Boom!
The lake water within three meters of Evan Lin was blasted apart by a surge of powerful force. Countless bubbles churned as a path was forcibly carved through thousands of kilograms of water right in front of him.
The entire lake was ripped open. Evan soared upward, breaking through the water layer by layer until he reached the top, where the pressure around him suddenly eased.
Above him was a massive hollow cavern, the air thick and still.
Evan broke through the water’s surface and leapt up, landing steadily on a solid boulder near the shore.
Pff...
Evan raised one hand in a beckoning gesture.
The Blue-Flame Blood Python floated out from his fingertip, its fire lighting up the area. In his view, half was a perfectly calm water surface, the other half solid stone ground.
Evan jumped again, landing at the shore. He looked around and saw marks left all over the surrounding stone walls.
“This must be where Morgan once cultivated.”
Evan reached out and touched the rock wall. A chill seeped into his palm, and the marks on the wall were clearly left by repeated heavy blows.
“This really is a perfect place for secluded training.”
Evan muttered to himself, then turned and followed the path deeper inside.
The Blue-Flame Blood Python floated ahead of Evan, lighting up every spot it passed.
Compared to the pitch-black feeling under the lake, this place felt much deeper and more mysterious.
After walking for an unknown distance, a stone door suddenly appeared ahead.
A faint blue and red glow leaked out from the crack in the stone door.
“This should be it.”
Evan reached out and pressed his palm against the stone door, slowly applying force.
Evan pushed the stone door open, and a cold, damp wind blew out from inside.
Beyond the stone door was a small stone chamber. At its center, on a stone altar, a swirl of blue and red light interwove and glowed.
“That is...?”
Evan frowned. Warm energy pulsed along the Left-Hand Dragon on his arm, and even his Fire-Spirit Mortal Body seemed to stir.
The Blue-Flame Blood Python seemed to covet the thing on the altar, but every time it got close, it would suddenly recoil in fright.
As Evan approached, something strange happened on the silent altar.
The air around the altar dropped in temperature, the blue light flared, and when the Blue-Flame Blood Python touched that blue radiance, it instantly retreated to Evan’s fingertip, tense and wary.
“A Strange Flame, huh...”
Evan murmured, a hint of surprise in his eyes.
On the Immortal Martial Continent, there are roughly five types of spirit bodies: metal, wood, water, fire, and earth. Each type comes in mortal, divine, and saint grades.
Except for the truly monstrous prodigies born with a divine body, ordinary mortals need enough spiritual energy and must also absorb other spirit sources to cultivate.
So-called spirit sources are complementary energy bodies.
The water spirit Evan obtained earlier could be absorbed as a water spirit source by water-type bodies.
Now, the blue-red thing resting on the altar was another kind of special fire spirit source.
Aside from the most common mortal fires—like Scarlet Blaze or Extreme Scorch—these fire sources, while valuable, aren’t that rare. Their power is limited and they don’t grow stronger, so they’re just mortal fire.
Beyond mortal fire, there’s beast fire and divine fire.
The Blue-Flame Blood Python, for example, has the lowest-grade beast fire. The highest beast fire is usually ancient dragonfire from the primordial era.
Divine fire, meanwhile, usually comes from sects and clans and is passed down for generations. Its power is overwhelming, and it’s a dream for any pill refiner.
Strange Flames are defined as those even stronger than mortal fire, but not tied to any sect’s inheritance.
On the Immortal Martial Continent, there are over a hundred Strange Flames on the ranking list, each with its own special effect.
Evan once saw a Strange Flame called the Heart-Devouring Blaze. It didn’t boost attack power much and couldn’t make its wielder stronger, but it had one terrifying trait.
No matter how strong you are—even if you’ve already forged your golden core—if someone catches you off guard and uses the Heart-Devouring Blaze to gnaw at your heart for twelve hours straight, your soul will be wiped out completely, even if your attacker is only at the Qi-Refining stage.
Evan stepped forward. On the altar, he saw a woman’s head.
It was the missing head of the Headless Bronze Statue of Thousand-Saints Mountain.
Right now, the blue and red glow was streaming out from the eye sockets of the bronze head.
Evan reached out and picked up the head.
It wasn’t as heavy as he expected—almost weightless.
The inside of the head was hollow, and at the bottom lay a half-withered red-and-blue flower.
The center of the flower was the source of the light.
Evan could feel the temperature of the flame inside the flower’s heart.
It wasn’t hot—instead, it was a piercing, icy chill that stabbed into his skin.
“Deep-Frost Iceflame?”
Evan murmured to himself.
“This kind of flame only blooms in places of extreme cold. Changbai Mountain is covered in snow year-round, a yin-cold land even on Earth. How many years has it taken for this one to grow?”
“But from the looks of it, it’s not complete—seems like half of it is missing.”
Evan frowned, thinking of Rena Luo and the others outside Heavenly Lake.
“If they managed to find this place, they probably know something about it—maybe even where the other half of the Deep-Frost Iceflame is.”
“And out there, the Mutant Frost Ape chained at the cave entrance—is it here to guard this Deep-Frost Iceflame?”
“Did someone set all this up, waiting for it to ripen before coming back to harvest it?”
Evan was full of questions.
That Mutant Frost Ape must have been at the bottom of Heavenly Lake for years, and the chains binding it are not something ordinary humans could have made.
But as Evan looked around, he still didn’t find the answers he wanted.
There was only this bronze head—and only half a Deep-Frost Iceflame.
Evan called the Blue-Flame Blood Python to his hand, letting it illuminate the woman’s bronze head.
The head wasn’t in perfect shape—cracks ran all across its surface.
The woman’s face was stunning—cold and flawless, with features that could only be called perfect.
At first glance, Evan thought of Lily Zhao.
At second glance, she felt completely unfamiliar.
His instincts told him she wasn’t Lily Zhao, but deep down, he couldn’t shake the feeling that everything here was somehow closely connected to her.
The stone chamber grew heavier with silence. In the darkness, it felt as if a pair of eyes was watching, cold and unblinking.