The First Venerable of All Paths

"Fire-eating worms? What are those?"

In response to Gu Can's question, Lu Fa patiently explained, "This is a strange insect among the ancient species. At its peak, it was a fire-eating celestial insect that fed on celestial fire and was extremely terrifying."

"In addition, during its hatching stage, this insect releases a strange power that can cause hallucinations."

As the eldest elder of the Lu family, Lu Fa also had some understanding of the Fire-Eating Heavenly Worm.

As he spoke, Lu Fa grasped the Xuan Turtle Scales, forming a protective shield that enveloped the four of them, keeping out the dense swarms of insects.

These insects seemed unable to overcome the power of the Xuan Turtle's scales and could only change direction and rush off in a certain direction.

They disappeared into the thick darkness of the night in the blink of an eye.

"Elder Lu Fa, since this Fire-Eating Celestial Worm feeds on celestial fire, it must be extremely sensitive to the aura of celestial fire, right?"

Gu Can suddenly said, "We can use these insects to find Fang Xuan's whereabouts."

"The Valley of Death in the dark is more terrifying than you can imagine."

Lu Fa said calmly, "The Xuan Turtle Scales are not omnipotent. They can only help us avoid many dangers, but they are not enough to allow us to act recklessly in the Valley of the Dead."

Upon hearing this, Gu Can couldn't help but feel a little regretful.

"Besides, we don't even know where the Fire-Eating Insects went, so how are we supposed to find them?"

Lu Fa said, "Now, we can only hope that Fang Xuan hasn't gone deep into the Valley of the Dead. Otherwise, we'll have to leave the Valley of the Dead before the second night falls."

Before Gu Can could speak, Gu Tang said, "Everything will be as Fellow Daoist Lu Fa said."

He dared to enter this place only because of Lu Fa's Xuan Turtle Scales.

Since even he said that, Gu Tang naturally didn't want any accidents to happen.

at the same time.

Inside the cave.

Fang Xuan stared at the insect corpses on the ground, his expression extremely solemn.

"According to you, this insect is extremely sensitive to heavenly fire, then..."

Li Guanlan said in a deep voice, "Wouldn't that attract even more Fire-Eating Insects, causing them to appear in an endless stream?"

"Indeed."

Fang Xuan smiled wryly and said, "I never expected to encounter the Fire-Eating Heavenly Worm here."

Heavenly fire is said to be able to burn mountains and boil seas, destroying everything.

But all things in the world are inherently interdependent and mutually restraining.

The nemesis of heavenly fire is the fire-eating celestial worm.

"But don't worry too much."

Fang Xuan said, "These Fire-Eating Heavenly Insects are not pure in bloodline, and their power is greatly diminished, so they are not difficult to deal with."

"What's your plan?"

Li Guanlan said, "If we are targeted by these things, we will be in even greater danger."

"The method is simple."

A determined glint flashed in Fang Xuan's eyes: "As long as the power of the Heavenly Fire is strong enough, it will be difficult for these insects to absorb my Heavenly Fire."

"Are you preparing to enhance the power of Heavenly Fire?"

Li Guanlan was somewhat surprised.

"This is the best solution at present."

Fang Xuan said, "Before those things appear in large numbers, I'd like to trouble you to protect me."

"it is good."

Li Guanlan nodded, then formed a hand seal, using his divine soul power to create a protective shield that completely blocked the cave entrance.

In this way, Li Guanlan would be the first to notice if anything unexpected happened.

Fang Xuan sat cross-legged with his eyes closed.

In fact, Fang Xuan did not have a good way to enhance the power of the Heavenly Fire.

However, he can enhance his spiritual power.

The stronger his spiritual power, the stronger his control over the heavenly fire.

However, improving one's spiritual soul is not easy, so Fang Xuan plans to find another way.

The mind sinks into the sea of ​​consciousness.

At this moment, a blue seed floated in Fang Xuan's sea of ​​consciousness.

It was a lotus seed.

After refining the ninth-grade green lotus, he obtained nine green lotus seeds, and immediately planted one of them into his sea of ​​consciousness.

However, due to the short time available, Fang Xuan failed to successfully nurture the seed into a green lotus in his sea of ​​consciousness and give birth to a soul fire.

At this moment, Fang Xuan was about to prepare to nurture the green lotus seed and cultivate soul fire.

With a thought flashing through his mind, Fang Xuan began to circulate the "Thousand Soul Illusion Dream Technique," his divine soul churning in his sea of ​​consciousness, continuously pouring into the green lotus seed.

At the same time, Fang Xuan was surrounded by purple light.

Golden lines appeared on the skin.

Fang Xuan actually activated the power of the Chaos Sacred Body.

A rich, primordial chaos wafted and flowed through the cave.

Having absorbed only a wisp of power, Li Guanlan's delicate body trembled, her spiritual energy surged wildly, and her remaining injuries were completely healed.

"What terrifying power."

Li Guanlan was shocked, her beautiful eyes widening in horror as she stared at the purple light surrounding Fang Xuan.

"Is this his true power?"

Although she did not recognize the Chaos Holy Body, she did not know what the power of the Chaos Origin was.

However, with her soul power reaching the peak of the third rank, she still keenly sensed it.

As long as she can absorb more of this purple power, it won't be long before she can easily break through to the fourth-grade Soul Master level.

Forcibly suppressing this thought, Li Guanlan continued to protect Fang Xuan.

At this moment, Fang Xuan had no idea what Li Guanlan was thinking.

He activated the primordial chaos, continuously drilling into his sea of ​​consciousness, where he, along with the power of his soul, nurtured the seed of the green lotus.

The primordial chaos contains terrifying power, even capable of repairing a martial artist's vital essence.

It has a very significant effect on promoting the growth of lotus seeds.

Gradually, a crack appeared in the lotus seed, and a faint blue light flowed out from the crack.

"it works!"

Fang Xuan was overjoyed and began to accelerate the injection of the Chaos Origin.

The lotus seed began to split open, and a green sprout emerged.

As soon as the green sprout appeared, it began to frantically absorb the primordial chaos and Fang Xuan's divine soul power, growing rapidly.

However, Fang Xuan knew that it would take some time to successfully cultivate the Green Lotus and generate Soul Flame.

"Faster, faster!"

......

"Swish, swish!"

A soft, rustling sound came from outside the cave, like the boulder hitting the cave entrance.

Li Guanlan noticed something and quickly looked up.

She knew that the so-called fire-eating worms had arrived.

Tianhuo possesses two kinds of heavenly fire, and in this Valley of the Dead, he is like a bright lighthouse, quickly detected by the Fire-Eating Heavenly Insects.

The crucial point is that Li Guanlan has no way to deal with these fire-eating worms and can only hope that Fang Xuan will succeed soon.

"Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle!"

The sound of gnawing made Li Guanlan's pretty face change.

Immediately afterwards, Li Guanlan discovered that fine sand and gravel had fallen from the rocks at the cave entrance.

Those things were actually gnawing at the boulder, trying to break through.

The Soul Hairpin automatically floated in front of Li Guanlan, aimed at the cave entrance.

"Snap!"

A small hole was broken in the blocked opening, and a hideous insect the size of a thumb flew straight in.

"Whoosh!"

The Soul Hairpin shot out with a whoosh, piercing straight through the insect.

But more black insects kept flying in through the small hole, and in the blink of an eye, they turned into a swarm.

"Buzz!"

The black insect didn't even glance at Li Guanlan, and went straight for Fang Xuan.

"Soul-binding spell!"

Li Guanlan formed a hand seal, using her divine soul power to create a protective shield that covered the cloud of insects, and then crushed it forcefully.

Countless insects were crushed.

The remaining fire-eating worms scattered and fled.

Li Guanlan discovered that these black insects, which resembled ladybugs, were not particularly strong individually, even weaker than a Body Refinement Realm martial artist.

However, their sheer number was overwhelming, and a large number of insects were continuously breaking through the openings and pouring into the cave.

Most importantly, these insects weren't targeting her, but Fang Xuan.

For them, who are born to feed on celestial fire, Fang Xuan, who possesses two kinds of celestial fire, is like the most exquisite food in the world, possessing a fatal attraction.

Therefore, these fire-eating celestial insects fearlessly charged towards Fang Xuan.

Even with her strong spiritual power, such consumption was still a considerable burden for Li Guanlan.

What drove Li Guanlan to despair was that there were simply too many fire-eating worms.

The divine soul power enveloping Fang Xuan was about to give way and was about to be broken by the Fire-Eating Heavenly Worm.

Fang Xuan, however, is still in seclusion and shows no signs of waking up.

"Buzz!"

Fortunately, at this moment, a beam of sword light emerged from the sword box on Fang Xuan's back, instantly forming a sword array that protected him and Li Guanlan.

With the protection of the sword formation, Li Guanlan was finally able to breathe a sigh of relief.

The sword formation is only for protection, not for killing enemies.

Therefore, in the blink of an eye, the entire sword formation was covered with countless black insects, making Li Guanlan's scalp tingle.

To Li Guanlan's surprise, even Fang Xuan's sword formation was gradually weakening in the face of these insects.

"How is that possible?"

Li Guanlan was shocked.

"These insects can even devour sword energy?"

Soon, Li Guanlan realized that she was overthinking things.

It wasn't that the Fire-Eating Celestial Worms were devouring the sword energy, but rather that the sword formation weakened on its own.

Fang Xuan slowly opened his eyes, though no one knew when.

Flames appeared in his eyes.

"Fire-eating worms?"

A cold smile curled at the corner of his lips, and Fang Xuan clenched his fist: "I'd like to see how you devour my Heavenly Fire!"

With a "snap".

A ball of flame exploded in Fang Xuan's palm, instantly sweeping out like a sea of ​​fire, engulfing all the Fire-Eating Heavenly Worms.

Fire-eating crickets actually have no intelligence; they act solely on instinct.

Upon seeing the heavenly fire, they only knew how to devour it, never realizing that this was merely a self-destructive act, like moths drawn to a flame.

Any fire-eating celestial insect that touches the Azure Lotus Karmic Fire will instantly turn into blue smoke and disappear without a trace.

In just a few breaths, the fire-eating celestial insects that rushed into the cave were completely burned to ashes by the Azure Lotus Karmic Fire.

After the last Fire-Eating Heavenly Worm was refined, Fang Xuan waved his hand and formed a sword array at the cave entrance, completely blocking the cave.

Only then did he let out a long breath.

"That was close."

Fang Xuan wiped away his sweat, still shaken, his face pale.

"Thanks a lot."

He tossed Li Guanlan a bottle of pills and said, "We're safe for now. You should recover your cultivation first."

Li Guanlan didn't stand on ceremony. After taking a pill, he began to circulate his internal energy to refine it.

Fang Xuan closed his eyes and sensed the vast ocean of knowledge.

Within the sea of ​​consciousness, a half-open blue lotus was slowly releasing a ring of flames.

A blue lotus is planted in the sea of ​​consciousness, and a soul fire is born from the spirit.

However, Fang Xuan's soul fire displayed two colors.

The alternation of blue and red was countless times more powerful than Li Guanlan's blue soul fire.

"I never expected that my soul fire would actually combine the power of both the Undying Phoenix Fire and the Azure Lotus Karmic Fire."

Fang Xuan was overjoyed.

After the soul fire is born, the soul power will be continuously tempered, becoming purer, stronger, and more profound.

Not only that.

The stronger Fang Xuan's soul, the greater the power he can unleash.

"Fortunately, they were just some of the lowest-level fire-eating worms."

Looking at the insect corpses on the ground, Fang Xuan said softly, "If these Fire-Eating Heavenly Insects reach the fourth or even fifth rank, I will be helpless against them."

"Knock knock knock!"

Just then, the sword formation at the cave entrance trembled violently, as if something was bombarding it.

Fang Xuan sensed it briefly with his divine soul, and his expression immediately changed.

Outside the cave, a large number of fire-eating celestial insects had gathered.

Moreover, these fire-eating worms are larger and have a stronger aura.

"Tier 3? And there are even a few Tier 4 ones?!"