Chapter 527: Fire Transformation!

The closer one got to the mountain top, the fewer people there were.

Qin Sang realized that the distribution on Divine Essence Peak was based on cultivation level; the closer to the peak, the more chaotic the vital energy became, and only those with high enough cultivation could withstand it.

The advantage was that one could absorb purer essence qi, leading to faster cultivation.

Qin Sang couldn't figure out whether this chaotic vital energy was related to the Ancestral Sacred Fire at the mountain peak.

Quietly passing a Qingyang Demonic Sect cultivator, Qin Sang finally spotted a jade-like Qingyang Essence Gem, embedded in the center of a large rock.

The large rock was shaped like a millstone lying on its side, with the Qingyang Essence Gem perfectly embedded in its center.

Qin Sang looked left and right, then quietly approached the large rock and reached out. A cool sensation emanated from the Qingyang Essence Gem. After careful examination, he was pleasantly surprised to find that the essence qi inside was incredibly pure and required no refining. Even without cultivating the Qingyang Demonic Flame, he could absorb it directly.

This entirely relieved Qin Sang. He continued climbing towards the peak, searching back and forth, and eventually found a very concealed Qingyang Essence Gem in a rock crevice.

This was it!

This Qingyang Essence Gem wasn't large, only about the size of a baby's fist, but based on Qin Sang's understanding of such gems over the past few days, this amount was already sufficient!

Qin Sang slowly exhaled, took out the Shaoyin Magnetic Bottles from his embrace, placed them before him, and then sensed the Qingyang Essence Gem again, confirming everything was correct.

He then opened all the magnetic bottles simultaneously, absorbed all the Earthly Fiend Qi within them into his body, and then directly destroyed the bottles, erasing any traces.

Once the Essence-Fiend Golden Core Fusion began, he couldn't afford to be distracted. He had to forcefully draw the qi into his Qi Sea; it would remain stable for a short time, and as the Earthly Fiend Qi was consumed, the process would become progressively easier.

"I must succeed!"

Qin Sang encouraged himself, relieving his nervous and urgent mood. He quickly cast aside distracting thoughts, and his mind became as calm as still water.

He sat cross-legged in front of the Qingyang Essence Gem, his hands lightly pressed on it, maintaining this posture without moving.

A moment later, a green light suddenly flashed on the Qingyang Essence Gem, separating into a stream of green light that lingered at Qin Sang's fingertips before immediately vanishing.

Inside Qin Sang's body.

The essence qi flowed along his meridians, soon to enter his Qi Sea.

This stream of Qingyang Divine Essence was several times larger than what Shi Ying had restrained. Qin Sang held his breath, activated the Ebony Sword to enter his Dantian, carefully stabilized his Qi Sea, then drew out a similar amount of Earthly Fiend Qi, awaiting its arrival!

"Sizzle!"

The moment the two streams of qi sensed each other, they immediately plunged into chaos, as expected. Qin Sang had been waiting for this moment. He instantly directed the Earthly Fiend Qi to surge towards the Golden Core, drawing the Qingyang Divine Essence along with it. Then, he fully activated his spiritual power, tightly enveloping them to soothe them.

"Boom!"

The first attempt ended in failure, and his Qi Sea churned turbulently, taking quite a while to calm down.

Yet Qin Sang felt more confident. He chuckled and, without hesitation, continued to try again!

Repeated failures did not shake his resolve in the slightest.

Time slowly passed. After countless attempts, Qin Sang's expression suddenly changed.

He saw an inconspicuous spot of light appear on the surface of the Golden Core, within which mingled green and black light shone.

The Essence-Fiend Golden Core Fusion had finally succeeded!

Qin Sang's face lit up with joy, but then his eyes suddenly grew solemn. His conjecture had come true: the Essence-Fiend Golden Core Fusion was indeed different from a simple Earthly Fiend Golden Core Fusion, causing the Golden Core to be extremely unstable, with the constant risk of collapse.

Once started, it had to be continued without a moment's pause!

Qin Sang dared not stop. He hurriedly absorbed another wisp of essence qi, sent it into his Qi Sea, and continued to impact the Golden Core.

Performing the secret technique on himself was indeed different from last time; Qin Sang could keenly and quickly detect every tiny change and make adjustments.

Not only was the speed of the Essence-Fiend Golden Core Fusion faster than before, but the Corpse Refining secret technique was also proceeding very smoothly.

Of course, the reason for such smooth progress was not unrelated to the ever-ready Ebony Sword.

On Divine Essence Peak, the Ancestral Sacred Fire danced wildly.

The disciples of the Qingyang Demonic Sect were completely unaware that someone was stealing their sect's treasure.

Time slowly passed.

Unbeknownst to him, an hour and a half swiftly passed. The Qingyang Essence Gem in front of Qin Sang had visibly shrunk significantly, and the secret technique was about to reach its conclusion.

However, Qin Sang was completely unaware that as this Qingyang Essence Gem grew smaller, the summit of Divine Essence Peak was also gradually changing!

On Divine Essence Peak, the Ancestral Sacred Fire became even more agitated than before.

Affected by the Ancestral Sacred Fire, the weather on Divine Essence Peak suddenly changed drastically, with violent thunder striking!

A sudden, astonishing anomaly occurred on Divine Essence Peak, alarming the experts of the Qingyang Demonic Sect.

"Didn't the Sect Master adjust the formation of the essence jades to suppress the Ancestral Sacred Fire? How could such a sudden change occur? Or did someone disregard the Sect Master's order and heavily extract essence jades, affecting the grand formation?"

Cave dwellings opened one after another, and two figures with powerful auras appeared in front of Divine Essence Peak, both at the late Foundation Establishment stage.

They drove away other disciples and looked up at the mountain peak with serious expressions.

"Only those few fellow disciples are capable of extracting essence jades. Martial Uncle Wu has taken Martial Brother Li and others to Boundless Valley to rescue people, so who could still be on the mountain?"

One of them frowned and said, "Fortunately, the Ancestral Sacred Fire has not yet gone out of control, so remediation shouldn't be difficult. First, let's send the other disciples down the mountain. We'll know whether it's man-made or a change in the formation once we go up and see."

The other person's face was full of indignation. "I just had a flash of insight, as if I was on the verge of an epiphany, but I was interrupted and can't recall anything now. If I find out who did this, I'll make sure they pay!"

Qin Sang remained completely unaware of the changes outside.

How could he have known that the stability of the Ancestral Sacred Fire was actually related to the essence jades on Divine Essence Peak? This was a secret of the Qingyang Demonic Sect, known only to high-ranking members of the sect, so it was naturally impossible to inquire about casually.

Even if he knew, he couldn't move freely.

At this moment, the Golden Core in his Qi Sea had completely transformed.

The Golden Core had transformed into two distinct colors, green and black, each occupying one half. The divine light that originally belonged to the Golden Core was reduced to only a small patch.

As long as this last patch was also taken over, the Essence-Fiend Golden Core Fusion would be complete!

Another stream of Essence-Fiend successfully surged into the Golden Core. Qin Sang was about to continue absorbing the Qingyang Divine Essence when he suddenly heard an angry shout from below, "Stop!"

Qin Sang paused his movements. He turned his head and vaguely saw two figures rushing through the green mist.

He was so close to success; how could someone suddenly come up the mountain and easily discover him?

A thought struck Qin Sang. He suddenly looked up, only then surprised to discover that a swirling vortex of wind and clouds had appeared above his head at some point.

The vortex hung low, with lightning streaking through it. Surprisingly, a stream of fire as thin as a hair extended down from high in the sky, slowly descending and emitting a terrifying, heart-pounding power!

This was...

The Ancestral Sacred Fire!

Qin Sang's expression changed drastically. He immediately realized that he must have overlooked something.

At this moment, due to the Essence-Fiend Golden Core Fusion, he was greatly exhausted, and his body was extremely weak!