Chapter 732: Five Radiance Golden Body, Second Layer

The core fire rock, the hottest part of the earth fire, formed after thousands of years of refinement, is a scorching ore containing infinite flame power. An ordinary cultivator would be burned upon touching it with a palm.

Usually, six-star artifact refiners use it as charcoal to smelt items that are difficult to refine. Unexpectedly, with the support of a formation, it was arranged into this so-called earth fire passage.

Under the illumination of the Eye of Clarity, the formation before him was extremely profound. Not only could it radiate the heat of the core fire rock, making it hard to endure, but it also absorbed spiritual energy from the surroundings to maintain the energy cycle within the rock.

Thus, the passage had existed for who knows how many years, and the rock's spirituality remained as perfect as ever, without any loss.

"If I stop the formation, it would be cheating... I want to break the record fair and square!"

After looking for a while, he smiled slightly.

Although the formation before him was intricate, with his insight, stopping it would be very simple.

Once stopped, the passage would certainly not be so hot. Not to mention staying for seventeen minutes, even spending the New Year inside would be fine.

But doing so would be somewhat opportunistic, not his style.

Breaking a record, why cheat?

Am I the type to cheat?

"Five Radiance Golden Body!"

Smiling slightly, Zhang Xuan curled his lips.

The reason he was happy to see the core fire rock earlier was not because he found the formation base, but... this thing was exactly what he needed to cultivate the second layer of the Five Radiance Golden Body!

Back in the underground palace, when he merged the Five Radiance Golden Body manual with the many manuals given by Luo Qiqi, although it formed the Heaven's Path功法, there were four defects.

The defect of the second layer was that to cultivate it, one must use core fire rock!

Because this thing was hard to find and rare, he had only cultivated the first layer and left that place. Now that he encountered it, how could he miss the opportunity!

The first layer of Five Radiance Golden Body had already increased his physical strength to 4 million cauldrons. Would the second layer be even higher?

"Let's try!"

Acting on the thought, he dispersed his protective true qi, smiled slightly, opened his pores, and began to absorb frantically.

For others, even if they had the same technique and knew the location of the core fire rock, they would not dare to act rashly.

He was different. With the Eye of Clarity and the Heaven's Path Library, all the flaws and defects of this passage were clear before his eyes. He knew where to cultivate to absorb the rock's spiritual power without harming his body.

Sitting cross-legged, he activated the Red Dust Heaven-Treading Steps, suspended in the middle of the passage, adjusted his position so that the four core fire rocks aligned with four acupoints on his body. His chest rose and fell, and after a few breaths, the scorching flames around him drilled into his body along the acupoints like fire dragons.

Crackle!

Under the scorching heat of the fire dragons, his muscles and bones were beaten like whips, producing a series of explosions.

His face flushed, Zhang Xuan clenched his fists.

Cultivating a flawed technique was indeed troublesome. Not to mention other things, this second layer required not only core fire rock but also the quenching flames, which caused immense pain to the body.

If not for his firm will and strong soul power, he might have fainted on the spot.

Gurgle, gurgle!

However, although the pain was intense, the results were obvious. His previously solid and unyielding body, which was hard to improve, now expanded like a balloon. Endurance, toughness, defense... all increased visibly.

4 million cauldrons!

4.5 million cauldrons!

5 million cauldrons!

6 million cauldrons!

...

Time passed quietly, and soon it reached as much as 8 million cauldrons!

The peak of the Bridge Heaven stage was only 6.2 million cauldrons, and the early stage of the Return to One stage had 8 million cauldrons!

That is to say, now, relying solely on his physical body, he could fight an early Return to One stage expert. With true qi and soul power, even a mid-stage Void Step expert would find it hard to defeat him!

Terrifying!

Whoosh!

Exhaling a mouthful of turbid qi, Zhang Xuan landed on the ground.

The second layer of Five Radiance Golden Body was already cultivated.

As for the third layer, the required treasure was One Yuan Heavy Water, which was the opposite of core fire rock. Even if he wanted to cultivate, he couldn't, so he had to stop for now.

"Having cultivated the second layer of Five Radiance Golden Body, the heat here can no longer affect me..."

Standing quietly in place, he looked around.

The advancement of Five Radiance Golden Body not only increased his strength but, more importantly, his body had become completely immune to the heat of the core fire rock. Although this place was unbearable for others, for him, it was nothing. He could lie down and sleep without getting hurt.

"It's still early to go out... Since I'm breaking the record, I might as well get the credit..."

He frowned.

The Five Radiance Golden Body was indeed a Heaven's Path technique, but he had only cultivated a fifth of it, so it didn't take long. Although he hadn't calculated carefully, he knew that if he went out now, he probably wouldn't pass.

"Let's try cultivating soul power!"

Since he was staying anyway, he moved his mind and his witch soul left his body.

The reason the spiritual energy in the Purification Pool could be absorbed by the soul was that this spiritual energy had been tempered and washed by earth fire, separating the turbid from the clear.

The passage before him, formed by core fire rock and a formation, contained spiritual energy that had also been tempered and should be suitable for soul absorption.

Ignoring his physical body, his witch soul hovered in the air.

Ordinary witch souls fear sunlight and yang-type things like fire, but he was different. The Heaven's Path witch soul had no such defect. Although this place was like a furnace, his soul could roam freely inside without any harm.

Currently, he only had the Heaven's Path witch soul technique up to the Spirit Fusion stage. To break through and continue cultivating was difficult, but he could absorb spiritual energy just like in the Purification Pool to increase his soul body.

Last time, because of that fool of a clone's snatching, his soul body was still a bit short of ten meters. With this spiritual energy, he could try to break through the bottleneck.

Zzzzz!

The huge soul body took a breath, and the pure spiritual energy tempered by the core fire rock poured straight into its body, nourishing the soul.

"It works indeed..."

His eyes flashed, and Zhang Xuan almost jumped with excitement.

No wonder it was a rare treasure needed even by the Five Radiance Golden Body. The spiritual energy tempered by core fire rock was purer than that of the Purification Pool, an absolute tonic for the witch soul.

"Heh, this time I won't release the clone. I'll absorb it all with my main body first!"

Having learned from the experience in the Purification Pool, knowing that once that fool of a clone acted, even the main body couldn't compare, Zhang Xuan decided not to release it for now, waiting until he had absorbed enough and could no longer improve.

...

While he was absorbing, the outside had become a mess.

An hour had passed since he entered the earth fire passage.

Everyone thought he would run out in three to five minutes. Not coming out for so long... Could he have died inside?

"The formation mechanism of the earth fire passage has recognition. If the challenger truly loses life signs, he will be immediately sent out..."

Luo Yan frowned.

He had been in the earth fire passage and had studied it.

If a challenger really died inside, he would also be sent out.

Not coming out and not being sent out meant... he was still alive and still persisting!

Did this guy really enter the earth fire passage?

Or did he go somewhere cool to eat?

Wasn't this too exaggerated?

To be honest, not only was he going crazy, but the onlookers outside were also somewhat frantic.

Others breaking records by a few seconds or a minute or two was already impressive. This guy, on the other hand, exceeded it several times and still hadn't come out... Was he planning to live inside?

"The earth fire passage is scorching hot, enough to melt steel. Staying for an hour..."

Swallowing his saliva, Luo Yan couldn't help but turn to Li Xuan: "Are you... sure he's really a new student?"

"He told me himself... It should be true. Besides, if he were an old student, he should have been heard of before..."

Li Xuan quickly nodded, also twitching her mouth.

She was also a master teacher with sharp eyes. When this guy asked questions earlier, he knew nothing, so he wasn't faking.

An outsider said he wanted to challenge the record. She thought it was just a helpless remark, never dreaming that he not only did it but succeeded!

This was a record that the Master Teacher Academy had kept for who knows how many years, one that everyone wanted to break but couldn't!

"I thought he was overestimating himself earlier..."

Remembering that she had despised him earlier, now it seemed she should despise herself!

He truly had the ability and strength!

Ridiculous that she had eyes but couldn't see...

"New student..."

Hearing the confirmation, Luo Yan's mouth also twitched.

He had stayed in the earth fire passage for three minutes, boasting for who knows how many years, earning admiration from countless people. This guy, on the other hand, went in and didn't come out. He himself had mocked him earlier...

Thinking of this, his face felt burning pain.

Not to mention him, even if the ten elders of the academy came in person, it would be hard to exceed seventeen minutes, let alone an hour.

"Senior, the earth fire passage is extremely dangerous. Even if this Master Zhang has a strong physical body, he can't stay forever. Could something have happened?" After waiting a while with no movement, a master teacher couldn't help but ask.

Breaking a record should have limits. Exceeding it by half was shocking, but now exceeding it several times was beyond imagination.

"Hmm, I don't understand either. How about this: you wait here, and I'll go find the teacher! He's knowledgeable and should know what's going on!"

Luo Yan hesitated and then said.

He walked out and soon arrived at a room.

"Teacher!"

He knocked on the door.

"Luo Yan, what's the matter?"

An old man in the room looked up.

Vice Dean of the Artifact Academy, Yuan Hong!

Six-star upper-grade master teacher (six-star peak), six-star peak artifact refiner. In the Artifact Academy, his status was second only to the dean.

"Teacher, someone is challenging the earth fire passage record!"

Luo Yan quickly said.

"Earth fire passage? The seventeen-minute record has stumped many. That barrier is not easy to cross!"

Sighing, Yuan Hong smiled, stroked his beard, and looked over: "Who is it? Lu Wu, Chen Hai, or Du Jiu? The Artifact Academy has been declining with each generation. Only these few might still give it a try!"