A Loose Cultivator's Path to Longevity

PSSSH!

A flash of a sword pierced the Demon Beast’s head.

With a muffled bang, the giant, flaming beast—a creature with the head of an ox and the body of a pig—couldn’t even let out a wail before its head was shredded by Sword Qi. It was utterly dead.

BOOM! The massive, headless corpse toppled forward.

Blood gushed out like a fountain, staining the stone floor crimson.

Lü Zhong raised his hand, recalling the Green Cauldron Sword and returning it to his Dantian to be nurtured. As he gazed at the Demon Beast’s corpse on the ground, his brow furrowed.

’This is the eleventh one already!’

He had faced one attack after another ever since entering the High Wall Secret Tunnel.

Fortunately, they had all been Tier Three Demon Beasts, and solitary ones at that. If he had run into a large pack, it would have been a far greater hassle.

Just then, Lü Zhong recalled the origin of these giant beasts.

The giant, flaming beasts, like the one before him, were actually Fire-avoiding Beasts.

Unlike other Demon Beasts, there was a huge disparity between male and female Fire-avoiding Beasts—not just in size, but also in their potential for growth.

Males could grow to Tier Three at most.

The females, however, were different. Records in ancient texts indicated they could reach Tier Five.

’If I’m not mistaken, the pack of Fire-avoiding Beasts that attacked my Incarnation must all have been female,’ Lü Zhong thought to himself.

He then moved in a flash to a nearby Underground Palace.

Gazing at the destroyed Transmission Array, he had a vague, sinking feeling. Under normal circumstances, Demon Beasts wouldn’t deliberately break into a sturdy Underground Palace just to destroy the array inside.

He prepared himself for the worst.

Lü Zhong pressed onward.

He was met with another series of attacks from Fire-avoiding Beasts along the way.

Fortunately, they were all males. Even at Tier Three, they were no match for a single strike from his sword.

While Lü Zhong was rushing, his Incarnation ran into trouble—the situation was dire. The pack of Fire-avoiding Beasts that had been lying in wait suddenly appeared, cutting off their escape route. They formed an encirclement and launched an assault on the Insect Swarm.

Outnumbered, Baqiong could only fight a retreating battle.

As for the Insect Swarm, it was suffering heavy casualties.

Faced with the True Flame spewed by the Fire-avoiding Beasts, the Insect Swarm was virtually defenseless. They were incinerated in moments, becoming nothing more than a meal for the beasts.

Upon learning of this, Lü Zhong’s expression turned grim. He pressed onward in silence, calmly calculating the remaining distance to the scene.

’Ten more Transmission Arrays to go…’

In other words, a distance of a hundred thousand miles.

Lü Zhong could only hope that the rest of the Transmission Arrays were not all destroyed. Otherwise, even if he used Meteor Escape, it would take him several ancient hours to get there. With the power of High-Tier Demon Beasts, that amount of time was not only long enough to slaughter the entire Insect Swarm, but also to fully digest the flesh they had eaten.

Fortunately, the Transmission Arrays were not all destroyed.

Only two were damaged.

MROOOAR!

Low, bestial roars echoed one after another, the high-temperature flames illuminating the underground cavern. A pack of giant, flaming beasts was frantically surrounding and slaughtering the trapped Insect Swarm. Their speed could no longer be described as a slow culling; more accurately, they were devouring them whole. The Insect Swarm fell in swathes, like grass before a scythe.

Lü Zhong arrived at that moment. Seeing that the Tier Four Fire-avoiding Beasts were not present, he flicked his sleeve and released three Incarnations, ordering them to rescue the Insect Swarm. He then glanced around and discovered signs of a struggle at a collapsed fork in the path, where Baqiong’s strong aura still lingered.

’It seems Baqiong led the three females away.’

Without hesitation, he immediately gave chase.

Within a cave dense with stalactite pillars, a slender figure darted forward. Baqiong was now covered in burns, many of which had scorched clean through her carapace. Even half of her six legs were carbonized. If not for the astounding Life Force for which the Insect Race was known, she would have collapsed long ago.

Even so, she was at the end of her rope.

MOO! MOO! MOO!

Behind Baqiong, three giant, fiery shadows gave relentless chase.

The Fire-avoiding Beasts were constantly shifting between corporeal and flame forms. Whenever a stalactite pillar appeared before them, they would transform their bodies into pure flame to pass through. Thanks to this ability, the distance between them and Baqiong was steadily shrinking.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

With a series of dull thuds, Baqiong took advantage of her tough carapace, smashing straight through one stalactite pillar after another to avoid taking detours that would slow her escape. At the same time, she used her limbs to pick up the broken pillars and hurl them at her pursuers, sending them whistling through the air.

The Fire-avoiding Beasts, however, paid them no mind.

The stone pillars, weighing many tons, were often melted by the intense heat radiating from the Fire-avoiding Beasts’ bodies before they could even hit their mark, turning into pools of golden magma.

This magma had no effect on the Fire-avoiding Beasts whatsoever.

At best, it was like giving them a bath.

As the chase continued, Lü Zhong followed the trail of destruction to their location. When he saw Baqiong’s wretched state, rage surged within him.

He raised a hand, and six Small Flags flew out.

They were the Flood Dragon Spirit Banners.

One of the banners was already shimmering with a watery mist. At Lü Zhong’s mental command, it began to shed a hazy blue light, activating its innate Water Manipulation Divine Technique.

Almost instantly, a massive amount of water vapor began to gather.

MROAR!

Noticing this, the Fire-avoiding Beasts let out furious roars.

Leaving one behind to continue hunting Baqiong, the remaining two spun around and transformed into giant, fiery shadows. The cavern walls along their path instantly melted into magma from the intense heat, which the beasts swept up into a torrent that surged toward Lü Zhong.