Chapter 35: The Fire Control Art

The Fire Soaring Sword, about two meters long, was entirely covered by swirling flames. At this moment, it flew swiftly with a blazing aura, aiming straight at Qu Yi, who was standing on the ground, through the flame passage.
Qu Yi observed the flames on the sword and realized they were all composed of primordial fire energy. He knew he couldn’t use a top-grade spiritual artifact to defend against it—not only would it fail to stop the attack, but the artifact itself would be burned to ashes.
In fact, after being reminded by the Artifact God, Qu Yi had already thought of a countermeasure.
When the Fire Soaring Sword was ten meters away from Qu Yi, about to strike him down, Qu Yi calmly smiled and suddenly took out a peculiar large cauldron from his right hand—the cauldron’s mouth was shaped like a pentagram. It was the Star Luo Cauldron.
The Fire Soaring Sword moved extremely fast, and by the time it was close to Qu Yi, it was too late to change direction. With great force, it crashed straight into the Star Luo Cauldron, unleashing a burst of intense flames, yet it remained trapped within it.
The Star Luo Cauldron was of such a high grade that even a lower-tier immortal artifact like the Fire Soaring Sword couldn’t pierce it. Not only could it not break through, but the sword was also bound by the cauldron’s various strange arrays. No matter how hard it struggled, it made little progress, until all the fire energy in the sword was exhausted, revealing its true form.
Two meters long and entirely red, emitting a scorching glow, it was undoubtedly a deadly weapon.
Qu Yi’s spiritual consciousness remained connected to the Star Luo Cauldron. Realizing the sword had been subdued, he simply smiled and stored both the cauldron and the sword inside his Dimensional Sphere.
The Star Luo Cauldron was too advanced for a space ring in the cultivation world to contain.
“Hehe, Qu Yi, happy now? This Fire Soaring Sword, driven by the array, attacked you on its own. I originally wanted to test you, but since you possess the Star Luo Cauldron, it’s given to you for free,” came the Artifact God’s voice at just the right time.
Qu Yi also smiled and said, “This is all thanks to the Star Luo Cauldron. Otherwise, with my current cultivation level, I couldn’t have defended against this sword.”
Hearing Qu Yi’s humility, the Artifact God stopped talking and urged him to keep moving.
Qu Yi smiled again. Thanks to this incident with the Fire Soaring Sword, he was even more energetic and continued his journey through the flame passage in high spirits.
……
The strong warriors from the nine major sects entered the “Life and Death Uncertain” passage, chose the life path simultaneously, and then entered nine separate flame passages. Each of these nine flame passages posed different challenges.

In Flame Passage No. 1, fire dragons constantly burst forth from the walls of the flame cave. Each of these fire dragons possessed the strength of a Great Perfection stage being, with terrifyingly powerful attacks. At this moment, the four strong warriors from the Jin Yang Sect were closely monitoring the reactions of the flame cave walls, staying vigilant against the attacks from the fire dragons.

In Flame Passage No. 2, there was no movement on the walls of the flame cave, but from the flaming ground, flame humans would suddenly appear from time to time. These flame humans had the strength of late-stage Tribulation Crossing stage, firing bursts of fire balls, fire snakes, rockets, and more at high speed. The four strong warriors from the Ying Tian Sect kept covering themselves with Earthly True Energy armor to defend against these sudden appearances of flame humans.

In Flame Passage No. 3, rows of flame arrows were suddenly shot out from the walls of the flame cave, densely packed and leaving no room for evasion. One could only confront them head-on. Fortunately, these flame arrows only had the power of late-stage Tribulation Crossing stage, so they couldn’t immediately harm the warriors who entered the passage. The four strong warriors from the Qing Yun Sect were struggling to withstand these flame arrows. Due to the wood-based cultivation techniques they practiced, fire overpowered wood, causing their True Energy to be depleted rapidly under the attacks.

In Flame Passage No. 4, there was little activity on the walls and ground of the flame cave, but regularly, flame balls the size of the passage itself drifted in from behind, like rolling boulders of fire. Although these flame balls only had the power of late-stage Tribulation Crossing stage, their explosive energy made them extremely difficult to deal with. The four demon cultivators from the Xian Yue Ya were suffering greatly as they endured wave after wave of these flame balls, each one consuming a large amount of their True Energy.

In Flame Passage No. 5, the walls and ground of the flame cave worked together to form rows of “flame teeth.” As rows of flame teeth were emitted from the upper walls, corresponding rows were also sent up from the flaming ground. Each row of these “teeth” possessed the strength of a Great Perfection stage being, and being bitten by them could be fatal. The four strong warriors from the Tai Yuan Gate carefully separated themselves, ready at any moment to defend against the attacks of these flame teeth.

In Flame Channel No. 6, flames shot out from the channel from time to time. These flame rays came without pattern—once one appeared, countless more followed, shooting in all directions in a chaotic manner, making it impossible to defend against. Each flame ray seemed small, but it contained condensed primordial fire energy, already possessing the power of a Great Vehicle stage being. At this moment, the three people from Blue Sun Palace were struggling to guard against these attacks.

In Flame Channel No. 7, a rain of flames fell from the ceiling of the channel from time to time. The sudden downpour of flames from all directions left those standing on solid ground with no place to hide, forcing them to rely on their own vital energy shields to resist. Meanwhile, the four people from Cang Yang Valley were desperately holding off, their earth-based shields peeling off layer by layer.

In Flame Channel No. 8, the flaming ground resembled fertile soil, with flame saplings growing continuously. These saplings not only emitted flames but also grew rapidly, filling the entire channel in no time. Of course, once the channel was filled with these flame trees, their growth stopped, and they disappeared instantly. At this point, the four demon cultivators from Hundred Beasts Peak were trapped among the growing flame trees, relying on wood-based light shields while waiting for them to vanish so they could escape.

In Flame Channel No. 9, the cave walls and ground remained completely still and peaceful. The four demon cultivators from Nine Palaces Island could walk freely on solid ground without wasting vital energy to defend against flames.

Of the nine flame channels, only Channel No. 9 was truly a path of life. It could be said that Nine Palaces Island, which primarily practiced water-based cultivation methods, was naturally suppressed by fire energy. They should have been the most endangered sect in these flame channels, but thanks to their luck in choosing Channel No. 9, they managed to pass through unscathed.

……

Qu Yi walked alone through the flame channels for seven days.

During these seven days, Qu Yi completed the entire flame channel. Guided by the Spirit of Instruments, he avoided all flame attacks and passed through safely.

In addition to obtaining the inferior immortal weapon, Fire Soaring Sword, Qu Yi also gathered nearly five thousand Fire Soaring Stones and Heart of Flame Stones—primordial fire energy stones. With these, he would have no worries about lacking primordial fire energy when ascending to the Great Vehicle stage and transforming into a body of primordial fire energy.

Now, Qu Yi had reached the end of the flame channel.

At the end, there were no flames left, only a vast open space—that was actually a cave. In the middle of the cave stood a white jade table, on which lay a token in the shape of a flame.
The Flame Token was crafted from Jianyuan Jade, and it contained far more cultivation information than the jade slips commonly used in the cultivation world. Undoubtedly, the cultivation technique of the Fire Control Art was stored within this Flame Token.
After entering the cave, Qu Yi used his spiritual sense to search and found only this Flame Token, thus understanding where the Fire Control Art was. Quickly, he picked up the Flame Token and used his spiritual sense to browse through it.
“Huh, I can’t understand many parts of this Fire Control Art,” Qu Yi said, showing a puzzled expression after searching with his spiritual sense.
Once Qu Yi’s spiritual sense had scanned the entire text, the Artifact God within him immediately understood as well and chuckled at Qu Yi’s reaction.
“Qu Yi, you won’t be able to comprehend this Fire Control Art until you ascend to the Immortal Realm later. There are many mysteries in the primal energy of fire, and with your current level of cultivation, you still can’t grasp them,” the Artifact God explained calmly.
Since the Artifact God had said so, Qu Yi naturally didn’t bother trying to figure out the content of the Fire Control Art on his own.
Suddenly, Qu Yi asked, “Artifact God, didn’t Emperor Hao say that after obtaining the Fire Control Art, one still has to travel a distance before reaching the space transmission array? Why don’t I see any path to leave this cave?”
The Artifact God burst into laughter and replied directly, “Qu Yi, there’s no need to look. That space transmission array is actually this white jade table. Emperor Hao said that it would take a long time to reach the space transmission array after obtaining the Fire Control Art and the Fire Soaring Sword—it actually refers to the time you need to wait inside this cave. As long as the strong warriors from the nine major sects haven’t passed through, the space transmission array won’t activate, so you’ll have to wait for a long time.”
Upon hearing this, Qu Yi immediately understood. It turned out that the Flame Channel of the Fire Control Art was the easiest and safest route. Emperor Hao’s warning was meant to scare those who were timid.
Qu Yi thought this made some sense, but he never imagined that without the Artifact God’s guidance, he wouldn’t have been able to reach the end safely. For the strong warriors of the nine sects, this Flame Channel was a path to certain death—the most dangerous route of all.
Now that he had the Artifact God’s guidance, Qu Yi felt at ease. He found a flat spot in the cave, sat cross-legged, and began to meditate.

Suddenly, a passage about the size of a person appeared on one of the cave walls, and Tai Ming, the leader of the Taiyuan Sect, flew in. At first glance, Tai Ming saw Qu Yi sitting there in meditation and was filled with surprise. He exclaimed in amazement, “Qu Yi, how did you reach the destination faster than us?”