Chapter 246
Chapter 246
Given my current condition, nothing good would come of falling into Feng Xianqiu’s hands.
This was exactly what he had been waiting for.
The odds of a mere Fragmented Soul like me succeeding at Nirvana were vanishingly small, but I would rather die in the Nirvana Fire… Perhaps that, too, could count as a fallen leaf returning to its roots.
I only felt sorry for Liu Junyan, Lord Xiao, and the others.
They had put so much effort into bringing me back to Cangwu Mountain and overcome countless hardships along the way, only for it all to end like this. I couldn’t even imagine how they would react when the news reached them.
Liu Junyan would lose his mind, wouldn’t he?
I didn’t dare think about it, but this was the choice I had to make.
Just as I’d expected, the instant I slammed into the Wutong Tree, a powerful suction pulled me inside, and my body plunged straight down.
The temperature around me soared. Beneath my feet stretched a boundless sea of fire.
Real, raging flames.
Crimson tongues of fire leaped high, each reaching farther than the last and incinerating everything they touched.
I was falling incredibly fast. Scorching heat seared my back as if it would melt me away.
What I hadn’t expected was for Feng Xianqiu to burst through almost at the same time. His enormous black wings spread slightly, reaching again and again to wrap around me.
He was trying to carry me back up.
After we had fallen a little over ten meters, Feng Xianqiu’s black wings abruptly folded around me. My vision went dark. Just as I was about to fight back, I felt tongues of fire lick up behind me.
A muffled groan sounded.
Then I saw Feng Xianqiu’s wings catch fire.
The crimson flames raced up his black feathers like a wildfire.
“Damn it!”
With an enraged roar, Feng Xianqiu snapped his wings shut and tumbled through the air several times. Charred black feathers rained down before he finally managed to extinguish the flames and steady himself.
At that moment, the Cangwu Nether Seal suddenly flew out from my chest.
The instant it appeared, countless roots extended from the Nirvana Fire, wrapping around my body strand by strand.
To my astonishment, once the roots had encased me, the tongues of fire parted around me. The sensation of flames licking at my body vanished in an instant.
The moment the Cangwu Nether Seal appeared, Feng Xianqiu, who had only just retracted his wings, dove down again like a madman.
This time, his target wasn’t me. It was the Cangwu Nether Seal.
Again and again, he swooped down and reached for it, only to be scorched by the Nirvana Fire. Each time, he retreated, rolled through the air to extinguish the flames, then charged down once more…
He didn’t stop until the Cangwu Nether Seal and I had sunk completely into the Nirvana Fire. His unwilling gaze remained fixed on me, as though he wanted to devour me whole.
When the crimson glow of the Nirvana Fire finally obscured my vision, I felt as if I had become a cocoon.
A cocoon wrapped in countless roots.
No, that wasn’t right.
More precisely, if someone were looking from the outside, I probably resembled an egg that had yet to hatch.
My whole body was curled up inside the “shell,” perfectly protected.
It even felt warm around me.
This sensation… It seemed I had experienced it before.
By my estimate, I continued falling like that for another five or six minutes. The “shell” touched down gently, and the roots swiftly withdrew and disappeared. The first thing I saw was the dense canopy of Wutong Tree leaves spread overhead like a vast umbrella.
It was an enormous Wutong Tree. Its trunk grew flush against the rock wall and was so thick it would have taken ten people joining hands to encircle it. Its roots burrowed deep into the mountain, so far that I couldn’t see where they ended.
The lush foliage completely covered the space above, blocking even the Nirvana Fire.
I couldn’t understand how the leaves of the Wutong Tree could possibly hold back the Nirvana Fire.
Yet they blocked it completely.
I lay on the ground, the hard rock still beneath me, unable to bring myself to get up for a long time.
Everything that had just happened had been far too dangerous and unbelievable. I still hadn’t fully recovered from the shock.
And yet, I smiled.
I was alive.
The Nirvana Fire hadn’t burned me to death or reduced me to ashes.
I had survived this Calamity and successfully entered Cangwu Mountain.
Even better, Feng Xianqiu was afraid of the Nirvana Fire.
That alone proved that although he was the esteemed Right Guardian and practically held the entire Phoenix Clan in the palm of his hand, he had never undergone Nirvana.
Without Nirvana, could he truly call himself a Phoenix?
I lay there for at least another ten minutes before finally rolling over and climbing to my feet. The Cangwu Nether Seal fell against my chest, and I cupped it in my hands and kissed it hard.
What an incredible magical treasure!
After putting the Cangwu Nether Seal away, I ran over to the Wutong Tree, wrapped both arms around its trunk, and pressed my cheek against it.
This Wutong Tree was much larger than the one south of Qilin Temple, but somehow, I couldn’t shake the feeling that they were the same tree.
It… was my lucky tree.
It had been ever since I was a child.
It had saved and protected me countless times. It had also once sheltered Fengwu. To me, it held a sacred place in my heart… Wait, Fengwu!
Before coming here, I hadn’t been able to summon Fengwu for a long time.
But the last time I tried, when I was close to Cangwu Mountain, she seemed to respond.
Now that I was inside Cangwu Mountain, would she be able to hear my summons?
And if Fengwu appeared, would the figure holding her appear as well?
With that thought, I tentatively called, “Fengwu!”
After I called several times, the leaves of the Wutong Tree suddenly began to rustle overhead, as if trembling — or answering me.
Fengwu, is that you?
I didn’t try to force a response.
What Snow Phoenix had told me led me to suspect that the figure holding Fengwu in the sea of flames might be the Godhood left behind when the Fire Witch Goddess fell.
If so, it was only natural for Fengwu to be in her hands.
I simply didn’t know whether coming here would allow me to establish some kind of connection with that Godhood.
At that thought, I began surveying the space within Cangwu Mountain.
The place where I had landed was vast. Aside from the enormous Wutong Tree, there were stone tables and stools beneath it. Teacups sat on the tables, though they were covered in dust.
Countless words and pictures had been carved neatly into the stone walls.
Mixed among them, however, were a few doodles. Their lines were playful and childish, probably drawn by a child.
I slowly traced the inscriptions, pictures, and doodles with my fingers. Images seemed to flicker through my mind, but they vanished before I could grasp them.
My eyes grew hot and damp before I even realized it.
Except for the wall against which the Wutong Tree stood, cave entrances had been cut into each of the other three walls, all sealed by stone doors.
I went to the door closest to my right first.
The stone door was heavy, but it was as if I already knew where the mechanism was. I casually pressed the switch, and the door rumbled open.
The instant it opened, the lamps along the cave walls lit up on their own.
I had no idea what kind of lamps they were. Several clusters of Nirvana Fire danced inside their transparent housings, illuminating the entire cave.
The cave was even divided into outer and inner chambers.
The outer chamber resembled a small sitting room, furnished with a table and chairs. Against one wall stood something like… a meditation platform.
Its surface was smooth and rounded. Someone must have sat there often.
The moment I entered the inner chamber, I froze in shock.
It was enormous. The first thing that caught my eye was one Longbow after another hanging on the eastern wall…