisman transformed into a dim, yellowish earthen light, Lu Nanzhu plunged headfirst into the seemingly indestructible rock wall.

After an unknown amount of time, all that remained in sight were streaks of rapidly receding rock and mineral veins, and the muffled squeezing sound in my ears.

The energy of the Earth Escape Talisman was being consumed at a visible rate, and Lu Nanzhu had no idea how thick the rock layer he had penetrated was.

Just as the talisman's power was about to be exhausted, a sudden bright light appeared before their eyes, and the heavy pressure subsided.

Lu Nanzhu landed on an open ground and immediately spread his divine senses out warily.

This is a secret space hidden deep inside a volcano, a narrow underground crevice.

The jagged rocks surrounding the crevice were also covered with those coral-like fluorescent objects, which emitted a faint light, illuminating the entire underground crevice in a deep blue hue.

Lu Nanzhu walked slowly along the corridor for a while, then looked up.

Above, in the center of a dark cave ceiling, a rich, deep red light suddenly emanated.

He used his divine sense to probe. He saw a viscous spiritual liquid slowly gathering above a thin layer of basalt.

The spiritual liquid was a pure, fiery red color, and with each contraction, it caused the surrounding spiritual energy to crackle.

"Heavenly Fire Liquid!"

Lu Nanzhu was overjoyed. He suppressed his impatience, knowing that such spiritual objects were most delicate before they were fully formed. If someone carelessly broke the balance, the spiritual liquid would evaporate instantly, and it would probably take more than a hundred years to regenerate it underground.

After patiently waiting for about half an incense stick's time, until the crimson spiritual liquid completely stilled and turned into a full-bodied liquid, Lu Nanzhu's eyes narrowed.

He activated his escape technique, his figure silently floating into the air, while simultaneously taking out the "Fire Bottle" from his storage bag.

After obtaining this treasure from the Nascent Soul elder, he had used it to contain fire essence more than once, confirming its ability to preserve fire-attribute spiritual liquid, before he felt comfortable using it at this moment.

"Bang!"

Lu Nanzhu flicked a beam of light from his fingertip, shattering the thin layer of rock with extreme precision.

Having lost its support, the Heavenly Fire Liquid drifted down. With a flick of his wrist, he aimed the mouth of the Fire Bottle at the falling crimson liquid, and Lu Nanzhu could immediately seize this opportunity to form his core.

However, at that very moment, a whooshing sound rushed towards him from behind. Accompanying it was a violent heatwave.

Lu Nanzhu almost instinctively shifted his body in mid-air, narrowly avoiding the attack.

However, the attacking crimson fireball was simply too fast. He dodged the fatal blow, but ultimately didn't have time to retrieve the Fire Bottle that was suspended in mid-air.

"Bang!"

The purplish-red fireball slammed heavily onto the fire bottle.

The surface of this top-grade magic artifact instantly cracked with countless fissures, and the restrictive array contained within it completely dissipated with a shattering sound, rendering it unusable.

The extremely precious drop of "Heavenly Fire Liquid" floated in mid-air, emitting an alluring faint light.

Lu Nanzhu steadied himself and landed on a strange rock not far away. He took out his double-edged magic weapon and looked coldly at the shadow from which the fireball was coming.

A young man dressed in a purple robe with gold trim, with an aloof expression, clapped his hands and walked out step by step.

That handsome yet somewhat sinister face always wore a mocking expression; this man was none other than Helian Yu, the young envoy of the Demon Flame Sect.

"Fellow Daoist's agility truly impresses me. If those useless fellows from the Seven Sects of Yue Kingdom had even half of your ability to escape, the Demonic Path wouldn't have won in such a boring way."

Helian Yu didn't even glance at Lu Nanzhu, his eyes fixed on the floating Heavenly Fire Liquid in the air.

"Unfortunately, in the world of cultivation, speed alone is far from enough to win battles."

Before he finished speaking, Helian Yu suddenly formed a hand seal, and a dazzling purple-red spiritual light burst forth from between his ten fingers.

The Heavenly Fire Liquid, which had been floating in the air, seemed to be drawn by some strong force, and after drawing an arc, it obediently drifted towards him.

Helian Yu carefully gathered the Heavenly Fire Liquid in his palms with his hands, which were completely enveloped in purplish-red spiritual light, and gently placed it into a purplish-red jade bowl that had been prepared beforehand. He then casually slapped on several spirit-sealing talismans.

After putting away the jade bowl, Helian Yu slowly raised his head and looked at Lu Nanzhu, who was wearing a mask.