183 Inside the Heart of the Volcano

This demon beast was not very big. Its body was fiery red color as if it was made by pouring liquid metal with a very high heat.

Shi Yan was just communicating with the Ice Cold Flame, and now suddenly a demon beast appeared out of nowhere. When he saw that demon beast, there were only two meters between them. There was a sparkling bright red horn on the head of the demon beast as it pierced towards him.

Shi Yan was slightly surprised. Without further ado, he slashed the Dragon Slaying Sword towards it.

Under the heavy blow, the body of the demon beast was slashed and it was sent back for five or six meters. Since there was no flat ground inside the lava to balance his body, so Shi Yan was also blown back for several meters from the force.

"Fire Horn Beast, a level four demon beast. It lives by consuming the fire rocks inside the lava, Its horn is very hard and its a high quality material for making weapons of the fire element. When making this Dragon Slaying Sword, the horn of the Fire Horn Beast was used. The attack of the Fire Horn Beast is also mainly depended on its only horn, its very easy to fight against." The Ice Cold Flame's message came from inside the Blood Vein Ring.

After getting the message of the Ice Cold Flame, Shi Yan lifted the Dragon Slaying Sword and coldly glared at the Fire Horn Beast. As he concentrated his mind power, and wisps of deep cold spirit mixed with mind power formed into a shockwave, that shot straight towards the soul of the Fire Horn Beast.

Level four Fire Horn Beasts have no defense on their soul. Under the impact of the soul attack from Shi Yan, it immediately got heavily injured and escaped in panic.

Inside the mind power of Shi Yan, there was some cold energy that came with it. Inside this lava pool, against the living souls of fire element creatures, it had an obvious restraining power on them.

After being hit once by his soul attack, the Fire Horn Beast's soul was badly damaged and it didn't dare to come near him anymore.

The more deep one went into the lava pool, the more spacious it became. Once the Fire Horn Beast escaped, it immediately left no trace behind.

Although the horn of level four Fire Horn Beasts were quite decent forging material, but Shi Yan paid no attention to it. With the extraordinary status of the Yang family, the piles of cultivation material on Immortal Island had whatever he needed. It had a lot of materials that were more precious than the horn of the Fire Horn Beast. Naturally Shi Yan couldn't bother to chase the Fire Horn Beast.

"You are still very far from the core of the ten thousand year-old volcano. The deeper you go, the higher the temperature of the lava will be. If there really exists special life forces down there, then it will definitely be much more powerful than the Fire Horn Beast. Inside the earth's core, if there are life forces other than the Core Fire, then we will have to leave immediately. If there are really things that can survive next to the Core Fire, then it will definitely be very frightening. No matter what, it's not something you can handle."

"If I can't handle it, what about you?"

"If you can release me from the ring, then I can freeze this entire ten thousand year-old volcano. No matter what is in the core, I won't be scared. But if you get killed, and I am sealed by this stupid ring. Left in the earth's core of this ten thousand year-old volcano, I might not be able to resurface the earth again for another few thousand years."

Shi Yan didn't answer, he just frowned and continued to sink deep into the lava.

With the Ice Cold Flame's reminder, Shi Yan became more careful. He released his mind power mixed within it were some traces of the Ice Cold Flame as it released deep intention of warnings.

He sank all the way down in the lava pool; With his mind power, Shi Yan actually did sense a few living consciousnesses that were not so weak.

Those living consciousnesses were all of the fire element. As Shi Yan's mind power peeped at them, he realized that those life consciousnesses were all like clusters of fire.

With the icy cold energy that went along with his mind power, those life consciousnesses didn't dare to get near him. Instead they all went far out of their way to avoided him.

From Shi Yan's view, a few life consciousnesses among them seemed to had the soul strength comparable to the Nirvana realm warriors.

"Kid you're pretty smart, you used my cold energy to scare away those guys." The Ice Cold Flame sent out a message from inside the Blood Vein Ring again: "Cold energy from me, contains my presence. I am the natural nemesis of those life forces! The guys that live down here are much smarter than that Fire Horn Beast. They felt the presence of their nemesis, so naturally they immediately ran away."

Shi Yan didn't bother with it. He continued to release his mind power. He carefully and cautiously spread it out, while being alert of any life consciousness that might suddenly pop up.

Through the use of mind power for this while, he paid more and more attention to the pure soul power inside the Soul Gathering Pearl.

Mind power has special uses in some special areas.

Like this time.

If he didn't have the Ice Cold Flame's mind power along with him, he might have had to waste much more effort to battle the creatures surrounding him. He first would need to block against a wave of their attacks, in order for them to understand the existence of the Ice Cold Flame so that they can willingly retreat.

Some strong creatures could suddenly appear inside the lava pool. If they were really to uncontrollably bombard him, then maybe he won't even be able to hold against one wave of attacks. If he were to be killed directly, then there would be no way for those guys to realize the existence of the Ice Cold Flame.

If he could use the soul power inside the Soul Gathering Pearl to evolve and refine his soul, and form a Sea of Consciousness inside his mind and have a soul consciousness, then his power would step into an entire new level!

By using the Sea of Consciousness and Soul Consciousness that exceeded his level, he would dominate every battle and the warriors of the same level would play in the palm of his hands.

Thinking about it that way, Shi Yan's eyes brightened a little bit more.

The Ice Cold Flame really didn't seem to be bragging. It seemed to be the true nemesis of the fire element life forces here. When Shi Yan spread out his mind power that contained its presence, the many kinds of fire live forms that Shi Yan could sense all avoided him and hid on their own. They didn't want to get near him at all.

After god knows how long.

Suddenly, the Ice Cold Flame sent its consciousness again: "Be careful now, you are almost at the earth's core of the volcano! Stop and check our surroundings first, to see if there are life forces down there. If there is a life that exists, then you and I will leave immediately and give up on this mission."

"Alright."

Using his Profound Qi, Shi Yan formed two little swirls under his feet to make his body stay in place.

Releasing his mind power, he slowly reached towards the bottom of the lava pool...

Fifty meters, a hundred meters, two hundred meters...

He still had no discoveries, his mind power didn't touch anything that might vaguely contain any traces of life.

The lava down below was just more and more thick and hot. It was spreaded out evenly and there was not a specific area where the fire power was extremely heavy.

An area with a strong life must be releasing power that was stronger than other areas. If he didn't feel any place that had such abnormalities, it meant that there really were no live forces present under there.

As his mind power continued to search downwards. Suddenly, a mass of extremely fierce fire power fluctuated from one corner!

When Shi Yan's mind power touched that fire power, his soul felt as if it was burning. His body suddenly shook, and he almost couldn't hold back a scream.

Only a portion of the mind power that he released came back. The portion that touched the fierce fire power was immediately burnt up by the fire!

A fire that could even burn mind power!

Shi Yan's face changed drastically and he quickly stirred all of the Profound Qi in his body to float up.

He could feel that inside that fire power there was a very slight life consciousness. It instinctively detested the approach of any sort of life.

The life consciousness of that fire power was extremely weak. So weak that if Shi Yan wasn't extremely cautious all along, he might not have even sensed it!

But the heat of that fire power could even burn up mind power, this was truly a little too frightening.

He closely remembered the Ice Cold Flame's words. If he sensed that there might be an existence of life down there, no matter what type of life it was, he had to immediately retreat!

Shi Yan already did that.

"Wait! Wait!" The Ice Cold Flame hurriedly conveyed its thoughts from inside the Blood Vein Ring, "Wait! The life force down there, should, should be the Core Fire!"

"The Core Fire?" Shi Ya asked back in a surprised voice, "The difference between Earth fires and Sky fires, is that one has a life consciousness, while the other one doesn't, it's just a pure fire source. How could the Core fire have a life consciousness?"

"It's already evolving towards becming a Sky fire!" The Ice Cold Flame immediately answered, "After the Core fire existed for several tens of thousands of years, it would slowly nurture a life consciousness. The Core Fire down there should be at the moment of transforming into a sky fire. Its life consciousness has just started forming, it has no knowledge of anything, only instincts."

"The Core Fire is evolving into a sky fire?"

Shi Yan suddenly remembered about the liquid Core Fire Essence he got from searching a group of warriors, when he was in the Dark forest.

Back then Mu Yudie once said that the Core Fire Essence was the Core Fire of a ten thousand year-old volcano. It was a precious and wonderful thing that was formed before transforming into a sky fire. The Core Fire Essence was in between the state of solid and liquid, it was very magical, and could greatly enhance fire type martial spirits.

Remembering back to that experience, Shi Yan immediately realized that the Core Fire in this ten thousand year-old volcano should've also been at the time of transformation, rising from an Earth Fire to a Sky Fire.

"Mmm Hmm, it's transforming into a Sky Fire, this moment is relatively safe." The Ice Cold Flame sent out the message.

"Then tell me what to do?"

"Don't probe with your mind power, instead just directly go to the bottom. Transformation from an Earth Fire to a Sky Fire also needs a process. It might need a year or even ten years. At this time, the consciousness of the Core Fire is at its most simplest. At this moment, If someone were to brand it with their soul imprint, then they can, they can rein it in..."

The Ice Cold Flame's consciousness became a little reluctant in the end. It seemed to be hesitating a little, and didn't want to continue.

"What? Rein in the Core fire?" But Shi Yan heard it loud and clear. His face was full of joy, as he hurriedly sent a message back to the Ice Cold Flame, "Tell me what should I do? Ha! I didn't think I would have such great luck."

"You have to promise me first, if I can help you collect this Core Fire, you can't have ideas about me again. When you reach the Nirvana realm, you have to let me go and cannot restrain me any more. If you obtain this Core Fire and your cultivation rises to the Nirvana realm, by that time I won't be able to do anything to you anyway."

Shi Yan didn't immediately answer.

The Ice Cold Flame was a Sky Fire and after the Core Fire obtains a life consciousness, it would also be a Sky Fire.

However, there was a difference between higher and lower ranked Sky Fires. Whether it be the wisdom or the power, Sky Fires that were made through a period of transformations, like the Core Fire, would not be as wonderful as a fire that was formed when the world was first born, like the Ice Cold Flame.

The reason why Shi Yan had to make Purified Bottles on this trip to gather the Core Fire was to prepare for taking a hold of the Ice Cold Flame in the future. The rumors about the type of Sky Fires like the Ice Cold Flame had long been deeply embedded in Shi Yan's mind. He knew that if he could rein in a type of Sky Fire like this, it would have immeasurable benefits to his future.

Now the Ice Cold Flame was willing to help him collect this Core Fire that was on the verge of transforming into a Sky Fire, but on the condition of leaving the Blood Vein Ring in the future. This made Shi Yan a little conflicted, that's why he was hesitating at the moment.

Of course, he could pretend like he promised the Ice Cold Flame and go back on the promise in the future after he collects the Core Fire.

--But he was not that type of person.

"So you are someone that values promises." The Ice Cold Flame sent out a happy message from inside the Blood Vein Ring, "I am happy you did not immediately agree. If you did, then I would definitely know you were being insincere. But instead of talking you are weighing your options, that means you value your promises and you don't want to lie to me."

Shi Yan still remained silent.

"If you immediately responded me and lied to me, I definitely would've killed you. Because, if you were to really obtain the Core Fire in the future and manage to find enough resources, then when you reach a higher realm, you really would be able to control me. Instead of being controlled by you, I would rather kill you and wait for other future opportunities here."

Shi Yan was still silent.

"Since you really are weighing your choices, then I really can make a deal with you. Because you value promises, so I can really dare to make a deal with you." The Ice Cold Flame seemed to finally come to a decision after gaining this understanding about Shi Yan, "How's this, before you reach the Nirvana realm I will use all my knowledge to help you breakthrough faster. In my soul, there are the memories of the martial understanding of a few God realm masters. These are utterly useless to me, but to you, these unseeable things might be more precious to you than obtaining me myself!"