“Eat? What calabash is this?” Gu Hai asked out of curiosity.
“I don’t know.” Purple Subtlety shook his head.
“You don’t know, and you want to eat it?”
“Huh? Is that important?” Longevity asked in confusion.
Gu Hai: “…”
“What if it is poisonous?” Long Wanyu rolled her eyes. Do these two not worry about anything when it comes to eating?
“What poison can there be in a calabash? Even if it is poisonous, we will be fine. We are not humans anyway.” Purple Subtlety shook his head.
Gu Hai: “…”
Long Wanyu: “…”
“However, I can feel boundless flames coming from this blue barrier. How are you going to eat it?” Long Wanyu asked out of curiosity.
“This blue barrier was one of the old fogey’s most incredible enchanted treasures. Right. This is a sealing enchanted treasure. We can use it to approach the fire calabash,” Longevity said confidently.
“That old fogey, did he not say what this place is? The environment feels somewhat strange, and there is blood above and below the fire calabash. Despite the intense fire, is there no impact on the land above?” Gu Hai wondered.
“I recall now!” Purple Subtlety’s expression suddenly changed.
“Oh?”
“The old fogey mentioned that this tunnel is not underground. Erm, I can’t explain it clearly. I only know that this fire calabash seems to be suppressing something, and this place is between the land of the living and the nether realm,” Purple Subtlety recalled.
“Why do I not know that?” Longevity glared at Purple Subtlety.
“You were salivating at that time. How could you be paying attention to the old fogey’s words?”
“Weren’t you the same? The old fogey had to drag you out by the ear in the end.”
The two started criticizing each other.
However, Gu Hai, who was carrying Long Wanyu, felt somewhat confused.
“Let’s go. I’ll activate the sealing ritual array. Let’s give it a try,” Purple Subtlety said excitedly.
Then, Purple Subtlety extended his hand and pushed on the translucent blue barrier.
Buzz!
The blue barrier suddenly moved, shrinking and encasing the four in a blue ball.
Boom!
The barrier moved, and the surging fire immediately rushed into the tunnel, gushing into the distance.
The four slowly approached the center of the fire while standing in the blue barrier ball, moving towards the fire calabash.
Gu Hai gave the blood above and below the fire a curious look.
The blood above floated in the air, and the blood below had no ripples. Many red talisman scripts floated above the blood below, apparently a ritual array suppressing the blood below. About ninety percent of the fire from that fire calabash went into the red talisman scripts, replenishing the red talisman scripts’ energy.
“The fire calabash is really suppressing the blood pool below?” Long Wanyu stared.
“It’s here! It’s here! It only grew so much after three thousand years. It is definitely an incredible treasure.” Gulp! Longevity gulped.
“That old fogey also drooled when he looked at it. It is definitely something good. Hahaha! Me first! Me first!” Purple Subtlety pushed his face over excitedly.
Then, his head slowly extended out of the blue barrier ball.
“Don’t you want your face anymore?” Long Wanyu said in astonishment.
[TL Note: The above sentence has a double meaning. It could be a literal concern that Purple Subtlety’s face would get melted off, or it could mean “Don’t you want face anymore?,” as in “Are you not embarrassed?”]
Whoosh!
Indeed, as the surging fire rushed over, Purple Subtlety’s face immediately burned red. However, with delicious food right in front of him, how could he let it go?
Purple Subtlety immediately bit the calabash.
Crack!
“Sob! Sob! Sob! Sob! Sob!”
Purple Subtlety drew back, holding his mouth while crying.
“What’s wrong?” Longevity asked, feeling some misgivings.
Purple Subtlety removed his hand, showing two broken teeth.
“Hahahahaha!” Long Wanyu laughed insensitively.
“It’s that hard? It broke your teeth, which could bite through metal?” Gu Hai exclaimed.
“You fool, can’t you just swallow it in one go? Why go to all that effort? Watch as I swallow it,” Longevity said in disdain.
“What nonsense! If you swallow it all, what are we going to eat?” Purple Subtlety objected anxiously.
“What should we do?” Longevity asked.
Purple Subtlety shook his head. “I’ll try again!”
He extended his head out the blue ball once more.
Then, he opened his mouth and sucked.
“You stopped me from swallowing so that you could do it instead, right?” Longevity immediately felt anxious.
The fire calabash shot towards Purple Subtlety’s mouth.
Bang!
The fire calabash crashed into Purple Subtlety’s face. His face turned red, and he held his face.
“What happened this time?” Long Wanyu asked, feeling curious.
Purple Subtlety held his face, scrunching his face in pain without saying anything.
“What’s wrong?” Longevity asked.
Purple Subtlety did not answer.
“If you are not speaking, then I’ll try!” Longevity said.
He opened his mouth and imitated Purple Subtlety, sucking hard.
Bang!
“You son of a tortoise! Why didn’t you tell me that this fire calabash cannot be sucked into the mouth? My face got burned! It’s so painful!” Longevity complained bitterly, grimacing in pain.
Gu Hai: “…”
“You really put in a lot of effort just to eat!” Long Wanyu said with a strange expression.
After trying for a while, they found no way to proceed. With the fire calabash continuously releasing intense fire, there was no way to eat it.
The two tried many methods to no avail. They eventually showed expressions of despair.
To think that they got defeated like this. Despite there being something so delicious in front of them, they could not eat it.
“Did the old fogey trick us? Is there no way to eat it?!” Longevity said in despair.
“Should we cook it until it is soft first before trying to eat it?” Purple Subtlety frowned.
The other three all turned to Purple Subtlety with faces saying, Are you stupid? The fire calabash is already giving off intense fire. How are you going to cook it?
Both Purple Subtlety and Longevity showed resentful expressions. They kept looking but felt helpless.
“What fire is this? Perhaps I should try absorbing it to see if it can help me break through?” Gu Hai said with some anticipation.
Previously, Hanba’s fire helped him break through. However, after that breakthrough, Hanba’s fire was no longer enough.
Could this fire calabash help him improve further?
“You can give it a try,” Purple Subtlety and Longevity said listlessly.
Gu Hai put down Long Wanyu and closed his eyes. Then, he extended his hand beyond the barrier. Suddenly, overwhelming flames swept over.
Boom!
The intense fire seemed to burn Gu Hai’s right hand instantly. However, the power of the Life Ender Saber quickly healed his injuries. He absorbed the violent flames, and they rushed to his fire deity palace.
Boom!
The intense fire coursed towards Gu Hai’s fire nascent soul. The fire nascent soul seemed to sense a fantastic nutriment; it quickly absorbed the surging fire-attributed energy.
If this were an ordinary heart aperture, this intense fire would have destroyed the heart aperture the instant it barged in. However, Gu Hai had constructed a fire deity palace with a fire deity. Despite the intense flame raging, it still could resist.
Slowly, the nascent soul enlarged. It was like a young child slowly growing into an adult.
Boom!
A shock wave came from Gu Hai’s body.
“You broke through?” Long Wanyu’s face lit up in joy.
“The Nascent Soul Realm’s fourth layer!” Gu Hai felt pleasantly surprised.
The fire calabash seemed to sense something at this moment; it suddenly trembled.
“Huh?” Gu Hai opened his eyes.
Rumble…!
The fire calabash broke off from the vine. Then, it disappeared with a flash.
After the vine lost the fire calabash, it withered unusually fast until it reduced to powder and vanished.
“The calabash! Where’s the calabash?!” Longevity cried out.
“Argh!” Gu Hai suddenly roared in pain.
For some reason, the fire calabash had entered Gu Hai’s fire deity palace.
A horrifically intense flame swept out as if trying to rip apart the fire deity palace.
Bang!
Gu Hai’s body blazed with a raging fire that threatened to burn him up.
Gu Hai’s dantian and other deity palaces protected themselves. However, most of Gu Hai’s flesh burned. Fortunately, the Life Ender Saber quickly healed him. Even so, his body continuously spewed out tempestuous flames.
“Brother-in-Law! Brother-in-Law! What’s happening with you?!” Long Wanyu exclaimed anxiously.
“Gu Hai, what’s happening with you?!” Longevity exclaimed as well.
“The fire calabash! The fire calabash entered Gu Hai’s body?!” Purple Subtlety’s expression changed.
“What should we do now?” Long Wanyu appeared anxious.
“Ah! Gu Hai simply cannot contain the fire calabash with his cultivation. He will burn to death!” Longevity said anxiously.
“Send the old fogey’s sealing barrier into Gu Hai’s body. Help him seal the fire calabash!” Purple Subtlety said through gritted teeth.
“Alright!”
Longevity and Purple Subtlety made a move simultaneously. There seemed to be some sort of controls that the two understood how to use.
Boom!
The two waved, and the blue barrier suddenly rushed into Gu Hai’s fire deity palace and instantly arrived by the fire calabash.
Boom!
The blue barrier enveloped the fire calabash. The intense fire stopped burning the surroundings, becoming more bearable for Gu Hai.
Huff! Huff! Huff!
Gu Hai panted as he controlled the adult fire nascent soul to absorb the remaining fire quickly while the Life Ender Saber healed his body.
However, the fire nascent soul only raised its head to look at the fire calabash enveloped in the blue barrier above the fire deity palace.
“The flames are of too high a grade? Even my fire deity cannot withstand it?” Gu Hai opened his eyes, revealing some horror.
Purple Subtlety and Longevity goggled as they looked at Gu Hai.
“Gu Hai, how did you get it in your stomach?” Longevity asked out of curiosity.
“I don’t know. After absorbing the fire for a while, my cultivation increased. Then, it rushed in by itself.” Gu Hai shook his head.
“This sounds like it acknowledged a master. Damn! That stupid fire calabash! Why did it not enter my stomach?” Purple Subtlety said while scowling, feeling depressed.
“If it entered your stomach, you would digest it. How could it dare to acknowledge you as its master?” Longevity pouted.
“That’s right. The blue barrier cannot last for much longer. You should do your best to cultivate faster so that your body can endure this flame better.”
“When I return, I’ll think of a way to take it out for you to eat,” Gu Hai said with a bitter smile.
“Don’t! Don’t! Although we like eating, there is no way we can stomach eating something that someone else has eaten and regurgitated or passed out.” Purple Subtlety immediately and vigorously waved his hands.
“It doesn’t matter. Just think of a way to deal with it. Purple Subtlety and I won’t eat it,” Longevity said with a bitter smile.
“Alright. In that case, Gu Hai is very grateful to you. Come to my Han Royal Dynasty in the future. I’ll feed you to your fill.” Gu Hai smiled.
“That’s the way!” the two said excitedly.
“Look! The talisman scripts above the blood pool below absorbed all the fire!” Long Wanyu pulled on Gu Hai’s arm and pointed to the blood below.
Without the fire calabash providing fire, the red talisman scripts above the blood pool absorbed all the fire in the surroundings.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
Suddenly, many cracks appeared in one of the red talisman scripts; it looked like it would break.
“Did the old fogey say what incredible thing is sealed under the fire calabash?” Purple Subtlety asked out of curiosity.
“I…I sense danger—greatly ominous danger. There is something greatly ominous below. We should quickly leave, right?” Long Wanyu said anxiously.
Gu Hai’s expression changed as he nodded. Since Long Wanyu sensed something greatly ominous, it was definitely nothing good.
“What about above?” Gu Hai pointed to the blood pool above.
“There is none above!” Long Wanyu shook her head.
“I’ll go take a look!” Purple Subtlety immediately jumped to the blood pool above.
Splash! Half of Purple Subtlety’s body entered the blood pool.
Whoosh! Purple Subtlety returned.
“How is it?” Longevity asked.
“This is an entrance between two realms? One can only enter but not exit? Fortunately, the other half of my body did not go through. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be able to return,” Purple Subtlety exclaimed in amazement.
“What is up there?” Longevity asked.
“I don’t know. I only saw blood.” Purple Subtlety shook his head.
“I’ll function as an anchor. You all go in and take a look,” Longevity immediately suggested.
“Alright.
Everyone jumped into the blood pool together. Only Longevity left half his body behind. That way, everyone could return by pulling on him.
Gu Hai, Long Wanyu, and Purple Subtlety entered the blood pool.
The blood pool was strangely hot. The fire calabash must have heated it up earlier; it was still bubbling.
The three swam to the top. The blood pool was very deep, but they eventually reached the surface.
Splash!
The three came out of the blood pool, appearing in an underground palace.
“Gongyang Sheng?” Long Wanyu exclaimed in shock as she looked at a bound, white-clad man nearby.
