Chapter 189: Exploration and the Ancient Cultivator's Cave Abode

"Chu Youqing, Aunt, I leave it to you."

"Oh, okay."

"In the new Spirit Realm."

"After a group of star void aberrations appeared, they surged forward with fierce momentum toward the three."

"Lu Xun opted to be a hands-off manager, handing this group of star void aberrations over to the two women to handle."

"Both women's combat strength is not lacking; don't be fooled by Murong Wan only being at third realm third layer—she can still hold her own against a fourth-realm opponent."

"Even if she can't win, retreating unharmed is still possible."

"You should know, Murong Wan broke through to the third realm from the fifteenth layer of the second realm, and her combat strength is extraordinarily beyond the norm."

"Chu Youqing needs no saying—she has already reached eighth layer of the third realm."

"Working together, even a fourth-realm aberration was ultimately killed by them outright."

"How about it, Lu Xun?"

"Chu Youqing waved her hand, recalling her flying sword, a pleased smile on her pretty face."

"Not bad."

"Lu Xun clapped his hands."

"Aunt is also very impressive."

"Then he began praising Murong Wan."

"Murong Wan's lips twitched upward, but she quickly suppressed it."

"Even though she had completely given her heart to Lu Xun, in front of Chu Youqing she still paid attention to her deportment."

"Let's go, let's head over there."

"Mm."

"The three continued their actions."

"This Spirit Realm is called the Scarlet Flame Continent."

"Within the Spirit Realm, there is a massive landmass whose length and width both exceed 100,000 kilometers."

"Around this landmass, several stars are in orbit."

"This landmass happens to exist at the gravitational balance point of several stars."

"Here, it is a standard heaven-round, earth-square."

"Due to the large number of stars, above the Scarlet Flame Continent there are always more than three suns at any time."

"This directly causes the Scarlet Flame Continent's temperature to be extremely high, and heavenly fire occasionally falls."

"If it weren't for the presence of Dark Energy, no life could exist on the Scarlet Flame Continent."

"The accumulation of Dark Energy allowed the Scarlet Flame Continent to form a complete ecosystem; its plants mostly possess fire affinity, resisting high temperatures and drought."

"The fruits that grow here contain some fire energy to varying degrees."

"This Spirit Realm is very friendly to Lu Xun and Chu Youqing."

"Chu Youqing's ancient spiritual root is inherently fire-affinity, and she has opened the Blaze-Sky Crimson Phoenix Vein, a fire-type earthly spiritual vein; this place can be said to be her blessed land."

"Lu Xun's Immortal Divine Phoenix Vein originated from Chu Youqing; this place is likewise his blessed land."

"It's a pity that Lu Xun cannot cultivate himself; otherwise, finding a good spot in this Spirit Realm to cultivate would make his progress lightning fast."

"I'll handle the fifth-realm ones; leave the rest to you."

"Okay."

"Battle resumes."

"On the Scarlet Flame Continent, fifth-realm star void aberrations are more numerous."

"Like in the Lightning Spirit Realm, often a large area is needed before a single fifth-realm appears."

"Here, wherever star void aberrations are slightly more numerous, fifth-realm aberrations appear."

"To find good things in the Spirit Realm, there's a basic secret: go where aberrations are plentiful."

"As long as you can deal with the aberrations, you'll gain something to some extent."

"Of course, doing this also makes it easy to slip up; you might enter some star void aberrations' nests, fall into heavy encirclement, and then it's GG."

"Boom~"

"The aberrations in this Spirit Realm vary in form, and their abilities mostly relate to fire."

"For example, a fire-spewing bird: its expelled flames can easily melt steel; some powerful fire-spewing birds, with one spray create a sea of fire, a hundred times more terrifying than the most powerful incendiary bombs of the old era."

"Chu Youqing, don't use fireballs; use the flying sword technique I taught you."

"Oh."

"Lu Xun also taught Chu Youqing the Shadowless Flying Sword Technique."

"This time, bringing the two younger sisters along provides a good opportunity to improve their martial skills and arts, as well as their combat techniques and experience."

"Wow, fire spirit fruit."

"After dealing with these star void aberrations, sure enough there's something good."

"Fire spirit fruit, a fire-type fruit, contains rich energy within."

"It's just not yet mature, which is why those star void aberrations have been guarding it."

"Its value is even higher than the fruit Chu Youqing ate in the cellar secret realm."

"Otherwise, why would fifth-realm star void aberrations be guarding it?"

"Lu Xun didn't have time to wait for it to mature, so he directly harvested these fire spirit fruits."

"Immature fire spirit fruit, if eaten directly, has its effects greatly reduced."

"Don't forget, Lu Xun is an alchemist."

The basic skill of an alchemist is refinement.

Even if it's not mature, after Lu Xun refines it and makes it into a pill, the effect won't be much different.

"Let's go, we'll head over there."

"Hmm."

The three continued onward in one direction.

Through the Heavenly Dao Eye, Lu Xun can find some heavenly earth spiritual objects in advance, thus saving a lot of time.

Moreover, he can also avoid some dangerous places.

For example, Lu Xun happened to see a huge mass of heavenly fire falling from the sky, forming a sea of fire with a diameter of several hundred kilometers on the Scarlet Flame Continent.

If it weren't for the Heavenly Dao Eye seeing it, Lu Xun would very likely have just crashed right into it.

These heavenly fires are too terrifying; an ordinary Third Realm cultivator would surely die inside, and a Fourth Realm would have to shed a layer of skin to get out.

A range of several hundred kilometers in diameter is equivalent to a medium-sized province of China, yet it's not that easy to escape from.

Even if one could withstand the heavenly fire and charge out, the problem is that mass of heavenly fire attracted a Starry Void Species of the Six Realms.

Hit it and you're done for.

Yes, the Scarlet Flame Continent also has Six Realms Starry Void Species, only their numbers are relatively scarce.

If one didn't have the Heavenly Dao Eye's divine ability, they'd need to be extremely cautious; when encountering a Starry Void Species, they should plan before acting and always be ready to use their trump card.

"Roar! Humans, die!"

At another place with spiritual objects, Lu Xun and the two others encountered a new kind of foreign race person.

Flame Demon.

Flame Demons are a branch of the Demon Clan; their bodies are entirely made of fire, and their image closely resembles the Flame Demon of Western legend.

The Scarlet Flame Continent is also a blessed land for Flame Demons, because they can absorb fire and fire-element energy to grow.

This battle was quite difficult, because among these Flame Demons there is one Fifth Realm cultivator and three Fourth Realm cultivators.

Fortunately, with Barbara's Immobilization Spell, this big killer, the victory ultimately belonged to Lu Xun and the two others.

【Chu Youqing has learned the Shadowless Flying Sword Technique; you gain forty times Chu Youqing's harvest.】

【Your Shadowless Flying Sword Technique has risen to the sixth stage.】

After the battle ended, Chu Youqing finally grasped the essence of the Shadowless Flying Sword Technique in combat; relying on this sword technique, she cooperated with Murong Wan and also killed a Fourth Realm Flame Demon.

Lu Xun's Shadowless Flying Sword Technique thus directly rose to the sixth stage.

Not only did its power greatly increase, but it also became more troublesome to deal with.

Now, he can easily kill a Fourth Realm cultivator just by relying on this Shadowless Flying Sword Technique, and the threat to Fifth Realm cultivators will undergo a qualitative leap.

As before, Lu Xun wanted to ensure maximum power while controlling no more than twenty flying swords at once.

Now he can simultaneously control several dozen flying swords.

This is under the condition of maximum power.

If power is not considered, given Lu Xun's formidable flying sword technique, controlling several hundred flying swords at once is no problem.

"We'll need to forge some more flying swords when we head back."

Lu Xun thought.

His set of flying swords mixed with divine bone bone ash totals only thirty-six.

The rest are all fifth-grade flying swords.

"Let's rest a bit before we go~"

"Hmm~"

After exploring for over ten hours straight, Lu Xun decided to take a break.

He found a cave, took out a set of formation tools, threw them down, and set up a formation.

This is a fourth-grade Spirit Concealment Array, mainly serving to conceal.

Lu Xun spent over ten units of Dark Energy to buy a whole set of formation tools; setting it up this way doesn't require too high a attainment in formation arts.

It's convenient, but it's indeed quite expensive.

But if one knows formation arts, setting up a fourth-grade Spirit Concealment Array basically costs almost nothing.

No way.

This is the power of knowledge.

After setting up the formation, Lu Xun took out three beds, arranged them in a row, also took out some tables and chairs, and laid out food.

He even placed a smart toilet in the corner.

This cave, arranged by him, is more comfortable than home.

"Little Aunt, I said following Lu Xun is very comfortable, right?"

Chu Youqing pulled Murong Wan to sit down.

Murong Wan was somewhat surprised.

She has the Space Ring Lu Xun gave her, but it can only hold a few cubic meters of stuff—how could she carry this much?

Having eaten and drunk her fill, when resting, Chu Youqing especially wanted to run to Lu Xun's bed and lean against him to sleep.

She loves the feeling of sleeping next to Lu Xun too much; it makes her feel especially at ease.

However, Murong Wan was beside her, so Chu Youqing felt embarrassed to go over.

The next day,

The three continued their exploration.

Lu Xun still did as before—first used the Heavenly Dao Eye to look, then led the two women into action.

The Scarlet Flame Continent is huge; its total area is several dozen times that of Lan Xing, and could even exceed a hundred times.

However, the vegetation above is far less lush than that of Lan Xing; large areas here are barren.

Barren land stretches for a thousand li.

From time to time, burning heavenly fire can be seen.

When these heavenly fires fall, star-space exotic beings gather to devour them.

The larger the heavenly fire, the more formidable the star-space exotic beings that absorb it.

"Lu Xun, how remarkable."

The unique environment of the Scarlet Flame Continent leaves Chu Youqing quite astonished.

Those who first enter an ancient road node generally have this feeling.

In any ancient road node, the Spirit Realm within is infinitely varied, differing greatly from Lan Xing.

Such exotic alien charm is truly captivating.

After all,

Curiosity is humanity's greatest heart.

Since ancient times, humanity has longed for and yearned toward the starry sky.

The curiosity about the starry sky and the universe is something etched into their genes.

The three continued their expedition.

Not every day brings a good harvest.

Such as fire spirit fruits, they are still relatively scarce.

The fire spirit fruits have not yet matured.

If they matured, they would be devoured by star-space exotic beings in a split second, leaving Lu Xun and the others no chance.

Besides fire spirit fruits, the Scarlet Flame Continent actually has the most of flame stone, fire energy stone, fire crystal, scarlet flame iron, extraterrestrial meteoric iron, and other energy stones and ores.

There is also a kind of heavenly fire bead, formed when extremely potent heavenly fire burns away some mountains, leaving substances that cannot be burned by the heavenly fire to condense into beads.

Such heavenly fire beads are very useful for fire cultivators or fire mages.

Fire mages can place them in front of their wands, using them as magic crystals to increase spell power and casting speed.

If one can gather a large number of heavenly fire beads and string them into a bracelet to wear, it would be greatly beneficial for fire cultivators.

"Not a bad harvest."

After several days of exploration, thanks to the heaven-defying Heaven's Eye, Lu Xun and the others have gained a bountiful harvest.

Compared to the harvest from the Lightning Spirit Realm, it is much greater.

Especially the fire spirit fruit; once refined into a pill, it should allow Chu Youqing to break through the fourth realm in one go!

Such pills pose little hidden danger, for the pill itself is centered around the fire spirit fruit, equivalent to a mature fire spirit fruit.

After Chu Youqing breaks through, Lu Xun will have her fight a few bouts against exotic beings or foreign peoples, and her cultivation will solidify.

In the meantime, they encountered another foreign people, and from afar also saw a group of humans.

The foreign people were slain by Lu Xun, while the humans kept their distance from each other.

Not few peoples have entered the Scarlet Flame Continent, but because the continent is vast, the chance of running into one another is actually small.

"Huh?"

Another day passed, and when Lu Xun used the Heaven's Eye, he suddenly discovered an ancient palace.

That palace is not on the surface but underground, on an island at the center of a vast magma lake.

On the palace's great door are several ancient characters.

"Ancient script?"

He recorded several of the characters.

After the Heaven's Eye ended, Lu Xun took out his phone, opened an app, and entered the characters.

"Li Huo Palace."

Soon he knew the meaning of those characters.

Li Huo Palace!

"Good fellow, this is an ancient cultivator's cave-abode!"

Lu Xun's eyes lit up.