The Netherfire began to struggle. A bulge appeared inside the giant "glutinous rice ball," and it was charging outwards, but the outer layer of flames was too resilient, and the Netherfire couldn't break free at all.
Qi Zhiheng added a layer of gray mist spiritual energy to his fire seed. Gray mist spiritual energy can freely change attributes, which means it can be converted into demonic energy. The same attribute will further help the fusion of the flame.
The Netherfire was gradually consumed by Qi Zhiheng.
The whole process was much simpler than Qi Zhiheng had imagined, but it still took a lot of time. From capturing the Netherfire to fully fusing it, it took a full half month.
The merged fire was twice the size of the original, a large ball of fire circling around Qi Zhiheng, sometimes white, sometimes black, changing drastically.
After confirming that the clump had completely fused, Qi Zhiheng withdrew it back into his body.
Besides the fusion of flames, Qi Zhiheng and the flames need to work together to get to know each other.
He first entered the space, took a pill to relieve his current state and restore his cultivation to the early stage of the Great Ascension Realm, then sat down cross-legged and began to meditate and refine.
After so many years of recuperation, the Netherworld Fire contained abundant spiritual energy. Qi Zhiheng gradually fused the spiritual energy within it with his own, and his cultivation level rose steadily during the fusion. In just one year, he advanced from the early stage of the Mahayana stage to the middle stage of the Mahayana stage. This was even better than the effect of cultivating for hundreds of years. No, if he had cultivated in a proper manner for hundreds of years, he probably wouldn't have achieved such an effect.
This integration process took three years, and finally, Qi Zhiheng's cultivation level stabilized at the mid-stage of the Mahayana realm.
This result was an unexpected surprise. Qi Zhiheng opened his eyes, a glimmer of fire still burning within them.
After merging with the flame, I learned some things from some of the flame's previous memories, and my previous doubts were also resolved.
First and foremost are the Netherworld Fungus cultivated within this secret realm. Those Netherworld Fungus were indeed planted by the man in black robes.
The purpose was also to provide food for the Netherfire.
The Netherfire knew that these Nether Fungi were suitable for it, so every once in a while it would go out and eat all the Nether Fungi outside, leaving only a few to continue to reproduce and wait for the next growth.
This explains why the closer you get to the Netherfire, the less demonic energy there is; it turns out the Netherfire consumes all the demonic energy.
From this explanation, he also understood why, despite the presence of Netherworld Fungus outside, it hadn't spread widely—it was simply food for the Netherworld Fire.
As for Bai Yilian, she was also raised by the black-robed man to feed the Netherfire. The power contained in the Netherworld Seed within her body was far superior to that of some Netherworld Fungi. Since the Netherworld Seed could not exert its effects directly, being raised within the human body was the best and most suitable food for the Netherfire.
From the hazy memories of the Netherfire, Qi Zhiheng found it difficult to find any more details, so he thought of the black-robed man who was still in the cave.
Qi Zhiheng took another pill to suppress his cultivation before leaving the space and heading towards the location of the man in black robes.
The man in black robes couldn't discern anything wrong with Qi Zhiheng upon his emergence, as Qi Zhiheng had taken a pill to suppress his cultivation. He was simply curious how Qi Zhiheng had managed to escape unscathed from the Netherfire's attack; it was truly remarkable. However, he quickly realized that Qi Zhiheng, who had easily defeated him, must be no ordinary person. Therefore, his escape from the Netherfire was not surprising.
Qi Zhiheng had left the man in black robes outside for a day, and when he went out, the man in black robes was still trapped outside.
The array outside the cave prevented cultivators without demonic energy from entering, thus eliminating the possibility of him being rescued.
Qi Zhiheng pondered the demonic cultivator's whereabouts. In the end, he decided to first block the cultivator's vision so that he could not see the outside world before throwing him into the space.
"I'll interrogate them when I have time," Qi Zhiheng thought, seeing that the time to leave the secret realm was fast approaching. He immediately stepped out.
Once outside, the few scattered Netherworld Fungi had grown considerably. Qi Zhiheng summoned the Fire Seed, and the white flames turned black, spreading outwards and burning away all the spreading demonic energy. However, he left a few behind, intending to plant these Netherworld Fungi in his space.
Now is not the time to plant. If he wants to plant the Netherworld Fungus, he must open up a special area in the space to plant it, an area that can isolate spiritual energy from demonic energy. He doesn't want the demonic energy to leak out and fill the entire space with demonic energy.
Once outside, seeing that there was still some time before they were teleported out, Qi Zhiheng let the Soul-Devouring Insects come out and eat something.
Qi Zhiheng's Soul-Devouring Insects can devour any kind of energy, even some of the residual demonic energy in the air.
After the spirit-devouring insects learned that the food here could be eaten without planting spirit herbs, they began to devour anything in this space that had spiritual energy.
However, after cultivating spiritual plants for a long time, they have become more picky about what they eat. They no longer eat anything that has spiritual energy, but now these spirit-devouring insects will not eat any spiritual herbs that are not yet mature!
Qi Zhiheng thought with some pride that there probably wouldn't be another Spirit Devouring Insect in the world that followed the rules so well.
After waiting for several hours, seeing that the time was almost up, Qi Zhiheng called the Spirit Devouring Insects back. The Spirit Devouring Insects were all full and round, and they could skip several meals in the next few days.
Qi Zhiheng collected the Soul-Devouring Insects and was then teleported away using the teleportation power.
Once outside the secret realm, Qi Zhiheng quickly left the spot, took a pill, and recovered his cultivation.
Immediately afterwards, Qi Zhiheng hurried back to the city. By then, the man in black robes was already wrapped tightly in a bag and held in his hand.
Chu Huaifeng noticed Qi Zhiheng's return immediately and stepped forward to greet him, saying, "City Lord, you're back?"
Qi Zhiheng nodded and said, "The secret realm is closed. Help me find a secret room."
Now that Chu Huaifeng knows the city better than Qi Zhiheng, Qi Zhiheng simply asked him to help make arrangements.
As Chu Huaifeng led Qi Zhiheng away, he asked, "What are you planning to do?"
Qi Zhiheng didn't hide anything: "I'm interrogating someone."
Chu Huaifeng led Qi Zhiheng into a secret room and used his soul power to isolate him from outside prying eyes.
Qi Zhiheng opened the bag on the black-robed man's body and released the bound man.
At this moment, the black-robed man's spiritual power had been sealed, so there was no need to run; he would escape. Qi Zhiheng threw the man on the ground and then found a chair to sit down, looking down at the fallen man.
Qi Zhiheng did not conceal his appearance, but the man in black had never seen Qi Zhiheng before and obviously did not recognize him.
Qi Zhiheng asked directly, "Rong Yu Zhenren of the Extreme Fire Sect." His tone was very certain, indicating that he had already confirmed the other party's identity.
Rong Yu Zhenren is the highest-ranking Tribulation Transcending cultivator in the Extreme Fire Sect. Qi Zhiheng can only guess that the only Tribulation Transcending cultivator related to Bai Yilian is someone from the same sect. Furthermore, since the other party also wields fire, the probability of him being the correct one is much higher.
Master Rongyu looked up at Qi Zhiheng and asked with some wariness, "Who are you?" He neither acknowledged nor denied Qi Zhiheng's question.
"It's normal that you don't recognize me, but you should have heard of my name. My name is Qi Zhiheng."
"So you're the city lord of that small town?" Rong Yu sneered. "I advise you to release me sooner rather than later, otherwise the Extreme Fire Sect will definitely not let your small town off the hook!"
“I think you might be a little unaware of the situation,” Qi Zhiheng said. “Master Rongyu of the Extreme Fire Sect is currently in seclusion. Why would the Extreme Fire Sect not let me go?”
Upon hearing this, Rong Yu's face immediately turned ashen.
Ascension City is just a newly developed small city, and Qi Zhiheng is only a Mahayana cultivator. No matter how many Mahayana cultivators there are in this city, without Tribulation Transcending cultivators, it will always remain a small city.
Usually, the lords of small cities like this are very easily frightened. They can usually intimidate people with just a few words and make them do things their way. Not to mention that Qi Zhiheng is a cultivator from a small place like the Southern Continent.
But clearly, Qi Zhiheng was not the kind of person he knew.
Qi Zhiheng showed no fear in front of Rong Yu: "Answer some questions for me, and if you perform well, I might spare your life."
Rong Yu was naturally very resentful of being treated like this by a Mahayana cultivator, and he was not so easily subdued.
Qi Zhiheng's soul power was not much different from his opponent's. If he directly used Soul Search, he might suffer some damage to his own soul power. That's why Qi Zhiheng did not attack directly.
He's really not very good at interrogating people.
Before he could get any information, Chu Huaifeng came over and told him that Tong Zixing had come to visit.
Qi Zhiheng thought for a moment, then stepped forward and fed Rong Yu a pill. Rong Yu struggled a few times, but was finally forced to swallow the pill.
Afterwards, Qi Zhiheng casually left the person aside and went to see the Tongzi Star People.
When Tong Zixing met Qi Zhiheng, he first apologized, saying, "My disciple was strolling on the street when he saw you bringing someone back. I came to see if there was anything I could help with." He first mentioned his disciple's unintentional act to show that he had not been spying on Qi Zhiheng.
Qi Zhiheng didn't seem to care much about these details and said directly, "I did bring someone back, and this person is related to the demonic energy on you."
Tong Zixing immediately became interested: "If Master Qi doesn't mind, could you tell me about it?"
Qi Zhiheng sighed and said, "There are many things I don't know either. This person was just brought back, and I haven't had a chance to ask him about the ins and outs of this matter yet."
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