Chapter 98

Chapter 98: Blazing Body

Rong Shu snapped her fingers and said: “Blazing Body…” as a small spray of sparks burst from her fingertips.

She explained, voice low with focus: “Blazing Body moves the fire-attribute spiritual qi from within the body to the surface of the skin, then releases it as flame.”

She added with calm certainty: “The flame released does not threaten the user.”

Rong Shu circulated the fire qi in her meridians, and suddenly the tiny flame at her fingertip surged in an instant.

She frowned and assessed: “But a flame at this level still doesn’t count as the Blazing Body state.”

She thought it through carefully, murmuring to herself: “If I compare the skin on the surface of my body to a layer of gasoline, then the flame is what burns continuously on that gasoline, releasing heat.”

Raising her left hand, she drew in a steady breath and gathered all of her internal fire qi into that hand.

Whoosh!

Her entire left arm ignited.

The flames wrapped her whole left arm, enclosing it completely, yet she did not feel any heat upon her skin.

She yelped as the fire licked her sleeve and cried: “Ah, ah… my sleeve!” Her eyes widened for a heartbeat, and she hurried to pinch the flame out.

She glanced down in relief and muttered: “Fortunately the sect disciple robes carry some built-in protection.” After a few seconds of burning, the cloth was still mostly intact.

She lowered her head, stared at her clothes, and fretted: “I nearly forgot, Blazing Body… then what about the clothes I’m wearing?” She sank into thought. [I can’t burn up a whole set of robes just to win one fight, can I?]

Rong Shu sifted through the Blazing Body cultivation method in her memory and recited, seeking the key: “Qi condenses into flame, within it lies the core, and within the innermost core there is fire without heat that does not burn the body.”

She tilted her head, a spark of realization in her eyes, and thought: [Oh, right.]

She reasoned it out clearly: flames condensed from fire spiritual qi are different from ordinary mortal fire; the flame’s core generates no heat.

She concluded with a plan: “As long as I keep my clothing within the range of the flame’s inner core, it naturally won’t be burned.”

Acting on that principle, Rong Shu tried again.

She flinched as cloth singed and exclaimed: “Ah! It’s burning again, burning again!”

She clenched her jaw and urged herself: “Once more.”

She slowed her breath and coached herself with patience: “Steady, slower, no rush.”

She yowled as heat flared outside the inner core and invoked a playful prayer: “Aaaah! Water Consort, protect me!” A ribbon of water streamed from her right fingertips and hissed across her left arm, dousing the flames.

She shook out her sleeve and said: “Continue.”

She set her jaw and said: “Try again.”

She fell into wordless concentration: “…”

Unconsciously, two hours slipped by.

The Outer Sect disciple robes she wore were on the weak side for protection, and after several mishaps she had to admit with a wince: half of one sleeve was as good as ruined.

She did not know how many attempts she had made; after the sleeve was half ruined, she tried another twenty or so times and finally found the proper radius for the flame’s inner core.

She checked the result and grinned: the core now enveloped the remnant of her sleeve, and it no longer burned.

She punched the air with delight and shouted: “Success!”

Catching the feeling at last, Rong Shu split off half of her fire qi and channeled it into her right arm.

Whoosh!

Her right arm flared to life as well.

For a brief moment, both of her arms looked as if she were wearing thick, flaming gauntlets.

She maintained the state a while, then let the fire go out with measured control.

She assessed her reserves and admitted: “I spent a lot of fire qi just to find the feeling, so I can’t kindle my whole body yet.”

Rong Shu sat cross-legged on the meditation mat and began to draw in fire-attribute qi.

The training room was inscribed with a Spirit Gathering Formation, which saved her quite a few Spirit Gathering Pills and multiplied the speed of absorption severalfold.

A short while later she opened her eyes, steady and bright, then returned to cultivating Blazing Body in earnest.

…

After returning to the sect, Rong Shu resumed her three-point routine as always.

Since she did not need to visit the forbidden valley for the time being, she simply circulated among the Spirit Nurturing Peak training room, the Spirit Nurturing Peak dueling grounds, and Lin Dao’s residence on the Inner Peaks.

Three days later in the afternoon, having heard in advance that there would be a challenge match between Golden Core Stage disciples, Rong Shu arrived early and claimed the best vantage point.

Moments later, the match began.

The sect elder serving as referee and the two duel’s protagonists all stepped onto the dueling platform.

After verifying both disciples’ identities, the sect elder announced with solemn clarity: “This is a Golden Core Stage challenge match.”

He declared the particulars crisply: “Defender: Zhong Jue, mid-stage Golden Core, superior-grade Fire Spiritual Root.”

He continued with the challenger’s details: “Challenger: Shi Ji Cai, mid-stage Golden Core, mid-grade Metal Spiritual Root.”

He paused as the murmurs rose: “…”

Rong Shu looked to the two men on the platform, one in the robes of a personal disciple and the other in the robes of an Inner Sect disciple.

Nearby onlookers traded quick opinions, a buzz of voices overlapping into a tide:

One disciple whispered with surprise: “Shi Ji Cai is actually challenging Zhong Jue? If I remember right, the two of them entered the sect at almost the same time, and in their many bouts Zhong Jue has won more often.”

Another mulled it over and suggested: “Maybe he has a trump card. The newly finalized grand tournament roster only has a few mid-stage Golden Core cultivators. Zhong Jue is a familiar opponent; perhaps Shi Ji Cai chose him for that very reason.”

A third disciple folded his arms and said with confidence: “I favor Zhong Jue. He just became a personal disciple, which means there must be something exceptional we don’t know about him for the notoriously strict Elder Zhu Qin to value him.”

A contrary voice chuckled and countered: “I’m backing Shi Ji Cai. Upsets happen.”

The crowd’s murmurs flowed on: “…”

A protective formation shimmered to life around the platform at that moment.

Veterans in the stands remarked with understanding: Golden Core Stage duels were a different beast from Foundation Establishment or Qi Refining bouts, and the barrier existed to guard spectators from stray blasts and shockwaves.

The sect elder lifted a hand and announced, clear and steady: “The match begins.”

At the instant his voice fell, the two on the platform moved.

Zhong Jue was a sword cultivator, while Shi Ji Cai was a blade cultivator.

Sword and blade clashed again and again, various auxiliary arts weaving through the exchanges until it was dazzling to the eye.

A Qi Refining Stage disciple rubbed his aching eyes and groaned: “They’re too fast, I can’t keep up.”

Another Qi Refining Stage disciple stared at the two figures hanging in midair and sighed with yearning: “So powerful. When will I reach the Golden Core Stage?”

Rong Shu, too, fixed her gaze on the pair on the platform.

They were simply too fast.

Even when she quietly tried to sense the changes in airflow over the stage to deduce their trajectories, it was difficult to track them both.

After more than ten seconds, Rong Shu gave up on bare eyesight, reached into her Storage Pouch, and drew out a monocle-like artifact.

She held it to her right eye and, at last, the two combatants’ movements became clear.

This was a treasure she had scavenged from the black market, useful for letting lower-realm cultivators see the movements of higher-realm opponents, though it was limited to opponents at the Golden Core Stage.

Suddenly a massive plume of flame surged skyward, bathing half the platform in fiery light.

Rong Shu started and blurted in recognition: “That’s… Blazing Body?”