Chapter 921: An Immortal Amid the Flames

How could Kunlin Shu possibly listen to such words now? Earlier, because his Junior Sister was involved, his conscience might still have left him conflicted. But matters had already reached this point. To expect him to suddenly come to his senses and cancel the match was impossible.

Kunlin Shu asked in return, "Does it mean anything for Elder Niu to say this now?"

"Doesn't it?" Niu Youdao said. "The sea of suffering is boundless; turn back and the shore is at hand. Why cling stubbornly to things that don't matter and make life difficult for yourself?"

"Elder Niu, are you afraid?"

Niu Youdao laughed. "Afraid? What do I have to be afraid of? I'm not like you, obsessing over victory or defeat in a single moment. I simply don't want you regretting this after today. I don't want the people around me sinking forever into remorse, and I don't want those who follow me to regret doing so. That's why I'm warning you. That's why I'm giving you one more chance."

"No need. Elder Niu, can we begin?"

Kunlin Shu did not need the warning, but Niu Youdao still wanted to say it. "Ever since I first entered the cultivation world, I've never liked fighting and killing, but there have always been times when it couldn't be avoided. In every head-on duel I've fought, I, Niu, have never once been defeated. Aren't you afraid?"

"No. That's only because you have never met a truly formidable opponent."

"Wrong. It's because no one knows the true depth of my abilities. And everyone who has fought me was just like you—full of confidence in himself."

Kunlin Shu's expression tightened slightly as he stared at him.

"So I'm telling you that it's still not too late to regret this. Of course, I know you won't listen, but I still have to say it."

Kunlin Shu drew a deep breath. "I appreciate Elder Niu's goodwill. Can we begin now?"

"If you insist, I won't force you otherwise. I only hope you remember what I just said and understand one thing: this road is one you chose yourself. Afterward, don't say I tricked you. Every bit of this was your own willing choice, made without regret. Isn't that so?"

"That's right. Fortune or disaster, glory or disgrace, I accept them willingly and will never regret it!"

Niu Youdao nodded. "Then I have nothing more to say. If you want to fight, we can begin whenever you like. I'll accompany you."

The spectators stood some distance from the center of the training ground. The two men were not speaking loudly, so no one could make out what they were saying. All they saw was the pair muttering back and forth without end.

Guan Fangyi watched with interest, wondering what Master Dao was trying to talk the other man into this time.

"Aren't they supposed to be competing? Is this a contest of hands or mouths? What are those two rambling on about?" Gong Lince asked from the side.

Yan Li raised a hand and scratched his cheek. "No idea! Uh... looks like they're about to start."

Gong Lince looked over. Kunlin Shu had become highly alert and was slowly backing away to establish a safe distance, while Niu Youdao remained exactly where he was, unmoving.

Faced with Niu Youdao's utterly unruffled bearing, Kunlin Shu retreated a little, then a little farther, maintaining a prudent distance from which to begin.

Niu Youdao's words had already chipped away at his confidence. Wariness had crept in, and the complete self-assurance he had possessed at the start was gone.

Whoom!

A dense mass of raging flame suddenly erupted from Kunlin Shu's body, engulfing him in an instant and forming a ball of fire.

Within it, flames roared and billowed. One became two, two became three, and in the blink of an eye thirty-six fireballs appeared in a matrix.

Before anyone could even count them clearly, the formation abruptly broke apart. The fireballs began weaving unpredictably through one another, interlacing like fire-thunder sweeping across the ground as they rushed toward Niu Youdao.

"Fire Phantom Shadow Escape. It's the Heavenly Fire Limitless Art!" Supreme Elder Chun Xinliang said heavily from the crown of the tree.

The other Supreme Elder, Tu Kuai, looked grave. "No wonder he dared come challenge him!"

"That does look like Tianhuo Sect's legendary Heavenly Fire Limitless Art, which no one has mastered for ages..." Gong Lince said in a low voice from the edge of the grounds.

The people of Zijin Cave had never personally witnessed the Heavenly Fire Limitless Art, but thanks to descriptions left by generations of Zijin Cave forebears in the *Zijin Miscellany*, they could all recognize some of its signs.

Niu Youdao, still standing motionless, narrowed his eyes slightly and wondered inwardly: Could this really be the Heavenly Fire Limitless Art?

When the people from Tianhuo Sect first came looking for him and he refused to meet them, he had spent some idle time beneath the eaves in his reclining chair deliberately leafing through the *Zijin Miscellany* for records concerning Tianhuo Sect. By coincidence, he had come across descriptions of the Heavenly Fire Limitless Art.

Nor was the *Zijin Miscellany* the only place he had read of it. In his early years at Shangqing Sect, while reading the *Shangqing Record of Gleanings*, he had also seen descriptions left by Shangqing Sect predecessors concerning the Heavenly Fire Limitless Art.

The old disciples of Shangqing Sect had once been impressive indeed. They had actually witnessed the Heavenly Fire Limitless Art.

The reason generations of predecessors in the great sects recorded such miscellaneous knowledge and broad observations was precisely to pass their experience down to those who came after.

That was one of the advantages of joining such a sect: it allowed later disciples to broaden their knowledge of the cultivation world.

Naturally, when Niu Youdao first obtained the *Zijin Miscellany* after entering Zijin Cave, what he had cared about most was whether it contained any record of the Qiankun Art. Yet neither the *Shangqing Record of Gleanings* nor the *Zijin Miscellany* contained a single written reference to the Qiankun Art.

Niu Youdao did not know whether that was because too much time had passed, or because the cultivation world of that era had already declined and some sects existing today had not even been qualified to witness Shang Song's grandeur.

The fireballs darting about at such bewildering speed were plainly an extraordinarily formidable deception technique. Anyone with even a little discernment could see that much without consulting records left by earlier generations. No one present could tell which fireball concealed Kunlin Shu's true body. For an opponent unable to discern the direction of the real attack, that was extremely dangerous.

The expressions of the people from Zijin Cave turned exceptionally grave.

Guan Fangyi and the others were much the same, beginning to worry for Niu Youdao.

Shang Shuqing was worst of all. She had never witnessed such a thunderous spectacle. The sight of so many ferocious fireballs roaring and weaving as they rushed toward Niu Youdao sent her heart into her throat.

Pride impossible to conceal appeared in Fire Phoenix's eyes at the sight of her Senior Brother's brilliant technique. This was her Senior Brother. This was her man.

Qian Fucheng tilted his head slightly and glanced at the reactions of the people from Zijin Cave. His brows rose and a hint of a smile appeared. Remembering how this crowd had mocked him before, he thought: Now you know what Tianhuo Sect is capable of.

The roaring fireballs reached Niu Youdao in the blink of an eye, yet he still stood there without moving.

Under the close scrutiny of everyone's Dharma Eyes, they discovered that Niu Youdao had not only remained in place—he had actually closed his eyes, looking as though he had simply offered himself up for slaughter.

Was he helpless, or merely overconfident? He was not even dodging. Everyone's hearts tightened.

Since he already knew this was the Heavenly Fire Limitless Art, and knew it relied on deception that eyesight could not penetrate, Niu Youdao simply closed his eyes.

The Qiankun Art circulated. Eyes shut, heart stilled. Let the deception change in a thousand ways—there was no self, and Heaven and Earth rested within a single heart.

The sound of wind. The howl of flame. Sand and dust turning. Astral winds sweeping past. Every minute shift within Heaven, Earth, and Qiankun entered his awareness.

It was like the days he had cultivated beneath a waterfall, allowing the thunderous cascade to batter him while sensing the slightest disturbance within the chaos.

It was like the days he had sat atop a mountain beneath wind and rain, sensing the subtle changes of all things growing under sun, moon, and stars.

Boom!

A fireball came hurtling in.

The first one smashed directly into Niu Youdao. He took it without moving. Everyone was shocked.

Shang Shuqing clapped both hands over her mouth, nearly crying out.

The fireball's impact burst into a bloom of flame, sending dirt and stones flying.

The firelight scattered and became less dense. Shang Shuqing could not see through it, but those using Dharma Eyes saw the scene clearly.

Niu Youdao still stood where he had been. The topknot binding his hair suddenly came apart, and his long hair streamed wildly through the flames under the force of the impact, yet did not burn.

His Zijin Cave robes likewise billowed in the blaze, sleeves and hems flying, yet remained untouched by the fire.

Several people from Zijin Cave exchanged looks. It was obvious Niu Youdao did not fear flame. Whether the attack itself lacked sufficient force or there was some other reason, he had actually taken it head-on without even dodging, and still had not moved.

What they did not know was that the flames did not lack force. Niu Youdao had used the Qiankun Shift within the Qiankun Art to shed the impact, letting hair and robes move freely so the incoming force could spill away in a smooth, unbroken release.

Of course, a fireball like this lacked the concentrated physical force of a true killing strike. Against Niu Youdao's force-dissipation technique, it indeed did not count as especially powerful.

After the first impact, the flames that burst across Niu Youdao flowed past him and rapidly gathered back into a ball.

Then came the second, the third, the fourth...

Each fireball burst apart after striking him, passed over his body, then condensed again. Thirty-six fireballs began hammering Niu Youdao from every direction as if subjecting him to a relentless bombardment. Every one seemed unreal. The spectators could plainly see each fireball strike Niu Youdao, scatter, and reform, yet Kunlin Shu's true body never appeared.

Kunlin Shu himself seemed to have become one with those fierce, insubstantial flames.

Niu Youdao stood amid the ceaseless battering of violent fire, long hair and sleeves flying. From whatever direction a fireball struck, his hair and clothes streamed with the force in that same direction. The sheer ease and freedom of it made Gong Lince and the others exchange look after look.

Even Shang Shuqing, who lacked Dharma Eyes, caught glimpses through the gaps between successive attacks. In those brief openings she saw the Master Dao in her heart: long hair streaming, robes flying, still standing in the flames with one hand resting on his sword, never once brought down. Bathed in firelight, he possessed an indescribable magnetism.

The sight of Niu Youdao enduring the ravaging fire-thunder and allowing the flames to temper him, free and unrestrained like an immortal amid the flames, left Fire Phoenix staring dumbly.

The same sight made Qian Fucheng's face twitch uncontrollably.

At that moment, he seemed to come abruptly to his senses. If the man had refused the challenge, then let him refuse. Why, when everything had been perfectly fine, had they agreed to those conditions?

Kunlin Shu was still among the fireballs darting through the attacks. He could hardly have vanished. It was only because of his wariness that he had not dared expose himself lightly or launch a truly devastating physical strike.

Of everyone present, he was the least surprised that Niu Youdao could withstand this sort of attack.

Ten years earlier, they had fought at Heavenly Mirror Lake. Back then he had attacked Niu Youdao with the Heavenly Fire Profound Art. He knew Niu Youdao did not fear fire and knew attacks of this kind might not be enough to injure him.

Now Kunlin Shu's cultivation had risen greatly and the force of his attacks had grown, but Niu Youdao's cultivation had clearly advanced as well, and so had his ability to withstand them.

The others could not sense it, but Kunlin Shu, the one actually attacking, could. Just as ten years ago, the power of his flames still seemed unable to fully take hold on Niu Youdao's body.

[End of Chapter 921]