Chapter 61: A Nuo's Struggle

Dugu Qingli flew out with a whoosh, much faster than when they had struggled to come earlier. Before Lu Xingzhou could figure out what was happening, she was already out the door.

Shen Tang stood with her hands behind her back, examining a corner of the cave mansion. There was a shelf carved into the wall, and it wasn't particularly special, just holding a few jade slips.

"This wall was sealed before. During our chaotic fight, he happened to smash through the outer layer of the wall with a punch, revealing this shelf." Seeing the two come out, Shen Tang pursed her lips and said with a serious expression, "These jade slips must contain the cultivation methods and various techniques of the original owner of this place, and possibly alchemy notes and recipes. Xingzhou lacks inheritance right now. Regardless of whether these are suitable or not, he can study them first."

"While I was fighting for my life outside, you were inside having fun stacking things and still thinking about cultivation methods for me..."

At this point, Lu Xingzhou felt a little guilty seeing Shen Tang's expression. He coughed dryly and casually collected the jade slips. "I'll take these back and study them later... Hmm... there shouldn't be anything else left here."

Shen Tang nodded. "Yes, before you two dawdled out, I checked again. This isn't like a main base, just a temporary cave mansion, at most a side garden. There wouldn't have been many things to begin with."

This sister's every word was thorny now. Dugu Qingli said expressionlessly, "Magical treasures, talismans, and the like should have been used up during the battle between the original owner and that corpse puppet. There shouldn't be any left. If you're worried about remnants, we can come back after we rest. Everyone is in a poor state right now, and it wouldn't be good if we encountered any unexpected situations."

Lu Xingzhou escaped from this strange vortex as if fleeing for his life. "Let's go, let's find A Nuo outside. She's been alone out there for a long time, I don't know if she's wandered off blindly."

A Nuo didn't wander off blindly. Ever since the dog-man and woman went in, she had been circling outside, trying to figure out why there were no flowers or plants here.

The place was very large. A Nuo ran for a long, long time without sensing anything, but her heart grew more and more certain of her suspicion. There was definitely something strange here.

She finally returned to the spot where the dragon and tiger intersected and sat down cross-legged, stroking her round chin and pondering the pit in the center.

There was nothing to sense around. If there was something, it would probably be down here.

Master had judged that this must be the original location of the dan furnace, and A Nuo also felt that it was definitely correct. But Master hadn't dug deeper down. Could there still be something below?

Actually, A Nuo had a rough idea. This was a place for alchemy. If there was something below, it would be earth fire, which was very normal. Master had probably stopped digging deeper precisely because of this judgment. If he had dug down, earth fire should have surged up.

A Nuo was very afraid of fire.

Not only did she lack fire affinity, but she was also afraid of fire. Even Dugu Qingli could tell that her wood attribute was strong, and people with strong wood attributes were, of course, very afraid of fire.

Fortunately, she had cultivated to this level, so she could overcome her fear of ordinary flames, and she could even roast sweet potatoes and use earth fire to help Master refine pills. But deep down, she still didn't want to touch fire.

"A Nuo, you're not a dead weight. It's just earth fire, what's the big deal!"

A Nuo sniffed her nose and pulled out a pile of talismans from her pocket, sticking them all over her body.

They were all fire avoidance talismans.

Then she took a deep breath and smashed the bottom of the pit with her small fist.

Soil and stones flew everywhere. The earth fire, which had been covered for years, suddenly erupted, instantly leaving A Nuo's face灰 and her hair messy.

There were several types of earth fire formations. The first kind was ordinary volcanoes. That kind of flame was mortal fire and very unstable. No one would use a volcano for alchemy. The second kind was fire brought by special earth veins. The flame was stable and generally had some characteristic attributes. Many alchemists specifically looked for such places when choosing cave mansions. The disadvantage was that the temperature of this flame was relatively low. For a truly high temperature, no one could survive.

And another kind was created by special heavenly materials and earthly treasures, which could bring many benefits.

Danxia Mountain was earth vein fire, and the essence here was connected to the bottom of Danxia Mountain, so theoretically it was also earth vein fire. But A Nuo felt it shouldn't be quite right. Ordinary earth vein fire would at most affect the types of plants that could grow there, not lead to a place where not a single blade of grass grew, just like the warmth of Danxia Mountain was particularly suitable for growing medicinal herbs.

Even if it was earth vein fire itself, it was very likely that something else had been added. It was probably this addition that led to this place where not a single blade of grass grew.

A Nuo gritted her teeth and jumped directly into the earth fire.

The fire avoidance talismans on her body had already started to curl at the edges, and the scorching high temperature made it impossible for A Nuo to open her eyes.

But A Nuo's heart was happy instead. Her judgment was correct, there was a space below!

"Thump..." Her small foot touched something, and her shoes instantly burned to ash.

A Nuo quickly hovered in the air and landed on the ground below.

The so-called ground was mostly black and hard rock blocks, and a few lava-like fluids seeped through the rock gaps. A Nuo had to condense gang energy to protect the soles of her feet, otherwise stepping on this ground would burn them. The entire environment was fire, and A Nuo was completely standing in the center of the flames.

She also had no time to care about other things, looking blankly at a condensed crystal floating in the flames.

She had never seen it before, but vaguely four words surfaced in her heart: Flame Fire Essence.

Then an indescribable fear rose in her heart, as if she vaguely saw some demonic face appearing on the condensed crystal, and her entire body, flesh and bones, began to feel phantom pain.

As if she had once been dismembered and crushed by this demon, then kneaded into a ball and made into a bun.

And more chaotic memories flashed in her mind, not forming a coherent narrative.

A Nuo retreated fearfully, her other shoe stepping on the lava, sizzling into ash.

A Nuo seemed to wake from a dream and suddenly let out an angry shout, smashing the crystal fiercely with her fist.

The crystal shook slightly, and dark demonic energy seeped out from the crystal, rushing directly into A Nuo's spirit platform through her fist.

A low laugh from the demon vaguely echoed: "I never thought there would be a day when delicious food would deliver itself to my door..."

This wasn't the protection of the original owner's will imprint within the Spirit Water condensed crystal, but a true demon born within this treasure... Because it had been imprisoned in fierce flames for a long time, and because its body was within the Flame Fire Essence, such a treasure, the destructive intent of the flames gradually condensed into a bit of spirituality. This was the most typical initial birth of a flame demon.

Perhaps the original owner didn't think that a flame demon would be born when they put this thing here... It was precisely the birth of the flame demon that made the surroundings barren.

Only, at the moment, this flame demon still seemed to be in its nascent stage. Even its flame body had not yet condensed, and it was relatively weak.

A Nuo's entire body was wrapped in flames. Her spirit platform flickered between bright and dark. Suddenly, she asked, "Have you seen me before?"

The flame demon was stunned instead. "I've never seen any other creatures..."

"I don't know why, but I always feel like I've seen you, could it have been in a dream?" A Nuo scratched her head in confusion. "Never mind, anyway, you're just a little kid, this demon."

Flame Demon: "..."

Saying that as if you're not a little kid yourself.

The next moment, the flame demon let out a miserable scream, and the demonic energy rolled back. A Nuo smashed the Flame Fire Essence with a heavy fist, revealing neat white teeth. "My Master plays with soul banners. He's afraid I might be accidentally invaded, so he specially asked Sister Yu to set up divine and ghost bans for me. And you dare to sneak in!"

The Flame Fire Essence was pressed to the ground and beaten mercilessly with left and right fists. The demon shadow trapped within roared, "Little ghost, you're courting death!"

"Boom!" Flames from all sides gathered, and A Nuo, who was already burning in the flames, began to struggle. The fire avoidance talismans on her body burned out one after another, and the tips of her hair started to scorch.

A Nuo grabbed the Flame Fire Essence with one hand, bounced her body and shot out, escaping the cave. The flames below followed like a shadow, chasing her like a living fire dragon.

A Nuo pulled out a piece of... cake from her ring.

The large cake shook and became larger than a well cover. With a "clang," it slammed onto the cave mouth, sealing it tightly.

A Nuo also had magical treasures! They could be used for both offense and defense, but she generally didn't like to use them when outsiders were around.

Which family's child would use a well cover to smash someone's head into a pulp... A Nuo still cared about her image.

The Flame Fire Essence struggled free from A Nuo's grip. A Nuo almost couldn't hold it, then she used both hands to press it to the ground, practically covering it completely.

The flame demon roared, "Are you crazy? What good is it for you to press me like this! Those fire avoidance talismans on your body are all gone! Now you're pressing me is putting yourself in the fire to burn!"

Flames burst out from the crystal, surrounding A Nuo's small body.

A Nuo gritted her teeth. "I just need to control you and wait until Master and the others come out... I don't know if this crystal is useful for Master's leg, but I feel it should be... I must let Master take a look..."

"Just to let someone take a look at something whose use is unknown!" The flame demon was so angry it rampaged. "You're clearly very afraid of fire, aren't you afraid of dying!"

A Nuo's face twitched from the burning, but she couldn't help but laugh. "But Master is A Nuo's life ah..."

The flame demon felt it couldn't communicate with humans and desperately wanted to escape. But this dead child's strength was inexplicably great, like the power of a dragon and a tiger, holding it firmly there.

The dragon and tiger-like mountain bones on the left and right stood still, as if guarding.

A Nuo was burned until her consciousness was a little fuzzy. She vaguely remembered those days in her memory.

An infant in a mountain hollow, so cold, so hungry, and so afraid.

She could vaguely hear the sounds of beasts howling, not knowing when they would come to eat her.

She wanted to escape, but she had absolutely no strength, not even able to move.

She didn't know how long passed. The sun rose and the moon set. Just when she felt she was about to starve to death, something knocked her head, so painful.

Was she about to be eaten? A Nuo cried loudly.

But it was a dying child who rolled to her side, weakly touching her face. "Here... why is there a little Nuo dumpling... so cute..."

"I don't know how I got some strength... I seem to be able to save myself... but I can't just leave her here..." The child gritted his teeth, tied the infant to his back, dragged his broken leg, and used his knees and hands to crawl up Danxia Mountain bit by bit.

Along the mountain road, he left traces of his blood.

Then the scene returned to that day again. It was her Master, already a handsome young man with sword eyebrows and starry eyes, stuffing pills into her mouth without a word. "Medicine for a broken leg is everywhere, but A Nuo is unique!"

Footsteps and the sound of wheels suddenly came from her ear. The voice from her memory anxiously called out, "A Nuo! Why are you covered in fire?"

A Nuo looked up at that familiar face, her blackened face revealing neat white teeth. "Master, there's a flame demon here. Help me beat it."