Chapter 952: Sulfurous Flame Blood Clouds

Not long after Chen Yang vanished into the crimson mist, a string of strange sounds akin to draconic roars and thunderclaps began to ring out incessantly.

Before long, a tremendous aura began to sweep through the air in all directions, causing the nearby crimson mist to churn violently.

Everyone's expressions changed slightly upon seeing this, and it was clear from the commotion that these Sulfurous Flame Blood Clouds truly were extraordinary things.

Right at this moment, both Shi Chuankong and Xuanyuan Xing detached themselves from the group before darting into the crimson mist, while Sun Tu sped away in another direction immediately thereafter, followed closely by Fang Chan.

Han Li hesitated momentarily, then also abruptly vanished from the spot.

In the blink of an eye, everyone in Han Li's group had disappeared.

An eager look appeared on Zhu Ziqing's face upon seeing this, and she was just about to leave as well when Zhu Ziyuan grabbed onto her arm to stop her.

She was just about to complain when E Kuai said, "You can search for Sulfurous Flame Blood Clouds, but make sure you don't spread out too much in case you get lost. Our main objective is to enter the restricted area, and compared with the holy remains, Sulfurous Flame Blood Clouds are all too insignificant."

Sun Tu and the others gave affirmative responses from afar, but none of them turned back.

E Kuai's brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this.

"City Lord E, these people must be reined in! They're no longer even respecting your authority!" Fu Jian harrumphed coldly.

"It's inevitable that they'll be tempted to go after something as precious as Sulfurous Flame Blood Clouds, so just let them be. Fortunately, there aren't any hazards present in this area, so there won't be any major mishaps," E Kuai replied.

An indignant look appeared on Fu Jian's face upon hearing this, but he didn't say anything further.

"If you want to go and search for blood clouds, then you can all go as well, but make sure not to go too far," E Kuai said to Fu Jian and the others.

Fu Jian, Shao Ying, Zhu Ziyuan, and the others were all ecstatic to hear this, and they hurriedly thanked E Kuai before departing as well, leaving only E Kuai and Mistress Liu Hua behind.

"You're not going with them, Fellow Daoist Liu Hua?" E Kuai asked.

"An old man like me can't compete with those young people anymore. Besides, even though there are no natural hazards present in this area, there's no guarantee that there won't be any backstabbing, so it's safer to stay with you, City Lord E," Mistress Liu Hua replied with a smile.

"I suppose that's true," E Kuai replied with an amused smile before continuing onward, but at a far slower pace than before.

"Come to think of it, didn't you say that there Sulfurous Flame Blood Clouds are supposed to be quite rare? How is it possible that two have suddenly appeared at once?" Mistress Liu Hua asked.

E Kuai merely gave a faint smile and offered no response.

......

After traveling some distance into the crimson mist, Han Li stopped in his tracks, then channeled his Spirit Refinement Technique to release his spiritual sense to scour the surrounding area.

Close to an hour later, another chorus of draconic roars rang out, clearly indicating that someone had just obtained a Sulfurous Flame Blood Cloud, but it was unclear who it was.

In terms of spiritual sensory range, Han Li was confident that he wouldn't lose to E Kuai or anyone else, yet he hadn't found even a single Sulfurous Flame Blood Cloud up to this point.

A hint of urgency welled up in his heart as he began to pick up the pace while continuing to scour his surroundings with his spiritual sense.

All of a sudden, his expression changed slightly as he cas this gaze to the right, where he had detected some faint energy fluctuations with his spiritual sense.

A burst of white light flashed over his body as he instantly shot forth in that direction.

Before long, he arrived at a rift in the ground that was several hundred feet wide and immeasurably long and deep.

Those faint energy fluctuations were coming from deep within the rift.

Han Li didn't hesitate in the slightest as he dove into the rift, and it didn't take long for him to reach the bottom.

There, he spotted two Sulfurous Flame Blood Clouds hovering over the ground, bouncing back and forth in the confined area like a pair of headless flies.

Han Li was ecstatic to see this, and he immediately pounced onto one of the blood clouds before grabbing onto it, yet right as he was about to make a grab for the second one, two figures suddenly crashed down from above, namely Fu Jian and Duan Tong.

Both of them pounced at the remaining Sulfurous Flame Blood Cloud in unison, but Han Li was able to get there ahead of them.

"Hand over the blood clouds and we won't hurt you," Fu Jian demanded with a cold look in his eyes.

Han Li paid no heed to him as he stowed the two Sulfurous Flame Blood Clouds away before rising up into the air.

"How dare you!"

Fu Jian was furious as he swept a sleeve through the air, releasing a streak of black light that caught up to Han Li in the blink of an eye.

A loud clang rang out as Han Li blocked the streak of black light with his white scimitar, but right at this moment, a cold sneer appeared on Fu Jian's face, and the single streak of black light abruptly split up into eight identical streaks of black light before hurtling toward various vital regions of his in unison.

Han Li lashed out with his scimitar in response, unleashing eight white blade projections that swept toward the streaks of black light.

At the same time, a layer of bright starlight appeared over his other arm as he swung around before throwing a punch in a certain direction.

A string of loud clangs rang out as the blade projections clashed against the streaks of black light to repel them, while Han Li's fist clashed against the tip of a black sword that had emerged out of thin air without any warning.

The black sword was sent flying back through the air, while Han Li drifted back in retreat while looking down at a small gash on his own fist with furrowed brows.

A look of dismay appeared on Fu Jian's face in the wake of his failed sneak attack.

"As opposed to wasting time with me here, I suggest you go try your luck elsewhere, City Lord Fu. Farewell."

Han Li cupped his fist in a parting salute, then sped away as a streak of white light, doing so just in time to evade a punch from Duan Tong.

Fu Jian stomped a foot down onto the ground to launch himself after Han Li, while Duan Tong followed along in silence.

The three of them flew out of the rift in the ground almost at the exact same moment, and Han Li didn't want to engage them in a direct conflict, so he immediately began flying back in E Kuai's direction.

A flash of killing intent passed over Fu Jian's face, and he was just about to do something when a voice suddenly rang out.

"Is it not a little unbecoming of a city lord like yourself to pick on a cultivator from my Green Goat City, Fellow Daoist Fu?"

Immediately thereafter, Chen Yang emerged from the crimson mist up ahead.

It was unclear exactly how many profound acupoints had opened using that Sulfurous Flame Blood Cloud, but his aur was clearly more powerful than before.

Fu Jian stopped in his tracks as he said, "There must be a misunderstanding, City Lord Chen. We only just so happened to be searching for Sulfurous Flame Blood Clouds in this area. Congratulations on the breakthroughs that you've made."

Duan Tong also stopped in his tracks as the profound acupoints on his body faded away.

"I see. In that case, it appears I was mistaken," Chen Yang said with a faint smile.

"If there's nothing else that you wish to speak to me about, then I'll be taking my leave now," Fu Jian said as he took a glance at Han Li, then turned to depart with Duan Tong.

"Are you alright, Fellow Daoist Li?" Chen Yang asked as he turned to Han Li.

"It's a good thing that you arrived just in the nick of time, Fellow Daoist Chen," Han Li replied with a faint smile.

"With your powers, I'm sure you would've been fine even without my intervention, but Fu Jian is a very close subordinate to E Kuai, so try to avoid any direct conflicts with him unless there's no other alternative," Chen Yang cautioned.

After that, Chen Yang took a glance at the front of Han Li's robes, then quickly departed as well, making no mention of the two Sulfurous Flame Blood Cloud that Han Li was carrying.

Following Chen Yang's departure, Han Li sped away in another direction, and after about fifteen minutes, he had arrived in a relatively safe area.

Once there, he pulled out the two Sulfurous Flame Blood Clouds with an excited look in his eyes.

Such an exceptional bodily refinement treasure was undoubtedly going to be highly sought after even in the outside world, let alone in a place as barren and lacking in cultivation resources as the Scalptia Spatial Domain.

𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

However, it felt a little strange to him that something so extraordinary seemed to be so easy to obtain in this area.

Perhaps this is why the Great Ruins are such an alluring place to the cultivators of both cities.

With that in mind, Han Li was just about to devour a Sulfurous Flame Blood Cloud when another chorus of draconic roars rang out from afar, indicating that someone else had found another Sulfurous Flame Blood Cloud nearby.

Han Li returned his gaze to his two Sulfurous Flame Blood Clouds, then devoured them both at once.

With someone else refining a Sulfurous Flame Blood Cloud nearby, this was the perfect cover for him to do the same thing.

In the next instant, his entire body shuddered, following which his skin turned bright red, and the two Sulfurous Flame Blood Clouds transformed into a burst of intense heat that spread through his body.

It was as if a flame had appeared in his stomach, scorching all of his internal organs to inflict such excruciating pain upon him that even he couldn't help but give a muffled groan, despite his tremendous mental fortitude.

He clenched his fists tightly as he fought through the agony.

No one had told him that devouring Sulfurous Flame Blood Clouds would be such a painful process, and it didn't seem like Chen Yang had suffered anywhere near as much earlier.

However, what he failed to consider was that Chen Yang had only devoured a single Sulfurous Flame Blood Cloud, while he had devoured two at once.