Mo Xiaoxing suddenly turned around, staring at the peacock, her little brain spinning rapidly.
Although Sister Hanyan said she could fly out on a sword once her cultivation was higher, she had no idea how long it would take for her to reach the Foundation Establishment stage. It would be much faster if this peacock carried her out!
“What are you looking at? What kind of mischief are you plotting?”
The white peacock was closing its eyes to heal its wounds, but he was keenly aware of everything around him. He surely didn’t take Mo Xiaoxing’s running around seriously; he must know that no matter where she ran, she couldn’t escape this back mountain.
Mo Xiaoxing laughed, her pretty little face full of fawning expressions.
“Big Brother Peacock, I’m not plotting anything bad. I’m just very worried about your injuries. I have some medicinal pills here; don’t be polite, take them all!”
Mo Xiaoxing held out a pile of pills from her storage bag.
Qin Yu came from a royal background and never lacked pills, so Mo Xiaoxing was generous—after she got out, she could get as many of these as she wanted.
The peacock lifted his eyelids slightly, swept a glance over the bottles and jars, and closed them again…
“Take them back. These are of no use to me.”
Mo Xiaoxing: “Ah?”
Hanyan: [These pills are like trying to fill the ocean with stones when it comes to treating his wounds. Moreover, he is afflicted by very potent demonic energy. If one does not first remove the demonic energy, treating the injury is useless.]
Mo Xiaoxing put the pills away and asked, “Then how do you remove the demonic energy? Can I help you?”
The peacock opened his eyes suddenly and looked at her.
“You child, you know quite a bit.”
Mo Xiaoxing gave a silly smile, attempting to bluff her way through: “I am a disciple of the Changtian Sect, after all; naturally, I am well-informed.”
“You cannot help me. Just be a good girl and don’t disturb me.”
Mo Xiaoxing: “Oh, oh…”
She had originally wanted to curry favor, but he found her noisy… She silently walked away and felt her way into the cave.
The inside was very simple, with only a pot and a stone bed. After all, this was a place for punishment and reflection; it wasn’t meant to be comfortable.
Mo Xiaoxing lay on the stone bed. It was hard, but at least she was stable for the moment. As her nerves relaxed, she fell asleep without realizing it.
She had a dream. She dreamt she was light and airy, as if sleeping on a cloud, drifting to and fro. It was comfortable at first, but suddenly, her whole body felt cold—colder and colder, as if she had suddenly drifted onto a snow-capped mountain; it was a bone-chilling cold!
“Xiaoxing! Wake up!”
Mo Xiaoxing jolted awake, shivering into a ball, and saw Hanyan’s blurry white shadow.
“Sister Hanyan, how did I get into Mo Huo? I—I’m so cold…”
Hanyan: [You still cannot control your consciousness, so you entered automatically while you slept. Look at yourself; your body is bright red, as if you’ve been burned, so why do you feel cold?]
Mo Xiaoxing rolled up her sleeves and looked. It was true; her arms were flaming red, looking almost as if they had been cooked.
“But I’m really cold! Sister Hanyan, I’m about to… to… freeze to death.”
The white shadow suddenly dissipated like mist, enveloping Mo Xiaoxing.
[Strange! How could this be? You are actually an Extreme Yin Holy Body!]
[No wonder you aren’t afraid of the Earth’s Core Fire. The Extreme Yin Holy Body is a vessel for exotic fires!]
Mo Xiaoxing didn’t know why Hanyan’s voice was so serious; she only knew she felt as if she were being frozen solid.
[Xiaoxing, you cannot sleep. Get out! Go to the Fire Tomb; the Earth’s Core Fire can save you!]
Mo Xiaoxing instantly exited Mo Huo. The will to survive pushed her to struggle toward the exit. She reached the edge of the cliff and, without thinking, jumped straight off!
The cliff was extremely high, and the descent felt slow. Mid-way, she felt waves of intense heat rolling toward her. Her body seemed to be actively absorbing this heat, and her nearly frozen limbs suddenly softened.
Restoring some mobility, Mo Xiaoxing looked down and was instantly terrified!
If she fell like this, she would be smashed into a meat patty!
Hanyan: [Do not panic. Use palm force to negate the impact; once you fall into the magma pool, you will be fine.]
Mo Xiaoxing went through the cultivation techniques in her mind and used all her strength to strike out three palms in succession! Only then did she manage to slow her descent!
Falling into the magma pool, the thick lava coated her, and indeed, she was fine. It was a very strange feeling… even though she was soaking in a pool of magma, she felt as if she were in a hot spring; it was full of security…
She muttered to herself, “I really must cultivate properly.”
Qin Yu’s amateur skills were truly not enough to show off.
After soaking for a while, Mo Xiaoxing felt she had fully recovered. She asked curiously, “Sister Hanyan, Qin Yu doesn’t seem to be an Extreme Yin Holy Body. Does this mean I won’t be able to leave this Fire Tomb in the future?”
Hanyan: [Your Extreme Yin Holy Body likely transformed when you fell here and were reborn from the fire. The holy body needs to fuse with an exotic fire to avoid what happened today, but you cannot achieve that yet. You can only maintain it in this way for the time being.]
Mo Xiaoxing: “Ah… at least the Changtian Sect has a Fire Tomb. If I were elsewhere, I’d be doomed. But do I really have to come here every day?”
Hanyan smiled: [You are certainly optimistic. Look around to see if there is any Fire Essence in the pool.]
“Oh, oh.”
Mo Xiaoxing lowered her body and felt around in the magma pool. Fire Essence was a unique crystal found within exotic fires, containing Earth’s Core Fire that could burn for ten thousand years. Ordinary people couldn’t find a single piece of Fire Essence even if they used every trick in the book.
“I found one!”
Hanyan: [That is good. Collect a few more. If your cold illness flares up again, you only need to absorb the Earth’s Core Fire from the Fire Essence to suppress it.]
[People with the Extreme Yin Holy Body cultivate hundreds or thousands of times faster than ordinary people, but don’t be happy too soon. Everyone in the world would do anything to snatch an Extreme Yin Holy Body, so you must not reveal this to anyone! Remember!]
“Oh, oh.”
Mo Xiaoxing knew that rarity made things valuable—wasn’t the flesh of the monk Tang Sanzang also highly coveted? It seemed she would face significant challenges.
The immediate priority was to collect Fire Essence quickly. She found a dozen pieces and was still worried it wasn’t enough. Mostly, that moment when she felt she was about to freeze to death felt truly like death approaching—she didn’t want to die!
Hanyan reminded: [These are enough. You only need one at a time. It’s better to think about how to get up.]
Mo Xiaoxing slapped her forehead, wanting to cry. When her cold illness flared up, she was delirious and only wanted to jump into the magma pool; she hadn’t thought about how to get back up.
She looked up and shouted: “Big Brother Peacock! Save me!”
Her voice echoed in the valley, but she suspected the sound couldn’t even reach the top! Moreover, that Big Brother Peacock was focused on healing; even if he heard her, he probably wouldn’t care…
“Sigh, I know how to rock climb, but this is so high; I’m afraid I’ll be exhausted before I even reach one-third of the way up.”
“I might as well try!”
The area near the bottom of the valley was barren, but she remembered there was vegetation halfway up the mountain. If she could climb to that point and find a place to rest, this way of climbing and resting—though time-consuming and somewhat risky—was the best option she had.
Suiting the action to the word!
She clung to the rock wall and climbed slowly upward. When she was over fifty meters off the ground, her hands and feet began to ache. Although Qin Yu had a foundation in cultivation, her physical fitness was not even as good as Mo Xiaoxing’s original self! She used to be able to climb two hundred meters!
Just as she was grit-teething and persisting, suddenly, a vine descended from the sky, dangling right in front of her.
Mo Xiaoxing grabbed it instantly and pulled hard; it was very sturdy.
“Could it be that Big Brother Peacock heard my plea for help?!”