Realizing he could directly absorb fire spirits, Lu Yu roamed in search of small flame-shaped fire spirits to devour and absorb.
After devouring many fire spirits, Lu Yu no longer felt pain when grabbing them with his hand, just a slight burning sensation.
After absorbing three fire spirits, Lu Yu broke through to the seventh level of the Body Refinement stage.
After absorbing six fire spirits, Lu Yu broke through to the eighth level of the Body Refinement stage.
After absorbing fifteen fire spirits, Lu Yu broke through to the ninth level of the Body Refinement stage.
The progress bar for the first level of the Seven Layers of Ice and Fire had already reached 33%, and his Qi Blood had exceeded 200 points, meeting the minimum requirement for enduring the infusion of Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi.
Martial Cultivators at the Body Refinement stage strengthen their physical body and meridians through Qi Blood cultivation to withstand the chaotic, rampaging infusion of Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi, thus absorbing it, cultivating Spiritual Power, and becoming Martial Cultivators at the Qi Cultivation stage.
After Qi Blood exceeds 200 points, each upgrade requires consuming 2000 experience points, and the Qi Blood increase from devouring fire spirits also diminishes.
Initially, devouring a fire spirit increased Qi Blood by 7 to 8 points, but eventually, it only increased by 2 to 3 points per fire spirit.
However, as the difficulty of increasing Qi Blood grew, Lu Yu could feel the enhancement of his strength.
After deploying the Blood Burning Secret Technique, Lu Yu could even battle against Martial Cultivators at the Qi Cultivation stage who practiced fire cultivation techniques.
Upon finishing absorbing a fire spirit, Lu Yu saw several fire infants crawl out from the Molten River and fly towards him. It seemed he had angered the fire infants within the river by killing too many fire spirits.
Fire infants resembled human babies, but they are essentially energy bodies, more condensed than flame-shaped fire spirits.
Lu Yu didn’t dare be careless; fire infants are Qi Cultivation stage fire spirits, far more dangerous than flame-shaped fire spirits.
Nonetheless, he didn’t choose to flee because absorbing fire spirits could no longer advance his cultivation in the Seven Layers of Ice and Fire. He needed to absorb stronger flames, and fire infants were a good choice.
Several fire infants cried out, spraying flames at Lu Yu. Even from several meters away, Lu Yu could feel the temperature of the flames, much higher than that of flame-shaped fire spirits.
Lu Yu dared not recklessly intercept them, only dodging left and right, using the Eight-Step Cicada Leap to evade the fire infants’ attacks.
Soon, only one fire infant continued pursuing Lu Yu; he purposely attracted this fire infant to follow him, else he could have easily outpaced them with his speed.
Swoosh~ A cone-shaped flame shot towards Lu Yu. He used the Eight-Step Cicada Leap to gain distance, then seized the brief interval between its attacks to counter-attack.
The Overlord Saber appeared in his hand. Lu Yu’s Qi Blood boiled within him, instantly consuming one-third of his Qi Blood.
The heavy Overlord Saber compressed the air, stirring waves of Qi, as one-third of Lu Yu’s Qi Blood surged into the saber, shrouding its blade in a dim red glow.
The red glow lasted only a moment, consuming one-third of all Lu Yu’s Qi Blood.
Bang~ The ground was smashed into a deep hole, fissures spreading out, with some starting to glow red, hinting at magma ready to burst forth from below.
With one Sky Collapse strike, two-thirds of the fire infant’s body vanished, revealing a red crystal inside—the fire infant’s heart core, a fire crystal stone containing Spiritual Qi.
It was the first time Lu Yu saw an intact fire crystal stone; previously, he’d only encountered energy-depleted ones.
After two-thirds of its body was gone, the fire infant appeared extremely panicked and soared into the air, attempting to flee towards the direction of the Molten River.
How could Lu Yu let the fire crystal stone slip away just like that? He lifted the Overlord Saber and chased after it. The broad saber blade, like a door panel, smacked the airborne fire infant to the ground.
Seeing Lu Yu approaching closer, the fire infant shrieked skyward, instilling a sense of extreme danger in Lu Yu. He instinctively raised the Overlord Saber to shield himself.
A massive explosion rocked the area around the fire infant, and a fierce fire shockwave sent Lu Yu flying, leaving only a crater on the ground, the fire infant gone without a trace.
Lu Yu swung the Overlord Saber to dispel the heat; it had shielded him from most of the fire shockwave. Luckily, the shockwave didn’t last long, and the Overlord Saber wasn’t damaged.
After the saber cooled, Lu Yu returned it to his backpack.
Upon closely inspecting the area where the fire infant had self-destructed, Lu Yu found nothing of value and felt somewhat disappointed.
He realized unless he could kill fire infants instantly, he wouldn’t obtain fire crystal stones, resembling the situation with flame-shaped fire spirits.
With one self-destructing and the other having limited energy within its body’s fire crystal stones, which easily depletes in battle.
A crater over a meter deep remained where the fire infant exploded, with crimson magma already beginning to spread at the bottom. It wouldn’t be long before magma refilled the crater and cooled back into the black ground.
Lu Yu knew he stood over a sea of magma, which unnerved him a bit. Yet, realizing a fire infant’s total Spiritual Qi explosion only formed a small crater, he felt reassured about the ground’s sturdiness.
Boom boom boom~ Explosions echoed one after another.
"Ouyang Lie, hand over the Fire Spirit Fruit."
A group of people was wildly sprinting toward Lu Yu; at the forefront was Ouyang Lie, with conspicuous red hair. He carried a string of red-black vines, with four or five translucent, orange-red fruits growing on them.
Whenever someone got close enough to attack Ouyang Lie, he would use the Fire Spirit Fruit on his back as a shield, causing attackers to hesitate, not knowing whether to strike or not.
For fear of damaging the Fire Spirit Fruit, they could only launch some weak attacks.
Behind the crowd, a swarm of fire infants flew in the sky, occasionally diving into the group to self-destruct, sending explosive sounds to Lu Yu’s ears.
Seeing them heading in his direction, Lu Yu turned and ran.
Ouyang Lie spotted Lu Yu and shouted, "Lu Yu, wait for me, I’ll share some Fire Spirit Fruits with you."
He hastily quickened his pace to chase Lu Yu, but to his astonishment, despite his full efforts, he couldn’t catch up with Lu Yu at the Body Refinement stage.
Lu Yu stepped out six to seven meters, and in the blink of an eye, he was already twenty to thirty meters away.
He used experience points to elevate "Eight Steps to Catch Cicadas" to a peak stage, allowing him to use the technique to increase his movement speed without needing special skills.
The ability to unleash the power of "Heaven Collapse" previously was due to spending experience points to upgrade the novice level "Heaven Collapse" to a certain mastery, enabling him to heavily injure the fire infants with one strike.
After upgrading "Eight Steps to Catch Cicadas" and "Heaven Collapse," he didn’t have many experience points left.
"Don’t run so fast!" Ouyang Lie yelled.
Realizing he couldn’t catch up with Lu Yu, he removed a Fire Spirit Fruit from his back and forcefully threw it toward Lu Yu.
Lu Yu sensed something behind him and instinctively dodged sideways. He caught a glimpse of the flying object that had caused Ouyang Lie to be pursued, reaching out to catch it.
As the Fire Spirit Fruit landed in his hand, the speed of his Ice Fire Seven Layers Cultivation Technique suddenly accelerated; Lu Yu felt a gentle Fire Spiritual Qi flow into his arm from the Fire Spirit Fruit.
This spiritual qi wasn’t as violent as what was on the fire spirits, nor as chaotic as the qi in the air, allowing even a Body Refinement level martial cultivator to absorb it effortlessly.
Ouyang Lie’s voice came from behind, "Eat it, eating the Fire Spirit Fruit will shield you from the fire spirits’ attacks for a day."
After a moment of hesitation, Lu Yu ate the Fire Spirit Fruit, immediately feeling enveloped by a warm membrane, keeping the rampant Fire Spiritual Qi in the secret realm away, while his body filled with gentle Fire Qi.
However, this sensation didn’t last long before the Ice Fire Seven Layers Cultivation Technique consumed all the Fire Qi internally.
[Cultivation of Ice Fire Seven Layers has gained progress, Cultivation progress +5%, Qi Blood +10]
Seeing the system notification, Lu Yu’s eyes brightened, it’s good stuff! This was more suitable for cultivating Ice Fire Seven Layers than absorbing fire spirit.
He slowed his pace, approached Ouyang Lie, and asked, "Where did you get the Fire Spirit Fruit on you?"
"From the volcano; there are still many Fire Spirit Fruits on the mountain. Help me shake them off and I’ll take you to find more Fire Spirit Fruits." He observed Lu Yu’s skill in body technique and suggested letting Lu Yu take part of the Fire Spirit Fruits to shake off those pursuers before regrouping.
"Dream on!" someone shouted, breaking from the crowd, throwing a spear at Lu Yu; spiritual qi wrapped around the spear, flying toward Lu Yu at breakneck speed like a streak of light piercing the sky.
As the streak of light appeared, Lu Yu barely managed to draw the Overlord Saber to shield himself, but he was sent flying by the spear.
"Huh? He actually blocked it!" the man was surprised.
Lu Yu’s racing released an aura of Qi Blood, indicating that Lu Yu relied purely on his physique and Qi Blood to run, without using spiritual power, not a Qi Cultivation martial cultivator.
The man was astonished that a Body Refinement level martial cultivator could block his strike.
"Ptu, ptu~" Spitting out sand from his mouth, Lu Yu placed the Overlord Saber back in his backpack and raced to the location where the spear landed, pulling it out and escaping.
Seeing his weapon being snatched by Lu Yu, the man chased after him shouting, "Stop! Return my weapon!"
After taking a hit, Lu Yu’s escape was delayed, allowing Ouyang Lie to catch up, and Ouyang Lie said, "I’ll share half of the Fire Spirit Fruits, we run in different directions, and we’ll regroup at the foot of the mountain."
Without waiting for Lu Yu’s response, Ouyang Lie tore off part of the vine with Fire Spirit Fruits and tossed it to Lu Yu before turning to run in the opposite direction.
Grabbing the vine, Lu Yu sprinted in the direction opposite to Ouyang Lie.
Seeing the two split apart, some felt Lu Yu was weaker and pursued him, while others thought Ouyang Lie was easier to chase and went after him.
After running for a while and losing sight of Ouyang Lie, Lu Yu decisively accelerated, consistently deploying "Eight Steps to Catch Cicadas," consuming nearly half of his Qi Blood, disappearing from others’ vision amidst their frustrated gazes.
The Qi Blood consumed from using "Heaven Collapse" had already recovered by absorbing Fire Spiritual Qi during his escape.
In the Fire Rain Mountain secret realm, Lu Yu feared nothing more than a war of attrition, as he could continuously recover Qi Blood anytime, anywhere.