Chef in the Apocalypse

Jayce felt his body heating up under the extreme heat of the magma surrounding him. He could only grit his teeth as descended further down where the heat was increasing exponentially.

The Qi in his Dantian which had stagnated during the breakthrough, finally began to circulate once more into a sphere shape, alleviating some of his internal pain.

However, what relief he felt was short lived as the heat from the Magma Pools threatened to engulf him.

Jayce could feel his skin splitting as he was being roasted like a pig in the fire, yet he had no choice but to persist. He wasn’t sure how or why this had happened, but it was now a fact that he was in a dire position.

If he didn’t breakthrough he would suffer Qi deviation, and even if he succeeded, he was so deep within the magma that his body may give out at any moment.

Were he not in the middle of a breakthrough, Jayce may be able to circulate his Divine Body Arts and withstand the torture. It may even bring him some benefits, however he needed to focus on rebuilding his Core. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

So just like that, Jayce was forced to fight through the pain and turn his attention to his Dantian. Thankfully, he was able to absorb a steady stream of Qi from the surroundings and had restarted the effort of breaking through.

Elder Qing who had been nervously waiting up above could only watch on with his divine sense, not daring to rescue Jayce just yet. Until Jayce broke through, he would be relegated to just being a spectator.

"If he can overcome this hurdle then it means he’s worthy of being my disciple..." He muttered, a forlorn expression appearing on his face.

Jayce couldn’t hear what Elder Qing had said, nor did he have the time to listen. Only a minute had passed since he descended to the 12 meter mark, yet it felt like an eternity.

He was in hell, literally. Despite his best efforts to ignore the pain, he could feel his flesh being cooked alive, sending his nerves into a frenzy.

"ARGHHHH"

A muted scream came out of his closed mouth, as he did not dare open it and swallow down a mouthful of magma.

Just as Jayce felt the strength leaving his body, his mind suddenly began replaying scenes in front of his eyes. Filled with nothing but pain and despair, he saw a lonely figure with black wavy hair and beautiful green eyes.

She looked heartbroken as she stared at him.

"You’re not going to leave me are you?"

’Lianna...’

Jayce called out her name in his mind, however the scene quickly changed as thousands of aliens descended from the sky. They rained down sword strikes and Qi blasts, turning her into dust.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Jayce felt a pain much worse than he was currently experiencing as he watched his woman die. Yet that was not the end, one by one the faces of all his friends and acquaintances on Earth were killed gruesomely in front of him.

Suddenly, a surge of power which flooded into his meridians like a Dragon soaring through the skies. Jayce felt his body fight back against the magma surrounding him, pushing it away inch by inch.

It was as if Jayce was creating a force field outside of his body, purely made up of powerful Qi.

That wasn’t all. The Qi within his meridians galloped towards his Dantian, instantly filling it up to the brim and then some.

The Qi began to pour into his core as if it had a mind of its own, burrowing into his foundation and reinforcing it. This continued for around a minute before the sphere of Qi began to slow down.

Once the Qi stagnated, it seemed to solidify in place, turning a dark red color which was larger than his previous core. Yet there was now a shimmer of brilliance hidden inside the core, something that Jayce couldn’t explain.

The pain which had been wracking his body earlier quickly died down, turning into a surge of power which filled his body up with strength. Other than the superficial wounds on the outside of his body, Jayce was not injured.

Jayce let out a sigh of relief, finally able to think with a clear head. The force field was still in place, even though he was not controlling it, causing a confused expression to form on his face.

’What is happening? I thought for sure I was about to be roasted alive.’ He thought inwardly, surveying the surroundings.

His thoughts moved back to what had happened just before he had conceded to the pain. Jayce had felt as if he absorbed something which had come from the depths of the Magma Pool, but he couldn’t describe it.

All he knew was that once it entered his body, it seemed to resonate with his Qi, causing it to multiply and make up the Qi he was missing from trying to break through.

’I could have sworn I heard the sound of roaring flames...’

However before Jayce could think any longer, he felt something grab a hold of him and pull him towards the surface. After a moment, he realized that it was Elder Qing, therefore he did not fight against it, allowing him to drag him upwards.

After finally arriving on the surface, Jayce took a few deep breaths, appearing as if he had just escaped calamity. Of course this was the truth, yet he exaggerated a bit more so Elder Qing wouldn’t be too suspicious.

He couldn’t have him asking too many questions.

Yet when Elder Qing looked upon him, his eyes were filled with shock.

"H-How is this possible?" He stammered, looking as if he had just seen a ghost.

"Huh?" Jayce was perplexed, not having any idea what the man was talking about.

Yet in the next moment, he felt the heat in the surroundings begin to subside, bringing with it a comfortable atmosphere.

Jayce turned around and could visibly see the Magma in the surroundings begin to cool down and solidify.

’Ah F*ck...’