by Feng Yise
Ye Yuan arrived at the edge of the magma pool. That Cleansing Sandal Flame Lotus was startled again and took the initiative to attack Ye Yuan.
Ye Yuan repeated the same trick and that Cleansing Sandal Sacred Flame dispersed once again.
The Cleansing Sandal Flame Lotus seemed to have suffered stimulation and spat out a strand of Cleansing Sandal Sacred Flame again. The blaze this time was much more powerful than previously. Even Fang Yaojiang could feel that scorching heat.
Ye Yuan formed the seals once more. But this time, it just held down the Cleansing Sandal Sacred Flame and could not make it dissipate.
The flames spat out by the Cleansing Sandal Flame Lotus became increasingly stronger, but ultimately could not do anything to Ye Yuan. All the way until the end, a small faint yellow fireball flew out from the lotus flower. The temperature in the entire underground cave soared as if it wanted to melt everything.
This faint yellow tiny fireball was the Cleansing Sandal Sacred Flame origin fire essence!
"Quickly get to work, Senior!" Ye Yuan had a very strained appearance as he shouted at Fang Yaojiang.
Chapter 171 - Digging a Pit for You to Jump!
Even without Ye Yuan's reminder, Fang Yaojiang would also not let this chance pass.
Right when Ye Yuan and the Cleansing Sandal Sacred Flame's origin fire essence were having a confrontation, Fang Yaojiang finally made a move!
He flew over to the vicinity of the Cleansing Sandal Flame Lotus's main body and rapidly formed seals with both hands wanting to bind the flame lotus up using a bundle of essence energy.
The Cleansing Sandal Flame Lotus seemed to have noticed that things were not good and tried to pull the origin fire essence back with full force. But the origin fire essence was currently locked-down dead by Ye Yuan. No matter how it called, the origin fire essence would not return.
A bundle of essence energy promptly enveloped the Cleansing Sandal Flame Lotus's main body. The Flame Lotus kept on twisting non-stop. It was actually trying to break free from the restraint!
"Hahaha . . . To think that I, Fang Yaojiang, can actually subdue a Tier 4 essence fire! The heaven really opened its eyes! Cleansing Sandal Flame Lotus, stop struggling any longer and obediently become my lifeblood fire essence!" Fang Yaojiang roared madly with laughter. He was obviously very ecstatic.
Ye Yuan could not help reproving him in his heart when he saw the situation. Is this fellow sane? Dug a pit for him and he just jumped inside like this?
It was one thing to jump inside, but he was even so pleased with himself.
Was his brain missing some neuron connections?
Ye Yuan was drenched in sweat currently as he clenched his jaw tight, appearing to be straining himself heavily. It seemed as if he could be swallowed up by the Cleansing Sandal Sacred Flame at any moment.
But in reality, he did not want it to be too effortless and without any pressure at all!
The reason why he pretending to be straining himself was so to create a false impression of facing off with the origin fire essence to make Fang Yaojiang jump into the pit by himself.
Ye Yuan was initially worried that Fang Yaojiang would not fall for it. Then his elaborately planned trap would not take effect. After all, Yuan Fei was not around. What he could rely on now was only this Cleansing Sandal Flame Lotus.
Who would have thought this fellow, Fang Yaojiang, would really be so silly and naïve to directly jump into the pit.
It was fine if he just jumped inside, but he just had to cry out 'the heaven opened its eyes' so arrogantly. Even Ye Yuan found it hard to keep watching.
In fact, Ye Yuan wronged Fang Yaojiang. He was a very cautious person originally. This point could be seen a little from how he was able to sneak into this underground cave and ambush Ye Yuan.
Ordinary martial artists, no matter how stunning they were, would also be in extreme peril under this sort of situation facing off with the origin fire essence. Regardless who was facing this sort of situation, they also would not dare to easily pull back essence energy. Otherwise, if there were a backlash from the origin fire essence, the outcome would be tragic.
Hence, Fang Yaojiang felt that under this sort of circ.u.mstances, Ye Yuan had no other choice but to cooperate with him to subdue the Cleansing Sandal Flame Lotus.
He used common sense to comprehend Ye Yuan but was unaware that Ye Yuan was simply an existence which surpassed his common sense.
There was no justice to not be tricked.
How could Fang Yaojiang have known that Ye Yuan was essentially the ancestor of playing with fire!
In his previous life, Ye Yuan refined a total of nine types of essence fire, and it was from Tier 1 to Tier 9 without missing a single tier.
Moreover, with Ye Yuan's attainments in Alchemy Dao, his skills with regards to essence fire already reached a transcendent level. In the entire Divine Realm, one could not find more than a few who were stronger than him in terms of playing with fire.
Ji Qingyun and his father had their own specialized technique for gathering essence fires. It was called Fire Source True Sutra, and it was also a pinnacle fire controlling skill in the Divine Realm.
Ji Qingyun had long practiced this set of technique to the acme of perfection. Even though his strength today was a little weak, it was really not too much trouble to deal with a newborn Tier 4 essence fire.
However, even if Ye Yuan contained the Cleansing Sandal Flame Lotus's origin fire essence, refining its main body was also not something so simple.
Fang Yaojiang revolved his essence energy to the limits wanting to refine the Cleansing Sandal Flame Lotus as fast as possible.
"Senior, is it done yet? I can't hold on any longer!"
Ye Yuan faked a look like he was not going to make it anymore. Both of his hands shuddered, and that origin fire essence nearly flew out.
Fang Yaojiang jumped in fright at this scene, and his hand trembled along with it, nearly wasting all of his previous efforts. He only let out a long breath after waiting until Ye Yuan regained control of the origin fire essence. But the sweat on his forehead would not stop no matter what.
"Hang on a little longer, Little Brother! It will be done very soon! Just a while more!" Fang Yaojiang quickly said.
"O-Okay. Hurry up, Senior! I really can't hold on much longer!"
As Ye Yuan was talking, his hand trembled again, frightening Fang Yaojiang until his soul nearly flew out.
"Little Brother, after this matter is done, I'll give you a bottle, no, five bottles of Tier 3 medicinal pills, five bottles of Tier 2 medicinal pills! Just . . . Just hang on a little while more!" Fang Yaojiang sweated heavily.
He thought that with his identity as an Alchemy Grandmaster, rewarding ten bottles of medicinal pills was sufficient to move Ye Yuan. But he did not know that what Ye Yuan lacked the least was medicinal pills.
The medicinal pills Fang Yaojiang refined, even if they were Tier 3 medicinal pills, were just a lump of shit in Ye Yuan's eyes.
"Fine then. You . . . You hurry up!"
However, Ye Yuan still pretended to be very reluctant and used a bit more force to stabilize the origin fire essence.
Ye Yuan took in the whole of Fang Yaojiang's refinement. This fellow's speed is really not an ordinary kind of slow.
The origin fire essence was already tied down by him. If it were him, he would have roughly finished refining in this time frame. But Fang Yaojiang did not even refine 30% of it, and he still talked about hanging on a while longer.
If it were really somebody else doing this, they would probably have been burnt to cinders long ago during this short while.
However, Ye Yuan naturally would not really let Fang Yaojiang finish refining. He was only wearing away Fang Yaojiang's cautiousness.
Fang Yaojiang's refinement speed was slow because there was still a portion of attention placed on Ye Yuan.
If Ye Yuan withdrew right away, Fang Yaojiang would definitely retreat with even greater speed.
Bluntly speaki
ng, Fang Yaojiang was not fully assured about Ye Yuan, nor was it possible to fully trust him.
Hence, Ye Yuan used unable to hang on to force Fang Yaojiang to make him increase his refinement speed. Once he increased the speed to refine the Cleansing Sandal Flame Lotus, he naturally would not have the energy to monitor Ye Yuan's activity over here.
Indeed, after Ye Yuan showed that he was unable to hang on two or three times, Fang Yaojiang indeed converged his mind and started to seriously refine.
With this seriousness, the refinement speed indeed became much faster.
Very quickly, Fang Yaojiang's refinement was drawing to an end. He could not help being elated in his heart.
Just one more step, increase the speed a little more! This Cleansing Sandal Flame Lotus is about to be mine! Fang Yaojiang's inner heart was trembling.
But right at this time, warning bells sounded in his mind.
Fang Yaojiang only felt his eyes blur and a faint yellow glow instantly appeared in front of his eyes.
Chiii . . .
A burned smell spread out, and Fang Yaojiang's entire person flew out backward without the slightest bit of suspense.
Being struck head-on by a Tier 4 essence fire while completely defenseless, how could a First Level Crystal Formation Realm martial artists withstand it?
Fang Yaojiang was currently lying on the ground quietly like a roast pig. His injuries were extremely severe.
Earlier, Ye Yuan released the constraint on the Cleansing Sandal Sacred Flame. Once the Cleansing Sandal Flame Lotus saw that it could communicate with the Cleansing Sandal Sacred Flame, it called it back to attack Fang Yaojiang without hesitation.
This Cleansing Sandal Flame Lotus did not even think about attacking Ye Yuan at all. Because it had not been him confronting Ye Yuan this entire time, but it was Ye Yuan's one-sided suppression of it.
In the eyes of the Cleansing Sandal Flame Lotus, Ye Yuan's danger was much higher compared to Fang Yaojiang!
The Cleansing Sandal Flame Lotus did not have intelligence. All of its actions were entirely out of instincts. Therefore, the first time he did was choose to attack Fang Yaojiang!
The pitiful Fang Yaojiang was screwed over just like that by Ye Yuan . . .
Chapter 172 - Black Crow Arrives!
"You . . . You are . . . How . . ."
Fang Yaojiang who was burnt like charcoal laid on the ground at his last gasp. He still could not believe what just happened.
Ye Yuan looked at Fang Yaojiang very innocently and said with a smile, "You're talking about this?"
While talking, Ye Yuan beckoned with one hand. The Cleansing Sandal Flame Lotus released the origin fire essence once again.
But that origin fire essence did not have the intention of attacking Ye Yuan. Instead, it circled around Ye Yuan like it was fawning on him and begging for mercy from him.
Fang Yaojiang could not move, but when he saw this scene, his eyeballs nearly popped out.
This fellow! He faked it all along!
Only now did Fang Yaojiang understand that how was this Ye Yuan helping him retrieve the essence fire? It was essentially digging a hole for him to jump!
And he even jumped down happily . . .
But, how was this possible?
That was a Tier 4 essence fire! Even if Sea Transformation Realm powerhouses came to subdue it, they would be filled with trepidation and exercise extreme caution.
Even if this brat came from a hermit family clan and had a brilliant fire controlling technique, with this brat's strength, it was also impossible to make the Cleansing Sandal Sacred Flame do so, right?
This Cleansing Sandal Sacred Flame actually seemed to fear this brat!
This . . . How was this possible? Just what was this brat's background?
"Puchi!"
Fang Yaojiang could not hold back anymore and vomited a mouthful of blood. The burnt black him partnered with the bright red blood made him look very miserable.
"I, Fang Yaojiang, have been scheming against people my entire life. I didn't think that in the end, I would be schemed against by a little fellow. Truly retribution!" Fang Yaojiang wailed sorrowfully in his heart.
This Fang Yaojiang had always been very low-key among demonic beast hunters and did not reveal his capabilities. But he relied on his brilliant concealment skill and connived against many in the same occupation.
And also, because he schemed against people, Fang Yaojiang acc.u.mulated a massive amount of wealth. He relied on these acc.u.mulations to breakthrough to the Crystal Formation Realm and even became an Alchemy Grandmaster.
But who would have thought that he would be reverse-stabbed by Ye Yuan when he originally came prepared to ambush Ye Yuan.
And this bout claimed his life.
Ye Yuan no longer bothered with Fang Yaojiang but prepared to subdue the Cleansing Sandal Flame Lotus.
With Ye Yuan's alchemic standards, he could naturally easily determine Fang Yaojiang's injuries. He already no longer had the ability to threaten him.
Because of Fang Yaojiang, too much time had already been wasted. Ye Yuan must get a tight hold on time to refine the Cleansing Sandal Flame Lotus to prevent a long night from being fraught with dreams.
Ye Yuan's hands created phantoms as he formed seals. The origin fire essence was instantly trapped by Ye Yuan again.
Except that this time, Ye Yuan did not show any painful expression at all. Instead, he appeared to do it with ease.
Even though he was mentally prepared long ago, Fang Yaojiang was still angered to the point he vomited blood again.
That Cleansing Sandal Sacred Flame was trapped by Ye Yuan. It gave off chirping sounds like it was begging for Ye Yuan to spare it.
Ye Yuan smiled and said, "Don't need to do this. Following me, your name will shake the nine heavens in the future! Even if you remain here, you also can't escape the conclusion of being subdued by others. Rather than becoming those fools' slave, you might as well follow me. Perhaps, there would come a day where not only can you obtain your freedom. You could become much more powerful!"
It seemed to have understood Ye Yuan's words. That Cleansing Sandal Sacred Flame actually struggled no more and allowed Ye Yuan to trap it.
Ye Yuan only gave a faint smile when he saw the situation and started to refine the Cleansing Sandal Flame Lotus.
This Cleansing Sandal Flame Lotus was a natural spiritual object. It could naturally sense Ye Yuan's distinction.
Although Ye Yuan was not strong, the Cleansing Sandal Flame Lotus could sense the power of the depths of Ye Yuan's soul.
And from Ye Yuan's divine soul, it could even faintly sense an existence which made it palpitate.
Hence, its instinct also told it that submitting to Ye Yuan was its best option.
. . . . . .
At the gorge, the Black Crow Old Man and the Golden Sword Condor's fight had reached its white-hot stage.
"Eh? What's happening? The treasure ripples from the depths of the cave became unstable! Could it be . . . someone sneaked inside?"
Black Crow Old Man gritted his teeth and said hatefully, "To dare snatch away my, Black Crow's, jackpot, truly tired of living!"
Finishing, Black Crow wielded his staff and beckoned with both hands. All the essence energy in the bottom of the gorge was thrown into disorder.
The staff in Black Crow's hands gave off a faint azure glow, and with the increased buildup of essence energy, the more terrifying Black Crow's staff became.
"You feathered beast! To dare ruin my beautiful thing, you really think I can't do anything to you? Take this move of mine, Essence Qi Wave! Go and die!" Black Crow gave an enraged cry.
Black Crow was currently angry to the extreme. There was actually someone who sneaked in from under his eyelids and snatched the priceless treasure belonging to him, Black Crow. How could this not infuriate him?
In Black Crow's heart, the valuable treasure born in this Lotus Moon Gorge was already long his. Others were absolutely not allowed to ha
ve a share.
And now, there was really someone who dared to pull his tiger whiskers! Truly tired of living!
An extremely powerful undulation came from the Essence Qi Wave. It felt like it was about to turn everything into nothingness.
The Golden Sword Condor was similarly Tier 4 and also this Lotus Moon Gorge's master. Its thoughts were actually roughly the same as Black Crow. It naturally also refused to back down at this time.
Only to see that its bird mouth opened wide and an extremely powerful essence energy beam shot out.
In a blink, the two powerful attacks collided together.
Rumble!
Sand and pebbles immediately blew everywhere in the entire gorge wildly. The area between Black Crow and the Golden Sword Condor was practically razed into flat ground.
A bird cry resounded throughout the valley. The Golden Sword Condor actually flew away!
"It's actually Black Crow Old Man who is superior! Looks like these few years, Black Crow Old Man obtained quite a bit of lucky chances! His strength is actually powerful to such a degree!"
"Yeah! Under ordinary circ.u.mstances, early-stage Tier 4 demonic beasts are stronger than First Level Sea Transformation Realm human martial artists. But Black Crow actually suppressed the Golden Sword Condor. So scary!"
"The battle between Tier 4 and Sea Transformation is indeed earth-shattering! Completely not on the same level as Crystal Formation Realm martial artists!"
Many curious people surrounded to watch this fight from far away. Seeing the Black Crow actually chased away the Golden Sword Condor, they could not help being greatly shocked, which further dispelled the thought of getting some small gains.
While he chased away the Golden Sword Condor, Black Crow was also not feeling too good. The clothing on him was already tattered rags, and he also suffered internal injuries which were not light.
But compared to the priceless treasure, what did this small injury even count for?
Black Crow did not wish to ultimately prepare the wedding gown for others after a great battle.
He recuperated for a short while before charging into the cave, sweeping past towards the underground at maximum speed.