The Palace of Red Lotus was made from white marble which had blood red lotuses carved into them. The reflection of the light on the lotuses made the place seemed hauntingly crimson. The pillars in the main hall were broken and stains of blood decorated the rubble. There were thousands of deep cut marks which tore apart the floor as if someone had been slashing desperately with a terrifying strength. It was a ruin, however, it was also a sacred place where the Emperor of Red Lotus fell in battle.
There was a river of lava streaming beneath the palace, as if the palace was floating atop the river. The Xian of Fire mentioned that the lava was rumoured to have formed from the Emperor’s blood. Even without the Fire of Red Lotus, the power of the lava could still kill an imperial fighter.
Mochou looked at the place with her curious wide eyes and was amazed. “Xuanyuan, the Qi in here is so dense!”
Even Greed was laughing with excitement, “Hahaha, boy! There is a crystal mine under this lava. The crystal must be to support the spell to protect the palace. Looks like there must have been many battles occurring here. It was probably the people who came looking for the fighting fire and were killed by the spell. You are going to have a feast here, boy!”
“It’s you who are going to have a feast, right?” Xuanyuan rolled his eyes.
“Well, who do you think benefits from me regaining my power?” Greed said.
“Just absorb all you can, I’ll use the Fire to maintain the temperature here, which will give us more time until people arrive.”
Xuanyuan took out the egg and placed it in the centre of the hall. Perhaps it was due to its excitement, but the egg trembled frantically as it extended its black threads into the lava, to absorb the inexhaustible Qi. Since the Qi here was purer and more abundant, Greed quickly did the same. The Fire of Red Lotus in Xuanyuan’s heart allowed him to control the spell protecting the palace.
The carvings of red lotuses on the ground suddenly started to spin as if they were alive. A dense fire Qi concentrated in the centre of the hall. The Red Mountain started to regain its former temperature, which had dropped because Xuanyuan devoured the Fire of Red Lotus.
“Hahaha, wonderful!” Greed was devouring the power from the crystals under the lava, “The lava actually contains the blood of the Emperor! There’s not only crystals, but also source energy! Boy, I’ll get some of the energy for you!”
The dagger shook, bringing the boiling lava to surge. Suddenly, on the lotus carvings, many source energy appeared, it was the source of fire lotus. Each of the source was ten jin in weight. Each was source was equivalent to a million jin of top class crystals. If he used them against his enemies, it’d be devastating. Twelve of them appeared and Xuanyuan quickly put them inside his ring.
“Mochou, this is a great opportunity to practice.” Xuanyuan reminded her. She immediately sat on the ground cross-legged, and formed a mudra with her hands. A large amount of fire Qi rushed into her body. The egg was clearly furious that it was forced to share the Qi and thrust its black threads even deeper. With Mochou, Greed and the egg absorbing the Qi, Xuanyuan was only left with ten percent of the Qi.
He closed his eyes and concentrated on his training. Extending his arms, one of them was filled with the calm force of water, the other was ablaze with the mighty power of fire. Two images appeared behind him, the Lady of the Water, and the Royal Fire Dragon. The red lotus carvings started to spin, it seemed like they were bowing towards Xuanyuan who now controlled the palace.
He flicked his fingers, summoning a giant dragon of fire. The dragon roared and spat out a huge fireball, creating a large hole in the stone wall. Xuanyuan smiled satisfactorily as he was now able to control the Fire of Red Lotus.
Over the next two weeks, Xuanyuan focused his time on harmonizing his two powers, there was a natural hostility between the Water of Heaven and the Fire of Red Lotus. Whenever the powers came into contact with the other, a surge of energy exploded inside his body, injuring Xuanyuan. Eventually, Xuanyuan understood the method to creating harmony between the two powers, but he needed much more time.
Mochou had stepped into the realm of a peak grandmaster. As Greed predicted, the Body of a Thousand Spirits had a huge advantage when they begin cultivating. But she was now beginning to encounter more challenges with her cultivation. It would be even more difficult for Mochou if she didn’t have access to large amounts of source energy.
The seventh golden sun had appeared on the shell of the egg, with the eighth red sun mark starting to form. Xuanyuan couldn’t hide the excitement on his face. Only two more to go before the beast hatched.
“Haha, Xuanyuan, as I said before the last suns on the shell will be the most difficult. Unless there’s another ten of these palaces for it to absorb, the final golden suns won’t appear.” Greed chuckled which left Xuanyuan speechless.
“I’m almost done with the imperial realm. If the girl wasn’t here, the eighth mark would probably have turned golden.” Greed said slowly, “But this is good enough. Mochou has two thousand five hundred dragons of strength now. She might not have the ability to swiftly kill her opponents, but she can definitely protect herself.
Xuanyuan was even more silent. He only had eight hundred and eighty dragons of strength after he devoured the Fire of Red Lotus.
“Don’t be jealous. You ‘re only a king realm fighter with just two of your organs refined. Your strength is already impressive. Mochou only had a thousand dragons when she reached the peak of the king realm. Even if you can’t find another spiritual being, you’ll still easily surpass a thousand dragons of strength.” Greed added. “Alright. We’ve devoured all the crystals and source energy in the mountain. I left some of the Emperor’s blood behind, or the whole palace would collapse. It’s time to go to the City of Fighting Dragons and get some good quality instruments!”
“Sure.” Xuanyuan turned to Mochou. “Mochou, I’ll send you back to the Mountain of Five Elements. You need to study hard under the five masters while I am in the City of Fighting Dragons.”
“Can’t I go with you?” Mochou begged.
Xuanyuan couldn’t say no to her innocent behaviour and sighed, “Alright, we’ll go together.”
He summoned the Skysea Bird and jumped on with Mochou. The bird spread it gigantic wings and soared out from the mountain towards the City of Fighting Dragons.
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