Chapter 1323: Mountain Within the Mountain
Chapter 1323: Mountain Within the Mountain
The interior of the giant peak was hollow!
They stood atop the summit, on a foothold barely wide enough for three people to stand side by side.
Within the enormous crater-like opening, dense crimson smoke surged endlessly upward from below. In the end, it was blocked by the barrier above, gathering at the mouth of the mountain into a thick layer of crimson haze.
Everything inside the mountain was completely obscured by that crimson veil.
Now that they had arrived here, the Fire Jade Centipede grew even more agitated, but Qin Sang had restrained it with a barrier, leaving it unable to move.
Qin Sang lowered his head and studied the crimson haze for a moment before asking, "What kind of astra are you planning to forge, Daoist? What can Daoist Xiang and I do to help?"
Bing Han replied unhurriedly, "If you go down below and see for yourself, you will understand."
As she spoke, she took out an icy jade pendant and handed it to Qin Sang. The moment Qin Sang accepted it, a wave of coolness flowed into his body.
There was a single character engraved on the pendant, "Xu." When he poured true essence into the character, he immediately formed a connection to the grand array of the forbidden ground, and at once felt much cooler.
"The fire poison below is extremely fierce. With the help of this Frost Pendant, we can overcome a lot of obstacles." After saying that, Bing Han lightly tapped off with her foot and disappeared into the crimson haze.
Qin Sang followed after her.
He had originally intended to activate the fire lotus seed and condense a suit of flaming armor to protect himself, but now that he had the Frost Pendant, he temporarily put that thought aside and quietly observed what would unfold.
The two of them plummeted downward. Under the pendant’s influence, the crimson haze parted to either side.
Qin Sang had heard that among the disciples of Xuling Sect, so long as one’s cultivation was sufficient, the finest place for artifact refinement was the mountain within the mountain. Yet all the way down, he had not seen a single person.
They descended to an unknown depth. Suddenly, Bing Han stopped.
Qin Sang halted as well, only to discover that the surrounding crimson haze had vanished. In its place, the entire void was saturated with incomparably pure fire qi, so dense it had reached an astonishing degree. As far as the eye could see, there was nothing but blazing crimson.
"So this is the mountain within the mountain?" Following Bing Han’s gaze, Qin Sang saw the outline of a mountain deep ahead.
In truth, its essence was a naturally formed giant stone. Its peak was narrow while its base was broad, shaped exactly like a mountain, and its size rivaled an actual peak. It truly deserved the name mountain within the mountain.
The crimson stone mountain blended perfectly into the surrounding fiery qi. Its surface was uneven, yet there were no sharp edges, as though countless years of tempering by the underground fire vein had smoothed it flat.
Qin Sang slowly descended, then looked beneath the mountain. To his surprise, the bottom was empty. There was no support at all. The stone mountain simply floated in mid-air.
Closing his eyes slightly and sensing carefully, he discovered that its suspension was not caused by a barrier or array, but by a naturally formed marvel.
The underground fire veins pierced through the surrounding mountain walls and converged here, forming a landscape like a flaming dragon cradling a pearl.
Such terrain was extraordinarily rare. This stone mountain was that dragon pearl.
Perhaps, in the beginning, it had been nothing more than an ordinary giant boulder.
But after enduring countless years of tempering by fiery qi, it had undergone transformation. The stone had become nearly translucent, jade-like in texture, as though flames were burning within it.
It was magnificent and dreamlike. This was nature’s divine craftsmanship, and Qin Sang could not help but marvel at its beauty.
Yet he found one thing strange. Outside, he had clearly been able to sense the fluctuations of the underground fire veins, but here, everything was calm and still.
Bing Han flew toward the mountain within the mountain. "Back then, a great earthquake struck Small Cold Domain. By chance, our sect’s grandmaster discovered this place and determined it to be the finest location for a sect foundation, so the sect was established here. This mountain’s transformation into its present state was partly the work of heaven and earth, and partly the contribution of our sect’s grandmaster."
As she spoke, Qin Sang and Bing Han landed atop the mountain.
The Fire Jade Centipede reacted even more violently. The thing drawing it was inside the mountain within the mountain itself!
Only then did Qin Sang once again sense fluctuations, coming from deep within the mountain. They were extremely faint, pulsing one beat at a time like a heartbeat.
"Could it be that inside..." Shock appeared in Qin Sang’s eyes.
Bing Han nodded. "Our grandmaster determined long ago that a wondrous fire spirit would inevitably be born within this mountain. The array in this forbidden ground was also arranged for that very purpose, to accelerate the fire spirit’s gestation. For many years, Xuling Sect has been preparing for that moment, but no one knew when it would come, nor what form it would take. Only a hundred years ago did signs finally appear, originating from a core piece of fire jade within the mountain within the mountain."
"You intend to refine the fire spirit together with that fire jade into an astra? No wonder you need Daoist Xiang and me to assist," Qin Sang said, finally understanding Bing Han’s plan.
"Exactly. The fire spirit and the fire jade are one. If, together with other precious spiritual materials, the fire jade is refined into a spiritual embryo and then left here to continue gestating, there is a chance it may eventually give birth to spiritual essence and become a spiritual treasure!" Bing Han nodded.
"This fire spirit was born here and is one with the mountain within the mountain. It can effortlessly command the power of the fire veins, and by instinct it resists capture. None of the methods prepared by our ancestors have much effect on it. After much thought, I finally devised a way. With the aid of a special array, we can barely subdue it, but we still require a spiritual flame of extremely high grade, one that the fire spirit instinctively fears, to easily overpower it."
As she spoke, Bing Han turned toward Qin Sang. "Across the entire Beichen Realm, there are several Daoists skilled in fire control, but among all their spiritual flames, only the Ancestral Sacred Flame of the Devilish Qingyang Sect surpasses the mountain within the mountain in grade. Yet your spiritual flame, judging by its performance at Divine Gale Peak, seems even stronger than the Ancestral Sacred Flame. Daoist Xiang already tested it earlier. The Ancestral Sacred Flame within him was still too weak. Not only did it fail to completely subdue the fire spirit, it was targeted in return, and fire poison entered his body. He nearly suffered from it, forcing us to stop immediately. If the two of you join forces, it should be much easier. Refining this spiritual treasure is of immense significance to the entire Xuling Sect. Now you understand why I demanded such a harsh oath from you."
Qin Sang nodded.
So the earlier fluctuations in the underground fire veins had been caused by the fire spirit’s resistance.
Bing Han and Xiang Qing had already attempted this countless times and failed. In the end, they had no choice but to seek his help.
"What great resolve, Daoist! Once this spiritual treasure is completed, Xuling Sect may flourish for ages. But earlier, you said you intended to refine it into a spiritual embryo and leave it here to continue gestating. By the time it gives birth to spiritual essence and truly becomes a spiritual treasure, who knows how many years will have passed. I'm afraid you yourself may never be able to use it."
In truth, this was not the only possible choice. Bing Han was skilled in artifact refinement. If she found a way to fuse the fire jade into her life-bound astra, it might be easier to refine it into a spiritual treasure.
If she did that, however, only she alone would benefit.
And the prerequisite was that Bing Han had confidence in breaking through to the middle stage or even the late stage of the Spiritual Infant Realm. Otherwise, the generations of planning by Xuling Sect would all go to waste.
Bing Han quietly gazed at the stone mountain and said softly, "If a spiritual treasure is completed, and future generations of Xuling Sect can benefit from it, then when I die, I will smile in the afterlife, with no shame in my position as sect leader."
Qin Sang fell silent, his respect for Bing Han deepening.
Among the righteous sect leaders of Small Cold Domain whom he had encountered, whether it was Daoist Master Chongyi, Bing Han, or even Dongyang Bo, each possessed the breadth of spirit to put their sect above themselves.
"Let’s go see that piece of fire jade first," Qin Sang said.
It seemed like the treasure attracting the Fire Jade Centipede was indeed that fire jade.
And Bing Han’s process of refining a spiritual embryo would be of tremendous value as a reference for his own artifact refinement path.