"Wrath of the Fire God: First Layer—Heavenly Serpent's Fury."
"Wrath of the Fire God: Second Layer—Ancient Dragon's Fury."
In an instant, Xiao Se's aura exploded upward, soaring directly from Nine-Star Dou Ling to the peak of Dou Wang.
His figure flickered. Xiao Se reached out with his right hand and firmly grasped one of the massive strange-fire greatswords. The pink flames around his body surged violently, pouring into the blade. Under Zi Yan's gaze—filled with shock, disbelief, and uncontrollable admiration—Xiao Se guided the strange-fire greatsword as it shot straight toward the Snow Sky Demon Ape at terrifying speed.
"One strike to sever the throat—Hundred-Step Flying Sword!"
As the roar echoed in his heart, an incomparably sharp sword intent erupted from Xiao Se's body. The strange-fire greatsword merged with that sword intent, transforming into an enormous, piercing beam of destruction that tore straight through the Snow Sky Demon Ape's massive body.
"ROAR—!"
A miserable, ear-piercing scream shot into the sky. Scalding blood sprayed across the ground, dyeing the earth red. Wherever the pink beam passed, the land was utterly ravaged—the bamboo forest was almost completely erased, and clouds of dust surged upward like a collapsing world.
When the smoke and dust finally dispersed, a gigantic crater more than ten zhang wide and several zhang deep appeared in the ground.
At the center of the crater, the Snow Sky Demon Ape lay sprawled out in a crucifix-like shape. Its eyes were wide open, completely devoid of life.
At its throat was a horrifying, gaping hole.
In the final moment of its life, it seemed to have seen something utterly terrifying—so terrifying that it hadn't even had time to close its eyes before dying.
At the edge of the crater, Xiao Se stood quietly, a faint smile tugging at the corners of his lips.
The combination of the Crimson Flame Sword and the strongest move of Ghost Valley Vertical Sword—Hundred-Step Flying Sword had produced power far beyond his expectations.
The body of a fifth-rank magical beast, even one covered in dense Dou Qi defenses, was no different from paper in front of that strike.
And this was only the normal Crimson Flame Sword. If he were to activate Extreme Break and then use Hundred-Step Flying Sword again, even without relying on the Demon Sword, the power would likely be enough to heavily injure—or even kill—a typical Dou Huang.
"Looks like the power's pretty decent," Xiao Se said with a slight smile.
Condensing a strange-fire longsword in his hand, he casually swung it and neatly extracted the fifth-rank ice-attribute magic core from the Snow Sky Demon Ape's head.
"Wow! Xiao Se, you're way too amazing!" Zi Yan rushed over, her face full of excitement. She grabbed Xiao Se's arm and dragged him forward. "Come on, come on! There has to be good stuff inside this dumb monkey's cave. Let's go take a look!"
Led by Zi Yan, Xiao Se entered the cave inside the valley.
"It's here—quick, quick!" Zi Yan tugged on Xiao Se's hand, speeding up as she went. She swallowed hard, her throat bobbing violently. She could already smell the scent of a feast.
The cave was fairly large—otherwise, it wouldn't have been able to accommodate the Snow Sky Demon Ape's mountain-like body. Inside, the tunnels branched out in all directions, and white fur shed by the ape was scattered everywhere.
The Earth Core Tempering Milk was hidden extremely well. But between Zi Yan's instincts as a natural treasure-hunter and Xiao Se's perspective-based perception, they quickly located its hiding place.
"Hmph. Such cheap tricks, daring to show off in front of me." Zi Yan walked to a recessed corner of the cave wall and punched down hard. The ground collapsed with a rumble, revealing a pitch-black underground passage.
"Found it!" Zi Yan grabbed Xiao Se's hand and jumped straight down into the opening.
With a casual wave of his hand, Xiao Se summoned two small dragons—one milky white, one fiery red—each as thick as an arm. Their bodies were wrapped in pink flames as they flew ahead to light the way.
The two descended deeper and deeper underground. About ten minutes later, Zi Yan suddenly noticed a white point of light at the end of the dark passage. Her eyes lit up, and she pulled Xiao Se forward at full speed.
When they emerged from the passage, Xiao Se withdrew the flame dragons, and the scene before them instantly opened up.
What appeared before their eyes was a vast underground world filled with stalactites. As far as the eye could see, milky-white stalactites stretched endlessly. At the center of this subterranean world stood a colossal stalactite over a hundred meters long and several people wide—like a monarch receiving the worship of countless subjects.
Beneath the stalactite was an enormous bluestone, deeply embedded into the ground with only part of it exposed. At the top of the stone was a shallow groove about half a foot deep, perfectly aligned with the tip of the stalactite. Inside the groove lay about two inches of milky-white liquid, from which thick white mist constantly rose.
Xiao Se took a deep breath, and an indescribable sensation of numbness spread through his bones.
The moment Zi Yan saw the milky liquid, her small face lit up with excitement. She dashed to the top of the bluestone, lay flat beside the groove, and gulped down all the milky liquid in one breath.
"Burp! I'm full, I'm full!" Zi Yan let out a satisfied belch and happily patted her still-flat stomach.
Seeing her shamelessly gluttonous behavior, Xiao Se's lips twitched. Only this little female dragon could drink all that in one go. Anyone else would've been blown apart on the spot by the overwhelming energy.
Shaking his head helplessly, Xiao Se looked up toward the base of the massive stalactite. There, where it connected to the cave ceiling, a faint glow shimmered.
"Found it." Xiao Se's eyes lit up.
The Purple Cloud Wings snapped open from his back. With a single flap, he shot upward, instantly arriving at the base of the stalactite.
"Xiao Se, what are you doing up there? It's just a pile of broken rocks—nothing interesting," Zi Yan flew up beside him, tilting her head in confusion.
"What you drank was just the diluted stuff. The real treasure is here," Xiao Se said with a smile.
He took out a jade shard and carefully carved a small opening into the base of the stalactite. Peering inside, a small cluster of emerald-green liquid could be seen floating quietly within.
"Xiao Se, what's that?" Zi Yan swallowed hard, her saliva almost spilling out.
"This is the real Earth Core Tempering Milk. What you drank earlier was just a diluted byproduct," Xiao Se explained calmly.
As he spoke, he took out two jade bottles and carefully drew out the emerald-green liquid through the opening. After leaving a small remainder inside, he sealed the carved-out stalactite back into place.
"There's still more inside—there's still more!" Zi Yan exclaimed anxiously when she saw him stop. To a veteran foodie like her, wasting food was nothing short of a crime.
Xiao Se patiently explained, "In everything, you need to leave a way out. There's an unspoken rule among alchemists—when encountering natural treasures, you must not destroy their root. This entire stalactite world relies on the Earth Core Tempering Milk to exist. If we take it all, this underground world will eventually collapse. That'd be no different from 'eating with the bowl in hand and cursing after you put it down.'"
"Oh… oh…" Zi Yan nodded, half-understanding. Her eyes, however, never left the jade bottles in Xiao Se's hands, filled with longing and anticipation.
Seeing her adorable expression, Xiao Se smiled and handed one of the bottles to her.
"Xiao Se, you're really a good person," Zi Yan said happily as she accepted it, grinning from ear to ear.
"Alright, time to head back," Xiao Se said, rubbing her head.
He had to admit—the feeling was surprisingly good. The more he touched it, the better it felt.
That simple sensation made him think of the little girl he had once saved in the Tagor Desert. He wondered how she was doing now.
If he counted correctly, she should be about eleven years old by now.
(End of Chapter)
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