The Fire God Sect's supervision over its outer disciples was extremely lenient, imposing almost no restrictions on them.
Of course, correspondingly, the sect did not provide any benefits to its outer disciples either. If a disciple wanted to obtain anything from the sect, they had to complete missions and earn contribution points. Only then would they be qualified to enter important places such as the Scripture Pavilion.
At first glance, this did not seem much different from the Northern Heaven Spiritual Academy, but in truth, it was entirely distinct.
An academy and a sect were fundamentally two different concepts. One could leave the academy at any time, and after graduation, one might have nothing more to do with it. Hence, the relationship between academy and student was based on equal exchange and fairness.
However, a sect and its disciples were one body. If something happened to the sect, the disciples were duty-bound to obey its orders unconditionally. Therefore, a sect could not treat its disciples with mere transactional fairness, for that would only create division and alienation within the sect.
It was evident that, in the eyes of the Fire God Sect's higher-ups, outer disciples were not truly "one of their own," but rather reserve members. Thus, this arrangement was understandable.
Nonetheless, there was one advantage to being an outer disciple: they were permitted to freely enter certain trial or hunting grounds within the Fire God Sect's territory to temper themselves, enhance their combat power, or hunt spiritual beasts in exchange for contribution points.
As for Liu Bai, his only goal now was to gain more experience.
To advance from the Human-Body Disaster to the Spiritual Energy Disaster required three hundred and fifty thousand experience points. At the moment, Liu Bai had less than one hundred and fifty thousand, so he needed to hunt sufficiently powerful monsters to level up.
After spending a day carefully studying the Fire God Sect and the Fire God Domain, Liu Bai quickly decided on his next destination for monster grinding.
It was a vast underground cavern, said to stretch endlessly, no smaller than the Fire God Domain itself. It was filled with magma lakes and teeming with fire attribute Spiritual beasts, Five Elemental Beasts, and even a strange subterranean humanoid race known as Fire Demons. These Fire Demons possessed intelligence no less than that of humans, and their bodies seemed to be entirely composed of molten magma, their strength terrifyingly great.
The creatures of the underground world were generally very powerful. To explore the depths, one had to at least reach the Heaven Completion Realm, which happened to suit Liu Bai's current level perfectly. It was an ideal training ground.
Before departing, Liu Bai sought out Senior Brother Qian Song, who helped him purchase a spiritual map of the Fire God Domain marked with the cavern's location. With everything prepared, Liu Bai set off immediately.
The cavern's entrance was not far from the Fire God Sect's main territory. It took Liu Bai just over ten minutes to reach the site.
Of course, that was also because his speed was extraordinary. For most Human-Body Disaster Expert, it would have taken several hours. Traveling alone, Liu Bai saw no need to hide his strength. When he activated his perfected Golden Crow Rainbow Transformation Technique, his speed was so astonishing that even Jiu You, a divine beast renowned for her flying ability, was left shocked.
"You freak," Jiu You muttered, "you actually managed to master that old crow's Golden Crow Rainbow Transformation Technique perfectly in such a short time. That's terrifying."
She had once heard from her father that the Golden Crow race ranked among the fastest flying species in the entire divine beast lineage, surpassed only by the Phoenixes and the Kunpengs.
"What, starting to think linking your bloodline to mine was the best decision you ever made?" Liu Bai teased with a grin.
Jiu You tilted her head arrogantly. "You? Please. Talk to me again when you reach the Sovereign Realm."
In front of them loomed a massive crater that resembled a volcanic mouth. This was the entrance to the cavern. After descending for nearly fifteen minutes, Liu Bai was greeted by a fiery red world.
"If this were Earth," he muttered softly, "I'd probably have drilled all the way through to the other side by now. The Five Elements Continent truly is incredible."
He whispered to himself and continued deeper into the underground world.
Although it was beneath the surface, the countless streams of molten magma flowing above and below illuminated the entire world, making it bright to the point of being almost blinding.
After crossing a vast magma lake, Liu Bai found himself overlooking a sprawling black plain.
On the plain stood enormous mushroom-like organisms, each with a cap spanning thousands of meters. Under those gigantic canopies, countless scarlet birds darted to and fro, seemingly having built their nests within.
Just as Liu Bai was admiring this strange and wondrous sight, a streak of crimson light suddenly shot up from the magma lake below him.
Sizzle!
Without the slightest change in expression, Liu Bai summoned the Purple Heaven Sword into his hand and swung it down in a single motion.
The creature within the crimson light died even faster than it had appeared, its body reduced to charred ash by the thunderous sword qi that erupted from the Purple Heaven Sword. It turned out to be a massive serpent that lived in the depths of the magma.
"Ding, killed a Late-phase Heaven Completion Realm Crimson Flame Python. Cross-realm kill, experience halved. Gained 25,000 experience points and 15 Beast Soul Points."
Hearing the system notification, Liu Bai's face showed a trace of delight. Even though the experience was halved, earning twenty-five thousand points from a single monster was still worthwhile. He could simply hunt more of them.
His gaze swept across the surface of the magma sea and quickly locked onto several faint figures hiding within.
"Ten Thousand Thunder Sword Art, Myriad Swords!"
Buzz!
The air trembled as countless swords of spiritual energy materialized out of thin air, each radiating crackling arcs of lightning.
"Go!"
At Liu Bai's command, the swords rained down like a storm, covering a span of several thousand meters across the magma sea. Countless swords pierced into the molten surface, annihilating every living creature within the illuminated zone.
In an instant, over a hundred Crimson Flame Pythons were slain. However, since most of them were only at the Early-phase Heaven Completion Realm and far weaker than Liu Bai, the experience gained was pitifully small—barely fifty to sixty thousand in total.
It was only double that of the first python he had slain. The experience gap was far too large.
Still, the Beast Soul Points he obtained exceeded one hundred, which was decent, though Liu Bai found it unsatisfactory. After some thought, he decided not to waste time on such low-value prey and continued deeper into the black plain.
Along the way, he encountered many powerful Spiritual beasts—Flame Wolves, Fire Leopards, even Fire Bears. These were rare species seldom seen in the outside world, each possessing formidable strength. Some were even comparable to High-Level Heavenly Beasts, though they were not listed in the Earth Rankings.
That was understandable. After all, the beasts and divine beasts recorded in the Myriad Beast Record were those belonging to great clans and vast lineages.
Encountering a single powerful individual was not enough to earn a place in the rankings.
Power required not only strength but also influence and background—an unavoidable truth.
"It seems the monster resources in this underground world are quite abundant. I'll soon have enough experience to advance past the Spiritual Energy Disaster."
Looking at his system panel, Liu Bai chuckled softly. Aside from experience points, his long-stagnant Beast Soul Points had also seen a great harvest—now exceeding five hundred. He could soon use them to further enhance the five elements on his Innate Five Spirit Disc.
Of course, aside from hunting monsters, Liu Bai had also obtained a great number of high-grade forging materials.
For instance, he had discovered an enormous Red Copper Mine and even managed to dig out a piece of Copper Essence. While Red Copper Ore was only a low-grade material suitable for forging basic spirit artifacts and held little value, Copper Essence was an entirely different matter.
It was a top-tier material for refining supreme-grade Spiritual artifacts. Back when Elder Chihuo forged the Purple Heaven Sword, he had been unable to find any Copper Essence to serve as the main component of the sword body and was forced to settle for lesser substitutes instead.
That alone showed how rare and precious Copper Essence was.
Normally, only within a super-large Red Copper Mine could one possibly find a piece of Copper Essence the size of a fist. Yet, the mine Liu Bai had discovered clearly wasn't of that level and still managed to produce such a treasure. It proved that this underground world was an exceptionally fertile place for the birth and preservation of rare spiritual ores.
Besides the Copper Essence, Liu Bai had also collected Ten-Thousand-Year Iron Essence, Darksilver, Refined Gold, White Platinum Steel, and many others. These materials were not only excellent for forging artifacts but could also serve as cultivation aids.
For example, Ten-Thousand-Year Iron Essence and Refined Gold contained an extremely pure Metal Elemental Force. Absorbing them could greatly enhance the sharpness and penetrative quality of one's metal attribute spiritual power, making them beloved among metal element cultivators.
Naturally, since this underground world lay beneath the Fire God Domain, it contained an overwhelming abundance of treasures that enhanced fire attribute spiritual power. Everywhere, one could find Fire Crystals, or the crystal cores, hardened scales, claws, or even eyes of certain fire-attributed Spiritual beasts that had condensed the power of flame over countless years. These were among the most coveted treasures for disciples of the Fire God Sect.
Before long, as Liu Bai continued forward, he noticed a crimson cloud surging toward him from the distance.
From within the red cloud came a series of harsh, grating screeches.
Jiu You was the first to react, leaping off Liu Bai's head. Looking closely, she discovered that the so-called red cloud was actually composed of an immense flock of crimson fire crows—at least ten thousand of them.
Each Fire Crow possessed strength equivalent to the Heaven Transformation Realm, and as they jointly unleashed their innate fire-type divine ability, a thick wave of fiery energy swept through the air, distorting the very space around them.
"These are spiritual beasts condensed from pure Fire Essence. They aren't true living creatures, but Five Elemental Beasts unique to the Five Element Continent. Liu Bai, don't interfere. Leave these Fire Crows to me."
Before Liu Bai could even respond, the impatient Jiu You had already taken off. With a clear and melodious cry, a massive black firebird hundreds of meters long manifested in the sky.
Facing the blazing divine flames unleashed by the Fire Crows, the giant black bird opened its beak and inhaled deeply. Instantly, all the fire energy was drawn into her body and even the entire flock of ten thousand Fire Crows vanished, devoured completely in a single breath.
A moment later, the now shrunken Jiu You returned to Liu Bai's shoulder, gave a small satisfied burp, and looked utterly content.
"Mmm, so full. Time to digest."
Muttering to herself, the little black bird hopped back into her "nest" atop Liu Bai's head and promptly fell asleep.
Liu Bai glanced helplessly at the now-empty sky. He had originally planned to personally slay a few Five Elemental Beasts to see how the system's evaluation differed from that of ordinary Spiritual beasts and whether he could still gain experience and Beast Soul Points.
Shaking his head with a wry smile, he continued his journey deeper into the underground world.
As he ventured further, the frequency of his encounters with Five Elemental Beasts increased significantly, giving him plenty of chances to test his theory.
Before long, he came across a massive lion-like creature covered entirely in flowing magma. Liu Bai named it the Molten Lion. Its aura was even stronger than that of Qian Song earlier—comparable to a Spirit Disaster powerhouse.
Fortunately, unlike humans or Spiritual beasts, these Five Elemental Beasts lacked intelligence. Their divine souls were weak, relying solely on brute force and spiritual power. As such, they were actually easier for Liu Bai to deal with.
Among the Five Elements, Water restrained Fire. Liu Bai soared into the air, and behind him, a colossal black serpent over a hundred meters long emerged, letting out a thunderous roar. From its maw poured a torrent of black water, causing the surrounding temperature to plummet sharply.
Wherever the black water flowed, frost began to spread—a testament to the terrifying power of Liu Bai's Darkwater Energy.
Roar!
Sensing the enormous black serpent and the aura it detested, the barely intelligent Molten Lion let out a furious bellow. Violent energy surged through the air as it opened its maw and spewed a blazing pillar of fire straight toward the serpent.
Liu Bai merely smiled faintly. Perhaps in the Molten Lion's eyes, the giant serpent was its true enemy, while the tiny human was of no consequence.
But reality was quite the opposite.
Stretching out his right hand, Liu Bai gathered a vast amount of Darkwater in midair, forming it into an enormous black palm. With a fierce thrust, it descended with overwhelming might.
A violent spiritual storm swept across the heavens and earth.
Boom!
The colossal hand slammed down, seizing the Molten Lion in its grip. Then, with a squeeze, the beast's massive body exploded into fragments, molten lava spraying in all directions.
"Ding, killed a Spirit Disaster Stage Five Elemental Beast. Gained Five Elemental Divine Object: Flame Origin."
"Ding, would you like to integrate the Flame Origin into your spiritual aperture?"
Liu Bai frowned slightly.
So, killing a Five Elemental Beast didn't yield experience or Beast Soul Points but instead granted a Five Elemental Divine Object.
"The Flame Origin—it should be the core essence from which these fire attribute Five Elemental Beasts are born."
Just like the Fire Crows earlier, which Jiu You had described as beings condensed from Fire Essence, Liu Bai now wondered whether the system's "Flame Origin," Jiu You's "Fire Essence," and Jin Chi's "Spiritual Energy Source" were actually one and the same.
"System, integrate the Flame Origin into my spiritual aperture."
In the end, Liu Bai chose to accept.
After all, Jin Chi had once warned that absorbing single-elemental energy directly could disrupt the balance of the Five Elemental Forces within the body. However, since the system automatically fused it into his Heart aperture, Liu Bai didn't have to worry about such instability.
....
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