Rise of Humanity

Chapter 336 - Demon Sunfire

“Be careful, restrain yourself from getting too near to it. The fire around it is demon sunfire. It may look calm and peaceful now, but it is actually very terrifying.”

Tu Jiang led Zhong Yue closer to the godly mountain, and the divine weapon Sun Chariot. The war chariot was suffused with the demon god’s aura, and the demon fire formed a circle of flames around it, burning extremely calmly, as if they were merely decorations to the picturesque scene.

Zhong Yue looked into the palace on the godly mountain. In the middle of the palace the Sun Chariot was enshrined, while a platform was raised on the side of the palace where many Asura disciples were sitting. They were studying the Sun Chariot from a distance, as they didn’t dare to get too close to it.

Those that could have entered the palace were the best of the best among the Asura Saint Clan disciples; they were given the chance to study the Sun Chariot Engravings, and attain the 【Heavenly Saint Godly Radiating Art】.

Zhong Yue could even sense some of them were Inner Core Qi Qi Practitioners, experts that weren’t any weaker than Tian Mo Concubine and the ladies. Even more, there were a few disciples whose cultivation bases were so strong that he couldn’t perceive them at all.

Tu Jiang invited him to the palace and walked onto the raised platform, the demon fire surrounding the Sun Chariot was just before them. Tu Jiang then said with a smile, “The Asura Saint Clan’s demon sunfire is nothing like the Shen Ya Celestial Race’s sunfire, the two sunfires have their own fortes. The demon sunfire’s power is more bizarre and harder to practice, even the Asura Saint Clan has only a handful of disciples who have successfully cultivated it.”

The Sun Chariot was still a thousand feet away from the raised platform they were on. Zhong Yue looked at it from the distance and saw the marvelous demon sunfire forming a circle of flame around the legendary war chariot, making it harder for the disciples to study the Sun Chariot Engravings. But if one desired to go closer in order to have a better look, he would have to risk getting in touch with the demon sunfire.

As for boarding the Sun Chariot and studying the heavenly demon god’s spirit, one would have to venture into the demon sunfire, endure the incineration of the demon sunfire, and face the Sun Chariot and heavenly demon god’s godly aura, the dominating air of a heavenly demon god!

However, that being said, Zhong Yue could still vaguely perceive faint silhouettes flitting in the demon sunfire which clearly belonged to strong experts of the Asura Saint Clan, those who were powerful enough to withstand the demon sunfire and study the Sun Chariot at a closer distance.

Zhong Yue was shocked as he meticulously observed the demon sunfire. He had one of the strongest sun spirits, the Great Sun Golden Crow, and due to that, he could immediately sense the abnormalities in the demon sunfire.

The demon sunfire was different from the other sunfires that were strong in bursting force and high in temperature.

A tiny bit of sunfire was sufficient enough to blow up a ten-mile wide crater, and the shock wave could tear all living beings into dust around the blast site!

However, the demon fire around this Sun Chariot was burning at a very low temperature. One wouldn’t feel the heat even while standing beside it, it seemed harmless to even the tiniest insect.

“Don’t underestimate it, the demon sunfire is a terror to those who know what it is. When burned, the demon sunfire will attach itself to its victim, directly attacking the soul, spirit, and Yuan Shen. As long as one has been touched by it, it will infect them like a parasite, and it cannot be extinguished; not water, sand, arcane energy, nor the soul weapons can put it off. The only way to put it off is the absence of ‘fuel’; the complete incineration of the spirit, soul, and Yuan Shen!”

Tu Jiang smiled and said, “After the infected’s spirit, soul, and Yuan Shen are burned away, their mortal body will still remain at its peak as if they were still alive, no one will even know he is dead. Not only that, but the demon fire reacts marvelously with soul weapons; please take a look, mister!”

He took out an ordinary soul weapon and cast it over to the Sun Chariot. It flitted past a tiny bit of the demon sunfire and the demon sunfire immediately stuck itself on the soul weapon. It burned right into the soul weapon, incinerating it from the inside out. A few moments later, the soul weapon collapsed onto the ground and although it looked perfectly fine, Zhong Yue could tell that inside of the soul weapon, its totem patterns, arcane energy, powers and marks were all gone; it was now nothing but a clump of scrap metal!

“Incredible…” Zhong Yue exclaimed in shock.

The demon sunfire’s appearance was fantastically beautiful, one couldn’t even tell it was actually fire and would mistake it for coloring pigments. Every tongue of flame could be differentiated into hundreds of colors, and the flames were incredibly flexible. They could be formed into different shapes, coming together into picturesque art of a world of nature, even coloring the flora and fauna.

“If a demon magnate who is proficient in the arts of demon sunfire places down an array formation, he can turn a piece of land in the desert into a lively city, every single demon and item in the city, even the trees and birds around will look real and authentic, as if they truly exist!”

Tu Jiang was proud as he told them, “Such an array formation can easily kill an expert in a trice! Only a handful of people in the Asura Saint Clan can do it; after all, the Qi Practitioners that have acquired the sun spirit are really rare, and even fewer have achieved a high stage. Although there are some Qi Practitioners that have acquired the sun spirit in the Asura Saint Clan, most of them did not acquire a genuine sun spirit, but the sun spirit of this heavenly demon god.”

He then said in good will, “Mister, if you can’t attain the demon sunfire, then you can only stay here to study the Sun Chariot Engravings. Only by attaining the demon sunfire can one walk into the circle of demon flames and study a higher-grade heritage. Even so, if mister does not have the Sun Innate Spirit Body, my advice is to not take the risk. Hahaha, but that won’t be the same if you have the Sun Innate Spirit Body. If so, don’t even mention the demon sunfire, you can even attain the other greatest cultivation technique of my race, the 【Great Sun Heavenly Demon Art】. I’m being a fool making jokes again, I’m sorry, my apologies for that…”

Zhong Yue was speechless, and Tu Jiang was also feeling embarrassed. He quickly said, “Mister, I will return for you after half a month’s time. Before then, you can stay as long as you desire.”

Zhong Yue nodded, and the embarrassed Tu Jiang quickly turned and left.

Sun Innate Spirit Body? Although I’m not one, but maybe even the true Sun Innate Spirit Body might not have a stronger sun spirit than mine! After all, I’ve walked on the surface of the sun and acquired the sun spirit on the sun itself!

Zhong Yue sat down in the lotus position but he didn’t study the Sun Chariot Engravings. Instead, he turned to the billowing demon fire and thought, Studying the Sun Chariot Engravings here, don’t even talk about half a month’s time, even with a hundred days I won’t be able to finish looking at them. In order to fully attain the Engravings, the only way is to walk into the fire and look at them closely … Divine third eye, open!

A narrow slit opened on his forehead, a flash of light flitted across his divine third eye and the demon sunfire’s secrets were exposed to his eyes. The mysteries of the demon sunfire were instantly laid bare to him, he could clearly see every single detail of the totem patterns composed in the demon sunfire, and he could easily understand them all.

After an hour’s time, Zhong Yue suddenly opened his hand and a ball of fire emerged out of thin air in the middle of his palm. The fireball looked like a little tree swaying in the air, before it changed into a blooming flower with ever-changing colors. Seconds later, the blooming flower then changed into the figure of a little bird, fluttering its wings, trying to fly higher, and as soon as it reached to his eye-level, the flying bird burned in flame and turned back into a ball of demon fire before a miniature man walked out from it.

The fire vanished in the blink of an eye, and the tiny figure disappeared before it reached his eyes.

Zhong Yue then stood up, walked down from the raised platform and strode into the circle of demon sunfire, walking toward the Sun Chariot until he disappeared from the sight of the disciples on the platform.

He had just attained the demon sunfire’s fundamental structures, and constructed his own demon sunfire; although there were still more to explore of the demon sunfire, he didn’t have the time to linger any longer as he was only given half a month’s time. Fifteen days weren’t long enough to fully understand the whole of the demon sunfire, let alone the Sun Chariot Engravings.

Hence, he could only take a leap of faith, a bet that risked his life to prove that his newly-acquired demon sunfire could withstand the demon sunfires around the Sun Chariot.

Just as he walked into the circle of flames, the demon sunfires instantly billowed over as they felt this uninvited guest, seeping into his body through the tiny pores on his skin. Zhong Yue was unmoved, he let the demon sunfires infiltrate his body and watched quietly as his Yuan Shen was also infected by the demon sunfire.

As these demon sunfires surged into his body, his body was immediately engulfed by the demon sunfire in a ball of fire; he closed all his pores and stopped more demon sunfires from entering his body.

Even though he could withstand the demon sunfires, there was still a limit to it, and letting more demon sunfire into his body would cause the limit to be exceeded.

Zhong Yue could feel his Yuan Shen slowly eroding away due to the demon sunfire; this was because his attainments on the demon sunfire were still too shallow and couldn’t effectively counteract the demon sunfires that were impairing his Yuan Shen now.

However, as the demon sunfires were working, the sharp perceptiveness of his Yuan Shen allowed him to clearly capture every little permutation of the totem patterns that composed the demon sunfire. As such, he was able to strengthen and improve his demon sunfire to better protect his Yuan Shen.

The permutations in the demon sunfire were too numerous. In the few seconds he had entered the circle of flames, there were already hundreds of permutations he couldn’t react to in time that inflicted damage to his Yuan Shen. But after a few moments, he had progressively improved his demon sunfire and there were only a few permutations left that could inflict damage to his Yuan Shen.

After another few moments, Zhong Yue heaved a breath of relief as he have now grasped all of the permutations of the demon sunfire that infected his Yuan Shen. His Yuan Shen was now unaffected at all.

However, this was only when the demon sunfire was not triggered; if the demon sunfire around the Sun Chariot was activated, his Yuan Shen would still be incinerated.

This demon sunfire was from that heavenly demon god. He could still endure it if was not triggered, but if the demon sunfire’s power was fully unleashed, even gods could be killed.

Furthermore, this was only the demon sunfire on the outer rim, it was of lower grade. The closer the demon sunfire was to the Sun Chariot, the higher grade and the stronger it would be, and there would be more permutations to it. The demon sunfire in the Sun Chariot would most probably be at the level of the heavenly demon gods!

If I can just take a tiny bit of the demon sunfire of the heavenly demon god level, it will be a very precious treasure. However, this demon sunfire can be infuse into nearly everything, it’s very hard to contain it because there are no soul weapons that can contain it.

Zhong Yue tried opening his Yuan Shen secret realms and store some of the demon sunfire inside, but he gave up quickly as the demon sunfire flowed right through the secret realms and remained in the common world.

He walked slowly through the flame sea and drew nearer to the Sun Chariot. Along the way, the demon sunfire’s power was also getting stronger and the permutations of its totem patterns were getting more complex. Every step he took, he would have to stop for a period of time to attain the permutations. His understandings on the demon sunfire also deepened as he did that.

In the demon sunfire, there were dozens of Asura Saint Clan Qi Practitioners. They all had four arms and looked marvelous, the men handsome and the women beautiful. Even the aged Asuras maintained their attractive air.

As he walked closer to the Sun Chariot, the young Asura Qi Practitioners were left behind, and those around him were now the older generation Asuras. When he reached the Sun Chariot, the Qi Practitioners around it were all incredibly old. Some had even sat unmoving for hundreds of years just so they could study the Sun Chariot all the time!

A few that were around were so strong that even he couldn’t perceive their exact powers. These were the old giants of the demon race!

The godly aura and demonic air were thick and heavy, they were even starting to repress his mortal body, Yuan Shen, and thoughts, placing him under great pressure. Thanks to his Immortal Body, he was way stronger than before, and his mortal body avoided collapsing right away.

He strode onto the Sun Chariot and the pressure rose to a new level. It felt like there were dozens of mountains crushing down on his back, his skin started to crack, and his muscles felt like they were tearing themselves apart. His body was on the verge of disintegrating while the demon sunfire around him was at the demon god-level sunfire!

Zhong Yue stopped abruptly, waiting until his attainments and understandings on the demon sunfire had deepened before he took another step further after boarding onto the Sun Chariot.

“Who is he? How is he not afraid of the demon sunfire? Has he attained the heavenly demon god-level demon sunfire?”

Behind Zhong Yue, the few Asura Saint Clan giant cultivators opened their eyes and stared over at Zhong Yue, their eyes filled with disbelief.

“When did our saint clan have such a talented young man?”