Chapter 985 Innate Fire Advancement 2

“Take care, Brother Lin!”

Seeing Lin Chen merely thanked him, Wang Chen knew that Lin Chen still planned to stay here.

Wang Chen left, but before he did, he gave Lin Chen a Jade Scroll. Lin Chen immersed his Divine Thought into it, and after a while, there was a gleam in his eyes.

This Jade Scroll is a map of the Holy Fire Realm, with red-line areas and yellow-line areas.

The yellow-line areas are regions explored by disciples who entered the Holy Fire Realm in previous sessions, while the red-line areas were explored by Wang Chen’s group.

The two regions have overlapping and non-overlapping parts. Lin Chen determined his location based on his direction of arrival and, after comparison, found that most of the topography matched that marked on the map, with only a small part having changed.

If it only marked the topography, the map wouldn’t be very useful. What made Lin Chen happy was that the map also marked the locations of some Innate Fires.

These were discovered by successive disciples of the Ten Thousand Flames Sect. These Innate Fires are very powerful and beyond their ability to refine. Marking them was a reminder for future disciples to avoid these areas.

The Holy Fire Realm opens once every thirty years. This time is quite long for a Martial Artist, but not for an Innate Fire. Many Innate Fires remain dormant for several thirty-year cycles, so even if changes occur, they wouldn’t be significant.

For Lin Chen, having this map allows him to quickly head to the locations of these Innate Fires and devour them.

Knowing that there exists a super Innate Fire in the Holy Fire Realm, this map is invaluable.

…

…

Seven days later.

At the base of a huge, nearly depleted volcano in the depths of the Holy Fire Realm, Lin Chen sat cross-legged, surrounded by hundreds of Fire Source Pearls glittering with a warm and abundant luster. At this moment, his mind was fully immersed in his Dantian.

The newly born Innate Fire Seed, forged from four top-tier Innate Fires, was no longer a weak flame.

After absorbing a full thirty-five different and characteristic Innate Fires’ origins, it expanded to an unprecedented scale, resembling a shrunken crimson-gold sun, suspended at the center of Lin Chen’s Dantian, quietly yet intensely pulsating.

With a thought from Lin Chen, the flame floated slowly out of the Dantian, hovering in mid-air.

Each pulsation of the flame slightly twisted the void, emitting a heart-pounding heat and immense pressure. The terrifying energy contained within it was nearing a critical point.

With the advantage of the map, Lin Chen had devoured thirty-five Innate Fires in seven days, harvesting hundreds of Fire Source Pearls.

Without this map, it would have taken him a month or even longer to find these thirty-five Innate Fires.

Innate Fires never meet; the distance between any two is vast. A wrong direction means an even longer journey.

For Lin Chen, upon discovering other Innate Fires, he could choose to refine them, but first, the Racing Against Time hadn’t provided guidance, and second, the time required to refine an Innate Fire is uncertain—perhaps a day, or it could be several or even half a month.

The dangerous environment of the Holy Fire Realm couldn’t support him in refining an Innate Fire.

Yet, even without refining an Innate Fire, after absorbing thirty-five of them, he had to stop now because the Innate Fire inside him was about to advance.

Lin Chen had anticipation in his eyes; he was eager to know how much power his new Innate Fire would gain after advancing.

The advancement of Innate Fire is simple; as long as there is enough energy, it can advance. Lin Chen’s task was to watch, and if the advancement process wasn’t enough, he would throw in a Fire Source Pearl.

Without much guidance from Lin Chen, the flame seemed to have its own will and instinct, beginning to rotate on its own. As it rotated, the fire waves permeating the air and even the residual warmth of a subterranean Earth Fire vein were drawn by an invisible suction force.

In an instant, a huge, slowly rotating flame vortex visible to the naked eye formed.

Endless flame energy—red, gold, cyan, blue…—intermixed with the colors of other devoured Innate Fires, all manifested within the vortex.

It was like numerous pigments thrown into a stirring vat of dye, and at this moment, someone was stirring it, with waves of terrifying high temperature emanating like a tide.

The inner walls of the entire exhausted volcano rumbled with a low hum from this horrifying energy tide.

As the flame vortex spun, its colors began to slowly blend, reducing from multicolored to just about ten, until finally only a pure crimson-gold remained.

The crimson-gold vortex began collapsing inward, but the brightness at its center soared at an extraordinary pace, transforming from scorching to glaring until it almost turned pure white. Lin Chen was certain that if he weren’t the master of this Innate Fire, it would be impossible to endure such a temperature even with the Peak of Fourth Layer Immortal Body.

This temperature was not just simple high heat but carried a terrifying intensity that scorched even the Divine Soul, far more frightening than the physical pressure he had endured in the Thousandfold Secret Realm.

Fortunately for Lin Chen, although the temperature released during the advancement process of the Innate Fire was terrifying, the process itself was rather smooth.

There were no signs of out-of-control energy collisions, as if it were a natural progression, a Natural Progress with the huge Innate Fire energy being continuously absorbed as the vortex shrank.

When the energy absorption reached its peak, the dazzling white light within the vortex contracted suddenly, and at that instant, the entire vortex ceased its rotation, leaving a brand new flame quietly floating out.

As the vortex collapsed and disappeared, Lin Chen gazed at this new flame with a look of fascination in his eyes.

Although the flame’s color had not changed, still with a golden exterior, a cyan interior, and a central core of dark blue, this time the colors were enchanting, possessing an indescribable beauty beyond words.

The beauty of nature, the beauty of the great Dao.

Lin Chen opened his right hand, and the flame floated onto his palm, merging into his palm and disappearing.

Simultaneously, in his Dantian, the flame transformed once again into a fire, hanging high within the Dantian. Its volume had shrunk compared to before, but its color was more pure and profound, with the flame’s form more restrained and harmonious, and the core exuding a glass-like warm yet sharp radiance.

The solar ember quietly hanged, yet continuously emitting brilliance, permeating Lin Chen’s organs, blood, acupoints—every part of his body felt akin to a furnace with intense heat.

For Lin Chen, this transformation was not unexpected.

Any Martial Artist who refines an Innate Fire finds that it constantly tempers their body while residing within. As the Innate Fire level increases, it will temper the body again, presenting an opportunity for Martial Artists to enhance their physical form.

In the sixth layer of the Thousand Illusion Secret Realm, Lin Chen cultivated his Immortal Body to the Fourth Layer, and then, entering the seventh layer, his physical strength increased once again, but he couldn’t break through to the Fifth Layer.

Lin Chen had an intuition that perhaps with the advancement of the Innate Fire, he might have a chance to bring his Immortal Body to the Fifth Layer.

However, because it wasn’t his first time refining Innate Fire, this round of Innate Fire body tempering was a slow process.

Half a two-hour period later, when his body returned to normal, Lin Chen collected the Fire Source Pearls, and just as he planned to leave the crater, he suddenly concealed his presence.

From above him, a voice was heard.

“Big Brother, aren’t we going to find the Holy Fire Hall?”

“The Holy Fire Hall? That’s not something we can meddle with. At this chance, see if we can discover a newly born Innate Fire. Just finding one can fetch a good price in the outside world. I just sensed the unique aura of an Innate Fire here, but now it’s gone, perfectly aligning with the Innate Fire’s nature. Sensing our arrival, this Innate Fire has hidden itself.”

“Big Brother means there’s an Innate Fire below this volcano? But this volcano is clearly depleted.”

“Never underestimate an Innate Fire. Every Innate Fire possesses intelligence not inferior to our Human Race. The fact that the volcano is abandoned… who would think that an Innate Fire would hide here?”