593 Dragon Cave Remanants
Unwittingly, the night fell.
"Alright, you'd best not cultivate at night. The nights of the Ancient Wilderness are full of barbaric evil Qi. The slightest negligence would have it invade you and affect your mental state." Yan Fengfeng woke up from her meditation and warned the others.
Ling Tianhao said, "Ye Chen is cultivating. Should we wake him?"
Hai Wuya smiled, "Don't look down on Ye Chen. His sword intent is the most dreadful one I have ever seen. This bit of barbaric evil Qi won't affect him. Moreover, sword artists have always been an obsessive bunch. Their sword intent can cut through the barbaric evil Qi easily."
At the core of the mountain...
"This Longevity Fruit is amazing. Not only does it contain vast amounts of energies of the heaven and earth, but it can also even nourish one's physical body and improve the dantian."
At the Sea of Soul realm, any breakthrough in the realm was also a breakthrough of the dantian. If one's dantian improved, a breakthrough would naturally follow. As for the mental state, Ye Chen had never been lacking in that aspect. This was the reason he could attain the Sea of Soul realm so quickly.
In his mental perception, he could see his dantian transforming. Following the transformation of his dantian, the Zhen Yuan Sea in his dantian was also changing, becoming increasingly purer. Its every strand had the energy to pierce through a mountain, and if all of it were to erupt, it could easily turn the heaven and earth in a span of tens of thousands of li.
Creak!
Following the transformation of the dantian and Zhen Yuan, strands of impurities were refined out, being carried to Ye Chen's right hand following the channels. A blue halo appeared on his right hand, which was flickering with a shiny grayish black air. This black air was corrosive, causing the air to produce cracking sounds.
"Didn't expect my Zhen Yuan to still have so many impurities. Moreover, it's corrosive as well!"
Ye Chen had considered his Zhen Yuan to be sufficiently pure. Even if there were some impurities, there wouldn't be too much. How was it possible for so many impurities to still be present? Moreover, these impurities were different than the previous ones, as they had a corrosive nature. As for the dantian, it had even more impurities. After all, it was the central hub of Zhen Yuan. Every time one made a breakthrough, their Zhen Yuan would be purified. However, a trace of impurities would be left behind in the dantian. These impurities were extremely hard to detect, as they were settled in the corners of the dantian. However, this time, they were being refined out as well.
As time passed, Ye Chen's entire right hand was almost covered with the shiny black air, looking frightening. If he were to battle at this moment, his one palm could gravely injure his opponent and leave behind serious repercussions.
"Hm…The dantian has expanded, and Zhen Yuan has also augmented. My breakthrough probably isn't far off."
Feeling the peculiarity in his dantian, Ye Chen sucked in a deep breath and increased the circulation of his Zhen Yuan, speeding up the course of absorbing the Longevity Fruit.
The next dawn…
Blob! Blob!
With a small summit as a center, Yuan Qi of the heaven and earth surged, and an astonishing amount of it converged into a stream, piercing into the mountain exterior and pouring into Ye Chen's body. Meanwhile, Ye Chen's body seemed to have become an impeccable refining tool, refining this Yuan Qi into Zhen Yuan.
"Breakthrough?"
Outside the mountain core, Yan Fengfeng and the rest sensed the changes brought by Ye Chen.
"Tch…Worthy of being a monster at the same level as Dugu Jue and Tantai Mingyue! Just breaking through like that. I remember how much effort it took me to break through into mid Sea of Souls realm." Hai Wuya praised.
In the mountain core, Ye Chen slowly opened his eyes. Two chilling lightning bolts struck out of his eyes before he slammed his palm on the mountain's interior.
Bang!
With that, the mountain's interior corroded and softly fell apart.
"It had so much corrosive nature!" Ye Chen was startled for a moment.
"For good for bad, I've broken through into the mid Sea of Soul realm."
For Ye Chen, every breakthrough was exceptionally precious. Upon reaching the Sea of Souls realm, he was seriously lacking accumulation of time.
"Ye Chen, you broke through?" Yan Fengfeng and company walked over.
Standing up, Ye Chen smiled, "Fortunately, the Longevity Fruit wasn't wasted."
"Your breakthrough sure was quick…Half a day was all it took."
Ye Chen had entered seclusion yesterday evening, and it was dawn at present, about fourteen hours in total. The four had originally believed that he would remain in seclusion at least until noon.
"I've made everyone waste so much time, I'm quite embarrassed. We can set out immediately!" The barbaric evil Qi this month had been thin, but it would only get stronger as the time passed. Although Ye Chen himself had no fear, he also had to consider Guan Qin and Ling Tianhao.
"In that case, let's move!" Yan Fengfeng slightly nodded. After an evening's rest, everybody's mental state was good.
…
The corresponding regions marked on the map were far off from each other. Spending a time of three days, Ye Chen and company finally arrived at the edge of this region.
"According to the map, three hundred li ahead of us is a minor forbidden region. Minor forbidden regions of Ancient Wilderness are no joke either. Each of them is dangerous…But, greater the danger, more the rewards." Yan Fengfeng opened the map and took a glance before setting her sight ahead into the distance.
"Riches are to be sought in danger. Since we've come all this way, how can we not check it out?" Hai Wuya smiled.
"Senior brother Hai is right!"
Nobody could ignore treasures. Resources were often more important than talent itself. If it were not so, why was it difficult for common households to produce somewhat accomplishing geniuses? Although Ye Chen was not a disciple of some big faction, he had his fair share of lucky chances in his journey.
For their group, three hundred li merely amounted to a couple dozen breaths.
Right there stood a huge volcanic opening. The four hovered in the air above the opening, peering down. The opening was frighteningly wide, more than a thousand meters. If such a huge volcano erupted, it would be a catastrophe.
"The volcano will have many minerals, along with a few extreme yang heavenly treasures."
Yan Fengfeng was the first to enter. She was a descendant of Blue Phoenix, so the fire basically posed no threat to her. Instead, it could actually increase her battle power. Hence, she could go in and out as she pleased.
The interior of volcano was a vast space. Just the opening was more than a thousand meters wide, and the base was more than dozens of li wide.
As far as the eye could see, golden lava brimmed everywhere. On this lava lake's surface were many huge rocks, with some spiritual grasses growing on them. There was a little patch of golden grass that piqued Ye Chen's interest.
'Scorching Yang Grass is not considered a precious herb. But, to refine Shadowless Poison's antidote, it's a must have. The yang medicinal power it contains can burn away a majority of the Shadowless Poison.'
Shua!
Charging down, Ye Chen plucked out the grass. Meanwhile, the others also moved down one after another.
Circling above a huge rock, Yan Fengfeng's brows creased. On the rock's surface were several depressions that seemed to be made from something plucked out of it, and they seemed to be fresh.
"Someone has been here." Yang Fengfeng reached to this conclusion.
"Indeed, someone has been here! There is not a single high grade Fire Cloud Rock, just a few mid or lower grade ones." Hai Wuya was quite disappointed by what they saw.
Fire Cloud Rock was a precious spiritual rock that contained a strong power of flames. They were usually formed in volcanoes; however, volcanoes usually had low grade Fire Cloud Rocks. Mid grade Fire Cloud Rocks took at least several thousand years to form, while high grade required tens of thousands of years.
"There was a huge battle here!"
Ling Tianhao picked up some signs of battle on the walls of the volcano.
"Bad luck! Let's go somewhere else!" Saying that, Yan Fengfeng flew out.
Half a day later…
Yan Fengfeng's face turned unsightly, "All the places marked on the map have been visited by someone recently."
"Is this coincidental?" Hai Wuya revealed a doubtful look.
Sucking in a deep breath, Yan Fengfeng said, "They ought to have a copy like me."
She already knew that the person who sold her the map must have made many copies. Although she had the original piece, the copies shouldn't be that different.
Ye Chen thought for a moment and said, "Going by the sequence, we'll always be one step late. Let's start with the farthest one first."
'Ye Chen's right." Hai Wuya's eyes shone on hearing that.
"This seems like the only way." Yan Fengfeng also felt that this method was feasible.
…
"Haha, nobody's been here, all due to brother Ye's quick thinking." On a mountainous ore mine, Hai Wuya couldn't help but smile as he saw precious ores and spirit grasses growing out of them.
Starting from the farthest one, the five explored one forbidden region after other. These regions certainly had their fair amount of danger, but under the combined efforts of the four, it was still manageable. As a result, their harvests continued to pile up.
"I've gathered more than half of the ingredients for Shadowless Poison's antidote. Let's see, how many more I can find."
Sweeping through one forbidden zone, the group swiftly moved to another.
A thousand li away from them was a huge a cave, and one could indistinctly hear dragon cries coming from it. Outside the cave, five-colored Yuan Qi condensed into a dragon image, curling and flickering in the air. Demonic beasts were rushing outward, but only their muffled shrieks remained.
Shua! Shua! Shua!
A group of people arrived in the air,
"What a strong dragon Qi! This must be the remains of a dragon cave."
These people were none other than members of Heavenly Tigers that Ye Chen and his company had encountered en-route—Moqi Lou and Ao Wubai.
Moqi Lou smiled, "A dragon cave would contain the Dragon Blood Grass, which is quite beneficial to us half-beast people. If we can obtain some dragon bone essence, that would be even better."
"Chances are low…But, since we're here, let's check it out."
Moqi Lou knew that there ought to be many powerful demonic beasts inside. He immediately circulated his Zhen, and a fierce tiger phantom appeared behind his back; possessing two wings and a pair of golden pupils and giving off a majestic feeling.
At the same time, the phantom of a cyan-eyed wolf also appeared behind Ao Wubai. Evidently, this cyan-eyed wolf looked much bigger and frightening than those Ye Chen had previously encountered. Its cyan eyes seemed to be devoid of any emotion.
The people behind the two were also half-beast members. They aroused their bloodlines and brought out their beast phantoms; some had bears, while others had eagles behind them at this moment.
An hour later, another group arrived: it was Ye Chen and company.
"Dragon Qi…It's a Dragon Cave!"
Yan Fengfeng and Ye Chen were the first to sense the lingering Dragon Qi.