Chapter Fourteen of the Second Weakness: The Weak Water Spiritual Root

Southeast of the Kingdom of Blazing Fire lies a volcano known as the Icefire Mountain. The people of the kingdom call it this because, although it erupts year-round and its temperature never falls below three hundred degrees, its surroundings—a five-hundred-mile expanse—are utterly barren of human life.

At this very moment, a figure, shimmering with white light from head to toe, was clambering up its slopes with staggering steps. This was Lei Xiang, clad in spirit-stone armor. These spirit stones, each boasting a purity of five nines, had been harvested from the belly of a mining dragon deep in the Black Miasma Marsh, and duplicated using a lotus disc during the new and full moons.

Three days prior, the black chancellor had sent him a message, saying he would be away on official business for about a week. Lei Xiang knew his opportunity had come.

Ten miles from the crater, the ground temperature had already soared to two hundred degrees. Suddenly, Lei Xiang lifted his stone hand and cast a pale blue spell. Blue radiance surged from his spirit-stone armor, flaring out over a foot in length, and Lei Xiang bared his small tiger-like teeth in a grin. With the dual protection of the spirit-stone armor and the Sealing Art, he felt the heat around him drop to just over twenty degrees.

Indeed, it was only a tenth of the actual temperature. Such was the brilliance of the Sealing Art.

Cautiously, Lei Xiang pressed on. He knew this was one of the places where the Xuantian Divine Fire erupted. The reason he chose this spot was simple—there was no defense, for no one could withstand such searing heat with mere mortal flesh. To leap into the crater would be sheer madness, a fool's suicide.

Now Lei Xiang stood on the very edge of the volcano, preparing to jump. He was no fool—yet still, he leapt.

A searing blast of flame surged up, but the blue glow of his armor kept it at bay. Lei Xiang felt only forty degrees of heat. The crater, though narrow at the top, widened the deeper he fell.

He plummeted like a meteor, seemingly without end. After a full hour, the temperature around him dropped precipitously—now below freezing. Hurriedly, he pulled out two beast-hide tents and wrapped himself tight, yet still he shivered uncontrollably.

His fall did not cease. This volcano seemed bottomless. “Have I reached the Earth’s core?” he wondered.

The further he went, the colder it became. Lei Xiang used every last beast-hide tent he had, to no avail. He could only activate the Divine Refining Mirror, trying to use his spirit-stone armor as a magical artifact—but, sadly, he had not yet built his foundation, lacking the tempering fire required.

By now, he had been falling for more than twenty hours. The temperature was minus five hundred degrees; over thirty beast-hide tents had been ruined. Lei Xiang stowed away the few remaining, clutching his purplewood spiritual root tightly as he frantically circulated the Divine Refining Mirror.

“No wonder it’s called the Icefire Mountain!”

As his lips turned purple from the cold, the purplewood spiritual root in his hand grew restless. Lei Xiang frowned and tossed it aside. Without looking back, the spiritual root darted northwest.

He extended his spiritual sense—sure enough, the aura there was abundant. Weighing the pros and cons, he gave chase—and then stopped short.

In the vast emptiness, a palm-sized patch of blue flame flickered, beside which stood two tiny, nearly transparent figures.

The two little figures were locked in a standoff.

The one wreathed in faint purple light was Lei Xiang’s purplewood spiritual root. The other, a hazy, colorless wraith, suddenly attacked—a nearly invisible beam lancing toward the purplewood spiritual root. The root quickly raised a hand, sending a purple mist to intercept it.

Seeing this, Lei Xiang grinned, his tiger teeth gleaming. “Heaven truly favors me! If I’m not mistaken, that colorless figure must be the Water Spiritual Root. Once I gather all five spiritual roots, I’ll be able to forge the Divine Refining Cauldron—nothing will be beyond my reach! I’ll be able to craft any magical treasure I desire, unrivaled beneath the heavens.”

Lei Xiang formed a sealing gesture, then pointed at the colorless figure. Hundreds of blue squares surged out and ensnared it, shrinking tighter the more it struggled, until—suddenly—the figure burst apart with a “pop,” dissolving into a white mist that scattered in all directions.

“Trying to escape? Not so easy.” Lei Xiang summoned the Chutian Comb, its thirteen teeth radiating a gentle apricot-yellow glow. The comb flashed through the water vapor, sweeping it all up within three breaths and reforming the colorless sprite. Lei Xiang pressed a prepared incantation into it, and a ball of colorless light merged with its body.

“No! Please—” came a gentle, delicate voice in his mind, as sweet as a sheltered maiden.

Lei Xiang smiled. “I only wish to take you with me and give you a chance to unite with the other spiritual roots. I’ll not harm you.”

“Why do you imprison me?”

Just then, the purplewood spiritual root approached. “Brother, our master won’t mistreat us. I’ve followed him for some time—I’ve seen his methods. With a flick of his finger, he could crush a spirit like you, but he only marked you with a spiritual brand.”

“Very well… Weak Water Spiritual Root greets the master, hoping your words are true.”

The purplewood root laughed heartily. “Junior brother, since I entered the fold before you, you ought to pay respects to your senior!”

Lei Xiang nodded, “Enough. No more fussing.” With a sweep of his hand, the Water Spiritual Root condensed into a piece of ice, cold and imperishable.

Having secured the Water Spiritual Root, Lei Xiang circled the blue flame, then sat cross-legged and began to draw in the abundant aura with the Divine Refining Mirror. “Since my spiritual sea is a glutton, I’ll let it feast today.”

Violent spiritual energy surged through his meridians, his spiritual sea greedily devouring it. Spiritual threads rampaged through his body—now numbering over thirty thousand, weaving through his widened vessels in a spectacular display.

The time for quantitative accumulation was over; a qualitative change was at hand.

As Lei Xiang gathered the spiritual threads into his dantian, merging them into a great spiritual mass, a flood of foul qi was expelled, rushing into his extraordinary meridians. Quickly, he used the Divine Refining Mirror to force the impurities out through his pores.

Sweat—thick, black sweat.

This lasted about an hour. Lei Xiang did not know how many pounds of blackened sweat he shed; he only felt himself drawing closer and closer to the fourteenth layer.

With a sudden “bang!” the last trace of foulness was expelled, scattering his black sweat in all directions, staining the surrounding rock.

He had broken through.

Lei Xiang had finally reached the fourteenth layer, and as he entered the fourteenth level of Qi Refinement, his body underwent an initial cleansing—meeting the bare requirements for immortality cultivation. With his extraordinary reserves of spiritual power, he could now rival even a mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator.

Gazing at the blackened stone around him, Lei Xiang noticed something else—the air temperature had shifted completely. Where once it was minus five hundred degrees, now it was a mere minus twenty.

“Could it be that by absorbing the Water Spiritual Root and draining this place of spiritual energy, the temperature has returned to normal?”

Lei Xiang turned his gaze to the blue flame flickering ten yards away—no larger than a palm, its light twinkling as if on the verge of extinction.

After a moment’s thought, he sent out his spiritual sense. A great hand appeared in midair, reaching for the blue flame.

As the giant hand neared within three feet, Lei Xiang’s gesture shifted, and the hand quickly withdrew and vanished. This attempt had failed. “The Xuantian Divine Fire is far hotter than the volcano’s mouth—many times over.”

Yet Lei Xiang grinned, baring his little tiger teeth. The greater the heat of the Xuantian Divine Fire, the more powerful the artifacts it could refine—his journey had not been in vain. The only question was, how to claim it?

Summoning the Water Spiritual Root, Lei Xiang quickly devised a plan. The Water Spiritual Root sprayed a dense mist into the air, which Lei Xiang struck with his palm, scattering countless droplets over the blue flame.

Three Thousand Weak Waters.

A sizzling chorus filled the air as droplet after droplet evaporated into steam, lowering the surrounding temperature to just over sixty degrees.

Now Lei Xiang produced the Vermilion Banner. With a flick, the lips painted on the flag gleamed crimson, lush and vivid.

“Devour it!”

No sooner had the words left his mouth than the Gluttonous Mouth leapt from the banner. Lei Xiang tossed it a low-grade spirit stone, which it gobbled up, green cucumber-like teeth crunching in glee, then smacked its lips with satisfaction.

With a gesture, Lei Xiang sent the Gluttonous Mouth darting forward. It returned, clutching a blue flame blossom. Lei Xiang enveloped his right hand in violet mist using the Divine Refining Mirror before daring to take the blossom.

“I’ll give you an hour—eat everything you can here,” he said. The Gluttonous Mouth shrieked with delight and soared off.

Lei Xiang examined the flame flower closely—a cluster of pale blue flames, radiating a heat of just over fifty degrees. It seemed the Water Spiritual Root was right: the Xuantian Divine Fire’s core wasn’t especially hot, but could raise the ambient temperature to astonishing heights, much like the principle of external flame in physics.

He placed the Divine Fire in a prepared jade box, intending to refine a brain core for Niu Jin upon his return. Settling into meditation, he waited for the Gluttonous Mouth to return.

An hour passed. Then two. Still no sign of it. Lei Xiang frowned. Was the greedy thing never full, or had it run into trouble? He stood and went searching.

He finally found the Gluttonous Mouth floating absentmindedly in the northernmost corner. “You glutton, letting you out to play and you lose all sense of time! Back here, foodie!” Lei Xiang waved the Vermilion Banner, and the Gluttonous Mouth reluctantly returned, but couldn’t help glancing back.

This aroused Lei Xiang’s curiosity.

“What’s caught its eye? Is there something special over there?” Approaching, Lei Xiang examined the area closely.

There was nothing—just a thin film of mist, obscuring whatever lay within. Even with his eyes glowing blue, Lei Xiang could not see through it.

His curiosity only grew. What could this three-yard veil be hiding? He hurled his Flaming Fork at it; the weapon rebounded at once.

“Huh.” Lei Xiang pulled out his Dogtail Dart—if heavy weapons failed, perhaps something nimble would work. The sharp point stabbed the membrane, but it bounced back unchanged.

Lei Xiang tried nearly every method he knew, even resorting to the Thunder Hammer, but nothing left a mark on the film. He didn’t dare use the Celestial Crystal—if it exploded, the consequences would be uncontrollable.