Chapter 284 - Eight Clawed Fire Chi

The deeper he went, the wider the cave grew. Very quickly, he arrived at a vast underground space. The rocks here were so hot that they glowed red, and a fiery aura filled the air.

“There must have been a lot of magma here once. But now the properties of the rock have changed and only the shell is left.”

Long Chen peered down at the depths of the cave. There was a giant hole at the bottom. It could have been filled with magma a long time ago, but now it was only filled with red rocks and a small magma pool less than fifty meters wide.

The magma pool itself was not what caught his attention though. There was a beast a few times larger than the Sun Devouring Wolf sleeping inside it! It was a beast that resembled a dragon—sharp claws and teeth, and muscular limbs. It had fiery-red skin like a dragon, but it did not have horns.

The peculiar thing was that it did not only have one pair of upper limbs, but four! It had eight feet lined with fire-red claws in total, each one resembling a steel sword glowing during the forging process. They were terrifying!

What kind of beast is this?

Long Chen had never seen anything like it before.

Although it was in a deep slumber, its aura was very thick and stronger than that of the Sun Devouring Wolf. Long Chen dared not poke around, so after he memorized its features, he turned back via the same route and swam out of the lake, back to Ling Xi.

He described the beast to Ling Xi. When she heard about its eight feet, she said without hesitation, “That’s the Category Three Earth-tier Eight Clawed Fire Chi![1] It survives by absorbing the fire power from magma. Since there isn’t much magma left here, it has gone into a deep slumber to decrease energy expenditure. Eight Clawed Fire Chis are quite lazy; it will probably only move when the magma is used up.”

“Category Three Earth-tier?” Long Chen did a mental comparison and found that it was one level above Xiaolang. They might stand a chance if they both fought it together. However, Long Chen did not dare engage before fighting the dwarves.

“It’s fine. We will think about this after we help Goldfish Island through their crisis,” Long Chen declared.

The Eight Clawed Fire Chi brought two benefits. First, its inner core contained fire essence accumulated over many years of absorbing magma. That would be a great source of nourishment for Xiaolang. On top of that, its nutritious blood was food for Long Chen.

With his arm around Ling Xi, they turned to go back via the route they came from. “After coming out for a walk, you should be able to sleep now, right?” Long Chen whispered into her ear.

“I want you to hold me, but you’re not allowed to touch me anywhere else!” Ling Xi said, blushing. It was cold these days, and she felt especially calm and warm with Long Chen holding her.

“Alright.”

Long Chen smiled bitterly. This was like having mouth-watering food placed right in front of him when he was starving! Yet at most, he could only have the occasional taste. Every day, he was so attracted to her that he burned inside, yet had no outlet for these feelings. It was absolute torture ...

When they were nearing the place that Chen Feng had arranged for them to stay, a figure suddenly stepped in front of Long Chen. It was Chen Lei, who was smirking coldly.

“Long Chen! Indeed, you bear ill intentions! It’s late at night, and instead of staying in your quarters, you’re sneaking around suspiciously on Goldfish Island! Why?” he questioned coldly, towering over Long Chen with his huge figure.

“These legs are mine, so I will walk where I want! I promised to help Goldfish Island fight the dwarves, but that doesn’t mean I can’t walk around the island, right?”

Long Chen pitied Chen Lei, but if he kept acting like this, he would not mind teaching the latter a lesson.

“Still trying to argue? You’re clearly a thief! What did you steal?” Chen Lei demanded.

“Steal? What do you guys have here that’s worth stealing?” Long Chen was too lazy to talk to him.

Chen Lei eyed him suspiciously. Long Chen was right. Chen Lei and Chen Feng had the most wealth on the island, and there was nothing else that could have attracted Long Chen. Chen Lei found Long Chen suspicious because he couldn’t understand his intentions. In terms of cultivation level, Long Chen was indeed at the Heavenly River Realm. But how much real battle experience could he have at such a young age?

Chen Lei saw Long Chen as an aristocratic progeny of some large faction, the kind who had been sheltered and raised by their family to achieve such results. Fragile flowers like that would be no match for him if they truly fought.

That was why he surmised that it was not very likely that Long Chen had been stealing.

He looked behind Long Chen, then he gasped. “Did you go to Sky Lake? Long Chen, it looks like you’re targeting the Eight Clawed Fire Chi! You’re looking for death! The Eight Clawed Fire Chi is a Category Three Earth-tier beast. If you wake it up, not only will you die, but you will bring harm to all of Goldfish Island too! You say you’re here to save Goldfish Island, but I think you’ll be our downfall instead!”

Green veins popped out of his head as he made the accusations. Indeed, he had guessed correctly because Long Chen was indeed interested in the Eight Clawed Fire Chi, though not at the moment.

Long Chen did not want to argue too much, so he suppressed his annoyance and slowly explained, “Chen Lei, calm down. I’ll be honest. I did come here to help you guys, but I noticed something strange with Sky Lake when I arrived on the island. That was why I went there to investigate, and I found that indeed there were signs of a demonic beast there. Tell me, if your assumptions were correct, wouldn’t I be fighting the Eight Clawed Fire Chi right now? Would I be here talking to you?”

“You might not be targeting it today, but you will tomorrow! With your cultivation level, it will be suicide! No way, I must make you give up on this completely!”

Chen Lei’s Qi started to surge.

“Move!” Since his explanations weren’t working, Long Chen did not want to explain further.

“Never!” roared Chen Lei.

Long Chen had lost all patience. He was about to pass Ling Xi to Xiaolang to teach this idiot a lesson when Xiaolang suddenly enlarged and took on the Sun Devouring Wolf’s full-sized form. With his Category Two Earth-tier strength level, it only took a few attacks for him to pin the terrified Chen Lei to the ground.

The Sun Devouring Wolf’s thick aura and the black flames burning in his eyes sent chills through Chen Lei. He did not expect Long Chen’s pet wolf cub to be an Earth-tier beast. And it was clearly above Category One Earth-tier too.

“Listen. There is a limit to my patience. I am here to help Goldfish Island, not to get bullied by you. If you provoke me, I don’t mind killing you!” Long Chen warned as he passed Chen Lei.

Then he left with Ling Xi. Xiaolang slammed Chen Lei hard into the ground with his muscular paw, flames curling in his mouth. Chen Lei shuddered at the icy temperatures brought about by the black flames, almost unable to breathe.

Then, fortunately, Xiaolang retracted the Nine Devils Ancestral Fire.

However, his warning was enough to make Chen Lei unable to move for a while. He only stood up after fifteen minutes, staring in the direction that Long Chen had left with terror in his eyes.

Where did Long Chen come from? How did he get such a terrifying beast to be so loyal to him?

Chen Lei could not figure it out. He shook his head and sighed. “It doesn’t matter how hard I work. It’s impossible to catch up to people from large factions. Their elders can just give them a random beast and they’ll be able to bully me. If Long Chen genuinely wants to help, having that beast on our side means Goldfish Island still has some hope. Looks like I shouldn’t target him anymore, or Father will definitely yell at me ...”

***

“When will this misery end ...” Long Chen rolled his eyes, staring at the ceiling in exasperation.

He did not know whether it was the right decision to let Ling Xi use the Profound Heavenly Jade Lotus to become a normal human. At least she was happy so far, and that was enough.

Long Chen spent a total of five days on Goldfish Island. During these five days, he occasionally walked around the island, sometimes watching the islanders cultivator and other times helping the old and young move. Other than Chen Lei, the islanders really liked the legendary young couple.

News of Long Chen being a Heavenly River Realm cultivator had spread to the rest of the island thanks to Xiao Yu. When they learned that Long Chen was here to help them fight the dwarves, everyone was very grateful and often gave him presents. Ling Xi also received many clothes, beautiful accessories, and all types of delicacies, so she was very happy every day.

As for the problem with the Eight Clawed Fire Chi, Long Chen had already discussed it with Chen Feng. He planned to see if he could deal with it some time after the dwarves attacked. Chen Feng had no comment because his full attention was on defeating the dwarves. To be honest, while he knew that Long Chen had an Earth-tier beast that could easily defeat Chen Lei, making it likely a Category Two Earth-tier, there were still two Second River Stage masters on the dwarves’ side ...

In the face of mortal danger, the men of Goldfish Island were not afraid. Their blood boiled with passion, waiting for the dwarves with their weapons sharpened—they were going to fight to their deaths!

They were guarding the old, the weak, and the young of their island, as well as the land left behind by their ancestors. That was why the alternative to victory was death; there was no backing down!

Amidst their preparations, the dwarves finally arrived ...

1. a Chi is a Chinese mythological animal, considered a hornless dragon. Traditionally, Chi statues are used to decorate palace rooftops. ?