Mortal: The Path to Immortality

Looking at the lamp in his hand that had been completely extinguished, Helian Yu's face turned deathly pale.

Unwilling to give up, he used various magical artifacts and frantically attacked the five-colored array barrier in front of him.

However, at this moment his magic power was almost exhausted, and the spiritual light of his attack hit the barrier of the formation, only causing a weak ripple before being easily neutralized.

Seeing no hope of escape, Helian Yu finally abandoned all his arrogance and shouted to Lu Nanzhu through the protective barrier:

"Fellow Daoist, wait a moment! As a disciple of Spirit Beast Mountain, you should know that Spirit Beast Mountain has now secretly formed an alliance with our six sects."

We have a deep-seated hatred for each other, but today's events are nothing but a misunderstanding. Why don't we shake hands and make peace, and then part ways?

Outside the light barrier, Lu Nanzhu's expression was cold and stern. He didn't even glance at him, but simply placed his hands on the array plate.

Seeing that Lu Nanzhu remained unmoved, Helian Yu panicked completely, his eyes flashing with fear, and he hurriedly increased his bet, urging:

"Fellow Daoist! If you spare my life today, I am willing to give you all the treasures I possess. I can also share this 'Azure Sun Treasure Scroll' with you!"

This was once the most renowned fire-controlling sect in the entire Southern Heaven—the Crimson Script Sect's most prized treasure! It contained unparalleled fire-controlling secrets.

"His initial arrogance followed by his later obsequiousness is laughable."

Faced with Helian Yu's pleas for mercy, Lu Nanzhu finally chuckled softly.

He placed one hand behind his back, using the array's spiritual light as cover, and silently activated a golden talisman, saying with a faint sneer:

"Young Master Helian, when you were shouting for my life and treating me like dirt, you didn't have this attitude now."

Moreover, according to the rules of the cultivation world, if I kill you... I can still take everything from your storage bag without losing a single item.

"No! You can't kill me! You scum from Spirit Beast Mountain!"

Seeing that his attempts to bribe him had failed, Helian Yu's expression became extremely ugly.

He roared at the top of his lungs, his face contorted with rage, "Am I the beloved grandson of the Blood Torch Ancestor of the Demon Flame Sect? If you kill me today, my grandmaster will surely grind you to dust, leaving you nowhere to stand in this southern land!!"

Lu Nanzhu shook his head, too lazy to listen to these threatening words anymore. His eyes turned cold, and he silently accelerated the activation of the array plate.

Seeing the resolute determination of his opponent, Helian Yu, knowing he had no chance of survival today, was filled with resentment. He let out a bitter laugh and frantically urged the last remaining trace of demonic flame within his body, attempting to forcibly incinerate himself and the storage bag completely.

"Hehehe! I won't let you succeed! Demonic flames will consume your body! You'll get nothing!!"

However, just as the demonic flames within him were about to burst forth, the surrounding five-colored array barrier suddenly vanished without warning.

A golden needle of light had already flown to Helian Yu's front, passing through his chest with extreme precision.

"Well……"

Helian Yu's words came to an abrupt halt.

The flow of demonic energy within his body instantly ceased. The purplish-red demonic flames that were about to overflow from his body lost their magical control, flickered weakly a few times, and then gradually extinguished.

The usually aloof and arrogant young master of the Demon Flame Sect had his spiritual energy rapidly dissipate, and he finally lost all breath, kneeling on the ground.

Lu Nanzhu raised his hand and summoned back the "Invisible Needle" talisman, carefully putting it away.

He did not immediately step forward, but instead waved the treasure fan in his hand and shot out more than a dozen needle-shaped spiritual lights at Helian Yu, who was lying on the ground.

Only after those spiritual lights completely pierced through his body, confirming that the other party was not faking death, did he slowly walk forward.

He reached out and snatched the storage bag from Helian Yu's waist, and also picked up the lamp that had fallen to the ground.

He immersed his divine sense into the lamp and carefully examined it, discovering that it was actually a special vessel specifically designed to contain and nurture the spiritual fire of heaven and earth, and it also had the miraculous effect of amplifying the power of the spiritual fire.

Next, Lu Nanzhu probed Helian Yu's storage bag with his divine sense.

This young envoy of the Demon Flame Sect is indeed very wealthy, with a dazzling array of spirit stones and rare materials.

Besides the purplish-red jade bowl containing "Heavenly Fire Liquid" that he had seen before, Lu Nanzhu also found a finely crafted white jade bottle deep among a pile of miscellaneous items.

He uncorked the bottle, and a wisp of extremely cold air immediately rushed out. It actually contained "Snow Spirit Water"! This discovery made Lu Nanzhu's lips under his mask involuntarily curl up slightly.

In this way, he has already gathered most of the auxiliary spiritual items needed for Core Formation. Next, he only needs to find the "Dust-Subduing Pill" in the Chaotic Star Sea, and then he can safely go into seclusion to prepare for the Core Formation attempt.

As for other daily supplementary pills for cultivation, he currently has no shortage of them.

Suppressing his joy, Lu Nanzhu turned his attention to the torn and tattered silk.

As divine sense slowly seeped in, it indeed contained a profound fire control technique, which was the "Crimson Script Sect" inheritance that Helian Yu had been longing for.

Lu Nanzhu had also studied the "Red Literature Sect" of Tiannan in the sect's records.

Legend has it that this sect was once most skilled in fire control, and most of its supernatural abilities were powerful and domineering, which had a strong restraining effect on all kinds of demonic arts. This naturally aroused deep fear among the various demonic sects in Tiannan.

Over a thousand years ago, the Crimson Script Sect was suddenly attacked by dozens of demonic sects in the southern region—among which are now the Six Demonic Sects. Almost overnight, this behemoth sect was destroyed, and countless secret cultivation techniques were lost.

"Unexpectedly, the Crimson Script Sect's secret manual, lost for a thousand years, has resurfaced in the deepest part of this Sealed Fire Abyss." Lu Nanzhu felt a mixture of joy and regret.

"It's a pity this manual is incomplete, but let's keep it for now."

This silk scroll contains a cultivation method called "Azure Yang Divine Fire." If one can cultivate this natal divine fire to its peak, it is said to be able to burn anything, and can incinerate all spiritual objects in the world.

"The various wondrous aspects of this 'Azure Sun Divine Fire' sound exactly the same as the 'Azure Sun Demonic Fire' of the Demon Flame Sect."

"It seems that the Demon Flame Sect's signature technique was mostly created by following the core method in this incomplete scroll." After a moment's thought, Lu Nanzhu roughly deduced the connection between the two.

However, unlike those spiritual fires of heaven and earth that require searching far and wide and arduous refining, this divine fire originates entirely from the cultivator's own essence. Therefore, it is naturally compatible with the cultivator and does not require any extra effort to refine.

Moreover, as a cultivator's own strength improves, the power of their natal divine fire will also increase accordingly.

"If that's the case, this method is indeed very valuable. I just wonder how much of the legendary 'Dry Blue Ice Flame' it could achieve if cultivated to its peak?" Lu Nanzhu pondered, feeling somewhat tempted.

However, the conditions for cultivating this "Azure Yang Divine Fire" are extremely demanding. Not only does it require the pure core of the Fusang tree as the "fire seed," but it also requires finding an extremely cold treasure to balance the intense Yang energy within the body, so as not to burn one's own meridians.

The silk scroll also specifically mentions at the end that the older the materials used as the source and aid, the more profound the origin of the divine fire cultivated will be.

In the past, most of the elite disciples of the "Red Script Sect" used "Fusang Cores" that were hundreds of years old to ignite the fire, while the elders of the sect used only the finest ones that were nearly a thousand years old.

Upon seeing this, Lu Nanzhu took out the piece of hibiscus wood from his storage bag.

Upon closer inspection of its color and the intensity of its spiritual energy, it is indeed a rare spiritual tree that is nearly a thousand years old.

"A piece that is over a thousand years old is certainly rare, but it's still not enough for me. I'll still need to use that little inkstone." Lu Nanzhu had already made up his mind.

After inspecting all the spoils, he stood there hesitating for a moment.

He then decided to keep all the spirit stones and resources he recognized from the spoils of war, while abandoning all other magical artifacts and talismans to avoid encountering any marks left by Nascent Soul stage monsters.

After selecting the spirit stones and materials, he immediately extended his right hand, gathering a ball of warm magic power in his palm, and gently pressed it onto Helian Yu's forehead.

In an instant, thousands of fine, thread-like strands of spiritual energy poured into the deceased from the top of his forehead, flowing through the body's limbs and meridians, permeating his entire body.

Before long, a crystal-clear diagram of a cultivator's meridians appeared in Lu Nanzhu's mind.

Previously, when he killed some well-known rogue cultivators or sect disciples in the secret realm, he would use secret methods to explore the meridians in these cultivators' bodies whenever conditions allowed, so as to provide a better meridian reference framework for his puppet development plan.

Having completed the pulse diagnosis, Lu Nanzhu flicked his finger, and a fireball completely incinerated the corpse.

"I originally planned to take advantage of the abundant spiritual energy underground to cultivate here for a year, and then leave when the secret realm opens next year."

Given the current situation, it's probably not advisable to stay here any longer. If we really attract the attention of the Nascent Soul stage monsters from the Demon Flame Sect and they block our way, our deaths would be far too gruesome." Lu Nanzhu's vigilance heightened, and he immediately made up his mind to leave.

Before leaving, he turned around and searched the skeleton lying on the ground again. Finally, he found a slightly yellowed ancient array diagram inside the skeleton's tattered clothes.

"It seems this is also an ancient array diagram that was taken from the Crimson Script Sect back then. I'll keep it for now; it might come in handy someday."

Lu Nanzhu glanced at it, muttered to himself, and casually set the skeleton on fire, turning it to ashes.

Immediately afterwards, he activated his magic power, transforming into a streak of peacock blue light, and completely left this secret realm.