Chapter 436: Red Fire Elephant

When Duan Rong followed Fan Hongjiao into the Council Hall, Wu Shidao, Lu Geng, and Wang Yue were already gathered around a small table.

On the table, Wu Shidao's yellowed animal-hide Topographical Map was spread out.

As soon as Fan Hongjiao walked in, Wu Shidao raised his eyes to look at her.

Upon seeing Wu Shidao's gaze, she understood his meaning and asked, "Is there a plan already?"

Wu Shidao nodded and said, "I just looked at a few locations, and there is one that is a ready-made capture site, one we surveyed before."

"Surveyed before?" Fan Hongjiao's expression shifted.

"Yes." Wu Shidao pointed to a spot on the map while looking at Fan Hongjiao and said, "Disciple, do you still remember this place?"

Fan Hongjiao lowered her head to look at the map where Wu Shidao was pointing.

Wu Shidao said, "There are two adult Red Fire Elephants in the stone cave there. Red Fire Elephants are somewhat troublesome; my suggestion at the time was that hunting them then wasn't worth it, and that we should wait until those two Red Fire Elephants gave birth to calves so we could take them all at once. Two adult Red Fire Elephants can produce four or five calves in a litter. Now that more than a year has passed, the timing is just right; the calves don't have much killing power yet, but their size should already be quite substantial."

"Two adult Red Fire Elephants, plus four or five calves—one wave is enough."

Fan Hongjiao glanced at Wu Shidao and said, "Isn't this distance a bit far?"

"It is indeed a bit far," Wu Shidao said with a hint of excitement in his expression, "but the location of this stone cave is still on the outer edge. We can go around from here and not take the route that cuts through the hinterland. Moreover, our young Disciple has already achieved the Third Layer of the Qi Refining Realm and has a certain ability to protect himself. At such a distance, and being on the outer edge, there shouldn't be any problems with us traveling together."

Fan Hongjiao pondered for a moment and said, "Alright then. Let's go with this plan."

Once the location was chosen, they prepared to set off. Everyone's things were already packed; Wu Shidao collected the Topographical Map from the table, and under Fan Hongjiao's lead, they exited the Council Hall and headed toward the Dark Forest.

Several hours later, the group was already hiding in a thicket within the Dark Forest.

Duan Rong was hiding between Wu Shidao and Fan Hongjiao, and by this time, they had been crouching in wait for two or three hours.

Not far from this thicket was a cliff face.

This cliff was quite peculiar; it was difficult to notice in the gloom, but if the daylight were bright, one could see that the entire cliff was a deep red color.

On the exposed red cliff, sparse, low-growing plants were scattered across the surface.

Those plants were only about knee-high, but each one hung with one or two berries the size of an infant's fist; these berries were also entirely fire-red and were known as Fire Infant Fruit.

Because the texture of this cliff was unique, ordinary vegetation was difficult to grow, and only these Fire Infant Fruits could adapt to this fire-attribute geology.

And these Fire Infant Fruits were of immense benefit to Red Fire Elephants, especially for growing calves, as they were a delicacy that was both delicious and capable of replenishing their fire attribute.

The reason those two adult Red Fire Elephants chose their cave not far from this cliff was precisely because they had their eyes on the Fire Infant Fruit on the cliff.

Furthermore, no other Origin Beasts wanted to fight them for this stuff; if other Origin Beasts ate these Fire Infant Fruits, it was like burning their internal organs, and only Red Fire Elephants felt it was a treat.

As the group waited in the dark forest, Duan Rong's legs had become somewhat stiff from crouching when he heard Fan Hongjiao beside him whisper, "They're here!"

Before long, the leaves in the nearby dense forest rustled, and then several black shadows emerged from the woods.

There were two large black shadows, followed by five small black shadows.

The two large shadows were as big as small hills, making Duan Rong's breath hitch slightly.

In the darkness, one could still see that the shadows were not moving fast; as they passed the thicket, Duan Rong saw what appeared to be an adult Red Fire Elephant using its trunk to stroke the back of a calf.

Before long, the two adult Red Fire Elephants had brought the five calves to the front of the cliff.

The adult Red Fire Elephants were already tall; they placed their two thick front legs against the cliff, extended their large trunks, rolled down the berries, and delivered them to the calves.

The five calves scrambled around the two adult Red Fire Elephants, eager to eat the berries...

Just then, two black shadows suddenly leaped up from a thicket at the edge of the nearby woods.

The ones jumping out of the thicket were Fan Hongjiao and Wu Shidao. Both of their figures were as fast as ghostly lightning in the dark.

Just as an adult Red Fire Elephant extended its trunk to roll up the berries on the cliff, Fan Hongjiao's Python Whip arrived in mid-air like a phantom.

With a flick of the whip tip, it coiled around the long trunk of that adult Red Fire Elephant.

Fan Hongjiao pulled that adult Red Fire Elephant down from the cliff, tugging with all her might to pull the Python Whip taut.

At this moment, Wu Shidao was already holding his Iron Ruler, his figure like a thunderbolt, smashing toward the head of the Red Fire Elephant that Fan Hongjiao was holding.

Wu Shidao used all his strength for this strike; if it landed, it could severely injure a Red Fire Elephant, and then their subsequent struggle would be in an absolute dominant position, making things much easier.

This was also a killing move launched by the two of them in a sudden attack, coordinating with each other.

But while Wu Shidao was still in mid-air, the two Red Fire Elephants had already discovered him.

The base of the nose on the other Red Fire Elephant's face suddenly turned red, like a red-hot branding iron, and then, as if sneezing, it let out an "Achoo!" and a fireball shot out from its mouth.

Once that fireball emerged, it carried a violent, latent heat and shot rapidly toward Wu Shidao in mid-air!

Wu Shidao naturally knew the power of this Red Fire Flame spat out by an adult Red Fire Elephant. Wu Shidao had no choice but to tilt his body slightly in mid-air; the Red Fire Flame grazed his shoulder, and although he was protected by heaven and earth Qi, a puff of blue smoke still rose from the side of Wu Shidao's left shoulder.

That Red Fire Flame then smashed into the ground behind Wu Shidao; the ground was rocky terrain beside the cliff, almost devoid of grass.

The Red Fire Flame hit the rocky ground and instantly exploded! It turned into a raging fire!

At the very moment Wu Shidao's movement was obstructed, the other Red Fire Elephant had already kicked off the cliff and leaped over; its hill-like body was about to land in front of the Red Fire Elephant whose trunk was entangled, and one of its large feet stomped toward the Python Whip Fan Hongjiao had pulled taut.

Fan Hongjiao frowned and immediately recoiled, retracting the Python Whip.

In fact, from the moment Wu Shidao was forced back by that Red Fire Flame, their joint sudden attack could no longer succeed.

Wu Shidao held an Iron Ruler, and Fan Hongjiao held the Python Whip; the two stood east and west, surrounding the Red Fire Elephants in the middle.

At this time, the two adult Red Fire Elephants had blood-red eyes, glaring angrily at the two people before them, while the five young calves were behind the two adult Red Fire Elephants, spinning around in a panic.

And the fire in the diagonal direction behind Wu Shidao showed no signs of weakening or extinguishing; instead, it seemed to be burning even more fiercely.

That was a patch of rocky ground without a blade of grass, so how could the fire burn even more fiercely?

Duan Rong, hiding in the thicket, looked at the fire not far away, his pupils shrinking slightly.

He saw that the rocks at the base of the flames were actually melting!

What kind of fire was that, to be able to melt rock?

Moreover, the melted rock slowly flowed outward, and it was clearly visible that the liquid rock was also burning...

This fire was actually this powerful!?

Fan Hongjiao and Wu Shidao had both made their move, yet they only left Duan Rong, Lu Geng, and Wang Yue still hiding in this thicket.

So this Red Fire Elephant was this powerful!

If they were to go out, I fear they would not only fail to harm the Red Fire Elephant, but would likely find themselves in constant peril, forcing Fan Hongjiao and Wu Shidao to save them incessantly.

If that were the case, it would be better to let Fan Hongjiao and Wu Shidao fight alone.

Very soon, Fan Hongjiao and Wu Shidao were locked in battle with the two adult Red Fire Elephants, and before long, the area near the cliff was surrounded by raging flames.

Just then, amidst the surrounding flames, that adult mother elephant suddenly let out a roar.

The mother elephant's roar sounded somewhat mournful and sorrowful, but it was not injured; it was communicating with the five small elephants.

After some fighting, the mother elephant realized that the two people before it were extremely difficult to deal with, and it already had a premonition that it would die here.

Its roar was telling the small elephants to flee quickly.

Upon hearing the mother elephant's roar, the five small elephants, though panicked, still walked a distance along the cliff and turned into the dense forest.

Fan Hongjiao and Wu Shidao did not kill the five fleeing small elephants, because if they killed them right in front of the mother elephant, it would surely drive the mother elephant into a complete frenzy.

Therefore, the two let the five small elephants escape into the dense forest.

In fact, regarding this matter, Wu Shidao had already planned it out beforehand.

The moment those five small elephants fled into the dense forest.

Lu Geng, Wang Yue, and Duan Rong, who had been hiding in the bushes, snuck out from the bushes and also slipped into the dense forest.

The two adult Red Fire Elephants were currently entangled with Fan Hongjiao and Wu Shidao and did not notice the situation by the bushes.

As soon as Lu Geng, Wang Yue, and Duan Rong darted into the dense forest, they headed toward the location of the five small elephants.

Although the five small elephants were already quite large in size, they were still young beasts with underdeveloped intelligence; now that they had suddenly lost the protection of their parents, they were scurrying about the forest in a panic.

This Dark Forest is so dangerous; without the protection of the two adult Red Fire Elephants, the probability of them surviving and growing up is actually not high. If the mother elephant hadn't had a profound premonition that it would die, it would not have let the five small elephants flee alone.

The five small elephants were soon surrounded by Lu Geng, Wang Yue, and Duan Rong.

Wang Yue held his Butterfly Twin Blades and attacked from both sides, stabbing two small elephants to death in one move.

The remaining three small elephants were even more panicked and screaming, their faces turning red as they spat out balls of somewhat dim fire.

Those fireballs were clearly not as powerful as those of the adult fire elephants, and their speed was much slower; they could not hurt Duan Rong and the others at all, merely setting some nearby grass and trees on fire.

Over at the cliff, the mother elephant heard the miserable cries of the small elephants in the dense forest and immediately went somewhat mad, wanting to charge into the forest, but it was tripped repeatedly by Fan Hongjiao's Python Whip, and by now, the miserable cries of the small elephants in the forest had already fallen silent.

In the dense forest, Lu Geng, Wang Yue, and the others looked at the corpses of the five small elephants on the ground, all with joy in their eyes. The corpses of these five small elephants were already not much smaller than the corpses of other adult Low-Tier Beasts.

Just then, a figure suddenly walked out from beside a tree that had been set ablaze by the fireballs spat out by the small elephants not far away.

It was a woman with a slender waist and an upright figure; she carried a cloth bag on her back containing an unknown Origin Beast, and in her hand, she gripped a Long Sword.

The flames of the burning tree illuminated her face!

It was a face of absolute beauty!

Without a single flaw, yet cold as frost!

The moment the woman appeared, Lu Geng, Wang Yue, and Duan Rong were all stunned where they stood.

It was not the person appearing suddenly that made them feel danger. They were stunned by that face of absolute beauty!

Beautiful beyond compare!

Cold and clear like ten-thousand-year frost!

Just as the three were dazed, the woman's Long Sword was suddenly drawn, and with a flash of sword light, without any hesitation, it stabbed toward Duan Rong's throat!

Duan Rong's whole body went cold; the Sword Radiance was close to his body, and his Origin Qi surged!

It was the Origin Qi Realm Fourth Layer!

Duan Rong immediately deployed his movement technique and flew backward!

The woman tapped her toes on the ground, holding her sword as she followed, leaping forward to continue pressing toward Duan Rong!

The two of them flew out of the dense forest almost simultaneously!

Only then did Lu Geng and Wang Yue react, and they immediately darted out of the dense forest.

Over at the cliff, Fan Hongjiao and Wu Shidao had just finished off the two adult Red Fire Elephants. One could see the two Red Fire Elephant corpses, like two small hills, lying in the middle of a patch of flames.

At this moment, one could see the trees at the edge of the nearby dense forest suddenly rustling, and then two figures flashed out from there.

One person was flying backward, their body tilted and leaning back. This person was none other than Duan Rong.

There was another woman, currently holding a sword and stabbing toward Duan Rong's throat.

Both of their figures were not weak; clearly, their Lightness Skill and footwork were both very accomplished!

Only at this moment, the Sword Radiance was no more than two or three inches away from Duan Rong's throat.

Fan Hongjiao's Divine Sense swept over, and she was immediately shocked; Zhu He had just entrusted Duan Rong to her, and if Duan Rong were to die in this Dark Forest, how would she explain it when she returned?

Fan Hongjiao immediately leaped up, preparing to act, but as she jumped out of that patch of flames, she suddenly stopped outside the edge of the fire, looking at the scene before her with astonishment.

"Artistic Conception?!"

"Blade Radiance!"

That Sword Radiance was no more than two or three inches from Duan Rong's throat.

Duan Rong had already recognized the person before him by now!

It was Lv Qingzhu!

Six years without seeing her! Lv Qingzhu's brows, eyes, and posture all possessed the charm of a mature woman! It was no longer the feeling of a young girl on the verge of blooming.

But she still retained that clear beauty from her youth! Even the icy chill in her gaze was colder than it had been six years ago! Six years ago, that look was merely a kind of indifference, but now, there was a kind of desolation in that gaze, a desolation that chilled one to the bone!

Just like a winter plum blossom on a cliff!

The winter plum was bright red! Yet it was wrapped in a thick layer of cold ice, like an ice sculpture!

Six years ago, Lv Qingzhu had said: Duan Rong, the day we meet again will be the day I kill you!

It was just that Duan Rong had not expected that the day they met again would be today! And that it would be here, in the Dark Forest deep underground.

To tell the truth, he had married, had Xiao Yu, and had a family; over these years, he had almost forgotten Lv Qingzhu!

At this moment, he absolutely could not let Lv Qingzhu kill him! However, seeing Lv Qingzhu again, his heart still trembled violently!

Duan Rong's face was expressionless, but as he looked at Lv Qingzhu, a joy he himself could not understand rose from the depths of his heart.

Seeing the Sword Radiance reach his body, Duan Rong's thoughts stirred; within his clear Spirit Sea, the Gray Shadow sitting cross-legged above the Cangqiong suddenly had the Blade Shadow at its brow brighten abruptly.

Almost simultaneously, Duan Rong drew his Frost Pattern Phosphorus Crystal Blade, and the moment the blade light flashed, one could see that upon the blade edge, there was actually Blade Radiance that looked as if it had solidified!

(End of this chapter)