The Fire Refining Grounds.

The fire slip turned into a drop of dark red liquid and sank into the girl’s glabella.

Jin’er’s whole body trembled, as if endless profound mysteries were pouring into her Divine Soul like trickling streams.

"Celestial Burning Treasure Scroll..."

She murmured.

This was indeed an extremely Superior Fire Element Cultivation Technique, one that could be counted among the very top Fire Element techniques in the entire Lingxu Realm!

Only—

At the instant the inheritance was handed over, the thousand-year balance of the Earth Fire was broken.

"Rumble——!!!"

The entire underground cavern began to shake violently, and the black rock above their heads gave off cracking sounds as if it could no longer bear the strain.

A soul-freezing, terrifying pressure forced down brutally through the thick mountain!

"Yah! That Golden Core lazy flower up there is throwing a tantrum!"

Qing Jun grabbed Jin’er into her arms.

Her junior sister was delicate and frail, clearly not the type made for running away.

Her big eyes spun around rapidly as she searched for a way out.

"Senior Sister, should we use that space Array Plate Master gave us, the one that lets us whoosh and disappear?"

"Jiji! (Run run! A rampaging Golden Core demon plant is no joke!)" The little white fox was also hopping anxiously on her shoulder.

At the moment, it only had the Cultivation of a Fake Pill!

Bullying an ordinary Late Period Foundation Establishment would be as easy as turning its paw.

But going up against a Golden Core, it would probably get slapped flat with a single paw.

What’s more, this was the Luoxiao Grotto Heaven!

Even at its peak, the little white fox hadn’t dared act recklessly here. It had originally planned to wait until it formed a Nascent Soul before coming to explore the Luoxiao Grotto Heaven.

But Zhiwei was exceptionally calm. She shook her head and said:

"That is a Third Tier existence. The Array Plate might not get us out. If it fails, we’d be throwing away a life-saving trump card... And right now, we still have cultivators from the Ten Thousand Puppet Sect hunting us from behind."

Zhiwei slightly lifted her chin, her gaze piercing the cracked dome as if she could already see Yang Qiu.

With a heaven-sent opportunity like this, he would definitely take the chance to press the attack.

Qing Jun froze for a moment, then scratched her little head. "Senior Sister, you mean... we’re going out there to beat them up?"

"No."

Zhiwei turned her head to look at Jin’er, whose aura had completely changed and who now bore a demonic red lotus mark at her brow, and said softly,

"Borrowing a knife to kill—who doesn’t know how? Since that Yunmian Flower has already woken, we might as well add fuel to the fire for it."

"Jin’er, you just fused with the Celestial Burning Treasure Scroll. With your own Divine Fire, can you borrow the thousand-year Earth Fire all over the ground?"

Hearing this, Jin’er lowered her head and glanced at the rolling sea of dark red magma beneath her feet.

If it had been half a two-hour earlier, even if this Earth Fire could not harm her, she still would have been helpless against it.

But now, with the blessing of the Celestial Burning Treasure Scroll, she could guide these flames to a certain extent.

For example...

Letting the Earth Fire pour out from the Fire Refining Grounds, and right now, the Fire Refining Grounds could no longer bear these flames anyway.

"Senior Sister, I can do it!"

Jin’er nodded hard. She stepped forward, formed a hand seal, and the Divine Fire within her erupted, resonating with the sea of fire!

"Rise!"

With the girl’s crisp shout—

Boom——!!!

The Earth Core fire vein that had lain dormant for a thousand years was drawn by the Divine Fire and gathered into a terrifying Fire Dragon several zhang in diameter, which roared upward along the cracked rock channel above!

...

At the same time, on the outskirts of Yunduan Mountain.

Yang Qiu was standing with his Corpse Puppets, quietly appreciating the apocalyptic sight atop Yunduan Mountain.

"Rumble..."

The entire Yunduan Mountain was trembling under the fury of the Golden Core demon plant. Its roots and tendrils were crazily whipping against the cliff walls, poisonous miasma filling the sky.

"Hahahaha... Struggle all you want!"

Yang Qiu let out a low, crazed laugh.

"Under the strangling of a Golden Core demon plant, your pitiful Foundation Establishment cultivations aren’t even enough to wedge between its teeth! When you’re forced to the brink and flee out, I’ll give you your final—"

Suddenly—

"Bang——!!!"

The hard main peak of Yunduan Mountain was actually pierced straight through from within by some extremely terrifying force!

Immediately after, a dark red pillar of fire that reached from earth to sky shot up like a volcanic eruption, stabbing straight into the clouds!

"Screee——!!!"

The Yunmian Flower demon plant that had been rampaging let out an incomparably shrill scream!

Those huge roots buried deep underground were instantly ignited before this thousand-year Earth Fire.

The blaze raced upward along the roots.

In the blink of an eye, the sea of Yunmian Flowers covering the mountain turned into a boundless sea of fire!

"This... this is..."

Yang Qiu’s expression changed, his eyes filled with horror.

What exactly had Yunduan Mountain been in ancient times? Why did the earth veins here contain such terrifying flames?

And within that pillar of fire piercing the sky,

three figures rode the rising updraft of the erupting Earth Fire, dashing out of the sea of flames with incomparable flair!

"Hmph!"

Yang Qiu’s expression quickly shifted from earlier shock to wild delight.

These three must have found a top-grade treasure!

...

"Hoo—"

With the wind howling, the three figures, accompanied by scattering sparks, successfully escaped Yunduan Mountain.

"Cough, cough... That was close, we were nearly roasted!"

Qing Jun patted her small chest, gulping in big breaths of air.

Fortunately—

Fire countered Wood, and especially a demon plant like that, whose roots permeated the entire Yunduan Mountain. Once the mountain was ignited by the Earth Fire, it truly wouldn’t be able to escape, much less have any strength left to chase them.

"Perhaps this was a tribulation it had to face. For a thousand years, the Yunmian Flowers relied on devouring the Earth Fire’s Spiritual Qi to slowly grow into a Golden Core demon plant. But the Earth Fire was bound to erupt one day."

Zhiwei sighed.

But before the three girls had time to recover from the joy of surviving disaster, a bone-piercing killing intent suddenly enveloped them!

"What a comeback from the brink. For the three of you to emerge unscathed from the Golden Core demon plant’s rampage truly has opened my eyes."