aircannonsinc Chapter 20 Living, Symbiosis
Chapter 20 Living, Symbiosis
The vast underground world was extremely dark, with only a few faint rays of light emanating from somewhere, preventing it from being completely plunged into darkness. A deathly silence filled this space.
This place seems to exist outside the world, where time seems to stand still or even not exist. All that exists here is an eternal, deathly silence.
Somewhere in this space, there lies a charred humanoid body lying quietly on the ground. Around this body are some ashes, the remnants of something burned, it is unknown.
"Snap!"
A barely audible cracking sound rang out in the silent space, and the source of the sound was the charred body.
In the dimly lit space, nothing unusual could be seen; the faint sound seemed to be nothing more than an illusion.
In reality, there was an extremely fine crack on the charred outer shell of that body, almost imperceptible.
After that, no more sound came out; the place remained silent.
……
This is a dark space, a pure darkness devoid of even the slightest light. A chaotic consciousness, like a sleepwalker, wanders slowly within it, without beginning or end...
The wandering in the darkness lasted for an unknown period of time—perhaps a year, perhaps decades—no one knew. But then, seemingly at some distant moment, a faint light suddenly appeared in the dark world. Guided by that light, the drifting and chaotic consciousness, like willow catkins, involuntarily and slowly drifted closer…
Only when the chaotic consciousness approached the pale blue light could it discover that it was actually a cluster of constantly flickering two-colored flames.
The flame wasn't large, but it emanated a warm feeling that permeated the soul. Under this warm light, the chaotic consciousness seemed to be slowly regaining its clarity. A tidal wave of memories surged forth, allowing that consciousness to finally reclaim what originally belonged to it...
Am I... still alive?
An extremely faint murmur quietly rose in this dark world. Suddenly, the entire dark world rippled violently. Suddenly, several beams of light pierced through the darkness and shone on that consciousness, causing it to slowly open its eyes.
……
The charred body slowly opened its eyes, the charred flesh on its eyelids cracked and slid off, revealing a pair of pitch-black eyes and a somewhat bewildered gaze.
A dazed consciousness instinctively compelled the body to stand up, and a series of cracking sounds rang out as the charred, dead flesh on the surface of the body split and fell off with the movement of getting up.
Layers of charred skin peeled off rapidly, like a python shedding its skin, revealing new skin as white as mutton fat jade, even more delicate than a woman's skin, radiating a new glow in the dim space.
Finally, the body fully rose, and the charred dead skin on its surface peeled off, revealing the naked male figure.
After the man stood up, the confusion in his eyes quickly faded, and clarity appeared in his dark eyes.
"I'm alive!"
When Qi Lie realized this, a joyful smile appeared on his handsome face.
Nobody wants to die; living is the best option.
Slowly suppressing his joy, Qi Lie looked up and around. His powerful strength allowed him to see the space clearly at a glance. The space, which was originally filled with the energy of the strange fire, was now empty, and the strange fire was nowhere to be seen.
A premonition arose in his heart, and then, with a sudden thought, he could see everything inside his body clearly.
Before losing consciousness, his meridians had become twisted and withered. Now, they were like wide, crystal-clear pipes, emitting a faint glow within his body. Although he didn't move, he could clearly feel that his meridians were now undergoing a leap forward in both resilience and capacity compared to before!
Within his body, a vast and mighty battle qi surged and flowed through his crystal-clear meridians. The surging power was many times stronger than before he lost consciousness!
However, Qi Lie's attention was not on these things. He focused his mind on his dantian, trying to find the strange fire that had almost killed him, but he found nothing. In his dantian, there was only surging battle qi.
"Um?"
While wondering about this, Qi Lie was suddenly jolted awake. He realized that his battle aura had turned into black and white!
"This is……"
Qi Lie tentatively moved his mind, and then wisps of black and white flames surged out from all parts of his body, churning and flowing through his meridians, mixing with his original battle qi to form a more refined and powerful force!
With a thought, wisps of black and white flames quickly condensed in his dantian, forming a complete flame. The flame seemed to contain terrifying power, and as it swayed slightly, it emitted a chilling sense of danger.
"Did the Yin-Yang Twin Flames have nowhere else to go, so they were stored directly in the body?"
Qi Lie raised his hand, and black and white flames appeared in his palm. The temperature of the surrounding space rose rapidly and became scorching hot. The space around the flames even became somewhat distorted under the intense heat.
"This strange fire is probably even stronger than mine..."
Feeling the terrifying energy contained within the strange fire, a strange thought flashed through Qi Lie's mind. He looked at the strange fire in his palm, and a feeling of close connection rose in his heart. No, it wasn't just close connection. It was as if the Yin-Yang Twin Flames had become a part of him!
As soon as this feeling appeared, Qi Lie immediately noticed something was wrong. His soul seemed to have merged into the strange fire, and it wasn't under normal control. It was more like... the strange fire had taken over a part of his soul!
Upon realizing this, Qi Lie's expression instantly became somewhat strange. All living beings control their bodies with their souls. Even if a cultivator has a powerful soul, they can only use their soul power to control other things. There is absolutely no situation where soul power is integrated into something else.
Qi Lie tried to move his mind, and the strange fire in his palm flew out. As he thought, the strange fire changed constantly, expanding and shrinking. It could become a sea of fire prison, or it could transform into swords and spears.
Qi Lie stared at the strange fire with a solemn expression. The current situation seemed more like an acquired mutation, where his body had grown an extra part, except that this extra part was a strange fire that could leave his body.
Did he refine the strange fire, or did the strange fire refine him?
Staring intently at the strange fire, Qi Lie pondered for a long time before a bold idea suddenly popped into his head.
As Qi Lie's thoughts shifted, the strange fire in front of him slowly changed its form, from a ball of flame to a line of flame, and then, gradually, it took on the shape of a human!
His body slowly took shape, with hands and feet appearing one after another. Then his facial features gradually became clear and distinct. Finally, the strange fire formed a new Qi Lie!
Qi Lie looked at his new self with burning eyes. If he could act on his own, that would be amazing!
Qi Lie excitedly controlled this body of strange fire, lifting his foot, taking a step, raising his hand to wave, crouching, jumping, punching, and attacking...
Qi Lie had only two words in his mind: defying the heavens!
After numerous experiments, Qi Lie made some judgments: this body of strange fire could perform any action he wanted, and it didn't require consuming soul power! Because the strange fire was essentially a part of his own body, who would consume soul power by controlling their own leg movements?
However, he needs to control both the strange fire and his own body, which means he has to multitask!
Qi Lie wasn't entirely incapable of multitasking, but he could manage simple tasks like refining medicine and controlling other objects while in a static state. However, controlling another body while simultaneously moving himself was far too difficult.
There are no problems with testing now, but if you try to do two things at once in battle, and you accidentally expose a weakness in the chaos, you can be instantly pulverized.
After thinking for a moment, Qi Lie decided to first absorb the strange fire into his body.
He would naturally not give up such a heaven-defying method, but he still needed to find an opportunity to train it. Only when he could truly multitask and fully control both bodies would this form of strange fire truly reveal its power.
Qi Lie once again focused his mind on his body, trying to assess his current strength. However, looking at the battle qi within him, which was many times stronger than before he fainted, he was still unsure.
During his coma, all the strange fire energy in the entire underground world disappeared, probably absorbed into his body. It's unknown how much of it was condensed by the strange fire and how much was transformed into his battle qi.
However, even if only a portion of the strange fire energy is converted into battle qi, it is still extremely terrifying.
After carefully examining his body, Qi Lie could only roughly estimate that his strength was at the Dou Huang level. As for the specific number of stars, he would have to cultivate further to find out, or perhaps find a Dou Huang to fight.
After checking his body and confirming there were no hidden dangers, Qi Lie finally felt relieved. With a thought, he conjured his battle qi into a black robe, covering his naked body.
His gaze swept across the underground world again, which was empty and devoid of anything else. Qi Lie withdrew his gaze, and with a slight movement of his hand, a fragment of a map buried in the ashes at his feet flew into his hand and was tucked into his pocket.
With a thought, the battle qi wings behind him suddenly unfolded, and the originally red battle qi wings turned into black and white.
Qi Lie looked up at the passage leading to the ground, his black and white wings fluttered, and he vanished instantly.
The underground world once again fell into deathly silence and darkness.
……
Half an hour later, Qi Lie returned to the ground.
It was morning, and the soft sunlight shone warmly on the mountains and forests. As Qi Lie flew through the air, he felt a sense of rebirth, as if he had seen the light of day again.
After pausing for a moment, Qi Lie regained his composure, released his soul power, and surveyed his surroundings.
The flying magical beast did not appear in his senses, but Qi Lie was not surprised. He did not know how long he had been unconscious, and anything could happen in the outside world. If it was gone, it was gone, so it didn't matter.
He looked down at the crater below, where a precious medicinal herb appeared in his senses. However, he couldn't take it with him because he didn't have a storage ring. All his belongings had been burned to ashes by the strange fire, and even the clothes on his body were made of battle qi.
"I need to get a storage ring, otherwise it's too inconvenient, and most importantly, I need to confirm how much time has passed..."
Qi Lie shifted his gaze, quickly discerning the direction. With a flap of his black and white wings, he instantly transformed into a streak of light and sped off towards the west.