Chapter 123 Earth Flame

Nine Star Hegemon Body Art

There were a total of four eggs. They reached around Long Chen’s shoulders, and there were even a few bloodstains on them. These were definitely the strongest eggs Long Chen had ever seen.

Observing those bloodstains, Long Chen reached out his hand and touched them. A faint fishy smell came from them. The blood had yet to dry.

Long Chen’s heart jumped wildly. Obviously, the Flame Salamander had only just given birth and had been in its weakest state. Its fighting strength had probably not even been half of what it was during its peak state. Thinking of that, cold sweat ran down his back.

He had truly underestimated the terror of third rank Magical Beasts. When Magical Beasts reached the third rank, they would completely transform. They would be able to use their own inherited skills, giving them even greater combat abilities.

Just thinking about it gave him some lingering fear. If the Flame Salamander hadn’t been in its weakest state, he might not have even been able to run from this place.

“Wu, wu!”

Just as Long Chen was pondering over this, Little Snow had already begun biting into the eggs. But the eggs were too big, and with Little Snow’s teeth, he was unable to use any real force.

“Hehe, since you didn’t get to eat any of the flesh, eating some eggs can make it up a bit.” Long Chen smiled slightly and used his fist to smash the egg. That huge egg shook and cracks appeared on its shell.

Although the eggs were as hard as iron, they were extremely brittle. As soon as Long Chen opened a nick on it, liquid started to flow out.

Little Snow hastily stuck his mouth on the egg and sucked wildly. In just a moment, he completely sucked away all the liquid within the egg.

Long Chen was startled to notice that Little Snow’s aura was growing increasingly stronger as he drank that liquid. There were even signs that Little Snow was about to advance.

He quickly opened a second egg for Little Snow without the slightest heartache.

These eggs were of a third rank Magical Beast. Those were treasures that Pill Masters would go crazy for.

But since Long Chen had already obtained the Neidan, he didn’t bother with that too much. What he hoped was for Little Snow to quickly increase his speed. He would be willing to give up anything for Little Snow.

Seeing Little Snow quickly suck away the liquid, Long Chen directly split open the remaining two eggs. The result was that Little Snow truly didn’t disappoint Long Chen. 

He completely sucked all the four eggs empty. He then immediately lay down and closed his eyes. His energy was beginning to surge crazily, becoming increasingly unstable.

“Is he about to advance?”

Long Chen couldn’t help but celebrate. Little Snow was a third rank Magical Beast, and his bloodline was especially pure. Furthermore, the mysterious Spirit World expert had awakened his spirit, causing his cultivation speed to skyrocket.

Those four eggs contained an extremely great amount of energy. Now that Little Snow had absorbed all the energy within these four Flame Salamander eggs, the energy in his body began to surge crazily.

Little Snow instinctively entered a cultivation state and frantically absorbed that enormous energy. His aura was becoming increasingly powerful, and space was warping slightly around him.

Long Chen nodded. If Little Snow could advance to the third rank, his combat ability would definitely surpass the Flame Salamander even in its peak state.

At that time, Long Chen would have a third rank Magical Beast as his steed. Furthermore, the Scarlet Flame Snow Wolf was at the peak of all third rank Magical Beasts. Just thinking about that made him excited.

Long Chen knew that Magical Beasts required some time in order to advance ranks. All he could do was to help protect Little Snow. Fortunately, this place was the Flame Salamander’s territory, and so other Magical Beasts wouldn’t barge in randomly.

Only now did Long Chen carefully examine the rest of the cave. From the inside, he saw the spacious cave had a large, domed roof.

Thinking back to how it looked from the outside, the roof should correspond to the hill outside. It looked similar to an iron pot.

As Long Chen examined this spacious space, he saw a large pool of lava. Walking up to the lava, he saw that the lava was rolling over and over.

“Oh, there’s actually something good inside the lava!” Who would have thought that this unremarkable desert would be hiding such a terrifying lava pool.

But this kind of information naturally wouldn’t leak with those Huge Desert Scorpions around and the Flame Salamander guarding it.

Furthermore, this desert was always treated by cultivators as a barren land. No one would want to pass through such a desolate area, and so this place had remained unknown until now.

Otherwise, even just the information that the Flame Salamander existed here would have definitely caused waves and brought others here before Long Chen had arrived. Then Long Chen wouldn’t have been able to obtain anything now.

The lava pool had a diameter of thirty meters and was rolling like boiling water. Burning waves of heat came from it.

Long Chen used his Pill Flame to protect his body, yet still felt that it was somewhat difficult to breathe. He realized that the Flame Salamander must have been absorbing the fire energy here in order to cultivate. 

It was a good thing the Flame Salamander wasn’t one of those creatures that lived in groups. Furthermore, it was a hermaphrodite creature, so Long Chen didn’t need to worry about its mate coming to attack him.

Buzz… Space trembled and the lava began to undulate wildly, reaching higher and higher heights. Long Chen quickly retreated.

When that pool of lava surged out a meter high, a translucent, blue flame slowly appeared. When that ball of flame that was merely a foot long appeared, heaven and earth boomed and incredible heat exploded out. Long Chen immediately felt as if he were about to ignite.

His FengFu Star circulated to the max and he also retreated quickly. But even so, Long Chen was horrified to see that his clothes had already been burnt away. 

In the instant that flame appeared, it suddenly turned to ashes. His own flame strength was also completely exhausted just from that instant.

That process of the flame appearing and disappearing had taken less than half a breath’s time, but Long Chen’s eyes had almost popped out of his head.

Earth Flame. It had to be an Earth Flame.

That was a flame formed from deep within the ground. Its power was enough to overturn the heavens, vaporize the seas, and melt away mountains. Long Chen only recognized this flame with his Pill God memories.

Clenching his fists, his heart was about to leap out. In front of an Earth Flame, the beast flame he had obtained was absolutely nothing.

More importantly, this flame had clearly only just been born. It had yet to become tyrannical. This was the absolute best moment to subdue it.

But Long Chen could only watch. According to his Pill God memories, even the most trash Earth Flames were not existences someone like him could subdue.

Even an expert like Tu Fang would immediately be burnt to ashes as soon as he provoked this Earth Flame, let alone him.

“What kind of cruel joke is this?” Long Chen had an urge to cry. This absolutely ridiculously precious treasure was right in front of him, but he was unable to take it. That was an incredibly cruel punishment.

Looking at that lava pool that had once more become still, Long Chen took a deep breath. For him to want to obtain an Earth Flame was like a lunatic’s ravings. It was no different than asking for death.

He turned back and returned to Little Snow’s side. He was still just stunned blankly. This place had given birth to an Earth Flame. That was news that would shock the world.

He absolutely could not let this news spread. Finders keepers.

Long Chen carefully examined the ground and the cave. Long Chen began to draw a diagram of the cave entrance’s exact form.

Checking to make sure that all of his measurements were exact, Long Chen went out and found a huge boulder. There were quite a few rocks around the barren hill, and those rocks had identical colors and vein lines as the hill.

Finding a suitable boulder, he began to carve it down to the exact size and shape he needed it to be. 

Although his longsword couldn’t easily slice through the rock, as long as he was meticulous, he was still able to break off pieces with it. He slowly carved it into a stone door.

It had to be a stone door that would seamlessly fit with the cave’s entrance. Once he left, he would leave it here to seal the insides. That would offer a bit of security. Hopefully, others wouldn’t be able to notice it.

The stones were extremely hard, and Long Chen didn’t dare use his full strength in case he ended up breaking the longsword. That was why the process was extremely slow.

It took three days for Long Chen to form a perfect outline for the stone. Summoning out the FengFu Battle Armor, he carried the boulder which was several tons over to the cave entrance. Carefully examining it, he once more began to do some finer grinding.

On the fifth day, Long Chen wiped off his sweat. He finally had a boulder that would seamlessly block the entrance to the cave.

BOOM! Inside the cave, an explosive boom rang out as the hill shook. An incomparably powerful aura soared out.

“Little Snow advanced!” Long Chen celebrated and entered the cave to take a look. But when he did, he was given a fright. Little Snow was now almost three meters tall. His whole body’s fur was white as snow except for a tuft of red hair at his forehead. The colors had become even brighter and magnificent.

“Ao!” Little Snow suddenly raised his head and roared. The entire cave trembled as the sound echoed throughout. Even Long Chen, who had been prepared, felt his ears ringing and his head felt as if it had turned into a paste.

“Hey, just because you’re big now, do you not acknowledge me?” Long Chen rubbed his shaken ears and indignantly shouted.

“Wu wu!” Little Snow acted just as cutely as he had back when he was a cub, trying to rub Long Chen’s head. But now that his body was so huge, his head was almost the size of Long Chen’s entire body, and his attempts knocked Long Chen back repeatedly.

“Okay, okay, I’m just joking. It’s time for us to go.” Long Chen rubbed Little Snow’s head and laughed.

He and Little Snow left the cave. Long Chen sealed the entrance of the cave and then also carefully used some smaller pebbles to seal up the cracks. Using his Pill Flame, he smelted them on and then poured on another layer of rock fragments. Looking at it, it was impossible for anyone to notice that it was a stone door.

Finishing this, Long Chen was finally satisfied. Taking out the map, he figured out their position and made a mark on the map in order to avoid he himself being unable to find this place again.

After all, this was a huge desert. This small hill wasn’t that eye-catching. If Long Chen hadn’t been drawn over by the light it had been emitting, he wouldn’t have noticed it.

Finishing all this, Long Chen jumped onto Little Snow’s back. Little Snow roared and leaped forward. He was like a wild gust of wind as he charged across the land.

Half a month later, by following the map, they finally had reached the territory of the Xuantian Monastery and relaxed a bit.

That was because according to how much time had passed, they were more than early enough for the disciple test. Now they no longer rushed so quickly for the last few thousand miles.

Sitting on Little Snow’s back, they leisurely advanced. They had just entered a dense forest when suddenly there were people that blocked Long Chen’s path.