An exhaustive search was clearly impractical, but Xiao Yan had another way. The Amethyst Winged Lion King was a fire-attribute magical beast, so naturally, it preferred living somewhere hot and warm.
Among the seven or eight branching paths, the temperature differed from one to the next.
The divine pattern on Xiao Yan's forehead flickered faintly as he distinguished the minute differences in temperature between the paths.
"This way!"
Without hesitation, Xiao Yan chose one of the paths and sprinted down it.
There were many more such forks throughout the Cave Abode, forming an exceedingly complex maze.
Without Xiao Yan's special perception, simply finding the right path would probably have taken two hours.
After crossing an unknown number of forks, Xiao Yan finally felt scorching heat washing over his face. He knew he had come to the right place.
Beyond the final fork, a spacious cavern opened before him.
Large quantities of purple crystals grew here, deliberately cut and polished into a distinctive decorative style.
"To think these magical beasts know how to enjoy themselves. This Cave Abode is practically a palace."
But on reflection, it made sense. The higher a magical beast's tier, the greater its intelligence, and naturally, the more demanding it became about its surroundings.
The cavern was also spotless, without any magical beast droppings, suggesting that the Amethyst Winged Lion King was something of a clean freak.
With no time to dwell on it, Xiao Yan quickly removed the pendant from his neck and began sensing for purple spirit crystals.
The amethyst stones transformed by the influence here were still fundamentally ore, but purple spirit crystals were different.
They were crystals shed from the Amethyst Winged Lion King's body, containing its bloodline power and pure flame energy.
They served specifically as nourishment for its offspring. Besides eating various kinds of meat, the Little Amethyst Winged Lion relied even more on gnawing these purple spirit crystals to grow.
That allowed it to accumulate more of that unique bloodline power.
Ordinarily, however, the Amethyst Winged Lion King deliberately stored the purple spirit crystals away. Despite the cavern's enormous size, Xiao Yan failed to find even one.
Fortunately, these caverns connected to others, each holding different things.
"Is this... the Amethyst Winged Lion King's Treasure Room?"
After twisting and turning through the passages, Xiao Yan stumbled into another cavern.
Various medicinal herbs lay piled into mountains inside, but most had shriveled and dried out, losing their medicinal potency. Among them were plenty of ingredients suitable for refining high-grade pills.
"Ugh, these magical beasts really are oxen chewing peonies! How could they toss so many medicinal herbs into piles like this? At least seventy or eighty percent of their potency has escaped!"
Although Xiao Yan had only just begun learning, the sight of the medicinal herbs left here still made his heart ache. A proper alchemist would probably have started cursing their mothers.
Beside the medicinal herbs sat another small mountain, this one made of magic cores. Most were second- or third-tier, with a few fourth-tier ones and a handful of fifth-tier magic cores scattered among them-two or three hundred in all.
They had mostly come from the magical beasts the Amethyst Winged Lion King had eaten.
Aside from fire-attribute magic cores, none were of any use to the Amethyst Winged Lion King, so they had been tossed here. Occasionally, the Little Amethyst Winged Lion would come over and use them to grind its teeth.
These things were quite valuable. Xiao Yan casually scooped up several handfuls, intending to put them all into his Storage Ring.
Just then, accompanied by light footsteps, a magical beast only half a meter tall suddenly bounded inside.
Xiao Yan and the creature stared at each other, both freezing in place for a moment.
It was the Little Amethyst Winged Lion!
The cub quickly recovered and immediately lunged at Xiao Yan.
Though the Little Amethyst Winged Lion was only a cub, it already possessed third-tier strength, comparable to a human Da Dou Shi.
Its physical strength was immense, far beyond a Da Dou Shi's. Xiao Yan immediately threw a punch in retaliation, his fist colliding with its paw.
It felt as though he had struck steel, and his arm went numb.
"Holy shit! A magical beast really lives up to its name. What incredible strength!"
After that exchange, Xiao Yan judged that it possessed strength at least equivalent to a seven- or eight-star Da Dou Shi.
Not daring to hold back, Xiao Yan immediately awakened his divine pattern, preparing to fight the Little Amethyst Winged Lion head-on to the end.
Once the divine pattern awakened, Xiao Yan felt his Dou Qi surge rapidly in a short span of time. His strength shot up by two stars, reaching the level of a five-star Da Dou Shi!
The divine pattern on Xiao Yan's forehead made the Little Amethyst Winged Lion feel threatened. No longer daring to approach him, it opened its jaws and spat out a small purple fireball instead.
The purple beast flame was the Amethyst Winged Lion King's innate flame. Even a Dou Emperor would not dare touch it directly.
The cub before him clearly lacked sufficient beast flame within its body, so it could not breathe a continuous stream of fire and spat out only a single fireball.
Even so, the intense heat contained in that purple beast flame was beyond what an ordinary Da Dou Shi could withstand.
Under normal circumstances, Xiao Yan could have dodged, but they had met in cramped quarters, leaving him too little room to maneuver.
He could only gather his Dou Qi and forcibly withstand the purple fireball.
The beast-flame fireball struck Xiao Yan moments later, and fierce, searing pain spread throughout his body.
Just then, however, the divine pattern on Xiao Yan's forehead flashed, and the Dou Qi within him circulated at tremendous speed. The searing pain rapidly vanished, and the beast flame on his body was extinguished in an instant.
"Is this... the divine pattern's power?"
Xiao Yan felt only a small portion of his Dou Qi evaporate, completely neutralizing the cub's beast flame.
He recalled what his ancestor Xiao Xuan had said. The Xiao Clan's founding Dou Di had attained the Dao through fire, and the power to tame flames lay within the bloodline of the Xiao Clan.
Seeing its beast flame instantly dispelled, the Little Amethyst Winged Lion jumped in fright. It was not particularly intelligent and mistakenly assumed that Xiao Yan was far stronger than itself. It turned and fled.
Xiao Yan hesitated briefly, then gave chase. He did not intend to kill the Little Amethyst Winged Lion. Magical beasts of this level were exceedingly rare, and they could only produce one litter every few decades. Killing it just like that would be a real waste.
Xiao Yan followed because the cub was the little master of this cavern and knew it far better than he did. Faced with danger, it would surely flee somewhere safe.
Purple spirit crystals were its food, so naturally, they would be stored somewhere safe. He believed following it would soon lead him to them.
Xiao Yan kept some distance from the Little Amethyst Winged Lion as he followed it through the caverns.
Soon, they reached a gate burning with purple flames. Xiao Yan hesitated briefly, then unleashed his divine pattern at full power and charged in after it.
As he passed through the gate, the purple flames suddenly
erupted, clinging directly to Xiao Yan's body.
But his divine pattern swiftly suppressed them again, and he made it through with a fright but no harm.
After entering the Purple Flame Gate, Xiao Yan was stunned by the sight before him. Inside this room was a pile of purple spirit crystals as tall as a small mountain!
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