Deep within the Infernal Sulfur plane, at the foot of a massive active volcano, the Flame Lord’s colossal molten body clashed once more with Jie Ming’s diminutive figure.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The air was filled with the sounds of violent collisions and the explosive crackle of fire elements. Jie Ming moved like a dark phantom, weaving around the Flame Lord.
Over a year had passed since Jie Ming began practicing the Body Forging Technique. During this time, he periodically returned to spar with this Flame Lord.
The Flame Lord’s onslaught was relentless—molten boulders, searing claws, and scorching fire breath erupted from its mouth, attacking Jie Ming from every range with overwhelming force.
But after such prolonged training, Jie Ming was no longer as “fragile” as before. Even these terrifying attacks could no longer pose a fatal threat to him.
Clenching his fist, he threw an uppercut infused with spiraling force, smashing heavily into the Flame Lord’s jaw, formed of solidified lava.
The sheer power of the strike forced the Flame Lord’s massive body to reel backward, the scorched earth beneath its feet cracking with a loud snap.
Seizing the moment, Jie Ming leaped, driving his knee upward and slamming his elbow down, each attack precisely targeting the Flame Lord’s joints or weak points in its energy flow.
The Flame Lord let out a deafening roar, its surrounding flames surging violently, engulfing Jie Ming completely.Yet, when the flames dissipated, Jie Ming stood unscathed, his robe reduced to ashes, revealing skin reddened by the intense heat.
But it was merely reddened. As the flames faded, his skin visibly returned to normal.
Even the wounds from previous battles with the Flame Lord were closing at a visible rate, healing from the edges inward.
Older wounds had already grown new skin.
Even the thick sulfurous smell in the air seemed to have no effect on him anymore.
Jie Ming still relied purely on physical strength in combat, using no witchcraft defenses, making the fights gruelingly difficult.
Each attack required him to mobilize every muscle and bone, and every defense had to be perfectly timed.
Yet, he could now hold his own against the Flame Lord, occasionally even gaining the upper hand, a testament to the significant improvements in his physical condition and close-combat skills over this period.
This style of combat had become Jie Ming’s routine for over a year.
As soon as his injuries healed, he eagerly returned to the Infernal Sulfur plane to challenge the Flame Lord in round after round of grueling training.
The Flame Lord, seemingly enraged by this persistent pest, fought with unrestrained fury each time.
In these high-intensity, no-holds-barred close-quarters battles, Jie Ming’s understanding of the Body Forging Technique deepened.
He treated his body like raw iron, hammered repeatedly. Each burn from the flames, each impact from the molten lava, was a bone-deep tempering.
The results of this training were exceptional. Beyond physical strength and combat skills, his body’s resistance to fire had significantly increased.
Now, standing before the Flame Lord again, Jie Ming’s body was completely immune to its gold-melting flames.
The scorching lava spewed by the Flame Lord only produced a sizzling sound upon contact with his skin, unable to cause any damage.
Even the Flame Lord’s massive molten arm strikes could only push him back a few steps, no longer capable of causing serious injuries like fractures.
Moreover, his self-healing speed had drastically improved.
Initially, recovering from full-body burns without witchcraft took Jie Ming ten days.
Now, even with multiple fractures across his body, he could fully heal in less than an hour after leaving combat.
“Your flames no longer affect me.”
After taking a face full of fire, Jie Ming shook his head and spoke softly to the Flame Lord.
Though still at a disadvantage in the fight, there was no trace of fear in his eyes—only a hint of regret.
The Flame Lord seemed to realize this as well, letting out an unwilling roar. Its massive body trembled, its energy fluctuations growing chaotic.
It couldn’t comprehend how this puny creature could adapt and become immune to its power in such a short time.
Jie Ming felt the surging vitality within him and the solid sense of complete adaptation to fire.
He knew his physical potential still had vast room for growth.
But since the Flame Lord’s flames could no longer harm him, continuing to fight it had lost its original purpose.
He needed greater pressure, more challenging elemental attacks.
“Thanks for your time,” Jie Ming said with a slight nod to the Flame Lord, choosing not to linger. He turned and headed deeper into the Infernal Sulfur plane to search.
He sought more powerful creatures, hoping to push his fire resistance even higher.
Flying over the Infernal Sulfur plane’s landscape, he headed toward areas with higher elemental concentrations.
The environment in these regions was harsher than before, the air laced with not just sulfur but a sharp, metallic, scorched smell.
Jie Ming extended his mental energy, meticulously scanning every inch of this unfamiliar terrain.
Strictly speaking, this was the first time he had explored his plane so thoroughly.
“Hm?”
Suddenly, Jie Ming let out a soft exclamation and descended.
In a molten river, he spotted a group of crystal fish feeding. Their translucent red crystal bodies moved freely through the thick, thousand-degree lava.
After a brief observation, Jie Ming reached into the heavy metallic lava, catching a few with his bare hands.
He discovered their crystal bodies contained extremely pure fire elemental essence, making them excellent alchemical materials.
Most importantly…
“This feeling… it’s somewhat similar to the ‘Fire Essence’ described in the cultivation world. Interesting. Maybe I can refine them using the methods for processing Fire Essence.”
Marking the location on his Magic Network terminal, Jie Ming left with a few crystal fish, satisfied.
This discovery sparked his interest in this plane he had never thoroughly explored.
To improve his search, Jie Ming even purchased “memories” of native creatures from the Elosia plane cluster on the Magic Network.
These contained plenty of information about materials in the Infernal Sulfur plane.
Soon, through deliberate searching, he discovered a plant called “Core Sulfur Flower” in a lava cave.
This flower rooted deep in scorching rock walls, its dark purple petals emitting a peculiar fragrance. It absorbed sulfur and toxins seeping from the depths, converting them into a substance that slightly nourished mental energy.
After finding information about this flower in the natives’ memories, Jie Ming’s eyes lit up.
For the natives of the Elosia plane cluster, the flower’s value lay in its secreted substance. But for a wizard like Jie Ming, the flower itself was the real treasure!
“To convert toxins into beneficial substances through its own biological processes—these ignorant fools are wasting such a treasure!”
Reviewing the natives’ memories, Jie Ming pounded his chest in frustration.
To collect more of the secreted substance, they typically crushed the flowers, never considering the underlying principles.
Jie Ming carefully collected some samples, storing the intact plants in a spatial expansion bag, planning to cultivate and study them in the golden garden.
He also discovered peculiar metallic minerals.
Each find was sampled and subjected to preliminary analysis with the Alchemy Technique, offering new inspiration for his artifact crafting and alchemy.
Unfortunately, he didn’t find a more suitable sparring partner.
Though the creatures here were stronger, most of their fire-based attacks were comparable to the Flame Lord’s.
Just as Jie Ming, slightly disappointed, prepared to return to the previous area, he stumbled upon an unusual volcano.
Most volcanoes in the Infernal Sulfur plane were active, many with flowing lava in their craters, radiating intense heat.
But this volcano was eerily silent.
Its entire structure was a strange, pitch-black, as if its vitality had been completely drained.
No lava flowed, no steam or smoke rose from its crater—it was as if it were truly dead.
Amid the surrounding fiery chaos, this silent black volcano stood out, exuding a cold, oppressive aura.
Jie Ming cautiously landed on its outskirts, using the Alchemy Technique to investigate.
Soon, he uncovered the anomaly.
The volcano’s slopes and surrounding ground were littered with countless animal carcasses!
These remains weren’t naturally decayed but bore signs of being torn apart, burned, or frozen by powerful energy, clearly the result of an intense battle.
Many bones still carried traces of corrosive slime or transparent crystals, indicating that the combatants weren’t solely fire-based creatures.
Even more shocking, Jie Ming discovered that the leyline connected to this volcano had been forcibly severed!
Deep within the volcano, where vibrant geothermal energy and active fire elements should have surged, there was now only emptiness, as if something had drained all its vitality.
This was the root cause of this volcano becoming a rare, dead volcano.