With eyes like saucers and sparkling like stars in the night sky, Xi Shen stared at the glowing red lava, or rather at all the Divine Fire Spirit Stones floating inside of it.
Xi Shen licked his lips and a voice screamed in his mind, ‘Holy crap I hit the mother-load!!’
Xi Shen’s eyes gained a tinge of orange and his desire for these Divine Fire Spirit Stones skyrocket to extreme heights. It was almost uncontrollable how much he wanted to obtain these.
He knew of Divine Fire Spirit Stones and that their worth was much more compared to ordinary Spirit Stones. The value between them was about 1-5, and that was being generous with the score.
Xi Shen’s thoughts immediately went to how he should go about gathering these. There were some within the searing hot lava and along the lines of the volcano, but the one lining the walls had a softer glow than the ones in the lava, meaning they were of lower quality.
As Xi Shen was examining the environment of the volcano with Yang Su behind him, his eyes caught the distant figure of a person. They were too far away for the sound to reach them but, Xi Shen could see that the person was sending out palm strikes to the wall to dislodge the Divine Fire Spirit Stones.
‘What the hell is that bastard doing?!! Doesn’t he realize he's making the volcano erupt even faster by causing such large vibrations?!’
Xi Shen’s eyes narrowed and said let’s go to Yang Su before he quickly and skillfully began scaling down the stony wall of the inner volcano.
As Xi Shen got closer to the bottom he could feel the temperature around them getting hotter and hotter. The oxygen in the air was even being lessened due to the intense heat.
‘I get that this volcano is about to erupt, but it’s way hot than it should be. It even feels as if the lava is powerful enough to burn a Core Formation expert to death.’
Xi Shen came to a stop on a few rocks about a hundred meters away from the lava, but even from here, he could feel the heat batting against his body. His clothes were even starting to burn bit by bit.
Xi Shen turned to Yang Su to see if he was okay but was stunned to see not even a bit of discomfort on his face. As a matter of fact, he was smiling as if he found it pleasurable to be in this kind of environment.
Seeing that he didn’t have to worry about Yang Su, Xi Shen turned his focus on the person he saw before.
They were some distance away, but even from here, he should have noticed Xi Shen and Yang Su’s presence. However, him continuing to send palm attacks to excavate the Divine Fire Spirit Stones gave no indication of him sensing them.
Xi Shen thought for a moment, then decided to go over to this person. He could tell that he was with the demonic disciples who had attacked them outside, but Xi Shen didn’t feel he was in danger. He just wanted to know why this person think it was okay to excavate his Divine Fire Spirit Stones.
Yes, his.
It was all his as soon as he laid eyes on them, so right now this person was encroaching on what was his property and Xi Shen didn't like that.
Xi Shen and Yang Su had onto skip to huge stones and boulders within the lava, and all though Xi Shen was being careful as it could potentially kill him if he fell in, Yang Su on the other hand was casually staring at the lava with curiosity.
Xi Shen leaped one final time and landed on a solid island where the male demonic disciple was. As Xi Shen walked closer to him, the youth palm attacks paused, and he turned to look at Xi Shen.
Seeing Xi Shen's face once again, Gu Mo narrowed his eyes and confirmed his suspicions.
Xi Shen was the infamous second prince.
The Demonic Cult would always stress to avoid being tangled with anyone from the Li Royal Family, as they were the ones they were most intimidated by. Xi Shen being the second prince of the Li Royal Family, Gu Mo was cursing in his heart that he had the bad luck to happen upon him.
He didn’t know why the second prince who couldn’t cultivate was here, but Gu Mo despite considering himself a ruthless individual who placed his needs above anyone in this world, and would kill anyone in cold blood if need be, was unwilling to attack Xi Shen. Even as a well-regarded and valued Chosen in his sect, he was very, very unwilling to become the target of the Li Clan.
Not only that, killing Xi Shen right now would not only paint a target on his back, but his entire Yellow Springs Demon Grotto Sect will become a target as well. It wouldn’t be a surprise if the other Demonic Sects that were a part of the Demonic Cult Faction abandoned them so as to not catch the vengeful eyes of the Li Royal Family.
Gu Mo was calmly staring at Xi Shen but he was swearing profanities in his heart.
“Second prince, it wouldn’t be a surprise to say that I’m shocked to meet someone like you here.”
Gu Mo folded his hands behind his back, but Xi Shen quickly caught a glimpse of the storage ring on his finger.
Responding to Gu Mo, Xi Shen said, “So you know who I am, but your fellow disciples outside still dare attack me.”
“With all due respect second prince, I was the only one who knew of your identity, they didn’t.”
Looking at this demonic disciple, Xi Shen realize he was being rather restrained.
“I heard the Demonic Disciples are usually described as vicious animals that wouldn’t bat an eye if they had to kill one or a thousand people. That was how the Demonic Cult trained its disciples, but why do I feel that you're being awfully respectful in front of me. Are you scared of my identity?”
Gu Mo frowned at Xi Shen’s words, he was hesitant towards Xi Shen, but to say he was scared would be an over-exaggeration. Killing Xi Shen was a problem but cutting off one or two of his limbs was possible for him.
Gu Mo’s eyes flickered with a dangerous light, before he said indifferently to Xi Shen, “Second prince, I suggest you avoid making me upset. In your current situation, I think you should be fearing the outcome of offending me. You have obviously come for the Divine Fire Spirit Stones here, and there is plenty over there…” Gu Mo pointed behind Xi Shen, but Xi Shen didn’t look, “...to excavate.”
After coldly saying those words, Gu Mo went to turn around to start his excavation once again, but Xi Shen suddenly spoke up, “Hand over your storage ring and get lost. Else you can die right here.”
Hearing that, Gu Mo thought he must have lost his hearing for a bit. The crippled second prince was threatening him?
Gu Mo suddenly felt like he had been slapped in his face. He had wanted to avoid picking a fight with this second prince, but instead of appreciating that fact, he took it for him being scared and wanted him to hand over his Divine Fire Spirit Stones?
Gu Mo let out a furious laugh at the ridiculousness of the situation.
“The people of the Li Royal Family are truly arrogant, to think a crippled prince would think threatening me was a good idea.”
A black aura suddenly burst forth from Gu Mo’s body, which caused the surrounding rocks and nearby lake of lava to shake uncontrollably. With his aura of a peak Foundation Realm Cultivator pressuring the surroundings, Gu Mo's voice which sounded more beast than human growled out, “Scram!! Or else I’ll make you feel what burning hot lava is like against skin and bones!”
Gu Mo’s furious bellow caused the rocks to shake even more, and the lava lake to become more chaotic.
Xi Shen was casually looking on until he saw the aura surrounding Gu Mo. His nonchalant expression turned to confusion and looking further at the aura around Gu Mo his eyes couldn’t help but go wide in shock.
The aura surrounding Gu Mo was Demonic Qi, as opposed to Spiritual Qi that normal cultivators cultivate. But that wasn’t what shocked Xi Shen all of a sudden, it was what he saw the Demonic Qi from Gu Mo was doing to the Spiritual Qi in the surroundings.
It looked as if it was latching itself onto the Spiritual Qi and then corrupting it, slowly turning it into Demonic Qi. Xi Shen had never seen a phenomenon like this before, if he didn’t have the ability to see the Heavenly Laws he wouldn’t have noticed this small but substantial detail.
‘What am I looking at? I read about Demonic Qi but nowhere did it mention it has the ability to transform normal Spiritual Qi into Demonic Qi. The consensus was that Demonic Qi was a result of vile yin energy combining with raw Spiritual Qi. Is this something unique to this Demonic Disciple because of his cultivation, or is it like this for all of them? But why do I get the feeling the origins of this Demonic Qi aren't a product of Chaos Qi. It feels completely foreign to this environment, no, in fact, it feels like a parasite that had been let loose in the God Domain. I can sense even the Laws are being corrupted.’
Xi Shin’s body shook when he came to this conclusion, and his eyes went from nonchalance to a rare serious expression.
He wanted to find out more, his nature as a researcher urge him to find out what that Demonic Qi really was.
Xi Shen suddenly stared at Gu Mo like a lab rate that was on a table ready to be dissected. After which he flipped over his palm and took out his zither that could now be described as his dissecting scapulae.
Xi Shen flicked one of its strings, and an angered Gu Mo had his face fell completely when he sensed an insurmountable force erupting from Xi Shen's zither and rushed towards him, threatening to sweep him away like he was but a mere trivial bug.
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Word Count: 1769
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