Chapter 109 — The Mystic Fire Altar

At the very center of the clearing stood a huge circular altar, its base suspended in the air, supported by thirteen enormous white-jade columns three zhang tall. Twelve of the white-jade columns stood about the altar's rim, each so thick that two men with arms outstretched could barely encircle it; and the thickest column at the altar's center looked as though five or six men together could hardly reach around it.

Above the altar, all the structures were built of a strange crimson stone—steps and balustrades alike. At the center of the altar rose a tall and majestic hall in the shape of a pagoda, three stories high, each story smaller than the one below by nearly half, yet each appearing inconceivably ten zhang tall.

Seen from afar, the altar was simply a mass of gigantic burning crimson flame stabbing at the heavens. Standing beneath it, Ming Li was tiny as an ant, utterly insignificant.

Ming Li drew a deep breath. The structure before him was truly astonishing; the phrase "work of the gods" might well be deserved here. He had never imagined such a magnificent building existed within the Burning Cloud Valley. He pondered a moment, then thought of the stone tablet he had passed, and in his heart he vaguely knew that this place before him must be that famous site of the Burning Cloud Valley spoken of in rumor—the Mystic Fire Altar.

He steadied himself, then drifted over without a sound. Apart from the Mystic Fire Altar before him, the surroundings were an empty clearing with no cover at all. Fortunately there were no guards about, and his movement was swift; in an instant he had reached the base of the altar.

As soon as he drew near the altar, the heat in the air rose several times over. Even one of Ming Li's cultivation felt a wave of irritation, and a faint sweat broke on his brow. Ming Li frowned, secretly startled, then remembered to wonder whether Little Grey could endure such fierce heat; he turned to look, and saw the monkey on his shoulder scratching its head and ears as though utterly indifferent to the heat around it.

Ming Li was taken aback. He had a vague sense that Little Grey had been most unusual of late—especially since it had swallowed the miraculous elixirs and strange stones in the Heavenly Emperor's Treasury upon that divine tree in the Deadly Marsh, its body had clearly begun to change little by little.

Still, in the present situation, a Little Grey unafraid of heat was naturally far better than one afraid of it, and Ming Li had no mind to spare for such matters just now. He was wondering whether to leap up onto the altar next when a sound of footsteps suddenly came from above it.

Ming Li frowned and cast a quick glance around, but saw no cover whatsoever. After a moment's thought, he flew beneath the altar and hid himself behind one of the thick white-jade columns.

Hidden behind the column, he unconsciously reached out to touch the stone—and suddenly his hand was scalded. His reflexes were swift; at once he snatched his hand back.

Beneath the Mystic Fire Altar, even the stone columns were burning hot.

The footsteps grew louder; clearly someone was coming down. Then an aged voice was heard saying slowly, "Since the Valley Master invites me, I must of course go. But you must tell me—why have those fish-men suddenly become so violent as to attack the valley?"

Ming Li, hidden in the shadow of the column, peered out. Li Xun and Yan Fei were following behind a grey-robed old man, descending with reverent expressions.