Library of Heaven's Path

At this rate, I'll really lose my life…

Knowing that nothing would be left of him by the time the flames finished burning, Zhang Xuan swiftly drove the Soul Quintessence.

Gathering his power, he sent a burst of soul energy right into the ball of black flame around him.

As the burst of soul energy collided with the black flame, it swiftly scattered into countless seeds of fire. However, before Zhang Xuan could react, they had already gathered back together around him once more, continue their relentless assault on his Primordial Spirit.

"I'm able to forcefully split it apart, but the rate of regeneration of the black flame is simply too fast…" Zhang Xuan analyzed grimly.

The attack with his Soul Quintessence was a trial attack to see if soul energy would work on the black flame, and to be honest, he didn't think that it would be effective. Unfortunately, the black flame reconverged together too quickly for the attack to make much of a difference.

Right! I can use the Time Quintessence… A thought came to Zhang Xuan's mind.

No matter how quickly the black flame gathered together, it would require some time. As long as there was a lapse in time, he would be able to use the Time Quintessence against it!

Break!

Thus, he gathered his soul energy together to launch a powerful attack against the black flame. At the same time, he raised his finger and tapped the space in front of him lightly.

Weng!

Everything around him suddenly grew incredibly slow. The black flame slowly split into countless seeds of fire, and when they finally reached a certain distance away from him, they began to reconverged together in the middle.

Scatter apart!

Pushing his mind to its limits, Zhang Xuan scattered his soul energy into each of the smaller seeds of fire and pushed them further away from one another.

Barely after that was done, the time acceleration came to an end. As expected, the searing sensation he felt on his Primordial Spirit alleviated considerably.

The power of the black flame does indeed reduce accordingly to scale… Zhang Xuan thought as he heaved a sigh of relief.

Even if they were of the same temperature, a blazing inferno was surely much more menacing force as compared to just a couple sparks of fire.

After continue the process several times, the black flame was finally split into a hundredth of its original size. Finally, the searing sensation had been reduced to a level which Zhang Xuan's Primordial Spirit could tolerate.

"Time, Space, and Soul, these are the three Quintessences that are the hardest to grasp… He's probably the only one in the world who has managed to master the three of them…" Not expecting to see such a maneuver, the Dragonbone Divine Spear muttered in a daze beneath its breath.

When it first saw the Empyrean Heavenly Flame descending from the heavens, it had no doubt that the young man would be reduced to cinders. Who could have thought that the young man would actually be able to find a feasible way to cope with the Empyrean Heavenly Flame through the skillful manipulation of those three powerful Quintessences?

"However, this isn't the end of the Aureate Body Ordeal yet. Even if he's able to withstand the Scorching Soul Tribulation, it would still be hard for him to overcome the Scorching Spirit Tribulation and Scorching Heart Tribulation…"

The Dragonbone Divine Spear shook its head, clearly unconfident in the young man's ability to withstand this trial.

…

This is much better!

Oblivious to the Dragonbone Divine Spear's worries, Zhang Xuan's pounding heart finally calmed down after he found that the searing sensation on his Primordial Spirit had reduced to a level where he could cope with. He couldn't help but be thankful that he had mastered the Spatial, Time, and Soul Quintessences. Otherwise, he would really have been helpless before his current situation.

Weng!

A golden light shone brilliantly on the surface of his Primordial Spirit, keeping the many seeds of fire scattered equally on the outside. It had reduced the intensity of the flame, and the excruciating pain on his Primordial Spirit had diminished significantly too.

As he continued driving his soul energy, the golden light grew brighter and brighter. Whenever the black seeds of fire began gathering once more, he would use his Soul Quintessence to tear them apart once more. Of course, it was an extremely tiring process, but fortunately, he was still able to cope with his powerful Primordial Spirit.

Let me try using the heat of the heavenly flames to drive away the Innate Fetal Poison… Seeing that he was finally out of danger for the time being, Zhang Xuan knew that his chance had come.

This was a rare opportunity for him to try driving out the Innate Fetal Poison within him.

As long as the Innate Fetal Poison remained unresolved, the countdown on his lifespan wouldn't stop. Since he had finally found a chance to take a breather, it was a good timing for him to give it a try.

Gathering his consciousness together, he threw out yet another burst of soul energy and divided a bean-sized seed of fire into sesame seed-sized ones. With his will, he slowly nudged the divided seed of fire toward the area where the Innate Fetal Poison was.

After which, he channeled the searing energy in from the seed of flame through the golden light and into his Primordial Spirit.

Szzzzzzzz!

A heart-wrenching pain immediately assaulted Zhang Xuan, but he gritted his teeth and bore with it. If this was the pain he had to go through in order to resolve the Innate Fetal Poison, he would just have to pull through it.

However, a moment later, a deep frown appeared on his forehead, "Why isn't it working?"

Kong shi had once said that the heavenly flames could destroy the Innate Fetal Poison, but to his astonishment, the searing energy from the seed of flame didn't seem to faze the Innate Fetal Poison in the slightest. It was almost as if the Innate Fetal Poison was impervious to it!

Or… could it be that I'll have to pull the entire seed of flame right into my Primordial Spirit? Zhang Xuan narrowed his eyes in horror.

He had only channeled the searing energy from the black flame into his body previously; the black flame itself still remained guarded by the golden light. In a sense, it was similar to scratching one's leg through one's shoes. Could this be the reason why the Innate Fetal Poison wasn't affected by it?

But even if that was truly the case…

It was true that his Primordial Spirit wasn't vulnerable to heat, unlike ordinary soul oracles. However, the black flame was no ordinary flame either. It was the Empyrean Heavenly Flame, the strongest heavenly flame of all!

If he were to draw something that could even destroy a Sempiternal realm expert into his Primordial Spirit, the chances would be that he would die before he could even eliminate the Innate Fetal Poison!

Forget it! At this rate, I'm bound for death anyway… Knowing that he wouldn't be able to rest easy as long as the Innate Fetal Poison remained in his body, Zhang Xuan didn't hesitate for long before making up his mind.

Driving the Heaven's Path Soul Art furiously, he continued to uphold the barrier of golden light around his Primordial Spirit to fend off the black flame. But at the same time, he opened a small gap to take in a seed of flame into his Primordial Spirit.

Tzzzzzzz!

As if fresh meat being pressed on top of burning charcoals, a deafening sizzling sound echoed in the air. This was a pain which Zhang Xuan had never experienced before. It felt as if something was consuming him from within, leaving him scrunching around uncontrollably. Gradually, he could feel his consciousness seeping away from him.

He hurriedly lowered his head and saw the areas which had come into direct contact with the seed of flame had already been reduced to a hole. At the same time, the parts of his Primordial Spirit around the hole was visibly much more sparse than before. At this rate, it was a matter of time before his Primordial Spirit dissipated for good.

This… How am I supposed to do this? Zhang Xuan's complexion warped in despair.

He had only taken in a sesame seed-sized flame, and it had already inflicted grievous wounds upon his Primordial Spirit. If he were to absorb any more than that, he would really be reduced into a wisp of smoke!

What should I do?

He was still thinking that he would be able to overcome the heavenly flame easily and resolve the Innate Fetal Poison while he was at it. However, it was as if the difficulty of the game had suddenly switched from easy mode to hell mode.

I have no choice now. If a sesame-sized seed of flame wouldn't work out, I'll just have further divide till it's the size of the tip of a needle! Zhang Xuan clenched his fists determinedly.

The division of the black flame would reduce the intensity of the heat significantly. Since that was the case, he would just have to continue dividing it till it was at a level where his Primordial Spirit could endure.

With such a thought in mind, Zhang Xuan continued using his soul energy to further divide a seed of black flame.

With his level of cultivation, even for a speck of dirt, he could still easily see the bumps on it through his Spiritual Perception. With his sharp control over his soul energy, he was able to accomplish this fine maneuver with ease.

After three more divisions, the sesame-sized seed of flame was finally reduced to roughly the size of a needle tip. Even with such a small size, its imposing presence still gave one no room for doubt that it was capable of melting everything in the world.

"Absorb!"

Zhang Xuan carefully guided one of these needle tip-sized seed of flame toward his Primordial Spirit and swiftly absorbed it in.

Tzzzzzzz!

Upon seeing the seed of fire, the Innate Fetal Poison hurriedly retreated out of fear.

However, it was unfortunate that the seed of fire was too small. Even though the Innate Fetal Poison was frightful of it, it was incapable of dealing any substantial damage to the Innate Fetal Poison.

It's effective! I need to press on!

With such a thought in mind, Zhang Xuan absorbed another needle tip-sized seed of flame into his Primordial Spirit, thus forcing the Innate Fetal Poison to retreat in terror once again. However, it didn't take long for the small seed of flame to extinguish too.

Hmmm? My Primordial Spirit seems to have grown stronger?

He realized that after absorbing two seeds of flame, the parts of his Primordial Spirit where the seeds of flame had passed through had grown much more resilient, as if they had been tempered a thousand times over. At the same time, the golden glow emanating from those areas became much more brilliant too.

The heavenly flame is indeed able to temper the Aureate Body! Zhang Xuan's eyes lit up in excitement.

Let me put aside the Innate Fetal Poison for now. By the time I have tempered my entire Primordial Spirit, that fellow wouldn't be able to run even if he wanted to!

Trembling in agitation, Zhang Xuan was just about to crush the other seeds of flame into smaller portions in order to temper his entire Primordial Spirit when the storage ring on his physical body suddenly shook. Following which, a figure materialized before him.

He was Zhang Xuan's clone!

For some reason, this fellow had come out of the Myriad Anthive Nest of his own accord.

"You can't even handle a heavenly flame properly? I can't bring myself to look on anymore…" Shooting a disdainful look at Zhang Xuan, the clone dashed right into the ominous clouds above.

Hong long long!

As if in retaliation to the clone's aggressive actions, a bundle of heavenly flame descended from the heavens. However, the clone simply opened his mouth wide and swallowed it into his body.

"..."

Zhang Xuan's cheeks twitched.