In the end, Su Zhe gave up on trying to obtain the Fire Marrow Heart.
It wasn't that he hadn't tried flying toward it to take a look.
But when he had flown halfway there and a Universe Level Ninth Order Lava Monster poked its head out from the depths of the Lava Sea, Su Zhe quietly abandoned the idea.
It wasn't that he was afraid of it.
In fact, with Su Zhe's current strength, he had a good chance of killing that Universe Level Ninth Order Lava Monster.
The problem was that it wasn't the only Lava Monster here.
Su Zhe could sense the terrifying auras deep in the Lava Sea. Monsters of this level seemed to be quite common here. He was confident he could take down one, or even several, but if a whole group came...
He decided against it.
Su Zhe chose to make a tactical retreat for now.
He would come back and take a look when he was ready to leave the Lava Secret Realm.
That was what Su Zhe thought.
"Since that's the case... my current goal is to get some Fire Marrow Crystals first," Su Zhe thought to himself.
Now that Su Zhe had reached Universe Level, ordinary Universe Level beasts were no match for him.
He could simply sneak into the Lava Monsters' lair and take the Fire Marrow Crystals!
He flew toward the outskirts of the Lava Sea.
Su Zhe soon found the passage he had used to enter this underground space.
He followed the passage upward, disguised himself as a Lava Monster, and returned to the Lava Monsters' lair.
"Roar?"
It was the same familiar lair.
Su Zhe looked at the massive pile of Fire Marrow Crystals in the center of the lair, as well as the three Universe Level Lava Monsters guarding it.
Two were Universe Level Third Order, and one was Universe Level Fourth Rank.
They seemed surprised to see Su Zhe. One of the Lava Monsters raised its head and roared at him.
"Roar, roar."
The one speaking was the Universe Level Fourth Rank Lava Monster.
Su Zhe understood what it meant.
It was telling him to go to the other side of the lair and lead some Star Level Lava Monsters away, so they could open up more lairs.
The continent within this Lava Secret Realm was about a million kilometers in diameter and enormous. Many areas had no Lava Monsters at all, and remained in the early-stage pioneering phase after the secret realm's formation.
The Lava Monsters' method of expansion was simple.
Whoever reached Universe Level would lead some Lava Monsters away, establish a new lair, and search for new Fire Marrow Crystal deposits.
Of course, they could also stay in the lair, but there was a limit to how many Universe Level monsters one lair could hold.
This lair had only three Universe Level Lava Monsters.
If any of the others reached Universe Level and still wanted to stay, the three of them would drive them out—or might even kill them outright.
After all, beasts were still beasts.
Even a relatively docile beast like the Single-Horned Iron Rhino had a ferocious side. And the Lava Monsters even had the word "monster" in their name.
"Roar!"
Su Zhe nodded and roared in reply, then approached the large pile of Fire Marrow Crystals.
By tradition, he was allowed to take some Fire Marrow Crystals as "start-up capital," or "rations," if you preferred.
The three Universe Level Lava Monsters moved aside to make room for Su Zhe. They didn't think he would dare try anything. After all, beasts couldn't comprehend laws; level was everything.
The three of them could work together to give even a Universe Level Fifth Order Lava Monster a hard time.
So they were quite confident.
However...
"ROAR!!!"
The Universe Level Fourth Rank Lava Monster let out an angry roar. The moment Su Zhe approached, the more than 800,000 units of Fire Marrow Crystals vanished!
It glared furiously at Su Zhe. With a beast's limited intellect, it never considered that someone else might have tampered with the crystals. It immediately blamed Su Zhe.
Which was, in fact, exactly what he had done.
"Domain!"
Without hesitation, the instant he used his Space Ring to collect the Fire Marrow Crystals, Su Zhe simultaneously unleashed his Domain of Fire and Domain of Wind.
His Domain of Wind was only at the first level and had begun to fall behind, but wind fanned the flames, giving his Domain of Fire a boost.
"Bang!"
Su Zhe swiped at the Universe Level Fourth Rank Lava Monster. The terrifying force of his blow shattered its rocky armor and left a deep gash across its body.
"Roar!"
The other two Lava Monsters had now reacted as well.
They charged at Su Zhe, hoping to join forces and kill him, but it was already too late. Su Zhe had comprehended a trace of the Origin Law of Fire, giving him tremendous explosive power!
In the blink of an eye,
Su Zhe had torn out the Universe Level Fourth Rank Lava Monster's innards with a single swipe and devoured it on the spot!
[Devoured Universe Level Fourth Rank beast, gained 52428800 Devour Points] [Devour Points conversion: 5242 Devour Coins]
More than five thousand Devour Coins!
Su Zhe's eyes lit up. Killing that Lava Monster had earned him nearly as many Devour Coins as all his previous gains combined!
His decision to break through to Universe Level had definitely been the right one.
If he hadn't broken through and had instead stayed at Star Level, slowly comprehending the Origin Law and waiting to take part in the Genius Tournament, he had no idea how long it would have taken to earn this many Devour Coins.
Now, Su Zhe had finally confirmed the direction he should take.
He didn't need to take part in the Genius Tournament.
As long as he kept devouring, he could grow as quickly as possible!
A million Devour Coins?
Su Zhe felt that it wasn't impossible.
"Roar!"
The remaining two Lava Monsters charged at Su Zhe, but he casually swatted them to death and devoured them. That brought him another five thousand or so Devour Coins.
The Star Level Lava Monsters in the lair had already fled when Su Zhe started fighting the three Lava Monsters. They hadn't stupidly stayed behind, which saved him quite a bit of trouble.
Soon, Su Zhe had collected all the Fire Marrow Crystals in the lair.
"Master, there are 1,125,729 units of Fire Marrow Crystals in total, worth an estimated 168 trillion Black Dragon Coins or more!" Xiao Yu reported after counting them.
"Excellent."
Su Zhe smiled.
A single Lava Monster lair had earned him nearly two million billion Black Dragon Coins!
And who knew how many lairs like this there were in the Lava Secret Realm?
Su Zhe could earn enough money here to fill all his Space Rings before leaving the secret realm!
But he was probably the only one who could do this.
Anyone who entered the Lava Secret Realm could be at most Star Level Ninth Order. Setting aside whether they could beat the Universe Level Lava Monsters, simply finding their lairs would be a huge problem.
Before you continue