The spacecraft arrived at the Lava Secret Realm.
After parting ways with the Black Ape warrior, Su Zhe chose not to team up with the other mercenaries. Instead, he ventured through the Lava Secret Realm alone.
The Lava Secret Realm was filled with volcanoes and lava lakes. The ground was made of scorching reddish-brown rock, and temperatures could reach over a thousand degrees. Ordinary metals would melt here.
An Apprentice Level warrior would not last more than a few minutes in such a harsh environment.
Only those who had reached Star Level and had the protection of a Force Battle Suit could move freely in these conditions.
Even so, anyone who did not cultivate the Law of Fire would find their combat strength affected to some degree in a place like this.
Only Universe Level beings could truly ignore the environment of the Lava Secret Realm.
However.
The Universe Mercenary Alliance had restricted this death-level mission to Star Level warriors. They likely had the intention of nurturing the talented as well.
Otherwise, powerful Universe Level warriors could enter the Lava Secret Realm and easily obtain large quantities of Fire Marrow Crystals while slaughtering the Lava Monsters there.
Humans simply had too great an advantage over ferocious beasts.
Law Comprehension, Force Weapons, Force Battle Suits...
These were all advantages humans possessed.
Inside the Lava Secret Realm.
Atop a towering cliff.
Su Zhe stood there, looking down at the broad lava basin below. At its center was a lava lake more than a hundred thousand meters in diameter, bubbling with hot air thick with the smell of sulfur.
Around the lake, more than twenty Lava Monsters of various shapes were hard at work.
Lava Monsters were said to be a kind of ferocious beast, but in reality, they were more like energy-based lifeforms.
Although they were flesh-and-blood creatures, they had evolved into different forms in the Lava Secret Realm's unique environment. Some resembled giant tortoises, with heavy rock armor on their backs and a knack for defense. Others resembled pangolins, with sharp claws suited for attacking.
Different Lava Monsters had different traits.
At that moment, they were all busy with one thing.
That was... mining Fire Marrow Crystals!
"Master, the strongest of these Lava Monsters is at the ninth tier of Star Level, while the weakest is at the fifth tier."
Xiao Yu reminded him.
Su Zhe nodded slightly. The Lava Monsters were crouched on the ground, digging into the rock face. Their instincts helped them locate Fire Marrow Crystals, which were their source of food.
When a Lava Monster died, its corpse melted into the magma. After countless years of change, it would turn back into a vein of Fire Marrow Crystals deep underground.
Without human interference, this secret realm could have continued to exist in a stable state until it eventually fell into ruin.
But now that humans had discovered it and were exploiting and slaughtering its inhabitants on a massive scale, the Lava Secret Realm probably would not last much longer.
"Can you find out anything about the Fire Marrow Crystal veins?"
Su Zhe asked.
Although he had returned the Black Dragon Spaceship to Luo Feng, he still had the Black Ink Star Ship's probe with him.
"I can't detect them."
Xiao Yu said, "The environment inside the Lava Secret Realm greatly interferes with detection. It seems only the Lava Monsters can locate the Fire Marrow Crystal veins."
Unable to detect them?
Su Zhe nodded slightly.
No matter. He had other ways.
The Fire Marrow Crystal veins in the Lava Secret Realm came in two types.
One was the kind the Lava Monsters were mining now, buried deep underground.
The other was the scattered Fire Marrow Crystals that the Black Ape warrior had mentioned earlier. They occasionally appeared on the surface and could be mined directly, but there were too few to meet Su Zhe's expectations.
Su Zhe preferred to take the initiative.
The Lava Monsters below were all digging for Fire Marrow Crystals, with only one exception.
That was the ninth-tier Star Level Lava Monster.
It was the largest of them all, like a small mountain. Its body was nearly three thousand meters long and almost a thousand meters tall, making it larger than many mountain ranges on Earth.
It was not digging for Fire Marrow Crystals with the others. Instead, like a foreman, it stood on a protruding piece of Obsidian beside the lava lake, watching the other Lava Monsters with cold eyes.
Su Zhe fixed his gaze on the Lava Monster. As long as he took it down, the others would pose no threat.
Kill it!
One unit of Fire Marrow Crystal weighed about twenty kilograms, yet was only about the size of a palm.
Su Zhe had already spotted a sizable pile of Fire Marrow Crystals by the Lava Monster's feet. They were reddish gold, glittering in the light cast by the magma.
That small pile contained at least several hundred units.
That meant more than several hundred billion Black Dragon Coins!
It was already comparable to all of Su Zhe's earnings in the Thunder World—and might even be worth more.
But getting those Fire Marrow Crystals would be extremely difficult.
First, he had to take down the ninth-tier Star Level Lava Monster. Then, he had to escape while surrounded by more than twenty Lava Monsters. The challenge was no easier than assassinating someone from a major faction in the Thunder World.
In the Thunder World, Su Zhe had only killed ferocious beasts and ordinary adventurers.
The major factions' people were surrounded by large numbers of ninth-tier Star Level warriors. He had not dared go near them.
"There are no Universe Level beings here. I can kill them."
With a thought, Su Zhe activated his Thousand Shadows movement technique and charged rapidly toward the Lava Monsters below!
After such a long period of cultivation, Su Zhe had finally managed to grasp the basics of the technique.
Thousand Shadows had reached the first layer, allowing him to leave behind an afterimage.
Su Zhe was already extremely fast, and with the added boost from his movement technique, he reached the top of the ninth-tier Star Level Lava Monster's head before it could react!
He activated his domain!
Flowing Fire Blade: Fifth Form!
Su Zhe brought his arms together, forming a giant blade that crashed down and struck the Lava Monster's head with tremendous force.
The surrounding lava and flames were devoured by Su Zhe's domain.
The Void Devouring Flame was an exceptionally powerful flame, naturally capable of suppressing ordinary fire. In almost an instant, the surrounding flames were devoured, and the energy inside the Lava Monster rapidly drained away.
With one slash, Su Zhe split the Lava Monster's head open.
"Devour!"
Three forces of devouring activated at once—the Blacklight Virus's plunder, the Void Devouring Flame's annihilation, and the Heaven-Devouring Demonic Art's refinement of its essence!
[Devoured ninth-tier Star Level Lava Monster, gained 655360 Devour Points] [Devour Point conversion: 65 Devour Coins]
As the notification appeared, Su Zhe felt that his domain seemed to be breaking through at the same time.
Third-Stage Domain!
With his domain reaching the third stage, Su Zhe's comprehension of the Law of Fire advanced further. Vaguely, he seemed to be on the verge of comprehending a trace of the Origin Law of Fire.
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