A year later, in the heart of the Black Corner Region, far removed from the branch temple on the northwestern border of the continent, within a secret chamber of the Ancient Burning Sect,
several different colors surged and swirled wildly within the chamber, illuminating the dim space with a dazzling brilliance, resembling a colorful ocean of flames. A
terrifyingly intense temperature, accompanied by explosive energy, spread wantonly from this sea of fire, sweeping outwards. Had it not been for the extremely powerful restrictions within the chamber, this terrifying colorful sea of fire would have instantly burst forth, incinerating everything within a radius of hundreds of miles.
Within this sea of fire, a graceful figure could be faintly seen sitting cross-legged. Upon closer inspection, it could be discovered that this terrifying colorful sea of fire surged rhythmically with the figure's breath, as if the figure were the king of the flames.
At this moment, the figure's eyes were tightly closed. Her flawless face contrasted sharply with the surrounding blazing flames, resembling an ancient iceberg, utterly cold and expressionless. Her slender, long hands were clasped together on her lower abdomen. Her
fingers moved rapidly, so fast that afterimages flashed by. As her fingers intertwined, her aura rose steadily, becoming increasingly terrifying. The surrounding sea of fire grew hotter and more explosive, with crackling sounds of flames scorching the space and air echoing continuously in the secret chamber.
However, soon, for some reason, the figure's rapidly intertwining fingers gradually slowed down. Her delicate, painted eyebrows furrowed slightly, and a change appeared in her cold expression, revealing a strange undertone. Then, she took a deep breath, her fingers ceasing their previous movements and forming a closing hand seal.
As the hand seal materialized in her hand, the surrounding, terrifying, raging sea of fire, like a maddened beast, gradually calmed down and slowly receded into the figure at its center.
"Whoosh!"
The flames gradually subsided, and a burst of scorching, explosive breath escaped from the figure's slightly parted lips. This person was Gu Xun'er, who had been in seclusion in this chamber for over a year, refining the four strange flames she had obtained from Canaan Academy.
After a year, Gu Xun'er had completely refined all four strange flames, and even successfully cultivated the Five-Wheel Fire Technique she had obtained from Yaotian Fire. Her strength had undergone a dramatic transformation compared to a year ago; she had reached the eight-star Dou Zong realm.
Her cultivation technique, the Burning Blade, had already evolved from a Yellow-rank technique to a high-level Earth-rank technique. With just a little more fire, it would complete its transformation into a true Heaven-rank technique.
Moreover, after the Burning Blade faintly touched the threshold of the Heaven-rank, Gu Xun'er inexplicably felt a change within it. She sensed the same inexplicable
feeling that had descended upon her after killing Xiao Yan. The last time she experienced this feeling, her soul underwent a direct transformation, and the benefits were unimaginable. This time, however, there was no obvious change; only the Burning Blade itself had changed.
But Gu Xun'er couldn't pinpoint exactly what had changed, leaving her somewhat bewildered. However, she could sense that once her Burning Blade broke through to the Heaven-rank, that change would fully manifest, and she believed its power would not disappoint her. This feeling rekindled Gu Xun'er's hope of defeating Hun Changqing, and she eagerly anticipated that moment.
However, over the past year, Gu Xun'er's strength and cultivation level have improved extremely rapidly, something unheard of and unseen on the Dou Qi Continent. If she were to tell others, they would scoff and think she was bragging. But Gu Xun'er felt a slight dissatisfaction about this.
Since a year ago, for some reason, she had been constantly restless and distracted, as if something that originally belonged to her had been taken away. This made Gu Xun'er extremely agitated and unable to calm down and focus on cultivation, which significantly slowed down her progress. Otherwise, she estimated that she would have reached her current cultivation level several months ago.
Gu Xun'er was puzzled by this inexplicable feeling of unease, yet it lingered in her mind, difficult to dispel. As a cultivator, she trusted her intuition and didn't believe this sudden, intense premonition was just a hallucination. After much thought, she suddenly realized that the only person on the Northwest Continent she cared about was Hun Changqing! Could something have happened to Hun Changqing?
At that thought, Gu Xun'er couldn't sit still any longer. She immediately sent Gu Ming and Yao Tianhuo, the temporary sect leader of the Gu Fen Sect, to investigate Hun Changqing's whereabouts. However, aside from the news that Hun Changqing had founded a force called the Underworld Palace, with his woman, the former Queen Medusa of the Snake-People Desert, serving as its deputy head, there was no further news of him.
This made Gu Xun'er extremely anxious, even considering having her clan send people to search the entire Northwest Continent. But later, she calmed down. Putting aside the fact that Hun Changqing is a member of the Soul Clan, and what those old fogies in the clan might do if they knew of his existence, Gu Xun'er was also unaffected by the fact that her Taiyin True Qi was still intact and showed no abnormalities. This proved that Hun Changqing was still fine and had not encountered any accidents.
Therefore, Gu Xun'er could only force herself to calm down and instructed Yao Tianhuo and Gu Ming to keep a close eye on the movements of the Underworld Palace and report to her at the slightest sign
of trouble. Although she was agitated, she could only force herself into a state of cultivation to refine the Strange Fire as soon as possible. As for Medusa, who claimed to be the woman who was the Lord of the Underworld Palace, Gu Xun'er had already labeled her a dead woman in her heart. Gu Xun'er had previously sent Gu Ming to the Underworld Palace to kill Medusa directly, but unfortunately, when Gu Ming approached, an extremely powerful soul force erupted from the Underworld Palace, and several extremely powerful restrictions rose up at the same time.
Gu Ming was very familiar with that soul power; it was the soul aura of the peak Dou Zun he had fought before. After some consideration, Gu Ming decided to return and report to Gu Xun'er. Gu Xun'er felt relieved when she heard that the soul was still in the Underworld Palace.
Gu Xun'er knew that with Hun Changqing's personality, he would never leave such a dangerous place alone. Leaving his powerful combat strength unused in the Underworld Palace proved that Hun Changqing was still there, perhaps practicing some extremely dangerous fighting techniques that could endanger his life, which was why she had this uneasy premonition.
Although Gu Xun'er was very dissatisfied with Hun Changqing practicing dangerous fighting techniques, she couldn't directly stop him, nor did she have the ability to. She also knew that Hun Changqing was a person who valued his life and must have his own confidence, so she could only obediently continue cultivating, not daring to let her cultivation fall behind, for fear that Hun Changqing would reappear stronger and crush her again, just like last time. This was something she absolutely could not accept.
However, what Gu Xun'er didn't know was that the reason Hun Changqing didn't bring Yao Chen along was entirely because he was going to the Soul Palace to do something shady. If Yao Chen found out that he wasn't going to the Soul Palace for revenge, but to seize their soul reserves to forge weapons that defied the laws of nature, he would turn on them on the spot, to put an end to it.
Therefore, Hun Changqing thought it was safer to go to the Soul Palace alone. Although the chances of obtaining those souls were much lower without Yao Chen's combat power, there would be other opportunities to obtain the souls later, but Yao Chen was a one-of-a-kind.
Meanwhile, after Gu Xun'er had refined all the strange fire, she couldn't calm down to cultivate. Although her Taiyin True Qi was still intact, proving that Hun Changqing was fine,
this uneasy premonition that had been surfacing from time to time over the past year made Gu Xun'er really worried about Hun Changqing's condition. She was afraid that something might have happened to him. If something happened to Hun Changqing, what would be the point of all her efforts over the years? This was something Gu Xun'er found hard to accept.
After completely gathering her aura, Gu Xun'er flashed, transforming into a streak of fire, disappearing from the secret chamber and reappearing in the main hall of the Ancient Burning Sect. She shouted in a deep voice,
"Radiant Heavenly Fire!"
As Gu Xun'er's shout fell, a spatial ripple spread through the air, and then a figure slowly emerged. The newcomer was none other than Radiant Heavenly Fire. The moment he appeared, Radiant Heavenly Fire sensed the extremely dense fire-attribute energy emanating from Gu Xun'er, scorching and explosive.
He was shocked. He hadn't expected that Gu Xun'er had leaped through so many realms in just one year, her strength increasing to such an extent. This was simply unbelievable to him. If he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, but had only heard about it from someone else, he would have definitely cursed that person for being delusional.
However, faced with the facts, Yao Tianhuo's awe of Gu Xun'er deepened even further. He dared not be negligent in the slightest, quickly bowing to Gu Xun'er and saying respectfully,
"Miss, what are your orders?"