Ten-Thousandfold Returns for Taking Disciples: Starting from Battle Through the Heavens — Chapter 29

First of all, Qin Hao had reached the Spiritual Realm in terms of soul strength. His soul perception was terrifyingly powerful, and his sensitivity to all kinds of energy in the world far surpassed that of ordinary people.

Furthermore, and most importantly, Qin Hao had fused with the bloodline of the Double Pupils. The Double Pupils possessed the ability to see through falsehood and discern the true essence of all things in heaven and earth.

With Spiritual Realm soul strength and the aid of the Double Pupils, sensing the aura of the Green Lotus Core Flame around Stone Desert City was no difficult task.

After leaving Stone Desert City, Qin Hao entered the boundless desert. He raised his soul perception to its limit and sensed the fluctuations of fire-attributed energy between heaven and earth.

He searched for places where fire-attributed energy was particularly active. At the same time, he pushed the power of his Double Pupils to the utmost, divine light gleaming in his eyes as he observed the fluctuations of flame energy throughout heaven and earth.

In the blink of an eye, more than half a day had passed, and the sky gradually darkened.

"Hmm?"

Just as Qin Hao was preparing to return and continue his search the next day, his expression suddenly shifted slightly. His gaze sharpened as he looked directly toward a distant direction.

In his perception, the fire-attributed energy in that direction was unusually active. Moreover, mixed within it were traces of special fire-attributed energy fluctuations that seemed to contain a certain law of flame.

The instant he sensed that aura, Qin Hao's eyes lit up. The Dou Qi wings on his back trembled, and his figure shot out in an instant, flying toward the source of the aura.

Following the sensation of that aura, Qin Hao soon arrived at the place where it was strongest.

"It can't be wrong. It should be here!"

After stopping, Qin Hao carefully sensed the surrounding aura once more and quickly reached a conclusion.

Without another word, Dou Qi surged wildly within him. He pointed a finger, and violent Dou Qi power blasted fiercely toward the ground.

Boom!

Amid rolling thunderous roars, a terrifyingly deep pit appeared beneath Qin Hao's feet. Its bottom was dark and unfathomable, like the gaping maw of a savage beast waiting to devour its prey.

However, Qin Hao did not stop. One terrifying attack after another bombarded the depths of the massive pit.

Rumble!

After dozens of strikes, an even more terrifying roar suddenly rang out. The entire ground began to shake violently, as though something had been forcibly shattered. The earth itself seemed on the verge of completely collapsing.

At the same time, a vastly more blazing and concentrated force of flame erupted from the bottom of the pit.

Qin Hao's eyes lit up at the sight. Without hesitation, he entered the giant pit.

After passing through the incomparably deep tunnel, the instant Qin Hao reached its deepest point, his vision suddenly brightened. He found himself in a crimson world.

An incomparably terrifying wave of scorching heat rushed straight at him.

Qin Hao had arrived in a vast underground magma world. Scarlet-hot lava churned endlessly.

The surrounding rocks had all turned a uniform dark red from the lava.

Qin Hao quickly calmed the distracting thoughts in his heart. His soul power spread out like a spiderweb, and he activated his Double Pupils to their limit, soon locking onto a direction.

The Dou Qi wings on his back beat slowly as Qin Hao flew above the boiling magma.

"Hmm?"

Yet after only a short while, Qin Hao came to a halt and looked down into the lava below.

According to his senses, a fairly strong magical beast aura was hidden deep within the underground magma.

The aura was roughly that of a fourth-tier magical beast, and its presence had nearly merged as one with the surrounding lava.

If Qin Hao's soul perception had not been so strong, others would likely have found it difficult to detect its existence.

In an instant, Qin Hao guessed that, barring any surprises, this magical beast was the Twin-Headed Fire Spirit Serpent from the original story.

It was also the first magical beast controlled by Qinglin.

The next moment, Qin Hao made a grabbing motion toward the underground magma. In an instant, a terrifying invisible giant hand manifested.

The magma beneath him exploded at once, splitting the world of lava before him in two. Then, a massive figure was forcibly dragged out from beneath the magma. It was clearly a serpent-type magical beast.

Its body was at least four or five zhang long, entirely scarlet in color. Palm-sized red scales densely covered its body, while the most distinctive feature was the two incomparably ferocious heads above its neck.

"The Twin-Headed Fire Spirit Serpent. It really is it!"

After seeing its appearance, Qin Hao was completely certain that this was indeed the Twin-Headed Fire Spirit Serpent from the original story.

The Twin-Headed Fire Spirit Serpent was a fourth-tier magical beast. In a place like Stone Desert City, it could naturally be considered powerful. But before Qin Hao, it was nothing more than an ant he could crush at will.

At that moment, the Twin-Headed Fire Spirit Serpent struggled violently within the restraints of the invisible giant hand. Unfortunately, no matter how it struggled, it could not break free in the slightest.

Had it been any other fourth-tier magical beast, Qin Hao would have slapped it to death long ago. However, the Twin-Headed Fire Spirit Serpent before him was a serpent-type magical beast, making it highly suitable for Qinglin, who possessed the Green Serpent Three-Flower Eyes.

To serpent-type magical beasts, the Green Serpent Three-Flower Eyes were practically a fantasy version of the Northern Darkness Divine Skill.

Besides controlling serpent-type magical beasts, the Green Serpent Three-Flower Eyes possessed another even more heaven-defying ability: they contained a self-contained space within the eyes.

Serpent-type magical beasts controlled by the Green Serpent Three-Flower Eyes could be stored within it, while the eye-space could continuously absorb the power of those controlled serpent-type magical beasts. It was practically a massive power bank.

It would not be an exaggeration to say that, for Qinglin with the Green Serpent Three-Flower Eyes, as long as serpent-type magical beasts existed, even if she did not deliberately cultivate, her cultivation would still rise at an incomparably terrifying speed.

Qinglin's cultivation process was far more comfortable than that of the original protagonist, Xiao Yan. In the original story, because he cultivated the Flame Mantra, nearly every increase in Xiao Yan's strength came while walking the line between life and death.

Qin Hao could not be bothered to waste words. He directly slapped the Twin-Headed Fire Spirit Serpent unconscious, then with a thought, stored it in the World Ring on his hand.

With this World Ring, many things would clearly become much more convenient for Qin Hao.

[Someone previously said in the comments that crops could be grown in the World Ring... To be honest, that might work in other worlds, but there is really no need for it in the Battle Through the Heavens world.

The timeline of this world, from the beginning to the end, only spans a few years. Moreover, the World Ring does not have a time acceleration function, so there is simply no need to deliberately cultivate crops inside it.]

After dealing with the Twin-Headed Fire Spirit Serpent, Qin Hao once again continued searching in the direction indicated by the aura.

"Found it!"

When Qin Hao arrived at the core of the underground magma world, his gaze sharpened and finally settled on the heart of the endlessly rolling lava.

A green lotus appeared in his sight.

The green lotus had eight petals and looked extraordinarily dazzling.

At the center of the lotus petals was a green lotus platform more than three chi in diameter. There were over a dozen holes of varying sizes on it, each containing a fingernail-sized lotus seed that was crystalline like jade.

Beneath the green lotus, a slender stem had rooted itself in the lava below, constantly absorbing the pure fire-attributed energy within it.

However, Qin Hao's gaze was drawn to the dancing green flame atop the green lotus platform.

The green flame was extremely lively, resembling a blooming green lotus. Strange fluctuations of fire-attributed energy radiated from it.

The energy within this flame differed somewhat from the fire-attributed energy contained in the surrounding lava. It carried a special aura of rules. Under the analysis of Qin Hao's Double Pupils, this energy contained a special power similar to laws.

"So this is the Green Lotus Core Flame... As expected of a heavenly spiritual treasure nurtured by the Dou Qi Continent itself!"

Qin Hao thought to himself.

Since there were still at least two years before the plot began, Medusa Queen had clearly not yet discovered the Heavenly Flame here, nor had she gotten to it first.

This had invisibly saved Qin Hao quite a bit of trouble.

Buzz!

The instant Qin Hao approached, the flame lotus that had been quietly floating above the green lotus platform suddenly trembled violently, as though it had sensed something. Its aura instantly became incomparably violent.

"It has already developed intelligence... Interesting!"

Qin Hao thought to himself, immediately understanding what was happening.

Under the special laws of this world, Heavenly Flames could develop intelligence after being nurtured over long periods of time, and could even take human form.

For example, Void Devouring Flame, ranked second among the Heavenly Flames. In the Dou Qi Continent, perhaps it was nothing unusual, but in a world of immortal cultivation, it would unquestionably be an innate lifeform.

However, the Green Lotus Core Flame before him was still unimaginably far from taking form. It had merely developed the faintest trace of intelligence. Rather than intelligence, it would be more accurate to call it instinct.

Compared with Fallen Heart Flame, Three Thousand Burning Flame, Pure Lotus Demon Flame, and the others that appeared later in the original story, it was clearly inferior by far.

Qin Hao did not waste any words and immediately prepared to collect the Green Lotus Core Flame.

Buzz!

The next moment, brilliant light burst from the green flame lotus. Then, boundless green flames swept out, transforming into a sky full of green fire-rain that descended upon Qin Hao.

"Overestimating yourself!"

Qin Hao smiled faintly. The Green Lotus Core Flame was only ranked nineteenth on the Heavenly Flame List. Though the power it could unleash was not weak, it could not threaten Qin Hao, who had already broken through to the Dou Huang realm.

Even Medusa Queen had been able to take away the Green Lotus Core Flame in the original story. How could he possibly fail?

"Parting Flame Astral Energy!"

With a thought, Qin Hao instantly activated his Dou Technique. A crimson-gold astral energy barrier manifested and completely enveloped him. It was the earth-tier Dou Technique, Parting Flame Astral Energy, which he had obtained earlier.

Parting Flame Astral Energy was an exceptionally powerful defensive Dou Technique. Empowered by the rich and pure fire-attributed Dou Qi within Qin Hao's body, the power it displayed in his hands rivaled that of a mid-grade earth-tier Dou Technique.

When the green flames struck the crimson-gold astral energy barrier, they merely caused faint ripples to spread across it, let alone injure Qin Hao.

Immediately afterward, Qin Hao's Dou Qi condensed into a giant flaming hand, instantly enveloping the green lotus platform along with the Green Lotus Core Flame.

No matter how violently the Green Lotus Core Flame struggled, it could not break free from the flaming giant hand's restraint.

In only a short while, Qin Hao had completely imprisoned the Green Lotus Core Flame, leaving it quietly suspended above the green lotus platform.

"As expected of a treasure nurtured by the origin of heaven and earth!"

Qin Hao could not help sighing inwardly again. Leaving aside the Green Lotus Core Flame itself, the green lotus platform alone, along with the Earthfire Lotus Seeds nurtured atop it, were all rare supreme treasures.

Leaving the Magma World! The Suicidal Sand Mercenary Group!

Sitting on this lotus platform could greatly increase the cultivation speed of fire-attributed cultivators. As for the Earthfire Lotus Seeds, they were likewise extremely precious natural treasures for fire-attributed cultivators.

Only after a long while did Qin Hao slowly withdraw his gaze. With a thought, he directly stored the lotus platform and the Green Lotus Core Flame in the World Ring as well.

In the Dou Qi Continent, Heavenly Flames normally could not be placed inside any storage treasure. However, Qin Hao's World Ring was clearly an exception.

As for why he stored it away, it was because Qin Hao had never intended to refine the Green Lotus Core Flame. Though the Green Lotus Core Flame was decent, it was merely icing on the cake for Qin Hao.

If he could use it for a system return, however, that would be entirely different. Even the lowest tenfold return would undoubtedly earn him an enormous profit.

At last, Qin Hao shifted his gaze away from the remaining stem. This thing was clearly a fine treasure as well. Though it could not compare to the lotus platform and lotus seeds, its value was still far from ordinary.