Chapter 274: Ming Shan Sect's Top Loyalist

They immediately got to work. The plan was already set; the main task was for Shi Chun to lead the group to the pre-scouted location.

After flying for a while using their wind scales, the group lowered their altitude and began flying close to the mountains.

As they neared their target, they retracted their wind scales and moved swiftly through the icy, snowy valleys.

Using his right eye's special ability, Shi Chun led them to a spot just one mountain away from the Shudaoshan group. They finally stopped, crouching behind a hillside to discreetly observe.

A moment later, they retreated into the valley. Shi Chun instructed Wu Jinliang and Tong Mingshan, "Be careful."

With that, he gestured, preparing to lead the others away.

Unexpectedly, Chu Jingting suddenly spoke up, calling out, "Should I take Brother Jinliang's place? He always goes to the exit, and it would be hard for him not to be recognized."

This was indeed a valid concern. Although he was reluctant to take risks, he also didn't want to be implicated.

There were only a few people here. The Boss needed to use a secret technique to locate the divine fire. Once found, An Wuzhi would need to control it using his fire-attribute cultivation techniques. Since no one else was available, it seemed most appropriate for him to replace Wu Jinliang.

It was a relatively well-intentioned suggestion.

Shi Chun thought for a moment and politely declined, "There's no need. Tong Mingshan has to go, and it's not his first time; he'll be recognized regardless. Besides, those ten elders are restricted by the rules and cannot participate in the competition. They're monitoring each other, so nothing will happen."

Chu Jingting said, "My cultivation is a bit higher than Brother Jinliang's, so it might be easier for me to control the wind scales."

"Hey," Wu Jinliang grumbled, "What? Are you looking down on me?"

Shi Chun still refused, saying, "It's not too far, and his cultivation is sufficient. Jinliang has run that route back and forth, so he's more familiar with it. Also, he's more thick-skinned than you, which will be more convenient at the exit."

Ultimately, Shi Chun trusted Wu Jinliang's abilities more. Both of them came from Dongjiuyuan and understood each other well. Moreover, the gourd on Wu Jinliang was a magic treasure, making him difficult to catch if he needed to escape, so entrusting the task to him felt more secure.

Seeing his persistence, Chu Jingting smiled and said nothing more.

"Alright, let's go." With Shi Chun's signal, he and An Wuzhi departed.

Meanwhile, on the other side, with the report of the last two returning, the "Soul-Locking Array" set up by Shudaoshan was now complete.

Gu Lianni took out a compass-like magic artifact. Just as she was rotating it back and forth for divination, she suddenly heard a loud, booming sound of fighting erupt from the mountains on one side.

Boom! The collapsing ice valley shook the ground.

Gu Lianni was furious. She wanted to know who was causing the disturbance. What if the divine fire was scared away?

Everyone turned their heads to look, only to see a scarlet fire shimmering over there.

"Are you crazy? Making such a huge commotion! Have you got it under control?"

"We got it."

"Quick, let's go!"

They saw a figure holding a ball of strange, scarlet fire leap into the air. Immediately after, another person flew out from the other side of the mountain, activating wind scales in mid-air to encircle the person holding the scarlet fire, then changed direction and flew away.

"Divine fire!" Several Shudaoshan disciples exclaimed almost simultaneously, their breaths quickening.

"Chase!" Pang Hou roared, already waving for several fellow disciples to quickly ascend and pursue.

As expected of the second largest sect in the artifact refining world, everyone possessed valuable wind scales.

They chased with a mix of shock and fury. Their audacity was astonishing; to snatch the divine fire they had meticulously planned for, right under their noses, was intolerable. By rights, they were the ones who should be seizing things from others.

The others looked at the junior martial aunt leading the team.

Gu Lianni stood stunned, muttering to herself, "Can divine fire on the ice plains also be red?"

Her expression was filled with suspicion.

Yuan Yao saw her still hesitating and immediately grew anxious. "Aunt, whatever its color, it must be divine fire! Can't you tell? That big guy carrying a large gourd is clearly Shi Chun's accomplice, Wu Jinliang. Hah, I told you earlier that Shi Chun's appearance here was no coincidence. As expected, he's been secretly plotting."

The image of the big guy with the large gourd flashed through Gu Lianni's mind. She suddenly realized she had indeed been tricked by Shi Chun. Remembering how Shi Chun had acted meek and submissive before, it was clearly an attempt to lull her into a false sense of security, plainly making a fool of her. Instantly, she was consumed by rage. She put away her compass, waved her hand, and shouted, "Chase! Let's see where he can run!"

The group swiftly soared into the sky, sweeping towards the horizon, each person also equipped with wind scales.

"One, two, three, four, five, six..."

Hiding behind an ice mountain, Chu Jingting muttered as he counted. He turned back and said, "Boss, that's right, perfect. All one hundred of them are gone."

So Shi Chun, who had been lying prone, stood up and declared loudly, "The area's clear, time for a change. It's our turn to begin."

Chu Jingting and An Wuzhi exchanged a smile and also stood up. They watched as Shi Chun took out half a burned incense stick and lit it in front of them.

Chu and An exchanged another glance. Chu Jingting couldn't help but ask, "Boss, why is this 'Fire God Incense' so miraculous?"

Shi Chun replied, "I don't know either. Anyway, it only works within the Divine Fire domain. I'll go up and check; you two follow me from below." With that, he ascended into the air on his wind scales.

Chu Jingting withdrew his gaze from the sky and muttered to the person beside him, "Our Boss certainly has deep pockets; he's unfathomable."

An Wuzhi nodded slightly, "We should have known that from him being able to get us all in here."

In the air, Shi Chun, with his right eye's special ability activated, noticed something was wrong. The flickering phantom beneath the ice layer had disappeared, and holding the incense stick couldn't hide the fact that the target was gone.

He realized it might have been scared away by the large commotion Wu Jinliang caused and couldn't help but curse inwardly. That guy always used such crude methods, and he also blamed himself for not cautioning him beforehand.

He immediately circled quickly in the air to check.

Before long, he stopped in mid-air. In the collapsed ice valley caused by Wu Jinliang, he again discovered the flickering phantom.

The color of that phantom was almost identical to the color of the ice and snow when seen through his right eye, making it very difficult to spot under normal circumstances. The only reason it could be seen was its constant flickering, which made it conspicuous against the still ice and snow.

He flew directly above, and Chu Jingting and An Wuzhi followed, running to the ground below him.

Shi Chun observed the surrounding terrain. After a period of thought, he realized a problem: this divine fire seemed to be able to move through the ice layer. If that were true, it would be troublesome; catching it would be a challenge.

To verify his guess, he pointed downwards and loudly commanded, "It's right below. Try to collapse the ground beneath it."

Chu and An exchanged a glance, then nodded slightly together. After a silent, synchronized count of "one, two, three," they simultaneously cast a spell and stomped on the ground.

Boom! The haphazardly piled ice blocks collapsed again.

Shi Chun, who was closely watching below, his eyes flashing, discovered that the phantom below had rapidly shot away, swiftly escaping in another direction.

Shi Chun immediately followed in the air, and the two below instantly flew after him.

Once the flickering phantom stopped and retreated again, Shi Chun once more observed the surrounding terrain. Gradually, he figured out some countermeasures. He then pointed downwards heavily again, and Chu and An, understanding his intent, stomped the ground with force once more.

Boom! The ice layer cracked and collapsed, sending ice shards flying.

The flickering phantom beneath the ice escaped again. Shi Chun tracked it again, and after it stopped, he gestured for Chu and An to attack downwards again.

After repeating this process, Shi Chun was certain that there were no tunnels beneath the ice layer; this divine fire truly could move freely under the ice.

After multiple pursuits, An Wuzhi also guessed what it was. Although he hadn't seen it, he waved repeatedly to Shi Chun in the air.

After Shi Chun landed, An Wuzhi excitedly said, "Ice Blaze! The one that can move freely in ice and snow must be the divine fire, Ice Blaze!"

Whatever kind of 'Blaze' it was, as long as it was divine fire, it was fine. Shi Chun showed no reaction and pointed to the ground, "It's right below. Continue!"

After he finished speaking, he flew back into the air, and the ground began to rumble again.

After dozens of continuous pursuits, a strange phenomenon occurred: the phantom hiding beneath the ice remained motionless. It was unclear if it had become numb or puzzled as to how it kept being discovered no matter where it hid. Thus, it allowed the attacks from above, remaining still beneath.

"It's still below! Start digging!" Shi Chun shouted downwards.

An Wuzhi immediately went crazy, smashing continuously with both palms, sending ice shards flying. He was digging frantically; this might be his divine fire, and he couldn't let it escape no matter what.

"This lunatic..." Chu Jingting muttered. The chaotic bombardment made it difficult for him to join in, so he just stood further back to watch the commotion.

A large pit quickly appeared on the ice plain. The phantom hiding below seemed to sense the approaching danger, swiftly flashed away, and escaped again.

This time, not only Shi Chun, but even An Wuzhi in the pit saw a shadowy light escaping from the ice layer below. He immediately looked up and shouted loudly, "Boss, did it get away?"

Seeing Shi Chun fly off in another direction, he immediately leaped out, striking wherever Shi Chun pointed.

Chu Jingting watched, speechless, and muttered again, "The top loyal minister of Mingshan Sect, this 'Fire God Incense' is truly miraculous..."

After speaking, he also quickly flew away. It was inappropriate to just stand by and watch; after all, the Boss was watching from above, and the large sum of money he carried was also given by the Boss.

When the phantom beneath the ice was attacked again, it suddenly accelerated its escape.

Shi Chun, who was pursuing, also noticed something was wrong. He realized that the phantom was no longer hiding as before, but was starting to rush towards higher ground, which was precisely the goal of his constant pressure. He immediately shouted, "It's about to appear! Quick, chase!"

The two below quickly leaped and flew.

Suddenly, as the phantom passed over a mountain ridge, it burst out. The ice and snow cover was too thin because the ground beneath was all earth and rock.

Shi Chun also saw the true form of the object. The physical entity was just like the phantom: relatively translucent and with a faint silver-blue hue, exuding a noble sense of color.

The faint silver-blue flame seemed somewhat panicked as soon as it emerged from the ground.

Because it didn't know Shi Chun's goal was to force it out, and it didn't know Shi Chun was already right there, as soon as it appeared, it found Shi Chun beside it. Terrified, it instantly erupted with powerful energy to resist.

Shi Chun, who already had experience dealing with such situations, extended his hand and unleashed a palm strike, a killing move: the Demon-Slaying Hand!

The power of this divine fire was far less than that of the Golden Blaze in the Iron Forest, but it was still enough to momentarily slow down Shi Chun, who was in pursuit.

However, it could not slow down the strange counter-current patterns. The patterns, moving against the flow, struck into the faint silver-blue flame.