The light seemed to swallow Meihui whole as she disappeared into it without a trace left behind. Within the light, was what appeared to be a whole 'nother universe, a great many magnitudes more humongous than the entirety of Meihui’s entire planet.
In this seemingly alternate plane of reality, fires danced in every direction, stretching into an imperceptible infinity. These fires made up the landscape of this Plane. Closest to the doorway, which Meihui found herself lying next to, massive islands of solid-fires burned in a red-tinged void. Far beneath her, she could vaguely see a truly enormous raging whirlpool of fire. Far above her bobbed a vast, majestic sea of stars that burned in every imaginable color.
Meihui froze in shock as she halted her cultivation and stared around in wonder with big jade-green eyes. She lay on nothing and merely seemed to levitate in the red-tinged void next to the bright doorway.
After a long breadth of time passed, Meihui finally slithered forward through the void towards the nearest island of fire. When she had approached the island by a couple of kilometers she felt herself sucked onto the island’s surface, where she did not burn. The flames felt just as dirt or strands of greenery would feel against her scales. Neither too hot nor too cold but comfortably warm. She enjoyed this sensation of flames on her scales. Thus, being a newborn, she quickly curled up on herself and slept without any worries.
Upon waking, Meihui began to cultivate once more and a river of pure fire Qi painfully rushed into her body from the environment and was circulated in her bronze core, allowing Meihui to break through three stages almost instantaneously and reach stage four of the Houtian realm. Hissing in pain, she stopped cultivating as her scales crackled like her body was about to explode. She lay in an exhausted heap on the ground, wearily staring at her environment with fear. She decided to cease cultivation for the duration of her stay in that Plane and turned to slither back to the doorway where it was safe. On her way back, she noticed a patch of flowers dancing in a non-existent breeze.
These flowers were exceedingly odd, even to the newly-born Meihui. They were made of a fire that was a kaleidoscope of colors and intermittently shattered into the void before recombining into different floral forms. Meihui used her law of fire to wrap the flowers in the surrounding flames and brought them closer for examination. Even up close and surrounded by the fire in her control, the fire flowers continued to transform.
She excitedly devoured the flowers, when her examination revealed them to be safe and her rule of evolution vaguely urged her that they would be good for her health. The fire flowers flooded her body with a sense of strength and she felt a slight sense of building power.
She immediately shot back towards the depths of the island of fire, determined to attain more such treasures. It was clear that the Plane hid both benefits and dangers. She was young and eager but cautious all the same. As she rushed forward, she drew up her fire Qi from her bronze core and used the dao of creation to form it into a somewhat spherical red shield, with dim silver runes floating on its surface, that enveloped her body. It was surprising to see how swiftly she moved with her small stature, as she sped along the ground at 96 kilometers per hour.
She spotted many more fire flowers as an unknown amount of time passed in that cycle-less Plane but not all of them were as harmless as the first patch that was found. Some flaming plants took on the guise of a flower but would bite at anything that moved with a hidden, giant, flaming maw. Others would shoot out colorful, explosive seeds or launch themselves forward at high speeds like small flaming spears. Thus, Meihui had to constantly remain vigilant as she progressed deeper into the island and picked flowers to consume, with her control over the major law of fire. The fire flowers attacks would harmlessly bounce off her Created shield of fire Qi and she would furiously lash out with her whip-like tail to stun the struggling plants before consuming them whole using her major law of fire. Meihui’s strength steadily increased with every flower and the building sense of power grew stronger as well. Unfortunately, as she progressed deeper into the solid-fire island, the fire flowers became both more bountiful and more aggressive until no “safe” fire flowers remained. With her fire Qi and mental energy being more rapidly depleted as time passed, Meihui decided to stop in a clear field of solid-fire, within an enormous natural garden of fire flowers, and rest.
I wonder how this place came to be? She mused as she was falling asleep.’
It would be great if I could stay here forever and cultivate peaceably. I wonder if I was left at that place, at the bottom of a ravine, for a reason. Perhaps I was born there so I could enjoy the wonders of this place….
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Meihui settled down in that area to safely train her combat skills as she picked some fire flowers every day. Though her body was sturdy and flexible, Meihui’s control over it was shabby at best. She relied on brute strength to stun her targets and lashed out her thin tail like a club. She could tell that without her Created shield of fire Qi she would have already sustained countless injuries.
As the days passed, she slowly grew from her initial size, of a meter long, and her skillful control over her body improved. She would restrain patches of flowers with fast, lethal bursts of tail-lashes as she zipped around, while also trying to avoid having attacks land on her Created shield of fire Qi. Sometimes she would stop and return to the clear field to recover her stamina and Qi, pondering her movements as she tried to reason out effective strategies of attack. During these times her mind would also wander towards thoughts of her birth:
Where are my parents? Why was I born alone? Will I ever meet my family? Do I even have a family...?
As she attempted to make sense of her circumstances, she grew angry at the world. Why should she have to suffer the fate of an orphan? Her determination to grow in power rose. Her training process became even harsher. She deluded herself into believing that if she could only “grow-up” to be big and strong, she would find out about her parents one day. Meihui even began fantasising about the identities and personalities of her parents as she slept, having delightful dreams of a bonding family to carry with her throughout her lonely days.
In her haste to greedily devour even more flowers, she steadily traveled deeper into the solid-fire island, making use of the occasionally clear areas of fire as her resting grounds. One day, as she moved deeper into the solid-fire island as usual, she felt an odd rumbling in the ground underneath her lithe, slithering body and came to an abrupt halt. She wearily scanned her environment but spotted no dangers around. She was not even surrounded by a patch of fire-flowers at that time and nothing but the uniform solid-fire that made up the island could be spotted.
Just as Meihui was about to continue on her journey, six large tentacles of shimmering amber flames burst out from the solid-fire beneath her. In an instant, Meihui coiled her, now 2.4 meter long, body and launched herself into the void sky rather than risk being caught by her unknown enemy. As she glared down at the six large, amber-fire tentacles that pursued her into the void sky, she hissed in surprise and curiosity. Each of the tentacles moved in a slightly different manner and carried varying types of forces, as though each was performing a different dance but all were dancing to the same song. It was easily made apparent to Meihui, upon observing this, that each tentacle represented a minor elemental law under fire.
Before Meihui could react any further the six tentacles had all surrounded her in midair. Each blasted her with distinct attributes of fire but could not get past her Created shield of fire Qi, that she had long since made a habit of maintaining while traveling. Meihui was thus quickly dragged back to the solid-fire and pummeled on all sides by these six minor fire-law tentacles.
Before the tentacles could get past her Created shield of fire Qi, which fluctuated and flashed strongly with its silver runes, Meihui strengthened her shield with more fire Qi from her bronze core and whipped her tail around herself, creating a blur of tails in a dome around her body. The tentacles, when met with these blurs, were easily deflected but not harmed. Thus started the longest fight of Meihui’s short life. Loud banging sounds could be heard as she deflected each of the six tentacles one at a time by relying on her speed to dash around the tentacles’ attacks. Occasional bursts of brilliant fire would come into existence, creating different effects, as the tentacles attacked Meihui, knocking her back and forth within their ring. Sometimes, Meihui would summon her own bursts of fire, using her major elemental law of fire, and though each of her bursts eclipsed the combined might of the six tentacles’ minor laws, they took a large drain on her bronze core’s fire Qi. Other times, Meihui would have a slip in her concentration and all six tentacles would simultaneously attack, forcing her to go on the defensive and rely heavily on her Created shield of fire Qi to protect herself, further draining her bronze core by a large margin.
In the end, Meihui was only a fourth stage Houtian realm cultivator and with her energy being so rapidly consumed she was only able to draw out the frenzied battle for about 25 minutes. Knowing that she would soon collapse from exhaustion and seeing that the tentacles had only been reduced in size by about half, Meihui’s jade-green eyes flashed with shrewdness. On a hunch, she avoided the tentacles with a final burst of speed and used her coils to launch herself into the void sky once more. From there, Meihui used the last of her fire Qi to summon a burst of destructive fire and Create a spear from this flame, then using her rule of evolution she hardened the fire spear to be reminiscent of the solid-fire surface of the island. She determinedly fell streaking to the ground like a comet, in moments, and punctured the surface of the island in the center of the tentacles ring with her solid-fire spear, seemingly grown from the crystal bead in the center of her forehead.
A small explosion occurred and the six tentacles completely disappeared. From the surface of the island, an amber bead flew out and was caught by Meihui’s tail. She squealed with snakey delight. Her hunch was correct! Those tentacles that had mysteriously arose from the solid-fire surface of the island were the product of yet another treasure!
Safe, Meihui finally collapsed with an all encompassing fatigue, sleeping for nearly an entire day to recover. When she awoke, Meihui further examined the amber bead of fire before consuming it at the urging of her faint sense, derived from her rule of evolution. The amber bead surprisingly had more than 100 times the energy contained in one fire-flower and gushed a torrent of strength into her body, increasing her building sense of power by much more. From then on, Meihui decided to hunt for more such amber beads rather than to slowly search for fields of the fire-flowers and carefully progressed to similarly barren areas of solid-fire on the island as she traversed deeper into its depths.
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Amber bead after amber bead, Meihui grew stronger as she pushed onwards. At some point, after a countless number of days, the building feeling of power that had accompanied Meihui all this time, as she consumed numerous treasures, finally reached a climax! A supremely ferocious aura, like that of a world-devouring god, suddenly broke out from her body as the power inside of her exploded outwards, meters from her body. It cycled into and out of her flesh in brilliant white rings, whose shine even eclipsed that of the sea of stars far up above in that plane. Meihui writhed and shuddered as she screeched in utmost agony. Each time the rings entered and exited her body, they would refine her flesh, blood, muscles, bones, and organs. This brought forth continuous pains like that of being repeatedly skinned, scoured, and bleached cell by cell.
Hours passed as Meihui entered a fugue, lapsing into silence as she convulsed. The rings of light slowly compressed until they rotated near the surface of her reflective scales. With a mighty roar, they were absorbed into Meihui’s body to rotate around her bronze core. As they then began to dive into and out of her bronze core, refining it as well, a new deeper spiritual pain erupted. Meihui awoke with a screech so powerful her throat nearly collapsed. Her scream rose and fell along with the movement of the rings of light. Eventually the white rings of light settled onto the surface of the bronze core like radiant tattoos. They formed a vague image of a ringed world, using the bronze core as the base (or world) and the light as the enveloping rings of that world.
Meihui’s desperate screeching finally stopped and she fell into an especially deep, trancelike slumber. Many days would pass before she could awaken. As she peacefully slept, her bronze core sucked in rivers of fire Qi from the environment and her body gradually grew at a visible rate. Millimeter by millimeter her body lengthened with no sign of stopping. As her body grew in size, her reflective scales also seemed to warp, changing into colors that did not match the environment for minutes at a time before returning to their naturally clear, glassy appearance. The crystal bead in the middle of her forehead also grew in proportion to her body and occasionally gleamed with the 5% complete rune representing the rule of Evolution. In addition, Meihui’s cultivation quietly broke through stage four of the Houtian realm to stage five, yet it continued to increase with no sign of ceasing.
Meihui had unknowingly unlocked a hidden power within her bloodline. Most divine beasts, unlike normal magical beasts, are the direct offspring of not only the laws of the universe but the daos of the universe as well. The earliest divine magical beasts were called Primordial God-kings and were creatures born from the conflux of a major law and a major dao, or more rarely the combination of all six of the major laws. Meihui’s hidden power was that of these Primordial God-kings’ mighty bodies that came in a multitude of different, tremendously powerful forms.
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On the day she awoke, Meihui experienced a brand new existence. Her body had grown to be 6 meters long and her muscles felt mighty. With a small movement, she found herself several meters away. With a flash of her tail, she easily gauged the soldi-fire island’s surface. With but a thought, her scales changed colors at her will before returning to the naturally reflective, glassy state. Her sight was much clearer, allowing her to see the smallest details on objects dozens of meters away and her senses were so potent that she could practically discern the fluctuations of fire Qi in her environment. Following these fluctuations of fire Qi and her slightly more vibrant sense gained from her rule of evolution, Meihui found it simple to find another amber bead. She was able to defeat its six tentacles with considerably less effort than before her transformation, bringing a lot of joy to her heart. It was a shame that when she consumed it, the increase to her strength was slight compared to the rivers of fire Qi still being absorbed by her bronze core from her environment, without any harm. Even her infantile Primordial God-king body was shockingly efficient when compared to her body when she first entered the Plane and she continued to grow in all aspects constantly.
I need to find more powerful fire treasures! If I use my rule of evolution and my newly gained sensitivity to fluctuations of Qi, perhaps I can accomplish that feat. Thought Meihui excitedly. I only need time!
Thus Meihui set off even deeper into the solid-fire island, but this time she did not proceed directionless through the island. Using her capabilities to their maximum, she hunted for a much greater treasure. On her journey, she came across many more small fields of fire flowers and lone amber beads but quickly avoided them. Day after day she travelled with no apparent exhaustion or hunger, as the fire Qi still entering her body in rivers served as sustenance. When she finally found that which she was searching for, Meihui had grown to 12 meters long and 1 meter wide (at her torso). With her unceasing growth, Meihui found it difficult to constantly adjust herself to her body but by that time she had finally gotten used to increasing in bodily power at such a frantic rate.
What Meihui found, appeared to be a humongous object in what could have been the center of the solid-fire island. The quantity of fire Qi in the area around that object was particularly bountiful, far more so than any other location Meihui had seen so far. In addition, the fluctuations of fire Qi in that area were so violent, they appeared to Meihui’s senses as a gigantic storm, making it apparent that that area possessed a truly enormous amount of fire treasures. As Meihui got closer, she made out the humongous object in wonder. It was a tree!
Made of countless flames the tree stood majestically on the solid-fire island and pierced high into the void sky above. Surrounding the tree was the largest field of fire flowers that Meihui had yet seen, with all of their various kinds present. There was even a stunning number of amber beads planted in the surrounding area, with their six minor fire law tentacles waving about in every direction around the tree. Above, perched in the branches of the tree, were a large assortment of vaguely bird like fire treasures that she had never seen before. Meihui grew solemn.
That tree is clearly my goal. However, like all treasures in this place, it seems I will have to pay a price to retrieve it. Meihui’s jade-green eyes flashed with killing intent: Kill!
Meihui accelerated towards the tree and quickly found herself among the flowers, with her Created shield of fire fluctuating around her 12 meter long body. With a screech, Meihui smashed fire flower after fire flower that tried to block her path without the slightest pause in her forward movement. When she came into contact with the amber beads she would merely hiss and fling herself forward with a solid-fire spear jutting from the crystal bead on her forehead, Created using her major law of fire and hardened using her rule of evolution, right into the center of the ring of minor fire law tentacles, to pierce into the amber beads and swiftly grasp victory. Meihui became truly ferocious with her soaring determination to get to the tree of fire. Her tail lashes, containing more than 10,000 kilograms of force, swept aside her obstacles in a graceful, carefree manner. Meihui had reached a new level of control over her own body! Despite her constant growth, she could easily grasp every cell in her body and exert her strength perfectly, moving with just the right amount of speed to avoid attacks, redirect blows with her scales, and slice through the rain of exploding fire seeds, flung towards her from groups of fire flowers, with a mesmerizing blur of tail-whips. Meihui’s efforts over the countless days spent practicing in that Plane finally paid off! She had reached the Expert realm of weapon mastery, where the weapon and the user became two united as one, with her body obviously serving as her weapon of choice.
As she approached closer to the tree of fire, the flaming birds on its branches seemed to turn in her direction and began silently flapping their wings. At the point when Meihui had reached the base of the tree of fire, they rose into the void sky as one and descended upon her in a shimmery cloud that completely cut Meihui off from the Plane around her. All that could be seen from Meihui’s position was flaming birds in every direction. Dozens at a time rapidly shot through the space between their barrier and Meihui to furiously attack her. Each flaming bird had a might that eclipsed even the amber beads, with vague flashes of the 1% complete rune of the major law of fire (or 6 combined minor fire laws) emitting from their bodies.
Meihui had exited what could only be called her slaughter of the fire flowers and amber beads and entered a desperate struggle for her life against those flaming birds. Though Meihui swiftly tried to dodge the flaming birds’ attacks, their cloud blocked her path and their outbursts of fire hindered her movements. Even her mighty tail lashes could only knock away a few of the flaming birds at a time. Meihui was thus forced on the defensive, relying on her Created shield of fire, that flared with bright silver runes, to hold off the majority of attacks. She had no time to form solid-fire spears to fling at the enemy, for their numbers were truly too great and their speed in close quarters was frightening for Meihui to behold. Even the coordination of the flaming birds was excellent and they moved as though they were one organism.
As the minutes stretched on and Meihui’s fire Qi rapidly depleted, she grew increasingly mentally strained from her efforts and her jade-green eyes flared with panic and despair. Suddenly, from the direction of the tree of fire, a huge, gentle pulse of fire Qi was emitted that washed over the group of flaming birds and Meihui. It felt slightly...conscious?
As quickly as they had descended, the flaming birds ceased their attacks and rose into the void sky to perch once more on the branches of the tree of fire. Meihui was awed. The tree of fire was alive? Before now all of the fire treasures that she had come into contact with were non sentient, non-living creatures. Thus, one can imagine Meihui’s shock at finding out that there were actual living things in that Plane.
From the tree of fire, Meihui felt a sense of acceptance and an indescribable majesty, as though it was a mighty True Immortal gazing down at her from the heavens, while its fire Qi remained washed over her. When the fire Qi finally withdrew back into the tree of fire, a circular opening formed on its trunk and six balls of fire floated out towards the thoroughly exhausted Meihui. Each ball of fire was shaded differently and carried its own aura that soared high into the void sky above.
Trembling, Meihui glanced meekly at the tree of fire and understood that it was offering her a choice of one of the six balls of fire. Not daring to refuse, Meihui scanned over all six balls. Her eyes were attracted to the silver ball of fire that pulsed with an ancient aura of change, giving her a sense of refreshing, healing energy washing over her sore flesh like a balm, that even soothed her soul, with but a single glance. As Meihui became mesmerized by that silver ball of fire, it completely filled her senses and the other five balls flew back into the tree of fire through the circular opening, that closed behind them. Meihui’s crystal bead shone with its silver rune and attracted the ball of fire towards it. The silver fire smoothly poured into the clear crystal bead on her forehead dying it a deep silver color. The fire contained within it a sense of eternity and quickly bonded with every part of Meihui’s body from her, now deep silver, crystal bead until it became a permanent, inseparable part of her. Before Meihui could recover from this transformation, the tree of fire emanated another huge pulse of fire Qi that formed into a mysterious wave. This wave effortlessly bypassed Meihui’s defenses and gently swept her into the void sky. It flared through the void sky and carried Meihui to the massive doorway, from which she came, in moments.
When Meihui snapped out of her trance, she glanced gratefully at the retreating wave of fire Qi. It's time. She thought, with understanding: I have to exit this Plane and return to my homeland.
Her eyes flashing with exuberance she turned towards the massive doorway before her. It's time to search for my parents.