463: Chapter 463 So it was this kid

The street was crowded with people, and the sound of peddling was endless.

Cao Yun stood where he was, tense to the extreme.

Separated by a distance of a dozen steps, the young man wearing a cyan robe and draped in a rag stopped in his tracks.

The two gazes met.

Cao Yun's Mingxin Mirror was running frantically, but what it fed back was still a void.

The other party was clearly standing right there, and even the passing Loose Cultivators would subconsciously avoid him, but in Cao Yun's perception, there was just a mass of air there.

Even worse, the dark golden flame in his body was like a mouse encountering a cat, frantically shrinking into the deepest part of his Dantian.

In his Sea of Consciousness, the ancient Bing Fire remnant Soul had completely lost all movement, as if it had been scared to death.

The man in cyan looked at Cao Yun, a flash of surprise appearing in his eyes.

Gu Changsheng was indeed quite surprised.

He recognized this kid at a glance.

The unlucky guy deep underground in the Luoyan Mountain Range in the Nine Provinces who had been subjected to Possession by an ancient remnant Soul and finally swept away by the grey mist of the Heavenly Dao.

He didn't expect this kid to be so tough; not only did he not die, he even achieved Fusion with the power of that mysterious grey mist, creating a variant flame that even he had never seen before.

"A bit interesting."

Gu Changsheng did not speak, but a calm sound transmission exploded directly in Cao Yun's Sea of Consciousness.

Cao Yun only felt a "buzz" in his head, as if a heavy hammer had smashed hard onto his Soul.

He resisted the urge to retreat, his eyes staring fixedly at the other party, the dark golden flame faintly dancing at his fingertips.

He had prepared himself to fight for his life.

Gu Changsheng looked at his appearance of being faced with a formidable enemy and twitched his lips.

"You play with fire well," Gu Changsheng transmitted his voice, "Nurture it well, don't burn yourself to death prematurely. This Shattered Star Sea is about to get lively."

After speaking, Gu Changsheng withdrew his gaze, turned around, and walked slowly away along the flow of people with his hands tucked into his sleeves.

It was not until the back of that man in cyan completely disappeared around the street corner that Cao Yun suddenly let out a breath of stale air.

His back was already completely soaked with cold sweat.

"He's gone," Cao Yun shouted in his Sea of Consciousness.

After a long while, the ancient Bing Fire remnant Soul finally poked its head out, shivering.

"What kind of monster was that!" The remnant Soul's voice was trembling, "When this seat faced old monsters of the Dao Embryo Realm back in the day, I didn't feel this sinister! That one look he gave me, I felt like even my underpants were seen through!"

Cao Yun wiped the sweat from his forehead.

"The Mingxin Mirror couldn't see through him. That rag on his body is absolutely a top-tier concealment treasure."

"Nonsense! To be able to wipe away Karma and Heavenly Dao perception so cleanly, this is at least a supreme-grade item!" The remnant Soul cursed, then reacted, "Wait, cyan clothes, cannot see through his cultivation... could this person be the 'Lin Xiren' mentioned in the teahouse just now who crippled Ling Wuji?"

Cao Yun's eyes darkened slightly.

"Most likely. In this Meteor City, it's impossible for two old monsters of this level to appear at the same time."

"Your luck is truly bad, running into such a malevolent star the moment you enter the city. Hurry up and find a place to hide!" The remnant Soul urged.

Cao Yun did not refute.

The confrontation just now made him clearly realize the gap between himself and true powerhouses. Golden Core Perfection might be able to walk sideways in the Nine Provinces, but in front of these Star Lords outside the heavens, he didn't even count as a large ant.

He must stabilize the dark golden flame as soon as possible and push his cultivation to the Half-Step Dao Embryo Realm.

Cao Yun walked along the street and soon stopped in front of an imposing building.

Myriad Treasure Pavilion.

This was one of the largest trading firms in the Shattered Star Sea; it not only sold Magic Treasures and Medicinal Pills but also rented out supreme-grade Immortal Caves for cultivation.

Cao Yun stepped inside.

The lobby was resplendent and magnificent, and the Spiritual Qi was so dense it almost materialized.

A shopkeeper with a handlebar mustache came up to greet him. His gaze swept over Cao Yun; seeing him dressed ordinarily but with restrained aura, he dared not be negligent.

"This customer, are you buying or selling?"

"Renting an Immortal Cave," Cao Yun said concisely, "I want one with the most concentrated fire-type Spiritual Qi, preferably one directly connected to a fire vein."

When the shopkeeper heard this, the smile on his Face grew even wider.

"The customer has come at the right time. Our Myriad Treasure Pavilion happens to have an ancient fire vein deep underground in Meteor City. The Heaven-rank No. 3 fire vein Immortal Cave just happens to be vacant, fifty Star Stones per year. How long do you plan to rent it for?"

Fifty stones a year; this price was outrageously high.

Cao Yun didn't even frown, directly swiping five hundred Star Stones from his Storage Ring and slapping them on the counter.

"Rent it for three years first."

The shopkeeper's eyes lit up, and he was about to go get the Immortal Cave jade token.

"Wait."

A hand suddenly reached over from the side and pressed down on the pile of Star Stones.

Cao Yun turned his head to look.

The person who came was a young man wearing a black Daoist robe, carrying a wide-bladed longsword on his back, his chin raised high, looking arrogant and conceited. Behind him followed two Cultivators dressed the same way.

People from the Xuantian Sword Sect.

"This Heaven-rank No. 3 fire vein Immortal Cave, my Xuantian Sword Sect wants it." The young man glanced at Cao Yun, his tone filled with high-and-mighty charity, "Take your stones and go to another place."

The shopkeeper looked troubled.

"This high Disciple of the Sword Sect, everything follows the principle of first come, first served. This customer has already paid the deposit..."

"Slap!"

The young man directly threw out a token, smashing it onto the counter.

"My Junior Martial Uncle, Star Lord Ling Wuji, needs to heal his injuries in Meteor City and requires a supreme-grade fire vein to expel the cold Qi in his body. Does your Myriad Treasure Pavilion want to go against our Xuantian Sword Sect?"

The shopkeeper was so frightened that he trembled and waved his hands repeatedly.

"Dare not, dare not! Since Star Lord Ling needs to use it, then it is naturally given priority."

The shopkeeper turned his head and looked at Cao Yun with a Face full of apology.

"This customer, I am truly sorry. How about you take a look at the Earth-rank Immortal Caves? I will give you a twenty percent discount."

Cao Yun ignored the shopkeeper, his gaze calmly watching that Sword Sect young man.

"Take your hand away."

The young man was stunned, as if he hadn't heard clearly.

"What did you say?"

"I told you to take your hand off my Star Stones." Cao Yun's voice was not loud, but he bit down hard on every word.

The young man laughed in anger.

He was used to running rampant in the Shattered Star Sea; apart from those Star Lords of the Dao Embryo Realm, who dared not give the Xuantian Sword Sect Face?

Today, he was actually contradicted by some wild kid who popped out of nowhere.

"You're blind! Do you know who I am? I am Zhao Kuo, an Inner Sect Disciple of the Xuantian Sword Sect! Golden Core Perfection!" Zhao Kuo suddenly drew the longsword from his back, the tip of the sword pointing directly at Cao Yun's throat, "Get out immediately, or I will cripple you!"

Other Cultivators in the lobby saw this and retreated one after another, fearing they would be splashed with blood.

"This kid is unlucky; of all people to provoke, he provoked the Xuantian Sword Sect."

"Ling Wuji was just beaten by someone, and these Sword Cultivators are holding back anger; this kid has really bumped into the muzzle of a gun."

The surrounding discussions reached his ears.

Cao Yun stood where he was, looking at the sword tip close at hand.

He didn't want to cause trouble.

But there were always things without eyes bumping into the blade's edge.

"Golden Core Perfection?" Cao Yun twitched the corners of his mouth, "What a coincidence, so am I."

Before the words fell.

Cao Yun suddenly raised his right hand, and his five fingers directly grabbed Zhao Kuo's sword blade.

A flash of contempt crossed Zhao Kuo's eyes.

Catching the Xuantian Sword Sect's sword with bare hands? Courting death!

His True Qi erupted, and a blinding, sharp sword radiance instantly burst forth from the blade, attempting to shred Cao Yun's palm.

However, there was no scene of flesh and blood flying.

On Cao Yun's palm, a layer of dark golden flame ignited out of thin air.

That sword radiance, which was enough to cut metal and jade, the moment it touched the dark golden flame, was like snowflakes falling into magma; it didn't even make a sound and was directly dissolved cleanly.

"What?!"

Zhao Kuo was shocked and wanted to pull the sword back.

It was too late.

Cao Yun's five fingers suddenly exerted force.

Crack!

That longsword of extremely high quality was actually snapped by him!

The broken blade was still in Cao Yun's hand, and the dark golden flame followed the sword body, spreading onto Zhao Kuo's arm like a poisonous snake.

Pure Yang Heart Fire, specializing in burning delusions, like maggots on a bone.

"Ah!"

Zhao Kuo let out a shrill scream. He desperately circulated his True Qi, wanting to extinguish the flame, but he discovered that this dark golden flame was actually burning his True Qi along with it!

In just two breaths of time, Zhao Kuo's entire right arm was burned to ashes.

The flame was still spreading along his shoulder towards his body.

"Senior Brother!"

The two Sword Sect Disciples behind were scared out of their wits and hurriedly drew their swords to stab at Cao Yun, attempting to encircle Wei to save Zhao.

Cao Yun didn't even look at them.

His left leg lifted abruptly, and a crisp, clean knee strike smashed directly into Zhao Kuo's chest.

Bang!

Zhao Kuo's sternum shattered instantly, and his whole body flew backward like a cannonball leaving the chamber, knocking over the two Disciples who had rushed up. The three of them rolled into a ball, smashed through the threshold of the lobby, and fell onto the main street.

The dark gold flames lost Cao Yun's control, and after burning off Zhao Kuo's right arm, they automatically extinguished.

Zhao Kuo lay on the street, clutching his severed arm, rolling on the ground in pain, unable to even utter a harsh word.

The main hall of the Wanbao Pavilion was deathly silent.

Everyone widened their eyes, staring at this ruthless man who had crippled a high-ranking Disciple of the Xuantian Sword Sect with his bare hands.

Cao Yun brushed the dust off his hands and turned to look at the shopkeeper behind the counter, who was already frightened silly.

"Heaven-grade No. 3 Immortal Cave. Give me the jade token."

The shopkeeper shuddered, not daring to say a single word of refusal. Trembling, he picked up the five hundred Star Stones on the counter and handed over a crimson jade token with both hands.

Cao Yun took the jade token, didn't even glance at the screaming Zhao Kuo outside the door, and turned to walk towards the inner passage of the Wanbao Pavilion.

"Kid, your temper is growing," the remnant Soul exclaimed in his Sea of Consciousness. "You dare to cripple someone from the Xuantian Sword Sect? That old thing Ling Wuji is famous for being protective of his own. He can't beat that man in green, but can't he crush you to death?"

Cao Yun walked down the passage, and the surrounding temperature became higher and higher.

"If I take a step back, he will take my life," Cao Yun said with cold eyes. "Besides, Ling Wuji is injured now, and having been terrified by that man in green, he definitely won't dare to make a big scene in the city for a short time. He will at most send people to watch me."

"By the time I come out of seclusion, it won't be certain who will crush whom."

At the end of the passage was a stone door covered in array patterns.

Cao Yun pressed the jade token into the groove.

With a rumble, the stone door opened.

A wave of extremely pure and violent fire-type Spiritual Qi rushed towards him.

Cao Yun walked into the Immortal Cave, and the stone door slammed shut behind him.

...

Meteor City, top floor of the Star-Plucking Tower.

Ling Wuji sat cross-legged on a jade bed, his Face so gloomy that water could drip from it.

His chest was wrapped in thick bandages; that was the wound caused by Gu Changsheng's ruler strike. The Law of Destruction remained on the wound, preventing it from healing no matter how he circulated his True Qi, so he could only rely on Medicinal Pills to forcefully suppress it.

"Master!"

The door was pushed open, and his eldest Disciple, Chen Feng, ran in, covered in sweat.

"What are you panicking about!" Ling Wuji opened his eyes abruptly and shouted sternly, "You have all lost the Face of the Xuantian Sword Sect!"

Chen Feng was so scared that he knelt on the ground.

"Master, please calm your anger! It... it's Junior Brother Zhao who had an accident!"

Ling Wuji frowned.

"Zhao Kuo? He went to the Wanbao Pavilion to rent a fire vein Immortal Cave, what could happen?"

Chen Feng swallowed his saliva, his voice trembling.

"Junior Brother Zhao was crippled by someone at the Wanbao Pavilion. His entire right arm was burned to ash, his sternum was completely shattered, and he is still lying in the medical hall, unconscious."

"What?!"

Ling Wuji stood up abruptly, which aggravated the injury on his chest, causing him to gasp in pain.

"Who did it? Did that Lin Xiren strike again?!"

"No... no." Chen Feng hurriedly explained, "It was a Loose Cultivator who looked to be in his early twenties. According to those present at the time, that person was also at Golden Core Perfection. He snapped Junior Brother Zhao's sword with his bare hands, and a kind of dark gold evil fire emerged from his hand, burning Junior Brother's arm away in two breaths."

Ling Wuji was stunned.

Golden Core Perfection? Crippled Zhao Kuo with bare hands?

Although Zhao Kuo was only an Inner Sect Disciple, his sword technique was solid, and he was definitely considered an expert among his peers.

He was actually instantly defeated by a Loose Cultivator?

"Where is that person now?" Ling Wuji suppressed his anger.

"He snatched the Heaven-grade No. 3 Immortal Cave that Junior Brother Zhao had set his eyes on and went straight into seclusion." Chen Feng gritted his teeth, "Master, this kid is too arrogant! Should we bring people to tear down the Wanbao Pavilion, drag him out, and skin him alive!"

Ling Wuji slapped Chen Feng across the Face.

"Idiot!"

Chen Feng was knocked rolling on the ground from the blow, clutching his Face and not daring to make a sound.

"Tear down the Wanbao Pavilion? Do you think the forces behind the Wanbao Pavilion are pushovers?" Ling Wuji pointed at Chen Feng's nose and cursed, "And that monster named Lin Xiren is still in the city! If we make a big scene now and accidentally provoke him, you and I will both die here in the Shattered Star Sea!"

Ling Wuji took a deep breath and sat back on the jade bed.

Suffering setbacks twice in a row made him, a Star Lord at the Dao Embryo Middle Stage, feel incredibly aggrieved.

But he had lived for tens of thousands of years, and he understood how to assess the situation best.

"Send a few clever Disciples to watch outside the Wanbao Pavilion." A trace of viciousness flashed in Ling Wuji's eyes, "As long as that kid dares to come out of seclusion, send me a message immediately. We won't make a move in the city; once the Immortal Tomb of Myriad Laws opens and we enter the Secret Realm, I will personally extract his Soul and refine his spirit!"

"Yes! This Disciple will go do it right away!"

Chen Feng scrambled out.

Beneath the Wanbao Pavilion, Heaven-grade No. 3 Immortal Cave.

This was a huge natural karst cave, with a fire well rolling with dark red magma in the center.

The temperature in the air was high enough to make an ordinary Foundation Establishment Cultivator spontaneously combust instantly.

Cao Yun was shirtless, floating cross-legged directly above the fire well.

He formed a strange Dharma seal with his hands.

The Li Fire Burning Heaven Art operated crazily.

The magma in the fire well below boiled violently, and streams of pure Earth Vein fire Qi turned into crimson threads, continuously drilling into every acupuncture point on Cao Yun's body.

Cao Yun kept his eyes tightly closed, his brows knitted tightly together, enduring immense pain.

The Meridians in his body were currently enduring inhuman torture.

Dark gold flames were rampaging crazily inside his Dantian.

This mutated flame was too overbearing.

The destruction of the ancient Bing Fire, the void-burning of the Pure Yang Heart Fire, plus that trace of gray mist aura that transcended the Heavenly Dao.

Although the three powers were forcibly kneaded together, they were not completely compatible.

What Cao Yun had to do now was to use the immense energy of this underground fire vein as a furnace to thoroughly refine this dark gold flame and imprint it with his own absolute mark.

"Kid, you are crazy!"

In the Sea of Consciousness, the remnant Soul watched Cao Yun crazily absorbing the fire Qi and couldn't help but shout.

"This is the most core fire vein of the Wanbao Pavilion! If you absorb it like this, your Meridians will explode!"

Cao Yun gritted his teeth, a trace of blood overflowing from the corner of his mouth, instantly evaporated by the high temperature.

"They won't explode."

Cao Yun's voice echoed in the Sea of Consciousness, revealing a heart-palpitating ruthlessness.

"I didn't die when you tried to possess me, and I didn't die when I was rejected by the Heavenly Dao of the Nine Provinces. This bit of fire Qi is nothing!"

Boom!

Cao Yun abruptly released the suppression on his Dantian.

The dark gold flames erupted completely, sweeping through his entire body along the Meridians.

Those Earth Vein fire Qi that had just been absorbed into his body didn't even have room to resist; they were instantly swallowed and assimilated by the dark gold flames.

Cracks began to appear on the surface of Cao Yun's skin, and blinding dark gold light shone from the cracks; he looked like a piece of porcelain about to shatter.

But he didn't stop.

The Mingxin Mirror shone brightly in the Sea of Consciousness.

Using the inner vision of the Mingxin Mirror, Cao Yun precisely controlled the flow of every wisp of flame, pressing those violent powers bit by bit into his bone marrow and fusing them into his flesh and blood.

Time passed day by day.

The magma level in the Immortal Cave dropped at a speed visible to the naked eye.

The originally crimson magma gradually lost its luster and turned into gray-black waste rock.

Three years later.

The fire well completely dried up.

Floating in mid-air, the cracks on Cao Yun's body had completely healed.

He slowly opened his eyes.

In his pupils, it was no longer pure black, but an extra ring of dark gold flame.

He gently exhaled a breath.

Whoosh—

As this breath was exhaled, the Void Realm in front was directly burned into a temporary vacuum zone.

"It's done."

Cao Yun clenched his fists.

He could feel that the dark gold flame had completely become a part of his body.

It was as flexible as his own arm, without any obstruction.

Although his cultivation was still at Golden Core Perfection, the storage and quality of True Qi in his body were more than ten times stronger than three years ago.

He could even clearly feel that above the Golden Core, there was an invisible barrier.

As long as he broke that barrier, he could condense the Dao Embryo and step into the realm of a Star Lord.

"Truly a pervert," the remnant Soul sighed in the Sea of Consciousness, with a trace of awe in its tone for the first time. "Your combat power now, even if you Face someone at the Dao Embryo Early Stage, you can trade a few moves. This dark gold flame is simply a great killing weapon."

Cao Yun stood up and took out a clean black robe from his Storage Ring to put on.

"It's not enough. Without the Origin, I will never be able to cross the barrier of the Dao Embryo."

He looked up at the stone door of the Immortal Cave.

"Calculating the time, the Immortal Tomb of Myriad Laws should also be opening."