Chapter Sixty-Five: The Wind Fuels the Fire, and the Fire Borrows the Wind’s Might
Boom!
A thunderous roar echoed from the horizon, as if the heavens and earth were being torn asunder, chaos and clarity intermingling. Everyone’s vision suddenly blurred; though their feet stood on solid ground, it felt as though the earth itself trembled beneath them. Out of nowhere, a gust of black wind arose.
Huang Yue, the veiled woman, flicked her thumb and uncorked the gourd at her fingertips. A current of black wind poured forth, growing larger and larger until, in the blink of an eye, it transformed into a colossal black dragon. It swayed its head and lashed its tail, dominating the entire sky.
Instantly, darkness descended upon the heavens.
The black dragon, sensing its newfound power, swept its tail, bringing with it a deafening crackle of thunder. The air thickened and coalesced, turning turbid like scales that clung to the dragon’s body, making it appear even more immense.
Dust gathered and the air became so murky that everyone instinctively shielded their faces. They gazed up in awe at the black dragon soaring across the sky, their hearts filled with indescribable shock.
Such was the power of a celestial heirloom—though this was but a fraction of its true might, as the artifact’s strength could not be fully unleashed. Yet even so, the force it now displayed was wholly beyond their current capabilities.
Though they each possessed celestial relics, their power relied on the artifacts themselves, not on their own cultivation. In terms of personal strength, they were worlds apart from these treasures.
When, they wondered, would they attain such power?
Mo Hu and the veiled woman stared at the awe-inspiring black dragon, a wild thought emerging in her heart. Her expression shifted, and she turned to look at Zhou Yi, her gaze burning with intensity. Perhaps… the opportunity was not beyond reach; perhaps it was not so far away.
False Core!
There was no doubt—this was the strength of the False Core stage!
Their cultivation had already reached a bottleneck. If they could push through, they too would attain the False Core. If they killed Zhou Yi, they’d have the chance to enter the Island of Peerless Immortals. The False Core would be within their grasp!
A feverish greed shone in their eyes as they stared hungrily at Zhou Yi.
Boom!
The veiled woman's hand stilled on the gourd, her eyes sharp with murderous intent as she glared at Zhou Yi. With a mere flicker of her gaze, the black dragon soaring across the sky halted for an instant, then spun around—head and tail aligned—and charged straight at Zhou Yi!
Whoosh!
A howling wind!
Thunder rumbled!
In the blink of an eye, the black dragon vanished from its place and reappeared before Zhou Yi, crashing into the flames that enveloped him. The moment dragon met fire, thunderous booms erupted all around. In the watching eyes of the others, the black dragon, forged from black wind, instantly shattered upon contact with the flames.
Boom!
The black dragon dissolved into countless wisps of black wind, swirling rapidly around Zhou Yi. Circling faster and faster, these strands of wind flung themselves into the fire.
Swish!
The instant a strand of black wind entered the flames, the fire roared and surged skyward, its tongue of flame shooting up nearly thirty feet.
Crack! Crack!
The veiled woman and Mo Hu’s expressions changed. Their bodies spun, feet stamping rapidly as they retreated far back in haste.
The flames shot up, their temperature soaring in an instant, the surrounding air boiling with heat. If not for their quick escape, the two would have been roasted alive—if not wholly incinerated, at least their hair would have been singed clean off!
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The black wind swirled ever faster, flinging more and more strands into the fire, like gasoline feeding the blaze. The flames burned hotter and hotter, and the surrounding temperature kept rising.
The veiled woman and Mo Hu instinctively kept retreating, apprehension growing in their eyes.
As the temperature soared, even their strength could not withstand it for long. Yet, through the shimmering heat, they saw a figure standing upright within the flames. Contrary to their expectations, Zhou Yi had not been reduced to ashes. In fact, he seemed unchanged, as if the fire had no effect on him at all!
It was impossible to believe!
...
In the space of consciousness, Zhou Yi’s shadowy figure stood upright, eyes fixed unblinking on the attribute panel before him. Suddenly, his expression changed, a strange glint flashing in his gaze.
“What’s going on?”
Noticing the sudden change on the attribute panel, Zhou Yi wondered silently—had something happened?
Just now, as he watched the panel, waiting for the energy to fill, he was startled to discover the rate of increase had suddenly accelerated!
And not just by a little—it had skyrocketed. Before, his energy rose by a hundred units per second; now, it surged to five hundred per second!
And the speed was still climbing!
“Could something have changed outside?” Zhou Yi was both astonished and delighted, speculating inwardly.
Energy is the embodiment of kinetic force, and kinetic force is proportional to the pressure exerted by the body and the outside world. Since his energy gain had increased so dramatically, didn’t it mean the external pressure he faced had grown? After all, nothing had changed within himself; so it must be the outside world.
And the only source of pressure outside was the fire—the flames conjured by Xue Kai’s fan. By this reasoning, the temperature of the fire must have risen!
Zhou Yi stroked his chin, quickly organizing his swirling thoughts and arriving at a conclusion.
Swish!
As he pondered, watching the energy numbers jump, he instinctively willed a burst of ten thousand energy to be converted into a point of Constitution—and applied it!
Ah!
As the energy transformed, a cool sensation flooded his body, prompting Zhou Yi to let out a contented sigh.
“It’s just a pity that I have to focus all my attention here and can’t perceive what’s happening outside. I don’t even know if my guess is correct,” Zhou Yi said to himself, rubbing his chin. “But then again, it probably doesn’t matter. Whether I’m right or wrong, it changes nothing.”
“And with the energy rising faster, that’s a good thing. Whatever’s happening outside, it must be a positive change—so there’s nothing to worry about!”
With that, Zhou Yi put the matter out of his mind, focusing once more on the attribute panel. Thanks to the blessings of the flames, his physical strength had undergone a dramatic transformation in a short time.
Now, with the greatly accelerated energy gain, his strength could improve even faster.
But he had already reached a point of equilibrium; he needed to accumulate energy and add points as needed. If he broke that balance, it would spell trouble!
He certainly didn’t want to lose focus, miss the crucial moment to add points, and reach his limit—only to explode into a cloud of ashes with a bang. That would be quite the spectacle!