Chapter 933: Godfire Ridge, Qingluan’s Nirvana

“Let’s go, A’Gui.”

Lu Changsheng did not linger on Green Dragon Island. After a quick tidy-up he returned to Penglai Island with the Turtle Immortal Patriarch.

Thinking of Dreamless and his wife, Lu Changsheng told the Turtle Immortal Patriarch about their methods and general situation.

He asked if the other knew their lineage of inheritance.

With methods like the couple displayed, they clearly had a powerful background.

They were likely from a top-tier power in the Eastern Sea Cultivation Realm.

“As you said, Master, that couple is skilled in divination and in a joint cultivation secret art, and they also carry a supreme treasure for divination—a mirror and a seal. The first name that comes to mind is the Sun-Moon Star Palace.”

The Turtle Immortal Patriarch mused, “When the Sun-Moon Star Palace was destroyed, its inheritances scattered. Starrymoon Hall wasn’t the only branch; there must have been other lineages and true heirs who escaped.”

“But the seal you mentioned, used to enslave a Demon King, doesn’t match the Sun-Moon Star Palace’s methods, so I can’t say for certain.”

Most of his knowledge of the Eastern Sea Cultivation Realm came from Yuhai Mountain’s records and his bloodline memories.

Judging their origin from a handful of techniques alone was too difficult.

Especially since his understanding of the Eastern Sea Cultivation Realm was stuck several thousand years in the past.

That was long enough for a new hegemon to rise.

“Mm.” Lu Changsheng had only asked in passing and didn’t dwell on it.

Once they reached the periphery of the Forbidden Sea, Lu Changsheng woke Lu Lingjing, who was sleeping within the Heavenly Yuan Lotus, then had her rest in his stomach chamber to cultivate the God-Devouring Technique and attempt to condense the God-Devouring Bottle.

Eastern Region of the Southern Desolation, Godfire Ridge.

Godfire Ridge is a minorly famous place in the Eastern Region. Flames burn year-round without ever going out. Cultivators below Core Formation don’t dare approach.

Still, many who cultivate fire arts come after forming their core to borrow the heavenly fire here to temper their divine abilities.

Some master artifact refiners also like this place for quenching and forging treasures.

But Godfire Ridge is hardly peaceful.

On calm days it’s fine, but when the ridge erupts and fire floods heaven and earth, even Core Formation Grand cultivators retreat a long way.

Thirty years ago, however, something changed. The flames that never died seemed to be waning.

Now, at the deepest point of Godfire Ridge, a lake of molten lava surged like it could burn and melt all things.

Billowing heat rose like invisible giant serpents roaring in fury, twisting the air and light into a wavering mirage.

All the flames of Godfire Ridge seemed to flood toward this lava lake, drawn and gathered here.

In the lake, a crimson giant egg, its surface etched with ornate, intricate lines like a peerless work of art, bloomed with dazzling red-gold light.

Each rise and fall was rhythmic and profound, as if resonating with the land, the lava, the very heavens.

“Little Qing, fall back.”

A clear, rich voice came from within the egg.

Not far away, a luan-bird wreathed in azure radiance traced with threads of gold-red unfurled her wings. Ripples spread through the void and she flashed to the air above the lake.

Once she left the lake, the azure luan felt much lighter.

Though she’d borrowed the Heavenly Phoenix Feather to grasp a measure of fire affinity, the lake that burned and melted all things still pressed on her, so she couldn’t linger long.

After the azure luan withdrew, the egg erupting with crimson radiance burst into an indescribable blaze. Lances of red-gold divine light speared upward.

Boom, boom, boom—

In that instant not just the lake but the whole of Godfire Ridge boiled and roared, raging out of control.

“What happened?”

“No good, Godfire Ridge is starting to erupt. Get out!”

“Wasn’t it calm for years with the flames fading? How did it suddenly blow up like this?”

Cultivators who were training or forging here felt the upheaval. Faces blanching, they looked toward the depths and fled the ridge.

Those at a critical point in cultivation or forging could only curse their luck.

Crack—

After a long moment a crisp split rang through heaven and earth.

Deep in the lava lake of Godfire Ridge, the phoenix egg bright as a rising sun split open a seam.

Red-gold light gushed from the crack, painting the image of a fire phoenix spreading its wings.

The lake’s churning rose to yet another level.

Crack, crack, crack—

More fissures crawled over the phoenix egg like a spiderweb. Every line leaked blazing gold-red light until the entire lake gleamed crimson and gold.

At last, with a soaring phoenix cry that shook the heavens, the egg shattered. Countless red-gold shards scattered.

A graceful, regal figure like flowing fire appeared at the bottom of the lake.

She was tall and poised, her whole being steeped in a beauty and nobility that words barely held.

But her features didn’t quite match that aura.

Her exquisite face, unlike most women, was cut with sharp lines and edges, full of blade-bright vigor.

One look gave a sense of severity, majesty and dominance that broke up that rich, royal grace.

She wore nothing, alabaster skin sheathed in a veil of red-gold glow, hazy and luminous with a beauty no words could pin down.

Most striking of all was the interplay of rosy light across that snow-white back, like a sunset crushed to glitter and scattered there—dreamlike, impossible to look away from.

With a soft hiss, a pair of resplendent wings flared open!

This was neither a spell nor a treasure.

These were true wings—the Heavenly Phoenix Wings!

They spread to their limit, each feather wreathed in red-gold flame, fierce and scorching yet impossibly elegant.

Qingluan True Lord didn’t linger on the power. Radiance rippled over her body, the wings folded away, and a regal red-gold robe wrapped her form. Then she looked up toward the void above the lake.

She glimpsed her spirit pet, Little Qing, dueling a Nascent Soul cultivator.

Her nirvana had caused such a stir it drew a Nascent Soul here to investigate, only to end up fighting her spirit pet.

Qingluan True Lord lifted a hand and grasped. A cyan-gold halberd formed, and she slashed forward.

Shhk!

The void split open. A storm of astral wind howled out, raw and violent.

Lava flames from the lake poured into the void, boiling hot.

Like a war goddess, Qingluan True Lord drove a tide of molten lakewater as she cleaved toward the Nascent Soul cultivator battling her spirit pet.

Red-gold flame kindled in her palm, raced along the cyan-gold halberd, then tore through and burned away the man’s protective barrier and Nascent Soul Domain.

“My friend, a misunderstanding! I am the Skyfire City Lord. I sensed the disturbance and came to check. I mean no harm!”

Seeing Qingluan True Lord bearing down on him, the Nascent Soul cultivator blanched.

He hadn’t expected a mid-Nascent Soul cultivator here and shouted at once.

But Qingluan True Lord ignored him. She swung her halberd as she and the azure luan unleashed a sky-covering barrage that churned the void.

The Skyfire City Lord was only early Nascent Soul, no match for Qingluan True Lord and the azure luan.

Realizing she meant to kill him, he had no choice after a few exchanges but to attempt Soul Escape.

Qingluan True Lord was ready for that.

Endless fire and lava sealed the void.

Together with Little Qing she used the Heavenly Phoenix’s power of space to lock the world down.

The Heavenly Phoenix bloodline held a powerful affinity for fire and aligned with the Dao of space.

Here at Godfire Ridge, a land of fire, Qingluan True Lord’s cultivation and arts were even thirty percent stronger than usual.

Under their techniques the Skyfire City Lord failed to flee by Soul Escape, was grievously wounded and bound with a secret treasure.

“Spare me, Senior! Let me go and I’ll hand over everything I own as compensation!”

The Nascent Soul cultivator wore a bitter look. He hadn’t expected to run into such a calamity and begged for mercy.

Seeing him captured, Little Qing cried out in delight to Qingluan True Lord, “Master!”

Her master had been in a life-and-death nirvana all these years, and she’d been worried sick.

Now that her master succeeded, she couldn’t be happier.

“Little Qing, you’ve worked hard these days.”

A smile touched Qingluan True Lord’s sharply cut face.

Not long after she parted from Lu Changsheng back then, cultivators and factions came to cause trouble, trying to rob her of the fortune she found in the Mirage Domain of Vast Sands.

One of them was even a top giant from the Northern Region of the Southern Desolation.

With Little Qing and five hundred Qingluan Dao soldiers at her back, her strength ranked among the top of early Nascent Soul.

But before such a Nascent Soul giant, she was outmatched.

To weather the crisis to come, she even forced her pregnant daughter Mu Que into early birth.

But the enemy was simply too strong.

Even after giving birth to Mu Que and using secret arts to restore herself to her peak, she still couldn’t escape the pursuit.

Thankfully she had the Phoenix Legacy.

Years earlier she’d also obtained the Heavenly Phoenix Feather from Lu Changsheng and awakened the Heavenly Phoenix Bloodline.

At the last moment she burned herself to grievously wound the foe, then had Little Qing carry off the phoenix egg she became to undergo nirvana.

Without Little Qing standing guard with her life and constantly seeking fire-origin seeds for her, she could hardly have succeeded.

Even with success, she couldn’t have reached this level where both cultivation and bloodline advanced further.

“Master, it wasn’t hard.”

The azure luan’s clear voice rang. She could feel her master’s aura had transformed utterly.

“Master, are we going to pick up Little Sparrow now?”

Little Qing had only cared for Mu Que a few months.

But after hundreds of years at Qingluan True Lord’s side, her bond ran deep. She adored Mu Que, who carried her master’s blood.

Back then the situation was dire. With no choice, her master had to leave the child in a small mountain village.

Now that her master had succeeded in nirvana, of course they should bring her back.

“Little Sparrow…”

At that, Qingluan True Lord looked toward the Central Region of the Southern Desolation.

In the next instant her brows knit tight.

In that crisis back then, not only had all five hundred Qingluan Dao soldiers died, but the Five-Virtues Qi she’d accumulated was spent and even overdrawn.

Without Five-Virtues Qi, her skill in divination plummeted. Right now she couldn’t sense her daughter’s whereabouts at all.

“Someone is veiling Little Sparrow’s heavenly secret.”

She realized this wasn’t just her divination waning.

Someone was interfering, shrouding her daughter’s fate.

“Who?” she wondered, first thinking her daughter had met some great figure or fortune on the path.

After all, by the feel of heaven’s will, the small village back then held a peerless chance that would help the child grow.

Qingluan True Lord thought a moment, cold light sharpening her eyes. She told Little Qing, “Our troubles aren’t over. Danger still runs deep. We’ll find Sparrow after we settle all this.”

Though the phoenix nirvana let her digest the fortune from the Mirage Domain and push both realm and bloodline up to mid-Nascent Soul, the losses were huge.

Her five hundred Qingluan Dao soldiers, her pillar of safety, were gone.

The resources and Five-Virtues Qi she’d saved for centuries were spent.

Without the Qingluan soldiers, her frontal combat dropped a tier.

Without Five-Virtues Qi, her ability to avert disaster and divine the unknown dropped a tier.

You could say compared to before, only her realm had gone up.

Her head-on strength hadn’t improved much at all.

In fact her self-preservation and disaster-avoidance were much worse.

If she met Luofuzi again she’d still be no match and her life would be at risk.

“Trouble…”

At that, the azure luan’s feathers trembled and demonic aura surged.

Those five hundred Qingluan Dao soldiers were also her little brothers and playmates.

Luofuzi and the others slaughtered them all.

Even she and Qingluan True Lord had nearly died in their hands.

A blood feud like that can’t go unanswered!

“Little Qing, keep watch here. Beneath this lake there’s a top-grade spirit fire. I’m going to take a look.”

Qingluan True Lord glanced at the lake and spoke to her spirit pet.

She hadn’t chosen Godfire Ridge at random. Guided by heaven’s will, she’d had Little Qing bring her here for nirvana.

She knew a top-tier heaven-and-earth spirit fire lay beneath the lake.

If she could subdue and refine it, it would do her great good.

But as she dove into the lake and sank toward the deep earth-veins, even with her immunity to myriad fire arts she still felt a vicious, searing heat.

“A top-grade fourth-rank spirit fire. This heavenly fire has reached the upper fourth rank. With no preparation, subduing it will be extremely difficult.”

She knew the spirit fire in the depths had already reached the upper fourth rank.

Even with a phoenix legacy and Heavenly Phoenix bloodline, taking and refining it wouldn’t be easy. She’d have to prepare.

Thinking how her nirvana had caused a massive commotion that already drew a Nascent Soul here, with others likely to arrive, Qingluan True Lord stopped her probe.

For a flame of this level, unless someone also had the Heavenly Phoenix bloodline or late-stage Nascent Soul cultivation, subduing it was impossible.

So she wasn’t worried about anyone else taking it.

A place like Godfire Ridge had probably long been known to hold a top-tier spirit fire—no one had the ability to claim it.

Rising out of the lake, she brought out the Skyfire City Lord’s Nascent Soul Spirit Body and asked about the situation here.

Though during her nirvana she’d learned the general state of things through Little Qing, it was hazy at best.

Seeing her take the initiative to talk, the Skyfire City Lord answered everything. Inwardly he wondered if she wasn’t from around here.

Which made sense—mid-Nascent Soul experts in the Eastern Region were few, and he’d never heard of her.

She likely came from the Central Domain.

After getting a clear picture of Godfire Ridge, Qingluan True Lord asked, “Do you have any news from the Central Region of the Southern Desolation or the Northern Region?”