After the beginning of spring, the Seven Stars Sect was not as rainy as usual, and the weather was good.
Every day, the sun shone brightly and gentle breezes blew.
It was 10 in the morning, and the sky was hazy with mists. Ling Yue arrived at the small courtyard where Ou Yangming was.
At this time, Ou Yangming was breathing in and out. He gently blew out a breath of green air, which blew away the mists within 33 meters in front of him. Afterward, he opened his eyes.
Ling Yue’s eyes lit up when he saw this. He remarked in a low voice, “Brother Yu, your cultivation’s profound, and I’m very impressed.”
Ou Yangming hurriedly stood up and waved his sleeve. He smiled bitterly and responded, “Brother Ling, don’t tease me anymore. Blowing away mists within 33 meters in a single breath is something that any Spiritualist can do, right?”
Ling Yue waved his hand with a sincere expression. “How would I dare to tease you, Brother Yu?” Without waiting for Ou Yangming to reply, he looked away and said seriously, “Brother Yu, there’s no time to lose. Today, I’ll accompany you to the Flaming Volcano to obtain peculiar stones and exchange them for contribution points for a place to enter the Big Ruins.”
Ou Yangming cupped his hands and expressed, “Thank you, Brother Ling.” He then looked around in confusion and asked softly, “Where’s Miss Yue?”
Ever since they fished at the Vitality Lake and ate a meal of fish slices together, the relationship between Ling Yue and Guan Yue quickly heated up to the point where they became inseparable.
Ling Yue blinked his eyes and pursed his lips. He kept the young fellow in suspense and replied to him, “You’ll know in a while!” With that, they walked down the mountain path and descended the Ultimate Sword Peak.
When they reached the arched doors at the foot of the mountain, Guan Yue was seen dressed in white. She was not as stunning as a crane in a flock of chickens, but she was still very pleasing to the eye.
She stood up and gently waved her hand. There was a hint of joy in her voice as she said with a chuckle, “I’m here!” As she said that, she walked towards Ou Yangming and Ling Yue gracefully. Indeed, a woman in love would always dress herself up beautifully. Every word and action had to be done to the point of perfection.
Ou Yangming stopped in his tracks and asked with a smile, “Brother Ling, can you tell me what you wanted to tell me before?”
Guan Yue opened her mouth and smiled faintly at them without saying a word.
Ling Yue nodded slightly and noted, “This time, we’re going to the Flaming Volcano. The temperature there is incredibly high. Besides, after spiritual Qi and magma are burned, they’ll combine with phosphorus, mercury, and other substances to produce terrifying poison. Therefore, I asked Younger Sister Yue to buy a bottle of Heart-clearing Pills. After eating one each, we’ll be able to resist the poison for half a month.”
When Ling Yua mentioned Younger Sister Yue, his voice was gentle as if water was about to drip out, causing Ou Yangming to have goosebumps all over his body.
Ou Yangming pondered for a moment before nodding. He understood that this kind of lethal poison was probably similar to the death Qi above the Forest of Death. It was a special poison that was produced under special circumstances.
“Let’s go. It’s getting late.” Ou Yangming looked at the sky.
“Okay!” Ling Yue and Guan Yue nodded at the same time, and their movements were in sync. After seeing each other’s actions, they were stunned for a moment. Afterward, Guan Yue’s face turned pink as she was completely embarrassed.
Ou Yangming cursed internally, ‘You’re openly showing your love!’ He shook his head slightly and turned away instead of watching them.
Following the mountain path, the 3 of them left the Seven Stars Sect and headed towards the Flaming Volcano.
After half a day, the temperature on the ground became higher. The land was barren, and the leaves of the plants were curled up together such that they looked listless. Countless black flames shot up into the sky from the volcano. Yellow sand filled the sky and gave off a desolate and beautiful feeling.
Ou Yangming turned his gaze and looked at Ling Yue. He asked doubtfully, “The Flaming Volcano isn’t a single volcano but a group of volcanoes?”
Ling Yue looked into the distance. He smiled and answered, “How should I put it? These volcanoes that are emitting black smoke are part of the Flaming Volcano, but they’re divided into the core and the edges. We’re going to the core because the peculiar stones in the volcanoes at the edges have long been found and used to exchange for contribution points. They’ll regenerate, but it’s still too slow as compared to the core.”
Ou Yangming nodded without saying anything.
At this moment, Guan Yue tapped her interspatial bag, and a white light flashed in her hand.
Subsequently, a bottle made of an unknown material was in her hand. She smiled faintly and poured out 2 pills, then she handed them to Ou Yangming and Ling Yue. “Take a Heart-clearing Pill first. If you get poisoned, it won’t be good.” She swallowed one herself.
The pill entered her mouth and turned into a warm current that spread from top to bottom to every corner of her body.
As the 3 of them continued to walk deeper, the wind and sand became stronger. The black smoke also became thicker, covering more than half of the sunlight that shone down from the sky. A pungent smell assailed their nostrils. Due to the high temperature, the surrounding air became distorted as well.
Guan Yue stole a glance at Ou Yangming. Seeing that his clothes were not in a mess and that not even a single drop of sweat could be seen on his forehead as if he was strolling in a garden, she showed a puzzled look and asked, “Brother Yu, aren’t You feeling hot?”
Ou Yangming understood that the Heavenly Phoenix Fire was the master of all fires. Not to mention that he was outside a volcano, even if he was soaking in magma, what could it do to him?
Of course, Li Xin, who was a top-grade Spiritualist in Zhangzhou, was eyeing the Devouring Power and the Heavenly Phoenix Fire. As such, Ou Yangming felt that he should not tell the truth just in case. He laughed embarrassedly and answered, “Perhaps it’s because I’ve just become an Advanced Spiritualist?”
A look of suspicion flashed in Ling Yue’s eyes, but he did not ask any more questions. Everyone had their own secrets, and so did he. The more one wanted to understand certain things, the more one would want to get to the bottom of it. The more one wanted to get to the bottom of it, the more it would backfire. One had to be careful when dealing with things.
Ling Yue glanced at the black smoke floating in the sky and changed the topic. “Let’s go quickly. It’s important that we acquire the peculiar stones, so we can’t afford to make a mistake.”
The corners of Guan Yue’s mouth curled up as if she had not said anything. The 2 of them looked at each other and smiled as they understood each other’s intentions.
In the evening, the 3 of them arrived at the core of the Flaming Volcano. The peak was incomparably tall, each one was several kilometers tall. Additionally, wisps of black smoke pierced through to the nine heavens. At the peak, red magma flowed like water, and a wave of heat was blown to their faces. Ling Yue and Huang Yue were drenched in sweat. In order not to appear out of the ordinary, Ou Yangming used his spiritual power to force his sweat out. The Heavenly Phoenix fire in his body also seemed to be a little excited.
At the mouth of the volcano, crowds gathered in twos and threes. They included rogue cultivators and sect disciples.
The cultivators with the lowest cultivation base were Spiritualists. Surrounded by a group of volcanoes, those in the Extreme Grade boundary would undoubtedly be killed.
These cultivators looked wary. After all, it would be easy to dump a corpse here. If someone was thrown into the magma, there would be nothing left of that person.
Ou Yangming looked at the magma flowing non-stop in the mouth of the volcano and asked, “Brother Ling, how can we obtain the bizarre stones?”
Ling Yue and Guan Yue looked at each other and smiled. They waved their sleeves and said, “Brother Yu, don’t be anxious. Do you see that queer stone flickering with a green light at the edge of the magma?”
Ou Yangming’s eyes revealed a look of contemplation. After a long while, he asked, “Is that the peculiar stone used to maintain the formation?”
“Yes, this kind of peculiar stone was originally known as a Volcanic Ore. When the Seven Stars Sect named it, they called it a Volcanic Ore because it’s hot to touch,” Ling Yue explained with a smile. As soon as he finished speaking, the spiritual power in his dantian surged, and a suction force burst out from his palm. He grabbed at the Volcanic Ore in the magma. The young man was careful, and his movements were meticulous. After a full hour, he finally extracted the ore from the lava.
He sighed and said, “We have to absorb the peculiar stone through space. Furthermore, in this kind of place, spiritual power consumption is much faster than in the outside world, and there’s no way to replenish it. Even for an Advanced Spiritualist, extracting 50 of them in a day is one’s limit.”
After seeing what Ling Yue did, Ou Yangming shook his head and sighed. “Brother Ling, isn’t this too troublesome?”
“Yes!” Ling Yue nodded with a look of regret. “It’s troublesome, but there has been no other way. After all, the temperature in the magma is too high, and it can melt everything. Besides, let me tell you—the Volcanic Ores are also separated into high and low qualities. The deeper inside the magma, the more Volcanic Ores there are, and the better their qualities. The higher the Volcanic Ores are found, the lower the qualities.”
Guan Yue picked up the handkerchief and looked like her heart ached as she helped Ling Yue wipe the sweat off his forehead. Her eyes were full of gentleness.
She had unintentionally made Ou Yangming suffer from her display of love. The young fellow cursed internally and sighed. He brushed his chin with his fingers and raised his voice by a few degrees as he asked, “The qualities are mixed?”
“Of course!” As Ling Yue spoke, he opened his palm and stared at the Volcanic Ore. “Take this green Volcanic Ore as an example. Green is an inferior grade, yellow is a good grade, white is a high grade, and red is a top grade. Green, yellow, white, and red, are 4 different colors, whose corresponding qualities are different. That said, red-grade Volcanic Ores haven’t been seen for a century in the Seven Stars Sect.”
Ling Yue spoke with confidence. Guan Yue’s eyes were fixed on him, and she could not stop smiling.
Ou Yangming nodded to indicate that he understood
All of a sudden, a clamor reverberated. A yellow Volcanic Ore was finally absorbed by an Advanced Spiritualist after 2 hours. He was fat and sweat was oozing out from his forehead. Obviously, it was extremely difficult for him to obtain the Volcanic Ore.
The yellow light was not very bright but at this moment, almost 90% of the cultivators were focused on it.
“I’m really lucky! It’s a yellow Volcanic Ore!”
“Yes, a yellow Volcanic Ore can be exchanged for 100 green ones. This time, Fatty Zhao hit the jackpot.”
“Ah, it can be exchanged for 100 contribution points, right?”
Similar remarks echoed in the air…
Several Advanced Spiritualists even looked ferocious. A yellow volcanic rock was enough to make them take a risk.
Ou Yangming glanced at the Volcanic Ore and quickly looked away. With a flash of thought, his spiritual power surged out to grab at a Volcanic Ore in the magma. However, the second his power came into contact with the magma, an unknown melting force corroded more than half of it.
The young fellow had a strange expression on his face. He sighed and thought, ‘No wonder it’s so difficult to obtain Volcanic Ores. There’s another reason behind it.’
Ling Yue and Guan Yue were telepathic once again. They looked at him at the same time with a faint smile on their faces.
