The battle continued.
Su Zhe had killed the Star Level Ninth Order Lava Monster in an instant. The remaining Lava Monsters, still mining ore, naturally stood no chance of escape. Su Zhe killed and devoured them one by one, turning them all into Devour Points.
Only after every Lava Monster on the scene had been devoured did Su Zhe turn his attention to the pile of Fire Marrow Crystals.
"Master, there are 350 units of Fire Marrow Crystals here. At the Universe Mercenary Alliance's purchase price, they're worth 52.5 billion Black Dragon Coins!" Auxiliary Intelligence Xiao Yu said.
"Good."
Su Zhe nodded slightly, a smile appearing on his face.
Not bad. Making money in this secret realm really was easy.
In the blink of an eye, he'd earned hundreds of billions of Black Dragon Coins. This really couldn't compare to the Thunder World.
With Su Zhe's strength, as long as he didn't run into a Universe Level enemy—or, more precisely, some mid- or late-stage Universe Level Lava Monsters—he was confident he could handle the likes of Universe Level First and Second Rank opponents.
As long as he was a little careful in the Lava Secret Realm, Su Zhe could plunder Fire Marrow Crystals to his heart's content.
"There seem to be quite a few Fire Marrow Crystals left in this vein."
Su Zhe looked toward the vein that had been only half mined.
"By a conservative estimate, more than a thousand units of Fire Marrow Crystals are still buried there," Xiao Yu judged.
"Let's leave them here." Su Zhe shook his head slightly. He wasn't going to stay and mine.
After devouring so many Lava Monsters, Su Zhe had also inherited one of their unique abilities.
The ability to sense Fire Marrow Crystals!
Fire Marrow Crystals and Lava Monsters had a natural connection. Perhaps it had something to do with Fire Marrow Crystals being formed from the remains of dead Lava Monsters.
With this ability, Su Zhe could seek out much larger veins—or even go straight to the Lava Monsters' lairs. Their lairs were sure to hold large stores of Fire Marrow Crystals.
"Come to think of it, can I devour these Fire Marrow Crystals?"
A Fire Marrow Crystal appeared in Su Zhe's left hand.
"Meow!"
The Spirit of Nihility Devouring Flame transformed into a Little Black Cat and appeared on Su Zhe's shoulder. It stared hungrily at the Fire Marrow Crystal, so Su Zhe placed it right in front of the cat.
"Meow!"
The Spirit of Nihility Devouring Flame swallowed the Fire Marrow Crystal in one bite!
The crystal quickly melted into tiny streams of reddish-gold liquid, which the Void Devouring Flame absorbed before channeling the energy back into Su Zhe's body.
"Hm?"
Su Zhe raised an eyebrow. After devouring the Fire Marrow Crystal, his Domain of Fire seemed to have grown ever so slightly stronger.
He knew Fire Marrow Crystals could help one perceive the Law of Fire.
But he hadn't expected that devouring one directly could strengthen his Domain of Fire.
Besides that, the Void Devouring Flame itself seemed to have been strengthened as well. Its flames had grown more powerful, somewhat like an increase in Life Gene Level. Its level hadn't changed, but its power had.
"So... these Fire Marrow Crystals aren't just worth money."
Su Zhe murmured.
The improvement wasn't great, but this had only been one unit of Fire Marrow Crystal.
And the Lava Secret Realm was the last place to run short of Fire Marrow Crystals!
Without hesitation, Su Zhe piled all the Fire Marrow Crystals he'd obtained into a heap in front of the Spirit of Nihility Devouring Flame. As he watched it devour them in great gulps, he could feel his own strength growing.
It felt different from a rise in level.
The increase in strength was slow, but it felt substantial.
A moment later.
After the Spirit of Nihility Devouring Flame had devoured every last Fire Marrow Crystal, Su Zhe looked at it with an odd expression, having received its message.
"You're still hungry?"
"All right, then."
Su Zhe reluctantly put away the Void Devouring Flame.
If it wasn't full, then he'd go find more Fire Marrow Crystals!
"The map of the Lava Secret Realm..."
Su Zhe took out the map given to him by the Black Ape warrior. It was more detailed than the one he'd bought in the Virtual Universe. Several large Lava Monster lairs had already been explored and marked in red.
"Master, the locations marked on this map all have Universe Level Lava Monsters," Xiao Yu warned him.
"It's fine."
Su Zhe wasn't afraid. He hurried toward one of the dangerous locations.
Ever since entering the Lava Secret Realm, he'd had an idea. Now he could try it out.
Sometimes, Fire Marrow Crystals could be obtained without resorting to violence.
"Roar!"
Su Zhe was using the Blacklight Virus's ability to disguise himself as a Lava Monster, blending into the group as he prepared to enter their lair.
Although Lava Monsters had an instinct to live in groups, they were fierce beasts and had little intelligence. They were guided only by instinct.
They couldn't tell one of their own from another. Even an extra Lava Monster among them didn't arouse the slightest suspicion.
Following the Lava Monsters,
Su Zhe passed through a series of wide tunnels and finally arrived beneath a magma lake, in a vast cavern.
This was the Lava Monsters' lair!
"Fire Marrow Crystals!"
The moment he entered the lair, Su Zhe was stunned by the wave of Fire Marrow Crystal energy rushing toward him.
Before him lay a massive, mountain-like heap of Fire Marrow Crystals, carelessly piled in the center of the cavern. Several Universe Level Lava Monsters lounged nearby, and even farther away were more piles of crystals.
They weren't as numerous as the central pile, but there were still a great many.
"Master, based on their volume, I estimate the pile in the center contains at least 800,000 units of Fire Marrow Crystals!" Xiao Yu said.
Eight hundred thousand units?
Su Zhe's gaze flickered.
That was worth 120 trillion Black Dragon Coins!
It already exceeded the start-up funds Luo Feng could have obtained from Hu Yanbo's account when he was at Star Level!
And if he added the other piles of Fire Marrow Crystals nearby, there were probably more than a million units in this one lair alone.
That was a terrifying amount.
But considering the presence of those Universe Level Lava Monsters, it seemed reasonable after all.
"Two Universe Level Third Orders, one Universe Level Fourth Rank, and several more Universe Level Lava Monsters farther away."
Su Zhe looked at the Lava Monsters guarding the Fire Marrow Crystals and immediately felt a headache coming on.
Although he'd successfully infiltrated the Lava Monsters' lair, judging by the movements of those few Universe Level Lava Monsters, Star Level Lava Monsters had no chance of approaching the central pile of Fire Marrow Crystals!
That put an end to Su Zhe's plan to sneak over, stuff the crystals into his Space Ring, and run.
"I'll have to think of something..."
Su Zhe looked toward the Lava Monsters nearby. He could get close to the smaller piles of Fire Marrow Crystals.
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