Immortal Refiner

”Senior.”

Upon spotting the old woman, Li Qing immediately flew to the stone platform without hesitation.

As he approached, he realized the nameless elder had already passed away, her life force completely extinguished.

Her fleshly body was withered and emaciated, skin clinging tightly to bone. Even her silver hair was dry and lusterless.

It was hard to imagine that this frail old woman had once been a formidable expert in the core formation realm.

She carried no storage pouches or similar items, suggesting she had burned all her possessions as offerings during her final rites.

”Senior, may you rest in peace!” Li Qing respectfully clasped his hands in a bow.

Her passing marked the end of an era in the Autumn Mountain Domain.

The cultivation world of the World of Eternal Night was slowly withering away. In the future, he might even become the sole cultivator in this realm.

For a moment, Li Qing couldn’t decide whether this was a good or bad thing.

”The decline of immortal dao civilization will inevitably consign countless scriptures and records to the dustbin of history.”

”What a truly regrettable loss.”

Li Qing sighed deeply. As cultivators continued to perish one after another, the number of potential threats to him dwindled accordingly.

However, if immortals were to vanish entirely, future encounters with perilous secret realms like the Spirit Devouring Realm might prove impossible to defend against.

”Enough. We can only take things one step at a time. Worrying about the future now is pointless. Let’s focus on the present.”

With these words, Li Qing, who had been standing on the stone platform, walked to the edge and gazed down at the solidified black magma below.

One could imagine that this place had once been a forging ground for many great masters. Before the spiritual energy dried up, it must have been a raging sea of molten rock.

The source of this heat was none other than the Spirit Devouring Demon Flame!

Now that the flame had been extinguished, the magma had lost its heat source and naturally cooled into stillness.

”Could the Spirit Devouring Demon Flame’s fire seed be hidden within this solidified magma?”

The cavern was vast, and despite Li Qing’s extensive search, he couldn’t locate the source fire seed.

He unleashed his divine sense, sweeping through the area once more.

Unfortunately, even with his formidable divine sense, he couldn’t fully cover the entire space.

Thud!

In the next moment, Li Qing leaped down, landing on the jagged surface of the solidified magma.

Crack!

He reached down with brute force, breaking off a chunk of the magma and crushing it to dust in his hand.

The crystals formed from solidified magma were obsidian, a gemstone highly valued by mortals in the mundane world.

Unfortunately, for cultivators, obsidian held no significance, merely a common material.

”These obsidian formations are quite old, but not quite a thousand years,” Li Qing murmured, his eyes gleaming slightly. ”The magma must have cooled down within the last few centuries.”

A realization quickly dawned on him.

This meant the magma had originally been heated by the Spirit Devouring Demon Flame. When the End of Dao Era arrived, the heavenly spirit fire had extinguished, causing the magma to solidify without its heat source.

Therefore, the source fire seed of the Spirit Devouring Demon Flame was likely buried deep within this solidified magma!

To find the Spirit Devouring Demon Flame, he would have to excavate the entire magma deposit!

”Looks like I’ve got my work cut out for me,” Li Qing sighed, shaking his head in resignation. He never imagined that even at the core formation realm, he’d still have to do manual labor!

Yet, compared to taming a heavenly spirit fire, a little hard work was a trivial price to pay. What could he possibly complain about?

Immediately, a gray, misty warhammer materialized in Li Qing’s hand.

A dull, resounding thud echoed through the volcanic chamber!

Bang!

With a single strike, Li Qing’s hammer blasted a massive crater into the obsidian beneath his feet, shattering the surrounding magma into fragments.

Thus began an incessant rhythm: the muffled thud of the Primordial Chaos Peerless Hammer alternating with the crisp crack of shattering obsidian, reverberating endlessly within the volcano’s depths.

Li Qing felt as though he had returned to his days as a Spirit Stone miner for the Liu Clan, where he had swung his pickaxe day after day, excavating the Spirit Stone veins.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

True Lord Li, reliving his mining days, found himself surprisingly patient rather than bored.

Several days passed in the blink of an eye. During this time, Li Qing occasionally employed his mana to aid his efforts.

Finally, the excavation neared its end.

For nestled deep within the obsidian crater lay a black, arm-length Flood Dragon!

Of course, this wasn’t a true Flood Dragon. Such beings possessed a trace of true dragon bloodline, and even their corpses would radiate overwhelming pressure.

Regardless of the Flood Dragon species, upon reaching adulthood, they almost invariably become late-stage third-tier Demon Beasts. With a few more years of cultivation, overcoming the Great Transformation Tribulation to become fourth-tier Demon Beasts is hardly a challenge.

These naturally blessed beings possess virtually no weaknesses, their only disadvantage being their extremely low reproductive rate, resulting in exceptionally sparse populations.

Precisely for this reason, every Flood Dragon offspring is exceedingly rare and meticulously protected, making their presence in the Spirit Devouring Realm utterly impossible!

Thus, the identity of the small black Flood Dragon before Li Qing was self-evident:

The ever-shifting Spirit Devouring Demon Flame!

”Legend has it that the Spirit Devouring Demon Flame’s ability to assume countless forms depends entirely on the demonic creatures it has devoured during its burning process.”

”The Spirit Devouring Demon Flame cannot transform into demon beast species it has never consumed.”

As Li Qing reached this conclusion, his heart began to pound wildly. If the legend held true, it meant the previous master of the Spirit Devouring Demon Flame had once used it to slay a powerful Black Flood Dragon!

”Truly worthy of being someone who single-handedly carved out a secret realm space and personally slew a Flood Dragon. This is indeed a supreme being with heaven-defying abilities.”

Li Qing couldn’t help but feel a surge of admiration. How utterly free and unrestrained such a powerful figure must be!

But he quickly suppressed these thoughts, focusing his attention entirely on the small black Flood Dragon before him.

Li Qing immediately recognized that this wasn’t a true Black Flood Dragon because it lacked scales, its body shimmering with a flame-like, undulating texture.

Cold!

The sensation was remarkably similar to a piece of jade that had been buried in snow for ages. If brought into the outside world, no one would believe this was actually the fire seed of a heavenly spirit fire.

Li Qing even began to suspect that the small black Flood Dragon might be carved from obsidian.

”I never imagined the source fire seed of the Spirit Devouring Demon Flame, after its complete annihilation, would take such a form.”

As he spoke, Li Qing exerted a slight force, attempting to lift the extinguished source fire seed into his palm.

But in the next instant, he was shocked to discover that even with his immense strength, he couldn’t budge the source fire seed even slightly.

This seemingly small black dragon was as if fused with the surrounding space. Trying to move it felt like trying to shake the entire Spirit Devouring Realm!

Li Qing quickly recalled the old woman’s earlier words:

The great cultivator who created this small world connected the Spirit Devouring Demon Flame to the boundary stone of this secret realm!

What was a boundary stone?

It was a divine artifact specifically used to create independent spaces. Even mighty cultivators couldn’t simply create realms at will. They needed a boundary stone as the foundation for such a monumental feat, akin to splitting heaven and earth.

Facing the black dragon before him, Li Qing suddenly felt insignificant. Forcibly taking it would be like trying to drag the entire Spirit Devouring Realm with his own strength!

Realizing the absurdity of such an attempt, Li Qing abandoned the idea. His gaze sharpened slightly as he murmured:

”It seems the only way to take it is to completely refine the source fire seed.”

But if he did that, the boundary stone connected to the Spirit Devouring Demon Flame would be destroyed, causing the Spirit Devouring Realm, which was built upon the stone, to collapse entirely.

The consequences of this action were somewhat unpredictable, but Li Qing had reached the point of no return. The arrow was already nocked, and he had no choice but to release it.

He had no reason to give up now. He had come here with a firm resolve: to subdue this heavenly spirit fire, no matter what it took.

”Let’s begin!”

His voice carried unwavering determination, and his eyes burned with resolute conviction.

Immediately, the vast mana within Li Qing’s body surged forth, rapidly seeping out from his palms.

Boom!

His refined true essence swiftly penetrated the extinguished source fire seed, beginning to imprint Li Qing’s own mark upon it.

In an instant, Li Qing’s divine sense stirred slightly as he attempted to plant his soul imprint within the Black Flood Dragon.

Having previously subdued a heavenly spirit fire, Li Qing proceeded with utmost caution, allowing no room for carelessness and maintaining unwavering focus.

His near-fatal encounter with the Netherworld Cold Fire had taught him a harsh lesson.

Fortunately, he had possessed a remnant technique left behind by Ancestor Devourer of Heaven—the Withered Wood Meets Spring Technique!

It was through this technique that he had successfully subdued the Netherworld Cold Fire.

The situation was different now. Li Qing was a core formation realm cultivator, his mana more than ten times stronger than before.

The sheer volume of his true essence alone could suppress the will of the heavenly spirit fire. This time, Li Qing hadn’t prepared as extensively as before, when he had not only used a Soul-Protecting Pill but also activated a golden fire crow’s feather!

As his true essence continued to drain, Li Qing’s heart sank slightly.

It wasn’t that the fire seed was resisting the refinement process; rather, Li Qing found the subjugation proceeding too smoothly, almost without any difficulty!

Li Qing’s brow furrowed deeply. The refinement process was going flawlessly, and he should have been rejoicing.

Yet his mood remained heavy, unable to find any joy.

”Could it be that the fire seed has already been extinguished? It’s showing no resistance at all, completely unlike how a heavenly spirit fire should behave.”

He remembered how fiercely the Netherworld Cold Fire had resisted when he refined it, nearly burning him to ashes from the inside out.

”Well, it’s come to this. I have no choice but to grit my teeth and subdue it.”

In the next instant, the small black Flood Dragon before Li Qing vanished from its spot, disappearing into the void.

Immediately afterward, the surrounding world erupted in a violent, earth-shattering tremor!

Rumble!

Space trembled violently, and spatial rifts suddenly tore open across the void.

Boom!

In the deep space outside, the earth cracked open, and countless materials were swallowed into the spatial rifts.

All this happened so swiftly that Li Qing had no time to react.

In mere moments, the Spirit Devouring Realm was plunged into an apocalyptic scene far more catastrophic than any End of Dao Era.

Sensing the spatial annihilation outside, Li Qing’s scalp went numb. He now understood why no one had dared to come here to subdue the heavenly spirit fire before the End of Dao Era.

”We have to leave! This place is too dangerous to stay!”

Suppressing his shock, Li Qing immediately summoned the Black Furnace, enveloping himself within its protective barrier.

Closing his eyes, he placed one hand against the inner wall of the furnace and initiated interdimensional travel.

(End of the Chapter)

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