Chapter 860: Crimson Flame Mountains

The crimson mountain range lay sprawled across the earth like a fire dragon, stretching to the horizon.

The crimson mountains formed a stark divide with the outside world: beyond the range, malevolent qi hung thick in the air, and strange, whispering voices echoed endlessly; within the mountains, the malevolent qi was thin, while the celestial energy surged to an extreme density.

This was the peculiar sight of the Dark Domain.

Celestial energy, to avoid interference from malevolent qi, constantly gathered in one place, forming special zones where celestial energy became extraordinarily vast, and malevolent qi, affected by this, found it difficult to penetrate.

In a certain sense, these energy-concentrated zones within the Dark Domain were natural cultivation havens.

Many lone cultivators flocked here; if not for the abundance of aberrations within the Dark Domain, they would have settled here long-term to cultivate.

Moreover, due to the high concentration of celestial energy, many heavenly treasures and earthly rarities were more likely to form—such as the "Flame Poppy Holy Fruit" that Li Luo and the others sought.

Li Luo and the other three stood atop a hill, gazing at the distant crimson mountains; behind them, the four banners' troops stood silently, their breaths and aura unified as one, powerful energy subtly surging in sync with the will of Li Luo and the other three great banner leaders.

"The power of Harmonized Qi is truly intoxicating," Li Luo suddenly laughed.

This place was already deep within the Dark Domain. Normally, whether ordinary banner troops or even extreme-sha cultivators like Deng Deng Fengxian and Li Li Fengyi, if they came alone to train here, would never venture this far—because the aberrations here were all of high rank; not only would encountering a True Demon be dangerous, even encountering some Catastrophe-class aberrations could be fatal.

Now, Li Luo and the other three could stand here calmly, primarily thanks to the four banners' "Harmonized Qi."

This power allowed them, despite only being Earth-Sha General rank, to possess the qualification to stand against True Demon aberrations.

As Li Luo said, this vast and formidable power was indeed intoxicating.

"Harmonized Qi is excellent, but if you truly become addicted to it and mistake this external power for your own, your inner cultivation will be severely affected, and your future progress will become extremely difficult," Li Li Fengyi said.

"This isn't rare at all. In the twenty banners' many generations, nearly every few years, some great banner leaders become addicted to 'Harmonized Qi,' their inner state corrupted, once-promising prodigies turning into stagnant mediocrities," Li Jintao sighed.

Li Luo nodded. This "Harmonized Qi" was external power—he could not mistake it for his own just because it felt convenient to use, or he would pay a heavy price.

Thinking of this, Li Luo turned his awareness inward. They had entered this Xi Ling Jing Dark Domain for nearly ten days; during this time, while hunting aberrations, Li Luo had never ceased his cultivation.

Although the environment here was extremely harsh, it was indeed beneficial for cultivation. In these nearly ten days, Li Luo had cultivated the "Star River Sword Intent" and unexpectedly gathered two strands of Star River Sword Intent.

Thus, the number of Star River Sword Intent strands within him had now reached three.

The appearance of these three strands of Star River Sword Intent gave Li Luo slightly greater confidence in obtaining the "Flame Poppy Holy Fruit" this time.

"Let's enter the Crimson Flame Mountains."

Li Luo said no more, withdrew his scattered thoughts, and gazed at the majestic crimson mountains; within them, volcanic vents spewed thick smoke, and the Flame Poppy Holy Fruit was said to grow inside those vents.

His only thought now was to obtain a Flame Poppy Holy Fruit as soon as possible and leave this Xi Ling Jing Dark Domain immediately.

The other three nodded, then waved their hands; the four banners' troops followed closely behind them, stepping into the mountain range filled with scorching air.

Inside the mountains, crimson trees stood tall, and Lin Hai blazed like fire.

As soon as Li Luo and the others entered, they immediately detected the presence of spirit beasts—these creatures were entirely crimson, as if burning with flame, shaped like monkeys.

"These are 'Fire Spirit Monkeys.' They usually arise in places rich with fire-element energy; they are the true masters of this mountain range. Most Fire Spirit Monkeys are around Earth-Catastrophe rank, while some elites reach Heaven-Catastrophe rank. They are numerous, so it's best not to provoke them," Li Li Fengyi warned.

Li Luo nodded. Many Fire Spirit Monkeys hissed at these intruders but dared not approach—they must have sensed the immense unified energy of the four banners and dared not risk it.

This spared Li Luo and the others the need to divert attention to deal with these monkeys.

"According to intelligence, the Flame Poppy Holy Fruit should exist deep within this mountain range, and three volcanoes may have nurtured it," Li Li Fengyi said.

"Let's go. Hopefully, we'll find mature Flame Poppy Holy Fruits."

Li Luo took a deep breath, and the large force surged forward through the mountains; eight thousand banner troops' auras were unified as one, passing without stirring even a whisper, as if only four individuals moved through.

This journey proceeded with exceptional smoothness, encountering no resistance whatsoever.

But Li Luo dared not relax for a moment; his spirit remained tightly linked to the eight thousand banner troops behind him, constantly ready to channel Harmonized Qi, for this Dark Domain mission was truly strange—not only the mysterious "Erosion Spirit True Demon," or the two missing True Demons near the mountains, but also Zhao Zhao Jingyu and his three fools.

Since Li Luo first encountered Zhao Zhao Jingyu upon entering the Dark Domain, Zhao's faction had vanished as if erased—but Li Luo knew Zhao Zhao Jingyu's vengeful nature; he would never let this insult pass.

Yet, frightened by the two True Demons they encountered at the start, Zhao probably wouldn't dare attack mid-journey—but Zhao Zhao Jingyu knew they were here to retrieve the Flame Poppy Holy Fruit, so if Zhao intended to strike… he would likely ambush them within these mountains, for here the malevolent qi was thin, and True Demon aberrations were less of a concern.

Just as Li Luo's thoughts turned to this, his heart suddenly tightened—he stomped his foot, cracking the ground, and his figure halted abruptly.

His sudden stop caused Li Li Fengyi, Li Jintao, and Deng Deng Fengxian to immediately land beside him.

"What's wrong?" Li Li Fengyi asked warily.

Li Luo's sharp gaze fixed on the fiery forest ahead—nothing seemed amiss, yet he sensed a subtle wrongness.

That wrongness came from his Wood Phase.

Those who possessed the Wood Phase always sensed more acutely in forested areas.

Li Luo took a deep breath, puffed his cheeks, and next moment, Xiang power surged forth like a torrent, sweeping toward the dense forest.

As the Xiang power flowed through, Li Li Fengyi and the other three saw tiny, dust-like beads suspended in the air.

Within the beads, faint smoke swirled—as if some deadly poison, releasing a faint fishy odor.

These poison beads were hidden in the air; without Xiang power to trigger them, their presence would be undetectable. If Li Luo's force passed through these zones, some banner troops would inevitably inhale them and be poisoned.

Li Li Fengyi, Li Jintao, and Deng Deng Fengxian's expressions darkened instantly—this trap was truly vicious.

And such a trap could not have been set by True Demon aberrations.

Then, there was only one possibility…

Li Luo lifted his face expressionlessly, gazing into the depths of the crimson, flame-like forest, and said calmly: "Zhao Zhao Jingyu, come out."

His voice, though calm, rang like thunder, echoing endlessly through the forest.

Soon after Li Luo's voice echoed, footsteps emerged from deep within the forest.

Four figures approached from afar and stopped not far from Li Luo's group.

The central figure was naturally Zhao Zhao Jingyu.

Zhao Zhao Jingyu locked his fierce gaze on Li Luo, curling his lips into a chilling smile: "Li Luo, you're surprisingly cautious—you avoided my trap again."

Li Luo smiled faintly: "I didn't expect you'd still be alive after those two True Demons failed to kill you."

Hearing this, Zhao Zhao Jingyu's face twitched; he glared fiercely at Li Luo: "Don't worry—I'm still alive. Next, it'll be your turn to die."

Li Luo chuckled: "Let me ask you one more question."

Before Zhao Zhao Jingyu could answer, his gentle voice came again.

"Did you lose my Dragon Fang?"