Everyone was formidable, while their opponents were only at the early to middle stages of Human Rank, so they were soon wiped out.
Seeing the ghostfire-like Flame Spirits extinguished one after another, leaving ashes as pale as lime, several Yan Guards ran over excitedly to collect them.
These were ashes left by the Flame Spirits, rich in spiritual essence-a fine treasured material.
"These Flame Spirits wouldn't appear for no reason. Old Xing, take a few people down and have a look." Yan Heyan paid little attention to that meager haul. What mattered to him was why the Flame Spirits had appeared.
The Lava River stretched across their path, inevitably inviting speculation.
"Yes, Second Elder!" Old Xing was a middle-aged man in his forties. In his younger years, he had been a grassroots rogue cultivator before becoming a retainer of the Yan clan, finally fulfilling his wish of reaching late-stage Human Rank.
Such relationships of personal dependence were common among grassroots cultivators. The blessed lands of the world, businesses in the Market Districts, and treasured material resources were all controlled by aristocratic clans and sects. It was truly difficult for an ordinary individual to claim even a few spoonfuls of that feast.
After Old Xing led several people down, the others waited above.
Yan Heyan glanced at Yan Song, who stood beside him itching to try his hand, and resumed their earlier conversation.
"Our party has a full ten first-rate experts, all accomplished cultivators at the ninth transformation or above. Another twenty-odd have late-stage cultivation at seven or eight transformations, meeting the requirements for Great Sect Disciples to travel abroad, temper themselves, and roam the martial world."
"Altogether, we have more than thirty Human Rank fighters. A great sect would consider that beneath notice, but for an emerging lineage like our