Chapter 140 - 106: Frenzied Consciousness and the Eye of Truth

Chapter 140: Chapter 106: Frenzied Consciousness and the Eye of Truth

After resting for a moment, they continued their descent.

The flame storms erupted at regular intervals, but with the experience from the first time, Ella had already learned how to use Nightmare Witchcraft to transform memory fragments into controllable dreams, which were then shared among everyone through Chen Shang’s Spiritual Resonance.

However, apart from the explosive surge the first time, the subsequent increases were much slower, as if the Spiritual Power accumulated over all these years had been drained dry. Ultimately, Ella’s increased from 170 to 185, Chen Shang’s from 109 to 125, Evelyn’s from 134 to 142, and Twilight’s from 119 to 128.

At the center of the crater, by the Lava Lake.

"Keep watch here; I’ll go down and complete the Divine Sword’s cleansing!" Chen Shang said. He clasped the Flame Heart Talisman in his palms and activated it. Dark red light seeped from the talisman’s surface, enveloping his entire body like a thin film.

"Be careful!" Ella urged.

Chen Shang nodded, took a deep breath, and stepped into the magma, his body slowly sinking. The Flame Heart Talisman isolated him from the high temperature of the magma, but his vision remained a churning world of dark red.

The One-Element Heavy Water formed a second layer of protection on the surface of his body. At the boundary where Water met Fire, dense bubbles boiled up, emitting a bubbling, BLUB BLUB sound. He continued to sink. The density of magma was much greater than that of Water, and the pressure increased with every meter he descended.

After descending for about five hundred meters, the churning of the magma suddenly became regular. It wasn’t a chaotic boiling, but a rhythmic pulsation. Chen Shang continued his descent, following the direction of the pulsation. Plunging another five hundred meters, he finally saw the cavity.

This cavity was propped open by some kind of Power, suspended deep within the magma like a transparent bubble. Its boundary was a thin, pale Gold membrane of light that kept the magma out. The interior of the cavity was dry and bright. The temperature was even higher than in the Lava Lake, but the Flame Heart Talisman could still withstand it.

Chen Shang stepped into the cavity. Beneath his feet was a smooth Obsidian floor, and the dome above was hemispherical. Countless fine, glowing Gold threads hung down from the dome, converging like tree roots onto a stone platform in the center of the cavity. Suspended above the stone platform was a fist-sized ball of light. It was pale Gold and translucent, with a wisp of cyan thread swimming slowly inside it.

The panel flickered twice.

[Extractable entry detected: Wind-Binding Mark (Purple) — Source: Heart of Fire · Wind Element Pollution Source. Integrity: 19%. Extract?]

[Extractable entry detected: Molten Fire Origin (Purple) — Source: Heart of Fire · Core Consciousness. Integrity: 53%. Extract?]

He silently confirmed the extraction. The two entries appeared on the panel. One was as cold and dark as an iron chain, carrying an aura of binding and erosion; the other was as fiercely hot as the earth’s core, feeling as though he were holding a raw iron billet fresh out of a Melting Furnace.

Chen Shang frowned. He wondered why the Wind Element would appear in a place with such a high concentration of the Flame Element. The cyan thread inside the Heart of Fire was still swimming slowly, like a sleeping snake.

He took out the Divine Sword and was just about to begin the cleansing when the suspended ball of light suddenly flared. A ripple of Spirit fluctuations emanated from it.

"Outsider... you carry an object entangled with Wind and Fire. Do you wish to purify it?"

Chen Shang paused his movements. "The Heart of Fire?" With so much Spirit residue outside, it wasn’t surprising at all that it could birth its own will.

"I am the consciousness born from this Elemental Core. You may call me that," it communicated, the rhythm of its Spirit fluctuation very slow. "The sword in your hand has been polluted by the Wind Element. I can help you burn away those impurities. But in exchange, I want you to do something for me."

Chen Shang gripped his sword. "Why should I believe you?"

"I can tell you the whole story; you can judge for yourself." As the Heart of Fire continued, a rippling sequence of images unfolded within Chen Shang’s Sea of Consciousness.

Long ago, the Red Flame Realm was just an Ordinary Fire Elemental Plane without such a high concentration of the Fire Element. An ancient Fire Elemental Spirit fell in battle. Its Energy Core plummeted deep underground and underwent an Origin Fusion with the Fire Element Origin in the Earth Vein, giving birth to the Heart of Fire. According to normal evolution, it would have slowly grown, absorbed more of the Fire Element, and ultimately perhaps become an existence akin to some kind of Innate Divine Spirit.

However, an accident occurred. The year the Wizards descended upon the Red Flame Realm, Rifts appeared in the Plane’s Space, and an extraterrestrial object plummeted into this world. It was the corpse of a Wind Element Elemental Creature. That Wind Element creature was of a very high Level. Its remaining Spiritual Wisdom had not completely dissipated after death. Sensing the existence of the Heart of Fire, it invaded the Heart of Fire’s body, attempting to seize this Elemental Core to achieve rebirth.

The Heart of Fire held the geographical advantage. Supported by the endless stream of the Fire Element from the Earth Vein, it remained entangled with that Wind Element’s will for over a millennium. The two Elements tore at each other within the same body, neither able to overpower the other.

The Heart of Fire could have slowly ground away that will, but the Wind Element’s will resorted to a despicable method. By some unknown means, it polluted the Fire Elemental Spirits of the Red Flame Realm, planting Wind Element seeds within their bodies, thus allowing the Plane Will of the entire world to perceive the existence of the Wind Element.

The Plane Will’s dimension of perception was different from that of an Ordinary individual. The Plane Will also desired evolution, and given the opportunity to supplement itself with other Elements, it naturally wouldn’t refuse. Consequently, the Wind Element became a part of the Red Flame Realm, and the Heart of Fire could no longer expel that will.

The Heart of Fire’s Spirit fluctuations grew slightly more urgent. "The way the sword in your hand was polluted by the Wind Element shares the same origin as my affliction."

It paused for a moment. "Once you have purified the sword, I hope you will use it to sever the connection between the Wind Element and the Fire Element within my body, forcing that will to leave."