Chapter 1652: Heavenly Fire Refines the Golden Body

"If this continues, I will surely be burned to death..."

Knowing that continued burning would leave nothing behind, Zhang Xuan hesitated no longer. His mind moved again, and the Soul True Solution activated, launching an attack that charged toward the flames before him.

The soul force, almost tangible, struck the pitch-black flames fiercely. In an instant, the latter exploded into countless tiny sparks. However, before he could react, they gathered again and continued to incinerate his physical body.

"I can shatter them, but... the flames recover too quickly..."

Zhang Xuan's expression turned grave.

His earlier attack with the Soul True Solution was merely a test to see if it would work. To his surprise, it succeeded in one blow. Unfortunately, the flames coalesced too swiftly; even if shattered, it made little difference.

"That's right, the Time True Solution..."

A flash of inspiration struck.

No matter how fast the flames gathered, they still required time. As long as time existed, he could employ the Time True Solution!

"Break!"

The soul gathered and attacked again, and at the same moment, a finger lightly tapped forward.

Hum!

Everything before his eyes slowed once more. The pitch-black flames parted slowly before him, and after reaching a certain distance, they converged toward the center.

"Separate for me!"

With intense concentration, he attached himself to a tiny cluster of flames. Under the impact, this small flame, as expected, flew off to one side.

After successively separating more than a dozen small flames, the time acceleration ended. Sure enough, he felt that the burning pain had lessened considerably.

"So the larger the flame, the stronger the burning power..." Zhang Xuan breathed a sigh of relief, his eyes shining.

At the same temperature, a pile of fire is certainly more threatening than scattered sparks.

After several attempts, the black flame was divided into hundreds of parts. Sure enough, he felt that burning sensation disappear, and his soul body could now withstand it.

"Time, space, soul... three of the most difficult true interpretations to cultivate, gathered in one person... only he could possibly achieve this..."

The Dragon Bone Divine Spear on the side, never expecting such a maneuver, couldn't help but stare blankly, murmuring to itself.

Originally, in its view, once the Supreme Heavenly Fire descended, this person would surely be burned to death on the spot. Unexpectedly, he took a different path, using three rebellious true interpretations to successfully defuse the danger.

"However, this is only temporary. Even if he can withstand the burning of the soul, the burning of the spirit, and the burning of the heart, it will surely be difficult to hold out..."

Shaking its head, it still held little optimism that this person could survive this heavenly fire tribulation.

...

"This is much better..."

Ignoring the Bone Dragon's concerns, seeing the flames split and the burning sensation less intense than before, Zhang Xuan finally relaxed. Fortunately, he had comprehended the true interpretations of time, space, and soul; otherwise, he wouldn't know what to do.

Hum!

The golden light on the surface of the soul body blazed brightly, evenly blocking the numerous small flames. The burning sensation weakened considerably, and the pain also subsided.

Continuously circulating power, the golden light grew stronger. Whenever the black heavenly fire began to converge, he used the soul true interpretation to shatter it. In the short term, though exhausted, he could still hold on.

"Try to expel the innate fetal poison..."

Seeing no immediate danger, Zhang Xuan knew the opportunity was rare and his eyes flickered.

If the innate fetal poison was not resolved, he would die sooner or later. Since he had this chance, he might as well test the effect.

With high concentration, he once again executed an attack from the soul true interpretation, splitting a bean-sized flame into sesame-sized pieces. Driven by his mental power, they slowly surged toward the hidden location of the innate fetal poison. The scorching power continuously radiated through the golden light into the soul body.

Whoosh!

Immediately, pain as if being torn apart.

"Why no effect?"

After a moment, Zhang Xuan frowned.

Master Kong had said that the burning of heavenly fire could eliminate the innate fetal poison, but... after burning for a long time, the fetal poison remained unmoved, showing no change at all, as if it had no fear of this thing.

"Could it be... to draw the flame into the soul?"

His pupils contracted.

Just now, the heavenly fire had scorched him, but it was blocked by the golden light, merely scratching the surface without penetrating inside. The fetal toxin remained unaffected—could this be the reason?

But...

His soul was weak. Drawing such a powerful flame into it might leave the fetal toxin unharmed while he himself was burned to death.

"Forget it. If I don't try, I'll die sooner or later anyway."

Knowing the fetal toxin was there made it hard to eat or sleep. Without much hesitation, he activated his technique, the golden light pressing down as he continued to resist the heavenly fire. At the same time, with a flicker of his mind, a tiny wisp of flame was instantly drawn into his soul.

Sizzle!

Like raw meat thrown into a furnace, a burning sound erupted. The intense pain penetrated to the marrow, making his scalp feel as if it would split, and his entire being grew dizzy.

He hurriedly looked down and saw that where the heavenly fire had burned, a pit had formed. The soul substance in that pit had become much thinner, as if it might collapse at any moment.

"This... it's impossible!"

His face turned grim.

Having absorbed only a tiny bit, his soul nearly collapsed. If he absorbed more, wouldn't he be crippled on the spot?

"What should I do?"

Originally, he had thought that with the appearance of the heavenly fire, it would be easy to get through, and he could even resolve the hidden danger of the congenital fetal toxin. He never dreamed it would turn out like this.

"Keep splitting. If sesame-seed-sized won't work, then split it to the size of a needle tip!"

He gritted his teeth.

Splitting the heavenly fire reduced the burning sensation. Since that was the case, he would continue splitting until his soul could bear it.

With that thought, Zhang Xuan continued to strike with his soul.

Having reached his level of cultivation, even something as tiny as a speck of dust could be clearly seen with his divine sense, including the pits on its surface.

After three consecutive attempts, the sesame-seed-sized flame became only as large as a needle tip, yet it still burned fiercely, giving the impression that it could melt anything.

"Absorb..."

He continued to split the flame, pushing one particle toward his soul. In an instant, it entered.

Sizzle!

The flame flew toward the fetal toxin, which indeed showed some fear and retreated repeatedly.

But the flame was too small. Although the fetal toxin was afraid, it couldn't be harmed.

"Keep absorbing..."

With another flicker of his mind, he absorbed another particle of flame into his body. The fetal toxin retreated again, but before long, the tiny heavenly fire was completely extinguished.

"The soul has grown stronger!"

After absorbing two particles of flame, the soul substance where they passed became noticeably tougher, as if tempered a thousand times. The golden light also became more resplendent.

"So heavenly fire can indeed refine the golden body..."

Zhang Xuan's eyes lit up. "Forget the fetal toxin for now. Once I've tempered the entire soul, even if it wants to escape, it won't be able to!"

Filled with excitement, he was about to shatter the other flames and temper his whole body when he felt the storage ring on his physical finger tremble, and a figure suddenly appeared before him.

The clone!

For some reason, this fellow had come out of the folded space on his own.

"Can't even handle a single heavenly fire. Cultivating so slowly—I really can't stand watching anymore..."

Shooting Zhang Xuan a contemptuous glance, the clone shot straight toward the dark clouds in the sky.

Rumble!

A mass of heavenly fire fell from the sky. The clone opened his mouth wide and swallowed it into his belly.

"..."

Zhang Xuan's face twitched.