Battle Through the Heavens: A Dragon at the Start

Chapter 18: Refining the Strange Flame, or Being Refined by the Strange Flame...

In the passage filled with black and white energy, Qi Lie's figure descended rapidly. When the hour was almost up, he once again arrived at the underground world where the strange fire was located.

Qi Lie cautiously walked to a position ten meters away from the Yin-Yang Twin Flames. He took out a Qi-restoring pill, put it in his mouth, and spread his fiery red wings, ready to run away at any time.

Qi Lie raised his right hand, and in his palm was a nearly invisible thread, a wisp of his soul that had been split off.

Qi Lie's expression was solemn. He took a deep breath, and once he was ready, he swung his right hand sharply. The wisp of soul wrapped in battle qi shot forward and plunged straight into the black and white flames.

"boom!"

The swaying Yin-Yang Twin Flames paused for a moment, then surged like ignited gunpowder, the extreme heat sweeping across the entire underground world. All the black and white energies instantly erupted, and even space itself seemed to distort slightly.

Qi Lie's body was sent flying backwards by the powerful shockwave that struck him instantly, and the extreme heat even distorted the protective shield he had formed.

Qi Lie felt the terrifying temperature of the Yin-Yang Twin Flames and the seemingly endless aura of death. His expression turned somewhat grim. He had underestimated the power of the Yin-Yang Twin Flames!

The ranking of the Strange Flames cannot represent the difference in strength between each Strange Flame; otherwise, there would be no distinction between nascent and mature Strange Flames.

The Yin-Yang Twin Flames have been nurtured here for who knows how long, possibly thousands or even tens of thousands of years. Judging from the current situation, these Yin-Yang Twin Flames are probably no weaker than the Fallen Heart Flame in the original story, but they have not yet developed sentience!

In an instant, Qi Lie understood all of this. He decisively abandoned the idea of ​​controlling that wisp of soul to possess the Yin-Yang Twin Flames, and suddenly turned around and flew away. He didn't want to stay here and wait to die!

Qi Lie is fast, but the strange fire is even faster!

Just as he set off, the Yin-Yang Twin Flames, which had surged and expanded, suddenly swept in from behind with violent speed, engulfing Qi Lie!

The extreme heat caused Qi Lie's protective shield to melt rapidly, and a deathly power was also eroding him, forcing Qi Lie to consume more battle qi and soul power to maintain the protective shield.

While protecting himself, Qi Lie did not sit idly by and wait for death. He flashed and tried to break free of the strange fire. However, no matter which way he charged, the strange fire swept in the same direction, frantically blocking him. Not only could he not break free of the strange fire's confinement, but his fighting spirit was also consumed even faster!

Although the Yin-Yang Twin Flames lack intelligence, they possess an innate instinct to destroy anything that threatens them!

Although the strange fire is invisible, it can still trap Qi Lie until his fighting spirit is exhausted and he is burned to ashes!

"Blazing Palm!"

Qi Lie raised his hand and condensed a fighting technique. The powerful fighting technique was suddenly unleashed. The fighting technique seemed to be incomparably powerful, but after it was unleashed, it only made the Yin-Yang Twin Flames sway for a moment. Although it seemed that the area was somewhat weak, it recovered again in just an instant.

The fighting technique didn't have much of an effect on him; on the contrary, it made the strange fire even more violent, constantly impacting his energy shield.

And at that very moment, Qi Lie's connection with that wisp of soul was completely severed!

Qi Lie's face turned completely gloomy, but he was unwilling to wait for death. He still remembered the way he came. Even though the strange fire had been following him and imprisoning him, as long as he could crawl out of the cave, he could attract high-level magical beasts from the Thousand Blade Mountains, or even powerful human cultivators. He would still have a chance to survive!

Qi Lie acted on his thought immediately. Following the direction he remembered, he rushed towards the cave entrance while continuously wielding his fighting techniques. He refused to believe that physical attacks would have no effect on the Yin-Yang Twin Flames!

No matter how hard Qi Lie charged forward, the raging strange fire always surrounded him, seemingly trying to refine him alive!

A few minutes later, Qi Lie slowly stopped his impact, maintaining the protection of the energy shield with a gloomy expression.

He had already rushed upwards to the location he remembered several times, but he had always hit a wall and had not found the entrance. Although the Yin-Yang Twin Flames were swayed by the attacks of the fighting techniques and occasionally dimmed in some places, they never revealed a gap that would allow him to escape.

We can't get out!

Qi Lie took a deep breath, released his soul power, and forcefully penetrated the strange fire, trying to sense the location of the cave entrance.

The terrifying power of the strange fire was such that it could even burn soul power. Qi Lie's soul power was being consumed rapidly. He gave up after only half a minute of probing. It wasn't that his soul power was exhausted, but rather that his soul power was blocked by the strange fire, allowing him to probe only a dozen meters around him. Moreover, all he could sense was extreme high temperature and violent energy, with nowhere to go.

They could either force their way through, hoping to find the cave entrance before their soul power was exhausted and escape to the surface to survive, or they could seek other ways.

The former has a chance to find the cave entrance and escape upwards. The strange fire might give up the siege. After reaching the surface, they might encounter a powerful figure who will intervene. However, the most likely scenario is that their soul power will be exhausted before they find the cave entrance, making it impossible to maintain the energy shield. They will be burned to death by the strange fire. Even if they successfully reach the surface, they may not be lucky enough to have a powerful figure come to their rescue.

Choosing the latter... there's no other way!

Feeling his battle qi rapidly depleting and his soul power constantly being consumed to maintain the energy shield, Qi Lie swallowed the Qi-restoring pill he had in his mouth to recover his battle qi.

The strange fire continued to violently burn the energy shield, but the gloom on Qi Lie's face disappeared, replaced by calm.

The worst that can happen is death. After all these years of hardship, what is there to be afraid of?

"However, we can't just wait to die like this..."

With a thought, his soul power surged out wildly once again, probing the surroundings. However, this time, he was not scouting the way, but searching for the source of the strange fire!

The moment the soul power was released, it was rapidly consumed, as the terrifying high temperature of the strange fire was enough to incinerate everything!

While controlling the energy shield to protect himself, Qi Lie also used his soul perception to carefully search every inch of the surrounding space. His face gradually turned pale, which was a sign of the severe consumption of his soul power.

Nearly two minutes later, Qi Lie sensed a wisp of fire mixed in with the massive flames. His gaze sharpened, and he used his soul power to control the energy shield of his battle qi, adjusting it so that the battle qi covered the surface of his body. Then, he suddenly stretched out his right hand, rushed towards the fire, and grabbed it.

Even with the presence of battle qi energy, the intense heat of the fire still caused a sharp pain in Qi Lie's hand.

Qi Lie endured the pain and tried to charge in one direction again, but he was still surrounded by the massive strange fire.

"My battle aura and soul power are being consumed too quickly..."

In the end, Qi Lie had no choice but to abandon his illusions and stop his attack.

Qi Lie looked at the fire seed in his hand. The excessive consumption of his soul power made his face pale, and the burning pain of the strange fire made him frown slightly.

"...The last one is called Soul Absorption. This thing can open up a special small space in your body, and this small space is used to store the strange fire. After all, given the destructive power of the strange fire, if you don't completely refine it, then everything except this void space will be instantly burned, including your vortex and body."

Yao Chen's description of refining the strange fire to Xiao Yan lingered in Qi Lie's mind. He stared quietly at the fire seed, his eyes flickering slightly. Gradually, his gaze hardened, and finally, a resolute look appeared in his dark eyes.

"Blood Lotus Pill, Icy Spring, Spirit Absorption..."

The Blood Lotus Pill protects his body, the Ice Spirit Cold Spring protects his body, and the Absorbing Spirit accommodates the strange fire, but now he only has the Ice Spirit Cold Spring.

Without the Blood Lotus Pill, he could still rely on his Dou Wang power to persevere; without the Soul Absorption Pill, he could not store the Strange Fire within his body, but he had no other choice.

"Heh, even if I die, I'll die during the refining of the strange fire, not be refined by it like this!"

Qi Lie smiled resolutely, flipped his hand and took out a white jade box the size of a washbasin from his storage ring, smashed it to pieces with a single palm strike. The jade box fragments and a large amount of ice fell to the ground, and were instantly burned to ashes by the strange fire. Only a small jade bottle floated in the air, protected by Qi Lie's soul power.

A chilling aura swirled around the jade bottle, its coldness chilling to the bone...

Qi Lie sat down cross-legged, picked up the jade bottle, flicked off the stopper, and then put it directly to his lips, swallowing it all.

A bone-chilling cold current rushed through his throat, then into his body, flowing outwards along his meridians. Without hesitation, Qi Lie quickly raised his right hand and swallowed the fire seed into his stomach!