Chapter 891: Karmic Fire in the Palace

Lu Zhou put the life heart away, feeling unprecedentedly excited. Nevertheless, he grumbled inwardly about the extraordinary power as he rushed out. At the same time, he opened the system interface,

Merit points: 33,130

He looked at the price of the Deadly Strike Card. 26,000 merit points.

It would be a loss for him to kill Thousand Realms Whirling cultivators with a Deadly Strike Card. Moreover, Thousand Realms Whirling cultivators who had activated their Birth Charts were even more troublesome; with the Birth Charts, the effect of the Deadly Strike Card was reduced tremendously. Naturally, as a Thousand Realms Whirling cultivator himself, he knew how difficult it was to look for life hearts to activate one’s Birth Charts.

Considering the rarity of life hearts, Yi Yao must have hated him to death for destroying one of his Birth Charts with the Deadly Strike Card.

Soon after, Lu Zhou’s mind drifted to the guiding mark of the formation that Yi Yao pushed into the stone wall. “What’s with that guiding mark?”

It had to be a contact point that had been there for a long time. Moreover, if the passage to the black lotus domain was under the lava, Yi Yao had to escape into the depths of Sky Wheel Rift Valley. If he returned now, he would probably run into Yi Yao. He regretted not destroying the guiding mark because he had left in a hurry.

After flying out of the Sky Wheel Rift Valley, Lu Zhou did not leave immediately. He hovered in the star-dotted sky as he muttered to himself, “If he’s not convinced, I’ll destroy another one of his Birth Charts.”

If Lu Zhou managed to destroy another one of Yi Yao’s Birth Charts, he was certain he would be able to defeat Yi Yao, who was left with three Birth Charts, with his two Birth Charts and extraordinary power. Moreover, Yi Yao had lost an arm and was greatly injured at this moment.

After mulling over the matter for a moment, Lu Zhou felt like something was amiss. ‘Now that I think about it, it seems like I should be able to win! I should’ve seized the chance to pursue him and attack! Why did I stop when the situation was favorable to me?! I’ve suffered a great loss!’

With this thought in mind, Lu Zhou dove back into the Sky Wheel Rift Valley and entered the underground cave again. Unfortunately, he did not see Yi Yao.

He flew toward the guiding mark before he struck it with his palm. The already damaged stone wall was instantly reduced into a mountain of rubble after he was done. The dimly lit guiding mark was completely destroyed.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The rocks continued to fall into the bubbling lava.

“Is the passage close?” It seemed like the guiding mark was not just a guiding mark; it also marked the passage that linked the black lotus domain and the red lotus domain.

The black lotus domain was strong enough to monopolize the Birth Chart Beasts in the red lotus domain with no one the wiser. Would they set their sights on the golden lotus domain as well?

The golden lotus domain’s cultivation limit was at the eighth or ninth leaf. The golden lotus that absorbed one’s lifespan was the shackle of heaven and earth. The process of sprouting the ninth leaf would attract the huge beasts. Based on the general cultivation speed, the golden lotus domain should have Ten-leaf cultivators within a few years. At that time, the golden lotus domain would attract Birth Chart Beasts.

The law of the jungle, naturally, applied to the golden lotus domain as well. In the past, due to the weakness of the golden lotus domain, it remained invisible. However, once Birth Chart Beasts began to appear, would the black lotus domain try to monopolize the Birth Chart Beasts in the golden lotus domain?

Lu Zhou shook his head; there was no point dwelling on this matter for now. It was best for him to return first.

With that, Lu Zhou left the Sky Wheel Rift Valley.

…

About half an hour after Lu Zhou left.

Yi Yao walked out into the lava-filled cave as he pressed one hand against his shoulder.

“So cautious?!” Yi Yao looked at the entrance to the underground cave with lingering fear in his heart. Fortunately, he was patient enough to endure staying hidden for close to an hour. If it were not for this, he would have been beaten by that mysterious expert again.

As Yi Yao rose into the air, he suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood. He gritted his teeth as he looked at the destroyed guiding mark. “Who’s he? An envoy from the blue lotus domain? However, there’s no record of a blue lotus domain in the Black Tower Council. What’s happening? Is it a case of the mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind?”

Yi Yao gritted his teeth and endured the excruciating pain. He could not help but shudder when this thought appeared in his mind. In his mind, the black lotus domain had always been the hunters, and the other domains were like sheep. What the hell was the blue lotus then? He could not figure it out.

“I must report this to the Black Tower’s Council,” Yi Yao muttered to himself as he looked at the lava.

Buzz!

A Thousand Realms Whirling avatar appeared. Its height had dropped from 500 feet to 450 feet.

Yi Yao could not help but tremble again when he recalled the golden Seal of Fearlessness.

Activating a Birth Chart absorbs 1,500 years from a fierce beast’s life span through its life heart. After that, a distinct Birth Zone would appear, providing a cultivator with an additional 500 years of life. In addition to raising one’s cultivation base, prolonging lifespan, and bestowing one with special skills, a Birth Chart could also help a cultivator to block a fatal injury. That was equivalent to having an extra life. Naturally, this also meant that the Birth Chart would be lost.

Only Yi Yao knew how it felt to lose something as important and precious as a Birth Chart at this moment. With the loss of a Birth Chart and his arm, how could he not feel resentful? He looked at the entrance with dark eyes as he muttered to himself, “I’ll remember you. The next time we meet, I’ll destroy your Birth Charts before I take your life.”

Boom!

Splash!

Yi Yao dove into the lava with his Thousand Realms Whirling avatar in tow.

After a moment, there was no movement in the underground cave except for the bubbling lava.

…

It was almost midnight when Lu Zhou returned to the Literary Star Hall in the Sky Martial Court.

With the Purple Glazed Ceramic and the Mystic Heaven realm cultivation base, it was almost impossible for anyone to notice him.

Lu Zhou did not feel happy even though he had acquired a new life heart. After all, he had just discovered the Deadly Strike Card that he had relied on the most could no longer be considered his most powerful trump card.

However, through his first battle with a Thousand Realms Whirling cultivator, he learned more about the uses of a Birth Chart.

Lu Zhou recalled his first meeting with Lu Li. If they were to fight, perhaps, he might be at a disadvantage. However, he had more than 500,000 merit points at that time. Therefore, it was not completely impossible as well for him to destroy five Birth Charts.

In the past, Lu Zhou had only used the Deadly Strike Card as a last resort. It was not a means to earn merit points. Moreover, he was rather prudent when using the cards due to his fear of a price hike.

However, currently, it seemed like the Deadly Strike Card had become rather useless!

He did not need the Deadly Strike Cards to deal with cultivators below the Mystic Heaven realm. However, now that the card was unable to deal with those in or above the Mystic Realm, did not it mean the card was now useless?

“Yi Yao will definitely seek revenge from me… How should I deal with him?”

Lu Zhou looked at the system interface.

Merit points: 33,130

Remaining lifespan: 961,401 days (Out of 2634 years, 110 years are from Reversal Cards).

Only slightly more than 30,000 merit points? Lu Zhou felt poor.

It was not worth it to buy a Deadly Strike Card now. Rather than depending on the Deadly Strike Card to deal with that Thousand Realms Whirling cultivator, it was better for him to focus his efforts on his Birth Charts.

Lu Zhou brought the scarlet pheasant’s life heart out and let it hover in front of him.

“Ding! The scarlet pheasant’s life heart contains 2,000 years of life and can be used to activate a Birth Chart (Every activated Birth Chart will grant a cultivator 500 years of life. The Birth Palace would absorb 1,500 years of life from the life heart, leaving an additional 500 years behind) Ability: Fire control.”

Subsequently, Lu Zhou brought out the piece of cloth Lu Li had given him and studied the positions of human-grade Birth Charts to search for a suitable position for the life heart with fire attributes. The Yong had increased his defenses, and the other fierce beast increased his offensive power and granted him the fire-resistance ability. The life heart of the scarlet pheasant’s fire control complemented the fierce beast’s fire resistance.

As he looked at the description on the cloth, Lu Zhou looked at the earth-grade Birth Charts with fire attributes longingly before he shifted his eyes to the human-grade Birth Charts on the left and the right of the Birth Palace respectively. The life heart he had just obtained would grant him the ability to control fire, and he could put it in the same place in the Birth Palace as the previous life heart that granted him the fire-resistance ability.

Lu Zhou was perplexed. “I haven’t activated all the human-grade Birth Charts, I wonder if I can activate an earth-grade Birth Chart?”

Buzz!

Lu Zhou manifested his Thousand Realms Whirling avatar. Then, he looked at the positions in the Birth Palace on the lotus seat. Then, he gently placed the scarlet pheasant’s life heart on the fire attribute zone on the lotus seat.

“Ding! To activate this Birth Chart, you need to activate at least five Birth Charts.”

‘As expected,’ Lu Zhou thought to himself. Since it was like this, he could only place this life heart into the same place as the life heart of the fierce beast that granted him the fire-resistance ability.

Whoosh!

After Lu Zhou placed the life heart on the lotus seat and in the Birth Palace, the life heart sank into the Birth Palace.

Vitality energy began to swirl around the life heart in just a blink of an eye.

Lu Zhou knew that this process would take a long time so he no longer paid any attention to it. Instead, he closed his eyes and entered the meditative state while he waited for the activation of this Birth Chart to be completed.

…

An hour later.

Whoosh!

Lu Zhou felt a scorching air blowing against his face. When he opened his eyes, he saw a raging golden fire burning tall in his Birth Palace on the lotus seat.

“Karmic fire?”

Previously, the karmic fire would burn around the lotus or appear in his hands. However, it was burning and surging in his Birth Palace now.

Swoosh!

The flames continued to rise and burn.

“Ding! There are leftover years of life from the life heart; they’ll be converted into energy.”

As soon as Lu Zhou received the system notification, he felt a burning sensation all over his body, in his internal organs, and his Dantian’s sea of Qi. All of them were burning with karmic fire at this moment.

“This is bad.” As expected, one should not recklessly use the life heart. Just like medicine, taking too much might come with unpleasant effects.