Chapter 1910 (Raw 2011): Flame Dragon Legion
The underground world was incredibly vast. The soil was strange and the environment was special. This produced many resources that were rare or nonexistent on the surface.
In the Martial Epoch, resources came first, talent second.
With sufficient resources, there was no need to fear being unable to attract demonic geniuses and outstanding talents. Even Xiao Chen would not amount to much without resources.
The Heavenly Dragon Palace’s Primeval Heavenly Pills had benefited Xiao Chen a lot. In a mere two months, he had advanced from the initial middle-stage Starry Sky Stage to peak Consummation middle-stage Starry Sky Stage.
Without sufficient Primeval Heavenly Pills, that would simply have been impossible.
Hence, it was easy to imagine that there would be compet.i.tion over places with rare resources.
There were many resources in the underground world—Netherworld Frost Iron, Obsidian, Ink Silver, Ghostly Cloud Steel, Heptagold, Dark Crystal Rock, Underworld Heart Jade, and many more, so many that they were uncountable.
The harsher the environment, the rarer the resources. This was the pattern of the Great Thousand Realms.
Given the bountiful resources, as long as the four dynasties and the eight empires were capable enough, they would not let go of it. Even the ten Holy Lands of the Righteous Dao and the ten great Demonic Dao sects—aloof existences—would send out people of their factions.
Every layer of the Abyssal Underworld was extremely vast. Even the Underworld Monarchs could not grasp all the resource nodes.
This gave the other factions an excellent chance to set up their factions in the Abyssal Underworld and occupy resource nodes.
The Divine Dragon Empire was definitely a top-cla.s.s faction in the entire Central Great Realm. Naturally, they could not miss out.
The mission that Xiao Chen took was to help the Dragon’s Gate s.n.a.t.c.h back a resource node that it lost.
After using the mission card to send the notification, Xiao Chen quickly got a response from the other party.
The other party sent not only a gathering point to the mission card but also the corresponding map of the area.
After Xiao Chen channeled a strand of Spiritual Sense into the mission card, a three-dimensional map appeared in his mind.
“Flame Dragon City?”
This city was the main base of the Dragon’s Gate in this place. There was an entire army camped there, the Flame Dragon Legion.
Right now, Xiao Chen’s mission was to rush over to this Flame Dragon City and listen to the other party’s instructions on how to regain the lost resource node.
“Whoos.h.!.+”
Xiao Chen leaped into the air, jumping off the Demon Blood Vulture. Then, he glided down by the peak and gently landed on the ground.
When he looked around, he saw only boundless desolate land. It was slightly dark with a suppressive aura blanketing it.
Who knew what dangers this seemingly peaceful place held?
Caution appeared in Xiao Chen’s eyes as he executed Thunder Dragon Steps. Standing on lightning dragons, he sped along the flat land.
Xiao Chen did not know what dangers flying in the sky might draw. Since this was an unknown land, he proceeded carefully.
The Abyssal Underworld was dark. However, the surface of the underworld was not very different. The plants were just taller, and the soil was black.
Just a stalk of ordinary gra.s.s could be more than a hundred meters tall. Fortunately, these did not grow in dense patches. Instead, they were spa.r.s.e on the ground.
Otherwise, Xiao Chen would be much slower.
“Whoos.h.!.+”
A ghostly beast unique to the Abyssal Underworld pounced on Xiao Chen. It looked like a black tiger.
This black tiger showed the obvious characteristics of a ghostly beast. It was devoid of lifeforce and full of Death Qi.
Actually, ghostly beasts were the souls of dead ferocious beasts. After these drifted to the Abyssal Underworld, the special environment, dark energy, and negative emotions revived them as mutated beasts.
Strictly speaking, these beasts were already dead.
However, ghostly beasts could cultivate as well. Strong ghostly beasts killing Holy Venerates was not an uncommon sight.
Anxious to continue his journey, Xiao Chen attacked decisively, not holding any strength back in his attacks.
Two Dao disks appeared behind him so that he could deal with any strong ghostly beasts, which could turn up at any time.
As Xiao Chen rushed along, a strong sense of danger appeared in his heart.
Suddenly, a white figure leaped out of the darkness in front. This white figure revealed terrifying fangs, trying to bite Xiao Chen’s head.
“Whoos.h.!.+”
Xiao Chen did not even think, just instinctively moved back and dodged. Then, he turned into a lightning bolt and counterattacked.
A miserable cry rang out, and a completely white wolf ghost glared at Xiao Chen with scarlet eyes.
“Abyssal Demonic Wolf!”
Xiao Chen recognized this ghostly beast. He thought to himself, It is really fast.
It moves around erratically, nearly injuring me.
Die!
Xiao Chen did not give the Abyssal Demonic Wolf a chance to turn things around. He punched decisively, and the two Dao disks behind him shone with resplendent light.
Saber light and electric light flickered in Xiao Chen’s fist light as he exploded the Abyssal Demonic Wolf.
The Abyssal Demonic Wolf shattered into pieces of black energy scattering in the air. It would take a long time to revive again.
After the black light faded, a ghostly beast’s white Beast Core appeared on the ground, looking exceptionally resplendent like a crystal.
The Beast Core of a ghostly beast was also known as a Demonic Soul Core. If one directly refined it, one could quickly restore one’s Soul Energy.
Of course, one needed to remove some impurities in it first. Otherwise, one had to limit their absorption of it.
Xiao Chen fought intense battles along the way. The ghostly beasts that he met grew increasingly stronger.
However, he did not waste too much time. He dealt with all his opponents in practically an instant. Those that he could not deal with, he just bypa.s.sed.
Four hours later, the silhouette of a city appeared before Xiao Chen.
This was Flame Dragon City.
This city was not very huge, but security was tight. There were many camps guarding it in the periphery.
Dragon Race cultivators patrolled the vicinity.
“Whoos.h.!.+ Whoos.h.!.+”
Just as Xiao Chen was observing the place, two Dragon Race cultivators wearing battle robes rushed out and cautiously eyed him.
When the two Dragon Race cultivators noticed the Dragon Race aura coming from him, their expressions warmed slightly.
As mentioned before, the place had tight security. They discovered Xiao Chen upon arrival. This was extraordinarily strict.
“Martial law was imposed on Flame Dragon City recently. It is currently not open to the Dragon’s Gate’s outer palace disciples. If you are here to stop over at Flame Dragon City, you probably will be disappointed,” the person on the left said frankly as he looked at Xiao Chen.
As the Dragon’s Gate’s main base in the underground world, they naturally provided many conveniences for Dragon’s Gate disciples.
Many Dragon Race cultivators who came to the underground world to adventure would stop at Flame Dragon City.
Xiao Chen took out his mission card and ident.i.ty token. Then he said, “I am Xiao Chen, a Heavenly Dragon Palace core disciple. I am here on a mission from the Dragon’s Gate.”
After the two guards inspected the mission card and ident.i.ty token, they showed strange expressions.
However, they still returned the mission card and core disciple ident.i.ty token to Xiao Chen before respectfully bringing him into the city.
“Come with me, then. The general has already been waiting for a long time. Of the seven outer palaces, you are the only one left.”
Xiao Chen followed the two past many checkpoints and into the city. They led him to a tower with the special characteristics of the Dragon Race.
He reported to the top floor of the tower. After verifying his ident.i.ty again, he was invited in.
When Xiao Chen pushed the door open and entered, the average-sized room was already crowded.
Aside from the Flame Dragon Legion upper echelon, there were also the other outer palace core disciples who had taken the mission.
Xiao Chen was somewhat surprised to see Murong Yan among these core disciples.
An armored, middle-aged cultivator, who clearly gave off a superior air compared to the others, looked at Xiao Chen. Then, he said, “Xiao Chen? There are three heaven-cla.s.s core disciples in the Heavenly Dragon Palace. I recall that they are Yi Xin, Li Luo, and Jue Yun. There does not seem to be a Xiao Chen among them.”
If Xiao Chen guessed correctly, this person was the leader of the Flame Dragon Legion, General Feng.
Xiao Chen said calmly, “General, the mission did not limit acceptance to heaven-cla.s.s core disciples.”
“However, the mission specially indicated its difficulty. This is not a regular Rank 1 mission, and there were specific instructions on the mission’s importance. I was the one who asked the Dragon’s Gate to issue the mission. I am very clear on what kind of people I am seeking.”
General Feng frowned slightly. He was clearly dissatisfied with Xiao Chen. He was even more dissatisfied with the administrator of the Heavenly Dragon Palace’s Mission Hall.
This was simply ridiculous. It was fine for the other outer palaces to send ordinary core disciples. After all, they had Divine Dragon bloodlines to support them.
However, the Heavenly Dragon Palace actually did not send heaven-cla.s.s core disciples to take this mission.
“General, I can guarantee that while Xiao Chen is a mixed-blood dragon, he is definitely strong.”
Surprisingly, Murong Yan, who initially did not think highly of Xiao Chen, took the initiative to speak up for him.
General Feng felt surprised. Then, he said, “Since Murong Yan is sure, I will not doubt your qualifications to accept this mission. Sit down, then. It is not personal; do not mind my earlier att.i.tude.”
Xiao Chen nodded and said, “Many thanks.”
Xiao Chen felt slightly depressed in his heart. The Divine Dragon bloodlines were truly great. Murong Yan’s words resulted in General Feng setting aside his doubts without further thought, which saved Xiao Chen quite a bit of trouble.
However, the way the core disciples of the other outer palaces looked at Xiao Chen showed that they did not think much of him. After just one glance, they no longer paid attention to him.
Don’t thank me. I am just speaking the truth. Murong Yan’s prideful words rang out in Xiao Chen’s mind.
When Xiao Chen heard that, he felt surprised. He had not intended to thank Murong Yan, as Murong Yan just stated the facts.
However, since Murong Yan sent him a voice projection, Xiao Chen replied, Many thanks.
“Humph!”
Murong Yan showed a proud look as he coldly snorted, with a look that said, “It’s good that you are wise.”
Knowing the other party’s temper, Xiao Chen smiled faintly and ignored it.