The cultivator surnamed Xu's affairs were tedious and repetitive. Even the white-robed young man was starting to get anxious. Finally, after retracting his spirit power shield, Xu slowly spoke.
"Alright, next, we are going to the Flame Palace!" He only said this one sentence and did not explain what they were going there for.
Hearing his words, the two young women from the Blue Sea Sect first paled, but then they were secretly overjoyed. Looking at Xu, who was about to rise into the air, the taller, fair-skinned woman was clearly the bolder one. She quickly spoke in a delicate voice.
"Brother Xu, please wait a moment!"
"Oh? What is it, Fairy Wu?" Xu, who had been posturing to fly up, halted his movement and looked at the "Fairy Wu" he had addressed with a puzzled expression. However, a look of mockery flashed deep in his eyes, gone in an instant, completely unnoticed.
The woman called "Fairy Wu" said with a troubled look on her face.
"Brother Xu, did you say you are going to the Flame Palace? But that is not a place that Junior Sister Tao and I can go. Our cultivation is still very shallow. How can we go to such a perilous place? Besides, Brother Xu also knows that we cultivate water-attribute cultivation methods. When we get there, we will be severely suppressed. It would be good if we could even display half of our strength. So we are afraid... we are afraid we cannot go. What's more, the main purpose of this trip for Junior Sister Tao and me was to train alone. However... if we encounter a strong enemy and danger, I hope Brother Xu will not stand by and watch us die."
Although the woman surnamed Wu did not look old, her words were flawless. She stressed the words "train alone" heavily, her face full of difficulty.
"Oh, I was wondering what it was. Actually, you two should have started training alone long ago. Only in life and death can one hope for a breakthrough. Although it has been a long time since you two established your foundations, not everyone has the opportunity to enter the Northern Abyss Demon-Suppressing Pagoda for training. I thought you were timid because you had just entered this pagoda. In that case, let us part ways here." The cultivator surnamed Xu showed a spring-like smile and spoke gently.
After hearing these words, the woman surnamed Wu and her junior sister were stunned for a moment, unable to believe their ears. They had previously suggested leaving, but Xu had diverted the topic with the excuse that their two sects were close and should help each other more while outside. They hadn't expected him to be so agreeable this time.
After that, there wasn't much more to say. The two women from the Blue Sea Sect hastily made some perfunctory remarks and then quickly flew away.
Watching the two women fly away, the smile on the cultivator surnamed Xu's face slowly faded. He then turned to look at his junior brother, who was still in a daze. "What? You can't bear to see them go?"
The white-robed young man was stunned at first, then quickly said, "Oh, no, no, no. Actually, the two senior sisters should have their own business. It's just that before..."
"Before what? I didn't let them leave before because this bloody journey in the Northern Abyss Demon-Suppressing Pagoda has been nothing but killing people, killing demons, and constantly rushing. Don't you find it boring? Although these two junior sisters are a bit plain-looking, a cultivator is a cultivator. As long as they don't cultivate those sinister and poisonous techniques, their bodies are nourished by spirit qi every day. They are very fair and tender. These female cultivators can give a man ecstatic bliss. With them on the road, don't you have any thoughts, Junior Brother?"
The cultivator surnamed Xu spoke faintly, his tone devoid of desire or excitement, as if he were talking about a very ordinary matter. But it made the white-robed young man's face flush red. He stammered, momentarily at a loss for words.
"Eleventh Junior Brother, your personality is useless in the sect. If you continue like this, among all the senior and junior brothers, you will die very early and very quickly, and your end will be tragic. Master doesn't care how we junior and senior brothers compete in private. Even if I killed you here, you would have died for nothing! Hehehe, you're scared. Don't worry, I won't kill you. You are no threat to me at all. Only Eldest Senior Brother and Fifth Senior Brother are my targets. You just focus on your cultivation and constantly strengthen yourself. Alright, now those two Blue Sea Sect female cultivators know some of our true colors. They cannot leave this place alive this time. Otherwise, when they return to their sect, they will inevitably say some unfavorable things about our sect. After we've finished our business, Senior Brother will take you to have some fun, let you know what it's like to be an immortal. Cultivating is about being as happy as an immortal. Otherwise, why cultivate so hard? Just remember Fourth Senior Brother's kindness in the future when you're grateful. None of the other senior brothers are willing to take you along like this. By the way, you're not young anymore. How are you still a virgin? No wonder you're often laughed at by them!"
The white-robed young man's face turned from pale to flushed, from apprehensive to hesitant...
Seeing that his Senior Brother Xu had already let out a few cold laughs and was no longer paying him any mind, directly stepping into the air, he had no choice but to follow.
...
Bu Luo's forehead was dripping with sweat. He hadn't expected that snatching one item would cause such a huge commotion. At this moment, the closest cultivator behind him was less than fifty li away. In his divine sense, there was a long line trailing behind, with a total of more than thirty people.
If it were just that, he would still feel he had a hope of escaping. But ever since he flew out of the ruined palace, cultivators had been appearing from time to time in front or on his left and right to intercept him. If it weren't for the speed and agility of the oilcloth under his feet, he would have been cornered long ago.
"If you have the guts, fight me one on one! This is a group beating! Truly a bunch of shameless people." Although Bu Luo was nervous, he was still muttering. If it weren't for people blocking him from the front, he was confident that with the speed of the oilcloth under his feet, he would have shaken off those behind him long ago.
Every time he encountered cultivators in front, he dared not engage them. No matter the opponent's strength, he would end up getting entangled. He could only constantly fly in a roundabout way to evade and then escape.
After several turns, he finally found that there were fewer and fewer cultivators to the west, which was a good escape route for him. So, in a winding path, he sped westward.
Bu Luo didn't know why there were fewer cultivators to the west, because it was also his first time in the Northern Abyss Demon-Suppressing Pagoda. In his haste, how could he have time to think carefully? That direction was the path to a perilous place. He was only focused on fleeing.
...
After seeing the Jingtu Sect Chan Monk enter the Flame Palace, Li Yan's eyes flashed a few times, and he lowered his head in thought. A short while later, he raised his head, his face having returned to calm.
Then he continued to sit cross-legged outside, waiting for the next eruption of the Flame Palace mountain. He sat like this for the better part of a day. What he saw was still the scorching lava and those unknown monsters with large heads and small tails. These monsters paid no attention to Li Yan, only having a certain persistent desire to devour the scorching lava.
Every time these magnified, tadpole-like monsters flew over in dense swarms under the dark sky, Li Yan felt immense pressure, fearing that these things would suddenly attack him. He really didn't dare to imagine if he could escape with his life under the siege of thousands of such monsters. After all, these things could swallow the lava that could burn everything without suffering the slightest damage.
Fortunately, for the time being, both sides were at peace. But Li Yan had a faint feeling that these monsters were definitely not that simple. But for the time being, without detailed information, he could only suppress his own aura whenever they arrived. Although he didn't hide it completely, he tried his best not to make himself conspicuous.
When Blood Leaf Adept introduced this place to Li Yan, he hadn't mentioned this kind of monster. This made Li Yan initially think that Blood Leaf Adept had deliberately concealed some information. But thinking back now, Blood Leaf Adept and his group had only happened to pass by here when they got the Crimson Mother Essence. From this, it seemed they had arrived between two lava eruptions, so naturally, they hadn't seen these monsters.
And from this, it could also be judged that these monsters had no interest in the Crimson Mother Essence. Otherwise, before Blood Leaf Adept and his group arrived, the Crimson Mother Essence should have been devoured. This, in turn, made Li Yan feel much more at ease. Otherwise, the moment the lava erupted, these large-headed, small-tailed monsters would immediately appear, and wouldn't he have to snatch food from the tiger's mouth?
In the latter half of the day, no one else arrived. Li Yan was not surprised by this. On the contrary, if cultivators appeared here from time to time, that would make him wary. The perilous places in the palace under Red Maple Pool were not where everyone was willing to come, and the cultivation resources that could be obtained here were extremely limited.
Li Yan was prepared to wait for half a year, or even a year. What's more, it had only been a mere three days. When it really came down to it, he would then consider whether to enter the body of the Flame Palace mountain. He had heard that even Golden Core cultivators could perish inside. Foundation Establishment cultivators could often only enter a short distance before reaching their limit.
Soon, the originally dark red sky began to turn pitch black. Li Yan, who had just sent off a wave of monsters, was closing his eyes and using his full divine sense to scan the surroundings of the Flame Palace mountain. He did not miss a single inch. He had repeated this process more than a dozen times over the past three days.
The mountain's lava would erupt four times in a day and a night—twice during the day and twice at night.
The Flame Palace mountain covered an area of about five to six hundred li, which was already very large. But for Li Yan, his divine sense could easily cover it. Even Pseudo-Core cultivators could only look on in envy; their divine sense was only within six hundred li.
Unless a Pseudo-Core cultivator flew to the top of the Flame Palace mountain peak and scanned in a semicircular path, it would be possible to do so without missing anything. But even so, to be able to scan every inch like Li Yan was still very strenuous.
Sure enough, Li Yan withdrew his divine sense with no gains. Then he first glanced seemingly inadvertently at a certain part of the mountain. Just as he was about to regulate his breathing and cultivate, his expression suddenly moved. In his divine sense, two people were flying rapidly towards here. This was the second time in nearly a day and a night that cultivators had appeared in this area.
Originally, this place was a perilous land. It should have been days, or even tens of days, before anyone came.
But in just two short days, two groups of people had appeared. And these two people now were ones Li Yan had seen before—the two white-robed men among the five who had spied on his great battle with the Rhino-Horned Green Python.
Li Yan couldn't help but narrow his eyes. The five people he had once seen had all appeared within a day and a night. Only the two young women were missing.
Li Yan's divine sense firmly locked onto the two of them.