Chapter 144 - 107: Pack Everything and Take It Away!

Chapter 144: Chapter 107: Pack Everything and Take It Away!

The Heart of Fire recalled that entity from a distant memory—the tower towering over the wasteland that instinctively made it feel insignificant. It wavered.

"But..." The Heart of Fire hesitated. "I am willing, but how will you guarantee your promise?"

Chen Shang raised his hand and drew a Rune in the air. The motes of light quickly condensed into a humanoid figure, a translucent, silvery-white avatar of the Wizard’s Will. "I will use this as a guarantee!"

The Heart of Fire’s sphere of light flared. It felt that vast, ancient Power—a force much stronger than a Plane Will. That was the accumulation of the Wizard World over countless years, the avatar of rules forged by countless Wizards.

The Cyan Bird Face couldn’t help but shriek again. "Don’t believe him! He’s a liar! That thing looks intimidating, but it might be a fake..."

Chen Shang completely ignored it. He pressed his hand against the scale, enunciating the terms of the trade word by word:

"The Heart of Fire will escort Chen Shang and his companions safely back to the Wizard World. It shall not use its Power during the journey for any actions unrelated to the escort.

"Upon arrival, Chen Shang and the others shall not dismantle it or use it as an experimental consumable. When the Heart of Fire expresses a desire to leave, they will find a suitable location to settle it or return it to the Red Flame Realm. Any violation of this promise will be willingly subjected to the backlash of the Wizard’s Will."

With the ritual complete, the Heart of Fire’s sphere of light slowly floated up from the stone platform. It gathered its Power, transforming into a streak of pale Gold light that sank straight into Chen Shang’s chest.

In that instant, Chen Shang felt as if he had been shoved into a volcano.

The Heart of Fire had restrained all of its heat, sparing his body from burns, but a mass of Fire Element Origin that had condensed over countless eons—carrying the memories of the Earth Vein and the weight of endless time—forced its way into his Second Magic Spring.

The Second Magic Spring trembled violently. The Samadhi True Flame surged within, colliding with the Heart of Fire’s origin. The two Fire Attribute cores squeezed into the same spring, like two Giant figures refusing to yield, crammed into the same room.

The balance of Elements began to falter. Chen Shang’s body skewed toward the Fire Attribute. His skin grew hot, his hair curled, his blood raced, and his Magic Power uncontrollably shifted toward Flame. The Heart of Fire harbored no malice, but its presence was overwhelmingly strong. Just by resting quietly, it was enough to passively transform Chen Shang into a Fire Attribute creature.

Chen Shang quickly activated the Eye of Truth. The depths of his pupils flashed, suppressing the unconsciously spreading Fire Element. He then guided a portion of the Heart of Fire’s Energy into his Water-Fire Body Refinement model. Body Refining Runes spun madly within his Sea of Consciousness, converting the excess Fire Element into nourishment for Body Refinement and dispersing it through his limbs and bones.

His skin temperature dropped, his blood flow returned to normal, and the Element imbalance stabilized.

If it were an ordinary person, having their Magic Spring invaded like this would have undoubtedly ruined them. However, Chen Shang’s Second Magic Spring was already Fire Attribute by nature, so he wasn’t afraid of being transformed. The addition of the Heart of Fire merely made the spring too crowded; he just needed time for the two to slowly synergize.

The Cyan Bird Face finally fell into despair. It struggled madly, desperately commanding its residual Power in a final attempt to scorch Chen Shang’s Sea of Consciousness. But under the combined suppression of the Heart of Fire and the Eye of Truth, it failed to make any significant waves. The cyan light burst into a few tiny sparks within Chen Shang’s body before extinguishing entirely.

"Hurry! I won’t last much longer!" Chen Shang said through gritted teeth.

Evelyn grabbed his arm, Ella guarded his back, and Twilight’s Black Fog enveloped the four of them, carrying them upward toward the surface of the Lava Lake.

They surfaced at the edge of the crater. Over a dozen Fire Elemental Lords had formed a circle, their deep Purple, dark red, and bright Gold eyes all staring intently at them.

Chen Shang did not run. He stood by the lake, thoroughly soaked, his robes steaming. A pale Gold light seeped from his body—the radiance projected by the Heart of Fire.

The Lords stared at the glowing light, not a single one daring to move.

The Heart of Fire was the oldest Fire Element Origin in the Red Flame Realm. It could easily suppress them, much like the natural dominance an apex predator held in the food chain. The aura radiating from Chen Shang felt like a slumbering behemoth, causing all the Lords to instinctively step back.

Chen Shang took a step forward; the Lords took a step back. He took another step, and they retreated once more.

The deep Purple Lord stood at the very front, rage and reluctance dancing in its deep Purple eye sockets. It recognized this human—he was the one who had swindled its Divine Sword. It wanted to pounce, to tear him to pieces, to rip open his chest and gouge out the Heart of Fire. But it didn’t dare. The aura of the Heart of Fire frantically warned its instincts that it must not approach.

Chen Shang walked through the path the Lords had yielded. His pace was deliberate, his robes fluttering in the scorching wind. In the twilight, the pale Gold light within his body shone like a radiant sun.

Ella and the others followed Chen Shang swiftly. The Lords trailed behind them but never dared to close the distance.

Just as they were about to reach the High Tower, a few Tier Three Elves in the rear, driven by the intense psychic orders of the Cyan Bird Face, finally succumbed to frenzy and lunged forward.

They charged to within three paces of Chen Shang before being instantly immobilized by an invisible force. The Fire Element within their bodies was directly siphoned away by the Heart of Fire.

The bodies of the Tier Three Elves trembled violently. The flames upon them shifted from a blazing white to dark red, then from dark red to an ashen gray, before crumbling into a pile of Ashes. Only a few Crystal Cores remained.

Stripped of their Elemental Cores, they had rapidly collapsed.