Nie Kong suddenly spoke.

Zhan Feihong glanced at Nie Kong, his face expressionless, but his tone was unusually cold: "You little brat, if you have anything else to say, spit it out quickly. Once this old man has refined the pill according to your formula, don't blame me for not giving you a chance to speak again!"

Nie Kong chuckled, "I just thought of the fourth condition."

"Oh?"

Zhan Feihong's eyes flickered.

Nie Kong’s smile vanished, and he said seriously, "My fourth condition is for Third Uncle to lend me some Underworld Fire and a pill cauldron."

"You want... Underworld Fire?" Zhan Feihong seemed to hear something utterly unbelievable, his eyes widening suddenly.

"Brother Nie Kong, you want to refine the Nether Pill yourself?" Zhan Tianlun was stunned for a moment before exclaiming uncontrollably. Not only him, but the three compliant Nether Pill apprentices standing by, like echo insects, also let out involuntary gasps.

"I won't." Nie Kong nodded.

"You're insane!"

Zhan Tianlun was aghast and grabbed Nie Kong's arm. Although Black Spirit Masters could temporarily absorb the 'Underworld Fire,' in the Nether Earth, one in a hundred Black Spirit Masters might become a Nether Pill Master; one could imagine how difficult absorbing 'Underworld Fire' was!

Nie Kong was the second person in the history of the Zhan Clan to have heard the complete 'Heart Drum War Sound,' and he had even obtained the first secret technique, the 'War God Star Seal,' on the 'War Spirit Auditory Altar'—such a genius was bound to become a key cultivation target for the Zhan Clan.

Zhan Tianlun was certain that even the 'Old Ancestor' at the peak of War God Mountain must know Nie Kong's name by now. If anything happened to Nie Kong while attempting to absorb the 'Underworld Fire,' wouldn't Zhan Tianlun become a sinner of the Zhan Clan?

"Big Brother Zhan, don't worry. I'm just going to try. If it doesn't work, I'll stop immediately!" Nie Kong patted Zhan Tianlun's hand to comfort him.

"Trying isn't allowed! Absolutely not!" Zhan Tianlun shook his head fiercely.

"Since he wants to try, let him try. This old man already said, as long as it is related to the Nether Pill, I will give him an opportunity." Zhan Feihong sneered, his tone shifting abruptly, "However, even though I say that, attempting to absorb the 'Underworld Fire' is absolutely not as simple as written in my notes. If you insist on trying and something goes wrong, don't blame this old man for not warning you."

"Since I have decided to try, I am prepared to face any eventualities." Nie Kong smiled calmly.

"Good! Follow this old man!"

Zhan Feihong had no desire to waste any more breath and turned to walk out the door.

"Third Uncle! Speak—"

Zhan Tianlun shouted out, but before he could finish, Zhan Feihong's sharp roar cut him off: "Quiet! Otherwise, don't blame this Third Uncle for disciplining you on behalf of your father right now!"

"Third Uncle, I..."

Zhan Tianlun forced himself to call out again, but before he could utter the rest of his words, Nie Kong interrupted him with a smile, "Big Brother Zhan, thank you for your concern. It’s just an attempt to absorb the 'Underworld Fire.' As an elder brother, you should have confidence in your little brother."

For Nie Kong, this act of trying to absorb the 'Underworld Fire' was merely a distraction. If no one were around, Nie Kong could summon the 'Pill Cauldron Phantasm' immediately and refine the kind of cultivation-enhancing Nether Pill he had just figured out using the Death Qi directly.

Seeing Nie Kong’s confidence, Zhan Tianlun could only swallow the words that had reached his throat. Then, he couldn't help but force a bitter smile, "Brother Nie Kong, it's not that I lack confidence in you; it's just that absorbing the 'Underworld Fire' is too dangerous. One wrong move, and a person can be completely crippled."

"I know."

Nie Kong smiled meaningfully and murmured, "But before you personally came to Fubo Mountain to see me, did you ever think that someone could successfully condense the 'Nine Great Nether Stars' in just one month, and then subsequently break through to the peak of the Third Tier?"

"Uh?"

Zhan Tianlun was stunned.

Yes, when Zhuo Yue came to War God Mountain and told him about a disciple from Fubo Mountain who successfully condensed the Nine Great Nether Stars using the 'Nether Evil Art' in less than a night, how much had he believed it? Not to mention believing that someone could go from an ordinary person to a peak Third Tier Black Spirit Master in a month! It was fortunate that Zhuo Yue didn't know the full extent at the time, or he would have made Zhuo Yue pay dearly.

It was the same now; without even trying, how could one know that Nie Kong couldn't absorb the 'Underworld Fire'? After being stunned for a long moment, Zhan Tianlun snapped back to reality. He looked up and saw that the room was quiet—Zhan Feihong, Nie Kong, and even the three Nether Pill apprentices had vanished.

"Fine, this old man will go crazy with Brother Nie Kong!"

Zhan Tianlun clenched his fist fiercely and strode out the door...

Following Zhan Feihong to the first floor, Nie Kong discovered a hidden, broad passage behind the 'Pill King Tower.' The walls and floor of the passage were inlaid with a peculiar white crystal, and being inside it imparted a distinctly cool sensation.

Zhan Feihong led the way, Nie Kong in the middle, and the three Nether Pill apprentices trailed behind. With Zhan Tianlun rushing to catch up far behind, the six moved quickly, their footsteps echoing loudly in the passage. After about two or three minutes, Zhan Feihong, who was at the front, suddenly stopped.

Nie Kong looked up and saw another wall of snow-white crystal blocking the way.

"We're here!"

Zhan Feihong glanced sideways at Nie Kong and suddenly struck the crystal wall with his right palm. With a loud boom, a dense mass of inky-black aura spread across the white wall in ripples. Soon, it covered the entire front wall.

"Creak!"

With a harsh grinding sound, a small crack opened in the wall, through which a faint red light could be vaguely seen. Instantly, Nie Kong felt a wave of scorching heat surge out from the fissure. A moment later, the crack expanded to over two feet wide. Zhan Feihong flashed inside, and Nie Kong quickly followed.

The moment they passed through the crystal wall, the temperature around them seemed to multiply several times instantly.

Nie Kong scanned his surroundings and found himself in a circular secret chamber, dozens of meters in circumference. The walls and floor were also inlaid with the same white crystal. In the center of the chamber stood a massive white stone shaped like a small hill, about five meters tall.

In the very center of the white stone, a thick beam of red light could be seen continuously rising, transforming into a fiercely burning flame when it reached the top, resembling a gigantic torch. The scarlet firelight dyed the entire secret chamber red.

Zhan Tianlun also entered the chamber and walked to Nie Kong's side, pointing at the great stone: "Inside this is the 'Fire Seed' that our Zhan Clan ancestors collected from the northern region of the Nether Earth over a thousand years ago. Over all these years, nourished by the Nether Power, the 'Fire Seed' not only hasn't been extinguished but has almost doubled in size, and the resulting 'Underworld Fire' burns ever more fiercely."

Pausing slightly, Zhan Tianlun sighed with deep emotion, "Back then, in order to obtain this 'Fire Seed,' three ancestors of our Zhan Clan perished in that place; one was an Eighth Tier Black Spirit Master, and the other two were Ninth Tier Black Spirit Masters."

"Ninth Tier?"

Nie Kong was quite surprised. He hadn't expected that the Zhan Clan had sacrificed an Eighth Tier master and two Ninth Tier experts to retrieve the 'Fire Seed'; the loss was indeed heavy.

"Enough."

Zhan Feihong's cold voice cut in, "Little scamp, didn't you say you wanted to try absorbing the 'Underworld Fire'? You can start now!"

Nie Kong nodded and walked to the base of the giant stone.

The base of this stone was probably twenty to thirty meters in circumference, carved with gentle steps on all four sides for ascending and descending. After a brief look, Nie Kong began to climb. With every step up, the scorching heat intensified. When Nie Kong was about two meters from the top, the heat around him was likely comparable to the last hundred meters atop the 'Hellfire Nether Spring' volcanic mountain.

"He can actually reach that high!"

Not far behind Nie Kong, Zhan Feihong also stood on the stone steps, a trace of surprise flashing across his face. Although Nie Kong was insistent on attempting to absorb the 'Underworld Fire,' and Zhan Feihong harbored thoughts of teaching Nie Kong a lesson, if Nie Kong truly encountered trouble absorbing the 'Underworld Fire,' Zhan Feihong wouldn't just stand by. After all, no matter how much of a brat the young man was, he was still a disciple of the Zhan Clan.

"Almost there!"

Nie Kong ascended one more step, then took a deep breath, faced the high-soaring flame atop the giant stone, and sat down cross-legged on the steps.

"Be careful!"

Zhan Tianlun called out a reminder.

Nie Kong slightly bowed his head, closed his eyes, and the 'Nine Great Nether Stars' within his body suddenly intensified their flickering, beginning to circulate the Fubo Mountain's 'Nether Path Shadow Art.'

Of the spiritual arts Nie Kong currently knew, the 'War God Star Seal' obtained that morning was naturally the best. However, Nie Kong was still unfamiliar with this spiritual art, so at such a critical juncture, the 'Nether Path Shadow Art,' which he had cultivated for many days, was more suitable.

As the spiritual art circulated, Nie Kong's figure grew fainter, and in the blink of an eye, he appeared as ethereal as a ghost.

"Whoosh! Whoosh!" A sound of rushing air arose—a dense wave of spiritual energy rushed out from Nie Kong's body, gently drifting toward the flame atop the giant stone ahead.

"Hiss! Hiss!"

Almost the moment it touched the flame, Nie Kong's Death Qi ignited like dry wood meeting a fierce fire, and the blaze grew stronger and stronger. In just a few seconds, the flame, now a deep crimson, rapidly burned along the Death Qi toward Nie Kong's front.

Nie Kong moved his mind, and the flow of Death Qi emanating from his chest abruptly stopped.

At almost the same moment, Nie Kong's right arm shot out swiftly. His right hand, enveloped in dense Death Qi, darted toward the fiercely burning dark-red flame in front of his chest.

According to the records in Zhan Feihong's notes, when initially absorbing the 'Underworld Fire,' one should use Death Qi to ignite the flame, then tentatively merge the burning flame into the body, and finally, use these flames to condense a small fire seed within the body.

If there were no special circumstances, this small fire seed would usually extinguish after about three days. To absorb it again, one would need to return to this secret chamber. At that time, the process would be much simpler: one only needed to cultivate near the flame to reignite the fire seed.

Of course, as the cultivation of the Nether Pill Master increased, the duration for which the fire seed could be maintained would also increase.