I Became a Peak Master With No Disciples?!
Chapter 30: The Thunder Fire Secret Realm

Chapter 30: The Thunder Fire Secret Realm

The flight to the Southern Canyon was cold. Standing on his sword, Su Ming adjusted his Ethereal Warding Robe. Below, the canyon was a desolate valley of dark where sunlight rarely reached, the steep gray walls covered in dry grass.

Su Ming hovered above a stone ledge and descended. Now in the Golden Core Realm, he could levitate down to the ravine floor without his sword. Pulling the three jade keys from his sleeve, he scanned the canyon with Essence Sight. The gray mist was still, and Lin Fan was nowhere to be seen.

Satisfied, he turned to the rock face.

At the bottom of the canyon, the air smelled of sulfur and dead plants. Before him stood a wall of black rock. To the naked eye, it looked like solid stone. But under Essence Sight, the rock face rippled with invisible red lines. It was the sealed entrance of the Thunder Fire Secret Realm.

Holding the three jade keys, Su Ming approached the rock face. The keys hummed, floating from his hand to arrange themselves into a triangular formation. Red light connected them, forming a glowing array that aligned with the seal.

A silent spatial tear ripped open in the center of the formation, its edges crackling with red lightning. Su Ming caught the three keys as they drifted back down—now dim, cold, and depleted—and pocketed them. He stepped through, and the tear snapped shut behind him, locking the gateway. There was no going back.

Su Ming landed on solid ground, balancing himself. The air inside was dry, hot, and filled with heavy static pressure. He looked up, his eyes narrowing.

Before him lay the Wastes of Ash and Lightning under a stagnant red sky. The ground was cracked red clay under low, heavy ash clouds. Silent streaks of red lightning struck the earth, leaving blackened craters, and thin plumes of smoke rose from the clay.

The spiritual qi was dense but chaotic, saturated with violent fire elements and static thunder particles. A mortal would turn to ash within breaths, and ordinary Qi Condensation cultivators would struggle without constant pill consumption.

More than the elemental danger, Su Ming felt a strange weight. The space was stagnant, frozen in silent decay. The air and spatial boundaries felt heavy and slightly sluggish, but he could not afford to be careless. He had to adapt before moving deeper.

Instead of rushing forward, Su Ming chose caution. He spent his first day surveying the outer perimeter and watching the lightning strikes. Finding a stable cavern, he sat cross-legged to adapt and replenish his Qi.

While mapping the perimeter and watching where the silent red lightning struck, he dug up a handful of naturally condensed Thunder-Fire Crystals from the center of the blackened craters. They were simple, low-grade spiritual stones, but useful raw materials for refining.

In the cave, Su Ming used his Yin-Yang Golden Core to filter the air, neutralizing the chaotic fire-qi and static lightning qi with Yin elements. By the next day, his breathing was steady, his body adapted to the chaotic energy without pain.

On the second day, Su Ming went deeper, gliding safely over the ravines and lightning fissures. The red wastes gave way to a dark tunnel leading into a massive cave system. The air grew hotter, and the walls shifted from dark stone to veins of glowing magma. The sound of bubbling lava echoed off the walls.

This was already the middle ring of the secret realm. The Lightning-Fire Crucible.

As he entered the cavern, an invisible weight slammed into him.

*Thud.*

His knees bent slightly. The cavern’s baseline suppression instantly disrupted his balance, preventing him from connecting with the air to levitate. He was completely grounded, forced to travel on foot.

The cavern was a massive furnace. Rivers of magma flowed through channels in the stone, and arcs of red lightning shot from the ceiling to strike the molten pools. The air shimmered with intense heat. A single slip would send a cultivator falling into the lava below.

Across the lava rivers stood a massive stone gate carved with the image of a roaring dragon. It was closed tight. Beside it sat a large pressure plate set into the stone floor, glowing with ancient runes.

As Su Ming stepped closer to the pressure plate, a majestic, powerful voice suddenly reverberated through the cavern, shaking the basalt walls and causing the lava pools to ripple. It sounded like the chime of a heavy bronze bell.

"To step into the Golden Core Realm at a bone age under thirty—and with a physical shell as limited as yours—is a feat worthy of praise, junior. You possess great fortune and unyielding will. You stand before the gates of my legacy. If you wish to claim it, prove your worth. Step into the central crucible, endure the weight of my trials, and forge a physique worthy of a dragon’s pride. If you fail, the lightning and fire shall leave nothing but ash."

Su Ming suddenly tensed, his hand instantly dropping to the hilt of his Crimson Heaven Sword as his Qi flared in defense. He spun around, scanning the empty, heat-distorted air of the cavern.

A remnant soul? And one powerful enough to scan him and cultivation in a single breath? Inwardly, his mind raced, evaluating the threat.

Although he had calculated the possibility of encountering a "Grandpa in the Ring" remnant soul eventually, this sudden presence put him on high alert.

’Why would a remnant soul of the Dragon Clan be trapped here? Was this ancient entity looking for a successor or....?’, Su Ming thought, his fingers resting cold against his sword hilt.

’If it’s a remnant soul, its strength should be limited. but....’

A sharp, pragmatic calculation crystallized in his thoughts.

’If I fight it directly, I risk triggering whatever traps are built into this room and his direct wrath. But if I play the part... if I play the naive, wide-eyed disciple who just stumbled upon a legendary fate, it should drop its guard. It will think I’m walking into its trap willingly. Let’s give it the show it wants.’

He quickly forced his shoulders to relax, releasing his sword hilt and assuming a startled, respectful expression.

He bowed deeply toward the center of the cavern, his voice carrying the perfect mix of awe and junior deference. "Junior Su Ming greets Senior! Junior was ignorant and did not realize a senior’s grand being resided here. I must ask for forgiveness for intruding upon Senior’s rest, but I thank Senior for his praise."

A deep rumble of satisfaction vibrated through the stone floor, causing the lava to slosh slightly against the edges of the pools.

"Excellent," the voice replied, the tone carrying a heavy, ancient weight. "Not only do you possess decent talent, but you know your manners. A rare trait among the youth of today."

"May I ask Senior who you are?" Su Ming asked, keeping his head bowed, his eyes searching the bubbling magma below.

"I am but the remnant will of the Ancient Crimson Dragon Sovereign," the voice boomed, a sudden, fleeting flash of draconic majesty flaring through the air.

"In the ancient era, my clan ruled the skies, and my flames could dry the very seas. In my heyday, I was a peerless powerhouse—standing far above the heavens of your mortal world, where even your tiny Saint Realm ancestors had to bow before my shadow. Though my physical form has returned to the earth, my inheritance remains here, waiting for one worthy enough to bear it. Tell me, junior, are you interested in becoming my successor?"

"This junior is deeply honored," Su Ming said, his voice laced with the perfect amount of eagerness and trepidation. "But... this junior’s talent is ordinary. I fear I might not be worthy of Senior’s grand legacy."

"The inheritance of the Dragon Clan is indeed heavy," the dragon soul replied, its tone turning grand and supportive. "An ordinary mortal would simply be crushed under its weight. Hence, I have prepared three trials. The first, which lies before you, is the Crucible of Lightning and Fire. It will temper your physical shell to ensure it can host my inheritance. The second is the trial of the Will, testing your spirit. The third is the trial testing your heart. If you pass all three, my legacy is yours."

"I see..." Su Ming murmured.

Only after bowing did he rise, turning his gaze toward the wall inscriptions near the entrance to study the manual. The characters were written in a sharp, bold script.

"Only those with the physical vessel capable of hosting a dragon’s legacy may pass. The Primordial Yang Demon is known to possess the strongest physique under the heavens. Refine the flesh in the crucible of lightning and fire to forge the strongest physique, or be turned into ash."

Beside the inscriptions, the technique pathways for the body-tempering manual were detailed. Su Ming then looked toward the center of the cavern, where a small stone platform rose from a pool of bubbling lava. Atop it grew a single flower, its petals shimmering with a deep, pulsing orange-crimson glow.