Chapter 89: The Gale's Collection

The spirit-guardian beauty hurriedly urged him to take most of the Moonspring Milk, saying it was a rare treasure used in refining third-grade elixirs and should not be left behind. Once Du Long heard its name, he had no intention of letting such a treasure slip away; now that she had said so too, he immediately took out several jade bottles and began collecting it.

The bottles were filled with roughly fifteen pounds in all. When only enough milky-white liquid remained in the hollow to cover the roots of the spiritual grass, he finally stopped with some reluctance and carefully stored all the jade bottles into his spatial ring.

Only after finishing did he notice that Fierce Wind, with the female lion clenched in its jaws, had been waiting for him. Without another word, Du Long leaped onto its back, and with a low cry Fierce Wind carried him away from the cave without looking back.

It did not fly straight out of the entrance. Instead, after winding through the cavern a few times, it plunged into a passage and traveled steadily downward along it. The farther they went, the hotter the air in the tunnel became.

After flying for quite some time, they arrived at a vast cave glowing red as fire. Only then did Du Long realize that this cavern was actually above an underground lava lake. At the cave mouth there was a platform several hundred feet across, and this was presumably where Fierce Wind normally lived.

Dozens of yards below the platform lay a lava lake spanning several miles. The molten rock churned like a pot of thick, fiery boiling water, from which countless red bubbles kept rising and bursting.

Fierce Wind carried Du Long to the edge of the platform and stopped, then set down the female lion and said, "Master, please wait here for a moment. I will take Fire Shadow down below to bury her under the lava, and at the same time retrieve some things I have stored there."

"All right. Be careful," Du Long replied, leaping down from its back.

Fierce Wind picked up the female lion again and sprang downward. Just as it seemed about to fall into the lava, it suddenly arrested its body and darted sideways, vanishing into a black opening.

Only then did Du Long notice that there was indeed a cave in the cliff wall near the lava. If he had not seen the great lion fly into it with his own eyes, he never would have guessed at first glance that a cavern was hidden there. No doubt Fierce Wind had carefully kept its years of treasure there.

Taking advantage of the moment, he curiously toured the underground fire cavern. As a martial cultivator with an innate blazing constitution acquired later in life, Du Long loved this searing environment from the bottom of his heart. Feeling the rich and dense solar force of heaven and earth all around him, he would have gladly cultivated here for a while if time had allowed.

After wandering about for some time, Fierce Wind finally returned. It came up to Du Long with a bundle of beast hide clenched in its jaws and dropped it directly on the ground.

The bundle fell open at once, and a heap of round beads rolled out. Du Long immediately understood that this creature's so-called collection was nothing more than a floor strewn with monster cores.

Excitedly picking up the few largest cores, each as big as an egg, Du Long figured they must be fourth-grade cores to be of that size. As he studied them with curiosity, he asked in confusion, "Huh? Why are they all rather yin-aligned cores?"

"Master, I ate all the yang-aligned cores. Fire Shadow and I both have yang-leaning constitutions, so we never touched the yin ones. After years of collecting them, there ended up being this many before we knew it," Fierce Wind explained somewhat sheepishly.

"Oh, I see." Du Long answered with some resignation. To be honest, these yin-aligned cores would not be of much use to him, though they could still fetch a very good price. "It doesn't matter. Getting so many yin cores is already excellent. They are very valuable in the human world."

Du Long could only comfort Fierce Wind while personally gathering the cores rolling all over the ground into his spatial ring. He had obtained so many without spending the least effort, including fourth-grade cores, which were by no means easy to come by.

Thinking of his own team, if they encountered a fourth-grade beast, they would probably not even have a chance to flee; the odds of total annihilation were extremely high. That showed just how difficult fourth-grade cores were to obtain. As for fifth-grade cores, there was no need even to mention them.

Of the three spirit-rank existences in the entire Vast Heaven Empire, probably none would dare challenge a beast of the same level. All in all, beasts of the same rank were far stronger than humans.

"All right. If there's nothing else, let's go," Du Long said with a smile after gathering the cores.

"Master, there is also a spiritual herb garden in the back valley. Because I guard it, ordinary beasts and humans do not dare enter easily. There are still some first- through third-grade spiritual herbs inside. Would you like to take a look and see whether you need anything? Otherwise, while I am away, the place may be ruined by ordinary beasts," Fierce Wind said, bringing up another matter that made Du Long's eyes brighten.

"That's true! If you're not around, those spiritual herbs would certainly be ruined by little beasts. We can't waste them. Waste is utterly shameful!" Du Long said at once, his face full of righteous conviction.

Thus, man and lion left the cave and headed straight for the herb garden in the back valley. Within several hundred miles around this area, everything belonged to Fierce Wind. Low-rank beasts were allowed to appear elsewhere, but within dozens of miles of this mountain peak, it was an absolute forbidden zone.

No low-rank beast dared approach. Once discovered, it would be hunted down by Fierce Wind's terrifying speed, and absolutely no low-rank beast could survive.

For that very reason, even after Fierce Wind fought the giant alligator beast for a day and a night, no beast had dared come near this place.

Under the moon and stars, Du Long rode Fierce Wind into the garden in no time. Thanks to the crimson glow from Fierce Wind's body, he could clearly make out most of the spiritual herbs growing within.

When he had first bought the three prescriptions for spirit liquids, his elder sister Du Caini's words had reminded him. The next day, he went and bought a book of spiritual herbs, though Du Long had no time to read it and simply handed it to the spirit-guardian beauty.

"Oh my! Are those all thousand-year ginseng roots of the second grade? And those few over there, heavens, they are thousand-year blood lingzhi of the third grade! Goodness, that whole patch of several hundred plants is first-grade hundred-year silver ginseng?" The ecstatic cries of the spirit-guardian beauty rang repeatedly in Du Long's mind. This little miser truly loved money beyond reason; every time she discovered a kind of spiritual herb, she would shriek its name in wild excitement.

Under her thrilled directions, Du Long began harvesting the herbs, first digging up the third-grade ones, then the second-grade, and only last the first-grade.

One had to know that each thousand-year blood lingzhi of the third grade was worth over ten thousand gold coins. Thinking that every plant he dug up meant more than ten thousand gold coins, even the feeling of stripping wealth from the Du clan estate in Fengli County had not been this exhilarating.

This sensation of casually digging money from the earth was countless times more thrilling than entering a treasure vault. It was no wonder the spirit-guardian beauty's voice trembled nonstop as she guided him in harvesting the herbs; she was clearly far too excited.

In the end, Du Long nearly cleared the entire garden clean before he was done. Riding Fierce Wind, he now looked at the great lion more favorably than ever. This fellow had handed over all its treasure so willingly; such a obedient and well-behaved spirit beast was not often seen.

"Du Long, the second-grade spirit liquid materials we've gathered this time amount to at least sixty or seventy sets, more than enough for you to squander, hehe. From now on, you can begin preparing to refine second-grade spirit liquid," the spirit-guardian beauty said excitedly on the way back.

Du Long hesitated and said, "Ling'er, didn't you say that before the fourth stage of the qi vortex, it's best not to try refining second-grade spiritual medicines? Otherwise it's a waste of resources."

"Please. Back when you were poorer than a church mouse, where did you have the capital to waste anything? With the help of the Fire Cloud Cauldron, plus such a plentiful supply of spiritual herbs, wasting a little is no big deal. Besides, it's only second-grade spirit liquid; I'm not asking you to refine third-grade spirit liquid right now. Your inner flame should be able to last through one batch of second-grade spirit liquid, shouldn't it?"

"Still, I think I'd better wait until I've taken second-grade spirit liquid once more and raised my strength to the third stage of the qi vortex before I start refining it. That way, if my inner astral fire falls short, I won't waste the herbs for nothing."

"Suit yourself." The spirit-guardian beauty was not especially opposed to Du Long's suggestion. After all, as long as he did not take more than three doses of spirit liquid within a year, there was no need to worry about damaging his foundation.

As they chatted, the blazing campfires of the campsite soon came into view. Du Long quickly told the great lion to shrink its size and take on the appearance of an ordinary large lion, and only then did he swagger toward the camp.

Before they even reached the campsite, they heard bursts of noisy uproar coming from there. From far away, several of the Du household retainers saw Du Long riding on the red lion and cried out in ecstatic delight before hurrying to meet him.

"Young Master, it's Young Master coming back!" The Du retainers all liked addressing Du Long that way. With that shout, many people immediately ran in this direction, including the whole group of his friends.

"Husband! Why have you been gone so long? I thought you..." Princess Fire Phoenix came forward with the others to greet Du Long, starting to complain, but her eyes were soon drawn to the red lion beneath him. She immediately changed her tune and cried out, "Wow! You went out for a walk and came back with a giant lion? Don't tell me it's female!"

Du Long had already been deeply moved by the concern of so many people, and he almost collapsed from her words and fell off the lion. Even Fierce Wind beneath him staggered and nearly dropped to its knees.

In the end, Du Long could only shake his head with a bitter smile. "What nonsense. Little Fierce is male, all right? Don't say such things carelessly."

"Heehee, so it's male! That's good, that's good." Princess Fire Phoenix then said something that made Du Long even more exasperated.

"You brat! Tell the truth, now. You've been missing for several hours, and we almost turned the entire resting camp upside down. It's nearly dawn, so where on earth did you run off to? And how is it that after one trip out you came back with a giant lion?" Du Cai demanded fiercely. If not for the great lion beneath him, she would already have come up to twist his ear.

Glancing around, Du Long saw not only the several hundred people under his command, but also the dozens of ranger adventurer teams stretching their necks to look this way. He could only say with a wry smile, "This isn't the place to talk, is it? Let's go back to the tents and discuss it there."