Chapter 1224 - 853: Possession Completed

Hearing the Heaven-Opening Fire Spirit’s retort, Zhang Chen said expressionlessly, "I don’t care about anything else. I must refine the Peach Tree’s True Spirit within a hundred years."

Hearing Zhang Chen’s words, the Heaven-Opening Fire Spirit fell silent. Only after a long, long time did it reply: "I will do my best!"

Zhang Chen, seeing this, nodded in satisfaction, then his figure flickered and turned into a stream of light, flying far away.

Watching Zhang Chen’s departing back, the Heaven-Opening Fire Spirit showed a look of surprise: "Why is this brat suddenly urging me? Could it be that the situation outside has changed again?"

Regardless of what thoughts the Heaven-Opening Fire Spirit had in its heart, its hands moved a few degrees faster.

Time trickled away bit by bit; a hundred years passed in the blink of an eye. On this day, Zhang Chen was sitting before the Alchemy Furnace, looking at the Pill Formula in his hand, when suddenly the fire in front of him twisted. A voice came from within the flames: "It is done."

Zhang Chen’s face lit up at these words. He casually set down the Pill Formula, then used an Escape Technique to arrive within the underground flames. Sure enough, he saw that his own Primordial Spirit had completely devoured the Peach Tree’s True Spirit and was now rising and sinking within the sea of fire.

Zhang Chen carefully sensed his own Primordial Spirit that had devoured the Peach Tree, and saw that his Primordial Spirit had turned azure in color. Within it, strands of profound Qi Mechanisms flowed; an azure pattern coiled around the Primordial Spirit, ceaselessly revolving. And because his Primordial Spirit had devoured the Peach Tree’s True Spirit yet had not finished digesting it, it had not yet awakened.

"I have fulfilled the agreement. Quickly remove the imprint on my body." The Heaven-Opening Fire Spirit fixed both eyes on Zhang Chen, while warning aloud: "Brat, you had best not go back on your word and grow fat on it, or you know what the consequences will be."

"Rest easy, Old Ancestor. Though I am of the Human Race, a mere ant in Old Ancestor’s eyes, I will never renege." Zhang Chen moved his heart’s念, recalled that Peach Primordial Spirit, then looked toward the Heaven-Opening Fire Spirit. The next moment, he lightly pointed at the Heaven-Opening Fire Spirit. Qi Mechanism around it suddenly shifted; an imprint flew out from the Heaven-Opening Fire Spirit’s body and returned into Zhang Chen’s body.

"The restriction is undone?" Sensing the imprint in his body vanish, the Heaven-Opening Fire Spirit could not help but be overjoyed: "You brat truly are a man of your word."

"Since our transaction has already been completed, let us each go our own way from now on." Zhang Chen spoke to the Heaven-Opening Fire Spirit, then turned to leave.

"Hold it!" Just then, the Heaven-Opening Fire Spirit barked out, its voice filled with an inexplicable flavor.

Zhang Chen’s steps halted. His back to the Heaven-Opening Fire Spirit, the corner of his mouth lifted slightly, but in the instant he turned, the smile vanished. He faced the Heaven-Opening Fire Spirit with a look of puzzlement: "Does Old Ancestor still have some matter?"

"Leave the Heaven and Earth Spirit and the Heaven-Opening Water Spirit." The Heaven-Opening Fire Spirit said.

"That is not within the scope of our transaction, is it?" Zhang Chen asked.

"Of course it’s not within the scope of the transaction." The Heaven-Opening Fire Spirit said.

"Then Old Ancestor this is...?" Zhang Chen looked at the Heaven-Opening Fire Spirit with a doubtful expression.

"Robbery!" The Heaven-Opening Fire Spirit’s voice was full of smugness: "Will you hand over the Origins of the Heaven and Earth Spirit and the Heaven-Opening Water Spirit yourself, or shall this Old Ancestor personally kill you and then seize your treasures?"

"Old Ancestor would break faith and abandon righteousness?" Zhang Chen’s face grew unsightly.

"I know you have some methods. It won’t be easy to take you down. You had best quickly give me the Origins of that Heaven and Earth Spirit and Heaven-Opening Water Spirit. Otherwise, I’ll wreak havoc in West Kunlun and rouse the Queen Mother of the West, leaving you without even a burial ground." The Heaven-Opening Fire Spirit’s voice was thick with impatience.

"In this life, what I loathe most are those who do not keep their word!" Zhang Chen’s expression was exceedingly gloomy; it seemed that cold words were squeezed out from between his teeth.

"And what of it? You are nothing but a mere ant; you have no choice!" The Heaven-Opening Fire Spirit’s tone was filled with arrogance.

At these words, Zhang Chen’s face grew even darker: "Old Ancestor is set on doing this?"

"Indeed!" The Heaven-Opening Fire Spirit said.

"I helped you escape your predicament. That you do not think to repay me and be grateful is one thing, but you even wish to rob me and bring harm upon me. Is this in accord with moral principle?" Zhang Chen’s voice was full of resentment.

Hearing this, the Heaven-Opening Fire Spirit let out a disdainful laugh: "If you keep babbling, you die now!"

It was already impatient from waiting. A mere ant—how could it be worthy to negotiate terms with it? Not to mention bargaining, it was not even qualified to speak to it! If it weren’t for the fear of alarming the Queen Mother of the West, who slumbered in West Kunlun, it would likely have already killed him by now.

However, this brat was actually unafraid of being scorched by its flames, which did make it harbor a slight apprehension. But only a slight one. Its flames could not kill him, true, yet there were plenty of ways to take his life.

Zhang Chen let out a faint sigh at those words. "For someone so ungrateful and treacherous as you, such people have been rare since ancient times."

"Hmph. You helped me escape my imprisonment, I helped you refine the Peach Tree’s True Spirit. The debts and favors between us were already squared long ago." The Heaven-Opening Fire Spirit’s voice was now full of impatience:

"Brat, since you refuse to preserve your own dignity, this old ancestor can only help you die with some dignity."

The Heaven-Opening Fire Spirit took a step toward Zhang Chen—yet in the very next instant its body halted, freezing stiff in midair. The Divine Power within it fell completely silent, forcibly suppressed by some unknown force.

"What’s going on?" The Heaven-Opening Fire Spirit’s figure was pinned in place, its eyes full of panic.

Zhang Chen slowly extended his palm, summoned the Heaven-Opening Fire Spirit before him, and pinched it in his hand.

"You... you... what kind of method is this? Who in the world are you?" Feeling the Divine Power within itself utterly stilled, the Heaven-Opening Fire Spirit’s eyes were full of disbelief.

Looking at the Heaven-Opening Fire Spirit, a trace of disdain curled Zhang Chen’s lips. Before his own Fire Authority, the Heaven-Opening Fire Spirit was nothing more than an ant.

"How do you want to die?" Zhang Chen did not answer its question, but instead asked one of his own.

"Old ancestor, spare me! I was just joking earlier. Yes, yes, the little one was only making a joke, ancestor have mercy!" The Heaven-Opening Fire Spirit was completely panicked now, horror written all over its eyes. "You are magnanimous, my lord. For the sake of the hard work this small one put in refining the Peach Tree’s True Spirit for you, please spare me."

"I think that refining you—erasing your True Spirit—would be better for me." Zhang Chen pinched the Heaven-Opening Fire Spirit’s body, then began to drive the Fire Authority, dispersing its True Spirit and annihilating its form.

"Ancestor, don’t! The little one is willing to submit! The little one is willing to..." Before the Heaven-Opening Fire Spirit could finish, it had already been beaten back to its original form, turning into a fiery red bead. The bead twisted in Zhang Chen’s hand, then suddenly popped out a cyan-colored bead from within it.

Zhang Chen examined it closely. That bead was precisely the Heaven-Opening Wind Spirit’s bead, which had reappeared now that the Heaven-Opening Fire Spirit was suppressed.

Clutching the two beads in his hand, a trace of delight flashed in Zhang Chen’s eyes. "Gathering the power of the Four Spirits of Heaven Opening is also a tremendous boon to me. Although this Heaven-Opening Wind Spirit has never been placed into the Five Elements River as a vessel, it’s still a Supreme Treasure rarely seen."

Why did Zhang Chen extinguish the Heaven-Opening Fire Spirit’s consciousness? Simply because that old thing was too hard to control. Without the binding force of the wager, even if it cooperated with him in Refining, refining the Heaven-Opening Fire Spirit would have taken until the Year of the Monkey. He could not afford to wait that long.

The Heaven-Opening Fire Spirit was different from the Peach Tree. The Peach Tree had no self-awareness; it was a blank sheet of paper, not difficult to refine. But that bastard the Heaven-Opening Fire Spirit had its own consciousness; a slight misstep could bring him great trouble.

"I’d been worrying over how to deal with the Heaven-Opening Fire Spirit—after all, I’m not someone who breaks faith and betrays oaths. But just when I was troubled, someone delivered a pillow to my door: the Heaven-Opening Fire Spirit actually came seeking me of its own accord and handed me an excuse to act." Zhang Chen toyed with the Heaven-Opening Fire Spirit’s bead, then, after a brief contemplation, directly used his Divine Techniques to send a strand of his Primordial Spirit into it to refine it.

As for that Wind Spirit bead? Zhang Chen likewise sent in a strand of his Primordial Spirit, using it to refine the Wind Spirit bead.

For him, Primordial Spirits were in abundant supply; he’d been vexed about having nowhere to use them.

Once Zhang Chen sent his Primordial Spirits into the beads, he directly stored them away within the Eye of the Heavenly Dao, sealing them there, and then let them slowly refine the beads inside the Eye of the Heavenly Dao.

These Four Spirits of Heaven Opening were indeed the Four Great Demon Gods of Heaven Opening, and it was also true that their bodies were the Origins of the Four Spirits. But the beads formed from those four Origins were themselves four Innate Spiritual Treasures, containing the power of the world’s beginning, with methods for evolving earth, water, wind, and fire.

"Or rather, the Four Spirits of Heaven Opening are a different form of four Authorities. As long as one grasps these four beads, one can seize the Authorities of the Four Spirits of Heaven Opening and command the powers of earth, water, wind, and fire between Heaven and Earth." Feeling the information transmitted by his four Primordial Spirits, Zhang Chen marveled inwardly. In the next instant he hastily employed an Escape Technique and vanished from the sea of fire.

Although he had taken away the Heaven-Opening Fire Spirit that dwelt in the magma, its power still remained underground and could temporarily endure for three to five years. Once those three to five years passed and the Heaven-Opening Fire Spirit’s power dissipated, this matter would certainly shake all of Kunlun Mountain. He still needed to erase all information about himself, and in future he absolutely must never come here again.

"With the Heaven-Opening Fire Spirit gone, The Queen Mother of the West is highly likely to awaken from her slumber. Before she wakes, I must hurry and settle the Peach Tree affair. For me, the Peach Tree is the true, great harvest. After all, the Peach Tree represents Immortality; if I can bring it back to the future world, I’ll have made a monumental profit—who knows what kind of storm it will stir up." Zhang Chen’s figure flickered, and when he reappeared he was already beneath the Peach Tree. Looking up at the Peach Tree’s towering form and its luxuriant foliage, he slowly stretched out his palm and pressed it against the great trunk, then gently infused the Peach Tree’s True Spirit into it.

"Hum~"

As Zhang Chen’s Primordial Spirit entered the Peach Tree, the entire Peach Tree swayed lightly, emitting a strange tremor. The whole tree gained faint traces of inexplicable Spirituality, as if it had come alive from being mere dead wood.

Looking at the Peach Tree before him, curiosity flashed in Zhang Chen’s eyes. Then he lightly tapped with one finger, and the Power of Time rushed past in haste. In the space of a snap of the fingers, a hundred and eighty years of time flowed by, and Zhang Chen’s Primordial Spirit within the Peach Tree’s trunk sank completely into stillness.

"In truth, the Peach Tree harbors an earth-shaking secret. The three-thousand-year peaches and six-thousand-year peaches are both second-generation offshoots derived from the nine-thousand-year peaches. The three Peach mother trees in fact share a single True Spirit." Zhang Chen muttered inwardly.