CHAPTER 258: A BLAZE IGNITED

Creak... creak... creak!

Wind Dragon pressed forward, hacking his way through the void.

Suddenly, Eggy let out a long cry and flew from Wind Dragon's hands. Wind Dragon turned around and tried to grab the Hunyuan Greatsword. In that instant, he caught sight of Lu Chen's face.

Lu Chen subtly lifted his head. For a fleeting moment, a glimmer passed through his hollow eyes before quickly vanishing like it had never existed. Other than that brief spark, he remained kneeling, completely still.

Wind Dragon sensed the brief spark of energy and thought that perhaps Lu Chen's fighting spirit had reignited. A pleased smile crossed his face as he gripped the Hunyuan Greatsword once more and attempted to return to Lu Chen.

However, seeing the black mist giant looming behind him, he had no choice but to straighten the sword and charge forward toward the threat.

Glancing back at Lu Chen, Wind Dragon hoped for some sign of change, but Lu Chen remained the same—completely still. The spark he had sensed earlier seemed nothing but an illusion.

The black mist giant roared, releasing icy gusts that swept past Wind Dragon's ears. When he turned back to confront it, he realized he had returned to the moment before he had grabbed the Hunyuan Greatsword and charged forward, with Lu Chen kneeling, and Nantian Wan'er clinging to him tightly.

Everything, from the rush toward the black mist giant, the battle, to his own anticipation, had been a hallucination.

Wind Dragon raised his head, confused. "What... What just happened? Was it all in my imagination?"

The surroundings felt strange. Wind Dragon felt as though he had been cut off from the world itself. Powerless to act, he could only watch.

"Neither dead nor alive... only through death comes life..."

A deep, solemn voice echoed from where Lu Chen sat, jolting Wind Dragon from his thoughts.

Lu Chen's eyes opened, and the Eye of the Ancestral Dragon on his forehead flickered between black and white. Spirit qi flames erupted from his hands, feet, and body. He lifted his right hand, and the Hunyuan Greatsword flew back into his grasp.

Could it be the green-robed Daoist? Wind Dragon thought, scanning the area.

Every time that solemn voice appeared, it heralded the arrival of the green-robed Daoist. Every appearance coincided with a moment of extreme challenge for Lu Chen, and each of these challenges marked a turning point in his life.

Coupled with his experience of the abilities the green-robed Daoist used—abilities that manipulated space in ways people could not perceive—Wind Dragon naturally assumed the Daoist had arrived when he heard the voice.

Sending out his divine sense, Wind Dragon called out repeatedly, "Green-robed Daoist... who are you? Why are you here? Show yourself!"

Lu Chen's body burned with multicolored spirit qi, and an extraordinary, refined energy radiated from him.

"Neither dead nor alive... only through death comes life..."

The words repeated, but this time, they came from Lu Chen himself.

"I am Lu Chen of Greenheaven Village. I am searching for my grandpa, and I am searching for the true meaning of cultivation," he declared deliberately, rising slowly with the Hunyuan Greatsword supporting him. "I will find the one who slaughtered the villagers. Until this is done, no one can destroy my will. No one... no one... no one can force me into corruption..."

The deep, solemn voice echoed in unison with his words, like an ancient chant reverberating along the ravine.

Lu Chen brushed the sword with his left hand, and the black light turned white. This was the Void Rebirth function of the fourth button.

Seeing him rise, Wind Dragon allowed himself a relieved smile. "Little Lu, you're back."

However, Lu Chen did not respond. It was as if they now existed in entirely separate spaces.

Watching Lu Chen's energy intensify, Wind Dragon felt a sudden wave of disorientation. For a moment, it seemed as if two figures stood there. One was Lu Chen, and the other a spectral shadow that mirrored his every move.

Wind Dragon rubbed his eyes and looked again. This time, he saw only Lu Chen, now a blazing figure of fire, standing proudly between heaven and earth. He declared, "I am Lu Chen of Greenheaven Village... my will will burn like fire."

Lu Chen turned mechanically to glance at the place where he had knelt, then charged decisively at the black mist giant.

"Little Lu..."

Seeing the series of actions Lu Chen displayed, Wind Dragon grew increasingly doubtful whether this was the same Lu Chen he had traveled with. At the same time, it only convinced him that the green-robed Daoist had arrived.

What still held him back from fully confirming his suspicion was that, in his memories, those final words Lu Chen had uttered were something only Lu Chen himself could say.

Nantian Wan'er was knocked to the ground by the force of Lu Chen's energy, snapping her back from his mind. "Lu-gege..."

Watching Lu Chen charge toward the giant, she hastily extended her hands, attempting to use the Divine Tree's vines to pull him back. But the moment the vines reached him, they dissolved into nothingness, vanishing into the Void.

"Lord Wind Dragon, what exactly happened to Lu-gege? It's as if his Divine Psyche Incarnation had become a totally different person. Something surged from the depths of his Divine Chamber."

Staring at the severed vines, Nantian Wan'er formed hand seals, trying to reconstruct them, but no matter what she did, they would not regenerate.

Wind Dragon tilted his head, a spark of excitement in his eyes. "Are you saying his Divine Psyche Incarnation erupted just now? Then it really is the green-robed Daoist. The process went a bit unexpectedly, but he's managed to awaken Little Lu's fighting spirit."

"Senior Green-Robed Daoist?" Nantian Wan'er asked, puzzled. "But... I didn't sense the senior's aura just now. Every time he appears, he needs the Green Sovereign Divine Tree as a medium."

Wind Dragon's eyes followed Lu Chen's movements. "Not him? Then who else could it be?"

Just then, Red Fox's voice echoed from the distance. "Wan'er... cough, cough... Wind Dragon, help me..."

Grasped tightly by the black mist giant's claw, a streak of purple light pierced her body. Red Fox slowly opened her eyes. She called out to Wind Dragon while lying in the cage. "I just need a trace of your spirit qi, and I can break free."

Wind Dragon acted without hesitation. He transformed into a whirlwind of spirit qi, sweeping across the ground in an instant to reach her. Massive energy flowed into Red Fox, and her nine tails erupted violently, shattering the black mist giant's claw.

Two brilliant flashes lit the open ground. Red Fox and Wind Dragon appeared before Nantian Wan'er. A faint purple gleam flickered in Red Fox's eyes. She licked her lips and sat cross-legged, channeling the surrounding spirit qi.

"Red Fox, what's going on?" Wind Dragon asked, puzzled. "Your spirit qi had collapsed completely. How did you recover so fast?"

"A crafty rabbit always has three burrows. Didn't you see all my tails disappear?"[1]. It's my life-preserving skill. But the tails require relics enhanced with core essence to regrow. They won't reappear for a while."

Red Fox rose slowly, assuming her human form. "Wind Dragon, you forcibly restored your cultivation back to the Earth Core Realm just now. Have you recovered?"

"Not yet. I can only use power equivalent to the first level of the Sunken Core Realm."

Her eyes flicked toward the ravine as she giggled. "Level-one Sunken Core Realm? So you can't access your Earth Core Realm power?"

"More or less. Why? Is there another threat coming?"

Pressing her chest, Red Fox breathed deeply. "No. We should move. That space just now has split."

She glanced at Lu Chen. "We're the only ones in this dimension. The king is no longer here. The ravine below is a teleportation passage that leads directly into the tomb."

Wind Dragon eyed her suspiciously. "Red Fox, how do you know this so clearly?"

In his memory, she had never been this cooperative or articulate. "And... why do you seem... different today?"

Lu Chen's strange changes, Red Fox's behavior, and the recent spatial distortions had led Wind Dragon to suspect that the green-robed Daoist was involved. But Red Fox's behavior made him question that assumption once again. "Red Fox..."

"What?"

"Nothing. Let's move."

Following this brief exchange, Wind Dragon lost interest in speaking further with Red Fox. Her calm, detached tone was precisely as it should be.

He turned his gaze back to Lu Chen. By now, he was already engaged in battle against the black mist giant.

Void Rebirth was the black mist's nemesis. Paired with Lu Chen's fluid movements, it steadily consumed the giant.

Yet, to Wind Dragon, Lu Chen's flowing, effortless attacks didn't resemble his normal combat style at all.

This deepened his doubts. Was the figure emerging from Lu Chen's mind the green-robed Daoist? Or was there another hidden presence within Lu Chen? Yet this presence showed no hostility toward him.

Wind Dragon felt his heart waver. He shook his head and muttered grimly, "Can someone just give me a straight answer? Going back and forth like this is exhausting."

Wind, lightning, fire, and ice elemental spirit qi burst from Lu Chen, dazzling in every direction. He unleashed every elemental technique he could control against the black mist giant.

As Wind Dragon watched and became increasingly puzzled, Lu Chen's fingers curved into a claw-like shape, preparing his next move.

1. A metaphor that means "I've already made my preparations and covered all my tracks. You won't catch me off guard" ☜