An unbearable thirst clawed at his neck. It wasn't like Xue Chang hadn't brought any drinks along for this expedition, just that any water he had on him had evaporated the second the group had reached the end of the tunnel.
The passageway discovered led 5e, all down a narrow hallways that ran deep underground.
To their shock, upon reaching the end they found themselves in a room filled to the brim with molten rock and lava at the center. A molten lake of lava!
There was no indication of such a thing existing previously. As they traveled down the passage, only cool air would blow at their faces. How could they possibly predict that such a sight would meet them at the end of the dark, damp tunnel.
The heat was also unbearably tyrannical.
Although Xue Chang and the other cultivators only felt an unprecedented thirst, some of the weaker hunters collapsed immediately due to overheating. It took a lot of effort to drag all of them back out into the tunnel behind them.
"We'll leave these guys here to recuperate while the rest of us explore the cave. Although that lake is awful, it isn't to the extent where we can't handle it."
Liu Yang quickly made some decisions in their next course of actions. No one disagreed to his words and reentered the room after brining everyone else out.
Now their group only consisted of ten people left and all of them were at the first level of Qi refinement. Well except for Xue Chang, but no one but him knew that.
And of course, the first course of action they all took was to study the lava lake.
Something like this was never reported before, and its hidden condition made it even more mysterious.
One of the cultivators nearby used his blade to poke at some of the molten rock and gave a shout as the weapon melted within seconds of contact.
Others would also approach the lava itself to see if anything about it was special, but they found nothing unique about it whatsoever.
Even Xue Chang was starting to wonder if this was actually just naturally formed lava and not some rare treasure. But suddenly something strange happened.
As he approached the lava lake himself, the blade within his grasp began to vibrate with increasing frequency. A ringing sound could be heard from it as if it craved something found deep inside the blazing liquid of the lake.
"Yong Heng, what is going on with you weapon?"
One of the other cultivators noticed the strange occurrence and questioned him lightly.
Xue Chang did not have an answer to the question and shrugged his shoulders, "I don't know, it seemed that my weapon is reacting to the lake."
He quickly unwrapped his saber from the cloth he used to cover it up with.
Soon gasps could be heard from the cultivators around him as they stared at his blade in wonder.
Almost all of them were amateurs when it came to the craftsmanship of a saber, but even they could tell that this blade was something incredible.
If sold on the market, it was possible that even if all of them looked their gold coins together they wouldn't be able to afford half of what this saber was worth.
Some of them even had a hint of desire flicker in their eyes, but this was hidden away within an instant.
After being unsheathed from its cover, the saber in Xue Chang's hands gave off an ever louder ringing sound.
He could even feel a strange force pulling the weapon toward the lava, as if calling to it.
The red body of his saber gleamed with with an odd radiance.
While everyone was focused on the sound and actions of his weapons, Xue Chang was looking at something else.
In his eyes, he could see a strange apparition floating up from the surface of the lava. It took on a number of shapes before finally ending up in the appearance of a large palm.
The hand palm dragged itself out of the fiery water and pulled itself across the ground toward Xue Chang's saber under his watchful eye.
It seemed that no one else but him could see this. This was probably due to the special conditions of his mind and body.
Staring calmly at the palm next to his feet, an idea popped into his head.
Without saying a word, he approached the lake and plunged his saber right up to the hilt inside of it.
Everyone who witnessed what happened to their swords couldn't help but exclaim when they saw Xue Chang do this, but shockingly his blade didn't melt like theirs did.
Instead the ringing sound became even stronger as the palm wrapped itself around the hilt.
As it did, a strange marking appeared across the face of his blade. As the marking etched itself into his weapon, an intense heat radiated from the edge of his saber.
At this time Liu Yang, who watched this scene play out, couldn't help but suck in a cold breath, "It can't be! This entire lake is condensed earth fire!"
"Condensed earth fire?" Despite being quite knowledgeable about many things, this was still his first time hearing about such a strange thing.
Luckily for him, he had the encyclopedia Yong Heng within his head.
"Cultivators at certain stages of power may choose to take in specific elemental energies. These elemental powers give them a boost in certain abilities. For example, taking in for elemental energy helps increases your attack abilities, while metal elemental energy helps with your flexibility and endurance."
"So it's like a buff to your stats?"
"Yes except there are merits and demerits to it. When one chooses an element to master in, they have to replace their spiritual force cultivation with elemental energy. So all of their cultivation focuses on elemental energy which is a seventh of the density of spiritual force."
When Xue Chang heard this, he immediately understood what Yong Heng meant by demerits.
"It'll take you seven times more effort to make a break through in the element compared to neutral energy."
Although he couldn't see Yong Heng's face, he was sure he was smirking silently to himself, "That's exactly right, but that doesn't mean it's all bad though. As one's cultivation grows, they can choose to take in different types of elemental force, after all your elemental choice isn't set in stone. If one can advance far enough to begin absorbing force from every element, then the detriment will become almost negligible."
"Then wouldn't it be better to start training them all from the start?"
"Only if you want to blow up into a million pieces. Anyway, I digress. Because elemental force is so thin, most people would depend on rare treasures or natural occurrences to help then strengthen their cultivation. This is what condensed earth fire is. It is a natural source of flame elemental force, and the hotter it is the more rich in power it is. Although this lake isn't top quality goods, its size more than makes up for that. Usually condensed earth fire can only be found in handfuls, yet you have a miniature lake here!"
Yong Heng explained how condensed earth fire also had the ability to strengthen weapons or armor that held some reaction to the fire element, When Wu Jie made the saber for Xue Chang, he added a couple pieces of sun kissed gold to it. Yong Heng said from what he knew, sun kissed gold, although rare and expensive to Xue Chang, was one of the weakest fire oriented ores known around.
And although it was not some incredible elemental ore, it was still a fire type material. The condensed earth fire refined the blade and made it sharper and even more powerful than in the past. Not only that but if he were to put spiritual force into it, his blade could even produce some light flames on the edges.
"B-but I can't use spiritual force!"
"Sounds like your problem not mine."
Although most people would be ecstatic at having their treasured weapon advance in strength, Xue Chang was mournful over the fact that some of that power couldn't even be used.
Giving off a light sigh, he was still happy for the fact that his blade became ever sharper and sturdier than before.
With a couple of swings in the blade, an impressed shine reflected off his eyes after hearing the whistling of the blade cutting through the air.
If he were to use his current saber against the bear again, he wouldn't even have to used his unique technique to finish it off.
One quickly slash would've been able to decapitate it with breeze.
He admired the blade while holding it over his head carefully.
Once the refinement was finished, Xue Chang answered Liu Yang's question honestly.
"You are right, I'm almost positive this is condensed earth fire. Although it doesn't seem to be of high quality, it's still quite a good amount gathered here."
After gaining a strengthened weapon, he went ahead and sat back away from the others. The group began trying to find ways to collect the earth fire, but little progress was made.
Meanwhile Xue Chang already knew from Yong Heng that they would need an earth element a container if they wanted to transport the lava, so he didn't even try.
Xue Chang sat in the ground with his eyes partially closed, he figured this was a good time to take a rest since he really had nothing else to do.
As he lied there, a set of footsteps could be heard approaching him from afar. Opening his eyes slightly, he found Liu Yang standing there casually giving him a derisive look.
"And why aren't you helping in the transportation?"
"Look at our weapons. All of them, except for mine, melted at the touch of the rock melting off in the side. If even those tough blades can't stand up to the heat, what can we possible have that'll be able to hold it without melting?"
Liu Yang spat out a mouthful of phlegm that evaporated before it even touched the ground, he gritted his teeth while responding lightly, "I hate how you've reached the same conclusion I have. I just don't get it, you're strong, smart, and clearly young with a bright future ahead of you. Why the hell did someone like you use a back door to become a hunter rather than working hard for it yourself?!"
Xue Chang stared deep into the expedition leader's eyes as he shrugged his shoulders. How could Liu Yang ever possibly understand his situation and the things he went through. It was better for him to stay silent in this situation than to lie with the a made up story.
Liu Yang sighed as he turned around and prepared to return to the others, but before he left he gave a short warning to Xue Chang.
"You need to watch out. Your flashiness has attracted the attention of the other hunters, they aren't like me. Some of them can't control their greed and might target you for your blade, so watch out, got it?"
"You're a real softie aren't you? For someone who 'hates me' you am sure worry about me quite a bit."
"Just shut up and lay low for a while. Watch your back idiot."
With that he left Xue Chang just sitting there and approached two hunters who were staring into the lake.
Xue Chang thought about how amusing it would be if the two hunters slipped and fell into the lake. It would be quite a foolish way to die, but slightly numerous nonetheless.
But suddenly the smile stretched across his face faded away.
Xue Chang's eyes saw the entire area as a net of formations and energy bonded together in perfect unison. His insights to the world was different from others and this allowed him to understand things about the materials in the room more than anyone else could.
When the group entered the room, the formations made from the aeon span was shifted slightly. Yet this slight shift was basically insignificant.
But for some reason a much larger shift had just occurred. This wasn't a slight change in the area either, something had happened but no one noticed it.
Then he thought back to Yong Heng's earlier words.
'Yet not a single creature is here guarding this treasure trove...'
Before he could even think of what this meant, a gigantic explosion occurred as the center of the lake bursted up toward the ceiling.
"EVERYONE STEP BACK!" Xue Chang's shout came late as suddenly an enormous serpent the size of several houses launched itself out of the lake and toward one of the hunters.
Everyone was frozen in shock and fear and unable to move in the creature's presence.
The monster's gaping mouth elongated until it was large enough to swallow half of them while, but before it could do anything Xue Chang stepped forward and made a grasping motion with his hands.
This was something else he learned about during the last two weeks. Not only could he see the universal composition of everything around him, he could also control it to a certain extent.
If he really concentrated, then the formations and hidden energies of the world could be manipulated to his will. This was how he sent an invisible pressure to Liu Yang back in the beginning of the cave.
He changed the formation of the air to become denser and press down on him like a heavy weight.
Yong Heng explained that this was his main power as someone with the jurisdiction of the aeon. And although he wasn't sure what that completely meant just yet, he had no complaints considering the abilities he unlocked.
With the wave of his hands, the formations began to transform and change into the form of a giant hand, like the one he saw from the lake.
Giving off a low grunt, he pulled his arm back and an invisible suction force latched into all of the hunters present and dragged them toward him away from the snake.
Everyone launched backwards toward where Xue Chang stood.
Everyone was frozen in shock unable to comprehend what just happened. They were just at literal gaping mouth of death, but suddenly got dragged away from it in an instant.
Only Liu Yang, who was the first to hear Xue Chang's shout, noticed the weird motion he made.
Remembering the pressure he felt at the beginning of the cave, he was sure this thin man with a high pitched voice had something to do with what just happened.
"Thank you..."
"Don't thank me just yet. We still have a big problem on our hands. Look over there!"
Hearing his shout, everyone looked toward where Xue Chang pointed in disbelief. The blood drained from their faces as an overwhelming sense of dread overtook all of them.
The serpent had returned into the lava and was swimming around in it menacingly. It's head would sometimes pop out and gaze at them, like a predator staring at its prey.
Meanwhile its younger would slide out over in their direction. There was no doubt that it was waiting for them to make the first move, and once they did, it would strike back to kill and devour them.
The creature was treating them like playthings that it could kill at any moment. There was no killing intent or hunger in its eyes. Just boredom.
But they had to admit, the serpent had the right to act in such a way.
After all, stretching across its enormous back were four glaringly obvious red tattoo markings...