Divinity

Fiend God Zeng Zue

"Great power, but the worst pain ever," Bia Xiao murmured, using the meridian in his left leg to sense its condition. If he compared it to a few days ago, his leg was now ten times stronger. "The energy inside the lava is being refined by my meridian," he mused aloud. "This blue lava... it's some sort of energy source." Bia Xiao could feel the meridian in his left leg storing energy from the lava. With each cycle, the energy flowed through his heart, aided by the meridian.

"Why does this meridian connect my heart to my leg? This is so strange."

He continued to observe the energy's flow, sensing how the lava’s power slowly refined the meridian, strengthening it with each cycle. After two hours of this, Bia Xiao took a deep breath and, with determination, plunged his left leg back into the lava. Just like before, his flesh roasted black, the excruciating pain twisting his face in agony.

Unlike the previous time, though, he didn’t pass out. He could see his charred skin, even the bones exposed beneath. The stench of burnt flesh filled his nostrils.

"My God, what am I going through?" Bia Xiao screamed, the pain unbearable. This time, he was conscious, watching as the lava was absorbed into his leg. The more the meridian took in the lava’s energy, the worse the pain became.

"Ahhh!" he cried, until—Bang!—an explosion rang out in his mind, and everything went black. Three days later, Bia Xiao awoke, breathing deeply to calm himself. His body felt foreign, as though every fiber had been stretched to its limit.

"No wonder I passed out," he grumbled. "That pain was inhuman. What is this... thing?"

He gritted his teeth as he recalled the explosion. Focusing on the Meridian in his left leg, he realized it was firmer than ever before. His leg, now radiating a strange aura, felt sturdier, as if something deep within had fundamentally changed.

"Wait, what?" Bia Xiao shot to his feet, astonished. While examining his meridian, his consciousness suddenly shifted to his right leg. To his surprise, a new Meridian channel had opened there. It looked dry, almost brittle, as if starved of energy. "Haha! A breakthrough!" Bia Xiao shouted, pounding his chest. His eyes filled with tears as fleeting images of his parents flashed in his mind.

"Mom, Dad... can you see this?"

Without hesitation, Bia Xiao pushed his body to the limit, channeling the energy within him. His feet left the ground as he dove headfirst into the lava.

"That's the spirit," a soft voice echoed from the depths of the cave just as Bia Xiao disappeared into the molten lake. In moments, a charred figure was hurled from the lava by an unseen force. The burnt body slammed into the rock floor, unmoving, its flesh blackened, and bones exposed in several places.

Though the figure appeared lifeless, a faint heartbeat persisted, barely perceptible. The lava hadn't consumed him out of a rash impulse; while examining his new meridian, Bia Xiao had been coaxed by a voice urging him to leap into the lava. For a moment, he was frightened and considered fleeing, but the voice felt familiar—like his father, mother, or perhaps a master guiding him. Trusting that instinct, he took the leap of faith. The charred body lay motionless for days. Slowly, the blackened skin began to peel away, revealing smooth, new flesh beneath. The bones that had once been visible slowly regenerated, and even his burnt hair started growing back, though the process was agonizingly slow.

Two months later, Bia Xiao stirred. His heart raced as he awoke, the intensity of the previous events flooding back into his mind.

"Holy... I'm not dead!" He wiped cold sweat from his brow. If that voice had misled him, death would have been his only fate. He wasn't one to trust easily, especially not an unknown voice. That leap had truly tested his faith.

The Meridian in his right leg pulsed with vitality and energy, much like the one in his left. He marveled at the change.

"I might be able to break through again," Bia Xiao mused. If the outside world knew about this, it would shock them to their core. The meridian opening realm was a slow process, requiring countless cycles of spiritual energy to temper each meridian. Yet here he was, on the verge of a third breakthrough, without any significant resources or background. It was unheard of.

"Finally awake, I see," a voice broke his thoughts.

Bia Xiao froze. His eyes darted around the cave, searching for the source. Instinctively, he backed toward the exit, preparing to flee at the slightest hint of danger. "Rest easy, child," the voice sounded again, soft yet commanding. Bia Xiao’s heart raced as he strained to find the speaker. There was no one, only the oppressive heat of the cave and the molten lake.

"Over here." Just as Bia Xiao prepared to make a run for it, the lava began to ripple, slowly rising. To his shock, the molten blue lava shaped itself into the form of a man, floating cross-legged above the lake.

"What..." Bia Xiao whispered, his mind numb from shock. He had no experience with the martial world, no knowledge of its many wonders. This sight—lava taking human form and speaking—was beyond his comprehension.

"Be at ease, young one," the figure spoke gently. Bia Xiao, still reeling, could only nod, as if unable to stop.

"What are you?" he managed to ask, finally regaining his voice.

"Ah, not what, but who," the lava figure replied with a faint smile. "I am Fiend God Zeng Zue, the first and the last of my kind. What you see is merely the remnant of my will."

"Your... will?"

"Yes, my will. I was slain thousands of years ago, and I found refuge on this planet. I have lingered here ever since."

"Fiend God? What... what is that? You're dead, yet you're hiding here?" Bia Xiao stammered, his confusion growing. The pain from his trials, the bizarre nature of this encounter—it all felt like a dream.

Zeng Zue chuckled. "I see the questions in your eyes, but all will be revealed in time. I have lived for millennia, and now my time has passed. The era of the young has begun. As fate would have it, I sense that you have been practicing the body art of the Fiend Gods. The manual you carry, in fact, is derived from my own art."

Zeng Zue extended his hand, and the Raging Tiger Art manual floated out of Bia Xiao’s robe. It looked ordinary enough, like any manual found in a common shop. But here, in this high-temperature environment, it began to glow with a mesmerizing blue light. The manual landed in Zeng Zue’s hand, and in an instant, it erupted with blazing blue flames that filled the entire cave.

The intense blue flames suffocated the air, causing the cave walls to melt. The blue lava surrounding the area surged wildly, as if alive, and within moments, all the lava and heat were absorbed into the glowing manual.