"This... where is she? Guest Elder Yuan has disappeared!" a gasp rang out from the crowd.
The spot where Yuan Shu had been standing was now completely empty, and even the cauldron she was just using to refine pills had vanished along with her!
The spiritual energy Yao Qianci was outputting suddenly lost its recipient and stagnated abruptly.
"Guest Elder Yuan?" he called out, walking over to the spot where Yuan Shu had just been to investigate.
Spreading out his divine sense, he caught a trace of lingering spatial fluctuation, and the look in his eyes changed slightly.
"Peak Master, is it the Divine Fire Space?" Elder Hai, who was standing to the side, also sharply sensed the spatial fluctuation and stepped forward to ask.
Yao Qianci stood up from the ground and slowly nodded.
Within the Chiyang Hall, a wisp of the ancient spiritual fire, Chiyang Fire, was preserved. It was collected from the Edge of the Sky by the founding ancestor of Yaoyun Peak back in the day.
Chiyang Fire possessed sentience, and this Divine Fire Space was an alternate dimension created by it.
It must have been that Yuan Shu's use of her spiritual fire just now disturbed the Chiyang Fire, causing the Divine Fire Space to suck her in!
"This... the Divine Fire Space is the Chiyang Fire's territory. The temperature is extremely high and incredibly dangerous. With Guest Elder Yuan's strength, will she be able to hold on?"
The crowd below broke into fervent discussion.
Yao Qianci also frowned. Suddenly, as if he had thought of something, his expression flickered. "Guard me, I will find a way to go take a look!"
"Yes." The elders complied, hurriedly surrounding Yao Qianci to protect him.
...
This was an unfamiliar, fiery red space.
From the moment she stepped in here, Yuan Shu felt an unprecedented scorching heat.
Everything in her sight was a fiery red, as if she were inside a giant furnace.
The surrounding air was astonishingly hot.
Falling into this space alongside her was the three-legged cauldron that had been in her hands just moments ago.
The medicinal plants in the cauldron had already been successfully refined, and now only the crucial step remained: pill fusion.
Whether the pill could be successfully crafted depended entirely on the pill fusion.
To fuse the refined medicinal plants together, one had to be careful of the energy fluctuations caused by the clash of their medicinal properties.
One also had to precisely control the temperature of the flame. If it was too high, the plants would lose their medicinal properties; if it was too low, the fusion could not be completed.
And throughout this entire process, Yuan Shu could not step away from the cauldron.
Otherwise, all her efforts would be for naught!
Yuan Shu slowed down her pill-refining speed and spread out her divine sense, trying to search the space for a way out.
After searching around, she found nothing.
The refined medicinal plants inside the cauldron could barely withstand the roasting of the spiritual fire any longer. Left with no choice, Yuan Shu could only pour her heart and soul into the pill fusion.
First, she had to successfully craft this Qingling Heart-Protecting Pill.
Fortunately, with Yao Qianci's help in refining the medicinal plants earlier, she still had some spiritual energy left in her body.
If she was careful now, she should be able to finish crafting this fifth-tier pill!
Yuan Shu's gaze focused as she dedicated herself entirely to the pill fusion.
The path of alchemy was what Yuan Shu was most talented at in her previous life, aside from cultivation.
This was also an important reason why she was able to experience a meteoric rise in the Hehuan Sect and become its Sect Master!
Coming to Yaoyun Peak could only be described as a perfect match for her expertise; it was effortless for her!
In just a moment, the signs of pill formation faintly appeared within the dark cyan cauldron.
Right at this moment, a playful wisp of dark red flame abruptly appeared at her feet and coiled up around Yuan Shu's ankle!
Sensing the scorching heat on her calf, Yuan Shu distractedly glanced down and was instantly startled.
She saw that wisp of dark red flame coiling upwards, climbing past her calf, her knee...
Any clothing it crawled over spontaneously combusted without a breeze!
In just a few breaths, the clothing on one of her legs completely disappeared!
Yuan Shu keenly sensed the fluctuation of the spiritual fire.
This little flame must be a wisp of spiritual fire.
However, it looked very weak. Its flickering flame was far less robust and vibrant than her Red Lotus Purifying Fire.
The spiritual fire of Yaoyun Peak, wouldn't that be the Chiyang Fire?
Could this wisp of dark red flame actually be the Chiyang Fire?
Yuan Shu's eyes widened slightly.
The Chiyang Fire seemed to have sensed the presence of the Red Lotus Purifying Fire within Yuan Shu's body and harbored a sense of affectionate attachment towards her.
Coiled around Yuan Shu's leg, it rubbed against her affectionately.
After rubbing for a while, it seemed to feel that this wasn't enough, and the flame darted to her other leg, climbing up from her ankle.
In just a moment, it reduced the clothing on her other leg to ashes as well!
Yuan Shu, "..."
Could this be a perverted fire?
The thought had barely arisen before she dismissed it.
Although spiritual fires possessed sentience, they had no concept of gender and couldn't possibly have any untoward thoughts about her.
But... could this little guy stop climbing higher?
Even though it was just her and this ball of fire in this space.
Being completely naked was still very uncomfortable!
Not to mention, she really liked this smoky-pink lotus-leaf skirt she was wearing!
Was it just going to be reduced to ashes like this?
But as luck would have it, she was currently in the middle of pill fusion. It was a critical moment, and she simply couldn't afford to be distracted to stop the Chiyang Fire's actions.
The Chiyang Fire coiled around Yuan Shu's waist. It didn't hurt her, merely circling her waist round and round, burning the clothing around her midsection completely clean as well!
And this little guy was still going up.
Yuan Shu's eyelids twitched uncontrollably. She hurriedly calmed her mind and focused, speeding up the pill fusion process.
...
When Yao Qianci's consciousness appeared above the cauldron, he saw a sea of fiery red before him.
They were indeed in the Divine Fire Space!
Good thing he had lent his natal cauldron to Yuan Shu at the time; otherwise, blocked by the Divine Fire Space now, he would have had no way to enter this alternate dimension.
Yao Qianci breathed a slight sigh of relief in his heart and hurriedly spread out his divine sense to look for Yuan Shu.
Caught off guard, a slender and exquisitely beautiful figure appeared within the range of his divine sense.
Yao Qianci's divine sense suddenly froze.
It was Yuan Shu?
Wait, she... she wasn't wearing any clothes!
No, what was going on?
Yao Qianci's heart fiercely skipped a beat, and his divine sense instinctively pulled back.
But Yuan Shu was standing right in front of the cauldron, her arms still raised in the posture of pill fusion.
The distance was too close. Even though his divine sense had pulled back, he could still perceive everything crystal clear!
"Thump, thump, thump."
Yao Qianci felt as if he could hear his own heartbeat.
How a sliver of divine sense could hear a heartbeat, he didn't know, but at this moment, his heart was tense to the extreme.
A thrilling sense of secret voyeurism made him this nervous for the very first time.
He wanted to shift his divine sense perception away, wanting to act more like a gentleman.
But the more he thought this way, the more his perception involuntarily landed in that direction.
Following the pale, slender ankles bit by bit upwards, wrapping past the thighs, circling the waist...
Yuan Shu was very beautiful. Not only was her face peerlessly stunning, but this body was also breathtakingly gorgeous.
Like a radiantly blooming crimson red lotus, every inch of her was flawless, like a meticulously carved work of art.
Just looking at her was enough to make one's heart flutter.
Yao Qianci couldn't help but recall that day in the woods.
Standing above the sea of trees, a casual glance had landed on the two people in the forest.
That pretty little face was captivatingly flushed, and with just one look, he could never forget it again.
Yao Qianci suddenly couldn't suppress the agitation in his mind.
At the same time, the natal cauldron he was possessing also exhibited unusual energy fluctuations at this moment.
...
