Chapter Thirty-One: Absorption and Strife

Water surged up from beneath the ground, while flames sprang forth elsewhere. Gradually, more and more fire emerged from the earth below, the moisture evaporating until it was all but gone, and even the rainbows vanished, swallowed up by the blaze. In the end, only the raging flames remained.

The fire latched onto the surrounding trees, igniting them in an instant, and the inferno began to spread.

A scream pierced the air.

With the first cry of agony, several figures burst from the forest. They seemed to come from different factions, dodging the fire as they fought among themselves.

A group of men in black appeared swiftly from both sides, exuding powerful auras. With a tremor of their palms, a surge of energy rippled outward, suppressing the spreading flames at once.

At the same time, squads of soldiers arrived on the scene. They looked quite different from ordinary troops.

“Contain the fire first—deal with the rest later,” came Bai Weiwei’s cold, commanding voice.

She suddenly charged straight into the blaze.

In that instant, a voice sounded from within the flames.

“Courting death, disturbing my cultivation.”

That man was none other than Wang Yuan. From the moment the fire had ignited, he had grown excited. This was exactly the fire he needed.

He possessed the power of fire. If he could absorb the energy within these flames, his strength would undergo a complete transformation. The wild, uncontrollable force within him might finally be subdued.

Though the energy would only increase until it could no longer be contained and would have to be released, once it reached a certain threshold, it would fundamentally change, needing no suppression at all, and his power would evolve into something unimaginable.

These flames were his great opportunity.

“Iron affinity, Bai Weiwei—so it’s you again,” came the man’s voice from the sea of fire.

Those outside were stunned; they hadn’t expected there to be someone else inside the flames. At the perimeter, Mu Linqiu watched with a frosty expression, both annoyed and embarrassed.

Now, Shen An had vanished, and this Wang Yuan—never one to be relied on—had entered the fire first to cultivate, and ended up in conflict with the authorities.

Useless fool.

Mu Linqiu gritted her teeth, wishing she could rush in and slap him a few times.

“If I didn’t have to conceal my strength this time—hmph!” She gave a cold snort.

Beside her, one of those suppressing the flames suddenly looked up in confusion. “I could’ve sworn someone was speaking next to me just now.”

“Don’t get distracted, keep the fire in check.”

Up in the mountains, Shen An sensed the change in the world around him.

The earth rumbled; the temperature leaped suddenly higher.

His whole body shuddered, scattering the rubble around him as he rose from the hollow. The ground beneath his feet sizzled and hissed.

Puzzled, he was suddenly startled as a tongue of flame shot up from the ground. Caught off guard, his shoe caught fire at once.

He immediately gathered his strength and kicked off, sending the burning shoe flying away in pieces.

Shen An retreated rapidly, noticing that more and more flames were erupting from the ground.

This won’t do—at this rate I’ll be burned alive.

The heat from these flames is terrifying.

As he retreated, he pondered his options. Suddenly he noticed a large boulder ahead, right where he’d been lying in the hollow earlier.

Almost forgot.

He remembered the warning from the future—there was a spot here, unaffected by the flames.

He leapt forward. With a touch of his foot, the ground exploded beneath him, and with a second leap, he covered dozens of meters in an instant.

He landed upon that patch of earth. Though the heat around him remained frightful, his clothing on the verge of ignition, Shen An quickly enveloped himself in a shield of primordial oxygen, barely holding the temperature at bay.

Now he could no longer feel the intense heat.

He immediately sensed the difference in the air around him.

Fragrant waves drifted outward, and Shen An began to absorb them at once.

Devouring initiated.

Space activated.

The sudden turn of events left no room for hesitation. Primordial oxygen began flowing into his body, and most of the surrounding fire was drawn into his inner space.

Potential +1500
Potential +1500
Potential...

A series of synthesized electronic voices rang out in his mind.

It felt as if he’d won the lottery and was hearing the sound of money hitting his account.

Shen An was completely immersed in this happiness.

He had waited anxiously for this moment, but it was in the harvest that true happiness lay.

With a smile on his lips, he devoured the surrounding primordial oxygen and the flames that kept springing up.

His body began to change as he absorbed the oxygen—the muscles, the bones, everything was undergoing an incredible transformation.

His strength was steadily increasing.

Shen An could feel the power within him growing, seemingly doubling compared to before.

Inside his inner space, his stored possessions were ignited in an instant. Cabinets, chairs, even slabs of meat evaporated away, and even the lake began to shrink under the flames’ assault.

“Damn!”

Shen An hadn’t anticipated such a dramatic change. He quickly willed the flames to one side, setting them to burn a hundred miles south of the lake within his inner world.

After a while, he managed to stabilize the situation inside his space.

Fortunately, the ironwood trees were largely unharmed—if they’d burned up before he could study them, it would’ve been a disaster.

Meanwhile, Shen An was devouring the flames and the primordial oxygen around him.

Suddenly, a powerful sense of danger swept over him.

He hadn’t expected anyone to find him here. He quickly returned to his senses, and his shirt split open across his back.

His body reacted instinctively, tensing, and he rolled forward, narrowly dodging the attack.

Behind him—no one.

He glanced at the ground, noticing it sizzled and hissed, as if something there was resisting the flames.

“Shen An, what happened to our cooperation?” came a woman’s cool, clear voice.

“I gave you the location, didn’t I? What, you didn’t come?” Shen An replied, looking at the empty space ahead.

“But…”

“I’ve been waiting here all this time—where are you?” Shen An pressed.

He was in the southwest now, and he hadn’t lied—it was just that only he knew the precise spot.

“You’re ones to talk about sincerity,” Shen An said angrily. “If I hadn’t neutralized the danger here just now, I’d have been burned alive by now. By the way, where’s your teammate?”

When she didn’t answer, Shen An feigned surprise. “Don’t tell me—he abandoned you?”

“Shen An, forget about him. Let’s work together. The flames are everywhere now, and the concentration of primordial oxygen is only rising. That’s bound to draw in experts. I want to set up a stealth formation nearby, but I need your help.”

“A formation?”

Shen An immediately thought of the arrays from those old novels. He hadn’t expected this woman to know how to set up such things—could it be some ancient legacy?

Shen An agreed to her request.