Chapter 19

Facing Ning Zhanji's sudden test, the others looked at each other.

Unlike Ning Zhuo guessed: "These spirit plants are all very young and have very low value, so picking them is naturally not for the spirit plants themselves. I think it should be to maintain this passage and deliberately clear it. If there are spirit plants, it will attract spirit beasts and demon beasts. If our clan wants to use this passage for a long time, it is obviously necessary to nip it in the bud."

"Not bad." Ning Zhanji nodded, "The clan academy's cultivation of you is still effective."

"Pick one plant from these spirit plants; consider it a reward for answering correctly."

"As for which one you can pick, it depends on your eye for quality."

Unlike Ning Zhuo did not hesitate, reached out directly, took a fire-crystal grass, and then thanked him: "Thank you, Lord Ning Zhanji! I have some research on the herbal market; among the spirit plants, this fire-crystal grass has the best quality and will definitely have the highest selling price."

Ning Zhanji nodded, then shook his head: "You chose the one with the high market price, which is also not bad."

"But if I were you, I would choose the Vigor-ginseng."

"Because as clansmen of the Ning family, we cultivate ice-attribute techniques, and spirit plants like fire-crystal grass are not suitable for our constitution. But Vigor-ginseng is, and it can nourish our physical bodies."

"You are still young now, don't just drill into the eyes of money. You must know that investing in yourself is the best path to success."

"Once you reach the Foundation Establishment stage, you will have a different life situation."

Hearing this, Unlike Ning Zhuo revealed a look of awe and instruction.

Ning Zhanji took the opportunity to instill: "Excellent cultivators are all those who dare to struggle. You must fully estimate the ratio between risk and return. If you join the Battle Hall and are assigned to guard here, you can harvest several spirit plants every day, and there is also the protection of the temporary camp. This is a rare opportunity."

"Many times, refusing risk is refusing opportunity."

Unlike Ning Zhuo revealed a look of being moved.

This change in expression fell into Ning Zhanji's eyes, and the latter chuckled inwardly: "After all, he is just a youth..."

"My lord, I want to be stationed here." Ning Yong shouted.

Ning Zhanji laughed: "Newcomer, pass the special training first before you talk."

The Ning family cultivator brigade entered an underground hall.

This was clearly a front-line position specifically built by the Ning family.

Two Ning family stationed cultivators remained in the hall.

The stationed cultivators quickly responded.

Ning Zhanji ordered a temporary rest, while he himself stood in the center of the underground hall, stirred his magic power, and pinched finger seals.

Immediately, complex array patterns appeared on the cave walls above the hall.

In the center of the array patterns, an array disk the size of a millstone slowly descended, finally landing in front of Ning Zhanji.

Ning Zhanji stroked the array disk with both hands, communicated with his spiritual sense, and quickly retrieved the recorded information in the array disk. Therefore, in just a few breaths of time, he had a clear understanding of everything that had happened at this front-line camp.

After doing this, he took out spirit stones from his money bag, took out the spirit stones in the array disk that had completely turned into gray stones or were mostly dim, and replaced them all.

After a short rest, the Ning family cultivator brigade continued to set off.

On the subsequent journey, Unlike Ning Zhuo passed through three more forward camps in total.

Some rested, while others were passed by directly.

As everyone gradually deepened into the underground of the volcano, the threat gradually increased.

The traces of demon beasts increased significantly.

There were fire-velvet mice the size of a foot, stone heads that could float in mid-air—Red Rock Demon Heads, and Flame-treading Lizards.

"Stop!" Ning Zhanji had been leading the charge, suddenly raised his hand, and paused in place.

The cultivators stood still quickly, turning from movement to stillness, obeying orders and prohibitions, revealing excellent tactical literacy.

Ning Zhanji lowered his head, carefully examining a small ditch in front of him.

He stretched out his finger and gently touched the concave surface layer of the small ditch. The surface layer was smooth, faintly emitting a glazed, moist luster.

"It's a Fire-running Snake; it should be over a hundred years old and is a Foundation Establishment level demon beast." After Ning Zhanji finished introducing, he ordered the whole army to be on guard.

Ning Yong was carefree, appearing excited: "Finally encountered one? With Lord Ning Zhanji here, are we still afraid of a small demon beast?"

Ning Chen analyzed: "Except for us few newcomers, we have a total of six Foundation Establishment cultivators here, and the others are high-level Qi Refining cultivators."

"It's just a mere Foundation Establishment level demon beast."

Unlike Ning Zhuo was secretly vigilant.

He knew in his heart: The physical talent of demon beasts is often far beyond that of human cultivators. Moreover, this is the Red Flame Demon Melting Cave; if a protracted battle really occurs, it is very likely to attract other demon beasts to come and besiege.

The Ning family cultivator brigade continued to move forward.

But this time, their speed slowed down significantly, and the atmosphere in the team also changed.

Not long after, they discovered the Fire-running Snake.

The Fire-running Snake had a slender body, and its whole body emitted dazzling firelight, the whole snake like a long strip of violently burning flames.

In fact, it was exactly the essence of fire, without the flesh and blood of demon beasts in the conventional sense.

The Fire-running Snake had a fierce temperament and fast speed, wandering in the rocks, often melting a snake path on the surface of the stone.

Just now, Ning Zhanji discovered the snake path and made a judgment based on the width of the snake path and the degree to which the concave surface was roasted.

Now, they encountered the main subject and found that Ning Zhanji's judgment had no mistakes at all.

This was a Foundation Establishment level demon beast.

The Ning family cultivators began to fight.

First, some cultivators threw out array disks, temporarily setting up an array to restrain everyone's aura.

Then, a large number of cultivators began to brew spells.

Not long after, water arrows shot toward the Fire-running Snake.

The Fire-running Snake first suffered a wave of concentrated fire, and it was only after its flame light withered by more than half that it reacted.

The Fire-running Snake pounced on the Ning family cultivator brigade with fierce momentum.

Two burly men ran out from among the Ning family cultivators, covered with various spells, and fought hard against the Fire-running Snake, dragging it in place.

The remaining cultivators cast spells again, on one hand to bless the melee cultivators, and on the other hand to actively kill the Fire-running Snake.

The Fire-running Snake could not fight against four hands with two fists, and soon it was beaten by water-type and ice-type spells until its body shrank by one-third.

Knowing it was no match, the Fire-running Snake wanted to escape.

Ning Zhanji's figure was like electricity, intercepting the Fire-running Snake. He clapped both palms, hitting out two palm prints condensed from frost.

The palm prints flew in mid-air, cold air overflowing, the Fire-running Snake was shrouded, and its movements slowed down by a few points.

Bang bang.

Two sounds almost overlapped, and the frost palm prints directly slapped the Fire-running Snake to death.

A beautiful surprise attack!

Ning Yong's eyes shone, becoming more excited: "This is Lord Ning Zhanji!"

In his words, he revealed an extremely strong yearning and worship.

Unlike Ning Zhuo nodded repeatedly, also with an expression similar to Ning Yong's, but secretly wondering: "In this volcano, the fire-element spiritual energy is abnormally rich, and using ice spells is strenuous and thankless, why is everyone using them?"

After the next few battles of hunting demon beasts, Unlike Ning Zhuo gradually understood.

It turned out that this was Ning Zhanji consciously training the troops.

When encountering weaker demon beasts and spirits, they used spells to fight, training the cooperation between each other.

When encountering powerful demon beasts, the Ning family cultivators used various magic tools, and Ning Zhanji took the lead in attacking.

To avoid long nights and many dreams, the Ning family cultivators all focused on quick battles, striving to end the battle in the shortest time.

"There is a Fire-fusion Demon Ape ahead!" Suddenly, the cultivator responsible for reconnaissance in the team shouted a warning.

The whole team paused because of this.

An adult Fire-fusion Demon Ape is very difficult to deal with; one demon ape can be worth ten Foundation Establishment cultivators.

Obviously, the possibility that the demon ape that can reach here is a juvenile is very small.

Even Ning Zhanji frowned.

"Wait a minute, the state of the demon ape seems wrong." The reconnaissance cultivator closed his eyes tightly, and the headband he was wearing was emitting a faint light.

"It seems to be dead?!" The reconnaissance cultivator opened his eyes, somewhat incredulous.