"Zhen Hua, what's wrong?" Yang Yao stepped forward to ask about her daughter's condition, truly puzzled as to why she had lost her composure like this.
Qi Zhenhua sobbed, "I don't know either, I just feel sad."
Qi Zhiheng frowned and said, "It may not be just a rumor. Cultivators and their close relatives have a certain connection. My uncle may be in danger right now."
"What...what should I do?" Qi Zhenhua was at a loss, tears streaming down her face. The sudden sharp pain in her heart had truly left her bewildered.
Qi Zhiheng was also helpless: "I can't think of a solution for the time being."
Gu Qinglin is very likely at the other end of this circle, but it's just too far away.
Qi Zhiheng was at a loss. It seemed that Gu Qinglin was really in danger. It seemed that he should prepare more methods to find people next time, otherwise it would be too troublesome to encounter this situation again.
He first went to say goodbye to the Situ family. The direction they needed to find might be quite far, and the Situ family was going to evacuate, so it would be inconvenient for them to stay together any longer.
The disciples of the Situ family were still somewhat reluctant to part, after all, Qi Zhiheng's family had provided them with a lot of convenience along the way.
Qi Zhiheng didn't linger. Seeing the somewhat anxious Qi Zhenhua, he immediately left the spot.
Qi Zhenhua's original intention was to go to the other side to find people while the others retreated to the outer perimeter, but no one agreed.
In such a time of crisis, it's impossible for them to abandon Qi Zhenhua.
After walking some distance, Qi Zhiheng distributed a set of talismans drawn by Yang Yitian to each person. He didn't have time to explain further, only stating that if they encountered a situation of self-immolation, they should use the talisman on themselves.
The Qi family members all accepted the talismans and continued their journey. (The rest of the text appears to be a list of names and idioms, possibly related to a family or organization.)
Along the way, I encountered many spiritual groups that were leaving.
From their words, we learned that a large number of people had self-immolated in the direction they had fled from.
"Are all those who self-immolated dead?" Yang Yitian asked.
Qi Zhiheng shook his head: "I'm not entirely sure." Logically speaking, there should only be a certain probability of death, because the fusion of the fire seeds is inherently dangerous, but not everyone will die.
The reason why the news that all those who self-immolated had died was very likely due to the existence of that sentient spark.
After searching for two days in the center of the secret realm, all the Qi family members who were unwilling to give up and remained in the inner circle ran out.
"The volcano has erupted! The inner perimeter is already a sea of fire!" someone shouted to their companions who hadn't yet ventured out. "It won't be long before the fire spreads outwards."
"It should be alright, right? Even if the fire spreads across the ground, we can still walk in the air, can't we?"
"Stop dreaming. Someone flew into the sky, and ended up burning them and their magical artifacts to ashes."
"Hey, wait for me! I'll go with you."
When faced with a life-or-death situation, wise people know to abandon that mysterious treasure that can't be seen at all.
Qi Zhiheng sensed that the aura of that strange fire had become even stronger. It must have burned so many people to death, which should make up for the loss of its years of being trapped.
Even from where Qi Zhiheng and the others were, they could see the flames burning inside the inner perimeter.
The commotion around them was immense; besides the people fleeing, there were also many demonic beasts.
And so a beast tide was formed.
The appearance of this beast tide undoubtedly delayed Qi Zhiheng and his companions' journey.
With Gu Qinglin's fate uncertain, Qi Zhiheng lost all interest in collecting spiritual herbs along the way.
Two more days passed, and there were almost no other signs of life in the area where they were located.
A spiky boar accidentally strayed from its herd.
A fragrance stimulated his taste buds, and he followed the scent until he finally found its source in a forest.
Before it was a black, humanoid charcoal. It sniffed at it, trying to confirm whether the charcoal was actually edible.
After checking it several times, it finally decided to try a bite, but before its open mouth could even touch the food, the pig spontaneously combusted.
A scream rang out, and the spiky boar rolled and struggled on the ground, unable to extinguish the flames on its body. The fire only grew more intense until the spiky boar on the ground fell completely silent.
The noise was so loud that the charred humanoid figure lying on the ground stirred slightly, and two slits opened on its blackened face, revealing a pair of eyes.
Gu Qinglin was still in pain all over his body, and his mind was a little muddled. He remembered that his body had spontaneously combusted at the time, and he thought he was going to die. But he suddenly remembered the technique that Qi Zhiheng had taught him to increase the chance of fusion with the fire seed, and he used it at the critical moment.
But after the fire stopped raging, he collapsed, exhausted.
His body was still in great pain from the initial burns. He tried to move his hands, but the pain was unbearable. He quickly took out several healing pills from his storage ring and swallowed them all at once. He realized that his extensive burns couldn't be cured by just one healing pill.
Fortunately, the storage device was not destroyed by the flames. After taking the pill, his injuries were constantly repaired, and he soon recovered from the burns.
Just then, the flames that were originally on the spiky boar gradually died down, leaving only a small ball of fire the size of a thumb. The small ball of fire approached Gu Qinglin, and Gu Qinglin subconsciously dodged, but the ball of fire quickly merged into his body.
Gu Qinglin then realized that the fire had probably merged with him.
He peeled off the blackened skin from his body, revealing the normal skin underneath.
After fusing with the fire seed, his cultivation level rose three levels. He had already reached the peak of the Foundation Establishment stage. In the past, he would never have dared to dream of this. Since joining the Qi family, many impossible things have become possible.
Gu Qinglin changed into a clean set of clothes; he needed to find the Qi family as soon as possible.
By this time, the fire had spread, and even Gu Qinglin, who had fused with the fire seed, felt the intense heat. He looked at the inner perimeter engulfed by the raging flames, wondering how many spiritual herbs had been ruined.
Gu Qinglin started walking towards the outer edge. With such a large fire, the Qi family should have already left.
However, the Qi family members, who were thought to have already left, were still within the original circle.
Qi Zhiheng sensed something and noticed a heat around him. He released his soul power and his expression changed when he saw what was around him.
They were surrounded by more than a dozen clusters of fire. Qi Zhiheng said, "Be careful! I don't know why there are so many fires here."
The Qi family members became alert, but they couldn't see any sparks of fire in their field of vision.
Qi Zhiheng said, "These fire seeds use the principle of heat to hide their forms. You can't see them; it's just that the air in that area is distorted by the burning. Use your soul power to see them, and try to avoid contact!"
These embers have managed to conceal themselves, so they must be something extraordinary.
Yang Yitian said, "After going around like this, we're not the only ones left, are we?"
Qi Zhiheng comforted him, "Don't be afraid, we have talismans. If anything happens, we can use the fusion technique I taught you before."
Everyone can fuse with fire, but it is more difficult for those with water and ice spiritual roots to fuse, and even more painful for those with wood spiritual roots.
Qi Zhiheng leaped into the air, dodging the attack of a ball of fire.
They didn't have many talismans on them, and they couldn't handle so many fire seeds at once. So Qi Zhiheng said, "Yi Tian, you go into the space first and draw more talisman arrays to control the fire seeds." With a flick of his hand, he activated an array on a fire seed, and the entire fire seed was surrounded by the array, unable to move for a moment. Then Qi Zhiheng stepped forward and put it into the volcano area of the space.
After confirming that the talisman array was effective, Qi Zhiheng instructed Yang Yitian to enter the space and continue drawing the talisman set.
The Qi family members followed Qi Zhiheng's example, collecting the scattered embers one by one, and then waiting for Qi Zhiheng to collect them! Qi Zhiheng collected more than a dozen embers in one go, and his arrays were running low.
"We must get out of here quickly!" Qi Zhiheng's soul power had already sensed that more fire seeds were flying in this direction, so he hurriedly led his family to escape.
Qi Zhiheng was puzzled. How could there be so many fire sources in such a place? And he wondered if it was just his imagination, but the flames inside the volcano didn't seem to be burning as fiercely as before.
But when Qi Zhiheng saw the dozens of torches chasing after him, his scalp tingled!
Qi Zhiheng and his family moved away to the outer perimeter, releasing their soul power as widely as possible and feigning the safest escape route. Soon, Yang Yitian threw out a stack of talismans from the time flow array. Qi Zhiheng was overjoyed and quickly took out the talismans, distributing them to the Qi family members: "If we encounter fewer fire seeds, we can use them."
Just then, Qi Zhiheng's soul power detected a familiar figure running outside.
Qi Zhiheng was overjoyed and said, "It's my uncle!"
Qi Zhenhua finally came to her senses, and Yu Ou asked anxiously, "Is he alright?"
Qi Zhiheng led everyone towards Gu Qinglin's direction and replied to Qi Zhenhua, "He seems to be fine and in good spirits. There's no danger, Auntie, don't worry."
Among these people, Qi Zhiheng has the strongest soul power, and therefore the widest range of detection is also the largest.
Just then, two balls of fire caught up from behind, and Qi Zhiheng accepted them without any hesitation! He added another good item to his private treasury.
By this time, they were very close to Gu Qinglin. Gu Qinglin sensed this and immediately stopped. Qi Zhiheng appeared before him with the others.
"Zhen Hua!"
"Qinglin!"
Before the couple could even share a long-awaited embrace, Qi Zhiheng warned, "Let's run! Those fire seeds are catching up again!"
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