CHAPTER 284: TWENTY YEARS LATER

[Is there a level seven fire soul?] Zhen Yuan asked.

Hearing the question, Shen Xu tilted his head and used the fire contract to communicate with Xiaomu.

A moment later, he shook his head but his eyes were shining.

[There were two level seven fire souls but Xiaolei has already swallowed them. Also...]

[Also?]

[Xiaomu and Xiaolei have killed a peak level six fire python. We can have barbecue later.]

Zhen Yuan chuckled when he heard this.

However, he was also happy.

On one hand, the meat of a peak level six python was beneficial to Shen Xu’s cultivation and on the other, the double’s cooking was becoming more and more delicious.

Thinking of the fire python barbecue, even Zhen Yuan couldn’t help but look forward to it.

[Yang Shi can advance to late level six after refining the fire python’s demon core.]

[Mmh.] Shen Xu nodded.

Although Yang Shi had a blood essence crystal and didn’t need other cultivation resources for the time being, the fire python demon core still had to be allocated to him.

After all, he was intrinsically a python and refining a snake’s demon core would produce twice the result with half the effort.

"Are you ready?" Zhen Yuan asked, looking at Shen Xu.

However, the double didn’t answer.

Instead, he clutched Zhen Yuan’s hand and jumped into the volcano.

Seeing this, Yang Shi, Feng Xue, Li Wenqiang, Dongfang Jing, and Chen Yi also jumped.

At the same time, they uncorked their fire and ice gourds, ready to suction the surrounding fire souls.

Generally, fire souls were passive existences.

Unless provoked, they never initiated attacks or tried to harm their surroundings.

However, they were not easy to collect.

In addition to hiding within fires, they were also very sticky and had to be patiently peeled from the fires.

Fortunately, the fire and ice gourds had a special suction force on fire souls.

Without the gourds, the group would have needed more than fifty years to collect the fire souls on the outer mountain.

’Thank heavens for the fire and ice gourds.’ Shen Xu thought, aiming his gourd mouth at a specific fire heap.

Barely a moment later, the fire flared and expanded.

Soon after, a weak screech was heard and a handful of flames flew into the gourd.

Simultaneously, the fire heap collapsed, revealing a silverish rock.

"What a good-looking fire silver ore." Shen Xu said and picked the rock.

They had collected many fire silver ores.

However, the quality of ores in the outer mountain couldn’t compare to those inside the volcano.

After storing the rock, Shen Xu looked around and frowned.

"Everyone, be careful. Don’t fall into the boiling lava." He warned.

Although he was a chaos fire spiritual root cultivator, Shen Xu instinctively felt the danger of the boiling lava.

Excluding fires like Xiaomu and Xiaolei, no cultivator below the fusion realm could survive in the boiling lava.

Fortunately, there were many rocks inside the volcano.

As long as they carefully used those rocks, they would be able to collect fire souls without falling into the boiling lava.

That said, the high temperature was a problem.

Even Zhen Yuan, an early-stage fusion realm cultivator, felt uncomfortable, let alone Shen Xu and the others.

"I feel like I am going to melt." Yang Shi complained and Shen Xu couldn’t help but roll his eyes.

"How dare you complain?" He said and quickly continued.

"Aren’t you an ice element cultivator? Why don’t you cover yourself with ice?"

’You think I don’t want to?" Yang Shi asked through gritted teeth.

He had already tried to cover himself with ice.

Unfortunately, the coldness of his ice was no match for the high temperature.

As soon as the ice condensed around him, it melted and directly turned into boiling water.

Rather than relieve the heat, his ice had become an agent to scald his body.

"What misery!" He lamented with a miserable expression.

"Try isolation talismans." Zhen Yuan reminded.

Hearing this, everyone immediately activated an isolation talisman and relieved sighs soon echoed in the surroundings.

"They are not perfect but they are better than nothing." Shen Xu said.

After that, the group settled in the volcano.

Mostly, they collected fire souls, fire silver ores, and lava grass.

However, at other times, Shen Xu and Feng Xue absorbed fire qi while Zhen Yuan memorised fire laws.

Time passed and in the blink of an eye, it was twenty years later.

After spending thirty years in the underwater volcano, the group finally collected all the fire souls, fire silver ores, lava grass, and other fire-type resources.

Most importantly, after Xiaomu and Xiaolei absorbed the lava at the bottom of the volcano, they discovered an earth fire.

The Earth fire was only level five.

However, it was enough to assist Xiaomu’s cultivation.

After exhausting the underwater volcano, the group didn’t linger in the sea.

Instead, they boarded a flying boat and headed to the mainland.

"There is less than one hundred years until the secret realm closes." Shen Xu stated as he and Zhen Yuan drank wine on the ship’s deck.

"Our trip was not wasted." Zhen Yuan said and Shen Xu nodded.

In the book, Xiao Weimin and his group also had a bumper harvest.

However, their gains were nothing compared to what he and Zhen Yuan got.

Thinking of the book and Xiao Weimin, Shen Xu frowned.

"I wonder how he is doing." He subconsciously wondered.

"He is the main protagonist." Zhen Yuan said and Shen Xu nodded before sighing.

"He is either doing as well as us or just a little worse."

After saying that, Shen Xu changed the subject.

"It’s been more than five hundred years since we saw Lin Xiang. I wonder how she is doing."

"Why did you suddenly think of her?"

"I talked to Li Wenqiang." Shen Xu started.

Li Wenqiang and Lin Xiang were poisoned and had an accident while in the Demon Plants Forest.

As a result, Li Wenqiang abandoned the ruthless way and planned to marry Lin Xiang.

Unfortunately, Lin Xiang was still infatuated with Song Wancheng and didn’t want to be with Li Wenqiang.