Upon entering the cave, the five again discovered that someone had again beaten them, and not by long.
"Tsk, these guys are not weak at all. Here is a Fire Dragon Wolf killed in one attack…Even its bones are crushed." Hai Wuya squatted down as he inspected the corpse of a demonic beast. The Fire Dragon Wolf was a demonic beast with dragon bloodline.
"Be careful, guys! The dragon Qi here is really thick, limiting the range of soul power." Yan Fengfeng creased her brows. Her soul power could only spread out for a few hundred meters; and it wasn't a perfect sphere, but irregularly shaped.
"Let's go this way!"
There were two pathways ahead, and one could see corpses of demonic beasts littered deep inside one of them. Ye Chen didn't wish to come into contact with the previous group, and thus, he chose the second pathway.
Roar!
As expected, nobody had taken this pathway previously, considering that a thorny dragon serpent immediately lashed out the moment they got on it.
"Courting death!"
The azure flame curling on Yan Fengfeng's right hand suddenly turned into a huge phoenix claw, instantly tearing off its skull.
'You really can't judge a book by its cover. Yan Fengfeng seems noble and elegant by appearance, but she is vicious enough when she acts. That's fair too…the Blue Phoenix is, after all, a demonic beast.' Ye Chen glanced at the corpse of the Thorny Dragon Serpent and smiled bitterly.
The Dragon Cave was brimming with Dragon Qi. Many strong demonic beasts had established their foothold here, slowly absorbing the Dragon Qi and evolving dragon bloodlines. Possessing a dragon bloodline wouldn't help them improve their grade, but it would increase their battle power. Furthermore, there were a few demonic beasts that already possessed dragon bloodlines. They felt like tigers in their dens, acting like the tyrants of this cave.
Advancing seven-eight li further, the group found a Dragon Foot Demonic Cow blocking their path. Its eyes were like puddles of blood, shining with a ruthless light. It could feel the little dragon power accumulated in Ye Chen and the Blue Phoneix's power in Yan Fengfeng even more clearly. If it could eat these two people, its strength would increase by a whole level, allowing it to step into the half-step Demonic King level.
"Dragon Foot Demonic Cow…How unexpected to find one here! They are almost extinct outside.'
"A pity! It's a demonic beast with dragon bloodline, and subduing it will be really hard compared to other beasts. Otherwise, I would have certainly wounded and brought it back with me."
To tame a demonic beast, one had to raise it from the childhood. It was almost impossible to tame an adult. Moreover, nobody had ever been said to succeed in taming a dragon bloodline demonic beast.
"Wu..!"
In the Beast Taming Tablet, Dream Feeder Wolf cried out. It had much more interest in the Dragon Foot Demonic Cow than the Thorny Dragon Serpent. The latter had evolved Dragon Qi by absorbing Dragon Qi, while the former innately had a dragon bloodline. Even its hooves had evolved into dragon feet.
The Dragon Foot Demonic Cow was not easy to deal with. In all fairness, nobody present was its opponent on their own. But, when the five joined hands, it could only be thrashed.
"Nirvanic Flame!"
Yan Fengfeng transformed into a phoenix body and spurted out a mouthful of azure flame right on the cow's forehead.
Puchi!
The cow's frightening defense were burned right off, even roasting half of its brain.
"Amaranthine Nature!"
Holding the Thunder Disaster Sword, Ye Chen struck at its brain. His sword pierced deep inside, penetrating into its heart.
The cow's vitality was frightening. Even at death's door, it smashed its dragon foot at Ye Chen. A foot image, which was infused with demonic energy and dragon energy, locked the space around them.
"Break!"
Pointing his left hand's index finger toward the frozen space, Ye Chen whizzed through, getting out of the foot image's way.
But, even before the strike could reach his original position, the cow's life force had already been consumed, its body listlessly falling on the ground.
"Damn this demonic cow! It actually left me with such a heavy injury."
Among the five, Ye Chen, Yan Fengfeng, and Hai Wuya were engaged in close combat with the cow, whereas Ling Tianhao and Guan Qin were providing assistance from a distance. Yan Fengfeng's speed was unparalleled under the heavens, so the demonic cow could do nothing against her. On the other hand, Ye Chen had excellent evasive abilities as well, allowing him to avoid danger every time. However, Hai Wuya was not that lucky, as the demonic cow had clawed his chest. If not for Yan Fengfeng providing timely assist, his chest bone would have been ripped out, crushing his five viscera.
"Fortunately, I have a Life and Death King's Heavenly Yuan White Fruit. Otherwise, I would have no other choice but to return." Sucking in a breath of cold air, Hai Wuya gulped down a chicken-egg sized white fruit. Originally, he wished to save this fruit as a life-saving card for the future, and was quite reluctant to part with it. However, compared to the treasures inside the dragon cave, giving up a Heavenly Yuan White Fruit seemed indispensable.
After fifteen minutes, Hai Wuya recovered completely, and the five continued forward.
…
"That Green Scaled Draconic Lion was really frightening. It took all six of us to kill it." In another cave, a half-beast youth said with lingering fear.
Moqi Lou said, "It was indeed strong! Unfortunately for it, it met us."
The Green Scaled Draconic Lion had a higher battle power compared to the Dragon Foot Demonic Cow. After all, a cow type demonic beast's battle power was innately inferior to lion type.
"After these few months, brother Moqi's Heavenly Tiger bloodline has become much purer. You probably aren't far from greater success." Ao Wubai and Moqi Lou were both partners as well as rivals. In the battle with the Green Scaled Draconic Lion, the latter had crushed its skull with one palm; it was quite a terrifying scene. Ao Wubai guessed that the latter's strength had probably overtaken his by a slither. Of course, in a true life and death battle, there was no certainty as to who would win.
Moqi Lou smiled and said, "If not for you controlling that thing from the side, I could have done nothing. If I'm right, you have already condensed a trace of the Cyan Eyed White Wolf's power. Relying on that power, you can already perform a short term wolf-human transformation."
"Hehe, isn't brother Moqi the same?"
The half beast transformation was the ultimate form of the half beast tribe. Half human and half beast, this was their ultimate peak!
After walking for a while, the six individuals again encountered another two separate paths.
…
"So many bypaths…We'll soon reach hundred li underground!"
Ye Chen's group also had to frequently choose paths, and could only rely on their intuition.
One bypath after another…One choice after another…
Unwittingly, the five had arrived in the depths of the underground space. Before them, there was no longer any bypath, but a vast underground world. This underground world showed many frightening scenes: subterranean lava, bone-corroding poisonous water, bone-scraping gales, and flocks of blazing draconic birds in the sky.
"This lava is a somewhat peculiar. These draconic birds never come near the lava stream." Hai Wuya sensed something and remarked.
Whizz!
Ye Chen flicked his hand, shooting a broken metal piece.
The metal piece was as quick as light, but once it approached the lava river, it was immediately pulled in and disintegrated into ashes.
"Such a powerful suction force!" Ye Chen's brows creased on seeing that.
"Isn't it just lava? What lava could break our Protective Zhen Yuan?" Ling Tianhao was not concerned in the least.
Yan Fengfeng glanced at him and said, "Junior brother Ling, if you had come here alone, there would be eighty percent chance of you dying here. This lava is not normal lava…It's not even lava, but flame energy condensed into Dragon Flame."
"Dragon Flame?" Ye Chen and the others were moved.
Yan Fengfeng explained, "Dragons are demonic beasts of the legends. Most dragons could breathe fire, and this fire is nothing but the Dragon Flame. If a strand of Dragon Flame is diluted and spread over, it could turn into a sea of fire. In pure destructive power, it's even more powerful than my ancestral phoenix. This is the innate ability of the dragons."
"This is really frightening!"
Everybody understood the fact upon hearing that. Even water, if compressed enough, could have a frightening destructive power, much less to speak of the Dragon Flame.
"Then, how will we cross over?" Guan Qin cocked his head and asked.
Yan Fengfeng smiled, "Have you all forgotten that my body is a phoenix body? Fire energy can't hurt me. Although the Dragon Flame is powerful, it's not spurted out by a dragon. The two are somewhat different. Here, I'll help you go over."
Yan Fengfeng leaped up and transformed into a huge blue phoenix. With azure flames dancing and curling around, she seemed quite noble and powerful.
"Come on!"
Under normal circumstances, Yan Fengfeng wouldn't have anyone ride her. But, this was an exception.
Hearing her words, the five immediately jumped on her.
Shua!
With a flap of her wings, Yan Fengfeng shot toward the other side. En-route, she was constantly pulled in by the lava's attractive and had to skim over the surface of the lava. The Dragon Flame and azure flames counteracted each other, both existing in harmony.
Soon, the five were on the other side of lava river.
Five hundred li away from here, Moqi's Lou and company also encountered the lava river, halting their advance.
"It's just a lava river…Watch me cross!"
A half beast young elite flapped the huge black wings on his back and charged out, wishing to cross in one swoop.
Ah!
However, before he could even reach the center of the river, he fell down and sunk into disintegration. Even his final scream died before it was properly let out."
"Impossible! What kind of lava is this?" Apart from Moqi Lou, the other four turned pale, while a contemplative look appeared on the former's face.
"It's dragon flame, isn't it?" Moqi Lou blurted out.
"Brother Moqi, does this dragon flame you speak of have some relation with dragons?'
Not many knew about the Dragon Flame. After all, Dragons were demonic beasts of the legends. One could only gather information through ancient texts.
Moqi Lou said, "Dragon Flame is the strongest power of flames. Its destructive power is not one bit less than phoenix flames'. A strand of dragon flame is enough to burn all of us here into a crisp."
"Don't tell me we can only just look from here on!"
Each one of them knew that there was bound to be some treasure ahead. Who would be willing to be left out?
With creased brows, Moqi Lou said, "Who knows how long this Dragon Flame has been here for? Its might should be far weaker. First, let's test out its destructive power."
Moqi Lou took out an upper grade artifact from his storage ring and threw it into the lake.
The upper grade artifact, which even Sea of Soul realm experts couldn't destroy easily, melted right in front of their eyes before completely turning into ashes in a blink.
Watching this scene, the five felt their breaths getting stuck in their throats.
"It can buy us a blink worth of time. Going by the width of the river, it would cost us five upper grade artifacts for each person."
"Let's go all out. To gain something, you must lose something!"
"Right! There is definitely some treasure in there. We can't afford to miss it."
As the top class geniuses of Sky Martial Region, the five had some backing and didn't lack upper grade artifacts. Of course, their hearts still bled over the impending loss. Even if they weren't using these upper grade artifacts themselves, they could auction them off for several hundred thousand upper grade spirit stones. It was a moderate-sized wealth even for them.
In this manner, the five smoothly crossed over the lava lake.