Xiao Yuan's Regret

When it comes to treasure hunting, no one knows better than Zi Yan.

Following behind Zi Yan, they traversed a rather deep and long valley tunnel. After a few minutes, Xiao Yuan and the others' view was gradually blocked by a stone wall covered with weeds.

The group slowly came to a stop in front of the stone wall. They glanced at it but found nothing amiss. Their puzzled gazes then turned to Zi Yan.

Seeing the confusion in everyone's eyes, Zi Yan smiled triumphantly, moved swiftly, appeared at a certain spot on the stone wall, clenched her small fist, and slammed it down hard.

"Bang!"

Amidst the flying debris, a crack appeared in the stone wall. Zi Yan lunged forward again, her small fists like a mountain-splitting machine, forcefully blasting open a tunnel ten meters deep into the stone wall. Then, Xiao Yuan and the others saw a dark, deep cave hidden deep within the stone wall.

Seeing the deep cave behind the stone wall, Xiao Yuan nodded as expected, then smiled and gave Zi Yan a thumbs up, saying, "It has to be you! Here's a Sixth Grade Pill for you!"

"Hmph! You're smart to know what's good for you!"

Upon hearing this, Zi Yan raised her chin, put her hands on her hips, and gave a soft snort.

Looking at the Mountain Cave behind the stone wall, Xiao Yuan reached out and pulled Zi Yan, whose face was full of excitement, behind him. Then, his gaze met that of Xiao Yan, Xiao Yi Xian, and Su Qian. He quietly circulated his fighting Dou Qi before slowly entering the crack that Zi Yan had forcibly created.

After passing through the short tunnel, Xiao Yuan and the others stopped outside the cave entrance a moment later. Standing here, they could faintly see some lights emanating from inside the Mountain Cave. On the stone walls around the Mountain Cave, there were some magical beast patterns painted on them, which looked quite fierce. However, this kind of ineffective deterrence was naturally useless to Xiao Yuan and the others.

Xiao Yuan walked at the front of the group. He was the strongest. Although his battle with the Earth Demon Old Ghost had slightly depleted his Dou Qi Dou Qi, he had recovered some of it in a short time. Even in a hurry, he was strong enough to withstand an attack from Eight Star Dou Zong. Now, they didn't know if there were any traps in the cave, so having him lead the way was the most reassuring thing for them.

Inside the Mountain Cave, there was a long stone staircase that stretched into the dim darkness below, its end nowhere in sight. On the surrounding walls, there were Moonlight Stone that emitted a faint glow, slowly dispelling the darkness within the Mountain Cave.

The group slowly descended the stone steps, and after about ten minutes, they reached the end, where a heavy, tightly closed Stone Gate appeared before them.

The Stone Gate gate was entirely black, covered with moss, giving it a sense of weight and solemnity.

"I'll do it."

Seeing another Stone Gate, Zi Yan immediately volunteered, her little face full of excitement. This girl seemed to have a particularly strong tendency to cause destruction.

"You stay here quietly." This time, Xiao Yuan dared not indulge this little brat. He shook his head helplessly, grabbed Zi Yan, nodded to Su Qian, and stuffed the little girl into Xiao Yi Xian's arms.

Nobody knows what's going on here, so it's best to be careful.

Seeing this, Su Qian smiled, shielded Zi Yan behind him, and then slowly pressed his withered palm onto the Stone Gate. His eyes suddenly sharpened, and a powerful Dou Qi capable of shattering mountains and splitting rocks surged out of his arm like lightning, finally slamming into the Stone Gate with a deafening roar.

"Bang!"

As the rubble flew, the Stone Gate was instantly covered with cracks, and then collapsed with a loud bang, bursting out a blinding beam of light.

As the intense light burst forth, everyone's eyes narrowed slightly as if by habit. Immediately, Xiao Yuan's expression changed slightly, and he uttered a soft shout, "Great Elder, be careful!"

As soon as Xiao Yuan finished shouting, a foul gust of wind shot out from behind the Stone Gate, the fierce wind rushing straight towards Su Qian at the front.

"Snort!"

The sudden change did not startle Su Qian. He snorted coldly, curled his hand, and his soft sleeves instantly became as hard as metal. He then swung them forward fiercely, and a sharp sound of wind breaking echoed in the Mountain Cave.

"Bang!"

With a flick of his sleeve, a powerful gust of wind surged forth like a tidal wave, crashing onto the incoming object. Then, Xiao Yuan and the others heard a shrill scream as the enormous figure was violently propelled backward, finally slamming heavily onto the ground.

At the same time, Xiao Yuan also pressed down, and dark golden Heavenly Flames immediately surged out, passing through the dust and killing the attacker who had been locked onto by Su Qian's soul power when he made his move. No one could even hear a scream.

Su Qian, standing to the side, waved his sleeves again, and with a howling wind, he drove away all the dust and smoke in front of him, revealing the space behind the Stone Gate.

What appeared before Xiao Yuan and the others was a rather spacious warehouse. Inside the warehouse, the lights were extremely dazzling. The warehouse was entirely constructed of hard Mo Steel Stone. At first glance, it looked as if the warehouse had been carved out of a Mo Steel Stone vein.

The warehouse contained numerous shelves, upon which scrolls were neatly arranged. On the other side, there were also many crystal cabinets, within which one could vaguely see various rare Medicinal Herbs carefully arranged. Their gazes slowly swept across the warehouse, and then Xiao Yuan and the others' eyes stopped on the charred corpse of the huge serpentine demon beast on the ground. Clearly, it was the one that had ambushed them earlier.

"A mere Dou Wang Stage magical beast dares to ambush me?"

Su Qian slowly walked into the warehouse, glanced at the charred snake-shaped monster, and shook his head.

"They must be the caretakers here," Xiao Yuan chuckled, his gaze not lingering on the charred snake carcass, but turning directly to the storeroom. After seeing the numerous scrolls, a hint of surprise flashed in his eyes, and he clicked his tongue in admiration, "As expected of an established power that has existed for so many years, these collections are truly impressive."

"These have all been sorted and graded."

Xiao Yan approached a bookshelf and looked at the words "Profound Tier Low Grade" painted on it, and couldn't help but laugh.

Xiao Yuan nodded, glanced around, and then headed straight for the depths of the storeroom. He didn't care for ordinary Mysterious Rank Dou Techniques or cultivation methods. He was more curious whether Demon Flame Valley had any high-rank cultivation methods or Dou Technique that would surprise him.

Although Hai Lao's Mystic Ice Dragon Flight is not bad, it is only comparable to Earth Rank Dou Techniques. Xiao Yuan needs a stronger Dou Technique now.

With his thoughts racing, Xiao Yuan unknowingly reached the end of the storeroom. On the bookshelf to the side, instead of the numerous scrolls piled up as before, there were only four simple wooden boxes.

Unlike other bookshelves, this one wasn't unprotected. It was surrounded by a faint light barrier, and the dense energy emanating from within it even surprised Xiao Yuan. Good things are indeed unique. With this thought in mind, Xiao Yuan didn't rush to forcibly destroy the light barrier. His gaze slowly swept around the bookshelf before settling on two simple characters on the shelf.

"Earth Rank!"

Looking at the two characters, a smile appeared on Xiao Yuan's face. It seemed that this trip had not been in vain. Earth-rank cultivation techniques and Dou Technique were extremely rare, and for the Earth Demon Old Ghost to display them so preciously, they must not be ordinary items. A faint light screen enveloped the bookshelf, seemingly thin, but it contained a rather strong energy.

"Huh?"

Xiao Yuan cautiously scanned the area under the light barrier. After a moment, he suddenly let out a soft exclamation. He discovered that there seemed to be some faint, hard-to-detect spatial traces around the light barrier.

"This light barrier must have been set up by the Earth Demon Old Ghost, and it contains some Space Power. Although it is not strong, if it is forcibly destroyed, it may damage the things inside."

Su Qian, who was standing to the side, also noticed the special features of the light barrier. He frowned and said.

Xiao Yuan nodded slightly, reached out, and gently touched the light screen.

"Hiss."

As his palm touched the barrier, the light barrier rippled, and concentric circles of ripples spread out from the point of contact. Then, the space within the barrier suddenly began to distort. Seeing this, Xiao Yuan frowned. Judging from the stinging sensation from his fingertips, although the barrier seemed weak, if it were to be forcibly destroyed, the energy contained within would suddenly explode. The force of the explosion might not be too great, but destroying the scroll inside should not be a major problem.

"As expected of the Earth Demon Old Ghost, he is a seven-star Dou Zong level expert. Even the sealing energy he left behind is so troublesome," Su Qian sighed. "This feeling of being able to see the treasure but not being able to get it is really not good."

"Heh, when it comes to the use of Space Power, that old ghost is no match for me!"

Xiao Yuan smiled, and then a strong silver light appeared at his fingertips, a symbol of extremely rich Space Power.

With a whoosh, Xiao Yuan reached out and his fingertips pierced through the space, entering the light barrier. He then reached into the bookshelf without any hindrance and took out the four wooden boxes one by one.

"Your use of Space Power is truly astonishing."

Looking at the four wooden boxes that Xiao Yuan had taken out effortlessly, Su Qian couldn't help but shake his head, his tone full of emotion.

When Xiao Yuan killed the Earth Demon Old Ghost just now, he was already ridiculously strong.

Looking at him now, at the level of Two Star Dou Zong, his performance is still so impressive, which is truly astonishing.

"Hehe, it's just that my cultivation method is special. Zi Yan is the one with a special talent for Space Power!"

Xiao Yuan smiled and then opened the four somewhat antique wooden boxes one by one.

Inside the first wooden box were two silver scrolls. The scrolls were made of a rather strange material, resembling a peculiar crystal. On their surface, there were even tiny electric sparks that moved around like silver snakes.

Upon seeing the scroll's impressive appearance, Xiao Yuan's eyes flashed with surprise. He then took it out and slowly unfurled it.

"Ben Lei Jian, Mid-Level Earth Rank, Thunder Attribute Technique"

Upon seeing the description written on the scroll, Xiao Yuan's eyes showed a hint of disappointment.

I'm not really going to need this technique anymore.

However, it can be taken back for my second brother to use.

Then, he took out another silver scroll from the wooden box, glanced at it, and nodded slightly.

"The Jing Zhe Lei Fa, a mid-level Earth-rank Dou Technique, is a set of Dou Technique that Ben Lei Jian."

If that's the case, I can observe it for a while and then give it to Xiao Yu so she can take it home to my second brother.

Speaking of which, Xiao Yu's cultivation speed is not slow either. Xiao Yuan estimated that by the time Xiao Yu graduates from the Jia Nan Academy, he should become a Dou Wang Stage expert.

Xiao Yuan smiled and nodded, then opened another wooden box, revealing a somewhat familiar crimson scroll.

"Nong Yan Jue".

Looking at the scroll, Xiao Yuan raised an eyebrow.

He had already obtained the Nong Yan Jue from Fang Yan and the other two, but after looking at it, he felt it was useless. Moreover, he had some unpleasant impressions of it in his vague memory, so he didn't make time to cultivate it. He didn't expect that another one would appear now.

Picking up the scroll and slowly unfurling it, the three fiery red characters "Nong Yan Jue" (弄炎决) came into view. However, what was different was that after the three characters "Nong Yan Jue," there was another character that was exceptionally bright red.

"Real!"

"The Nong Yan Jue, truly?"

Looking at this true character, Xiao Yuan suddenly frowned, then spread out all the scrolls and read the words on them carefully.

"This Nong Yan Jue is the culmination of many years of painstaking improvement by me. While the previous Nong Yan Jue was powerful, it required at least three people to cultivate it in order to condense a pseudo- Heavenly Flames, and each condensation required a considerable price. However, this technique is far superior. One can successfully condense a pseudo- Heavenly Flames even when cultivating it alone, and its power far surpasses that of a strong individual. The side effects are also greatly reduced. Although the condensation method has become more complicated, these are minor flaws that can be ignored compared to the gains."

As his gaze slowly swept across the scroll, Xiao Yuan finally began to make some impressions. This one was indeed better. The reason he Zeng Xiu the Nong Yan Jue he obtained before was because the so-called condensation of Heavenly Flames had huge side effects, which were rubbish to him! Since he could just assemble Heavenly Flames by hand, he might as well directly increase his strength and assemble it by hand! But this Flame Manipulation Art was worth considering, as it might offer some help in assembling Heavenly Flames by hand.

Moreover, it could also be given to Xiao Yan to play with. Speaking of which, because the two of them are often together, Xiao Yan has almost never had the opportunity to use the Flame Lotus. To this day, the Flame Lotus is still Xiao Yan's most little-known trump card.

Xiao Yuan didn't even dare to imagine how terrifying it would be if Xiao Yan created a few more Heavenly Flames and conjured up a multicolored super Flame Lotus.

There's a good chance they could blow up the Hun Tiandi half to death.

"Xiao Yan, take this and study it. It will be of great benefit to you."

Xiao Yuan smiled and handed the scroll to Xiao Yan, then opened the two wooden boxes simultaneously.

The wooden box was opened, revealing two items: a fist-sized, bright red, round bead and an ordinary gray-brown Bamboo Slip.

Xiao Yuan and the others' gazes first focused on the fiery red bead. They could sense that it contained a rather violent and enormous Fire Attribute Energy.

"This is a seventh-tier fire-attribute Magic Core?"

Xiao Yuan stared intently at the fiery red bead, somewhat surprised.

This was truly the first time he had ever seen such a thing.

However, it wouldn't be difficult for Xiao Yuan to kill Seventh Rank Magical Beast now. Therefore, after lingering on the fiery red bead for a moment, he looked at the seemingly ordinary Bamboo Slip.

Gently lifting the thin thread on the Bamboo Slip, Xiao Yuan slowly unfolded it. Then, a bloody character with a hint of ruthlessness appeared before his eyes, causing his heart to skip a beat.

"Tian Yao Kui!"

Upon seeing these three words, Xiao Yuan's expression changed, and he couldn't help but curse inwardly with regret:

"We shouldn't have annihilated that Earth Demon Old Ghost just now!"