26: Second Life: First Steps on the Immortal Path (Twenty-Five)

The scorching heatwave, mixed with the stench and bloodlust of the Yao Beasts, rushed toward them, nearly suffocating everyone.

The earth trembled violently under the trampling of countless beast hooves. The sounds of roaring, snarling, colliding, and rocks shattering intertwined, assaulting everyone's nerves.

Xu Yuan endured the discomfort of his Divine Sense being torn by the countless chaotic auras, his gaze like lightning, intently capturing the details of the beast tide.

Soon, Xu Yuan noticed that although these Yao Beasts were terrified, the direction of their flight was surprisingly consistent—they were all surging outward from deeper within the rift!

They were not running around like headless flies, but fleeing from a specific source that caused them extreme fear!

What shocked Xu Yuan even more was that the already dense and violent fire Spiritual Qi in the air was currently gathering crazily toward the depths of the rift in an abnormal way, as if there were an invisible vortex there, greedily devouring all the fire spiritual power in the surroundings!

This scale of Spiritual Qi disturbance could never be triggered by ordinary Yao Beasts advancing or fighting.

"Not right..." A flash of inspiration struck Xu Yuan. He lowered his voice and spoke hurriedly to the three people beside him, "This is not a simple beast tide! It is a Spiritual Qi tide! Something is extracting a large amount of fire Spiritual Qi in the depths, which is why it caused the panic-induced riot of the beast herd!"

Upon hearing this, Luo Shou swung his blade to split a falling rock while asking urgently, "Extracting Spiritual Qi? What kind of thing could have such power?!"

"Heaven and Earth Spiritual treasures! Only the maturation of high-level spiritual treasures or the emergence of peerless fierce beasts could trigger such a scale of Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi!" Xu Yuan spoke rapidly, his eyes flashing with sharp light.

"The mission target is the Earth Vein Fire Lotus! I once heard that when this thing matures, it requires a massive amount of fire Spiritual Qi to infuse its body!" Hou Ting added quickly.

These words exploded in Luo Shou's ears like a thunderclap!

Fear was instantly replaced by immense surprise!

The Earth Vein Fire Lotus is maturing?

Doesn't that mean their mission target is right before their eyes?!

And perhaps because of this sudden beast tide, the protective forces around it have been significantly weakened or even cleared out?

"An opportunity! A massive opportunity!" Luo Shou's breathing was heavy, and a shocking glint erupted in his eyes. "Hold on! Once this wave passes, we will immediately head to the source!"

The Peak of the beast tide finally passed, and the fleeing Yao Beasts became sparse, leaving only sporadic wails and the dull rumbling coming from the distance. The rift was a mess, filled with the corpses of Yao Beasts and shattered rocks everywhere.

The four of them crawled out from the rock crevice, all feeling lingering fear.

"Let's go!" Luo Shou took the lead, heading against the current in the direction the beast tide came from.

Xu Yuan followed closely behind, his Divine Sense like a taut string, carefully perceiving the source where the Spiritual Qi was gathering.

The deeper they went, the higher the temperature, and the concentration of fire Spiritual Qi climbed to an astonishing level, even forming a faint crimson spiritual mist.

The air was filled with a strange, refreshing fragrance that was soothing to the heart, slightly dispelling the previous stench of blood and burning.

Along the way, the four of them saw even more corpses of Yao Beasts, and even one or two fire rhinos with strength reaching the Peak of the first rank had collapsed on the road, with no major external injuries on their bodies, as if they had been scared to death or had their Spiritual Qi drained.

Finally, after passing through a narrow tunnel, the view before them suddenly opened up!

A huge underground cavern appeared before their eyes. In the center of the cavern was a lake churning with golden magma, the heatwaves scorching.

And right on a protruding black obsidian in the center of the lake, a lotus flower, crimson as blood and crystal clear, was blooming quietly!

The lotus had three petals, iridescent and glowing, and at the heart of the lotus, a cluster of golden flame phantoms was dancing joyfully, like a living creature!

Majestic and pure fire spiritual power radiated from the lotus as if it were tangible; just taking a breath made one feel their magic power growing faintly!

It was indeed the Earth Vein Fire Lotus! And judging by its form, it had just matured not long ago!

"Something is not quite right." Xu Yuan's brows furrowed slightly, his sharp gaze scanning every corner of the cavern like a hawk. "For such a Heaven and Earth Spiritual treasure, by common sense, there must be a powerful Yao Beast guarding it. Why is this place so 'clean'?"

Xu Yuan's Divine Sense, like invisible tentacles, probed carefully, but due to the interference of the unusually dense and violent fire Spiritual Qi in this place, his perception range was compressed to the limit, making it difficult to detect more subtle hidden auras.

Luo Shou's mind was completely captured by the Earth Vein Fire Lotus that was within arm's reach. Upon hearing this, he waved his hand dismissively, his gaze burning as he stared at the center of the lake. "Brother Xu, you are too cautious! The beast riot of that scale just now was like a landslide or ground collapse. Even if there were originally guardian Yao Beasts, they were likely either scared away or trampled into meat paste by the crazily fleeing herd! This is heaven-sent help!"

Although he said that, Luo Shou still maintained a trace of vigilance and said to Hou Ting, "Brother Hou, check the surroundings carefully again."

Hou Ting nodded, his figure blending into the shadows silently like a ghost. He quickly weaved through several huge stone pillars to investigate, and returned after a moment, whispering, "Boss, I've checked, I didn't find any abnormal auras or traces, only some feces of low-level fire toads, which were probably scared away long ago."

Hearing that Hou Ting also said this, Luo Shou's last bit of doubt vanished, and the excitement on his face grew even stronger.

The trace of uneasiness in Xu Yuan's heart had not yet dissipated, but seeing there was no solid evidence, he could not insist further. He could only say in a deep voice, "Even so, we must not be careless. Once we harvest the Earth Vein Fire Lotus, we will leave immediately! This place is not suitable for a long stay!"

"That goes without saying!" Luo Shou took a deep breath, suppressing his excitement, and circulated the magic power in his body, about to leap toward the obsidian in the center of the lake.

However, just as Luo Shou's figure took flight, his old power spent and new power yet to be generated, with his mind completely fixed on that Earth Vein Fire Lotus—a sudden change occurred!

"Whew—!"

A sharp sound of breaking through the air tore through the scorching air!

Not one, but three attacks from different directions, sinister, tricky, and ruthless, seized this fleeting perfect opportunity!

A bone-chilling, deep blue ice spear, emitting a biting cold, struck directly at Luo Shou's back!

An arrow entwined with an eerie black-green toxic glow shot silently toward his neck!

And a flying knife, thin as a cicada's wing and almost transparent, traced a weird arc, sealing off all his possible escape routes, aiming straight for his Dantian Qi Sea!

An ambush! And a premeditated, well-coordinated fatal strike!

"Be careful!"

Xu Yuan's warning sounded almost at the same time as the attacks; he had been vigilant all along and reacted the fastest!

Without thinking, he swung his left hand, which had long been secretly gathering energy, and a highly compressed, dazzling white fireball shot out, striking the flying knife with the trickiest trajectory with absolute precision!

Boom!

The fireball exploded, flames rolling, successfully blasting away the deadly flying knife.

At the same time, his right hand formed a seal like lightning, and a solid, scorching flame shield instantly condensed beside Luo Shou, narrowly blocking that silent poison arrow!

The poison arrow hit the fire shield, making a "hiss" of corrosive sound. The black-green toxic glow and the crimson flames violently canceled each other out, eventually both annihilating each other.