vncnus Chapter 24 Shrine of the Flame
Chapter 24 Shrine of the Flame
Cheng Song's breath condensed into white mist in the cold underground tunnel.
The air was thick with the stench of rust, herbs, and a cloying, indescribable sweetness, all mixed together to make one nauseous. He pressed himself against the rough stone wall of the passageway, the mimicry effect giving his skin an almost identical grayish-brown texture to the stone, and even lowering his body temperature to match the surrounding environment.
The dull thud of a wooden wheel rolling over a stone slab came from ahead.
Two figures in faded Taoist robes pushed a cart slowly from the corner at the end of the passageway. The cart was covered with a dirty burlap sack, and beneath the sack were seven or eight huddled bodies, emaciated, with vacant eyes and heavy shackles on their wrists and ankles.
Cheng Song's pupils contracted slightly in the darkness. The special extraction lens penetrated the linen, clearly revealing the bluish-black lines on the skin of those people, lines that were emitting a faint dark red glow.
That's a late-stage symptom of the erosion of willpower.
He clung to the wall like a gecko, moving slowly and silently forward. At the end of the passageway was a heavy stone door, its surface engraved with twisted runes that shimmered with a dark red glow in the lens of his eyes. Two Taoist priests stopped before the door; one of them took a wooden plaque with the same runes from his robes and pressed it against the door.
The stone door slid open silently, and a wave of heat rushed in, causing Cheng Song's pupils to contract abruptly.
It was a huge underground cave, about the size of half a football field. In the center of the cave, a circular stone platform with a diameter of more than ten meters rose high. The surface of the platform was covered with dense runes and was now emitting an eerie red light.
Around the stone platform were eight recessed fire pits.
Each hearth burned with eerie green flames, and within those flames were no firewood, only human figures.
Cheng Song's stomach clenched.
Those people are still alive.
He could see them writhing slowly in the flames, their mouths open but unable to make a sound. Their bodies, licked by the eerie green flames, did not char but melted slowly like candles, flowing out a viscous liquid with a golden and reddish sheen.
The liquid flowed along the grooves on the stone platform, converging towards the center.
There, a huge bronze alchemy furnace floated in mid-air. The surface of the furnace was covered with rust, but intricate cloud patterns and animal face designs were faintly visible. The furnace had three legs, each deeply embedded in a stone platform, with dark red veins extending from the legs and connecting with the golden-red liquid flowing in the fire pit.
Below the alchemy furnace, nine people, also dressed in Taoist robes but in a darker color with twisted runes embroidered on their cuffs, sat cross-legged. They formed hand seals and chanted incantations. As they chanted, the flames in the fire pit suddenly leaped up, and the scorched bodies trembled silently and violently.
Shrine of the Flame.
Cheng Song finally understood the meaning of the name. These people were the fuel; their lives, their vows, their suffering were all used as fuel and thrown into this alchemical furnace.
He moved slowly in the shadows, searching for the best angle of observation. The genetic anchor within his body vibrated slightly, resisting the cloying sweetness in the air—the mental pollution emitted when willpower was forcibly extracted and refined.
puff.
A soft sound.
The two Taoist priests pushing the cart lifted the burlap sack, dragged an unconscious person off the cart, and carried him to the nearest empty hearth. One of them drew a short knife from his waist; the blade gleamed coldly in the eerie green firelight.
Cheng Song's fingers tightened slightly.
The dagger didn't slit the man's throat, but instead cut his wrist. The deep, bone-revealing wound reopened, and blood gushed out, but it wasn't bright red; instead, it was a viscous liquid with a dark golden sheen. The Taoist priest caught the liquid in a ceramic bowl and carefully carried it to the alchemical furnace.
An elderly Taoist priest by the furnace opened his eyes, took the earthenware bowl, and poured the liquid in the bowl into an open hole on the side of the furnace.
hum-
The alchemy furnace emitted a deep, resonant sound.
The cloud patterns and animal face designs on the furnace seemed to come alive, slowly swirling around. The temperature inside the furnace suddenly rose, and even from more than ten meters away, Cheng Song could feel the scorching heat.
The elderly Taoist priest took out a yellow talisman from his robes. The runes on the talisman, drawn with cinnabar, looked ferocious in the firelight. He lit the talisman, and the ashes fell into the furnace.
The scene in the lens's field of view suddenly changed.
He witnessed the true flow of energy—countless fine, dark red threads were forcibly extracted from the bodies scorched in the fire pit; these were a flow of energy composed of willpower, life force, pain, and despair. These threads converged in the alchemical furnace, where, guided by some complex ritual and runes, they were repeatedly hammered, purified, and compressed.
Finally, at the bottom of the alchemy furnace, a small amount of dark red crystalline powder was slowly condensing.
The core material of Fu Shui.
Cheng Song's breathing almost stopped.
He finally saw the complete chain: using talismanic water to control believers, extracting their willpower, and when the willpower eroded to a certain extent and the body could not bear it, they were sent here to be thrown into the fire pit as fuel, using their lives and souls to refine more potent talismanic water raw materials.
A self-reinforcing cycle.
An evil ritual that uses people as fuel and their wishes as fire to burn out control and power.
Just then, the elderly Taoist priest beside the alchemy furnace suddenly turned his head, his cloudy eyes staring straight at the shadow where Cheng Song was hiding.
"A guest has arrived."
His voice was hoarse, like sandpaper being rubbed.
Cheng Song was deeply shaken. It wasn't sight, but some kind of higher-level perception. That Taoist priest, or something within him, had sensed him.
"Since you're here, why not show yourself?" The elder Taoist slowly rose, a string of bone beads sliding out from his sleeve, each bone engraved with twisted runes. "Those who can infiltrate this place are surely no ordinary person. Are they henchmen of the imperial court, or... something else?"
The other eight Taoist priests opened their eyes at the same time, and sixteen gazes, like tangible needles, pierced the shadow where Cheng Song was hiding.
There is no way out.
Cheng Song slowly emerged from the shadows, the mimicry effect fading to reveal his true appearance. He adjusted his black-rimmed glasses and calmly scanned the cave.
"Well, I was just passing by." Cheng Song scratched his head. "I saw a pretty big fire over here, so I came to take a look."
The older Taoist priest laughed, his laughter dry and hoarse: "Passing by? A fellow Taoist who can sneak into the Shrine of the Flame of Life and avoid all the warning talismans is no ordinary passerby."
The bone rosary in his hand began to vibrate slightly, emitting a low hum. The sound penetrated his eardrums, causing a sharp pain in Cheng Song's head.
Psychological attack.
The gene stabilizing anchor activated automatically, and a cool sensation spread from his chest, offsetting most of the discomfort. However, Cheng Song could sense that the willpower contamination attached to those bone fragments was extremely pure and concentrated, far exceeding that of ordinary talisman water outside.
"Seize him," the older Taoist said calmly. "Perfect timing. The furnace is still missing one key ingredient. This boy's aura is refined; perhaps we can refine a batch of high-grade human pills."
The eight Taoist priests stood up at the same time.
Their movements were perfectly synchronized; their hands formed mudras, and they chanted obscure incantations. The air in the cave began to distort, and the eerie green flames in the fire pit suddenly shot up, transforming into eight fire snakes that lunged at Cheng Song from different directions.
Cheng Song did not back down.
He took a deep breath and suddenly spread his right hand out wide.
A thousand-shaped, silvery-gray liquid instantly surged out, covering the entire palm and forearm. Within a fraction of a second, the shape reorganized and hardened, transforming into five claws, each half a meter long, with edges gleaming with a metallic sheen.
This was Cheng Song's first battle after he used the Thousand Shapes to simulate the combat form of the Blacklight Virus.
The first fire snake lunged forward.
Cheng Song sidestepped, his claws slashing horizontally. The moment the claws cut into the flames, he felt a viscous resistance. It wasn't the physical flames, but an energy entity condensed from the pollution of willpower.
laugh--
The claws tore the fire serpent apart, but the torn parts did not disappear. Instead, they seemed to come alive and wrapped around the claws, trying to spread along the arm.
Cheng Song's eyes turned cold. With a thought, he activated the Thousand Forms, causing the fire snake to shatter.
A small amount of scorching and chaotic energy surged into the body through the claws, but was immediately suppressed by the genetic anchor.
feasible.
With a firm resolve, Cheng Song suddenly quickened his pace.
He moved through the cave like a ghost, dodging the attacks of the second and third fire serpents. With each swing of his claws, he precisely tore apart the core of a fire serpent.
But the Taoist priests' attacks didn't stop there.
The bone beads in the old Taoist priest's hand vibrated more and more violently. One by one, the bone fragments broke free from the rope, floated in mid-air, and transformed into eight pale white beams of light, shooting towards Cheng Song's vital points from tricky angles.
Cheng Song's lens was operating at full capacity.
The trajectory, speed, and energy intensity of the bone beams were analyzed in an instant. His body twisted and dodged at an incredible angle, the three beams grazing his clothes and leaving deep corrosive marks on the stone wall.
The fourth beam of light was unavoidable.
Cheng Song raised his left hand, and a silver-gray aura surged forth, instantly forming an arc-shaped shield.
boom!
The bone light struck the shield, exploding into a pale white halo. A shallow pit was corroded into the shield's surface, but it was immediately replenished and restored by new material.
Just then, Cheng Song suddenly felt the stone platform beneath his feet vibrate.
He lowered his head.
The glowing runes on the stone platform had somehow spread to his feet. Red light surged from the runes, transforming into several chains that wrapped around his ankles.
Imprisonment Formation.
Cheng Song exerted his strength, trying to leap up, but the red chains seemed to have a physical presence, pinning him firmly to the spot. At the same time, the remaining four fire snakes and five beams of bone light attacked from different directions, sealing off all space for evasion.
A desperate situation.
But Cheng Song's eyes remained calm. He didn't even look at the incoming attacks, but instead raised his head to look at the elderly Taoist priest beside the alchemy furnace.
A cruel smile appeared on the Taoist priest's face.
However, the smile froze the next moment.
Because Cheng Song did something he couldn't understand at all—
He raised his right leg, which was bound by chains of red light, and then stomped down hard.
It's not about stepping on the ground.
Instead, he stepped on the glowing runes beneath his feet.
The special extraction lens's capabilities were pushed to their limit, and in Cheng Song's vision, the energy flow trajectory of those runes was clearly visible. Every turning point, every node, every key point where energy converged and dispersed.
His toes landed precisely on a pivotal point of energy flow.
Click.
A soft sound, like glass shattering.
Centered on Cheng Song's toes, the red light of the runes within a three-foot radius around him suddenly went out. The chains binding his ankles snapped inch by inch and dissipated into the air.
The older Taoist priest's expression finally changed.
"you--"
He didn't finish his sentence.
Because Cheng Song has already made a move.
The moment he broke free of his restraints, he shot towards the alchemy furnace like an arrow released from a bow. Not towards the Taoist priest, but towards the bronze alchemy furnace that was melting vow power and refining the core of the talisman water.
It is common sense to first capture the leader of the enemy.
But Cheng Song knew from the beginning that these Taoist priests were just executors; what was truly important was the alchemy furnace and the ritual that was the core of refining the talisman water.
As long as it is destroyed—
"Stop him!" the older Taoist priest shouted sternly.
The eight Taoist priests simultaneously spat out a mouthful of blood essence, and the blood mist transformed into eight blood talismans in the air. The talismans then transformed into eight blood-colored chains, which wrapped around Cheng Song at a speed several times faster than before.
But it was too late.
Cheng Song had already rushed to the alchemy furnace. He did not attack the furnace body—the defensive runes attached to it were too complex to be broken in a short time.
His target was the nine dark red veins connected to the fire pit beneath the alchemy furnace.
That's the channel for energy transmission.
The claws rose and slashed fiercely at one of the veins.
A flicker of panic finally crossed the older Taoist's eyes. He bit his tongue sharply, spitting out a mouthful of blood mist imbued with intense vow power. The blood mist transformed into a gigantic blood hand in the air, reaching for Cheng Song's back.
To relieve the siege of Wei by attacking Zhao.
But Cheng Song neither dodged nor avoided it.
The sharp claws fell.
laugh--
The dark red veins were severed. At the moment of breakage, a torrent of golden-red liquid gushed forth. This liquid contained astonishingly high temperatures and was contaminated with the power of will; any ordinary flesh and blood would crumble upon contact.
But Cheng Song only let out a muffled groan.
Instantly, a dense keratin layer formed on the surface of the body, isolating it from most physical damage. Meanwhile, the contamination of will power that had seeped into the body was being suppressed and decomposed by the stable anchor at full capacity.
At the same time, the bloody hand also struck Cheng Song's back.
boom!
Cheng Song flew forward and crashed into the alchemy furnace. The bronze furnace emitted a dull thud, and the flames inside fluctuated violently.
The alchemy furnace experienced a momentary stagnation. Although it lasted only a moment, it was enough for Cheng Song.
He pressed himself against the surface of the alchemy furnace.
The special extraction lens's ability frantically analyzed the structure, energy flow, and rune layout of the alchemy furnace. A massive amount of information flooded his mind, almost overloading his consciousness.
But Cheng Song gritted his teeth and persevered.
one second.
two seconds.
He found it in the third second.
Inside the alchemy furnace, at the confluence of countless energy circuits, lies a core the size of a fist. It is the linchpin of the entire refining ritual, where all the willpower and life force being forged are purified, compressed, and ultimately condensed into the talisman water core.
It is also the most vulnerable part of the entire alchemy furnace.
The claws rose again.
This time, strange patterns appeared on the surface of the claws—these were interference patterns against the flow of energy that he had deduced from the runes when he was analyzing the structure of the alchemy furnace.
The ability of the Thousand Shapes to mimic forms can not only simulate shapes, but also energy properties.
It's just the tip of the iceberg, but it's enough.
The sharp claws pierced an inconspicuous hole on the side of the alchemy furnace. That was the entrance where the Taoist priest had poured in the blood of the "firewood," and also a tiny gap in the energy circulation.
The elder Taoist priest finally realized what Cheng Song was about to do. He let out a mournful roar and transformed into a streak of blood-red light as he charged forward.
But it was too late.
Cheng Song's sharp claws had already pierced the hole.
Then, release.
It's not destruction, it's interference.
He mixed the fire serpent energy and the pollution of willpower that had just been trapped in his body and poured them all into the energy cycle of the alchemy furnace.
It's like a finely tuned instrument being filled with a handful of sand.
The alchemy furnace began to shake violently.
The runes on the furnace body flickered intermittently, and the flames inside began to surge uncontrollably. The eerie green flames in the nine fire pits simultaneously flared up, and the scorched bodies emitted silent screams as their bodies melted away at an accelerated rate.
"No—!" The older Taoist priest's eyes widened in fury.
But it was all too late to undo the damage.
The energy balance inside the alchemy furnace was disrupted, and the willpower and life force that had been forcibly melted and compressed began to run rampant. Countless fine cracks appeared on the surface of the furnace, and dark red light shone through them.
Cheng Song pulled back and rushed towards the edge of the cave as quickly as possible.
Behind him, the bronze alchemy furnace finally reached its limit.
boom--!!!
Amidst a deafening explosion, the alchemy furnace shattered.
Dark red flames mixed with viscous golden-red liquid swept outwards like a volcanic eruption. The eight Taoist priests were the first to be engulfed by the flames, turning to ashes before they could even scream.
The elderly Taoist priest barely managed to erect a protective shield of blood-red light, but under the impact of the explosion, the shield shattered after only three breaths. He was sent flying backward, spitting blood, and crashed heavily into the stone wall, his fate unknown.
The entire cave was shaking.
The stone platform crumbled, the fire pit overturned, and the people imprisoned in the flames were finally freed.
Cheng Song hid behind a broken stone pillar at the edge of the cave, where the Thousand Forms shield was repairing the crater. The shockwave and flying debris from the explosion were gradually weakened, but the residual force still caused his internal organs to tremble, and he spat out another mouthful of blood.
He leaned against the stone pillar, breathing heavily.
At the edge of my field of vision, notifications about the key started flooding the screen—
[WARNING: You have destroyed the core crafting ritual of the Shrine of the Flame]
[Warning: You have been marked by high-ranking members of "Jishetang" and are under hostile control]
[Main Quest "Investigate the Truth About the Talisman Water" 2/3 Completed]
[Gained temporary status "Deep Pollution Erosion": You have been exposed to a high-concentration explosion of willpower pollution, and your mind and body are continuously being eroded. You need to purify yourself as soon as possible.]
[Obtained Special Material "Contaminated Alchemy Furnace Core Fragment" x1]
【get……】
Cheng Song didn't look closely.
He struggled to his feet and looked toward the center of the cave.
The aftershocks of the explosion gradually subsided. The alchemy furnace had been completely shattered, leaving only a charred crater. At the bottom of the crater, scattered were some dark red crystalline fragments, the core materials of the talisman water that had not been completely destroyed.
And a pool of dark red, viscous substance that was slowly writhing and trying to reassemble.
That is……
Cheng Song's pupils contracted.
The substance gave him an extremely dangerous feeling, purer than any of the purported contamination he had encountered before. It seemed to have its own life, instinctively absorbing the surrounding dissipated purported energy, attempting to reshape its form.
They cannot be kept.
Despite the excruciating pain, Cheng Song walked step by step toward the deep pit. His only thought at that moment was to strike while the iron was hot.
At the entrance to the cave, a series of footsteps could be heard.
"Quick! It's inside!"
"Someone destroyed the alchemy furnace!"
"Catch the intruder!"
Dozens of fierce-looking Yellow Turban warriors, armed with weapons, rushed in. Leading them was a middle-aged Taoist priest in a dark yellow robe with a sinister expression. His gaze swept over the messy cave and finally landed on Cheng Song.
"It's you." The Taoist's voice was icy. "Kill."
No nonsense, no questions asked.
Cheng Song's gaze swept rapidly between the charging Yellow Turban warrior and the worm-like mass in the deep pit.
A direct confrontation would be certain death. Even in his best condition, he would struggle to escape the attack of dozens of Yellow Turban warriors, let alone now that he was injured. And killing that bizarre monster in full view of everyone was absolutely impossible.
The three Yellow Turban warriors at the forefront charged forward in a triangular formation. Just as their rusty iron spears were about to pierce his vital chest and abdomen, Cheng Song flinched.
He slightly turned his body to face the spear tip of a strongman on his left. The spear tip grazed his ribs, tearing his clothes. But Cheng Song used this tiny opening to reach his right hand into his robes with lightning speed—a perfectly natural movement, as if he were reaching for a weapon or talisman.
However, what he pulled out was neither a sword nor a talisman. Instead, it was a palm-sized, oddly shaped black metal cylinder. It was one of the toys he had bought from an anonymous vendor in Spirit Street, which he had casually stuffed into a corner of the vendor's backpack for emergencies.
The time has come.
"Modern industry! Kid!"
Without the slightest hesitation, he precisely pressed the pressure valve at the top of the cylinder with his thumb.
"laugh--!!!"
A piercing spray suddenly rang out.
It wasn't flames or poisonous smoke, but a huge, thick, pungent, grayish-white mist that exploded less than a meter in front of Cheng Song!
Tear gas.
Chemical industrial products have a remarkable effect on targets that rely on sight, smell, and conventional physical combat, akin to a dimensional reduction attack.
The three strongmen at the front were the first to be hit.
The moment their eyes came into contact with the aerosol, it was as if they had been doused with boiling oil. The excruciating pain completely distorted their charging movements, eliciting piercing screams. The intense, pungent irritation rushed unimpeded into their nasal cavities, throats, and even seeped into their skin through their pores. They dropped their weapons, covered their faces with their hands, tears and snot streaming down their faces, coughing and gagging uncontrollably, instantly losing all fighting ability.
The strongmen following closely behind were not spared either. The grayish-white mist quickly spread and diffused in the stagnant air of the cave, like an ever-expanding monster, engulfing them all.
"Cough cough cough—!"
"My eyes! I can't see!"
"Sorcery! This is sorcery!"
"Scatter! Scatter now!"
Roars of shock and rage, agonizing howls, and a chorus of coughs and vomits instantly replaced the orderly battle cries, turning the cave into chaos. These Yellow Turban warriors, strengthened by their willpower and impervious to swords and even physical pain, performed little better than ordinary people when faced with this attack that was completely beyond their comprehension and directly affected their senses and respiratory system. They stumbled around like headless flies, pushing and shoving each other, their formation utterly collapsing.
Even the middle-aged Taoist priest who gave the orders was startled by the sudden and unpredictable "smoke," taking two steps back and instinctively covering his mouth and nose, his eyes filled with surprise and uncertainty. He tried to use his willpower to dispel the smoke, but the grayish-white mist was not an energy body. When his willpower swept over it, it only made the smoke churn more violently, without reducing its irritating effect in the slightest.
It's now!
As Cheng Song pressed the pressure valve, he had already held his breath and quickly pulled a wet cloth from his backpack to cover his mouth and nose. Although it couldn't completely block the airflow, it was enough to significantly reduce the impact.
He moved like a slippery eel, weaving through the chaotic, swirling mist and the staggering figures. His specially designed extraction lens pierced through some of the smoke, precisely charting a winding path to the cave entrance.
Cheng Song dodged a strongman blindly swinging a machete, sidestepped a burly man coughing and curled up on the ground, and used his toes to lightly touch the overturned wooden cart, leaping over a pile of scattered debris. He rushed out of the cave entrance, and the dim light of the sky instantly enveloped him.
Behind me, I heard angry curses and the sound of someone chasing after me.
Without the slightest hesitation, Cheng Song spotted a direction and plunged deep into the maze-like camp composed of dilapidated shacks and bewildered crowds.
He blended into the miserable crowd, using the shelter of the shacks, the undulating terrain, and the blank cover of the refugees, and after a few turns, he disappeared from the pursuers' sight.