Ao Qin had barely reached an arm into the red lotus dais when an incomparably scorching aura radiated from its petals. Waves of searing heat surged upward, rushing straight at his arm.
"Ah..."
A miserable cry rang out. Ao Qin's sleeve instantly turned to ash, and the dragon scales on his arm were scorched blood-red. Before he could even touch the dragon horn, he hastily withdrew his arm.
Shen Luo's face lit up with delight at the sight.
His figure flashed as he employed the Slanting Moon Step and charged toward the red lotus dais at tremendous speed.
Seeing Shen Luo come to seize it, Ao Qin could no longer concern himself with the treasure. He immediately swung his palm sideways, and a phantom dragon claw emerged from the air, hurtling toward Shen Luo.
Shen Luo raised a fist and slammed it into the dragon claw. The two collided violently with a thunderous boom.
The golden dragon claw shattered in response, while Shen Luo was also forced back by the strike.
"Shen Luo, must you insist on becoming enemies with my South Sea Dragon Palace?" Ao Qin shouted sternly.
"What a coincidence. Every time Fellow Daoist Ao Qin does something beneath human dignity, I always happen to run into it. I wonder whether your luck is bad, or whether I'm the one cursed with misfortune." Shen Luo grinned.
"Shen Luo, let me tell you this: the Flame-Spark Fire Vein only erupts rarely, and only then do we have a chance to enter this place. But the time is limited. Once the magma recedes, this place will be filled with Flame-Spark lava again. By then, none of us will escape death." Suppressing the fury in his heart, Ao Qin spoke coldly.
"Then Fellow Daoist Ao, stop wasting time. Let me take