Worn into a premature ’old man’ by the pressures of life, Zhang Daniu led the way. With his two children, both eighteen or nineteen years old, he carried water to pour over Li Chang’an, then knelt respectfully, kowtowed, and said, "Lord Mountain God, you have protected our village’s hunters. We will not allow you to be harmed in this mountain fire!"
Watching the men and women before him—as insignificant as ants, dressed in ragged clothes, yet carrying bucket after bucket of water—Li Chang’an’s feelings were rather complicated.
His feelings were complicated because, from start to finish, he had never paid them much mind.
Even when he had acted to protect them, his greatest motivation had been nothing more than coveting the Incense they offered.
And yet, even so, at this critical juncture, these ant-like lives had still come for him, willing to risk being consumed by the raging flames just to protect him.
He didn’t consider himself a bad person.
But he wasn’t a particularly good person, either.
Yet, faced with their simple, pure devotion, he couldn’t help but feel a little ashamed.
He didn’t know if it was his imagination.
Li Chang’an noticed that after these people arrived to save him, the raging mountain fire didn’t die down. Instead, it burned even more fiercely, and mixed within the flames was a thick, undisguised Malice that lunged toward him and everyone trying to put out the fire.
WHOOSH!
A gust of wind seemed to sweep through, and the mountain fire intensified!
Li Chang’an knew that in the face of such a terrifying disaster, the efforts of Zhang Daniu and the others were but a drop in the ocean; they couldn’t solve the fundamental problem.
In fact, if he let them be, leaving them here was tantamount to letting them wait for death.
’Cultivating this many followers for a regular supply of tribute wasn’t easy.’
Li Chang’an was certainly not willing to let them die.
Therefore, after a moment’s hesitation, Li Chang’an made his decision. A fierce, scorching light suddenly erupted from his body.
A formless, intangible Soul Power lifted Zhang Daniu’s family and all the others, placing them in an area the flames couldn’t reach.
As for Li Chang’an himself, he turned and calmly watched the flames draw near.
Within the flames, a creature with giant horns could be faintly seen, staring in his direction. Its gaze, locked on Li Chang’an, was filled with vicious cold and killing intent.
Li Chang’an didn’t know the being’s identity, but he had a pretty good idea.
To be able to control such a massive fire within the mountains, aside from some extremely powerful Fire Attribute Spirit Monsters, the most likely culprit was the Mountain God.
The Mountain God controlled every inch of land in these mountains.
For Li Chang’an to be here, absorbing the Destiny of the hunters and herb gatherers from the mountain’s base, made him no different from a thief in the eyes of the mountain’s true Mountain God.
And a thief who stole both reputation and reward at that.
This mountain fire was the Mountain God’s warning and punishment for Li Chang’an.
The mountain fire raged, soon engulfing the giant rock that Li Chang’an inhabited. Not far away, the bucket-wielding villagers at first prepared to rush over and fight the flames.
But as the scorching flames drew closer, they found themselves helpless.
They could only watch, wide-eyed, as Li Chang’an was consumed by the blaze.
「...」
Within the flames, Li Chang’an felt an extreme heat.
But he didn’t panic.
Because ever since the day of his birth, he had been preparing for this moment.
His only hesitation had been in deciding whether he should simply avoid the scorching flames or use them to further temper his stone body.
Avoiding the flames was the straightforward option: have Zhang Daniu and the others carry him far away from the densely wooded areas.
That way, with nothing combustible nearby, Li Chang’an wouldn’t have to worry about being burned.
As for using the flames to temper his body—that was a pure gamble.
Several years ago, through his Heaven-defying Comprehension, Li Chang’an had created a Cultivation Technique called the Rebirth and Transformation Skill, which allowed one’s physical body to undergo a metamorphosis under the influence of external forces.
This external force could be fire, or it could be extreme cold.
But either way, it involved enormous risk.
After all, he was not yet invulnerable to blades and spears, nor immune to fire and water. If the tempering by fire went wrong, he could very well shatter on the spot, dying without a trace.
But if the tempering succeeded, the benefits would be equally immense. At the very least, it would shave a thousand years off his evolution, allowing him to achieve his desired Transformed Form ahead of schedule.
At this moment, Li Chang’an finally made his choice.
He would use this mountain fire to burn away the impurities from his body, to undergo a complete rebirth, and to forge a more refined and durable physical form!
As his entire body was engulfed by the flames...
Li Chang’an’s soul trembled involuntarily under the searing heat. Forcing himself to endure the pain, he gritted his teeth and began to circulate the Rebirth and Transformation Technique, tempering his physical body...
Time passed, second by second.
Under the scorching flames, Li Chang’an’s stone body began to crack continuously.
He mobilized his powerful Soul Power, carefully controlling the extent of the fractures to prevent his surface from shattering completely.
Finally, after repeated efforts, his body stabilized within the flames.
’Next, it was time to operate on myself.’
Li Chang’an’s stone body became redder and redder, seeming to momentarily merge with the surrounding flames, becoming equally scalding and incandescent.
Wisps of white smoke began to rise from Li Chang’an’s surface.
More impurities were forced out by the frantically circulating Rebirth and Transformation Technique.
Half an hour later, Li Chang’an’s entire being seemed to have become like red-hot magma, squirming slowly as if it were flesh and blood.
The mountain fire had come quickly and left even faster. After burning everything flammable in the area to cinders, the flames quickly moved on to other places.
Yet Li Chang’an, who remained where he stood, was still scalding hot and crimson. His magma-like flesh squirmed continuously, threaded through with what looked like blood vessels, as if the very core of the earth were gestating new life...
The temperature in the fire-scorched area was extremely high—so high that practically no living creature could linger there.
Thus, Zhang Daniu and the others had no choice but to descend the mountain.
「...」