Chapter 43 (Part 2)

The Samoyed heard the anger in his tone and knew this matter could not be done. Obediently, it shrank back to its original size, then ran over in high spirits to ask for hugs.

Song Yuanxi held the dog and stroked it, then checked the hourglass. He was startled to realize that time had passed so quickly. It had already been nearly three years.

“Father said I could recuperate in the secret land for one sixty-year cycle. Counting it now, I should be going out in a few months.”

Song Yuanxi could not help sighing with emotion. “I really did spend sixty years alone in the secret land, and I still didn’t go mad. What a miracle. Once I get out… Wait, no!”

He carefully calculated. When he left the secret land, wouldn’t he be ninety-six?

“Good thing Father gave me a Longevity Fruit. Otherwise, I’d be close to the limit of a human lifespan. I’d come out of seclusion and be close to dying. Just thinking about that is depressing. Unlike now…”

Song Yuanxi thought cheerfully that after leaving the secret land, in order to celebrate advancing to the eighth level of Qi Refining, he absolutely had to hold a proper event.

“But Father definitely won’t be happy. He’ll think I’m proud and complacent. How could someone at the eighth level of Qi Refining hold a banquet? But changing it to a birthday banquet wouldn’t be bad?”

At least he was ninety-six. Rounding it up, wasn’t that a hundred? A hundredth birthday. If this were modern times, wouldn’t it call for a grand celebration?

“People should be a little vulgar to live freely. When the time comes and I return to the sect, I’ll send invitations to my senior brothers and sisters and have them all attend my hundredth birthday banquet. Oh, right, there are also Song Miao, Ji Wuxing, and the others. I have to send letters early and tell them to come to Xuantian Sect for a visit when they’re free…”

After three years of cultivation in the sea of fire, Song Yuanxi had entered the door of bone refining. Although he had not touched the minor accomplishment realm, he was already very satisfied.

The place he was staying in now was already the orange flame region, and he was infinitely close to the yellow flame region. This was something he had never dared imagine before.

Although more than half the credit belonged to the Samoyed, he had also worked very hard!

Song Yuanxi was someone very willing to magnify his own diligence and effort. It had been like this when he went into seclusion for fifty years, and it was also like this now after three years of bone refining. He was even a little smug, feeling that he was a small cultivation genius.

Of course, the prerequisite for being a genius was never comparing himself with others!

“Little White, my tolerance for flames has improved now. I want to start over from the beginning. Without your blessing, I want to try walking through the sea of fire again.”

If he relied only on himself and walked into the orange flame region anew, that would be the best return from bone refining!

The Samoyed only found it fun and followed behind Song Yuanxi. When he walked, it walked. When he stopped, it stopped too. Although it did not understand the meaning of walking through again, accompanying him and being together with Daddy forever was its only thought.

“Little White, I’ve walked through the red flame region.”

“Woof, woof!”

“Little White, I’m not afraid of orange flames anymore.”

“Awooo—”

“Little White, I want to try by myself and walk into the yellow flame region. Don’t be afraid. You don’t need to save me. I cherish my life, so I won’t die.”

“Daddy is amazing. Little White likes!”

One person and one dog kept each other company, chatting as they advanced step by step through the sea of fire…

When Song Yuanxi stepped into the yellow flame region, an invisible current of spiritual qi swept past from above. At the same time, in a certain place deep within the sea of fire, the person who had originally been cultivating with his eyes closed suddenly woke.

The Song family ancestor was recuperating in the secret land, and the Ten Thousand Flames Pool was his cultivation ground. Back when the Song family junior summoned him, he had torn through space to go there. Though he had seemingly destroyed the demonic creatures with a light and effortless move, the spiritual qi inside him had surged violently, and his aura had become extremely unstable.

Having no other choice, he could only return from the sect’s secret realm to Song family’s secret land and enter the Ten Thousand Flames Pool to cultivate.

To the Song family ancestor, several decades passed in the blink of an eye. He had only cultivated for a “moment” before sensing that something foreign had invaded his cultivation ground.

This surprised him greatly. Someone had actually broken into Song family’s secret land? Who was so outrageously bold as to enter the Ten Thousand Flames Pool without permission?

The Song family ancestor separated out a strand of divine sense and extended it outward. A vast, sky-covering field of vision expanded in his sea of consciousness, growing larger and larger. At last, within the yellow flame region, he discovered a young man, as well as… a white dog.

“He dares break in at merely the eighth level of Qi Refining. He doesn’t know whether he lives or dies.”

The Song family ancestor raised his hand and flicked his sleeve, preparing to fan the person out. But just as the thought arose, he stopped again.

“This person carries a familiar aura.” The Song family ancestor sensed further and actually detected traces he himself had left on the other party. These traces were very faint, but they were connected by a threadlike line of karma.

The Song family ancestor was currently at late Nascent Soul, but he had once advanced to Soul Transformation. Even though his cultivation had fallen, he still retained a certain understanding of the laws of time and space. Thus, seeing through a karmic line at a glance was not difficult.

He followed the karmic line and soon recognized that the young man in the sea of fire was the Song family junior who had summoned him back then.

The Song family ancestor then remembered that he had once agreed to let this junior enter the secret land to recuperate for one sixty-year cycle. Calculating the time, the person should indeed be inside the secret land. It was just that—

“How did this boy run into the Ten Thousand Flames Pool?”

The Song family ancestor could not understand it. How could a mere Qi Refining child be this daring? Even Golden Core cultivators did not dare enter too deeply into this Ten Thousand Flames Pool at will. This one, though, had charged recklessly all the way to the yellow flame region.

Precisely because Song Yuanxi had charged into the middle of the flames with an extremely low cultivation level, the Song family ancestor became very curious about him.

To the Song family ancestor, closed-door cultivation was a process measured in centuries. Taking a brief rest in the middle and spending a few months observing the surrounding environment was nothing more than a bit of leisure.

And Song Yuanxi, who was inside that surrounding environment, naturally became the other party’s amusement for passing the time.

“So he is a Body Cultivator. I did not expect my Song family to produce a Body Cultivator.”

“This cultivation method is… the Yin-Yang Art. Wuji’s Yin-Yang Art actually has a successor?”

“Reckless fool! Relying only on brute force and charging blindly. He makes it through the yellow flames, but in the end, he stops at the white.”

The Song family ancestor and Lord Wuji belonged to the same generation. Moreover, after being injured, he had gone into long-term seclusion. As for Lord Wuji’s disciple, Fan Jian, changing from Dharma Cultivation to Body Cultivation and cultivating precisely the Yin-Yang Art, he knew nothing about it.

He also did not much care about those trivial matters in the sect, so naturally he did not know that Song Yuanxi had already taken Fan Jian as his master. The only thing he remembered was something True Lord Wenyuan, the sect master, had specifically told him: the Song family junior Song Yuanruo had successfully achieved dual Foundation Establishment.

The Song family ancestor had only nodded slightly, with no great joy.

Cultivation was a matter both deeply personal and a struggle against the heavens for one’s life. Someone like the Song family ancestor, who had once cultivated to Soul Transformation, already stood in the middle-to-upper level of the pyramid in Canglan Realm. As for people and matters at the very bottom, he was basically uninterested.

If he had not been a member of the Song family and still connected to the clan by karma, the Song family ancestor would certainly have completely ignored all worldly affairs.

Just like now. Since his interest had been aroused, he only paid a little attention to Song Yuanxi’s situation. As for the Samoyed beside him, he did not spare it the slightest thought.

With one glance, the Song family ancestor saw through the dog-shaped Samoyed and recognized it as a Dàfeng fledgling. But as for why a Dàfeng fledgling had developed this kind of form mutation, he did not care.

Song Yuanxi walked with difficulty through the yellow flame region. As he walked, he kept inexplicably sensing waves of yin qi. Mixed within the yin qi was extremely dense spiritual qi. This strange phenomenon left him very puzzled.

“Could it be because I’m close to the white flame region, so the spiritual qi here has become different?”

“Mm… that must be it. If I hold on a little longer and step into the white flame region, I’ll be able to search for heavenly fire inside.”

“Sigh, I wonder whether there’s enough time. It’s almost time to leave the secret land. Whether I can last until I walk in is still uncertain.”

Song Yuanxi was nervous yet expectant. But no matter how much he longed for heavenly fire, he did not dare charge straight ahead. The deeper the flames, the higher the temperature. His body instinctively resisted sudden contact.

Cherishing life and preserving life seemed to have already been carved into his bones. Before Song Yuanxi’s brain could react, his body had already adjusted one step faster.

When it came to danger, action was faster than consciousness.

While cultivating, the Song family ancestor occasionally paid attention to the situation in the Ten Thousand Flames Pool. Yet he saw his family junior constantly hovering in the yellow flame region. Clearly, as long as he worked hard, charged forward a little, endured a little, and risked it all, he could rush into the white flame region.

But of all things, this person simply would not act!

Not only did he refuse to act, he kept testing madly at the edge. That foot of his was practically a whole performance, switching back and forth, forward and backward.

“Coward.” After observing for a long time, the old ancestor immediately grew irritated as well.

…

When the sixty years were up, Song Qing once again hurried to Song family’s secret land, preparing to bring his eldest son back to the sect.

Entering was different from leaving. Song Qing could send someone in, but bringing someone out was not something he could do.

He turned to the person beside him and saluted. “I must trouble the family head to bring Yuanxi out of the secret land.”

Song Wei stepped forward and activated the secret command. The entrance to the secret land slowly opened. However, after dozens of breaths passed, no one came out.

“This?” Song Qing was astonished.

Song Wei also found it strange. “Allow me to search again.”

After another round of searching, Song Wei closed the secret land and turned around with a smile. “The ancestor has given an order to keep Song Yuanxi in the secret land for some more time. I imagine this child has encountered his own opportunity.”

Song Qing felt joy in his heart. He had not expected his eldest son to actually encounter an opportunity. The secret land was so vast; if he had not encountered a supreme treasure, how could he have alarmed the ancestor in seclusion?

“In that case, if Yuanxi comes out of the secret land, please notify the main family. There are still affairs in the sect, so I cannot stay long.”

“Very well.”

Song Qing came and went in haste. Although he did not receive the person, his heart was settled.

Meanwhile, inside the Ten Thousand Flames Pool in the secret land, Song Yuanxi counted the days. Seeing that it was about time to leave, yet that he had still been unable to cross the yellow flame region, he could only give up.

“Forget it. Heavenly fire has no fate with me. My tour of the secret land ends here.”

He closed his eyes and quietly waited to be teleported away. However, as day after day passed, sixty years and half a month had already gone by. When he opened his eyes again, the surrounding environment was still the same.

Song Yuanxi was instantly dumbfounded!

“What’s going on? Why am I still in the sea of fire? Did something malfunction?”

This scene was all too similar. Song Yuanxi could not help thinking of eighty years ago, when he had entered True Lord Songquan’s alchemy furnace in order to remove the Qin Worm aura. They had clearly agreed on five days, but in the end, he had stayed inside the furnace for an entire month.

“Damn it! Did the family head forget me in the secret land just like True Lord Songquan did?”

“Wait, no! It’s only been sixty years. Is the memory of high-level cultivators really this bad?”

Song Yuanxi waited and waited. After more than a month passed, he still remained in place. At last, he accepted the fact that he still needed to continue staying in the secret land.

“Last time, I was supposed to be shut in the furnace for five days, but it ended up being a month. This time, I’m supposed to stay in the secret land for sixty years. Then how long will it actually take before I get out?”

There was no conversion ratio between the two at all. Song Yuanxi could only pray in his heart that his parents outside would remember their good eldest son was still staying in the “little black room”!

“Daddy?” The Samoyed did not understand. They had clearly said they were leaving, so why was there still no movement?

Song Yuanxi had no way to explain. Perhaps this involved all sorts of human relationships and worldly dealings. He could only hug the dog’s head and sigh. “Son, it all depends on your grandpa and grandma now. Maybe they’re currently discussing the Dao or in seclusion and have no time to look after it. Stay calm. We just have to wait a little while longer…”

The Song family ancestor occasionally observed with his divine sense and discovered that the Song family junior in the sea of fire had simply retreated back to the orange flame region, hugging the dog and sleeping loudly. With that lazy look, where was any attitude of active progress?

Compared with before, it was even more unbearable!

The Song family ancestor was instantly angered into laughter. He had temporarily kept the person here, but not so that he could sleep in the Ten Thousand Flames Pool.

“You refuse to move, do you? Then I will send you on your way. Go in and reflect properly.”

As soon as the Song family ancestor formed the thought, spiritual qi scattered like wind. Song Yuanxi, who had originally been sleeping in the orange flame region, almost seemed to flash into the white flame region.

Song Yuanxi was instantly scalded awake. He opened his eyes, and the color of the flames around him directly frightened him.

“What’s going on? I only closed my eyes for a bit. How did I teleport?”

Song Yuanxi shouted in panic as he ran back. However, there seemed to be a wall between the yellow and white regions. No matter how hard he tried, he simply could not return to the yellow flame region.

His entire body was instantly surrounded by white flames. The burning pain left him no room to think, and he could only swiftly circulate his cultivation method to resist it.

After finally recovering somewhat, he shouted for the dog in his sea of consciousness. “Little White! What’s going on? Did you push me in while I was asleep?”

Song Yuanxi had witnessed the Samoyed pushing the rush cushion around for fun before. This dumb dog was extremely enthusiastic about that sport. Once it started playing, it could forget its own surname.

He seriously suspected that while he was sleeping, the dog had played him…

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