Although the heat of this sea of fire vastly surpassed that of an eighteen-colored flame, Bai Xiaochun’s ability to control the heat had also increased.
The beads of sweat which popped out on his forehead quickly evaporated. Taking a breath, he drew upon the power of his cultivation base to crush the sea of fire down!
“Compress!”
Rumbling sounds filled the air, and yet, neither Zhou Yixing nor anyone else in the area noticed. As far as they were concerned, the scene on the banks of the Underworld River was the same as ever!
Bai Xiaochun wasn’t aware of that, though. He was fully concentrating on the process of compressing the sea of fire. Meanwhile, Bai Hao remained off to the side, watching nervously.
“Considering all of the auguries we performed, there shouldn’t be any problems….” Although Bai Hao was constantly worrying about what would happen, he didn’t let that show on his face, for fear of it affecting his Master.
His eyes remained fixed on the sea of fire, which writhed defiantly like some primordial beast. However, no matter how it struggled, it couldn't break free from Bai Xiaochun, and was forced to be tamed.
It took time for the sea of fire to compress, although Bai Xiaochun actually had no idea how much time had passed. All he knew was that his exhaustion was rapidly mounting. Before long, the sea of fire was only 300 meters across!!
That was his limit! His cultivation base had been almost completely sucked dry, and he was so tired that his mind was about to shut down.
“Hao’er!” he cried out.
In almost immediate response, Bai Hao flicked his sleeve, sending a medicinal pill flying out into Bai Xiaochun’s mouth, which he consumed in one gulp!
Warmth immediately began to flow through him, returning his cultivation base to its peak, and settling his mind.
Enthused, and eyes shining brightly, he sent out more cultivation base power, and also shoved his hands closer together. As a result, the beast-like sea of fire struggled as it shrank.
270 meters. 240 meters. 210 meters…. Bai Xiaochun didn’t hold anything back from his cultivation base. The sea of fire struggled mightily, and yet nothing changed. It continued to shrink all the way until it was only 120 meters across!
After that, it shrunk to 90 meters. 60 meters… 30 meters!!
By this point, his cultivation base was again almost completely drained. And yet, that was exactly what his apprentice’s auguries had predicted would happen.
“When it gets down to 24 meters,” Bai Xiaochun thought, “I’ll consume another Heavencleaving Good Fortune Pill. That should be enough! It’s too bad that I can only consume a total of nine Heavencleaving Good Fortune Pills. After that, they won't work….”
Unfortunately, there was nothing he could do about the matter now. He had to take advantage of this opportunity. If he could enhance his nascent soul and thus increase his cultivation base, then eventually he wouldn’t need any Heavencleaving Good Fortune Pills! He could just directly conjure nineteen-colored flames!
“Compress!” he growled, his eyes blood red. Rumbling sounds echoed out as the sea of fire shrank down until it was 24 meters across!!
“Hao’er!” Bai Hao knew exactly what to do, and sent a second Heavencleaving Good Fortune Pill over to Bai Xiaochun. After consuming it, Bai Xiaochun’s eyes shone, and he continued to work on shrinking the fire.
RUUUUUUUUMBLE!!
21 meters. 18 meters. Finally… 15 meters!!
It was at 15 meters when the sea of fire began to struggle most viciously. Bai Xiaochun’s cultivation base was being drained rapidly, and his exhaustion was again mounting. However, it was at that point that… another color appeared within the 15-meter sea of fire!!
The fact that he had begun his endeavor with fifteen-colored flames was no waste! As of this moment, there wasn’t a single portion of the nineteenth color, but rather, ten!
That ensured that the chances of success were increased significantly. Although Bai Xiaochun was panting nervously as he stared at the new color, he used the method devised by Bai Hao's augury to analyze it.
After studying it for about ten breaths of time, his eyes began to shine, and it was without the slightest hesitation that he sent some divine sense power into the fire…. He didn’t make the slightest mistake! His divine sense immediately locked onto the nineteenth color.
RUUUUUUUUMBLE!!
The nineteenth color began to shine with blinding brightness, like a dragon flying up into the heavens. That nineteenth color… soon completely distinguished itself from the other eighteen colors!
“It worked!!” Bai Hao shouted excitedly.
Bai Xiaochun laughed hoarsely, but with passion as he reached out to grab the flame.
“Come to me, nineteen-colored flame!” he shouted. Rumbling sounds echoed out loudly as his hands closed around the fire.
The flame sank down into his hand until it couldn’t even be seen. His fingers trembled slightly, and Bai Hao looked on, completely nervous. Although Bai Hao was convinced that his Master couldn’t fail, he was still worried about what would happen.
Master and apprentice exchanged a glance, and then Bai Xiaochun took a deep breath and… slowly opened his fingers!
As he did, a tongue of nineteen-colored flame was clearly visible above his palm!
Nineteen-colored flame… success!
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Chapter
817: Bai Xiaochun?!
No one knew that he had conjured a nineteen-colored flame. After coming to realize this, Bai Xiaochun came to the conclusion that it wasn’t his mask which had concealed the fact, but rather, the gravekeeper.
Furthermore, after the nineteen-colored flame appeared, the gravekeeper himself was nowhere to be seen. The Underworld River also vanished.
It was almost as if his presence during the past year had only been in order to give advice to Bai Xiaochun and Bai Hao. Now that Bai Xiaochun had succeeded in conjuring nineteen-colored flame, there was no further need for the gravekeeper to stay.
However, the night before disappearing, he had broken from his usual practice of being tight-lipped to give extensive advice about flame conjuring. Therefore, although Bai Xiaochun and Bai Hao felt a bit strange to be alone, they were moved by all of the information he had imparted.
“Master, all of the advice from Great-Grandpa Gravekeeper was incredible. Twenty-colored flame is the peak of the earthly rank, and although it will be very difficult, I feel quite confident that I can create the formula for you! In fact, I'm going to go into secluded meditation to work on it.” Clasping hands, he bowed and said, “Master, take care of yourself while I'm away, sir!”
Bai Xiaochun took a deep breath, patted him on the shoulder, and nodded. Then, Bai Hao became a beam of glowing soul light that vanished into his soulhoarding pagoda.
A few more months went by, but the gravekeeper never returned, and Bai Hao remained in seclusion.
Bai Xiaochun didn't have enough ingredients to practice with any multi-colored flame, but he was able to perform auguries, and spent a lot of time doing research in that fashion.
“The only reason I succeeded in one shot was because of the Heavencleaving Good Fortune Pills…. If I try again, it won’t work as smoothly.” Patting his bag of holding, he contemplated the fact that although he was running very low on resources, he at least had everything from thirteen-to nineteen-colored flame on hand.
Some flames he only had one of, whereas he had multiple tongues of others. It was a collection that, if it were to be placed on public auction in the Wildlands, would cause a massive commotion. In fact, even earthly necromancers would likely scramble to get their hands on it. After some thought, Bai Xiaochun decided that trying to auction his flames off wasn't a good idea. He could really only sell them directly.