Chapter 478: Chapter 260: Scarlet Flame

"Junior Brother Xu!"

"Brother Xu!"

As Xu Yang walked to the dining hall, people continuously greeted him along the way.

The dining hall wasn’t empty; a dozen or two people were seated inside.

Xu Yang got a meal and found an empty table to sit at.

"I heard both Qi Xuancheng and Zhang Hanzhou failed in their attempts to break through to the Celestial Essence Realm."

"The Celestial Essence Realm isn’t that easy to reach. Even Yan Guiyun failed his first breakthrough attempt, let alone them."

"Are they injured?"

"I heard their Vitality was damaged, but it’s not serious."

...

Listening to the disciples’ conversation, Xu Yang learned that during his seclusion, both Qi Xuancheng and Zhang Hanzhou had failed in their attempts to break through to the Celestial Essence Realm.

Although he had succeeded in one go, breaking through to the Celestial Essence Realm was so difficult that many people would never succeed in their entire lives.

Even a figure like Elder Huoyun was said to have spent nearly two years breaking through to the Celestial Essence Realm after reaching Marrow Cleansing Perfection.

"Junior Brother Xu, after so many days in seclusion, I imagine your Cultivation has greatly improved." Zhu Yuan and a few other disciples of Elder Huoyun walked over with a smile.

"Greetings, Senior Brothers. It was just a few days of minor seclusion. What kind of breakthrough could there be?" Xu Yang said with a laugh.

He felt a scrutinizing gaze land on him several times.

Xu Yang looked over and saw it was someone he didn’t recognize.

As if sensing his gaze, the person quickly stood up and left the dining hall.

"Senior Brother Zhu, do you recognize that person?" Xu Yang asked, pointing at the person’s departing back.

Zhu Yuan looked at Xu Yang in confusion and said, "He’s a disciple under the Peak Master. His name is Song Wendeng, a scion of the Song Family, one of the ten great families of Cyan Yang City."

Song Wendeng?

Someone from the Song Family?

A glint flashed in Xu Yang’s eyes. ’The Song Family has someone on Li Fire Peak watching me? No wonder my senses told me there was something different about the way he was looking at me.’

Although he had left no traces the few times he killed members of the Song Family, they were still out to get him.

He chatted with Zhu Yuan and the others for a while longer, and after finishing his meal, he returned to his quiet room to continue consolidating his Cultivation and practicing the Li Fire Technique.

The Li Fire Technique was truly extraordinary and domineering. The Gang Yuan it produced could even enhance the strength of his body, which had already reached Great Success in the Unmoving Bright King Body.

Of course, what was truly domineering was its absorption and influence over the Power of Heaven and Earth.

Once the Li Fire Technique was activated, the Power of Heaven and Earth within a radius of dozens of yards would be drawn in, swarming toward his body.

[Li Fire Technique First Layer (102/10000)]

In the quiet room, Xu Yang’s brow was tightly furrowed.

He knew that cultivating in the Celestial Essence Realm was difficult, but he hadn’t expected it to be this difficult. After seven consecutive days, his progress with the Li Fire Technique had only increased by a few dozen points.

At this rate, it would take him three to four years to break through to the Celestial Essence Second Layer.

And as far as he knew, the entire Celestial Essence Realm had a total of Ninefold layers.

This was with his Root Bone and Comprehension at Perfection; others would likely progress even slower in seven days.

’I must get my hands on Elixirs or Spirit Medicine for the Celestial Essence Realm.’

With Elixirs or Spirit Medicine, his cultivation speed would naturally be faster.

As for Elixirs, he knew that even someone of Elder Huoyun’s status mostly used the Dragon Tiger Great Golden Pill for cultivation. The Purple Sun Sect might not even have Elixirs for the Celestial Essence Realm.

Perhaps they did, but they were likely so rare that even Elders only received them occasionally. A disciple like him could forget about it.

If he couldn’t obtain Elixirs or Spirit Medicine, the best alternative was to find a place with more abundant Spiritual Qi.

But he had already tried over the past few days. The Spiritual Qi on Li Fire Peak was decent, but the Spiritual Qi in the Outer Disciple area was even thinner.

’The Celestial Strategy Academy!’ Xu Yang mused.

That must be another reason why everyone wanted to enter the Celestial Strategy Academy. Besides powerful legacies, it had to be the resources.

Spirit Medicine and Elixirs weren’t available every day. To raise one’s Cultivation, one ultimately had to rely on absorbing and refining Spiritual Qi from the world.

...

Yunxi Villa, located ten li outside Cyan Yang City, was one of the Song Family’s most important properties and their main base outside the city. It was guarded year-round by at least two Marrow Cleansing Great Success Martial Artists.

However, the Song Family had lost quite a few Marrow Cleansing Great Success experts recently, so the number of guards stationed there had dropped from two to one.

Yunxi Villa was primarily where the Song Family cultivated Spirit Medicine and raised Exotic Beasts. Its importance was self-evident; any problem here could affect the entire family’s development.

Xu Yang lay hidden in the forest, gazing at Yunxi Villa from a distance. The Spirit Soldier Jade Water Saber was wrapped in black cloth on his back.

The Song Family had made several attempts on his life, even colluding with Liu Qingyuan in an attempt to lure him away from the Purple Sun Sect and kill him.

Before breaking through to the Celestial Essence Realm, he could only endure and lie low.

Now that his Cultivation had reached the Celestial Essence Realm, he couldn’t wait for the Song Family to make the first move before retaliating. He couldn’t let the enemy hold the initiative.

With less than two years until the Secondary Dragon Ascension, he had to participate in the Dragon Ascension and leave.

Before he left, he had to eliminate all his enemies. Otherwise, he couldn’t rest easy leaving Xu Qing alone in the Purple Sun Sect.

The huge villa, covering seven or eight acres and surrounded by mountains on three sides, occasionally echoed with the roars of beasts.

In the vast medicine gardens, Song Family disciples moved about, channeling Essence Qi into the planted herbs and scattering fertilizer made from the bone powder and flesh of Exotic Beasts.

Armored Song Family Martial Artists patrolled the villa’s surroundings relentlessly, showing no signs of laxity.

Although the Song Family still had Song Yushao as their Stabilizing Needle, the Celestial Essence Ancestor couldn’t possibly be guarding this place at all times.

’Spirit Medicine!’

Sweeping his gaze over the area, Xu Yang discovered three herbs emitting a faint glow. One of them, a Spirit Medicine of unknown age, shone as brightly as a small sun, wreathed in dense Spiritual Qi.

It was a small tree, only about three feet tall. Its trunk was as thick as a child’s arm, and its cracked bark resembled scales. At the very top, a blood-red fruit hung quietly, like a burning flame.

’Could this be a Vermilion Flame Fruit?’

He recalled a description of the Vermilion Flame Fruit he had once read, and this fruit looked very similar.

The Vermilion Flame Fruit was a coveted treasure for Martial Artists who practiced Yang Techniques. It was said that if a practitioner of a Yang Technique consumed a Vermilion Flame Fruit, their Gang Yuan would undergo a further purification and transformation, becoming even more scorching—hot enough to melt gold and incinerate iron with ease.

The older the Vermilion Flame Fruit, the more terrifying its effects.

His Li Fire Technique happened to be a Yang Technique.

’This item and I are fated to be together!’ Xu Yang thought, his heart stirring.

He continued to observe the layout of Yunxi Villa.

If he were only after the Spirit Medicine, he wouldn’t need to be so cautious. With his Celestial Essence Realm Cultivation, entering Yunxi Villa was as easy as strolling into his own backyard. His main goal, however, was to lure Song Yushao here and ambush him.

"ROAR!"

Suddenly, a deep beastly roar reached Xu Yang’s ears, a sound filled with tyranny and rage.

Even from his position hundreds of yards away from Yunxi Villa, he could feel the grass and trees around him tremble from the roar.

Xu Yang’s gaze narrowed. ’To have such power, this Exotic Beast must be nearly as strong as a Celestial Essence Strong Person, if not quite there yet.’

He crept forward another stretch, then spread out his Heart Spirit and senses to locate the source of the roar.

Soon, his Heart Spirit located a tyrannical Exotic Beast inside a dark cave. It was shaped like a tiger, but much larger, its body covered in flame-like patterns.

A scorching aura emanated from the Exotic Beast, filling the cave with waves of heat, as if flames were about to erupt from its body.

The Exotic Beast was nearly two meters tall. Its four limbs were thicker than a man’s thigh, making for a frightening sight.

Several thick chains, shimmering with Spirituality, bound the beast’s limbs and head, completely immobilizing it.

The Exotic Beast’s eyes were blood-red, radiating overwhelming hatred and a tyrannical aura. As it struggled, the Power of Heaven and Earth around it fluctuated in response.

"A Celestial Essence Level Exotic Beast—a Crimson Flame Tiger!" Xu Yang was astonished.

The Song Family was actually raising a Crimson Flame Tiger, an Exotic Beast comparable to a Celestial Essence Martial Artist Level, here at Yunxi Villa.

This was an enormous fortune. For Martial Artists Below Celestial Essence, even a single drop of blood from such a beast was a priceless treasure that could be used to temper the body and achieve rapid progress.

The massive Crimson Flame Tiger’s head was larger than a millstone. Its face was ferocious, but it had lost the imposing aura of a beast that roamed the mountains and forests.

The claws on its four limbs had been severed, and the fangs in its mouth were gone.

An old-looking wound stretched across its abdomen, stained with fresh blood, as if someone had just drawn blood from it.

Indeed, its blood had just been drawn. Right now, Xu Yang’s Heart Spirit could see a man carrying a bucket full of the Crimson Flame Tiger’s Beast Blood, striding toward the Vermilion Flame Fruit plant.

’Is the Crimson Flame Tiger’s blood being used to cultivate that Vermilion Flame Fruit?’ Xu Yang wondered, and he stealthily moved toward the cave where the Crimson Flame Tiger was imprisoned.

...

Song Yuhua strode toward the Vermilion Flame Fruit, carrying a bucket of Crimson Flame Tiger blood.

He was an Elder of the Song Family, a Marrow Cleansing Great Success expert stationed at Yunxi Villa. His main task was to draw blood from the Crimson Flame Tiger daily and use its Spiritual Qi-infused blood to water the Vermilion Flame Fruit, a Spirit Medicine that was approaching ten years of age.

’In two years at most, my Song Family will produce a Celestial Essence Second Layer strong person.’

Song Yuhua gazed at the Vermilion Flame Fruit, which was rippling with Spirituality, his eyes burning with eagerness.

The Song Family had recently lost one expert after another, and the other families in Cyan Yang City were already showing signs of making a move. It was impossible to cultivate several new Marrow Cleansing Great Success experts in a short time.

But as long as their ancestor, Song Yushao, could break through to the Celestial Essence Second Layer, no other family would dare to act rashly.

’Xu Yang, you deserve to die!’ Thinking of Xu Yang, the cause of all this, a wave of killing intent surged in Song Yuhua’s heart. ’If Xu Yang hadn’t stood by and watched them die, how could the Song Family have lost so many experts and a Spiritual Soldier from their reserves?’

’Unfortunately, Xu Yang is too clever and refuses to leave the Purple Sun Sect.’

"ROAR!"

Suddenly, a roar like a clap of thunder exploded across the entire villa. It was the familiar roar of the Crimson Flame Tiger, but it was much louder and more powerful than usual.

In addition to the usual tyrannical rage, the sound now contained a hint of joy and excitement.

"Huh?"

Song Yuhua, who was just about to water the Vermilion Flame Fruit with the Beast Blood, looked puzzled. No matter how he listened, the Crimson Flame Tiger’s roar sounded... off.

"This is bad! The Crimson Flame Tiger has broken free of its restraints!"

The next moment, a terrified shout ripped through the villa.

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