Chapter 29: Essence of Earthfire, Shadow of the Seed

As soon as Lin Qingyun deactivated the defenses of Yantian Island and took over with the highest authority, Lin Qingfeng contacted Lin Kunshan. Lin Kunshan rushed over immediately and made other preparations as well. He called over the person in charge of the Tengyun Realm in the province adjacent to Yantian Island and had him pay a great price to invite a powerful cultivator at the seventh level of the Tengyun Realm.

They arrived just in time, with Lin Qingfeng roaring in anger. Having already received Lin Kunshan’s orders, the two newcomers obeyed Lin Qingfeng without question and attacked Daoist Banyue at once.

“Qingyun, be careful and retreat quickly,” Daoist Banyue warned, concerned that the arrival of two Tengyun Realm experts would endanger Lin Qingyun in the confined space, possibly involving him in the fight. Though Daoist Banyue did not fear them, he couldn’t handle them as casually as he had managed Lin Qingfeng.

“Uncle Banyue, just keep them outside. I should be fine in here,” Lin Qingyun replied, stepping further inside and sealing the alloy door behind him. In doing so, he faced the oncoming surge of earthfire.

Even Daoist Banyue had only stood outside the door earlier, guiding and hastening the completion of the Cold Medicine Fire Embryo Pill, not daring to enter. Although it was ordinary earthfire, it had been refined and concentrated into a formidable pill-refining formation; even a Tengyun Realm cultivator would struggle to withstand it. Entering the array from the periphery was dangerous enough.

“Be careful…” Daoist Banyue cautioned, but with Lin Qingyun holding the highest control, he could only brandish his horsetail whisk, blocking the two advancing experts.

“Lin Qingyun! Get out here—now!” Lin Qingfeng, having just managed to stand, roared and charged, but it was too late—his fists pounded uselessly against the alloy door.

It was a sturdy door, yet Daoist Banyue still worried it might be broken, or worse, that Lin Qingyun would be affected. He unleashed his full power, driving the two Tengyun experts back and giving Lin Qingfeng a moment to act. Frantically, Lin Qingfeng began entering his password, attempting to open the alloy door. But the highest authority was now with Lin Qingyun; no matter how many times Lin Qingfeng tried, nothing happened.

Furious, Lin Qingfeng pounded the door again and again, slashing at it with his flying sword. Deep gashes appeared on the door, but it was so thick and resilient that even a ninth-level Foundation Establishment cultivator would find it hard to break through, let alone in a short time.

“Lin Qingyun, you’re seeking death! You’re going to be burned alive—burn to death, you bastard!” Lin Qingfeng shouted, his fury barely contained.

Yet, once his anger subsided, he consoled himself with the thought that the earthfire essence within the array would soon reduce Lin Qingyun to ashes. Lin Qingyun was no Daoist Banyue; entering that place was suicide.

Meanwhile, inside the alloy door—even without fully entering the formation—Lin Qingyun had to face the raging earthfire. Upon entering, he was already at the edge of the array.

Fortunately, his inner armor was extraordinary. Activating it, he quickly changed his hand seals. Had Daoist Banyue witnessed this, he would have been astonished; although Lin Qingyun’s power didn’t match his own, his mastery of seals, his understanding of the array, and his control of the earthfire surpassed him.

Most important of all, Lin Qingyun subtly activated the Creation Pill Furnace, guiding the earthfire essence that threatened to harm him into the furnace. Though only the first layer of the Creation Pill Furnace was open, its effect was astonishing. If he weren’t concerned about drawing attention by fully activating the furnace, Lin Qingyun could absorb all the power of the array into it.

“First, sever Lin Qingfeng’s connection to the origin…” Now within the array and controlling the nearly completed Cold Medicine Fire Embryo Pill, Lin Qingyun quickly completed the first step.

“Lin Qingyun, you’ll be burned to ashes! No one can destroy my Fire Embryo Pill! I will forge a dual-path Dao foundation, ascend to Tengyun, soar to the heavens, refine my body, and become resplendent…” Lin Qingfeng cursed Lin Qingyun, convinced he could not survive inside. Yet within less than a minute, he suddenly lost his connection to the Cold Medicine Fire Embryo Pill.

He was only at the ninth level of Foundation Establishment, and had managed to fuse a sliver of his soul into the embryo pill only through long-term effort and a special technique. Once the pill was complete and refined, not only would he ascend to the Tengyun Realm, but his very foundation would be transformed.

Now, with the connection severed, it felt as if his life-bound artifact had been forcibly re-refined by another—an immense shock that caused him to spit blood, his aura weakening drastically.

“No… Impossible… How could this happen? Lin Qingyun isn’t dead—how could he sever the connection? Did he destroy my Cold Medicine Fire Embryo Pill? Did he ruin my life-bound pill?! Lin Qingyun, I’ll kill you! I’ll kill you!”

Lin Qingfeng’s rage bordered on madness; this was an opportunity that could not be bought or found, a chance born only because his father discovered the special earthfire essence beneath Yantian Island, the medicinal power permeating and condensing here. For Lin Qingfeng, this was more precious than the rarest high-grade pills—beyond any price.

That was why he was so distraught, as if he’d lost his life itself.

Lin Qingyun, still inside, had not only severed Lin Qingfeng’s connection to the Fire Embryo Pill, but was also finishing up. He could easily imagine Lin Qingfeng’s reaction outside—this was the same as destroying his very foundation.

Yet the matter of destroying one’s foundation depended on cause and effect; the logic of thieves and criminals was born of such disputes—if you rob me to enrich yourself, why can’t I take it back? The so-called logic of the criminal is even more absurd; if you hurt someone in the act, why not wait until after the fact to reason with them?

In his previous life, Lin Qingyun had not known about this. Before he had settled accounts with his second uncle’s family, Lin Qingfeng had indeed flourished for many years as a rising genius, and had eventually broken through to the Radiant Sun Realm.

But by the time Lin Qingfeng reached the Radiant Sun Realm, Lin Qingyun had already made powerful friends and stood at the pinnacle himself. Anything he wanted done, a mere glance or a word would suffice—let alone dealing with an ordinary Radiant Sun Realm cultivator; even someone beyond that level could not stand in his way.

Now that he knew, he would not allow anyone to rob him of his inheritance.

With the connection severed, and no one to complete the final fusion, the pill quickly formed. In essence, it was only a second-grade pill, but highly unusual—its value to those in need even exceeded fourth-grade pills.

Just as the pill congealed and the earthfire began to recede, Lin Qingyun reached out to collect it and paused in surprise.

“What’s happening?” In the reflux of earthfire, he sensed something strange. Were he not inside the pill-refining array—were it not for the heights he had reached in his previous life, or the presence of the Creation Pill Furnace—he might not have noticed it.

He detected a peculiar medicinal energy within the receding earthfire; inside the Creation Pill Furnace, delicate threads of an unusual medicinal power were condensing.

Refining medicine and extracting its essence was the basic function of the first layer of the Creation Pill Furnace.

“Rise…”

Noticing the anomaly, Lin Qingyun quickly reactivated the natural formation. Though laid out by a Tengyun Realm expert, it was an array that a Foundation Establishment cultivator could manage, and if Lin Qingfeng could control it, so could Lin Qingyun—with even greater ease.

The receding earthfire essence was immediately redirected by the array, growing ever more violent. The pill-refining had depleted the earthfire essence in this area; in time, it would become wild and useless.

This, clearly, was the root of why Yantian Island would eventually become a barren wasteland, no longer able to grow spirit herbs.

“Though Yantian Island can nourish spirit herbs, how could it possibly have such properties…” Lin Qingyun immediately dismissed Lin Kunshan’s and the master alchemist’s theory that the special medicinal power originated from the island’s foundation and was extracted to forge Lin Qingfeng’s life-bound pill.

To Lin Qingyun, this was not the case at all. Though Yantian Island could grow spirit herbs, it was nothing like the spirit fields in ancient ruins, cultivated for centuries and continuously nourished. It couldn’t possibly produce medicinal power independent of the herbs themselves.

More importantly, this power didn’t originate from the island, but from the earthfire essence extracted below—something Lin Kunshan likely never realized.

Though his spiritual sense could already extend outward at the Foundation Establishment level—even at seventh level, Lin Qingyun could only reach less than twenty meters, which was already impressive for his stage. This was all thanks to his enlightenment during the tribulation with the Heaven-Searing Blade, which had elevated his soul to a higher realm.

Even so, trying to probe the origin of the earthfire below with his soul was extremely difficult.

Lin Qingyun let the earthfire continue, absorbing its essence and the medicinal power with the Creation Pill Furnace, while carefully analyzing. He could feel that the essence here was almost depleted.

If completely exhausted and unleashed, the earthfire would erupt uncontrollably, and Yantian Island would be destroyed—no longer a slowly stabilizing volcanic island.

The medicinal power, too, seemed to be diminishing as the essence waned.

“No… I can’t keep absorbing this…” Lin Qingyun quickly realized that to continue would cut off the source of this special world energy, forcing him to stop.

What now? Should he wait until he was stronger to investigate? His spiritual sense could not reach far, let alone probe the depths of the earthfire below, and would be assaulted by it.

For the moment, with no better plan, Lin Qingyun considered returning to study the unique medicinal energy condensed in the Creation Pill Furnace. Suddenly, something caught his attention.

Within the Creation Pill Furnace, the medicinal power drawn from the earthfire essence had attached itself to a particular spot—a remnant of thunderfire energy left behind when the furnace absorbed the residue of the Heaven-Searing Blade’s divine lightning tribulation.

The Creation Pill Furnace could store power—medicine, fire, thunderfire, even tribulation lightning—according to Lin Qingyun’s mastery and refinement. The remaining energy was little, but the medicinal power actively gravitated toward it, an extraordinary sight.

A hum and a crack—the thunderfire energy, far more potent than the earthfire essence, caused the medicinal power to explode as it tried to absorb the force. Yet that power also triggered a transformation; a phantom appeared within the medicinal energy, as if some hidden essence was awakened.

In that moment, Lin Qingyun’s heart shook.

Within the illusion, deep inside the earthfire essence, seeds were gestating. What truly shocked Lin Qingyun was their familiarity—they were multicolored, the very seeds his mother had collected from their various homes to assemble their family portrait.