Another World Trip: Journey with My Cat and an Otaku Loli Goddess Chapter 200 - Branding The Earth Flame

Seeing all that he needed to see, Long Di flicked his finger and dispelled the qi shield.

Whoosh!

****

The heatwave descended upon him like a tidal wave, and he had to admit that it was suffocating with an intent to incinerate his lungs.

As of now, he was using a spiritual cultivator’s defensive capability by erecting a thin and powerful layer of spiritual essence over his body, simply known as qi armour.

This was different from the qi shield, as it was streamlined to his body and translucent for the most part. Though a spiritual cultivator’s body grew stronger and tougher the higher in rank they rose, it was this armour on which they primarily depended. Stronger defences could be called upon by using specialised martial techniques or treasures.

Nevertheless, their qi armour is their only defence for most cultivators.

Since this armour was composed of the spiritual qi or spiritual essence they naturally possessed, its power depended on the spiritual cultivator's realm. In Long Di’s case, this would be that of a Four Star Core Martial Master.

“Can’t use the Foundation Forge Body Tempering Art for this. I haven’t cultivated it to the necessary level yet.”

Long Di arrived at the edge of the tunnel that was now open thanks to the beast skin acting as the key and door. The heat he experienced earlier was eminently magnified, compelling him to pump more spiritual essence into his qi armour.

The tunnel’s entrance was one of many that lined the walls of what appeared to be a cylindrical chamber. Long Di was reminded of the missile silos he saw on the internet when he observed the structure.

However, there were no missiles here, but something more powerful. Instead, below the tunnel where he stood was a floating burning flame. It was completely red in colour, and within it was a rune of some kind.

As the flame burned, an upsurge of heatwaves entered the countless other tunnels that led to the caverns that made up Cavern Flame Mountain.

Of course, not even Long Di’s was spared. As a matter of fact, the tunnel where he was, was the lowest and by extension the closest tunnel to the Earth Flame, so the ripples were affecting him more so than the others.

“What the—”

Suddenly, Long Di felt a powerful drain on his spiritual essence reserves, something he hadn’t felt in a long time. One had to remember that of Long Di’s nine crystal dantians, four were active additions to his true dantian.

What was even crazier was that the pseudo-crystallised characteristic of the crystal dantians meant that they could contract and expand as needed. Since he was a Four Star Core Martial Master, each four crystal dantians were filled with spiritual essence equivalent to a Four Star Core Martial Master.

As Long Di’s realm grew, the amount of spiritual essence his true dantian could store would increase. The subsequent symbiosis with the crystal dantians forced them to expand and match the amount of spiritual essence his primary dantian held.

So Long Di effectively had 5x the amount of spiritual essence that someone at his level should have.

Yet even he was feeling the drain on his spiritual essence.

As of now, he already burned through two of his five dantians.

“What happened?”

As of now, the spiritual essence in his second to last crystal dantian was draining at an alarming rate!

After this was depleted, the drainage would move on to his true core dantian, and if that was finished, so was he.

When Long Di focused on the only expenditure of spiritual essence he was making, his attention shifted to the qi armour he was keeping up.

It was being destroyed and reformed faster than he realised, and that’s when it all became clear.

He hadn’t even realised that he increased the rate at which he was expending his spiritual essence. He must have subconsciously raised it when he felt the heat creeping in. Being done gradually or not, it reached this point.

“I underestimated the Crimson Horizon Flame. I need to ask Yaomu Shou what rank this Earth Flame has on that ranking of hers,” he remarked.

The Earth Flame was not something that your run-of-the-mill star core martial master could attain.

“Alright, let’s do this. Physique on!”

Following his will, his Profound Myriad Heavenseize physique activated. His entire figure, barring his robes, became crystal-like in an instant. There were countless dots of light within that mirrored the boundless depths of the heavens.

What was even more striking was the lightning that surged within. However, it was obvious at a glance that there wasn’t as much as there was before.

‘I should refill my extermination lightning reserves when I get the chance again,’ thought Long Di to himself.

That’s right, Long Di was planning to use his physique to subdue this flame. Based on the rate at which his spiritual essence was being exhausted, it didn’t take a genius to figure out that by normal standards, Long Di wasn’t qualified to take down an Earth Flame.

However, Long Di wouldn’t be a proper protagonist if he didn’t make himself qualified, and his cheat-riddled physique was the perfect way to do this.

Now Long Di’s physique had the ability to absorb power sources, this became evident when it absorbed the lightning Long Di cultivated.

So theoretically speaking, he should be able to absorb this Earth Flame as well… right?

“Oh well, nothing ventured, nothing gained.” Saying this, he got to work. “First things first, I need to get the Earth Flame over to me and there is only one way to do that.”

Whoosh!

Long Di’s spiritual force unfurled before it surged towards the Earth Flame.

…

“This fool!” Within the void, Wan Li exclaimed with a shocked voice when he saw what Long Di was doing.

He had been following Yaomu Shou, which ended up with him keeping up with Long Di’s antics, and he had to admit that the boy was a monster-level genius among geniuses.

However, if that was the case, then what was he watching now!?

Earth Flames were unique manifestations of the heavens and the earth. They were extremely powerful and their temperature was the stuff of nightmares!

They could plunge entire landscapes into a fiery hell and the Crimson Horizon Flame was one of those that specialised in doing such a thing!

Their temperature was such that they could burn almost anything, spiritual qi, spiritual essence, spiritual force, you name it. If one’s realm wasn’t high enough, then sending either of these energies into an Earth Flame was no different from courting death!

The Crimson Horizon Flame would incinerate the spiritual force and if it felt especially provoked, it may even attack Long Di. By then it wouldn’t matter how much spiritual essence he had, the Crimson Horizon Flame would burn his qi armour to cinders much faster than he could replenish it in a matter of seconds!

Was he going to witness the fall of a generation’s genius right here?

Yet the next scene caused his eyes to bulge in shock. “What!”