Chapter 690: Chapter 380: Purple Sun Lock Dragon Marrow (Part 2)

Huangfu Yi immediately lit a few Fire Talismans, throwing them one by one into the cave. Using the light, he discerned the terrain, noticing the walls were heavy with yin energy, dew frozen, damp and muddy, covered in moss.

Indeed, it’s not suitable for cave exploration in the dead of night. In such pitch darkness, you might twist your ankle, and who knows what ghostly things might pop up. No wonder those two from the Wang Family planned to spend the night first and come back to retrieve the treasure at dawn.

But Huangfu Yi couldn’t delay because he discovered footprints at the cave entrance.

Judging from the size and depth of the footprints, the person was slender, seemingly alone, and even barefoot. It wasn’t that previous pair of a man and a woman, nor the beggar. Could it be that the unowned treasure was discovered so promptly, and someone had already gotten ahead?

Fortunately, the footprints only led into the cave and not out of it, suggesting there was still a chance. Huangfu Yi, therefore, made a prompt decision to follow the wall into the cave to seize the treasure. His physique was relatively strong, and he was quite agile. With the Fire Talismans for illumination, he explored deeper into the cave, soon hearing the rumble of battle and the furious howls of demons echoing from afar.

Indeed, there were demons inside the cave, and it seemed that the earlier entrant was already being hindered. Huangfu Yi decided to play the latecomer advantage. Extinguishing his flames, he followed the sounds. Soon, he encountered a significant underground demon cave where flames flickered continuously, Daoist energy rumbled, and large bursts of fire exploded from time to time. Clearly, the previous person had directly invaded the demon’s nest, as the horde of demons inside was besieging the unwelcome intruder.

Huangfu Yi hid in the shadows, watching by the light of the explosions. The demons in the cave had grotesque forms and repulsive faces. They were sharp-toothed and clawed, exuding a foul stench. Each was about the size of a wild donkey, appearing neither fully human nor rat-like, some indescribable monstrosity. They seemed to have been trapped in this mountain cave for years, their eyes blind, relying entirely on smell and hearing to identify opponents.

These demons weren’t particularly formidable, merely tainted by the cold poison of the Land of Ultimate Yin. They were filthy and vile, so one had to be cautious of infection from scratches. Furthermore, the resources in this underground space were limited. Even if it were infested, it could only sustain under a hundred demons at most.

Moreover, since the Wang Family dared to send two spoiled descendants here, they must have known the setup posed little risk. The cultivator who entered the cave first wasn’t lacking in abilities either. From a distance, Huangfu Yi could clearly see a Fire Dragon swirling at the cave ceiling, fierce and rampant, spewing fiery beads, with bursts of blazing yang energy. It was either a top-notch Dao Technique or a superior magic treasure. By this time, the dragon had slaughtered demons to the point of leaving corpses strewn across the ground, with over half of the group already dead or injured.

Unfortunately, the dim light in the cave, along with the demons and Fire Dragon obstructing the view, prevented Huangfu Yi from clearly seeing the cultivator ahead. However, from the state of the corpses around, aside from most being blown to ashes by the Fire Dragon, some bodies were torn apart, crushed by monster power, smashed to smithereens.

The competitor might well be one of those characters who, despite appearing like a woman or child, possesses extraordinary power.

So, with his experience, Huangfu Yi mixed the blood and flesh of the corpses on the ground with the soggy mud and moss, smearing them onto his cloak and mantle to mask his scent with that of the demons. Then, mimicking the posture of the demons, crouched forward, he crept through the darkness, directly bypassing the battle to stealthily move towards the center of the demon nest.

After all, Huangfu Yi disdained the ignoble act of shooting someone in the back while they were caught in a demon tide. Besides, his purpose was the Pure Yang Treasure, so claiming the treasure was his priority.

Indeed, Huangfu Yi had already vaguely pinpointed the location of the Purple Sun Lock Dragon Marrow. The beggar had said that although the treasure was born in the Land of Ultimate Yin, it was an object of Extreme Yang in nature. Thus, Huangfu Yi deduced the approximate location of the Great Treasure by observing the distribution of moss growth within the cave and the temperature of the mud he touched on the ground.

In this manner, while emulating the demons’ crouched crawling and examining the footprints on the ground, Huangfu Yi managed to get ahead, arriving first at the entrance of an underground cave within the demon nest.

The earth here was dry and scorching, completely baked, with not a trace of accompanying moss. It was like a heated oven, noticeably distant from the main demon nest. Clearly, the yang energy from the Dragon-locking Marrow was too potent, deterring those Extreme Yin demons from approaching, causing them to build their nest at a safe distance around the cave, using the Divinity Transformation Treasure’s residual heat to hatch their eggs, which inadvertently formed a natural barrier guarding the treasure.

Having come this far, Huangfu Yi didn’t hesitate to dive into the cave, immediately feeling the searing heat assaulting him, as if being roasted in a sauna. If he had come a few days earlier, his insufficient power would have seen him scorched to a crisp in no time.

Luckily, Huangfu Yi had just achieved Divine Skill Minor Achievement and benefited from the Heavenly Book Body Sculpting, boasting remarkable defensive power. The yang breath couldn’t harm him at all; instead, he could harness and refine it through his Qi Acupoints. By a stroke of luck, the mud from the Land of Ultimate Yin he had smeared on his cloak absorbed most of the heat, allowing him to smoothly reach the bottom of the cave and successfully locate the Purple Sun Lock Dragon Marrow.

As Beggar Wang described, the object resembled Cordyceps, a purple-black cylindrical long rod, as thick as a human forearm, with roots twisted like a coiling, menacing serpent, faintly blood-tinted. At first glance, it resembled… well, you know, something like that. In any case, it was rather unseemly, defying polite description by Heavenly Dao terms.

For a moment, Huangfu Yi wondered if the beggar wasn’t just playing a prank. But upon closer inspection, the object emitted visibly steaming heat waves and immense yang energy, definitely not a counterfeit. And with such a grotesque appearance, it undoubtedly looked like something to enhance virility.

Unfortunately, probably having been buried underground for too long without ventilation, with the entrance littered with rotting mud and moss fermenting, the cave had a pungent odor. Even though Huangfu Yi had eaten all sorts of things in icy and snowy lands, the thought of swallowing this thing raw made him feel queasy.

Thankfully, the beggar had taught him how to consume the Dragon-locking Marrow. Huangfu Yi remembered, reaching into his fold to retrieve the Jade Pendant from Crane Temple. Clasping it in his palm, he used the slightly sharp edge protruding from his fingers, wielding it like an axe or chisel to chop at the thick, dark root of the Dragon-locking Marrow.

After pounding the jade with his fists for a while, Huangfu Yi finally managed to chisel open a gap using the sharp edge of the Jade Pendant. Immediately, a nauseating stench hit his nose, making him gag, and then he saw a pus-like substance, thick as paste and with an unbelievably foul odor, oozing out from the base of the Purple Sun Lock Dragon Marrow, resembling the Jade Milk…

“Ugh…”

Can’t take it anymore, this is too disgusting.

The system mocked him,

“Tsk, you’re such a whiner, never eaten a Demon Whip before? Don’t you know you have to eat what you need! Hurry up, eat it! Kids shouldn’t be picky!”

Come on, you don’t eat Demon Whip raw! At least boil it first!

The system scolded,

“Idiot! Don’t you know things that smell bad taste good? And this is a Divinity Transformation Treasure! Even if it’s a pile of crap, you swallow it! If you don’t even have this bit of determination to seek the Dao, you might as well go home and plant sweet potatoes! Stop dawdling! Eat up!”

“Ehh…”

Huangfu Yi sighed in lament, but upon reflection, the system was right; for us cultivators, nothing is beyond reach, nothing should be refused, Divinity Transformation Treasure! Click and it’s yours! Are you really going to turn it down because it’s gross? No, you’ve got to grit your teeth and swallow it! All in!

So Huangfu Yi gritted his teeth, braced himself, endured the stench, and after pounding away again, he chiseled off the root of the Purple Sun Lock Dragon Marrow, tearing off that large chunk of meat the size of an arm. He held it in his hands, hesitating for a moment. Where should he bite from? The root? Or the top…

But then the system stopped him,

“Alright, alright, if you really don’t want to eat it, then don’t!”

Uh, but he had already made up his mind…

The system scolded,

“Idiot! If you were going to eat it, you wouldn’t worry about this or that, you’d just pounce and munch on it! Stop dithering around! Look, the marrow is still milky white, the core isn’t even cooked, and you’ve chopped it up like this; the first bite of Innate Yang Qi has already been completely depleted! Now what’s the use of eating it? Can you even refine it? We told you to choose Xiaoyao Dao, but you didn’t listen, you didn’t learn the Nine Heavens Auspicious Tome, and now you can’t even trigger the impending love tribulation. You’re really just eating half and wasting half of this Divinity Transformation Treasure, only gaining a hundred years of power? Wasting such a good thing for nothing!

Sigh… Immortal Fate, such things can’t be forced… Forget it, forget it, since the Heavenly Dao limits you, take another path; it’s not like you’re short of this bit of power, keep it to exchange for money instead!”

Exchange for money? Yeah, considering it’s Heavenly Materials Treasures, shouldn’t be a problem to trade it for a few million…

The system snorted coldly,

“Where is it worth a few million, it’s ultimately just some useless junk.

Keep this Great Treasure on you, for now, it might help you survive the Seven-Day Tribulation, might recoup some losses then.”

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