Su Fan heard Venerable Haoran's words, but did not pay him the slightest attention.
He left the valley's defensive line, reverted to his true Human Race form, and returned to the grotto market.
Although he had helped Venerable Haoran defend the Starry Sky Gate this time, it was impossible for him to get involved in this protracted war.
Not in this lifetime.
At that moment, he saw the situation as clearly as a mirror. The Starry Sky Gate was too close to the grotto market. Once it fell, the stable nest he had worked so hard to find would likely be reduced to nothing.
The next few days passed in perfect calm.
Most of the time, Su Fan holed up in his Portable Secret Realm to cultivate in seclusion. Only occasionally did he show his face in the grotto market or wander through the surrounding mountains.
But no one should think he was genuinely bored with nothing to do. In reality, he was secretly searching for traces of earthfire.
Hard work had its reward. A few days later, he actually found an earthfire vent deep in the mountains not far from the market.
Su Fan summoned the Ninth-grade Blood Zombie and had it excavate a huge cavern at the earthfire site.
The thing had nothing to do when it was idle anyway, so he had to find it something to do. Besides, it did not know the meaning of fatigue.
Su Fan also had Ji Feng help arrange various formations. After several days of work, an Earth Fire Room was finally completed.
In the days that followed, Su Fan plunged headfirst into the Earth Fire Room and stayed there for more than a month.
The exotic beast bones he had seized from Old Demon Bei Zhuo, along with the corpses