Chapter 1738
Chapter 1738 (Raw 1748): Flame Demon Tribe
Half a month later, Xiao Chen ran into an invisible obstruction in the clouds.
The gravity multiplied, applying heavy pressure on the Cycle Throne, which made flying exceptionally difficult.
“I’ve arrived?”
Xiao Chen opened his eyes and looked down. Dust covered the place, reducing visibility. He could not see to the bottom.
An ancient and savage aura still lingered in the Dragon Flame Ancient Land. The level of space was different from outside.
Although Xiao Chen could not see much, he believed that he must have reached his destination.
He leaped into the air, jumping off the throne. When he landed, the throne turned into a beam of black light that entered his clothes.
Desolate land met Xiao Chen’s eyes wherever he looked. The ground was dry and cracked; even grass was rare.
Hot, arid, and lonely.
The ancient savage aura lingering in the air actually gave Xiao Chen a sense of familiarity.
This was the Dragon Flame Ancient Land.
Xiao Chen did not seem to sense any threat at all.
“Let’s go to Dragon Flame City first!”
The Dragon Flame Ancient Land was vast, occupying nearly one-third of the Soaring Dragon Great Realm. More than seventy percent of it remained unexplored.
Dragon Flame City was the only city in the entire Dragon Flame Ancient Land.
Maintaining his caution, Xiao Chen set off.
After about seven minutes, he took out a bottle of water to drink, having discovered that the drain from his bodily functions was much greater than outside.
Do not underestimate this. Cultivators were not immortals who did not need to eat and drink; they just had a smaller drain on their bodies.
A cultivator remaining in closed-door cultivation would last for only half a year or so. Any longer and they would need to eat and drink, unless it was a Divine Vein powerhouse that surpassed the Cloud Sea Realm.
“The Dragon Flame Ancient Land’s environment is rather vile. I’m like an ordinary person.”
Holding the Tyrant Saber in his hand, Xiao Chen casually walked in a direction he chose.
After taking just a few steps, he saw a charred corpse. The manner of death was exceptionally miserable.
Xiao Chen prodded the corpse gently with his scabbard, and the corpse crumbled into ashes.
It had not simply been burned; its lifeforce had been completely drained.
“Flame Demon,” Xiao Chen said indifferently.
One of the threats of the Dragon Flame Ancient Land was an endemic ferocious beast, the Flame Demon.
More accurately, the Flame Demon was a kind of Fiendish Demon. The conditions of a Flame Demon’s birth were very harsh. It was much scarier than a regular Fiendish Demon and was one of the few extant Fiendish Demons in the Great Thousand Realms.
However, Flame Demons could not leave their special environment. Hence, the threat of the Flame Demons was significantly reduced.
The true powerhouses would not purposely come and seek trouble for the Flame Demons.
There was no way to exterminate the Flame Demons. As long as the Dragon Flame Ancient Land existed, Flame Demons would always be born.
“The corpse was very well preserved. This means that this Flame Demon has not gone far yet.”
Xiao Chen entered deep thought before deciding to test out this Flame Demon.
The Heavenly Eye in Xiao Chen’s forehead immediately turned into a beam of light and flew out to search the surroundings.
Soon, he found some traces.
A man and woman were fighting a Flame Demon on a hill some distance from Xiao Chen.
The two were Major Primal Core Venerates. However, they were struggling to handle a Flame Demon of similar cultivation.
Countless charred corpses lay around the two, presenting a very startling sight.
“Strange. Those charred corpses seemed to be only Minor Primal Core cultivators. They were not very strong, not even having a Great Desolate Eon bloodline.”
Xiao Chen could not understand why those people took the risk of entering the Dragon Flame Ancient Land.
However, he stopped thinking about this for now and looked at that Flame Demon.
The Flame Demon looked human. However, one could tell the difference by its aura and how it attacked.
There was no way for it to disguise its Fiendish Demon aura. The white flame that circled its hands had a bluish tinge that terrified those two cultivators.
Even within the similar cultivation, Flame Demons could differ in strength.
White Flame Demons were Inferior Grade Flame Demons. Blue Flame Demons were Medial Grade Flame Demons. As for the red ones, those were the Superior Grade Flame Demons that no one wanted to run into.
The colors did not represent strength but quality, similar to the bloodline grading of the human cultivators.
Despite being of similar strength, a blue Flame Demon could easily kill ten white Flame Demons.
The Flame Demon that Xiao Chen saw produced a flame that was close to blue. That meant that it was already of rather high quality, nearly a Medial Grade Flame Demon.
Xiao Chen withdrew his Heavenly Eye. Then, with a few flashes, he arrived in the man and woman’s vicinity.
“Big Brother, someone is coming.”
The male cultivator looked at Xiao Chen and immediately frowned. “It is just a Minor Primal Core Venerate; he is useless. This is really bad timing. We are just here to deliver supplies, and we actually ran into a peak Inferior Grade Flame Demon.”
Upon seeing Xiao Chen appear, that Flame Demon abandoned the two and launched itself at him.
Perhaps it was because the Flame Demon discovered Xiao Chen’s rather low cultivation. Hence, that Flame Demon smiled and pounced at Xiao Chen.
That man and woman took the opportunity to flee without even turning their heads back.
“Human, taste the feeling of being burned!”
The Flame Demon gave a strange cackle. A fiery aura surged over, nearly singeing Xiao Chen’s hair.
“Whoosh!”
A saber light flashed, and Xiao Chen chopped off the pouncing Flame Demon’s arm even before it could clearly see what happened.
When the Flame Demon’s arm fell off, a terrifying flame spewed out as the Flame Demon shrieked in agony.
The Flame Demon held its wound with its left hand and gazed at Xiao Chen in horror. Then, it turned into a pool of flames and merged into the ground, fleeing far away.
The vertical Heavenly Eye on Xiao Chen’s forehead opened, and he clearly saw a black shadow underground, rushing north.
Then, the vertical eye closed. When the black shadow had fled far away, Xiao Chen set off in pursuit.
As for that man and woman from earlier, he could not be bothered with them.
They were likely to be members of a group of desperate runners. By transporting supplies from the outside to Dragon Flame City, they could earn a difference of several tens of times the original price.
Of course, they could also encounter Flame Demons and lose their lives.
Xiao Chen followed unhurriedly, hiding his aura as he carefully gave chase.
The Flame Demons were pack Fiendish Demons. He wanted to see if the Flame Demon would return to its tribe or not.
If this Flame Demon led Xiao Chen back to its tribe, he would not mind trying to barge into the tribe.
Flame Demon tribes lived by collecting fire.
The place where they collected fire would definitely have a strong flame, which was what Xiao Chen needed.
Before Xiao Chen arrived, he had already thought of a plan.
Half a day later, the sky turned dark. The Flame Demon that Xiao Chen was following disappeared all of a sudden.
“Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!”
After a long time, Xiao Chen appeared from the darkness, landing where he last saw the Flame Demon.
Could the Flame Demon tribe be underground?
Xiao Chen had never heard that the Flame Demon had the ability to dig into the ground.
However, it was impossible for him to give up after chasing this far.
Xiao Chen rubbed his chin with his right hand and thought for a while. Then, he ferociously punched the ground.
Silently, the dirt that crumbled into dust flew out. After a while, a hole appeared in the ground.
Xiao Chen’s figure flashed as he entered the hole.
As he descended, he discovered that the underground was as he had expected: not completely solid with many tunnels there, crisscrossing each other like a maze.
Xiao Chen followed the heatwaves towards their source, carefully walking in the tunnels.
After one hour, he finally felt surging heatwaves in this complicated system of tunnels and the auras of many Flame Demons.
“So, they really are hidden here.”
A light flashed in Xiao Chen’s eyes. He thought for a while before quickly rushing over.
His figure appeared extremely nimble as he traveled in the tunnels.
When Xiao Chen swept his gaze across, he discovered the Flame Demon whose arm he chopped off heading towards a certain cave.
A smile appeared on his face. He stuck close to the ceiling, following quickly like a lizard.
Xiao Chen saw that one-armed Flame Demon stop at a certain cave and speak with two Flame Demons guarding the entrance, then stride in.
Right after the Flame Demon entered, Xiao Chen descended in a flash.
Then, he attacked at lightning speed. The Heavenly Snow Divine Flame instantly sealed the Flame Demon on the left in ice. Then, he stabbed his other hand into the chest of the Flame Demon on the right before pulling out a white Blaze Crystal.
The Blaze Crystal was the core of a Flame Demon’s life. Once lost, the Flame Demon would immediately die.
Before the two Flame Demons could speak, Xiao Chen quietly finished them off.
Then, he calmly walked in, continuing to sneak after that one-armed Flame Demon. Without that one-armed Flame Demon leading the way, he would not be able to find the main cave of this Flame Demon tribe in this complicated maze of tunnels.
He ran into Flame Demon guards at regular intervals. The place was tightly guarded.
However, Xiao Chen attacked at lightning speed every time, immediately killing the Flame Demons that the one-armed Flame Demon spoke to right after the one-armed Flame Demon left.
Along the way, he obtained more than fifty white Blaze Crystals.
Suddenly, the one-armed Flame Demon in front felt that something was wrong, and it suddenly turned its head back to look.
However, the Flame Demon did not see anything. When the Flame Demon turned its head, Xiao Chen had already realized and quietly pressed his body against the ceiling.
The moment the Flame Demon left, Xiao Chen descended.
He followed the one-armed Flame Demon in the shadows, keeping a close distance and moving quickly.
Behind him, all the Flame Demons died, either sealed in ice or turned to ashes.
Xiao Chen relied on his skills and boldness, as well as calm and steady movements, to do something that seemed utterly crazy.
He entered deep into the Flame Demon tribe alone.
Finally, that one-armed Flame Demon arrived at a rather vast cave.
A clump of dark-red flame was burning fiercely in the center. This flame flickered with a strange light, giving off surging heatwaves.
A blue-haired Flame Demon with gloomy eyes sat on a stone throne at the end of the cave.
Several Flame Demons stood in other areas, the weakest of whom was at Major Primal Core Realm.
These Flame Demons had expressions of bliss as they absorbed the heat from the dark-red flame.
It was clear that only Flame Demons of a certain strength or high talent were qualified to enter the cave.
Xiao Chen watched from outside, sticking close to the wall and keeping his distance. Then, his eyes landed on that dark-red flame.
Xiao Chen could not recognize the flame seed, but he could sense that this was a Yang-attributed flame that was not weaker than the Dazzling Sunlight True Flame.
Furthermore, this flame was old, having burned for at least one thousand years already. This was clear from the fire-attributed energy that it contained.
“Yan Feng! How were you injured?! Speak the truth,” the blue-haired Flame Demon on the stone throne ordered without changing its expression while looking at the one-armed Flame Demon.
“Tribe Leader, I was injured by a white-clad bladesman. He chopped off my arm with one saber strike. He was so fast that I could not even see it clearly.”
On recalling that scene, this one-armed Flame Demon shivered involuntarily.
“You fool! Every tribe sent out an order not to engage with any human carrying a saber. Didn’t I tell you that?!” the blue-haired Flame Demon shouted.
“This subordinate saw that his cultivation was rather low and got careless. This subordinate deserves death.”
The one-armed Flame Demon was so frightened that it immediately knelt on the ground.
“Humph! Your punishment is one month’s ban from the Holy Flame Cave. You can use the holy flame to treat your injury one month later.”
“This subordinate understands.”
The one-armed Flame Demon did not dare to argue. It looked at the blazing, dark-red flame with some greed before turning to leave.
The one-armed Flame Demon walked halfway to the mouth of the cave when the blue-haired Flame Demon suddenly realized something. “You trash! After having your arm chopped off, how are you able to return alive?!”
“Whoosh!”
With these words, the gazes of all the Flame Demons in the Holy Flame Cave turned cold as they looked at the one-armed Flame Demon.
“Speak! How did you return?!”