Chapter 1581: A Moment of Realization

Chongyangzi could naturally guess that all those attempting the trial had figured out the key to passing through the Blood Pagoda Lamp. It was nothing more than using fire to melt fire, or using water to overcome fire.

Both methods were correct, but their fundamental nature was entirely different.

Therefore, after Li Yan entered, he also basically adopted these two methods. Of course, there was a third method: the fact that Li Yan possessed a high-grade defensive magical treasure.

By protecting his entire body with a high-grade magical treasure and then using arts to defeat the heads or demonic beasts inside, it was also possible to pass the trial.

However, the Blood Pagoda Lamp itself was of a very high grade. It was difficult for Spirit Transformation cultivators to obtain a higher-grade magical treasure that could counter it.

On the other side, after seeing Li Yan’s method of breaking through the pass, a cold sneer once again traced Wu Gouzi’s lips.

‘You and Shangguan Tianque will ultimately share the same fate!’

Within the lamp’s cover, Li Yan ascended all the way. Although the heads in the sea of fire had an effect on him, after drawing from Shangguan Tianque’s experience, Li Yan handled them with relative ease.

He soon flew to a distance of a hundred zhang. He immediately sensed an extremely strong suppressive force pressing down on his flight from above his head.

At the same time, a head with a clearer outline and a larger size flew out from the lamp wick. After the head appeared, it spat a flame spear from its mouth, which shot straight at Li Yan’s forehead.

Li Yan also raised his hand and cast a technique, sending an even thicker and larger white long spear to meet it head-on.

An icy aura swirled around the white long spear. Even within this sea of fire, it caused the temperature around Li Yan’s body to drop significantly.

This was an ice-attribute long spear. The moment it was thrust out, a large amount of water vapor rose from its body, emitting a series of hissing sounds.

“Thump!”

The two spears, one white and one red, collided with a loud bang.

The flame long spear struck by the head was instantly pierced through the middle by the ice-attribute long spear, as if it were a hollow bamboo tube.

“Bang!”

The ice-attribute long spear passed through the center of the flame without any obstruction and stabbed into the head’s wide-open mouth.

A layer of red flames covered the spear’s body. Because the spear was moving too fast, the red flames suddenly shot backward, as if they were being combed into red tassels.

Then, in the next moment, the snow-white spear tip drilled straight out from the back of the head.

“Gurgle gurgle gurgle…”

The head, which had been spewing red flames from its seven orifices, suddenly made gurgling sounds from its mouth, as if its throat was being choked.

The flames in its seven orifices immediately died down, changing from shooting out arrogantly to shrinking back.

Then, the entire head exploded into countless sparks of fire, instantly merging into the surrounding sea of fire.

With just one strike, Li Yan had shattered the head that appeared a hundred zhang away, returning it to its original form of fire.

The moment the head disappeared, the invisible membrane above his head also vanished, and Li Yan’s hovering body once again felt the sensation of ascending.

The head at this pass was only at the level of a Mid-stage Nascent Soul, but because it could borrow the power of the sea of fire here, its true strength was already infinitely close to the Late-stage Nascent Soul.

But for a Spirit Transformation cultivator, this was simply a one-hit kill.

When Shangguan Tianque and Master Wei arrived here, they hadn’t figured out the situation at first and were afraid of hidden traps or other unpredictable outcomes.

When killing this head, they didn’t deliver a killing blow directly. While trying to fight it, they were also observing their surroundings for any abnormalities.

This was the reaction that an experienced cultivator in dueling should have; otherwise, they would not have survived until now.

Now that Li Yan knew the situation, and had just verified Shangguan Tianque’s words one by one while flying up the hundred zhang, he found that the situation here was indeed as he had said, without much change.

This showed that the rules inside the Blood Pagoda Lamp did not change for different people, so the experience of his predecessors could still be used.

When Li Yan encountered this head at the hundred-zhang mark, he killed it in one blow, giving the other party no chance at all.

After observing the first hundred zhang, Li Yan planned to accelerate his ascent.

But just as Li Yan killed the head and the suppression above him disappeared, his brow furrowed.

At that moment, he felt that the blood in his body seemed to have decreased slightly the instant the head disappeared, as if it had been taken away by the other party.

This feeling had appeared intermittently during the process of breaking through the first hundred zhang, but it was almost imperceptible.

It was like a person in high temperature, whose body water was being evaporated by the surrounding heat.

Moreover, Li Yan couldn’t clearly sense whether the blood was being evaporated, but it felt like it.

The amount of blood that seemed to be evaporated and taken away was pitifully small, almost nonexistent.

If not for the fact that Li Yan was a powerful Body Cultivator who had mastered his own flesh, blood, and bones to a minute degree, a normal Dharma Cultivator at the Spirit Transformation Realm might not have been able to sense the changes in their body so quickly.

But this time, Li Yan’s instantaneous perception became even clearer.

‘Huh? When I noticed something was wrong before, I had already firmly locked down the blood and water in my body. Up to now, I haven’t even shed a single drop of sweat, so how could my blood be lost? Although the lost blood is not Essence Blood, if this continues, even my Essence Blood might eventually be lost! My perception is definitely not wrong. This… what kind of attack is this that I still suffer losses even under the dual control of my magical power and Body Refining Art!’

Li Yan was instantly horrified. No wonder Shangguan Tianque was in such a state when he came out.

It wasn’t just due to the consumption of magical power and the eruption of Pill Poison; his qi and blood had also suffered a loss, a loss that had occurred unconsciously.

Because Shangguan Tianque had consumed too many medicinal pills, the Pill Poison also suppressed the circulation of his qi and blood. When he spoke of being attacked by the sea of blood, he wasn’t very sure if his qi and blood had been absorbed.

It wasn’t until he mentioned the demonic beasts further up that he thought their attacks might have the divine ability to devour Essence Blood.

Now it seemed that it wasn’t a problem with the demonic beasts above, but that the entire sea of fire would devour a person’s blood and Essence Blood.

It was just that at the bottom of the Blood Pagoda Lamp, this situation was almost negligible. It gradually increased as one went up, but even at a hundred zhang, it was still not too obvious.

If this continued, once the loss was no longer ordinary blood but Essence Blood, his strength would definitely drop sharply.

‘Flowing water leads to blood loss!’

At this moment, these five words suddenly appeared in Li Yan’s mind.

Chongyangzi was saying that the divine ability within the Blood Pagoda Lamp that shot out light and devoured Essence Blood would also cause blood loss inside. This was a warning to him.

‘The lamp is the extreme of yin blood, flowing water leads to blood loss… The extreme of yin blood… flowing water…’

Li Yan did not immediately fly upwards. While fending off the heads appearing around him, he quickly pondered again.

At this moment, he seemed to understand Chongyangzi’s meaning.

‘The fire here is not a thing of utmost Yang; it is actually blood of utmost Yin… When Yin reaches its extreme, it reverses, which is why flames appear, just like how ghost fires can appear in the Netherworld Realm of the Land of Extreme Nether. If I use fire to control it, that would be the true method of countering it. Using fire to suppress fire, only the stronger party can suppress the Yin Fire here. That Master Wei possesses an Exotic Fire of Heaven and Earth, making it easier for him to suppress the Yin Fire here. But I am using water to counter it. In fact, it is of the same origin as the sea of fire here. What grade was this magical treasure before? I don’t know. But now that it is in Wu Gouzi’s hands, it has been continuously nurtured day by day by a Void Refining cultivator. If I were in the outside world, I could still use other powers or stay away to resist. But now I am inside the magical treasure. Although the other party has suppressed the power of the magical treasure, its origin power is greater. Under such circumstances, when I use my water-attribute law, it’s not about countering the flames anymore…’

Li Yan thought to himself.

His current situation was just like Master Wei’s idea: use fire to control fire!

But the other party possessed an Exotic Fire of Heaven and Earth. Regardless of whether it was Yin Fire or Yang Fire, it would be devoured or melted by the other party. That was the suppression of the Exotic Fire in terms of grade.

Of course, Master Wei could only do this because the Blood Pagoda Lamp had not fully unleashed its power.

Shangguan Tianque, on the other hand, adopted the method of using skill to break strength, but the water-attribute law he himself used was counterproductive. It wasn’t a counter; it was even a fusion.

It was only because his physical body was strong that he could still lock the blood in his body, but he would eventually have a moment when he needed to replenish his power.

At that time, under some strange devouring rule, the other party would quietly take away his blood.

Just as Li Yan reached the hundred-zhang breakthrough, the situation on the other side had changed again.

At this time, Master Wei had once again broken through and ascended, beginning his advance towards the nine-hundred-zhang mark.

Although his speed was getting slower and slower, he was still continuously ascending. This made the atmosphere in the Bright Flame Sect’s area, though they didn’t dare to shout loudly, become fiery.

The few Spirit Transformation cultivators, including Han Zhumei, were already showing joyous expressions.

Han Zhumei had been worried that the Blood Pagoda Lamp would become more difficult further up. Now it seemed that although it was indeed so, Master Wei’s figure was still inching upwards.

But what was reassuring here was that although Master Wei’s ascent was slow, it remained within a constant speed range.

As long as he wasn’t suddenly fast and then slow, it meant that Master Wei’s condition was very stable and there weren’t any major problems…

Inside the lamp’s cover, a Mid-stage Spirit Transformation demonic beast appeared in front of Master Wei.

Although Master Wei was a Late-stage Spirit Transformation cultivator, his magical power had been greatly consumed by this point, and he was also taking medicinal pills.

‘From eight hundred to nine hundred zhang, there are Mid-stage Spirit Transformation demonic beasts, and one appears every thirty zhang. Including the one guarding the pass, there are four in total. So what will the situation be like after nine hundred zhang? Senior Wu said there will also be four attacks reaching the Late-stage Spirit Transformation level. If it’s not a late-stage fifth-rank demonic beast, then it will be the four cultivators from the Pure Yang Hall inside the Blood Pagoda Lamp who attack. But they definitely won’t attack together. If that’s the case, then with my current state, I simply can’t break through the final pass, can I?’

Master Wei thought to himself.

He had basically figured out the pattern here. Overall, the Blood Lantern Sect had indeed given them a chance to pass, but it was the kind that throttled you.

Don’t be fooled by the fact that later on, Nascent Soul and Spirit Transformation level demonic beasts appeared one by one, and he himself was a Late-stage Spirit Transformation expert.

If these demonic beasts were in the outside world, he wouldn’t care about them at all and could easily kill them all the way.

But inside the Blood Pagoda Lamp, the role of the Exotic Fire of Heaven and Earth was very limited in the latter half of the journey.

At the same time, an even more serious matter arose. Master Wei gradually discovered that his blood, and even his Essence Blood, had been lost to some extent, which caused his strength to decline continuously.

Along with this, his magical power was also being consumed more and more.

Every time he fought with the demonic beasts in the sea of fire, he not only had to kill the opponent, but also had to divert a lot of magical power to defend against the scorching heat of the sea of fire itself.

With every breath of this scorching heat, Master Wei felt as if his blood was constantly flowing away.

After seven hundred zhang, the talismans on his body that could resist the sea of fire were no longer effective. The Exotic Fire of Heaven and Earth had also been consumed by seventy to eighty percent. He had to start reducing his use of the Exotic Fire to save it for critical moments.

Another thing that gave Master Wei a headache was that the divine abilities of the demonic beasts here were bizarre and varied. He didn’t know if the souls of the demonic beasts were refined here or if they were created by the Blood Pagoda Lamp.

Moreover, the strength of these demonic beasts increased greatly with the help of the flames.

At this moment, the meridians in Master Wei’s body also felt sore and swollen. He knew this was caused by Pill Poison, and he didn’t have much time left.

‘Four attacks of extraordinary power. After nine hundred zhang, I must make a concerted effort!’

Master Wei took a deep breath, and at the same time, the magical power in his body roared, starting to surge restlessly!

…

At this moment, Li Yan also understood the meaning behind Chongyangzi’s words. Although he was still thinking about how to deal with it, he was already breaking through upwards again.

He also quickly discovered that the forms of attack from the heads here were also endless with various arts, and these arts could all borrow the power of the flames here.

‘These should not be devoured souls, but various types of Essence Blood that have been absorbed, forming a partial appearance of their former selves. Then, they can manifest their own known divine abilities. This is a bit like how I obtained the other party’s divine ability after refining the Essence Blood of the Undead Nether Phoenix…’

Li Yan thought quickly to himself.

He felt that if the Blood Pagoda Lamp really had this function, it would be too terrifying. Didn’t that mean that as long as it devoured Essence Blood, it could display any bloodline divine abilities contained within?

But immediately, Li Yan dismissed this idea. The Blood Pagoda Lamp probably wouldn’t be like that.

This magical treasure had killed countless people and demonic beasts. The number of Essence Blood that could truly form an attack was probably only a small fraction.

This could only happen under specific circumstances, but even so, one could see the terrifying nature of this magical treasure from the Blood Lantern Sect.

Soon, Li Yan reached the two-hundred-zhang mark. At this time, a blood-red head appeared, its seven orifices spewing out thick, black-hearted flames.

This was twice as large and much more powerful than the flame attack spewed by the head at the hundred-zhang mark.

And the moment Li Yan saw the blood-red head, his mind stirred violently.

‘This kind of extremely prosperous Yin Fire, if I want to restrain it, the ordinary five-element fire from my own laws can still suppress the sea of fire in front. But dealing with this thing, I’m a bit lacking. A powerful… flame! I have that mysterious Li Fire in my hands…’

At this moment, Li Yan thought of his feelings from his several visits to the Blood Lantern Sect. This place clearly gave him a particularly cold and vicious feeling.

But facing their sect-guarding treasure, it was filled with an utmost Yang intent. This had previously made Li Yan feel that this magical treasure was somewhat out of place with the Blood Lantern Sect.

And at this time, Li Yan thought of the mysterious flame born from the Blood River, which he had named Li Fire. Although he did not possess an Exotic Fire, it was also an extremely domineering flame.

Li Yan had only used it a few times, all for specific purposes, but it had never disappointed him.

The blood-red head in the sea of fire before him attacked as soon as it appeared. With a flash of light in Li Yan’s hand, the Fuxi Plate also appeared in his hand.

He did not directly release the Li Fire. That method of activation was too direct, and Li Yan did not want the Void Refining cultivators to see the Li Fire.

But he could use the Fuxi Plate to display this kind of flame, and the Fuxi Plate, formed from the Blood River and ice sand, was a Yin-Yang object of even greater power.

The ice sand was an object of extreme Yin. Li Yan felt that using the Fuxi Plate to deal with the current situation would be most appropriate.

He could make quick adjustments based on the results of his subsequent responses, instantly switching between Yin and Yang methods.

If there was a problem with the Li Fire, he could even switch to the ice sand to resist during an attack.

And just as Li Yan summoned the Fuxi Plate, on the other side, Master Wei had already broken through nine hundred zhang!