In a cavern near Mount Inferno, the sounds of heavy breathing and feminine moans echoed wildly in the air. At times it would be low and then abruptly rise in volume. There were even faint sounds of the word ‘god’ being uttered, always predicated by an ‘oh’. The sounds continued for nearly an hour before ceasing altogether.

Outside this cave was a lit fire and a white crane resting near it. It seemed wholly unbothered by the intense sounds in the cavern. Near the fire, feeding it with dry wood, two figures sat away from each other with blushes.

The young woman and man from the Jade Lotus Sect were named Dai Qiuyue and Zhang Mu respectively. They were lofty core disciples who were traveling with their core elder. Originally, they were a group of six with three core disciples, each having their own core elder following them.

Unfortunately, they had split due to some internal sect drama, and now Zhang Mu followed Dai Qiuyue and Jiao Ning who was her supporter. His own core elder switched sides last minute, leaving him to rely on them.

“Should Elder Jiao be…doing this? I mean, isn’t she, you know..marri-” Zhang Mu had an embarrassed look on his face as he thought of the actions of those two in the cave. He was fortunate enough to heal his jaw, and while his teeth would take some time and medicinal pills to grow back, he could talk normally now.

“Silence!” Dai Qiuyue angrily shouted with a pink blush. She knew that Jiao Ning suffered immense injuries to her left side. Her meridians and muscles were fiercely damaged due to that spear throw. It would be lucky if she could cultivate like normal or even move normally if it was not treated.

An injury like that, even the sect couldn’t treat it fully unless one of the Mortal Gods of their sect decided to sacrifice their vitality and lifeforce to do so. Who would do such a thing for a married woman who’d reached the end of her potential? Without her primal yin intact, reaching the Yin Form Phase was as difficult as doing so as a man.

Not to mention, Jiao Ning’s husband was weaker than her, weaker than them. What could he do?

Yet, this young, handsome man had approached and said he could heal her injuries in full for an exchange. Jiao Ning didn’t even hesitate to accept after verifying his claims. If she was in her position, would she decline? Actually, would anyone?

If Jiao Ning went back to the sect in that state, her family, clan, and every friend she had weaker than her before may be targeted by her enemies. Her combat strength would be greatly diminished, her physical mobility shot, and her cultivation restricted. If before she still had a chance to reach the fourth phase, with her meridians damaged, that was a dream for another life. The sect would deem her ‘totaled’ and unworthy of future investments.

But with the miraculously powerful wood qi filled with lifeforce and a powerful vitality, her injuries healed in a matter of hours.

So, she couldn’t help but shout at Zhang Mu. He needed to use his brain sometimes. Perhaps then he wouldn’t have been betrayed by his core elder.

After a few minutes of quiet, Wei Wuyin walked out of the cave with a hearty stretch. That itch in his heart had been scratched quite thoroughly. Now, he could focus on organizing his gains and deciding on his cultivation schedule before leaving for the next city.

He arrived next to the white crane who lifted its head and rubbed itself against Wei Wuyin’s palms. “Rest up. You can go hunting if you need anything.”

White cranes like her needed meat and had a big appetite. Normally, Du Leng would handle her meals, but now, she’ll have to tap into her foraging instincts and find food for herself. He wasn’t worried. With her strength and size, she was an expert that could slaughter Foundation Establishment Realm humans like swatting flies.

He looked towards the two disciples of the Jade Lotus Sect and smiled at them. If they had met any other Mortal God level figure from the Scarlet Solaris Sect, their fate would definitely be a whole lot worse. They lucked out meeting him.

With a leap, he went into another hewn out cave of his. This one was made for his own privacy, and the other was for them.

A few minutes after he entered the cave, Jiao Ning exited her cave. Her expression still somewhat flushed, but her complexion was more rosy than before. Despite not dual cultivating with Wei Wuyin, just normal relations had some benefits. He had a dense and pure yang energy, vitality, and lifeforce. She felt herself brimming with energy despite that exhausting activity.

“Elder Jiao!” Dai Qiuyue called out with emotion. She ran up and immediately wanted to make sure that Wei Wuyin hadn’t done anything too intrusive or inappropriate. She was also showing her concern.

Jiao Ning saw her concern and felt warmth in her heart. It was unfortunate that their plans left them with nothing in the end, but the alternative was truly leaving with nothing. Not even their lives. So, she quickly came to terms with this.

“I’m fine,” she warmly smiled. It wasn’t like she was taken by force or blackmailed to do anything. This was a choice she made, and it was one she could live with. As for her husband? She didn’t feel a bit of guilt in her heart.

Perhaps if she was a mortal woman, but as a cultivator, she essentially was the breadwinner and protector of the entire family and her clan. If she was left with a serious injury that would put them in danger, perhaps it would be her weak husband who’d voice his dissatisfaction with her risky decision first.

That was just how the cultivation society was. If the situation was reversed, wouldn’t it be the same? Would her husband keep his loyalty if a beautiful, top-grade woman was offering to heal him of a crippling injury for a night’s worth of intimate relations?

Pfft. Fuck no.

“Let’s eat,” Jiao Ning calmly said.

—–

Wei Wuyin had organized his newly acquired wealth. According to his rough estimation, the qi weapons and armor he obtained from the soldiers should be worth about sixty essence stones. The amount of essence stones obtained from them totaled only twenty-two.

If he added the pills, elixirs, materials he didn’t need, and other oddities, he could probably receive twenty or so essence stones.

A little more than a hundred essence stones, but still worth it in his book. The true wealth was the City Lord and that profligate son of his. They had an immense wealth totaling about three hundred essence stones, with pure essence stones totaling fifty-seven.

The magma essence aside, if he included the vault’s raw materials and valuables, he earned a total of eight hundred essence stones, or about.

He was shocked to find out the vault had no essence stones, but thinking about it. If the City Lord had just become a Mortal God, he would’ve taken all the essence stones out of the vault. Which explained why he had so damn much on him.

Even to a large sect, a hundred essence stones were a lot. That was the rough equivalent of one hundred Qi Condensation Realm warriors at the first phase, or one hundred inner disciples.

“When I convert all of this into essence stones, I should have enough to reach the Sublime Qi Phase!” He was excited making this conclusion. With a cultivation base at that level, how strong would he be? He would be one step away from becoming a Mortal Godlord.

If he took that step, establishing his own sect wouldn’t be an issue! The excitement caused his heart to pound fiercely. Even the Sect Leader, Su Lanyi, was only a seventh phase expert.

With two Hearts of Qi, the ability to refine separately, and their rapid rate of refinement, his speed of cultivation would be at least eight times faster than others. As he thought of this, his eyes lit up as he recalled the piece of Mount Inferno’s heart.

He stored everything away, and retrieved the magma essence. The temperature of the cave increased by forty degrees instantly. He didn’t mind that as he focused on the stone.

“If I can birth high-level Blazing Inferno Magma Qi, I would be one step away from cultivating the Divine Element Form! With a Divine Heart of Elemental Qi, who knows how strong I’d be!” His anticipation was palpable.

Even Jiao Ning who had a Heart of Wind Qi was three times stronger than her equal in terms of wind qi arts. Wouldn’t all his qi arts receive an immense jump in strength? What about that Divine Heart said to benefit his four components of metaphysical qi: mind, matter, spirit, and essence.

While vague, he knew it would be miraculous. After all, Divine King Han Xei had cultivated this exact art!

In truth, unbeknownst to Wei Wuyin, Divine King Han Xei did not use all high-level elemental qi, but simply wanted his successor to. Even after three eras after his, no one had been capable of doing so. However, quite a few have developed Elemental Qi.

The state of cultivation in the present had changed heavily since the past eras. If Divine King Han Xei entered this time, his strength would be middling at best amongst the continent’s top experts.

The grandeur people emphasized on past eras were mostly bullshit. They were rife with mistakes and cultivation advancements that had been fixed or missing in today’s age.

Wei Wuyin didn’t know this and felt enlivened at reaching the heights of the Divine King Han Xei. He sat down and started to circulate his two Hearts of Qi independently. They each started to draw magma essence from both sides of themselves.

Time slowly passed.

An hour.

A day.

Three days.

A week.

Ten full days!

Wei Wuyin had cultivated without interruption for ten full days. When his eyes opened up, a blazing heat and dark crimson light effused from his eyes. The magma essence stone had shrunk by seventy percent. Thirty percent was enough for several people to give birth to normal magma qi.

“I did it!” His heart felt deeply satisfied as he drew a trace of magma qi to his right hand and externalized it. When he gave it a spherical form and infused yin-yang energies within, it became a ball of molten lava. The lava was slowly turning from bright gold to dark crimson with a tinge of black. It grew more viscous and semi-fluid.

This was the state of magma. However, as it was created, the temperature of the cave jumped nearly five hundred degrees. The cave walls seemed to even show faint signs of melting.

While it didn’t extend outward, this was an insane level of heat.

He infused more qi within and the heat jumped by double, reaching a thousand degrees fahrenheit and continued to rise steadily. The walls truly showed signs of changing colors and melting at this point.

His eyes glowed with an even brighter dark crimson light. He knew this wasn’t the limit of temperature it could radiate, but shockingly, he experienced absolutely no discomfort.

Absolutely none.

His body had been infused and tempered with magma energy, adapting to its potential heat. When he refined fire energy into his physique, he gained a bit of heat resistance, but also could sustain himself in cold temperatures for longer than normal humans.

Now, this took one portion to an absolute extreme. He was essentially immune to heat. His skin cells, muscles, hair follicles, protective eye layer, all of it! The heat did not affect him in any manner, not even his spiritual sense was distorted by the intense heat.

Blazing Inferno Magma Qi!

That wasn’t all. He felt the durability and flexibility of earth and water emerge within the magma energy. As it tempered his body, those traits were enhanced too.

“The theory that advanced elements originate from extremes and portions of the four natural elements feels truer and truer as I birth more of them,” he sighed with happiness as he dispersed his qi. The temperature dropped drastically as a result.

He recalled a qi art he had read. It was called Magma & Water Fusion Art: Explosive Rupture. It fused magma and water qi causing a destructive explosion.

It reminded him of the black skeleton image where he merged metal and lightning together into a single strike. He was curious after seeing that and entered the Scarlet Dao Temple to find it.

It was called Metal & Lightning Fusion Art: Controlled Bolt.

Normally, lightning was the hardest element to control and direct. In fact, condensing it was nearly impossible. However, by using metal qi in conjunction, lightning can be drawn in and directed with little effort. This added the two traits together and created an even greater power.

He would definitely need to spend some time on both of those arts. Who knew how much stronger it’d make him. That being said, he wondered why the previous him formed a Heart of Scarlet Qi…obviously inferior to the Heart of Elemental Qi he had plans for.

It didn’t make sense to him, but that’s the issue with looking at your future. The moment you do, it changes, and you won’t know what your previous self experienced or thought of.

Shrugging, he stretched his body and left the cave. It was time to get traveling.