Chapter 165 – Hollow Flame Essence … … … Qin Ziya’s Zither Heart was similar to a martial artist’s heart of martial arts. It was an unshakeable embodiment of his will. The first time that Lin Ming had seen Qin Ziya, he had felt a faint aura of righteousness from him, as if there was some vast wave that lay in the depths of his heart. This was Qin Ziya’s Zither Heart. But the second time that he had seen Qin Ziya, it was different. Although his appearance, voice, temperament, and even scent were the same, he was actually missing that Zither Heart! “I see, so it was like that. There was someone masquerading as Qin Ziya! What kind of camouflage technique could be realistic to this point? And they actually dared to pose as Qin Ziya! This person must have known that Qin Ziya had already left the Seven Profound Martial House; otherwise he would never have even an ounce of courage to pretend to be him. Qin Ziya moves around from place to place so much that not even the Allied Trade Association has the ability to find out where he is. It can only be someone high up within the Seven Profound Martial House, like Ouyang Dihua! That fake Qin Ziya might have even been Ouyang Dihua himself. He could have learned some profound and mysterious transfiguration technique from the Seven Profound Valleys to fool me. “It seems that the Seven Profound Decree is also fake, and the whole mess with Huoluo Nation and the Seraphic Pond and the quota of people were also fabricated by him.” Lin Ming took the ‘Seven Profound Decree’ from his spatial ring and ruefully smiled. He had only just glanced at the Seven Profound Decree one time, so he hadn’t been able to figure out if this one was real or fake. As Lin Ming was figuring out everything that happened, he felt a sudden shaking in his chest; his heart began to rapidly beat, and heat flowed through his blood to all his limbs. “Mm? Flame Essence?” Lin Ming searched inside his body and discovered that the Heretical God Seed’s Flame Essence was very excited as if it had just encountered something new. It was like a happy puppy that kept jumping up and down without being able to calm down. “This little fellow, what’s he doing?” Lin Ming though that was peculiar. Originally the Thunder Soul was the more lively and active one, and the Flame Essence was usually sitting calmly around, so why was it so jumpy today? Thinking back on this, when he had used Thunderfire Annihilation a moment ago, the Flame Essence had been exceptionally excited, and the fires that it had produced were much more formidable than in the past! Could it be… Red Lotus Demonic Inflammation! Lin Ming’s memories flashed before his eyes. Of course! He was so silly! Since the Flame Essence was able to absorb lava fire, then it could absorb other types of fires. He hadn’t thought that the Red Lotus Demonic Inflammation technique that Huo Gong had released a moment ago was a type of energy that he could have absorbed. But now that Huo Gong had died, how could he absorb it… “The Flame Essence shouldn’t be so excited without a good reason. It must have found something interesting… Aware of this, Lin Ming began to probe Huo Gong’s corpse with his soul force. Since Huo Gong had died, his soul had dissipated, so Lin Ming was able to drive his soul force straight into the body and investigate. “Here it is!” Lin Ming drew a dagger and picked at a part of Huo Gong’s right hand. A red bead of burning flames immediately jumped out. Although this bead had been buried within Huo Gong’s flesh, there wasn’t the slightest bit of blood staining it. As the fire bead appeared, it suddenly flew up, trying to escape; however Lin Ming had already trapped it with his true essence. Once he obtained the fire bead, the Flame Essence within Lin Ming’s Heretical God Seed became even more agitated, as if it couldn’t wait to devour it. “Is this also a Flame Essence?” Lin Ming looked at the fire bead and found that there was an exquisitely beautiful lotus flower carved upon it. Obviously, this was the so called Red Lotus. “No, this isn’t a Flame Essence. This should be a Hollow Flame Essence.” A Flame Essence was not easy to form. The only reason that the Flame Essence within Lin Ming’s body had formed was because he had the mystical secret skill, Heretical God Force, which was powerful to the extent of going against heaven’s will. It was easier said than done to find a Flame Essence that had naturally formed in nature. There were many refiners and alchemists who had searched their entire lives for a Flame Essence and had only ended up empty-handed. Huo Gon’s cultivation had also just barely brushed against the Houtian realm. With his cultivation, the only way that he could obtain a Flame Essence was by having a fortuitous event. However, since he was a refiner, Huo Gong must have had a way to control fire. Huo Gong had managed to obtain a wisp of Red Lotus Demonic Inflammation Flame. Although the Red Lotus Demonic Inflammation Flame was a high-grade flame, in the end a mere flame was still a flame; it was impossible for it to be eternal like a true Flame Essence. It would slowly wither and fade away with time. However, a true Flame Essence would never be extinguished. If one didn’t want it to fade away, then one could only constantly refine it. Huo Gong had paid a great price to collect various fire attribute materials in order to refine and stabilize the wisp of Red Lotus Demonic Inflammation Flame. During this period, he even had to steal a material from his sect, and thus broke sect rules and was expelled, then was forced to flee the Seven Profound Valleys. After endlessly refining all sorts of precious materials into a high-grade flame, it would eventually become a Hollow Flame Essence, otherwise known as an artificial Flame Essence. A Hollow Flame Essence could exist for hundreds of years. During this time, in order to maintain its great power, one had to constantly refine materials into it. A Hollow Flame Essence was far inferior to a true Flame Essence. A true Red Lotus Demonic Inflammation Flame Essence could casually release Red Lotus Demonic Inflammation Flames. Just by taking one of these wisps of flames and adding many fire attribute materials, one could create a Hollow Flame Essence! But the flames that a Red Lotus Demonic Inflammation Hollow Flame Essence released were not Red Lotus Demonic Inflammation flames. Rather, they were just flames that were slightly superior to ordinary flames. Otherwise with Lin Ming’s cultivation, how could he possibly resist it? “Although this is a Hollow Flame Essence, there are countless flame attribute exotic materials and treasures refined within it; it is an absolutely nourishing flame attribute material. Who knew what sort of great price that dead man paid in order to create this Hollow Flame Essence, and yet I obtained it at such a cheap price. Then, I shall help myself to it.” Lin Ming was blunt; he directly absorbed the Red Lotus Hollow Flame Essence within him. The Hollow Flame Essence was sucked into Lin Ming’s heart, where it was immediately overpowered by the brutal force of the Heretical God Seed. Shortly thereafter, the little Flame Essence that was in the Heretical God Seed became like a greedy little kitten as it madly rushed forwards, already eagerly impatient. Puff! The tiny Flame Essence submerged itself into the Red Lotus fire bead that was several thousands of times larger than itself. The Hollow Flame Essence began to violently tremble in a dramatic last stand of resistance as it continually flickered like a candle wick in wind. The Hollow Flame Essence fiercely struggled, but no matter how it fought, its efforts were ultimately futile. This process lasted for half an incense stick of time. The Hollow Flame Essence began to gradually shrink, becoming smaller and smaller, until it was eventually all sucked into that little Flame Essence. The little Flame Essence had grown up just a bit. It was originally the size of a spark, but now it had become as large as a sesame seed. This left Lin Ming completely speechless. The Red Lotus fire bead may not have been large, but the fire attribute energy within was much purer than the lava fire inside the Lava Cave, and also much more powerful. After all, it had come from a martial artist that was a half-step into the Houtian realm, and was also the result of decades of grueling accumulation of all sorts of materials and other rare items. Still, even after it was absorbed by the little Flame Essence, that Flame Essence had only grown a bit. It seemed that in order to foster its growth, he would have to spend a great deal of effort. If that little Flame Essence one day grew up, its power would inevitably be on an extremely terrifying level. For instance, a high-grade flame essence like the Red Lotus Demonic Inflammation Flame Essence was a dream that not even legendary Xiantian masters would dare to hope for! Once this sort of Flame Essence appeared in the world, it would set off an apocalyptic storm of bloody terror. Lin Ming could not help but think of the future fascinating possibilities. What if he was able to obtain the Red Lotus Demonic Inflammation Flame Essence and let his tiny Fire Essence absorb it? What would happen then? Or what if he was able to obtain some sort of strange exotic Thunder Soul, for instance, some kind of Divine Lightning, or Evil Expelling Purple Lightning, and then let his tiny Thunder Soul absorb it, what sort of effect would there be then? If he used Thunderfire Annihilation after that, what sort of effect would he be able to achieve? Lin Ming couldn’t help but be inspired. Perhaps even a mighty Xiantian master would immediately be destroyed in the resulting blasé! As Lin Ming was thinking of all these fantastic scenarios, he caught of a glimpse of a long saber sticking out of the ground. This long saber was Huo Gong’s weapon. Lin Ming pulled the saber out of the ground to take a look. The saber was white like snow, and had an iridescent shimmer. “Good saber!” Lin Ming couldn’t help but admire such a weapon. This was a high-grade human-step treasure. It was something that originated from a large sect; its power was simply terrifying. “That fellow was simply oozing money.” Lin Ming helped himself to the saber and placed it within his spatial ring. Then, his gaze shifted to Huo Gong’s spatial ring that had dropped. If he killed someone and didn’t take their goods, that would simply be wasting everyone’s time. “Mm? Medium-grade human-step spatial ring?” Lin Ming was overjoyed. This space within this ring was at least 5 or 6 times larger than his own low-grade human-step spatial ring. Not only that, but it was also more stable, and would last for 7 or 8 thousand more years. This sort of treasure was very practical for Lin Ming’s use. As he gathered more and more items, Lin Ming found that he was beginning to lack space within his own spatial ring. Because small dimensions were not compatible with each other, he couldn’t place a spatial ring within another spatial ring. Therefore, he had a number of spatial rings that he could only keep in his hand. But this wasn’t very convenient. Lin Ming sank his soul force into the spatial ring. As he took a sweep around, he suddenly gasped. Heavens! There were actually several dozens of treasures inside. The majority of these were low-grade human-step treasures. However, there were also two medium-grade human-step treasures. These low-grade human-step treasures were new, and didn’t have any inscriptions on them. But the two medium-grade treasures had seen some use. “Yes, it seems this fellow was a refiner. Only a refiner or alchemist would spend so much time and effort in order to breed their own Hollow Flame Essence.” “There are about 30 low-grade human-step treasures here that are brand new. Obviously, they are something that he refined himself. As for the medium-grade treasures, they shouldn’t have been something that he was able to make. Normally, one would need to be a Houtian realm martial artist in order to create medium-grade human-step treasures. As for high-grade human-step treasures, those were things that could only be created by a Xiantian realm master, and that was why the corresponding price was so exorbitantly high. Lin Ming continued to probe the spatial ring. Besides the treasures, there were also several 10,000 gold tael bank notes, and also a heavy bag of true essence stones. He took the bag out. There were actually over 100 pure true essence stones that were worth 1000 gold taels each inside. “This refiner was really rich.” Lin Ming said with happiness. These true essence stones were enough for him to use for a very long while. “I should sell the treasures that this fellow made for money and exchange them for true essence stones and other things.” Although a refiner would have a lot of money, they also spent money quickly because they had to purchase various materials to refine. This fellow had also bought up various flame-attribute materials in order to refine his Hollow Flame Essence. These were not small expenses. Besides these treasures and true essence stones, there was nothing more of value. There was a jade slip with a cultivation method inside and there were also some fire attribute materials that were apparently to be used to raise the Hollow Flame Essence. Lin Ming absorbed these materials into the Heretical God Seed and turned them all into the Flame Essence’s nutrients. As for the jade slip, he glanced at it once and wasn’t too interested. It was a medium-grade human-step cultivation method. Of course, if he were to sell it he could obtain a great deal of money. After Lin Ming had inventoried everything, the most precious things that he had found were the high-grade human-step treasure saber and the spatial ring itself. Lin Ming put away the spatial ring, and poured some true essence into his Flame Essence to cremate Huo Gong. However, at this moment a flash of flame blazed out from Lin Ming’s hand. Lin Ming was shocked. “Oh.”