Cultivation Begins From The Desert-Chapter 704 - 688: Celestial River True Water

Amidst the blazing purple flames, a strange purple flower bloomed gracefully.

Faced with Zhouyang and Zhao Yuanpu's gaze, the "Fire Charm" hidden within didn't respond, seemingly disbelieving that Zhouyang could see through its hiding place.

Yet Zhouyang was determined that his guess was correct. Immediately, he formed a spell with his hands and launched a "Nine Heavens Qianyang Demon-Annihilating Divine Thunder" towards it.

When the red-gold lightning struck down, the "Fire Charm" hidden within the purple flower finally could not remain indifferent.

The bud, resembling a camellia flower, suddenly spewed out a purple-red mist, forming a purple cloud that obscured the flower below.

The red-gold lightning fell upon that purple cloud, causing it only a slight tremor before falling silent.

This scene made Zhouyang's expression change slightly, dispelling a certain notion in his mind.

Having guessed that the "Fire Charm" was the Earth-bound Spirit of the purple strange flower, he had considered destroying it to eliminate the "Fire Charm." Although this would ruin a rare Spirit Elixir, compared to his own life, the choice was clear.

But now it seemed that even if he could heartlessly do so, it might not truly work as intended.

At this moment, under the light of the "Profound Light Shadow Mirror," the red figure appeared again, drifting from the purple flower like a puff of smoke, lunging straight at Zhao Yuanpu.

Zhao Yuanpu, seeing this, immediately turned pale with anger and cursed, "Damn creature! Really think Zhao is easy to bully!"

Before his curse ended, he painfully spat out a silver jade bottle artifact and, with a spell, turned it upside down, pouring out blue spiritual water sparkling with silver star-like light.

"This spiritual water... could it be the legendary 'Celestial River True Water'?"

Zhouyang, full of surprise, couldn't help but voice his suspicion as he looked at the blue spiritual water.

'Celestial River True Water' is as renowned in the Cultivation Realm as the 'Qianyang True Flame,' and even more so.

This True Water's precious rarity is no less compared to the 'Black Tortoise True Water' essence Zhouyang gave to his Demon Servant Bi'Er.

It's known that as long as one refines a True Water essence, it can continuously produce new True Water. Yet Zhao Yuanpu's silver bottle artifact contains 'Celestial River True Water,' which is water without source, once used it's gone.

Zhao Yuanpu, a late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator specializing in Fire Element Divine Techniques, possessing 'Celestial River True Water,' which is coveted even by Nascent Soul cultivators specializing in Water Element Divine Techniques, shocked Zhouyang immensely.

However, Zhao Yuanpu didn't answer his question. Instead, he cast spells continuously, controlling the blue spiritual water from the silver bottle to transform into a large net towards the "Fire Charm."

The "Fire Charm" seemed to sense the blue water net's threat, showing a slight hint of apprehension on its face, but it did not stop its advance, nor give up on Zhao Yuanpu as its target.

It opened its mouth to spit, directly emitting a burning fire-like red mist that enveloped itself, then charged into the blue water net.

"Sizzle" sounds arose in mid-air. Though the blue water net successfully trapped the "Fire Charm" shrouded in the red mist, the 'Celestial River True Water' forming the net rapidly depleted, visibly shrinking from finger-thick ropes.

Zhao Yuanpu witnessed this, his face turning even darker. Painfully, he poured more blue spiritual water from the silver bottle to replenish the net, shouting at Zhouyang, "Fellow Daoist Zhou, if you have any means, please deploy them quickly. Zhao's 'Celestial River True Water' is limited and can't trap it for long!"

He said this almost as desperation, not truly expecting much from Zhouyang.

Unexpectedly, Zhouyang promptly responded, "Alright, Fellow Daoist Zhao, keep it trapped. Watch Zhou deal with it!"

With that, Zhouyang waved his hand, drawing something from his storage ring.

It was a purple thunder pearl the size of a fist.

Back on 'Donglai Immortal Island,' after collecting the remaining Heavenly Thunder Power when the Great Demon Mu Qingyun transcended his True Spirit Celestial Tribulation, Zhouyang refined four powerful Celestial Tribulation Thunder Pearls.

During the battle outside the Divine Lady Palace, three thunder pearls had been used by Zhouyang and Jiang Fengxian, leaving only this last one.

Celestial Tribulation Thunder, manifested by the Celestial Dao Technique, holds potent destructive power against all beings, unaffected by the Path of the Five Elements' Birth and Destruction.

The "Fire Charm," unafraid of flames and unaffected by ordinary Divine Thunder or Celestial Thunder, was an exception to Celestial Tribulation Thunder.

Clearly visible, upon Zhouyang's retrieval of the Celestial Tribulation Thunder Pearl, the "Fire Charm" within the blue water net reacted as violently as a startled rabbit facing an eagle.

In panic, it spat out more fire mist and red haze, attempting to swiftly burn the blue water net to escape.

With its speed and methods, as long as it's not trapped in one place like now, Zhouyang's thunder pearl can hardly hit it.

But Zhao Yuanpu, having already revealed his trump card—the 'Celestial River True Water,' refused to let it escape at this moment.

Though he didn't understand why Zhouyang's purple thunder pearl caused such a reaction from the "Fire Charm," he realized from its response that the purple thunder pearl could indeed harm it.

Despite the pain of his loss, he clenched his teeth and poured out the remaining 'Celestial River True Water' from the silver bottle artifact.

Boom boom boom!

Fierce purple lightning engulfed the scene; even though Zhao Yuanpu had retreated to the edge of the rock once Zhouyang acted, he felt shocked by the intense Thunder Power striking the defenses he set up.

At the explosion's center, the "Fire Charm" couldn't escape from the blue water net before the thunder pearl's detonation, suffering intensely under the Celestial Tribulation Thunder, unable to maintain its human shape.

"Demonic fiend, take another blow from Zhou!"

Just as Zhao Yuanpu intended to examine the "Fire Charm" after the thunder light faded, Zhouyang's commanding voice resounded.

Then, before Zhao Yuanpu understood Zhouyang's method, a piercing screech echoed in his mind.

Not good!

The familiar screech sent Zhao Yuanpu's face into a frenzy, unable to react, he screamed, enduring the soul-cracking pain once more.

Zhouyang screamed similarly.

He initially planned to continue attacking and press the already severely injured "Fire Charm," but underestimated the "Fire Charm" even after its divine technique backfired and was heavily wounded by the Celestial Tribulation Thunder still had strength to unleash such a Divine Sense Attack.

This miscalculation not only gave the "Fire Charm" breathing room but also plunged Zhao Yuanpu back into peril.

The "Fire Charm," either finding Zhao Yuanpu easier to deal with or infuriated for the confinement, targeted him as the primary attack.

Now, Zhao Yuanpu faced a lack of defense due to the Divine Sense Attack.

As the "Fire Charm" reached Zhao Yuanpu, it directly spat out a red mist that eroded cultivation, then raised a hand with sharp nails to form a solid ghost claw.

The ghost claw swung out, and the protective firelight driven by Zhao Yuanpu's lifebound spiritual artifact, the Six Yang Divine Fire Banner, was instantly torn apart, along with the magic robe on his chest, revealing a dark golden inner armor underneath.

The appearance of the dark golden inner armor was obviously beyond the "Fire Charm's" expectations, so although its ghost claw ultimately tore open the inner armor, it only left a few bloody marks on Zhao Yuanpu's chest before exhausting its strength.

At this moment, Zhao Yuanpu was also forcibly awakened by the dual attacks on his body and Nascent Soul.

He looked at the ghostly face that resembled his ancestor master so closely, and the fear in his heart was magnified infinitely. With a scream, he swung his lifebound spiritual artifact, the Six Yang Divine Fire Banner, towards the red figure.

As a result, he naturally attacked nothing but air.

The "Fire Charm" was craftier and more cunning than any demon beast. Even though it had seriously injured Zhao Yuanpu, after its plan for a lethal strike failed, it unhesitatingly withdrew from Zhao Yuanpu's side.

Seeing this, Zhou Yang couldn't help but sigh as he threw the Qianyang Treasure Pearl as a hidden weapon.

There were only a few artifacts on him that could injure this "Fire Charm," and the Qianyang Treasure Pearl was barely one of them.

Unfortunately, this artifact was ultimately not a killing artifact like a flying sword, and hitting the extremely agile "Fire Charm" was exceedingly difficult.

Sighing was one thing, but what needed to be done had to be done immediately.

Zhou Yang moved instantly, rushing to Zhao Yuanpu's side, looking at him calmly and reassuringly said, "Fellow Daoist Zhao, no need to panic. This monster was just severely injured by me, and its invisibility divine technique is restrained by me. As long as we work together, we can surely exterminate this beast to avenge your sect's ancestor and Fellow Daoist Sun!"

He said this to try to incite Zhao Yuanpu's fighting spirit with the hatred of ancestor murder and continue to team up to kill the "Fire Charm."

However, he did not expect that after these repeated blows, Zhao Yuanpu's confidence had already been severely shaken.

Hearing these words, he recalled that even his own ancestor master, who was skilled in divine techniques, had perished at the hands of the "Fire Charm." Feeling the red mist poison still wreaking havoc within his Nascent Soul, a certain thought in Zhao Yuanpu's heart became even stronger.

He silently suppressed the red mist poison in his Nascent Soul while his eyes flickered as he looked at Zhou Yang and said, "Fellow Daoist Zhou, do you perhaps have some other means that haven't been used yet? If there was another thunder pearl like the previous one, maybe we could really kill that monster!"

"There isn't any. That thunder pearl just now was already the last stock in my hand!"

Zhou Yang shook his head slightly, saying words that disappointed Zhao Yuanpu.

Before waiting for his response, he turned the conversation and said, "But the monster was already severely injured just now. As long as we don't give it a chance to recover, killing it isn't impossible!"

Yes, it isn't impossible!

Zhao Yuanpu sighed inwardly but maintained a calm expression and nodded slightly, "What Fellow Daoist Zhou said is not without reason. It's just that I was injured by that monster earlier, so I need Fellow Daoist Zhou to protect me for a while, allowing me to calmly remove the poison from my body."

Zhou Yang also saw the previous events in his eyes and knew that he was not speaking falsely. Therefore, upon hearing this, he didn't think much and immediately responded, "Leave this matter to me. I will do my best to constrain that monster, preventing it from disturbing Fellow Daoist Zhao's healing!"

"Thank you, Fellow Daoist Zhou!"

Zhao Yuanpu thanked verbally, immediately inserting his lifebound spiritual artifact, the Six Yang Divine Fire Banner, into the ground beside him, releasing clouds of fire to protect himself within them and began healing within the fire clouds.

Zhou Yang also fulfilled his promise and immediately issued several artifacts towards the purple strange flower.

It turned out that after the "Fire Charm" withdrew from Zhao Yuanpu's side, it directly dived into that purple strange flower, seemingly intending to use the flower's power to recover from its injuries.

Zhou Yang certainly couldn't allow this to happen, so he mercilessly destroyed the flower.

At this time, another surprising event occurred.

Facing his attack, the purple strange flower seemed to have its own intelligence and suddenly sank directly into the fire pool, disappearing from his sight.

"Profound Light Shadow Reflection, reveal all things!"

As if realizing something, Zhou Yang pointed fiercely at the treasure mirror above his head, directing its mirror light at the fire pool.

In the white mirror light, a flower shadow faintly visible drifted within the fire pool.

But before Zhou Yang could follow the mirror light to attack the flower shadow, a purple light flashed, and the flower shadow's trace completely vanished beneath the mirror light.

"Hmph, you can hide the monk but not the temple. I'll tear this entire fire pool apart and see where you can hide!"

With a cold snort, Zhou Yang's face turned grim as he pinched a spell, allowing the Thick Earth Heaven-Sealing Seal, most suitable for such tasks, to transform into a gigantic seal over ten feet wide, crashing straight down towards the fire pool.

Boom!

The giant seal collided with the rocky ground, causing the entire massive rock to shake violently as if in an earthquake.

But what astonished Zhou Yang was that this impact only caused a few cracks less than two fingers wide to split open at the edges of the fire pool.

This was truly surprising!

He knew that this strike, if it were outside, could smash down a thousand-foot mountain, or at the very least, create a hundred-foot-deep crater on the ground!

However, considering that this rock could exist for so many years in the underground magma sea without destruction, this result wasn't entirely unacceptable.

"Do you think this means I have no other ways? Collect!"

A flicker of gloom flashed in his eyes as Zhou Yang targeted the Qianyang Golden Tower with a spell, sending the seven-layer golden tower flying over the fire pool. The tower doors opened, sucking the Earth Core Purple Flame within the fire pool.

The Earth Core Purple Flame within the fire pool, not connected to the underground magma sea, was created by special means, absorbing the power of magma and transforming it within the pool, far from inexhaustible.

Zhou Yang's action quickly reduced the quantity of the Earth Core Purple Flame in the fire pool.

But even so, that purple strange flower still did not emerge from the fire pool, seemingly determined to hold its ground till the end.

Zhou Yang saw this and could only helplessly continue to engage in a standoff.

He had previously witnessed the defense of that purple strange flower, knowing it was not something he could break through with ordinary methods. Without being able to target its main body with an artifact like the Purple Gold Qiankun Ruler for direct attacks, harming it was simply wishful thinking.

Yet for some reason, he had an unsettling feeling, as if the "Fire Charm" couldn't possibly have only these means, as if he was overlooking something.

However, before he could figure out what he was missing, another unforeseen change occurred.

The Zhao Yuanpu, who was quietly healing under his protection, suddenly transformed into a fire light and dashed out of the rocky area, plunging into the array they had come from, vanishing from his senses while he was focused on dealing with the "Fire Charm" hiding in the fire pool.

Upon discovering this, Zhou Yang was dumbfounded!