Chapter 94: Overheating

But Bian Chunzhou quickly calmed down.

He had always been good at finding breakthroughs by analyzing others. Given the situation below just now, Wen Xuxu could have easily come up to solve the problem himself. Why go to the trouble of sending him up instead?

And he hadn’t sent up the stronger Chen Zui either, leading Bian Chunzhou to an immediate conclusion: I must have some extraordinary qualities! Wen Xuxu believes in me! I will definitely break this formation!

With that, he grew even calmer.

First of all, unlike Wen Xuxu and Chen Zui, he possessed an absolute advantage in spiritual roots. Wen Xuxu had a Wind Spiritual Root. Since wind stirs up water, a Wind Spiritual Root was naturally at a disadvantage when it came to breaking a water dungeon. As for Chen Zui, as his friend, Bian Chunzhou could say in all sincerity that the guy had never shown any respect for his own Earth-Gold Spiritual Roots.

Therefore, in terms of spiritual root compatibility, he was indeed the most suitable person to break this deadlock.

Bian Chunzhou composed himself and thought further. So, how should he break it now?

Given that he was currently only at the early stage of Foundation Establishment, and even this cultivation level was mostly superficial (if not for “Wind Rise” earlier, he wouldn’t have even realized that Foundation Establishment cultivators could fly), how was he supposed to break the formation before him, which was comparable to a half-step Golden Core?

Relying on brute force was absolutely impossible. And finesse? Forget it. If it came to breaking formations, he might stand a chance only if Wen Xuxu shared a brain with him. But nothing was impossible in this world, only people who didn’t work hard!

Where there’s a will, there’s a way!

Bian Chunzhou immediately decided that he had to rely on brute force to break the formation.

So, where would this brute force come from? From the meager, restless spiritual energy inside his body? Impossible. Who was he kidding? He knew exactly how little he was capable of.

Bian Chunzhou swallowed hard. He had only one option left: the incompatibility of water and fire.

“This disciple of your Yonglu Mountain actually has a Water-Fire Spiritual Root?” Tang Ji was somewhat astonished. The rarity of this spiritual root was probably not inferior to a Mutated Wind Spiritual Root.

He knew Yonglu Mountain accepted all without discrimination, but he hadn’t expected them to be this… unconventional. Although a Water-Fire Spiritual Root was a dual spiritual root, it had always been at the very bottom of the spiritual root hierarchy. Everyone knew it was impossible for someone with this spiritual root to cultivate to the Nascent Soul stage.

“What’s wrong with a Water-Fire Spiritual Root?” Gu Wufang said, completely unperturbed. “We are cultivators, and cultivation is inherently an act of defying heaven. This child’s mind is far clearer than that of ordinary people. Yonglu Mountain would never reject such a disciple.”

Besides, when a cultivator first starts out, even if they have the talent of a genius like Wen Xu, can anyone guarantee they will definitely grow to their full potential?

Not necessarily. Making assertions about things that haven’t happened yet is a major taboo in cultivation.

Master Yicheng of Kudu Temple chanted a Buddhist invocation. “So this is why Yonglu Mountain never lacks talented disciples? This old monk is humbled.”

…He pulled this routine every single year. The old monk really never got tired of it.

“What is he planning to do?”

Gu Wufang couldn’t help but focus his attention there as well. To be honest, although the Water-Fire Spiritual Root was well-known, those who had actually witnessed it were extremely few. Even the leaders of the great sects were seeing it for the first time.

After all, if Yonglu Mountain hadn’t accepted Bian Chunzhou, someone with this kind of spiritual root aptitude would never have appeared before the Five Great Sects.

Bian Chunzhou was planning something big. To be precise, he was preparing to superheat the surrounding dispersed water. Simply put, he was going to turn the water into superheated water.

Under normal atmospheric pressure, the boiling point of water is one hundred degrees Celsius. Above this temperature, water boils and evaporates into steam. Superheating, however, is when water exceeds one hundred degrees without vaporizing. Superheated water is like a calm madman; with just a tiny bit of external force, it will explode in a violent fury.

As a science student, Bian Chunzhou had of course studied steam explosions. However, steam was too difficult to control. If it went out of control, it would harm him before it harmed any enemies. Hydrothermal explosions, on the other hand, were slightly more controllable.

Hydrothermal explosions were common in volcanic regions. Superheated water in a sealed underwater environment was like a crouching beast. When the surrounding pressure changed, the superheated water would rapidly flash into steam, detonating in an instant.

The most powerful ones could even trigger earthquakes.

Bian Chunzhou composed himself. With his current strength, triggering an earthquake was a pipe dream. However, there was one advantage: this was a secret realm. Secret realms were man-made, which meant the parameters here were easier to modify.

In other words, if he manually created a “superheated water explosion source,” changing the surrounding pressure would be much simpler.

But the downside was that the pressure here was already different from the outside world! So he had to be extra cautious. Otherwise… if it exploded directly inside his body, he would be completely finished.

After running through the entire experimental process in his mind and mapping it out precisely, Bian Chunzhou quickly put it into practice. He carefully began to channel the fire spiritual energy within his body. Pure fire-attributed spiritual energy rapidly gathered around him, and before long, the temperature of the surrounding water began to climb swiftly.

Bian Chunzhou’s face turned crimson, but at this moment, he could no longer pay attention to such things. His hands flew, one drawing a talisman while the other guided the spiritual energy within his body. The two incompatible elements of water and fire seemed to turn into two obedient children in his hands. Although they still fought, the force of their conflict was directed outward.

This was truly shocking!

Wasn’t a Water-Fire Spiritual Root supposed to be… a trash root?

More and more gazes gathered here. Meanwhile, the space available to Chen Zui and Wen Xu below was shrinking. The water dungeon was rapidly contracting. Before long, they would be completely trapped in the water. If they had to save themselves then, the difficulty would be ten or a hundred times greater.

Chen Zui looked up at the place where Bian Chunzhou had disappeared. “Can he really do it?”

Wen Xu wasn’t sure either. However, he had heard Chunzhou talk about many wonderful uses of the Water-Fire Spiritual Root, though none of them had ever been put into practice. Chunzhou seemed to lack confidence in himself, or perhaps, the idle gossip had just been too loud. Chunzhou deserved to be taken more seriously.

Aside from the compatibility of Chunzhou’s spiritual root, he had other factors to consider. For instance, he noticed that the spiritual energy his master had imprinted on him had not been triggered yet, which meant this water dungeon posed no threat to their lives. So he simply said, “Yes, I believe in him.”

Chen Zui nodded at this. “Then I believe in him too.”

Perhaps sensing the sincere trust of his two friends, Bian Chunzhou unleashed ability and luck far beyond his usual limits at this moment. As he stared at the sky-blotting, superheated sphere of water wrapped in fire spiritual energy before him, he thought, Success or failure rests on this single move! Wen Xuxu, bless us!

Of course, those words were a bit embarrassing, so he only dared to roar them in his mind. After his silent roar, he decisively hurled the superheated sphere of water into the eye of the water dungeon’s formation. The next instant, the superheated water lost its balance as it left his control. Bian Chunzhou ignored it and leaped straight into the water dungeon.

Whatever, good friends should die together.

“Why did you come back?”

Chen Zui looked up at the sky. “You couldn’t do it?”

“What do you mean, couldn’t do it? I just…”

Boom! A violent explosion echoed overhead. In an instant, blood seeped from their seven orifices. They were in the early stage of Foundation Establishment, yet even so, they could not withstand the shockwave.

Chen Zui’s eyes widened. With the water dungeon out of control, his voice was completely distorted. But even if Bian Chunzhou could not hear him clearly, he could read the expression written on both of their faces: What on earth did you do?!

Bian Chunzhou thought to himself that he had only conducted a tiny experiment. The result… was a bit beyond his expectations.

It was far more than just beyond Bian Chunzhou’s expectations; he had given the cultivation world a massive shock. Every single one of his movements had been clearly witnessed, and it was precisely because they saw it so clearly that they could not make sense of it. Why? Just why?

There were clearly no incantations, formations, or runes involved. How could it generate such immense energy?!

This made no sense. Or could it be that the Water-Fire Spiritual Root was actually another kind of top-tier talent? Had the previous cultivators with Water-Fire Spiritual Roots failed to progress simply because they used the wrong methods?

To put it this way, if Bian Chunzhou were standing next to Gu Wufang right now, Gu Wufang would have already grabbed him by the shoulders and shaken him for answers. This was simply too astonishing.

This astonishing scene was faithfully recorded by several Shadow Retention Stones. Those who held them knew they would not even need to peddle these stones; anyone who understood their value would willingly pay a high price.

Meanwhile, the person who had actually unleashed this technique was currently running for his life.

He had no choice. The steam explosion was far too uncontrollable. He had only known that it could blow up the water dungeon, but he had not expected the results to be so outrageously effective.

Help! Was the forest about to catch fire?!

The Suitian Sword Sect wouldn’t make him pay for the damages, would they? He definitely wouldn’t accept that!

The three of them fled in a wobbly, erratic manner using their highly unpracticed flight techniques. Meanwhile, the tremors from the explosion reached the arena of the Foundation Establishment competition.

“Why is the ground shaking? Is the secret realm collapsing?”

“That shouldn’t be. Are we fighting that fiercely?”

Among them, the disciples of the Suitian Sword Sect were the most bewildered. After all, wasn’t this secret realm created by Divine Venerable Wushan? How could it be on the verge of collapsing?

Just as everyone was filled with doubt, the shaking suddenly ground to a halt.

“Look! There is water hanging upside down in the sky over there. Something unusual must be happening!”

Zhou Ji was currently mingled within the ranks of the rogue cultivators. His spells leaned toward offensive power, and coupled with his late Foundation Establishment cultivation, he was clearly the core member of this small team. “Let’s go take a look. This might be our chance.”

The others thought about it for a moment and voiced no objections.

In fact, most people made the same decision. After all, this was a competition. If they were not proactive, what was the point of participating?

Meanwhile, a certain Divine Venerable who had been talked about for a long time emerged from his secluded meditation.

To be more precise, Divine Venerable Wushan had only ended his seclusion because he sensed that the special formation he had set up in the Forest Secret Realm had been destroyed. He thought through gritted teeth, Fine, Chengwei, you scoundrel. It’s been five hundred years, and you dare to set foot on the Suitian Sword Sect’s mountain gates again? This time, I will definitely reclaim my lost pride!

Thus, he opened the water mirror of the Forest Secret Realm and searched for a long time. Forget about that deadbeat dragon Chengwei, he could not even find a single dragon scale. But searching more carefully, he actually found something.

Divine Venerable Wushan focused his gaze, only to see a kid who had not even reached Foundation Establishment. Had he been in seclusion for too long? Had the outside world changed this much?!

No, he had to take a closer look at what kind of relationship this kid had with Chengwei!