Chapter 72: The Ice Pith Fire

Chapter 72 - The Ice Pith Fire From afar, the Ice Pith Fire flickered like a ghostly cluster of faint blue wisps, barely piercing the gloom. Up close, its true nature clawed into view—an azure blaze, vivid as a pure innocent sky. Born from the subterranean chill essence of the Skeletal Roost Mire, it radiated an unnatural brilliance that mocked the mire's dim, death-shrouded stillness. As Oen Shinae drew near, the once-dormant flame shuddered awake. With a guttural roar, it erupted into a towering inferno—yards high, a ravenous specter of blue fire clawing at the heavens. The marsh's lingering chill vanished in a heartbeat, swallowed by a scorching wind. Yet beneath the blistering heat lurked an eerie marrow-deep cold—a sinister frost that slithered up the spine, as if an icy wraith ghost clutched their souls while their flesh baked. The clash of sensations—freezing dread and searing sweat—twisted their guts, leaving them trembling in a nightmarish haze. Lordi Payne's breath hitched, his body recoiling from the unearthly torment. Then Oen Shinae snorted. Unflinching, she thrust her slender, corpse-pale hand straight into the heart of the blaze. The Ice Pith Fire snarled in defiance, its azure fury flaring brighter, swelling into a colossal beast of flame. In an instant, it engulfed her, a ravenous maw of blue fire swallowing her whole. Lordi Payne's heart lurched into his throat, and Fang Jit was about to dashed forward to rescue. But before that, a tiny piece of glowing Dao Fulu slipped free from the inferno. Unscathed by the flame's wrath, the edge of Fulu paper fluttered like a moth drawn to death, latching onto the fire's core. The Dao Flame thrashed, its roars growing wilder, more desperate, as another Fulu followed, then another—each one a leech sapping its fury, shrinking its monstrous form inch by agonizing inch. Sensing its doom, the roaring flame spat Oen Shinae out—untouched, her pale figure emerging like a wraith from a grave. The Dao Flame bolted to free, streaking toward the mire's shadowy depths with frantic speed. But Oen Shinae was faster. She snapped the core array banner aloft with a flick of her wrist, and a thunderous BOOM shook the swamp as the Siege Array slammed shut, hurling the bloom of this Dao Flame back into its cage. Seizing the moment, she jabbed a finger, another Dao Fulu slicing through the air to latch onto its blazing hide. The Dao Flame veered, rocketing skyward in a blind panic. But this newborn fire lacked a mind—its instincts crude, its movements stiff as a puppet jerked by unseen strings. Boom! It barely clawed into the air before Oen Shinae blocked again with the array, her next Fulu snapping onto the flame body like a predatory clip. The flame dimmed, its azure glow guttering as it shrank once more. Trapped in the Seige Array's jaws, the Ice Pith Fire flailed—a caged beast leaping and thrashing against invisible bars. Oen Shinae shadowed the Ice Pith Fire like a wraith unbound, her slender presence a spectral whisper in the Skeletal Roost Mire's gloom. Her footwork art—a mastery of ghostly grace—sent her form flickering, a wisp of pale blue smoke that clung to the flame like a curse etched into its body. With each darting step, she slapped a piece of Dao Fulu onto its azure hide, her movements swift and relentless, a hunter ensnaring a thrashing soul. The flame fought—a feral beast of azure fury—but her seals tightened its noose. After a harrowing chase of twists and leaps, the once-towering Ice Pith Fire dwindled to a palm-sized ember, its surface smothered in a dozen layers of Fulus, each glowing faintly like gravestones pinning a restless spirit. Oen Shinae halted, her slender hand reaching for the sealed flame. No triumph lit her face—only a frown creased her brow, sharp against her deathly pallor. Her beauty was a chilling paradox: skin pale as moon-bleached bone, eyes glinting with a cold, otherworldly sheen, lips a faint slash of frost-kissed rose. She stood as if carved from the mire's own shadows, an eerie figure like a pretty doll stitched from the Gworm Abyss. This bloom of Ice Pith Fire had resisted too long—its vigor a sign it had lived in the Gworm Abyss for a while far beyond their estimates. Its quality gleamed superior, a prize steeped in ancient chill. But for Lordi Payne, a mere Fifth Layer Qi Refinement whelp, even a newborn flame was a gamble with death. This seasoned, ravenous blaze? It'd reduce him to ash the moment he came closer. To spare him annihilation, Oen Shinae knew she had to strip the acquired Yin-Chill Cold Qi—this mire's venomous gift—from the Dao Flame, leaving only its primal fire core. She cast a final, piercing glance at Sharky Ink and Fang Jit, ensuring no treachery lurked in their silence, then traced the Siege Array's edges with her gaze—intact, untainted. Satisfied, she swallowed a handful of elixir pills, their faint glow vanishing into her throat as she steadied her breath. Her hand reached back, dipping into the giant black coffin bound to her back. From its depths, she drew a snow-white bone dagger, its blade flawless, forged from the remains of some nameless horror. The hilt bore Manjusaka etchings—red spider lilies, vivid as fresh blood against the ivory. The moment her fingers brushed it, the patterns stirred—alive, writhing like serpents awakening from a tomb. They slithered and extended from the hilt, glowing a sickly crimson, coiling around her pale hand in a twisting dance. Up her forearm they raced, tendrils of blooming liliy pattern snaking over her skin, unfurling across the right half of her face. Petals spread in intricate, macabre whorls, crawling her face, framing her eye like a mask of deathly flora, their glow pulsing faintly before settling into stillness. All this unraveled in mere heartbeats, yet beads of sweat glistened on Oen Shinae's brow, tracing rivulets down her ghostly pale skin. Her grip on the bone dagger tightened—its flawless ivory blade a stark contrast to the crimson Manjusaka patterns coiling across her hand and face like living serpents. With a swift, deliberate thrust, she stabbed through the first Dao Fulu sealing the Ice Pith Fire. The Dao Fulu flared—a sudden blaze—and crumbled to ash. But the azure flame of Ice Pith Fire it bound didn't revert to its primal core. Instead, it surged along the dagger's edge, a ravenous torrent of blue fire licking the blade. The Manjusaka patterns pulsed, greedy and alive, drinking the flame's essence with a thirst that seemed to hum through the mire's stillness. The lilies' vivid red deepened, their glow shifting to a dark, blood-soaked crimson. One by one, Oen Shinae pierced the remaining Fulus, her movements precise, as if battling a writhing spirit. With each strike, the dagger devoured more of the Ice Pith Fire, the Manjusaka pattern blooming garish, their serpentine tendrils twitching across her arm and face—half her visage now a mask of intricate, glowing lilies, beautiful and macabre. When the final piece of Dao Fulu flared and crumbled, the once-mighty Ice Pith Fire dwindled to a fingernail-sized ember, its azure light flickering feebly, a caged wisp on the brink of oblivion. Oen Shinae exhaled sharply, a ragged breath that didn't ease the tension in her frame. Her free hand snapped through two quick seals, twin spells locking the dying flame in a shimmering cage. She swiped the sweat from her forehead—her pale fingers trembling faintly—and rasped, voice low and gravelly, "We're moving. New spot—now." Fang Jit's eyes, simmering with envy and venom, latched onto the weakened flame. "New spot?" His tone dripped with suspicion, barely masking his bile. "Junior Brother Payne needs time to master the Pyro Fusion Art," Oen Shinae replied, her nod curt, her gaze flicking to the mire's shadowed edges. "This place is too exposed—too many eyes could find us. I recall a patch of ground in the Necrospore Chasm, unassuming terrain. If the paths haven't shifted since last I saw it, it's the perfect hideout to hole up and wait." There was a reason why Oen Shinae was determined not to retreat even though she knew the hostility of the Wraithbone Bloodline towards them. The Gworm Abyss was vast, endless and its terrain shift time by time unpredictable. If the squad had been ambushed before seizing the Ice Pith Fire, so be it—a cruel twist of fate she'd swallow. But now, with the flame flickering in her grasp, the squad could burrow into some forgotten nook for ten days, half a month. Unless a traitor's tongue wagged or the abyss itself turned against her, they'd be untouchable. "But the trek to Necrospore Chasm's no picnic either," Fang Jit snapped, his voice cracking with pent-up bile. His defiance spilled over, no longer caged. "Senior Sister, your such prejudice grudge against Senior Brother Sharky's blinding you! If it's just you and me, fine—we'd manage, even watching Brother Sharky like enforcer hawks. But this whelp Lordi Payne? His cultivation's a damn joke! One stray sporeslave blows up on the way, and I'd bet my Dao Artifact he's a goner—poisoned or blasted to bits!" "Hiding out here for ten days—half a month?—it's already a nightmare stretch for us. And babysitting him on top of that? Ow! Come on!" "Look! I get it, Senior Sister—you're an oath-bound, honor-driven noble, bleeding for the Bloodline Lord's mission. But Please! Clow down! Think this through! We're cornered—there's no path forward!" "Either make this whelp fuse the Dao Flame right here, right now—or ditch this damn mission!" Oen Shinae's face froze, a mask of frost over her ghostly pallor. "When the moment turns dire, I'll unleash and crack open the coffin wide and face whatever comes. Satisfied?" Her voice was a low, chilling rasp, each word laced with unshakable steel. The black coffin strapped to her back loomed larger in the dim light, its surface swallowing the faint glow of the Ice Pith Fire. An aura of dread pulsed from it—something evil, something ravenous, coiled within its depths. Fang Jit sucked in a sharp breath, envy and resentment twisting his gut tighter. "What's in the abyss this noob got that's so damn special? The Bloodline Lord claws for the Ice Pith Fire mission just for him, and now you're ready to pay that kind of price to shield him? Unleash that thing?" Heard that, Lordi Payne's heart stuttered, a cold jolt spiking through him. The coffin? Why was it taboo to open? Oen Shinae had already used it back in the Lurewoven Grove—did that mean... No, I couldn't spiral down that thought. Not now. Lordi Payne lurched forward, voice trembling but firm. "Senior Sister, Senior Brother please—stop fighting! I'll do it—I'll fuse the Dao Flame into my body right here, right now!" Lordi Payne's mind raced. A mountain of debt loomed over him—ten days, half a month holed up in the Gworm Abyss? No way he could afford that luxury. He'd already ditched the low-key act, ready to play the genius card with the AllFullOS System as his ace. Why waste more time? Let the system hijack his body and fuse the Ice Pith Fire now—done and dusted. "Silence!" Oen Shinae's voice lashed out, sharp as a whip cracking through the mire's gloom, her frown etching shadows across her ghostly pale face. "Do you know why, despite the countless benefits of the Ice Pith Fire, the entire inner sect still adheres to the rules when competing for the Dao Flame? It's because there is only one chance to fuse the flame into the body—failure means death! Without both exceptional cultivation strength and unshakable willpower, no matter how much you covet its marrow-refining effects or its ability to solidify one's foundation, you can only watch from afar." To her, Lordi Payne's boldness was a clown's gambit—pure, reckless folly. Barely a handful of minutes had ticked by since she'd chanted the Pyro Fusion Art mantra. If he claimed he'd half-grasped it, she'd call him a prodigy worth watching. But trying to fuse the flame now? This sect newbie was a stumbling colt, blind to the abyss yawning beneath his feet. "Senior Sister, why so stiff?" Fang Jit's voice slithered in, smooth as oil, his eyes glinting with a gleam. He leaned in, prodding. "Junior Brother Payne's been with the holy sect—what, a few weeks?—and yet the Bloodline Lord's practically valuing him. Maybe it's not favoritism. Maybe it's raw, dazzling talent shining through, huh?" He flashed a warm grin. "Think about it—our Bloodline Lord's no fool, no soft-hearted sap. Why else would he burn resources and pull strings for some stray outer sect newbie? Unless... he's found out a diamond in the muck, a genius worth the gamble." For the first time, Fang Jit addressed "Junior Brother" at Lordi Payne, his tone warming into camaraderie. "Right, Junior Brother? You feel me, don't you? Bloodline Lord his honor's not some nepotist doling out gifts to pets—he's never played that game. So this chance, this Ice Pith Fire fusion—it's gotta be your brilliance screaming to be unleashed. Dear Junior Brother, I have faith in you. Prove it, yeah?" "If keep dragging my feet like this, I could've whipped up a dozen batches of premium-level Bone Tempering Pills by now!" Lordi Payne fumed inwardly. Every wasted second gnawed at him—time, no, the $tones were slipping through his fingers, and that sky-high debt wasn't shrinking itself. Lordi Payne caught Oen Shinae's lips parting, ready to unleash another lecture, her pale face shadowed with that eerie, unyielding glare. So he quickly said in his mind. "System, I want to cultivate! Select the Pyro Fusion Art. Smart Duration! One-Click-Cultivation!" ~ Ding! *System Notification Chime* [AllFullOS: Version 1.0.0] > All-Smart Full-Host Cultivation SystemTM is at your service! ... > [OCC] - One-Click-Cultivation activated. > Features: Temporary practice, smart duration, and questionable decision-making. ... > One-click-cultivation: Enabled > Cultivation hosting: Initializing... - Friendly reminder: During cultivation, the host will lose control of his/her body. - Do not panic. This is a normal system function. > Initializing body control override... ... > Activating [Pyro Fusion Art] Cultivation process... ... ~ Ding! *System Notification Chime* [AllFullOS: Version 1.0.0] > Scanning cultivation requirements... > Detected lack of Cultivation Material: [Dao Flame] (Error: 191) - Host inventory: EMPTY - Error: Insufficient materials for cultivation. > Executing optimal solution... Pending... ... ~ Ding! *System Notification Chime* [AllFullOS: Version 1.0.0] > Pending... > All-Smart Full-Host Cultivation SystemTM has decided to be *GENEROUS* today! > Innate Primal Dao Flame x1 will be gifted to the host for FREE. > Processing... The next moment, the system controlled Lordi Payne to stalked towards Oen Shinae expressionlessly and snatched the Ice Pith Fire from her grip. ~ Ding! *System Notification Chime* [AllFullOS: Version 1.0.0] > Cultivation Material: [Natural Primal Dao Flame] x1 - Status: Gifted successfully. > Resuming cultivation process...