Chapter 719: Clearing the Path
Xiao Chen understood something from what Ao Jiao said. He looked at the churning lava and mentally communicated to her, That means if I use just Vital Qi, it would be much more effective.
Ao Jiao nodded and said, Yes, that is the case. However, you have to be careful. If you fall into the lava, no matter how strong you are, you will not be able to reverse the situation. Furthermore, you have to be careful not to get burned by the Dragon Flames.
The loose cultivators behind him exchanged glances; then they sized up Xiao Chen with their eyes, looking at him with ill intentions. Clearly, they still had not given up on using Xiao Chen as a stepping stone.
“Xiu!”
Just as these loose cultivators hesitated over whether they should attack together and take down Xiao Chen, a whistle rang out. Xiao Chen charged ahead, riding an Azure Dragon image above the lava.
The loose cultivators exclaimed in surprise with strange expressions on their faces, “This fellow is too gutsy!”
The Fire Flame Snakes swimming in the lava five hundred meters in front sensed the aura of a living person and quickly shot out of the lava, splas.h.i.+ng copious amounts of molten rock.
“Pu! Pu! Pu!”
Several Fire Flame Snakes launched themselves at Xiao Chen in short order. Their hollow eyes glowed with fire in them. Then, they spewed out red lava.
The lava was scorching hot, burning the air until it crackled. A heatwave blasted out.
Standing on the Azure Dragon image, Xiao Chen calmly took out two s.h.i.+elds. He held one in each hand and covered himself tightly.
These s.h.i.+elds were peak Medial Grade Secret Treasures. They were pretty effective, successfully resisting the lava. They just became incredibly hot. As Xiao Chen hid behind the s.h.i.+elds, his hands hurt.
After a while, the impacts against the s.h.i.+elds ceased.
Xiao Chen flung both his hands wide and circulated his Vital Qi as he tossed out the two s.h.i.+elds.
“Bang!”
The two s.h.i.+elds carried considerable force as they spun in the air. Then, each of the large s.h.i.+elds knocked down a Fire Flame Snake.
The other Fire Flame Snakes coiled their bodies, then sprang their tails out at Xiao Chen, trying to pull him into the lava.
Xiao Chen’s face sank as he clenched his fist. Vital Qi surged throughout his body, gus.h.i.+ng endlessly. His Qi and blood flourished to their peak.
He circulated his Vital Qi and executed the third move of the Dragon Claw Fist, Breaking Armor, to welcome an incoming Fire Flame Snake.
A cone of Vital Qi formed over his fist, and Xiao Chen quickly sent out ten punches at the ten snake tails whipping towards him.
“Bang! Bang! Bang!”
Xiao Chen’s fist wind gave off thunderous sounds that propagated in all directions. The loud rumbles set the entire s.p.a.ce atremble. Rocks dropped continuously from the ceiling of the cave. When these rocks. .h.i.t the lava, they instantly exploded into volcanic ash.
A Fire Flame Snake’s body consisted of round Fire Flame Rocks in a chain. Each of Xiao Chen’s punches landed on a Fire Flame Rock in each snake.
An enormous force burst forth, and Xiao Chen shattered the resilient Fire Flame Rocks, which could withstand hot lava.
Ten Fire Flame Snakes spun around in the air and turned into discrete Fire Flame Rocks that fell into the lava.
Two more Fire Flame Snakes remained. Xiao Chen withdrew his fist and stood straight on the Azure Dragon image. Then, he stomped twice, directly kicking the heads of the last two Fire Flame Snakes.
Using the rebound, Xiao Chen collected the two spinning s.h.i.+elds in the air. Then, he shot forward like an arrow, heading forward.
“What horrifying force! Fortunately, we did not attack him. Otherwise, we all would have ended up falling here.”
“I wonder where this ferocious person came from. With such a horrifying physical body and a cultivation at peak Medial Grade Martial Monarch, even a late-stage Superior Grade Martial Monarch would not be able to subdue him easily.”
“I think this white-robed cultivator is far from just that. Most likely, no one under half-Sage can deal with him.”
The group of loose cultivators exchanged fearful glances after seeing this scene. Unexpectedly, these Fire Flame Snakes, which gave even half-Sages a headache, died so quickly at Xiao Chen’s hands.
By relying on two s.h.i.+elds and his one thousand tons of physical strength, Xiao Chen swept the way clear, shattering the Fire Flame Snakes that leaped up. Nothing could get in his way.
Soon, Xiao Chen’s figure disappeared into the darkness. All he had to do now was dodge the attack of the Dragon Flames; then he would clear this stage.
The rocks above Xiao Chen’s head absorbed light—all the light from the lava—leaving the place shrouded in darkness. He had difficulty making out the churning lava below.
The defensive Medial Grade Secret Treasures were ineffective against the Dragon Flames, so Xiao Chen put them away and rode the Azure Dragon image, flying forward carefully.
Even if the Dragon Flames, the flames of a True Dragon, were a hundred times diluted in the lava, Xiao Chen’s Rank 1 Sage Body would be no different from an ordinary body against them. The moment he touched them, he would die.
Xiao Chen could not see anything in the darkness; he could not antic.i.p.ate the danger, prompting him to worry constantly. He focused himself and did not panic, quickly flying forward.
A golden light appeared, flas.h.i.+ng by. The light was so piercing that Xiao Chen could not help but squint, leaving only a tiny slit.
However, he did not move his body rashly because this Dragon Flame did not spew out from below him.
“Boom! Boom! Boom!”
The more Xiao Chen advanced, the more frequently the Dragon Flames leaped out. Furthermore, the Dragon Flames did not flare with any set pattern. When the golden light flickered, it made one worry.
If at this time, he moved recklessly and tried to dodge, there was a good chance he would run into the Dragon Flames, instead.
Xiao Chen focused and maintained his calm. On his path of cultivation, he had already surpa.s.sed most of his generation in mentality. He did not fl.u.s.ter.
Suddenly, with a quick thought, Xiao Chen pushed off the Azure Dragon image. Then his body spun around and headed forward.
“Pu ci!”
A golden Dragon Flame instantly pierced the Azure Dragon image’s dragon head, right where Xiao Chen was earlier. In that instant, the Azure Dragon image made of Quintessence burned to nothing.
“Xiu!” Xiao Chen stood in the air as another Dragon Flame shot up from below, brus.h.i.+ng close by his nose and shoulder.
He could distinctly feel the surging temperature at that moment.
If he had used a little more force when he jumped earlier, he would have run into the Dragon Flame and burned to ashes.
“That was close!”
After this brush with death, Xiao Chen calmed himself down, resolving to be more careful. After an hour, he finally cleared the dark area and landed on the other side.
When Xiao Chen looked back at that dark area, he felt some fear. In order to travel through that place, one could not lack strength, mentality, or luck.
No wonder it could hold back the seven giants, proud sons of heaven, for so long.
After crossing this area, Xiao Chen looked ahead. His vision now cleared up, and he could see well. A dense Immortal Spirit Energy surged over—Immortal Qi, which was purer than Spiritual Energy.
At the limits of Xiao Chen’s vision, he could see the figures of several cultivators moving around. They were searching for the Spirit Herbs and precious ores found in a True Dragon Cave.
Xiao Chen walked a kilometer forward and saw the corpses of a few cultivators. A bare scarlet tree stood beside these corpses; all the fruits of the tree were gone.
Only this seemingly withered tree trunk, which did not have any obvious lifeforce, remained.
Hey, this seems like the Spirit Tree that produces the Blood Flame Fruit. It is not dead yet. Xiao Chen, put it in. Your Immortal Spirit Ring can bring it back to health, Ao Jiao, who was caring for the Lunar Ca.s.sia Tree, said from within the world in the ring.
Xiao Chen smiled and said, “It’s another tree that will take several hundred years to mature, right?”
Even though he said that, he still did as Ao Jiao ordered. There was no danger here, and it would not take much time to dig out the Blood Flame Tree. So he had nothing much to complain about.
Ao Jiao said happily, Later, see if you can find the main trunk of a few other Spirit Trees. Not everyone has a peak grade Immortal Spirit Ring. If you are lucky, the Spirit Trees collected here might become a simple medicinal herb garden.
Thunderstruck, Xiao Chen thought to himself, By the time that herb garden becomes useful, a few hundred years would have pa.s.sed already.
The True Dragon Cave was indeed a land of treasure. As Xiao Chen continued onwards, he ran into a few more Spirit Trees that were not available outside.
However, other cultivators had already picked all the fruits of these trees, leaving only bare branches. Since the tree held no interest to anyone else, Xiao Chen kept them all, placing them in the Immortal Spirit Ring.
As time went by, the number of cultivators he saw increased. He slowly caught up to the main group.
At this moment, Xiao Chen squinted slightly. Far in front, he discovered a familiar person—Ximen Bao of the Tianwu Domain’s Ximen Clan.
Ximen Bao’s attire had not changed. However, he had subdued his arrogant att.i.tude because the people around him were all strong.
Aside from Ximen Bao, Xiao Chen also saw the top genius of the battle realms, Niu Deng, and a peak late-stage Superior Grade Martial Monarch loose cultivator.
The three stood in a triangle, five hundred meters apart from one another. A plump and tender, fresh red fruit hung in the middle of the three. This fruit with its overwhelming Spiritual Energy looked very alluring.
Several cultivators outside of the three’s encirclement also stared at that fresh red fruit, revealing greedy gazes.
However, as three strong experts already eyed this fruit, the others could only watch. No one dared to try and s.n.a.t.c.h it away.
“The Dragon Mark Fruit contains Dragon Might. It can increase a cultivator’s physical strength by one hundred and fifty tons of force. In this True Dragon Cave, it definitely ranks within the top twenty treasures.”
“So what if it is valuable? Ximen Bao, Niu Deng, and Dan Tianyu, a loose cultivator ranked seventieth on the Evil Cultivator Ranking, already have their sights on it. We do not stand a chance at all.”
The surrounding cultivators stared at the Dragon Mark Fruit and discussed in whispers. They all felt it was a pity.
“I wonder, who of the three of them will be able to s.n.a.t.c.h the Dragon Mark Fruit? I feel that Ximen Bao has the highest chance. He comes from a clan with a Martial Emperor and has a high cultivation. His strength is only weaker than the seven giants.”
“It’s hard to say. Niu Deng is the top genius of the battle realms and lives up to that reputation. Before he came here, he pulled a draw with Feng Xingsheng.”
“Dan Tianyu is the oldest here. His cultivation is very deep, and he cultivates a baleful aura as well. He would not be weaker than these two. It is really hard to say who will win.”
Everyone was very interested in who would obtain the Dragon Mark Fruit in the end. They antic.i.p.ated that it would not take much longer.
These three people would erupt in an intense battle for this Dragon Mark Fruit, fighting to the end.
Ximen Bao gazed at Niu Deng, then at Dan Tianyu. Finally, he said, “I advise you two to not fight me over this. If you offend me and cause my great-grandfather to come out, neither of you will have a good ending.”
The stout Niu Deng smiled coldly when he heard this. “Ximen Bao, who are you trying to scare? Not to mention whether your great-grandfather would take action over this small matter, even if he did, do you think the seniors of our battle realms in the Martial G.o.d Palace would do nothing?”