The wind rushing into the hiding spot howled incessantly.
After the sandstorm, Wu Jinliang, leaning against the cave wall, cracked a smile and said, "The commotion is here, we need to leave someone behind, we've received word from the undercover tracking from the Four Cauldron Sect, someone must be ready to respond at all times. Let's take turns, Mr. Fang, you come with me first."
Fang Zicheng nodded his head, and the two slipped out of the cave one after another.
A group of elders sitting on the main peak watched the Divine Fire in Pang Hou's hands, all revealing expressions of surprise, realizing from the recent turmoil that the Divine Fire in Pang Hou's hands was real, an unabsorbed flame of Divine Fire.
An elder glared at Jin Guiqi and shouted, "What do you mean by this?"
"Disciplining our own junior, sorry to have caused a scene," Jin Guiqi said politely, then turned and reprimanded Pang Hou, "Visit here less often, and scram now!"
Pang Hou and his companion nodded repeatedly in agreement and swiftly flew away.
The elders on the mountain chuckled and were annoyed, wondering if disciplining their junior warranted such a spectacle—it was more than just scare tactics for their junior.
The site of Divine Fire found on Shudao Mountain seemed something Mr. Jin didn't want to share openly, evidently intending to scare off the group chasing after them, choosing to intimidate rather than speak outright.
Such petty tactics were quite despicable.
Jin Guiqi didn't care what they thought, he just needed to steer their thoughts; he glanced at the spot where he had stomped earlier, only a fist-sized hole had broken through, then he swiftly flew up to the spot, glanced back at the mountain, saw the dust was still lingering below for a long time, then sat down cross-legged again.
Wu Jinliang and Fang Zicheng had already vanished into the swirling dust of the collapsed area in search.
Soon, the duo found a large cavern and darted in, heading upwards along a slant, forming a long trumpet-shaped cavern, narrowing as it ascended.
After running for a while, Fang Zicheng couldn't help but mutter, "Good lord, a single noise, and it's pierced a tall mountain diagonally."
Holding the Sandal Gold Illumination, Wu Jinliang turned his head and gestured with his hand for silence.
There were still occasional sounds of falling rocks and soil along the way.
When they could no longer move forward, the brightly lit entrance ahead was only the size of a fist.
After confirming their position, Wu Jinliang tiptoed away alone, returned to the cave where Lao Changtai was hiding, briefed him, and then Lao Changtai also ran out and took a round flight.
Mainly to fly over from the front of the main peak once.
Jin Guiqi, sitting atop the summit, saw them and knew their positions were set, ready to provide cover if anything happened.
Of course, under normal circumstances, Jin Guiqi didn't expect any accidents; no elder would casually cast spells to check underneath themselves.
The vast gravelly terrain, white swooshing gases occasionally burst from the ground, creating towering ring-shaped deep pits on the surface.
Forget Love Valley's group was still searching in the area.
This was normal; discovering traces of Divine Fire and giving up just because it was difficult to find would probably result in finding none at all; most sects easily get stuck on such a point.
This also corroborated Shi Chun's assessment: not employing a decoy strategy indicated they might not have found the Divine Fire yet and were probably still stuck searching the original site; previously, scouts from the Four Cauldron Sect had reported Forget Love Valley's people lingering in this area.
As expected, once he came to this place to search, he indeed found Forget Love Valley's group of women still roaming about.
Spotting occasional searches in the sky, no alarm was necessary; led by Wu Shanshan, Forget Love Valley's group quickly hid in the various deep pits to avoid detection.
Shi Chun's right eye superpower had already detected them, but he remained silent, allowing the people from Shudao Mountain and Mingshan Sect to continue searching in the air, taking this opportunity to search for the target Forget Love Valley was seeking.
There definitely was more to this area; if Forget Love Valley hadn't discovered anything, they wouldn't have stayed so long.
After circling around to a spot dozens of miles away from Forget Love Valley's troops, his right eye superpower finally detected something odd underground, a brown object around two meters long wriggling like a snake rapidly crawling.
The object was long and slender; if not for the motion contrast, it would be easy to overlook.
It wasn't very deep underground; compared to before, it was relatively close to the surface. Strangely, his right eye couldn't detect any tunnel for the strange object to crawl through; it moved under the gravel as though water seeping through, yet its speed was not slow.
After observing for a while, Shi Chun realized the creature's movements weren't fixed. He rose to hover and observed, pinpointed the rough area, then turned and returned to the area where Forget Love Valley's group was hiding.
Eventually, a group conducting ground searches forced Forget Love Valley's group out.
With her long hair fluttering, Wu Shanshan let out a long howl, and Forget Love Valley's dispersed troops quickly assembled to demonstrate their strength, confronting the searching troops.
In terms of numbers, they certainly couldn't match Shi Chun's side.
Without any further exchange, Shi Chun shouted, "Surround them."
Yuan Yao gestured, and the troops from Shudao Mountain immediately surrounded Forget Love Valley's troops.
The one who didn't come, Gu Lianni was busy absorbing Divine Fire.
Seeing that the order was issued by Shi Chun, and Shi Chun actually could command Shudao Mountain's troops, Wu Shanshan pointed in surprise and challenged, "Shi Chun, we have no grudges, what do you want to do?"
Recognizing himself again? Shi Chun silently cursed, his gaze meanwhile assessed the group of disheveled women resembling damaged melons, correct, all five with Demon Essence were there, also possessing the most Demon Essence among those who had entered from the Three Sects.
However, his verbal response was different, "Since you recognize me, let's skip the chatter. One of Mingshan Sect's groups has gone missing in this direction, some say they were killed by you all; how should we settle this account?"
Upon hearing this, Yuan Yao and Pang Hou glanced at him, they knew what people from Mingshan Sect who hadn't come were doing, but leave it to this guy to find a reason to scapegoat, truly effective at talking nonsense.
Upon hearing this, the people of Forget Love Valley were startled, and Wu Shanshan spoke gravely, "Who is spreading rumors and slandering us? Please call them here to confront us!"
Shi Chun replied, "The person who informed us is nowhere to be found, otherwise they would have already stepped forward to accuse you. Do you need me to remind you of that?"
Wu Shanshan retorted, "Whoever spoke those words has malicious intentions, aiming to sow discord. Shi Chun, you're a smart person. You wouldn't be fooled so easily without any evidence, right?"
Shi Chun asked bluntly, "Just answer me this, did you do it?"
Wu Shanshan responded, "Absolutely not. Since we entered the Divine Fire Domain, we have not fought with anyone."
Shi Chun dismissed her, "Your word doesn't count."
Wu Shanshan coldly asked, "Then what do you want?"
Shi Chun turned his head towards Yuan Yao, "Brother Yuan, let's surround them for now, and we'll check around to see if there are any signs of a fight."
Yuan Yao blinked, recognizing the scene, and nodded, "That sounds good."
Shi Chun warned the others, "If you're guilty and try to escape, there shall be no mercy!"
Then he gestured for Tong Mingshan to follow, and walked off with Yuan Yao, leaving Pang Hou to watch over the scene.
The members of Forget Love Valley at the scene did not make any rash moves as there was no need for chaos yet, giving off an air of innocence.
Both groups were now in a standoff.
Clearly, Shi Chun's group was not really looking for traces of a fight. Once they were far enough away, Shi Chun took out the magical incense and lit it.
Every time he saw the incense, Yuan Yao would examine it closely, as if not wanting to miss any detail. Honestly, it looked very ordinary and unremarkable, making it hard to see what was unusual about it.
The magical incense did not immediately do anything miraculous once lit. According to Shi Chun, it could only sense Divine Fire when it got close enough to it.
They flew through the air, circled around to the designated area, and only when Shi Chun's superpower in his right eye detected the slender, moving object did the incense's power take effect.
After landing as signaled, Shi Chun followed the underground movement for a while and remarked, "It seems to be moving around constantly."
Yuan Yao asked while following, "How deep is it?"
Shi Chun answered, "Not very deep, about thirty meters below the surface."
Yuan Yao responded, "Then it's simple, I can set up an array in this area."
Shi Chun shook his head, feeling it unnecessary. If he set up a large range, it would increase the space for the object to maneuver, making it harder for the three of them to capture.
After observing the movement, Shi Chun advised, "Based on its path, set up the array in advance. As soon as it enters the range, activate the Element Locking Array."
Yuan Yao's eyes lit up, agreeing, "Exactly, that's what we should do."
They acted immediately. Once Shi Chun figured out the underground pattern of the object, he pointed to a spot on the ground, and Yuan Yao understood. He quickly positioned twelve iron towers in the designated area and prepared with his compass.
However, things weren't absolutely smooth. Just as Shi Chun approached the array of twelve iron towers, the incense smoke abruptly changed direction, veering to the right.
Yuan Yao had no choice but to dismantle the towers and set them up again following Shi Chun's guidance.
This time it went smoothly. As Shi Chun approached the front of the tower array, he suddenly stopped, nodded to Yuan Yao, who immediately clicked his compass.
A hum resonated, sounding a ringing in the air, and the twelve iron towers were connected by a bowl-shaped light screen.
The virtual ripples shimmered and then disappeared.
Yuan Yao, within the array, put away his compass and stayed alert to his surroundings.
Suddenly, the light screen of virtual ripples reappeared, and tremors came from beneath the ground; Yuan Yao smiled, "Brother Chun, we've got it!"
Shi Chun's superpower in his right eye had already seen it. The underground object had triggered the light screen and was struggling fiercely. This confirmed it was indeed Divine Fire. He had been worried that it might not be, thinking it might be some kind of living creature since he had never seen a long-shaped Divine Fire.
The Element Locking Array had a miraculous effect of absorbing the power of Divine Fire. The more the Divine Fire struggled, the more power the array absorbed and converted for its own use.
The struggling object began to move erratically underground, crashing loudly here and there. After getting nowhere underground, it started heading toward the surface.
Shi Chun watched the smoke in his hand, raised his hand toward the array, and cautioned, "Brother Yuan, be careful, it's coming out."
Yuan Yao immediately braced for impact. The thing underground only made noise when it hit something; otherwise, it moved silently.
Sure enough, a thick, brown flame, like a dragon, burst forth from the surface, seeping through the crevices of the gravel.
With a boom, as soon as the long body hit the light screen, Yuan Yao charged forward and struck it fiercely. The long, snake-like brown flame burst with furious fire, but all of it was contained within the inverted bowl-shaped light screen, engulfing Yuan Yao in a brown fiery glow.
From outside the town, Shi Chun and his companion weren't worried at all. Based on previous experiences, the size of the Divine Fire was directly proportional to its strength, and it likely wasn't a match for Yuan Yao.
"What kind of Divine Fire is this?" Shi Chun asked curiously.
Tong Mingshan, his eyes gleaming, replied, "Flowing Flame, Divine Fire Flowing Flame, a very rare kind of Divine Fire!"
Shi Chun glanced at his reaction, grinned, and said, "It's yours!"
If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.