Translated by Team DHH.

Book 2: The Golden Lock of the Eight Gates

Chapter 5: Evil Intentions

Tianling-er pointed at the black ice, "What happened?"

"Ice Poison." The old man sighed shaking his head.

"Ice Poison?" Tianling-er cried out.

"That's impossible. Ice Poison? I heard from my dad that anyone who's poisoned by Ice Poison will certainly die. How can you, how are you?" Tianling-er pointed at the old man incredulously.

"That's because your dad hasn't broken through the Nascent Soul Stage yet." The old man said.

"Uh, how did you know that?" Tianling-er asked sillily.

"Hahaha." The old man laughed wholeheartedly.

"Then what is going on with your hair?" Tianling-er didn't wait for an answer and immediately followed up with another question.

"The Ice Poison attaches to my soul and I don't have the ability to force it out yet. Therefore, I have to use Fire Poison to keep me alive; fight fire with fire." The old man shook his head, voice bitter.

"So you're using the Fire Poison inside the lava?" Tianling-er asked in amazement.

The old man became very talkative probably due to the fact that he had not spoken for a long, long time. Tianling-er got an immediate response from the old man, "Exactly, the Fire Poison from the lava. However, I can't overuse the Fire Poison. If the Fire Poison overpowers the Ice Poison too much, then I'll burn to death. For now, I'm using my hair to control the amount of Fire Poison that's absorbed into my body so I can gradually balance it with the Ice Poison."

Tianling-er was very sympathetic with the old man's plight.

"Then have you balanced it yet? How long before you can get rid of the Ice Poison?" Tianling-er asked.

"Get rid of it? A hundred years ago, the Ice Poison only reached up to my knee." The old man spoke sullenly. It was impossible for him to get rid of it on his own.

"What a pity. Is there anything we can help you with?" Tianling-er kindly asked.

"Help me? Hehe, actually it's very simple. Just help me find someone out there." The old man suddenly smiled.

"Find someone? Right, I can go find my dad. As long as I can reach my dad, he will surely save you." Tianling-er said right away.

"No, I don't need a pract.i.tioner. A mortal will do just fine." The old man faintly smiled.

"A mortal?" Tianling-er was suspicious.

Zhong Shan was skeptical as well, all this time he had yet to relax his guard.

"Right, take this crystal. Let as many mortals to touch it. If it s.h.i.+nes when someone touches it, regardless of the color of light, then he's the right person. Take him to me and he can save me." The old man took out a fist sized, clear crystal from his storage s.p.a.ce.

Tianling-er was about to take it but Zhong Shan rushed ahead of her and grabbed the round crystal.

The old man was surprised by Zhong Shan's sudden movement. Tianling-er, however, was still distracted by the crystal.

"Then, qianbei, we will be on our way right now to find someone who can save you." Zhong Shan grabbed Tianling-er and said.

"No." The old man suddenly frowned.

"Uh?" Tianling-er looked at him strangely.

"What if you simply run away? One of you has to stay here with me, only one can leave." The old man seriously said.

"Stay here?" Zhong Shan frowned and looked at the old man.

Tianling-er was also quite indignant; why should one of them stay here with him?

"It's a deep valley out there, I know. You stay and she goes out." The old man suddenly pointed at Zhong Shan.

"Hey, we will return. You can be sure of it." Tianling-er called out right away.

The old man shook his head. He looked at Zhong Shan, then also looked at Tianling-er. "If you two don't want to do that, then both of you can stay here to keep me company. I haven't talked to anybody for quite some time."

Looking at this stubborn old man, Zhong Shan knitted his brows. He understood this kind of person; the old man had developed a twisted personality after being imprisoned for so many years. If anyone disobeyed his wishes, he could easily wipe them out. His thought process was very direct and ruthless.

"Ling-er, you go. After you get out of here, go to Bian City, the one we visited before. There will be people there who will take care of you and help you find the person. Bring that person here after you locate him." Zhong Shan thoughtfully said and handed the crystal over to Tianling-er.

Seeing Zhong Shan so cooperative, the old man was satisfied, even somewhat emotional.

Tianling-er carefully took the crystal with reluctance..

Yet, right at the moment she touched the crystal, it lit up and shot a beam of bright red light. It was so bright that it even overpowered the glow from the lava.

The old man stared dumbfoundedly at Tianling-er's palm. Zhong Shan also watched in amazement. Tianling-er stared at the crystal in disbelief.

"A Fire Cauldron Body. A Fire Cauldron Body." The old man trembled as he spoke euphorically. This girl in front of him had a Fire Cauldron Body? A real Fire Cauldron Body?

"Yi, it lights up, it lights up. We don't need to go out now. I can save you. But, what do I need to do to save you?" Tianling-er's initial excitement quickly changed into skeptical concern.

Zhong Shan suddenly saw a flash of greed in the old man's eyes focusing on Tianling-er.

Oh, no!

"Run." Zhong Shan grabbed Tianling-er and dashed towards the pa.s.sageway where they had come from like an arrow.

Before she realized what was going on, Tianling-er felt sharp pain on her wrist and both of her feet were pulled above the ground.

"Humgh~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~"

The old man behind them sneered. Both Zhong Shan and Tianling-er froze in midair.

"What are you doing?" Tianling-er shouted in fright.

"Didn't you just say that you're going to help me?" The old man's mild expression had twisted into malicious smile.

"Help you, how do I help you?" Tianling-er knew she was in trouble when she saw the expression on the old man's face.

"Very simple. I need your body. A Fire Cauldron Body. As long as I can take over your body, then it'll cleanse my body of the Ice Poison. I can't believe you're Fire Cauldron. Too bad, if I had met you before I was poisoned, I could have used your body as a caldron to do my refinements. What a perfect physique." The old man's happiness changed into regret.

"No, no! You b.a.s.t.a.r.d, no!" Tianling-er was about to cry again, terrified.

Take over? Take over her body? At this point, even as naive as Tianling-er was, she could tell that this old man wasn't a good person. He wanted to wipe out her consciousness?

"Qianbei." Zhong Shan politely called the old man.

The old man looked at Zhong Shan in amus.e.m.e.nt.

"The fourth level of Xiantian? It's really a surprise. For someone like you to reach the fourth level just with your innate talent." The old man sneered.

"Qianbei, we are from the Kaiyang School. This is the daughter of the grandmaster of the Kaiyang School. I can find any kind of body you need for you. Please do not hurt her." Zhong Shan spoke.

"The Kaiyang School?" The old man paused.

Finally, he shook his head. "If she did not have a Fire Cauldron Body, I certainly can give the Kaiyang School a break. But, a Fire Cauldron is something you don't encounter in a thousand years. How can I bear to give it up? Since the heaven has delivered you to me, then I can only apologize for your ill luck."

As he was speaking, Tianling-er's body gradually flew away from Zhong Shan into the air.

Tianling-er watched everything in horror, was she going to lose her own body? The frightened Tianling-er burst into tears.

"Zhong Shan, wuwu, Zhong Shan save me." Tianling-er cried out as she was flying away.

"Zhong Shan, Zhong Shan, save me."

"Save you? Him?" The old man sneered.

Zhong Shan knew that once he seized Tianling-er's body, he was a dead man. He could tell that the old man was somewhat afraid of the Kaiyang School, then he would definitely silence Zhong Shan to make sure he couldn't report back about what happened.

The old man was probably too over excited to spare Zhong Shan now.

After Zhong Shan had thought it through, he had made up his mind. He used his Meixin Telekinesis to vibrate his two arms at a terrifying speed. Zhong Shan only had one chance; there was no room for failure. He had maximized the Hongluan Manual to the best of his ability.

Demonic Body Toning Method!

"Ah~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~"

Zhong Shan roared and his body instantly doubled in size. His body fought violently against the force that was restricting him.

"Bang~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~"

He broke free.

The old man stared in astonishment at Zhong Shan. Since it took a lot energy to restrain others with the divine sense, one would normally only use enough energy based on target's level of cultivation. Based on the old man's calculation, the force that restrained Zhong Shan was capable of holding a fifth level Xiantian in place.

Seeing Zhong Shan had broken free from confinement, the desperate Tianling-er saw hope again. It seemed that every time she was in trouble, Zhong Shan would swoop in like a hero to save her every time.

When Zhong Shan broke free, the big machete suddenly appeared in his hand.

Mountain Splitter!

Zhong Shan struck the old man with all his wrath from some distance away. In addition, a large stream of pink energy from the machete flew at the old man.

"Humph" The old man snorted. His body moved slightly and once again froze Zhong Shan.

The machete stopped in midair but the pink energy didn't and continued, rus.h.i.+ng towards the old man.

The old man was stunned. His all powerful divine sense couldn't stop that pink energy? How could it be possible?

"Hu" The pink energy buried deep into the old man's body.

The old man hurriedly used his own power to resist the invasion of the pink energy. Yet, the pink energy still entered his body and instantly dissipated.

The old man knew something was wrong and quickly started searching inside his body for it.

Zhong Shan was delighted to see the pink energy enter the old man's body. He started to work even harder.

A great deal of pink energy spewed forth from his body and quickly spread out in all directions.

The second level of the Hongluan Manual; it was much more powerful. In addition, he also used the Demonic Body Toning Method and his Zhenqi had skyrocketed as well. A large amount of Hongluan Mist invaded every inch of the chamber.

It took only a short while for the Hongluan Mist to blanket everything.