Chapter 374 Golden Crow Art
Shennong Peak, the thunderstorm had lasted for two days and nights.
"Damn it, how long is this cursed weather going to last? It can't be endless, right?" Xiang Jie sat under a rock, cursing nonstop.
Mu Ziping also looked quite displeased. They had been trapped here for two days already. When would it end?
After two days of calm, Murong Fei's mood had improved considerably. Now, she quietly watched outside, wondering about the guy who had continued climbing—had he found an opportunity, or had he fallen off a cliff and died?
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"Normally, it lasts about two or three days, it couldn't possibly last too long, but we should also prepare for the worst. Let's meditate and cultivate; there's nothing else we can do right now!" Xiang Yuanming spoke.
The elders, being older, were able to stay calm. They comforted their young charges and then sat down to meditate and cultivate.
By now, Ling Fan had already crossed the third balcony and was climbing towards the cave where the woman in red resided. Along the way, he had rested for a night on the second and third balconies.
It was now the third day, and in this time, he had been struck by lightning countless times, feeling his physical and spiritual strength continuously grow—this was the result of the thunder's refinement!
"Am I almost there?" Ling Fan murmured softly, steadfastly moving towards that unknown destination guided by his heart.
At that moment, the woman in red was just a few dozen meters above Ling Fan's head, her expression filled with immense complexity. It had been a very long time since she had seen this silhouette.
"I hope that this time, you can truly soar to the Nine Heavens and not fail again. A hundred thousand years is really too long!" the woman in red said softly.
In Ling Fan's mind, he seemed to faintly hear a voice that was barely there, causing him to involuntarily turn his head towards the direction where the woman in red was.
However, where his gaze landed, there was nothing, and feeling odd about it, he turned his attention back and continued to climb.
The woman in red watched as Ling Fan was only a few yards away from reaching the ancient cave. Suddenly, her figure flashed, transforming into twinkling stars, and turned into a golden stream of light, shooting back into the cave.
"Whew—"
Summoning his last bit of strength, Ling Fan finally managed to jump up to the entrance of the cave.
Looking at the deep, dark cave before him, a scorching breath burst forth from deep within the cave.
Shortly after the woman shot back into the cave, the thunderstorm gradually subsided, the dark clouds dispersed, and sunlight fell, leaving a clear, blue sky.
"Damn, this cursed weather changes at the drop of a hat. The thunderstorm is finally over, but it better not suddenly start again out of nowhere!" Xiang Jie grumbled as he stepped out from under the rock.
Xiang Yuanming looked up at the weather and shook his head. "It shouldn't!"
"We're already here. How about we go up and randomly find a cave, take our chances? Who knows if that kid is dead or alive!" Mu Ziping suggested.
Murong Mei looked at her young mistress. "Miss, I think we shouldn't continue upward. Let's try our luck below the second balcony instead!"
By this time, Murong Fei had already lost the ambition and intense desire to hunt for treasures that she had when she first arrived.
"Alright, let's try our luck then!" Murong Fei nodded.
If it weren't for her curiosity, wanting to see if she could wait for that young man from before, she might have asked to return by now!
Actually, Xiang Jie and Mu Ziping also harbored the same thoughts, but unlike Murong Fei, their goal was the treasures on Ling Fan's person!
Thus, the group dispersed, continuing upward from behind the rocks, randomly entering a cave to start their exploration.
Standing near the cave entrance at the peak, Ling Fan took a deep breath. Under heightened alertness, he expanded his Divine Sense only to find that it had nearly doubled the area it covered before.
With joy in his heart, he walked step by step into the ancient cave. Even though his Divine Sense could extend up to two hundred meters, he still couldn't perceive the end of the cave.
Moreover, as he delved deeper, the range of his Divine Sense exploration became smaller and smaller, suppressed by some force, and the temperature also increased!
The route through this ancient cave was complex, full of forks like a labyrinth. However, at each fork, it always seemed as though he was guided by an unseen force, instinctively knowing which path to take.
Ling Fan couldn't guess how long he had wandered, but after turning a corner, he suddenly felt the space in front of him open up—a vast underground palace!
At the same time, a sea of flames appeared before him, the flames blossoming like red lotuses, mesmerizingly beautiful.
The wave of heat that hit his face was not suffocating but even carried a hint of coolness, causing Ling Fan to wonder if he was hallucinating!
Looking at the mesmerizing flames in front of him, Ling Fan was shocked, his eyes widening as he stuttered, "This... this is Exotic Fire?"
"Hu~"
It took him a while to gather his thoughts from the shock, unable to suppress his elation, "Exotic Fire, does that mean I can now cultivate the 'Golden Crow Art' mentioned in the Limitless Secret Tome?"
It really was a case of speaking of the devil. He had come to Shennong Peak merely hoping for a stroke of luck, and unexpectedly, he really found the existence of Exotic Fire!
Without another word, he sat down cross-legged and began to meditate according to the Spell Formula of the 'Golden Crow Art'.
As the Spell Formula circulated, Ling Fan felt anxious and expectant. According to the record of the formula, only the Exotic Fire could be refined and absorbed during the first circulation. Ordinary flames would not be assimilated.
In his state of nervous anticipation, the Red Lotus Fire began unwinding and drifting towards Ling Fan's body, subsequently being absorbed into him.
Feeling the slight warmth of the fire merging with his flesh and meridians, Ling Fan's heart pounded uncontrollably, his body shaking with excitement.
"Is it really Exotic Fire?" Ling Fan wept openly.
Back when he was on Earth, he had turned everything upside down but found no trace of Exotic Fire. Unexpectedly, he found it at Shennong Peak!
If he had mastered the Golden Crow Art back then, what would the Eight-Nation Alliance have amounted to?
According to the Limitless Secret Tome, the 'Golden Crow Art' can develop the 'Golden Crow Dao Body', one of the supreme Taoist Bodies, indestructible and reborn from fire.
And a Taoist Body is the hallmark of a Transcendance Tribulation Stage Cultivator. They are few in the cosmos, each one a force that stabilizes the fate of a realm.
The Limitless Secret Tome often mentioned secrets of the vast cosmos, which had always intrigued Ling Fan.
Once, he thought some depictions in the tome were mere mythical fabrications.
But at this moment, as the Exotic Fire refined, his interest in the vast universe surged anew. When a person gains more capabilities to explore the unknown, naturally, they will develop greater ambitions.
Ling Fan suppressed the excitement in his heart and focused on running the Golden Crow Art, beginning to absorb the flames from the sea of fire frantically.
Above the sea of fire, the figure of a woman in red appeared, quietly watching as the fire strands were absorbed by Ling Fan.
"This 'Red Lotus Karma Fire' was not easy to bring here from the endless void; this is all I can help you with," the woman in red said softly, standing amidst the flames.