Primordial Villain with a Slave Harem

Chapter 799: Fire Essence Shard

His fingers met the shard.

The air around them dropped a full ten degrees.

The shard ignited. Not into flame, but into radiance. Its ember-like light flared brilliant gold and crimson, and then…

His body drank it in.

The shard shattered in his palm, releasing threads of fire-qi. They dove into his veins, flooding his limbs, chest, spine, and skull.

His breath caught. His muscles seized. It was like being struck by lightning and submerged in boiling water all at once.

But despite what Feng Jiai mightʼve thought, Quinlan touching the shard wasnʼt an accident at all. He did it on purpose. He knew why he was here: to learn these elemental combat arts.

ʼMight as well get started then,ʼ he thought, trusting his primordial body to do the assimilation for him.

Quinlanʼs breath came ragged, trembling between clenched teeth. The fire-qi was tearing through him.

Molten threads exploded through his veins, weaving heat into his very flesh and bones. His body, resilient as it was, began to tremble. His eyes glazed as the first tremors of overload struck his nervous system. He had pain tolerance, yes, but pain tolerance meant little when the body itself began to rupture.

His fingertips cracked. His skin split in glowing threads of red. The shard was gone, devoured. But the fire it left behind hadnʼt settled down quietly in his system. It rampaged.

And for the first time since his arrival in Zhenwu, Quinlan felt something new and extremely unpleasant: his body was losing control.

”No! NO NO NO!!!” Feng Jiai dropped to her knees in front of him. She grabbed his shoulders with her nails digging into his arms. Her eyes were wide with terror.

”Youʼll die like this! You stupid Uncle! Youʼll burn from the inside out!”

”Really…? Thanks for the info, I wouldnʼt have known…” Quinlan grunted with oozing sarcasm.

”You have to open your lesser meridians!” Feng Jiai shouted, ignoring his typical rude mouth. ”You need to gather enough qi to stabilize it, you must forcibly enter the rush through the whole of the Qi Gathering stage! Thatʼs the only way!”

Quinlanʼs teeth ground together, making a choked sound leave his throat as he started regretting his haphazard, cocky decision.

She was shaking him now by his shoulders. ”None of them did this abruptly! Not even the genius kids! They trained for years, prepared their bodies, opened their first circuit, formed dantians slowly—you just grabbed it and somehow triggered absorption! It shouldnʼt be possible! What kind of lunatic-!?”

”Stop squeaking already and tell me what to do, you damned brat.”

His voice came at her like a hammer. It was strained, but firm.

She froze. Stared at him. The heat had dried her eyes, but they glistened anew.

”…Alright,” she breathed, biting her lip. Her hands steadied. ”Then listen, Uncle.”

Feng Jiai drew a shaking breath and placed her palm over his abdomen, just below the navel. ”This is your dantian. Focus here. Feel anything. Just anything. Heat, breath, tingling, pressure. Thatʼs the start.”

He nodded.

”Once you feel it, pull it. Not with muscle but with will. Drag the fire qi into a circle around your lower body. It doesnʼt have to be perfect, just… keep it moving. Thatʼs the first minor cycle.”

The young girlʼs words echoed in Quinlanʼs mind as the pain intensified. His vision blurred. Everything burned.

It reminded him, horribly, vividly, of the time he swallowed a Primordial Fire Elixir.

But this was worse. That time, letting go and surrendering to the flame had saved him. This time, that would kill him.

As such, all he could do was grit his teeth and hold on. Resist with all he had while opening his damned tunnels or whatever the squeaker was squeaking about. ȓ𝔞ＮＯꞖËṡ

The fire-qi was akin to a beast that was caged in his flesh, thrashing violently to break free. It slammed against his insides like a wild animal, too large for his vessel to contain, too violent for his organs to resist. His skin seared, glowing beneath the surface, and every heartbeat felt like a forge hammer against an anvil.

His awareness tunneled.

Quinlan no longer felt the grass beneath him. The wind vanished. Even Feng Jiaiʼs frantic screaming faded.

There was only pressure.

Fire.

And pain.

Something—something at the core of his body—glowed all of a sudden, pulsing weakly just below his navel. Like a spark trying to catch kindling. His body—his primordial body—seemed to pull toward it instinctively.

But it wasnʼt enough.

He needed guidance. A lifeline.

”Uncle!” Feng Jiaiʼs voice finally broke through. Her hands gripped his shoulders so tightly he could feel her nails through his shirt. ”Listen to me. Right now. Or youʼre going to die.”

Quinlanʼs jaw clenched. He only managed a grunt this time around.

”You have to focus! Focus on that heat you feel in your core! Thatʼs your dantian trying to awaken! You need to find the fire-qi and pull it toward that spot. Not with muscle. Not with breath. With intent. You must will it to move.”

Quinlan barely understood Feng Jiaiʼs words at this point. But he obeyed. Because thatʼs what survival demanded.

He reached inward.

Inside his core, the inferno was formless. Chaotic. Slashing through him like it meant to consume him whole. But there—deep in the center of his gut—was the faintest ember. A spark.

He reached for it. It flickered. Then, it caught.

The shardʼs qi, raging and wild, shifted. Just ever so slightly. One tongue of fire bent toward that ember.

”Thatʼs it!” Feng Jiaiʼs voice rose in hope. ”You felt it, didnʼt you?! Thatʼs qi! The first step!”

Quinlan didnʼt know what that meant. But it didnʼt matter. His brain would have time to catch up once lethal danger had been averted. For now, he had to leave it to his primordial vesselʼs supernatural senses.

The ember began to pulse brighter. His breath caught, as if the core of his body was collapsing inward, drawing heat toward itself.

”A-Amzing Uncle! Y-youʼre somehow doing it! But donʼt get conceited just yet! You must guide it now!” she shouted excitedly while pushing her palms against his chest, trying to anchor him so he doesnʼt fall over and lose concentration. ”Circle it. Even if itʼs rough, even if it hurts, move it. Clockwise. Let it spin.”

He did. He forced the flame-qi to rotate through sheer force of will.

It scraped along his channels like molten razors. Every inch of progress came at the cost of agony. But the only thing Quinlan cared about was that it moved. One slow turn. Then another.

”Good! Thatʼs the start of your first qi circuit. Most cultivators take months just to reach this… but youʼre already here...”

More fire-qi flooded in. The thread fattened, deepened, and with each rotation, it pressed against the closed meridians in his lower body. Tight, untrained, not meant to open yet.

Until…

*Crack.*

He gasped all of a sudden, with his leg convulsing as something inside him burst. Fire-qi rushed into the opening, flowing with greater ease.

”One,” Jiai whispered with pure disbelief at what her eyes were showing her. But she knew it wasnʼt time to marvel at the impossible. ”Thatʼs one! Keep it up, Uncle!”

A second blockage gave way, this time on his side. Then a third along his back.

”Two. Three…Holy fuc- I mean this is unbelievable!” Feng Jiai exclaimed. ”Youʼre opening your lesser meridians without cultivation roots. Do you even know what youʼre doing?”