Chapter 279: Chapter 279: Seven-Colored Lotus

Besides them, many human Martial Artists were also gathered here.

From within the mountain cave, a violent, fiery aura pulsed, sometimes strong, sometimes faint.

’The mysterious fiery treasure must be in this cave.’

Ye Xuan knew exactly where the treasure was, but how to get inside had become a problem.

There were too many Demon Beasts gathered nearby. The weakest were around Tier Three, and the strongest included several Tier Five Demon Beasts.

With Ye Xuan’s current strength, dealing with a Tier Four Demon Beast would be no problem, but facing a Tier Five Demon Beast would be dangerous. What’s more, there was more than one Tier Five Demon Beast here.

Most critically, besides him, many other human Martial Artists were also lying in ambush all around.

Ye Xuan was confident, but even he wouldn’t carelessly gamble with his life when faced with so many Demon Beasts.

Moreover, with so many Demon Beasts present, there was no guarantee that there weren’t Profound Beasts among them. Given the intelligence of Profound Beasts, they would definitely attack any humans they discovered first before fighting over the treasure.

’I have to think of a way.’

Ye Xuan frowned, his Soul Power carefully sweeping over the surroundings.

Suddenly, his eyes lit up.

In his line of sight, an ugly, pangolin-like Demon Beast was pacing back and forth.

This Demon Beast was Tier Four, but it had a simple and honest appearance. Normally, a Tier Four Demon Beast would be qualified to enter the cave, yet this one was pacing back and forth outside, as if on patrol.

’I have an idea.’

Seeing this Tier Four pangolin, a plan immediately formed in Ye Xuan’s mind.

BANG!

He had the Rock Giant Wolf approach the pangolin and give its head a vicious swipe. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

Swiped by the claw, the pangolin instantly became enraged. It roared and gave chase to the Rock Giant Wolf.

As Ye Xuan secretly retreated, he controlled the Rock Giant Wolf to run outward. After about the time it takes for half an incense stick to burn, the Rock Giant Wolf had led the pangolin to an empty area.

The pangolin chased the Rock Giant Wolf for a while but found it couldn’t catch up. Shaking its head, it was about to turn back when Ye Xuan’s Devouring Martial Soul spread over it. Feeling the terrifying aura of the Devouring Martial Soul, the pangolin dropped to its knees with a THUD, its legs trembling uncontrollably.

Ye Xuan quickly sent a thread of his Martial Soul’s power to envelop the pangolin, preparing to take control. Suddenly, a powerful Soul Thought erupted from the pangolin’s body. At the same time, a shocking roar resounded from the cave.

Ye Xuan’s expression changed drastically. This pangolin was actually being controlled by a Profound Beast.

As long as a Demon Beast controlled by a Profound Beast was still alive, a remnant of the Profound Beast’s Soul Thought would remain in its body. The moment someone tried to control it, they would immediately face a counterattack from that Soul Thought.

The Profound Beast in the cave seemed to sense Ye Xuan’s presence. It roared in fury, and a tide of Demon Beasts surged toward his location.

’Not good!’

Ye Xuan’s face fell. He knew if he didn’t fight back now, his chances of survival would be slim once the swarm of Demon Beasts found him. At the critical moment, he hastily unleashed his Formless Soul Skill, and an invisible surge of Soul Power rushed into the pangolin’s mind.

BOOM!

The two streams of Soul Power collided, emitting an invisible ripple. They were actually evenly matched.

Ye Xuan’s expression turned ugly. His Fourth Grade Soul Power, when boosted by the Formless Soul Skill, could shatter the Soul Thought of even a Tier Four Profound Beast. But now, he was only evenly matched. The Profound Beast controlling this pangolin had to be a Tier Five Profound Beast.

With no time to hesitate, Ye Xuan quickly enveloped the pangolin with his Devouring Martial Soul. He unleashed the power of his Martial Soul and his own Soul Power simultaneously. With a POP, he instantly shattered the remnant Soul Thought the Profound Beast had left inside the pangolin.

Immediately after, Ye Xuan swiftly sent out a thread of his Martial Soul’s power, established a connection with the pangolin, and brought it completely under his control.

"Go!"

Under Ye Xuan’s control, the pangolin quickly dug a hole in the ground. Ye Xuan moved a boulder to cover the entrance, then entered the hole himself, vanishing from sight.

A moment later, a large number of Demon Beasts searched the area where Ye Xuan had been for a long time but found nothing. However, quite a few other human Martial Artists who hadn’t hidden themselves well enough were discovered. Under the siege of the Demon Beasts, they fled one by one in a sorry state.

Many Martial Artists couldn’t escape in time and were killed, letting out blood-curdling screams as they fell.

Before they died, those Martial Artists cursed, not knowing who had attracted so many Demon Beasts.

Guided by the pangolin, Ye Xuan moved continuously forward. He only relaxed after sensing the commotion outside had died down.

Knowing there was a Profound Beast in the cave, Ye Xuan didn’t dare let his four Demon Beasts get too close. Instead, he had them pace cautiously at the cave’s entrance.

As for himself, he controlled the pangolin to continue advancing underground.

’If I can’t enter directly through the cave, then I’ll just dig a tunnel and go in from below.’

Pushing the Formless Soul Skill to its absolute limit, Ye Xuan enveloped the surroundings with his Soul Power, carefully advancing while discerning the source of the fiery aura.

Profound Beasts possessed Soul Thought and, just like human Soul Refiners, could sense disturbances in their surroundings. Therefore, Ye Xuan didn’t dare make any big movements.

But even after advancing for nearly an hour, the source of the fiery power still felt very faint and obscure.

’Where exactly is the treasure?’

Ye Xuan was taken aback.

’This deep... I must have reached an extreme depth underground, right?’

Suppressing his surprise, Ye Xuan continued to advance cautiously.

It was only after another hour had passed that Ye Xuan could clearly feel a fiery power faintly emanating from the rock layer outside.

At the same time, the surrounding rocks began to radiate intense heat. If not for Ye Xuan cultivating the Nine Revolutions Sacred Body, an ordinary Third Layer Earth Martial Artist wouldn’t be able to last more than a quarter of an hour here.

He carefully spread his Soul Power outward.

Ye Xuan was finally able to get a rough look at the scene outside.

It was a massive underground cavern, filled with crimson rock. In the center of the cavern was a Magma Lake.

And in the center of the Magma Lake, on a massive boulder, was a hazy red glow. Within that glow, an object could be faintly discerned.

Around the lake, over a hundred Demon Beasts were gathered.

These Demon Beasts were divided into several factions, all staring intently at the center of the Magma Lake with fervent greed in their eyes.

’There are actually three Tier Five Profound Beasts.’

Ye Xuan was shocked. A rough scan with his senses told him that the swarm of Demon Beasts was clearly dominated by three groups. Each of these three groups was led by a Tier Five Profound Beast, and each Tier Five Profound Beast controlled two to three Tier Five Demon Beasts. In total, nearly ten Tier Five Demon Beasts were entrenched here, forming a formidable force.

Besides them, there were also many Tier Four and Tier Three Profound Beasts, forming their own echelons.

Ye Xuan’s heart sank. He already had some difficulty dealing with a single Tier Five Demon Beast. Now there were so many, not to mention three even more terrifying Tier Five Profound Beasts and a large number of other Demon Beasts. The difficulty of snatching the treasure from their grasp was so high that even Ye Xuan lacked confidence.

However, the gathering of so many Profound Beasts and Demon Beasts also made Ye Xuan understand that there was definitely something good hidden here.

’I must act with extreme caution.’

Ye Xuan secretly warned himself. At the same time, he focused his attention on the red glow in the center of the Magma Lake, trying to see what treasure was inside. But no matter how he tried to probe it, the red glow blocked all Soul Power, making it impossible for him to discern what the object was.

Although Ye Xuan was curious, he didn’t act rashly.

If he got a bit closer, or drilled an opening to the surface, he might be able to see what was inside using his Divine Spirit Gaze. But doing so would easily expose him.

Unless he possessed the strength to crush everything and intimidate all the Profound Beasts.

Otherwise, if he revealed himself like this, he would be instantly torn to shreds by those Demon Beasts and Profound Beasts.

Although it was tedious, all he could do was wait patiently. From the looks of it, the treasure had not yet fully emerged. Otherwise, so many Profound Beasts and Demon Beasts wouldn’t be waiting here.

The Profound Beasts had clearly been waiting for a long time as well, and some were gradually losing their patience.

"We’ve been waiting here for a long time. As I recall, this Seven-Colored Lotus appeared over twenty years ago, but it’s been growing ever since. How much longer until it matures?"

One of the Profound Beasts spoke impatiently.

"What’s the rush? The maturation period of a Seven-Colored Lotus is incredibly long, at least a hundred years. It’s about to mature now, in a few days at most. Can’t we wait that long?"

"It’s not a question of whether we can wait or not. Those damn humans have appeared in our territory again recently. Just now, our subordinates slaughtered quite a few of them outside the cave. It’s clear those humans know what’s happening here and are coveting it. I’m afraid they’ll ruin our plans."

"Hmph, those humans deserve to die. They appear in our territory every ten years to plunder our treasures. If the Seven-Colored Lotus wasn’t about to mature this time, I would have already led my subordinates to slaughter every last one of them."

The Profound Beasts all discussed amongst themselves, fuming with anger and expressing their disgust for humans.

Ye Xuan keenly picked up on the Profound Beasts’ conversation.

’Seven-Colored Lotus?’

Ye Xuan was stunned.

He was no stranger to the Seven-Colored Lotus. In fact, far from being a stranger, he was extremely familiar with it.

The Seven-Colored Lotus was an incredibly potent Spirit Medicine. It was a Tier Seven Spirit Medicine, and even among Tier Seven Spirit Medicines, it was one of the finest, surpassing most others.

A Seven-Colored Lotus grows one blossom every hundred years. From birth to full growth, it takes a total of seven hundred years. It must be completely mature before it can be consumed.

Its effects were also terrifying, capable of bringing the dead back to life and mending flesh onto bare bone. Any dying Martial Artist who consumed one of its blossoms could be revived from the brink of death in moments. It was truly heaven-defying.

In addition, the Seven-Colored Lotus also had the ability to help a Martial Artist achieve a breakthrough.

Most Martial Artists, if they consumed a single blossom, would have their physical body transformed by its powerful life force, allowing them to achieve a breakthrough in a short period of time.