"Still fiddling with your junk!" Jing Xingzhi, who had found a spot to practice his swordsmanship, had returned for once. Seeing the clutter scattered across a corner of the Vermilion Bird Hall, he addressed Mo Tiange.
Mo Tiange didn't even look up, continuing to assemble the puppet. The materials for these puppets came from ancient cultivators and were extraordinarily sturdy. It had taken her considerable effort just to craft these components.
"You'll find out whether it's junk or not when the time comes," she said offhandedly.
Jing Xingzhi still couldn't believe she could create a Core Formation stage puppet. The so-called puppet mechanism arts had truly vanished for too long—so long that in today's cultivation world, no one believed they still existed.
But it didn't matter what others believed; she only needed to believe it herself. She feared that once the Core Formation puppet was completed, Jing Xingzhi would regret it—there were plenty of good things within this Immortal Palace.
Seeing her focused expression, Jing Xingzhi shrugged and prepared to return to his corner to meditate for a while.
Although sword cultivators focused primarily on the sword, they were not mere martial artists of the mortal world. The intensity of their spiritual Qi directly influenced the power of their sword techniques. Therefore, besides practicing swordsmanship, seated meditation for cultivation was also essential. Precisely because of this, sword cultivators often found it harder to advance in rank compared to other cultivators. They had to practice swordsmanship while ensuring their spiritual Qi cultivation didn't fall behind, requiring far more time than ordinary cultivators.
For a sword cultivator like Jing Xingzhi to form his Nascent Soul before reaching three hundred years of age was as rare as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns. Without extraordinary talent and serendipitous encounters, it would have been utterly impossible.
Thus, although Jing Xingzhi often felt unlucky, when it came to true opportunities, he was no less fortunate than others. Among all the sword cultivators under heaven, how many could encounter an ancient Immortal Mansion during their Foundation Establishment stage and obtain the legacy and corresponding cultivation methods of an ancient cultivator? What he had obtained back then was no less impressive than Qin Xi's Three Yang True Fire Sword—he was merely missing a Yang Spirit Bead.
Just as he was about to return to meditate, something caught the corner of his eye. Jing Xingzhi turned his head and exclaimed in shock, "What's going on?"
Hearing his shout, Mo Tiange looked up. "What?"
"Look!" Jing Xingzhi pointed to the corner beside her, precisely where Qin Xi was lying.
Mo Tiange turned to look and was equally startled.
Qin Xi still lay there unconscious, but faint flames seemed to flicker around his body.
Setting down the puppet in her hands, Mo Tiange hurriedly moved closer. She reached out to touch him. They were called flames, but there was no actual fire—just a faint red glow emanating from within Qin Xi's body.
Jing Xingzhi approached. "Let me see."
He grasped Qin Xi's pulse point, intending to channel spiritual Qi into him. The next moment, an intense aura suddenly erupted from within Qin Xi's body, violently throwing him back.
"How can this be?!" Jing Xingzhi was stunned for a long moment. He was already a Nascent Soul cultivator; how could he be thrown aside so easily? Yet the aura from that moment was undeniably real.
"What happened?" Mo Tiange asked with a grave, concerned expression.
Jing Xingzhi got up and sat on a nearby meditation cushion. "There's a very powerful force within his body that blocked my spiritual Qi."
"..." Mo Tiange was baffled. If Qin Xi were conscious, it would be possible for him to automatically counterattack, but in that case, the force definitely wouldn't be strong enough to throw Jing Xingzhi aside, given they were both Nascent Soul cultivators. And now, with his Sea of Consciousness closed and unable to regulate his breathing or cultivate on his own, such a situation shouldn't occur in principle.
As the two were left scratching their heads, the flames on Qin Xi's body grew increasingly brighter. A fiery red glow emanated from within him, turning even his skin a translucent red. One could vaguely see fiery red energy flowing within his meridians.
Mo Tiange reached out and touched him again, finding it even stranger. Apart from the internal flames, Qin Xi was completely normal—his breathing was long and steady, his pulse stable, no different from being asleep.
Even so, what exactly was this? Would there be danger next?
The two stared blankly at each other for a while. Suddenly, Jing Xingzhi said, "Don't you feel like the Breath of the Vermilion Bird has grown stronger again?"
This hall was originally the place where the Bow of the Vermilion Bird was enshrined and where the Breath of the Vermilion Bird was most concentrated. Even though the Bow of the Vermilion Bird had been absorbed into Qin Xi's body, the residual Breath of the Vermilion Bird remained potent.
Hearing Jing Xingzhi's words, Mo Tiange indeed felt that it seemed to have grown a bit warmer. Cultivators were impervious to heat and cold, and she was already a Core Formation cultivator. If even she felt some warmth, it showed just how intense this heat had become.
She turned to look at Qin Xi and saw the red glow on his body growing increasingly intense, almost dyeing his entire form crimson.
"Could it be..." Her expression changed slightly. With the Bow of the Vermilion Bird gone, the Breath of the Vermilion Bird had lost its source. And now, with Qin Xi undergoing such changes, the origin of this Breath of the Vermilion Bird was naturally his body.
What did this signify? That the Breath of the Vermilion Bird hadn't been fully absorbed by the Yang Spirit Bead and was now being released? Then what about the Bow of the Vermilion Bird? This sentient treasure carried such potent Breath of the Vermilion Bird. If the Yang Spirit Bead couldn't absorb it, would Qin Xi suffer a spiritual Qi explosion?
Mo Tiange's expression shifted uncertainly. This situation exceeded her knowledge, and even Jing Xingzhi couldn't help. If that were the case, they needed to quickly disperse the excess Breath of the Vermilion Bird. But if it wasn't...
The biggest problem now was that neither she nor Jing Xingzhi knew what was happening and couldn't respond appropriately. If they took rash measures, they might make things worse.
Unable to probe his internal condition with spiritual Qi, and with no external symptoms... Mo Tiange gritted her teeth and said, "How about I give him a Diamond Pill first to protect his body?"
Jing Xingzhi hesitated for a moment but didn't object. What she said made sense. Protecting his body and meridians would buy more time even if it truly was the Breath of the Vermilion Bird overflowing.
Mo Tiange took out a jade vial from her Qiankun Bag, poured out a Diamond Pill, and was about to feed it to Qin Xi.
The Diamond Pill was a high-level pill for body cultivators, specifically used for body tempering. Body cultivators were rare in the cultivation world, so this pill was also uncommon. If Qin Xi hadn't also practiced body refinement techniques, he wouldn't have bothered refining such a pill.
"Don't feed it!" A delicate voice sounded in her mind.
Mo Tiange stopped and looked at Feifei, who was lazily swishing her tail nearby.
Feifei glanced at Jing Xingzhi, jumped onto the tea table, and communicated via divine sense, "He's undergoing body tempering by the Breath of the Vermilion Bird. If you feed him the Diamond Pill, he'll suffer more, and the difficulty will increase."
"You know what's happening?"
"I am a Divine Beast, after all!" Feifei pouted, lying down to groom her golden fur. "The Breath of the Vermilion Bird contains powerful Vermilion Bird divine power. To make it one's own, one must pass its trial. Originally, with his cultivation level, it would have been impossible for him to pass the trial. But who told him to be so lucky!"
"Lucky?"
"Yes. That day, if not for that guy who cultivated the Ice-Fire Art neutralizing the malevolent energy within the Breath of the Vermilion Bird, he never could have withstood it. You said before that when he tried to take the Bow of the Vermilion Bird earlier, he was repelled, right?" Although Feifei hadn't been present that day, she had been squatting nearby all this time. Occasionally, when Jing Xingzhi and Mo Tiange discussed the matter, they hadn't avoided her, so she knew the details clearly.
"You mean, the reason he survived that day was because of Ling Yunhe..."
"Exactly. The Vermilion Bird guards the south, belongs to the essence of Li Fire, and symbolizes light and vitality. Among the Four Symbols, although the Vermilion Bird isn't as ferocious as the inauspicious White Tiger, it possesses the greatest destructive power, so it naturally carries malevolent energy. According to what you said, that guy cultivated the Ice-Fire Art, which exactly neutralized the malevolent energy of the Breath of the Vermilion Bird, thus creating this opportunity for him." Feifei scratched her head and said disdainfully, "Otherwise, how could a mere Nascent Soul cultivator hope to receive the legacy of the Breath of the Vermilion Bird? Those other people were fools too. Even if they cultivated the Ice-Fire Art, what's a Core Formation stage worth? In ancient times, even Void Refinement and Body Unity grand cultivators wouldn't dare face the breath of a Divine Beast directly!"
"..." Mo Tiange was speechless for a moment before asking, "Then what's happening now?"
"What's the hurry? Listen to me slowly. Anyway, you can't help right now."
Looking at Feifei's lazy demeanor, Mo Tiange sighed. Who was the master here? But despite her inner dissatisfaction, she still put away the Diamond Pill.
Seeing her remain silent for a long time and finally put away the pill, Jing Xingzhi asked, "What's wrong?"
Mo Tiange shook her head. "I'll explain later."
"Under normal circumstances, in today's human world, it's fundamentally impossible for anyone to pass the trial of the Breath of the Vermilion Bird and become the master of the Bow of the Vermilion Bird. However, doesn't he just so happens to have a Yang Spirit Bead inside him? Such a rare treasure of heaven and earth was a rare treasure even in ancient times. The power of the Breath of the Vermilion Bird was too great; it stimulated the Yang Spirit Bead, which absorbed it all."
"Trapped within the Yang Spirit Bead, the power of the Breath of the Vermilion Bird was greatly reduced, which is why he managed to survive. And the Yang Spirit Bead had long since merged with him as one; their auras were aligned. The Bow of the Vermilion Bird and the Breath of the Vermilion Bird, inside the Yang Spirit Bead, were continuously assimilated, which was equivalent to recognizing him as their master." Pausing for a moment, Feifei added somewhat reluctantly, "Well, his own aura is quite suitable too. A Pure Yang Body with the aspect of Li Fire perfectly matches the Vermilion Bird."
"Aspect of Li Fire?" She knew Qin Xi had always cultivated fire-attribute techniques, but what did 'aspect of Li Fire' mean?
"Have you forgotten his Nascent Soul formation heavenly phenomenon?"
Mo Tiange was slightly taken aback, recalling the phoenix heavenly phenomenon that appeared in the sky the day they left the Heavenly Demon Mountain—an event that had caused a sensation across Tianji.
"The phoenix is the Vermilion Bird. The Vermilion Bird is actually the noblest lineage among phoenixes. The human world today is too chaotic; you can't even distinguish Divine Beast bloodlines anymore."
"..." Of course. Divine Beasts were too distant from them; they hadn't even seen a living one, so how could they distinguish bloodlines?
"Having a phoenix as his Nascent Soul formation heavenly phenomenon indicates he possesses the aspect of Li Fire. And the Vermilion Bird is the essence of Li Fire, so they naturally match."
"What about now?" Mo Tiange glanced worriedly at Qin Xi. The flames on his body were blazing fiercely. "Is he in danger?"
"Probably not. The dangerous period has already passed." Feifei said, "After the Yang Spirit Bead absorbed the Breath of the Vermilion Bird, they were locked in a struggle. What's happening now is likely that the Yang Spirit Bead has assimilated the Breath of the Vermilion Bird and is now releasing it to transform his body."
Mo Tiange was stunned for a good while. "So you're saying, for the past half year or more, he's actually been in danger all along?"
"Yes!" Seeing her expression, Feifei seemed somewhat gleeful. "You only realized it now? If the Yang Spirit Bead hadn't assimilated the Breath of the Vermilion Bird, even if the injury to his Dantian healed, he would have been instantly overwhelmed by the Breath of the Vermilion Bird."
"..." Mo Tiange touched her chest and looked at Qin Xi. Thankfully, the danger had passed.
Having frightened her, Feifei, perhaps out of a guilty conscience, comforted her, "You don't need to worry; this is a good thing. After undergoing body tempering by the Breath of the Vermilion Bird, there will be fewer things that can harm him in the future. Moreover, his True Fire will transform into Vermilion Bird Flames, which are higher grade than any Heavenly Fire or Earthly Fire—even the Samadhi True Fire can't compare."