Chapter 110 — The Fourfold Fire Array!

The threefold fire array—that was the spell art Zuo Yan had used last time to cut the cold lodestone.

He had come to loathe gossip with a passion. He had merely been cutting a piece of cold lodestone, and word had it that he had refined it; that rumor had dragged this disaster down on his head. Zuo Yan smiled bitterly. Without breaking through to the Ninedart stage, to think of refining a rare fourth-grade material like cold lodestone or an ink lotus seed was nothing but wishful dreaming.

Even with the threefold fire array, he could not refine a fourth-grade ink lotus seed. He closed his eyes and carefully probed every trace of change in the ink lotus seed within the Stalactite Flame, but soon disappointment surfaced on his face. Wrapped in the Stalactite Flame, the seed's outer husk did not stir in the slightest.

Drawing a deep breath, Zuo Yan's two fingers suddenly flicked in rapid succession, smooth as drifting clouds and flowing water, trailing countless afterimages.

For the first time the red-robed man's face showed astonishment. Amateurs watch the spectacle; experts watch the craft. This chain of finger shadows involved no especially intricate finger technique, but its speed was extraordinary, reaching the realm of "fingers blooming into shadows." By that they meant the fingers moved fast enough to leave thick shadows behind, and because those shadows were thick they would linger a moment in the air. The finger technique did not stop; before the old shadows faded, new ones kept forming, producing a continuous chain of shadows, solid and void interwoven—this was "fingers blooming into shadows."

Right up until the Golden Core stage, finger techniques remained a highly practical skill that everyone knew, yet within them there were grades of mastery. Unless one was a body refiner, the strength, suppleness, and power of the fingers did not differ much from person to person. That is to say, a Ninedart-stage cultivator held the advantage over a Foundation-stage cultivator in spiritual power, but in finger technique the two were about even.

Unless one possessed a special method for refining the fingers, improvement in finger technique could come only from bitter practice.

This corpse-faced, expressionless youth might be of quite ordinary cultivation, but this round of finger work was truly striking.

Not only the red-robed man; the other two also looked startled, and exchanged a glance in which delight was plainly visible. This single chain of finger work alone greatly increased their confidence in Zuo Yan.

Zuo Yan's mind was empty and bright, his concentration uncanny, utterly self-forgetful; in his eyes there was only that wisp of milky-white Stalactite Flame, and the black ink lotus seed at its heart.

His fingers moved faster and faster. With a hiss, the Stalactite Flame—flickering in and out, giving off a piercing chill—seemed to be tugged by an invisible hand, and a white thread of fire flew out from it. The Stalactite Flame was like a skein of thread, and this fire-thread like the end that had been found and was being drawn steadily outward.

The white fire-thread lengthened without cease, its far end always joined to the Stalactite Flame, and the flying thread began to dance around the ink lotus seed.

The mass of Stalactite Flame shrank rapidly; when the last tongue of flame too became part of the thread, the ink lotus seed lay bare in the air. The white fire-thread, like a nimble white snake, circled and danced around the seed floating in midair.

Zuo Yan's finger technique suddenly changed. Where before it had been swift as lightning, now his ten fingers moved as though weighted with lead, heavy and deliberate.

The white fire-thread broke in the middle and became two threads, which, like two small white snakes, raced around the ink lotus seed at twice their former speed. Strangely, the two threads formed two crossing rings yet never collided.

The first-turn fire array!

The ink lotus seed at the array's center stood firm as a rock, without the slightest movement.

No change came to Zuo Yan's gaze; his ten fingers continued to shift.

Two split into four! Four finer fire-threads formed four finer white crossing rings.

The second-turn fire array!

The ink lotus seed trembled faintly.

Zuo Yan stared fixedly at the seed at the very center of the array, not daring to slacken in the least; what he saw did not surprise him.

The finger technique slowed further; in contrast, the flow of spiritual power within his body kept accelerating.

Eight fire-threads circled the ink lotus seed at astonishing speed, forming a white cage of fire.

The third-turn fire array!

Compared with the last time he cut the cold lodestone, Zuo Yan now controlled the threefold fire array with far greater ease. Ever since he had heard Pu Yi's guidance, he had begun consciously tempering his control over spiritual power, and with abundant chances to refine each day, his progress had been swift. The threefold fire array, so taxing not long ago, now came to him as naturally as breathing.

The ink lotus seed at the center shook violently, as though it might break free of the array at any moment!

Everyone held their breath, watching the white cage of fire in midair with grave faces; all knew that what came next was the crux. At the very center of the array the cold had reached an astonishing degree—eight times the usual chill of the Stalactite Flame! Cold fire is yin and frigid, blazing fire yang and fierce, but all fire shares one property: it melts. The melting power of cold fire rises as its temperature falls, while that of blazing fire climbs as its temperature rises.

The threefold fire array strengthened the Stalactite Flame's cold eightfold—and its melting power eightfold as well!

Under eightfold melting power, the ink lotus seed, which had never changed, finally showed a faint alteration: tiny shallow pits began to appear on its outermost layer, the sign that refining had begun. But if the melting power remained only at this level, who knew how many years it would take to refine this seed.

Under the demon core's influence, Zuo Yan's spiritual sense cooperated with uncanny precision, and no one noticed that his body had become softer and more relaxed than ever before. The more relaxed the body, the better the demon markings worked, and the faster spiritual power was absorbed.

Zuo Yan's recent training in precise control of spiritual power had indeed borne fruit; forming the threefold fire array had cost him only half his spiritual power. Feeling the power flowing in from the spirit-replenishing array, he breathed a small sigh of relief. Never before had he refined and used the replenishing array at the same time. So far, however, all was well.

The spiritual power in the crystals contained impurities, but that posed no problem for Zuo Yan: the demon markings filtered them out automatically. The power from the replenishing array came steadily, and the spiritual power in his body swiftly increased.

Eyes closed, he maintained the threefold fire array without moving, waiting for his spiritual power to be replenished. In his few limited attempts, the fourfold fire array had drained spiritual power at a terrifying rate.

The red-robed man and his two companions could not help growing tense; they could see plainly that Zuo Yan was gathering strength. It was like the last calm before a storm—the quieter it was, the more suffocating.

At the very moment his spiritual power was just filled, Zuo Yan opened his eyes.

His fingers moved as though dragging a weight of a thousand catties, shifting inch by inch! His thin arms trembled with the utmost effort, yet his slowly shifting ten fingers were strangely steady.

The onlookers felt a white light flare suddenly before their eyes!

The cage of fire grew finer and denser, like a white cocoon of flame! Sixteen fire-threads raced around the ink lotus seed at a speed the eye could scarcely follow.