Chapter 368 - Great Harvest

Long Chen quickly figured out that there were sixty-eight Divine Ember Beasts inside the cave, and he and Xiaolang had already killed two. He did not have enough time to wait for all of them to come out, so he had to lure them out. However, he could not lure too many out at one time. If he wanted to enter the cave, he would be safe as long as he did not cause a huge commotion and attract the other Divine Ember Beasts.

“Xiaolang, watch me!” Long Chen laughed and snuck into the tunnel. He was more suited to be the bait than Xiaolang.

Relying on the Soul Swallowing Gaze, he could easily track the Divine Ember Beasts’ movements. Holding his breath, he slowly trekked inside the tunnel, quickly arriving in front of the huge cave where the Divine Ember Beasts were gathered. Due to the lava, he could not see what precious treasures lay below, but he was sure that there would be a lot because this place was a hundred times hotter than outside. This meant that there were many Fire Essences here, and perhaps even Divine Essence Crystals!

Long Chen was sure that he had found the place with the most Fire Essences in the entire Pyro Passageways. He had gotten lucky, but he would have to put in some work in order to maximize his gains.

He took a few pebbles from the ground. Bracing himself, he tossed them at a few beasts close by. Although the pebbles were too small to cause any harm, they startled the Divine Ember Beasts. So when Long Chen made a soft sound outside the cave, all five of them walked out suspiciously.

Long Chen ran instantly!

When the Divine Ember Beasts saw him, they gave chase immediately. This time, there were five beasts in total, but Long Chen knew that he could handle them.

Very soon, he dashed out of the mouth of the tunnel, and all five beasts followed suit. He activated the Blood Devouring Domain instantly. Xiaolang, who had long been hiding, released his clones and surrounded the Divine Ember Beasts instantly. Then he used the Nine Devils Ancestral Fire. The surrounded Divine Ember Beasts obviously could not withstand the fire, so they were killed one by one.

All five Divine Ember Beasts died in less than an hour. Long Chen only managed to kill one Xiaolang took down the other four. His Nine Devils Ancestral Fire was much more destructive than Long Chen’s attacks. Long Chen was feeling a bit frustrated because while he possessed the Heaven-tier Traceless Demon Shadow as a body combat technique and the formidable Divine Fire Clone as a divine technique, everything else he had was terrible. In terms of offense, the Azure Dragon Halberd had long become inadequate in the face of his increasingly stronger enemies.

In contrast, Xiaolang’s incredible talent was starting to show.

Next, Long Chen replicated this method, every time luring five to six Divine Ember Beasts out of the cave. The situation got out of hand one time because ten Divine Ember Beasts were lured out. However, when they utilized all the clones at their disposal, plus the Blood Devouring Domain and the Nine Devils Ancestral Fire, even ten Divine Ember Beasts died in their hands.

After Xiaolang had consumed almost fifty Category Seven Earth-tier Divine Ember Beasts’ demonic cores, he underwent metamorphosis once more. This time, the process lasted half a day. After his successful metamorphosis, Xiaolang surpassed Long Chen to attain the Category Seven Earth-tier.

Long Chen had long known that the Pyro Passageways would be Xiaolang’s heaven, and he had been proved right. Xiaolang had successfully leveled up by two tiers. He shrank as a result, but his body was more condensed and solid. His life force leveled up as well, and he could control an even larger portion of the Nine Devils Ancestral Fire.

After he leveled up, the ten-plus Divine Ember Beasts in the cave were no longer a problem to them.

“Wow, Xiaolang. From today onwards, I will need you to protect me! Lead the way! Let’s go get our war spoils!”

The teenager and the wolf ran excitedly into the lava-filled cave. This time, he was no longer afraid of causing a commotion. Facing Xiaolang’s powerful attacks, the ten-plus Divine Ember Beasts were killed by his clones and the Nine Devils Ancestral Fire. Although Xiaolang was at the same tier as them, he had received the legendary ancestral fire. It was only a fraction of the actual fire, and Xiaolang could only control a small portion of it, but that was more than enough.

The Divine Ember Beasts were entirely killed off by Long Chen and Xiaolang.

After removing the threats, Long Chen started to inspect the large quantity of war spoils. The cave was huge, big enough to fit about a hundred Divine Ember Beasts. There was a gigantic number of Fire Essences inside, and he picked one up off the ground every few steps. They shone with a blinding light and radiated high heat.

Long Chen and Xiaolang separated to collect the Fire Essence, working quickly because they were worried that something unexpected could happen.

Suddenly, Long Chen sensed a huge wave of heat. The heat waves coming from the Fire Essences were strong, but they did not affect Long Chen. This new gust of heat, however, was hot enough to make Long Chen uncomfortable. He could only offset it a little by using Qi to protect his body.

He took a few steps forward and spotted the source of the heat. It was a black crystal floating quietly in the lava. If his guess was correct, this was a Divine Essence Crystal, which was worth a hundred Fire Essences!

“I didn’t have to look very hard to find you ...” Long Chen quickly put the Divine Essence Crystal away, then he continued collecting Fire Essences. Since he did not want anything to go to waste, the duo scoured the entire cave to collect all the Fire Essences, plus even more Divine Essence Crystals.

After Long Chen counted them all, he was stunned. In addition to the hundred-plus Fire Essences he had from slaying Ember Beasts outside, he had collected a total of almost two thousand Fire Essences in the cave, plus thirteen Divine Essence Crystals. Thirteen Divine Essence Crystals were equivalent to thirteen hundred Fire Essences.

He was jealous when he saw nine Fire Essences on the Ninth Prince’s sword. He never would’ve guessed that he would find so many Fire Essences here today.

“It looks like Fire Essences aren’t worth anything. The nine Fire Essences stuck on that advanced Earth-tier divine sword were likely only for boosting its existing properties. This means the other materials were very important too. Nine Fire Essences aren’t enough to forge an advanced-Earth-tier divine sword at all!”

In the beginning, one Fire Essence was enough for Xiaolang to grow by one tier. Now, however, it was not the same. Fire Essences were now almost as effective as Ember Beast demonic cores, despite containing several times more fire energy than the cores.

Long Chen had only found so many Fire Essences because he had come across a Divine Ember Beast nest. This was the largest Divine Ember Beast herd in the Pyro Passageways. They had collected countless Fire Essences and Divine Essence Crystals over countless years and tossed them in the nest. Over time, the essences and crystals had turned into regular rocks, then new ones were collected to replace them.

That was the cycle, and also why Long Chen could enjoy such a large harvest.

Of course, it was also due to his abilities. Long Chen knew that Yan Danfeng and Murong Yu, who did not have the Soul Swallowing Gaze, would not dare fight a herd of Category Seven Earth-tier Divine Ember Beasts.

𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

Although the Fire Essences did not have a large effect on Xiaolang anymore, two thousand of them would surely have a noticeable effect. Now that the collection process was over, Long Chen left and chose a quiet spot to rest. He had accumulated a lot of treasures, so leaving the crime scene was the smartest choice.

“The harvest has far exceeded my expectations! Xiaolang, a large portion of it was thanks to your efforts! I doubt they’ll get as many Fire Essences and Divine Essence Crystals as me even though they have a hundred people. That is why I’ll reserve a thousand Fire Essences and ten Divine Essence Crystals. You can have the rest as a snack!” Long Chen said with a laugh.

He was very happy with this harvest. Not only was he confident that he would get the Demon Seed Planting Technique, but Xiaolang’s strength was also increasing at a terrifying speed. Category Seven Earth-tier was far from his limit.

The Burning Heaven Emperor had said that as long as Xiaolang had enough resources, he could grow to become the strongest beast ever. Now was the time for him to flex his formidable strength. There was no limit to how many fire treasures he could consume. As long as he had enough fire-type treasures, he could grow to a level that was completely unattainable to Long Chen.

At least, that would be beyond the four foundational realms.

Long Chen now knew that it was absolutely the right choice to enter the Pyro Passageways and give Xiaolang a chance to increase his strength. With so many Fire Essences and Divine Essence Crystals in his pouch, Long Chen was excited. Would Xiaolang become as powerful as the three Demon Elders after he consumed everything he had on hand? Maybe even surpass them?

He was impressed by Xiaolang’s ability to grow. He had been completely focused on cultivation for the past two months, but the growth he had achieved was nothing compared to what Xiaolang had just experienced.

After gathering the “snacks” that Long Chen had given him in one place, which was about a thousand Fire Essences, Xiaolang started consuming them all happily.

Then Long Chen took out another unexpected treasure he had found in the cave. It was a sword, blue all over and shining with faint starlight.