Chapter 380: The Fire Dragon of the South Sea

Once upon a time, Lin Bei's cultivation level was on par with that of Chu Liang or perhaps even slightly ahead.

Thanks to a stroke of luck, he managed to keep up for a while. However, Chu Liang eventually left him far behind. After all, relying solely on fortuitous encounters for cultivation was not sustainable.

Chu Liang, on the other hand, relied on enduring opportunities...

This time, Lin Bei had come because he was finally ready to advance to the fourth realm and form his Golden Core.

According to the process, he first needed to refine a Golden Pill.

The Golden Core he planned to cultivate was the high-tier Heavenly Golden Core of Lesser Yang. Given his appearance, which at first glance exuded an abundance of yang energy, it was no surprise that he chose this.

Like Chu Liang at that time, he also needed a treasure of nature with a yang attribute.

"I found some information in the Office of Precious Herbs, and I need someone to go with me," Lin Bei said.

When Chu Liang was refining his Golden Pill, Lin Bei had helped him a lot. Now that Lin Bei was refining his own Golden Pill, it was only right for Chu Liang to return the favor and assist him.

But...

Chu Liang couldn't help but voice his confusion. "Why don't you just buy it?"

"Buy?" Lin Bei was taken aback.

As the two stared at each other, they could see a deep gap in their perspectives reflected in each other's eyes.

It wasn’t just Lin Bei; most normal cultivators wouldn’t consider buying cultivation resources as their first choice if they could get information about them.

The main reason was simple: they couldn’t afford it.

The treasures of nature available in the market were usually those that cultivators had found by chance and couldn’t use themselves, so they put them up for sale. In such a market, where the seller held the ultimate advantage, prices were dictated entirely by the seller and every single one was outrageously expensive.

For example, the Mountain-Subjugating Marquess of South Gate City reached the sixth realm entirely by purchasing resources. Even with the entire marquessate and his shady businesses, he could barely afford it.

It was virtually impossible for an ordinary cultivator at the fourth or fifth realm to accumulate that much wealth, which was why they had to take risks to locate the natural treasures on their own or wait for the right opportunity.

Secondly, the process of searching for resources was a form of training in itself.

For core disciples of large immortal sects, the sect could fully support their needs, but they would never do so as they hoped that the search for natural treasures would serve as valuable training for the disciples.

For cultivators, there were many things aside from making progress in cultivation that they needed to understand.

But for Chu Liang, the time saved could be used for more meaningful activities that better enhanced his cultivation, such as hunting lantern monsters, black furballs, and wine-jar monsters. This type of training was not as important to him.

As for the price...

If the issue can be solved with money, is it still an issue?

When Chu Liang passed through Taotie City, he even casually bought a top-grade Green Jade Bodhi Branch.

Although he had not reached the fifth realm, the first level of the Secret Reservoir of Five Elements, which the Colorful Doll had opened up, had reached a state of stability. This meant that the Colorful Doll was ready to open the second level of the Secret Reservoir of Five Elements at any time. Therefore, when he saw a wood-element treasure of nature for sale, he bought it without hesitation, deciding to feed it to the Colorful Doll immediately.

When the Colorful Doll opened the second level of the Secret Reservoir of Five Elements, it would emit a white and green light, simultaneously providing Chu Liang with Geng Metal foundational qi and Jia Wood foundational qi.

He spent a total of eight thousand and eight hundred Vermillion-Bird coins, which was considered a lucky number.

For such a rare spirit plant, the price could range from two thousand to ten thousand coins. This was the kind of spirit plant that one should buy immediately upon seeing it.

The significant profit he made from the Mount Shu Sect issuing a large number of sword coins was all spent on purchasing the Demon-Subduing Pestle. After that, the value of the sword coins plummeted. Now, sword coins could no longer be exchanged one-to-one with Vermillion-Bird coins and could only be exchanged for eight Black-Tortoise coins.

This meant that the Green Jade Bodhi Branch would cost over ten thousand sword coins in Mount Shu.

Even so, Chu Liang paid for the Green Jade Bodhi Branch as if he were buying a simple cabbage. This resulted in the managers and attendants in the shop looking at him with utmost respect and a hint of disbelief.

Their expressions looked the same as the expressions on Lin Bei's face.

After a long pause, Lin Bei shook his head and said, "You have changed. When we first met, you even had to borrow my sword coins to use as tokens."

"Well, I saved money then so I can spend it now," Chu Liang replied with a chuckle.

Lin Bei muttered, "No wonder you had us working so hard all the time..."

"It might have been tough while you were working, but you were pretty happy when you got your share of the profit," Chu Liang responded.

"That's true," Lin Bei chuckled.

As Chu Liang's second-in-command, Lin Bei wasn't just a worker; he also got a share of the profits, so he wasn't exactly broke either. But relying solely on money to buy rare natural treasures would still be a big strain.

Chu Liang thought for a moment and said, "Since we have a lead on the location of the natural treasure, I'll go with you. We should save money where we can. But I need to be back in three days for the Four Seas Whale Gang's celebration."

It just so happened that he wanted to venture out to gain more experience and test the quality of the Jia Wood foundational qi.

"Don't worry, we'll definitely be back in time," Lin Bei said with a laugh.

After a pause, he continued, "So it's because of the Whale Gang's celebration... I was wondering why my Eldest Senior Brother hurried into closed-door cultivation, saying he wanted to advance to the second level of the Realm of the Five Elements within the next three days."

Senior Brother Xu is about to achieve another breakthrough?

Chu Liang was certainly happy to hear this news. After all, they were no longer competing, and any improvement would benefit the Mount Shu Sect as a whole.

The second level of the Realm of the Five Elements. What a coincidence. My Colorful Doll has just reached this level too.

...

𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

The islands of the South Sea were encircled by endless azure waves.

Legend has it that when the Ancient Dragon Lair collapsed, the dragons migrated to the Abyss of the Hidden Dragons.

The Abyss of the Hidden Dragons was a vast and deep underwater trench. Since dragons generally preferred water, it became an ideal nesting ground.

But not all dragons were the same.

One Inferno Dragon, unable to endure life in the Abyss, chose to set out alone, migrating to a new location.

This was understandable.

However, a powerful celestial beast like an Inferno Dragon, which left scorched earth in its wake, was not permitted to inhabit the Land of the Nine Provinces.

The Inferno Dragon ventured to the boundless South Sea, where vast and numerous islands, many as large as entire nations, provided a new territory to call home.

Here, it finally found its place. Over the years, it thrived and multiplied, producing countless offspring and even giving birth to several pureblood True Dragons.[1].

Thus, the Inferno Dragon Clan of the South Sea emerged.

Among the pureblood True Dragons, Inferno Dragons were extremely unique existences with bodily fluids that flowed like liquid flames. Over time, a type of spirit plant, nourished by these fiery liquids, began to grow in the places where Inferno Dragons roamed.

These spirit plants, which grew in the Inferno Dragon's habitat and contained the essence of the Inferno Dragon, even resembling them in shape, were known as Flowing Inferno Fruit.

The Flowing Inferno Fruit, a fire-element treasure of nature, was exactly what Lin Bei had his eyes on. It was located on one of the islands in the South Sea.

Mount Shu was located in the southwest, not far from the South Sea. After flying for half a day, the two arrived over the South Sea. Lin Bei checked the map in his hand, found their direction, and after flying for another hour, they finally saw the island depicted on the map.

This was a large volcanic island with a massive crater that resembled a dark, silent lake. At this moment, it appeared black and peaceful. Even so, as they drew nearer, they started sensing the dangerous aura that the crater emanated.

To the disciples of Mount Shu, it looked like a hotpot with all the base ingredients added but no broth.

"The growth period of the Flowing Inferno Fruit suggests that the Inferno Dragons of the South Sea might not be active right now. The creature might not be here. Even if it is, it should be hibernating at the bottom of the volcano. As long as we don't make too much noise, it shouldn't wake up."

As they landed, Lin Bei muttered while tiptoeing toward their target.

While they were still flying, they had already located the Flowing Inferno Fruit with their divine sense.

Currently, the Flowing Inferno Fruit was on a tall tree of flames at the foot of the volcano.

A tree blazing with flames stood before them, without leaves or flowers, as if the flames themselves were its blossoms. Within one of the fiery spheres was a golden, glowing fruit, about the size of a fist, exuding such powerful spiritual energy.

Around the fiery tree was a grassy lawn, with each blade of grass flickering like a tiny flame.

The two landed just outside this fiery lawn.

"There are plenty of living creatures on this island. I'm sure it will be fine for us to walk around normally. Why are you so scared?" Chu Liang said, laughing at Lin Bei's sneaky behavior.

"Even if we know it won't wake up, it's still really scary being so close to something that can turn a person to ashes with one breath," Lin Bei whispered.

"I guess I'm used to it..." Chu Liang mused.

Lin Bei didn't dare respond.

"To pick the Flowing Inferno Fruit, you must first extinguish the flames with qi of frost. You cannot use water as the fruit will dissolve on contact. Also, don't touch it directly. You need to cut the branch and catch the fruit in an ice-jade box," Lin Bei recited the harvesting process, having memorized it by heart.

"And be careful of the treasure-guarding demonic beast," Chu Liang reminded.

"This place is barren. How could there be any demonic beasts here?" Lin Bei laughed, preparing to pick the fruit.

Chu Liang looked around and found it to be true.

He formed a sword gesture with his fingers and drew multiple talismans in the air. In an instant, he unleashed a gust of frosty spiritual energy through the dozens of icy talismanic scripts and extinguished the flames on the fiery lawn and the tree of flames.

In the blink of an eye, a thin layer of frost started forming on the fruit.

"Pick it quickly before the frost melts," Lin Bei murmured to himself as he leaped under the tree, pulling out an ice-jade box.

Just the small box alone looked quite expensive.

The Flowing Inferno Fruit, enveloped by the layer of frost, looked like a thin-skinned soft-boiled egg, with the inside seemingly still flowing. With the flames in the outer layer extinguished, the fruit turned out to be in a liquid form.

Although Lin Bei was surprised, he didn't have much time to think. He swiftly formed his fingers into scissors and cut the branch holding the Flowing Inferno Fruit.

Snap.

The fist-sized Flowing Inferno Fruit dropped neatly into the ice jade box. Just as Lin Bei's face lit up with satisfaction and he was about to close the box, he felt the world around him suddenly darken.

"Watch out!" Chu Liang shouted from behind.

A deafening screech pierced the air as a shadow descended from above.

"

Hroooh!

"

1. Maybe it was already pregnant when it migrated... lol... ☜