Flame Lizards

The Half-Saint Jiang Cheng had sent to protect Jiang Xing was named Lin Shan. He was an Advanced Half-Saint, and his strength was formidable.

Ji Feng had protected him before, and Jiang Xing had not really dared to go to Jia Nan Academy to seize the Heavenly Flames.

He remembered that Jia Nan Academy's Qianbai Elders seemed to be at the half-step Dou Venerate realm. He was not sure whether Ji Feng could sneak him in without a sound.

If they were discovered and Jia Nan Academy summoned its headmaster, Mang Qianchi, things would become dangerous.

When Mang Qianchi appeared in the original story, he had been an Advanced Half-Saint. At the very least, he should now be an Intermediate Half-Saint.

Half-Saints stood between Dou Venerates and Dou Shengs. The mere fact that their title contained the word "Saint" showed how powerful they were. One sentence could describe them: newly entered into the Saint realm, yet far surpassing the Venerate realm.

He was absolutely not someone a Five-Star Dou Venerate like Ji Feng could handle.

But now things were different. With an Advanced Half-Saint like Lin Shan, even if they encountered Mang Qianchi and could not defeat him, Lin Shan should be able to escape with him.

Mm, this was foolproof!

Thus, on the second day after the Half-Saint arrived, Jiang Xing set off toward Jia Nan Academy with him.

Jia Nan Academy's Inner Academy.

Before Jiang Xing lay a sunken stretch of terrain. Within that depression stood an enormous black tower, though it was buried deep underground, with only a section of its spire and a pitch-black entrance exposed above the surface.

Seeing that the Sky Burning Qi Refining Tower had such a bizarre design, Jiang Xing could not help wondering who had come up with it.

The space around the tower also seemed to be faintly distorted and wrinkled.

He remembered Hu Qian mentioning in the original story that setting up this spatial distortion defense required at least the strength of a Dou Venerate.

However, this defense probably only affected Heavenly Flames, because it had not stopped Jiang Xing and Lin Shan when they entered.

Lin Shan easily led Jiang Xing past the Dou Wang and Dou Emperor elders guarding the Sky Burning Qi Refining Tower and arrived at the tower's base.

The moment he arrived at the bottom, Jiang Xing felt the air filled with violent fire-attributed energy.

The fire-attributed energy here was especially pure. For fire-attributed cultivators, it was quite a good place to cultivate.

"Splat!"

Suddenly, a fiery python whose full body could not be seen burst out of the magma. Its body was nearly transparent, its head alone was over three meters large, and its entire body was covered in flames.

As soon as Jiang Xing entered the tower's base, the fiery python formed from the Fallen Heart Flame sensed the aura of the Green Lotus Core Flame on him.

The Fallen Heart Flame had developed a trace of intelligence. Sensing the aura of a Heavenly Flame weaker than itself, it became extremely excited and impatiently rushed out of the magma, intending to devour it.

But the instant it emerged and sensed Lin Shan's aura, it cowered and swiftly plunged back into the magma.

Lin Shan had intended to act at once and seize the Fallen Heart Flame, but Jiang Xing stopped him.

"We'll collect this Heavenly Flame last. Once we have it, we'll run immediately."

"Collect it last? Isn't the Fallen Heart Flame our objective?"

Lin Shan was somewhat curious.

"I can sense something below that I want. Let's go down and take a look first."

Jiang Xing naturally could not say that he had long known what was down there, so he could only answer vaguely.

At the same time, Jiang Xing suddenly felt that Ji Feng was more convenient to use.

Although Ji Feng was not as strong as Lin Shan, his advantage was that he never asked too many questions about Jiang Xing's orders. Jiang Xing found that very comfortable.

"Besides, Young Master, Jia Nan Academy's strongest experts are merely two Nine-Star Dou Zongs. Even if we directly snatch it away, what can they do to us?"

See? Lin Shan had started getting to the bottom of things again.

"Jia Nan Academy was founded by Mang Qianchi, a Half-Saint elder of the Lei Clan. Unless absolutely necessary, it is better not to offend him. Keep a low profile for me."

"The Lei Clan?"

Hearing the name of the most hot-tempered of the Eight Ancient Clans, Lin Shan shuddered.

"Then let's go down first and search for what you need, Young Master."

Jiang Xing and Lin Shan plunged headfirst into the magma.

Within the boundless magma sea, everything was crimson. Jiang Xing instinctively used his soul power to probe the surroundings and vaguely sensed a group of living creatures deeper within the magma.

"Young Master, there is a group of red creatures farther below."

As an Advanced Half-Saint, Lin Shan's soul realm had also reached the late Spiritual Realm. Naturally, he could detect more than Jiang Xing.

"Let's dive down."

The farther down they went, the clearer Jiang Xing's senses became.

A group of red figures drifted through the magma. Their bodies were entirely crimson, the same color as the surrounding magma. Their scarlet bodies were covered in red scales, and their red tails swayed slightly.

Those figures stood upright on two feet. Jiang Xing also discovered that their feet were unusually broad, while their heads were round and plump. Their somewhat tiny pupils revealed a faint but obvious ferocity. Their large mouths were slightly parted, exposing densely packed sharp teeth. Their overall appearance resembled lizards capable of walking upright.

If he had to use one word to describe them, it would be "ugly." If he had to use two words, it would be "hideous."

Jiang Xing knew that these creatures were Flame Lizards, and one of his purposes in coming here was them.

He remembered that killing these Flame Lizards would produce beads containing abundant fire-attributed energy.

These beads were valuable treasures for those cultivating fire-attributed techniques, so Jiang Xing planned to collect all the Flame Lizards' crystals and take them back to absorb slowly.

At this moment, Jiang Xing and Lin Shan were already very close to the group of Flame Lizards.

There were roughly over fifty Flame Lizards in the group. Most had the aura of Dou Wang or Dou Emperor, while a small number were at the Dou Zong level. There were also three whose auras even Jiang Xing could not see through. He guessed that these three Flame Lizards had likely reached the Dou Zun level.

The sight filled Jiang Xing with excitement.

A random group of Flame Lizards already had three at the Dou Zun level. If he collected all the lizards in this magma... Tsk, tsk. Jiang Xing hardly dared imagine what realm he could reach after refining all those crystals!

Excited as he was, Jiang Xing did not want to let these Flame Lizards escape. He quickly instructed Lin Shan to kill them.

"Lin Shan, these lizards have a red bead inside their bodies. Go kill them all."

"Yes, Young Master."

Upon receiving the order, Lin Shan charged toward the group of Flame Lizards.

As Lin Shan rushed forward, Jiang Xing swiftly swam upward, keeping a safe distance from the Flame Lizards.

There were Flame Lizards at the Dou Zun level among them. If he joined the fight, Lin Shan would have to divide his attention to protect him.

He might as well stay far away and watch obediently.

Lin Shan launched a sneak attack on the Flame Lizards, instantly killing nearly ten Dou Emperor-level Flame Lizards and one Dou Zun-level Flame Lizard. When the remaining Flame Lizards saw their companions suddenly die, they fixed Lin Shan with ferocious eyes. Then they let out piercing shrieks and lunged at him together.

Naturally, Lin Shan was not afraid and charged to meet them.

Lin Shan was far stronger than these Flame Lizards. Every time one of his attacks landed, several Flame Lizards were blasted apart. From within the shattered Flame Lizards, crimson-red beads fell out.

Before long, Lin Shan had slaughtered the entire group of Flame Lizards, obtaining over fifty crimson-red beads.