Chapter 169 - Frostflame

"Ah... so this is..."

Cale read the scrolls he had collected. Of course, he took all the Supreme and Divine tier ones, leaving the rest for Sesrir. The man was somehow quite happy to accept them without complaint.

The first technique was surprisingly something Cale had been contemplating on whether to have or not.

[New Technique: Origin Severing Fist & Palm]

[A supreme fist-and-palm cultivation technique. The technique allows user to condense physical strength, spiritual energy, and killing intent into his hands. Rather than relying solely on overwhelming force, every strike searches for the origin behind whatever it touches.

A fist can sever the source of an opponent’s strength, causing their body to collapse beneath its own weakness. A palm can sever the circulation of spiritual energy, disrupting techniques before they can fully manifest.]

"Hmm... it’s quite good. As expected of a Supreme tier technique. As long as it helps me in many other situations, I don’t have any problem."

This technique was actually part of the Nine-Headed Sea Serpent King’s inheritance directly. Many good weapons were also added to his Arsenal of Infinite Heavens, so Cale wouldn’t have to replenish it for a few months.

As they reached the location, it was, of course, another goddamn cave.

"Let’s enter it. It’s what you want anyway, so let’s collect it too," Sesrir said.

They entered and walked downward for several kilometers before a scorching heat began creeping up their bodies.

"H-hey, is it just me, or are you feeling hot too?" Sesrir sighed, his face already covered in sweat.

"Heh, I’ve got all attributes. You think I care about this?"

Then came the opening — but what they saw ahead wasn’t a cute little flower field.

Stepping through the threshold, Cale found himself standing on a cliff, suspended high above a boundless, apocalyptic expanse of churning crimson magma and blinding hellfire that stretched to every horizon.

"Yeah... we’re dead! Let’s get out of here!" Sesrir started panicking immediately, backing away from the edge.

"Old man, are you dumb? Oh right... I didn’t tell you. There’s a flame seed in here."

Sesrir jumped back in shock.

"F-flame seed?! Here! How in the hell do you even know this! No, wait... you knew this entire place as if you’ve visited here before, but we’re likely the first ones to enter... shit... I can’t understand anything."

Cale let out a laugh and patted Sesrir’s shoulder.

"Don’t worry. Someday, you should come join me and serve me instead. You’ll get some good benefits too."

"Yeah, before you swallow up my damn soul!" Sesrir shot back.

Shaking his head, Cale walked ahead to the edge of the cliff and looked down into the inferno below.

"Where is the flame and flower bed though..."

[It is detected under the magma.]

Cale narrowed his eyes.

"Are you... sure?"

Under the magma? Wasn’t that literally a death sentence?

[Host can cover his body with chaos flames. By estimation, the distance is three kilometers.]

"Hmm..."

He still wasn’t sure. As if he’d take this risk and get fried to ash.

He kept thinking for a long time, weighing the options.

"Alright," he sighed finally. "I will use Genesis to create constant layers of flesh and chaos flames over my body, cast Chaos Domain over my body to help protect me, and Nihility Domain to negate every attack on my body."

His body shivered just at the thought of how much mental strain that would cause.

But at least his Vermillion Bird True Flame Physique would definitely be helpful in this case.

"Haha, that chicken didn’t die for nothing," he said with a slight smile.

He readied himself to jump and looked back at Sesrir.

"Jump in if I don’t return after five hours."

Sesrir snorted.

"For what? To pick your remains!"

"Heh, you think this much is enough to kill me? Mine is a yin body; cold and death runs deep within me."

Saying that, he jumped and flew upward into the scorching expanse.

As Cale soared higher above the scorching expanse, the endless ocean of magma below him violently ruptured.

’What is... that?’

Colossal, serpentine monstrosities erupted from the molten depths — creatures of fire and fury. Their thick, armored scales dripped with liquid fire and trailed showers of glowing embers that fell like rain back into the inferno below.

With malevolent, glowing eyes and gaping maws snapping at the air, the fiery leviathans lunged upward with terrifying speed, eager to drag him down into the flames.

"They’re stronger than Emperor Stage... Sage Stage likely... damn."

Hiding his presence immediately, he dove directly into the magma ocean without hesitation.

Plunging into the suffocating heat of the magma ocean, Cale navigated the chaotic depths.

Multiple protective layers surrounded his body, forming an impenetrable ethereal shield against the apocalyptic temperatures. His Genesis-crafted flesh barriers overlapped with his Chaos Domain, each layer reinforcing the next.

"Phew... how deep is this!"

He propelled himself fluidly through the dark, fiery void, effortlessly dodging massive, jagged clusters of glowing volcanic rock that drifted weightlessly all around him. The Kunpeng bloodline in his veins allowed him to move through the magma with supernatural speed, swimming faster than any normal cultivator could manage.

Thirty minutes passed, and he was still descending at maximum speed.

As Cale descended deeper into the abyssal depths, the oppressive heat of the magma inexplicably vanished.

It was replaced by something far more alien, rather a bone-chilling, unnatural cold that made even his flame-infused body shudder.

’Have I entered the Frostflame’s territory?’

That had to be it. This was a freezing fire — the antithesis of normal flame.

The fiery surroundings faded into a suffocating, deep blue void. The thick layers of his glowing white ethereal shield flared brightly against the freezing darkness, straining against the impossible temperature differential.

At the very bottom of this frozen expanse, his gaze locked onto something breathtaking.

A mesmerizing, jagged sphere of pure, icy energy floated silently in the void, radiating a brilliant, spiky blue and white light that illuminated the dark expanse like a star fallen from heaven. The otherworldly ball of snow pulsed with a strange, cold power that harbored a mysterious silhouette at its very core.

Pressing past the frozen anomaly, Cale suddenly felt the crushing oceanic pressure vanish entirely. He realized he had been teleported into an entirely separate, isolated spatial realm.

The suffocating water gave way to breathable atmosphere, allowing him to inhale normally as he touched down upon dark, frozen seabed.

"Ah... where...?" he murmured, looking around in wonder.

To his surprise, he found himself standing in a hidden sanctuary.

At the very heart of this hidden realm rested the legendary seed of the Nine Nether Frostflame.

It was a breathtaking sight — a crystal like core of fuming, flawless ice that burned endlessly with ethereal, black-and-blue chilling flames. The tiny seed radiated bone-deep, unnatural cold, illuminating the shadowy depths with a mesmerizing yet terrifying display of frost-bitten fire. It seemed to exist in defiance of all natural law. An ice that burned, cold that seared.

"Maybe they actually grew because of this flame, huh..." Cale mused aloud.

Stretching endlessly outward from the burning seed was a massive expanse of Abyssal Soulflowers.

Their delicate, spectral petals swayed silently in the still air, glowing with haunting, luminescent violet light. The entire ghostly field pulsed rhythmically with heavy demonic qi and pure soul essence, weaving a beautiful but deadly tapestry.

Cale stood motionless for a long moment, taking in the sight.