Chapter 4 — Trial by Scorching Stone
The deeper Hao Tian went, the more the world seemed to change.
The cave behind him—where he had found the skeleton, the manual, and the Nine Transformations Origin Flame—already felt like it belonged to another lifetime. Here, the stone was different. The air was different. Even the silence carried weight.
Heat pressed against his skin from every direction.
It wasn't the sharp, burning heat of open flame, nor the suffocating blast of a furnace. It was a slow, pervasive warmth that seeped into bone and marrow, making every breath feel heavier than the last. The stone beneath his feet had turned dark red and black, laced with faintly glowing veins that pulsed like the sluggish heartbeat of some ancient beast buried deep within the earth.
He moved slowly, deliberately.
His leg still ached where the Fire Lurker Lizard's tail had struck him. The wound wasn't deep, but every step reminded him that his body—though rebuilt by the Origin Reconstruction—was still far from strong. His muscles felt like they had been stretched, torn apart, and stitched back together by clumsy hands.
Stable.
But fragile.
His clothes were damp with sweat again, and his breathing was steady but careful, measured so he wouldn't waste strength.
The pickaxe remained in his hands.
Not because it was a good weapon.
But because it was the only one he had.
The tunnel widened and narrowed in irregular intervals, sometimes opening into low caverns filled with jagged stone pillars, sometimes squeezing into narrow passages where he had to turn sideways to pass. Steam hissed from cracks in the walls, and occasionally he would hear the deep, distant rumble of something shifting far below.
He didn't know if it was magma.
Or something else.
He didn't particularly want to find out.
The Nine Transformations Origin Flame was still quiet in its pouch, but he could feel it—faintly, subtly—like a warm ember resting against his chest. It wasn't guiding him exactly, but it seemed… attentive. As if it were aware of the environment, even if it didn't react strongly to it yet.
Hao Tian stopped near a bend in the tunnel and wiped sweat from his brow.
"Water would be nice…" he muttered.
His throat was dry.
He still had some water left in his flask, but he didn't dare waste it. Down here, he had no idea how long he would be trapped.
He resumed walking.
Not long after, he noticed the first signs of plant life.
Not lush.
Not abundant.
But stubborn.
Between the cracks of the scorched stone grew thin, dark-red grasses with narrow leaves shaped like flames frozen in motion. Some had small, hard buds at their bases, others clung low to the ground as if afraid of the heat itself.
He recognized a few from illustrations in the Nine Yang Pill Refinement Manual.
Fire-vein Grass.
Emberroot.
Scorchleaf Moss.
None of them were particularly precious.
But they were real.
And where there were herbs, there was usually something else.
He did not rush to harvest them.
Instead, he slowed his breathing and listened.
The cave was never truly silent.
There was always the faint hiss of steam.
The distant groan of stone.
The subtle crackle of heat moving through rock.
But beneath that…
He heard something else.
A faint, intermittent scraping.
He froze.
His fingers tightened around the handle of the pickaxe.
The sound came again.
Slow.
Deliberate.
Not the random movement of falling stone.
Not the scuttle of small cave insects.
Something with weight.
Something alive.
He crouched slightly and moved closer to the cavern wall, using a jagged rock formation as partial cover. His eyes scanned the darkness ahead, focusing on the place where the tunnel opened into a wider chamber.
He waited.
A few breaths passed.
Then—
A shape moved.
Low to the ground.
Broad.
Its body emerged from behind a cluster of blackened stone.
It was not another Fire Lurker Lizard.
This creature was thicker, heavier.
A Scorchhide Rock Boar.
It stood nearly as tall as Hao Tian's chest, its body covered in rough, dark plates that looked more like cracked stone than flesh. Faint red lines glowed between the plates, as if heat was slowly leaking out from inside. Its tusks were short but thick, and its eyes burned with a dull, stubborn light.
It snorted.
The sound echoed in the cavern like a low drumbeat.
Hao Tian's heart sank.
"…Damn."
He had heard of these.
Not true demon beasts.
Not cultivators.
But far tougher than the Fire Lurker Lizard.
Their hides were notoriously difficult to break.
Their strength was no joke.
And worst of all—
They were aggressive.
The boar lowered its head slightly, scraping one hoof against the ground.
Hao Tian did not move.
He didn't breathe any louder.
He didn't even blink.
For a moment, it seemed like the beast hadn't noticed him.
Then the boar's head turned.
Their eyes met.
The beast snorted again.
Louder.
It pawed the ground once.
Then charged.
"Shit—!"
Hao Tian didn't try to be brave.
He turned and ran.
The tunnel was narrow, and the boar was big—but it was fast.
Faster than it had any right to be.
The sound of its hooves slamming into stone thundered behind him, and the heat in the air seemed to surge with every step it took.
Hao Tian sprinted around a bend and nearly slipped on loose gravel.
He barely caught himself and kept running.
He didn't have the stamina for a long chase.
He didn't have the strength for a direct fight.
He had to end this quickly.
Or escape.
His eyes darted around as he ran, scanning the environment.
Steam vents.
Cracked stone.
Uneven ground.
Then he saw it.
Ahead, the tunnel narrowed into a slightly sloped passage where the floor was riddled with thin fissures. Steam leaked from several of them in weak, constant streams.
An idea formed.
Risky.
But better than being trampled.
He slowed just enough to time his steps, then leapt to the side at the last moment, rolling behind a jagged stone outcrop.
The Scorchhide Rock Boar did not slow.
It charged straight into the fissured ground.
Hao Tian slammed the pickaxe down onto a cracked stone near one of the vents.
Crack!
The stone gave way.
A burst of pressurized steam exploded upward.
The boar was hit full in the side.
It squealed in pain and staggered, its charge disrupted.
Hao Tian didn't hesitate.
He rushed forward and swung the pickaxe with everything he had.
Clang!
The iron head struck the beast's shoulder plate.
The impact sent a shock through his arms so violent that his fingers went numb.
The boar barely flinched.
It turned its head and rammed him with its shoulder.
Hao Tian was thrown against the cavern wall.
Pain exploded in his back and ribs.
He slid to the ground, coughing, his vision swimming.
The beast snorted and turned to face him again.
"…Too hard…" he realized, teeth clenched.
Its hide was far tougher than the lizard's scales.
He couldn't just break through it.
The boar charged again.
Hao Tian rolled to the side, barely avoiding being crushed.
The beast slammed into the wall where he had been.
Stone cracked.
Dust filled the air.
Hao Tian forced himself to stand, ignoring the screaming protest of his muscles.
He ran again.
This time, deeper into the chamber.
The boar followed relentlessly.
His breathing grew ragged.
His chest burned.
His injured leg began to protest violently.
He couldn't keep this up.
Then he saw a narrow gap between two massive stone pillars.
He changed direction and sprinted for it.
At the last moment, he dove through.
The gap was just wide enough for him.
The boar tried to follow.
Its head fit.
Its shoulders did not.
It slammed into the stone with a furious crash.
The entire formation shook.
Cracks spread across the pillars.
The beast squealed and backed up, then charged again.
Hao Tian didn't wait.
He climbed onto one of the pillars, ignoring the pain in his arms, and scrambled upward.
The boar charged again.
The pillar shuddered.
Then—
Crack.
A large chunk of stone broke loose.
The upper part of the pillar collapsed.
Tons of rock crashed down.
The Scorchhide Rock Boar was caught under it.
It screamed once.
Then went silent.
Hao Tian clung to the remaining stone, breathing hard, his heart pounding like it wanted to escape his chest.
He waited.
Counted his breaths.
Listened.
Nothing moved.
Carefully, painfully, he climbed down.
The boar was dead.
Crushed.
He did not feel triumphant.
He felt exhausted.
He leaned against the wall and slid down, sitting on the hot stone floor.
His whole body trembled.
"…That was… way too close."
He stayed there for a long time before he trusted himself to stand again.
When he finally approached the corpse, he did so cautiously.
The beast's body was broken, but intact enough to search.
He did not find a real core.
Of course he didn't.
Instead, buried near the center of its chest, he found a dull, irregular, heat-warm nodule.
A pseudo-core.
Not valuable.
Not powerful.
But proof of what kind of creature it had been.
He took it anyway.
Then he noticed something else.
Near where the beast had been roaming, several clusters of herbs grew:
Fire-vein Grass.
Scorchleaf Moss.
And something new.
A short, thick-stemmed plant with dark red leaves and a faint metallic sheen.
He checked the manual.
"…Ironheat Root."
Not rare.
But useful.
He harvested what he could.
Carefully.
Then he sat down again.
And rested.
The cavern did not care about his victory.
The heat did not lessen.
The darkness did not retreat.
He drank a small sip of water.
Checked his wounds.
And after a long while—
He stood up.
And continued deeper.
Because stopping here…
Was the same as dying.