Free Web NovelChapter 329: Chapter 325: Day Flame Dragonfolk, 7-Colored Mystic Syrup
From the Fire Meteor, a strange new race was born—the Dragon-men!
In just over a hundred years, this race rose to power so quickly within the Day Flame Sea Region that human cultivators could only struggle to survive, barely holding on.
The reason, however, wasn’t that the Dragon-men were too strong.
Rather, the Day Flame Sea Region had fallen on hard times. Due to a volcanic eruption, the overall strength of the region’s Cultivation Realm had plummeted.
After all, before the volcanic eruption, the most prosperous hub of the Day Flame Sea Region’s Cultivation Realm was none other than Volcano State.
This was determined by the Spiritual Energy Concentration!
Even though the fifth-tier Spirit Vein was volatile and difficult to tame, and posed the latent threat of a volcano.
However, two fourth-tier Spirit Veins and over a dozen third-tier Spirit Veins existed alongside it!
Therefore, cultivators, who are drawn to spiritual energy, naturally congregated here.
Of the three Golden Core sects in the sea region, two had established themselves here, each occupying a fourth-tier Spirit Vein. They also had no fewer than twenty subordinate Crystallization-stage factions.
This was a testament to the prosperity of Volcano State at the time!
As for the danger of the volcano?
Even Golden Core cultivators only have a lifespan of eight hundred years.
Meanwhile, each cycle of geological change and volcanic activity lasted for at least several thousand years, sometimes even tens of thousands!
Such a vast expanse of time was enough to make anyone let down their guard and grow complacent.
Compared to the volcano, the cultivators of the Day Flame Sea Region were more concerned with inter-sect conflicts, the scandals of famous cultivators, advancing their own cultivation realms, and raising their children and descendants... among other things.
The volcano? A needless worry!
Might as well think about what’s for lunch...
And so, with the sudden eruption of the supervolcano, the two Golden Core sects and their subordinate Crystallization-stage factions didn’t have time to react. They, and all their grievances and feuds, vanished into thin air...
The elites of the sea region, wiped out in a single catastrophe!
Of the three great sects of Day Flame, only the Golden Sun Sect survived.
But as for this Golden Core sect, its patriarch, Jinyang, was nearing the end of his life and suffered from latent injuries. The sect’s overall situation was dire, with no one to succeed the older generation, and it was already in decline.
Furthermore, after the volcanic eruption, the overall environment of the Day Flame Sea Region deteriorated drastically, making it extremely difficult for cultivators to absorb Spiritual Qi and advance their cultivation.
The Dragon-man Race, however, had no such worries.
Toxic volcanic ash? Turbid and volatile fire-attribute Spiritual Qi?
They loved it!
Invigorating!
As one side fell, the other rose.
A hundred years later, a fourth-tier being emerged from among the Dragon-men.
Meanwhile, after taking action several times, Jinyang’s latent injuries flared up, and he passed away as his lifespan came to an end.
At that time, the Yaoguang Islands were ruled by the Blood Moon Demon Palace. As a Demon Dao sect, they were cruel and selfish, and had little interest in rescuing their human brethren in the Day Flame Sea Region.
They merely dispatched a single Golden Core cultivator with a decree, ordering that the Dragon-man Race’s sphere of influence not extend beyond the Day Flame Sea Region.
Furthermore, the Dragon-men were required to open up their waters, allow the Demon Palace’s cultivators to pass freely, gather resources for them, and pay tribute.
The tribute the Demon Palace required consisted of living souls, resentful spirits, materials for Corpse Refinement, yin blood, and even live Dragon-men... This made it clear why they had little interest in exterminating the Dragon-man Race.
—A chaotic and turbulent sea region was better suited for providing them with materials!
Perhaps, in the eyes of the Blood Moon Demon Palace, the common people were like pasture grass, while powers like the Golden Core sects were dairy cows?
And the Dragon-men were a rare, mutated breed of dairy cow—very valuable?
It wasn’t hard to understand why they would set aside a protected reserve for them.
In short, after paying a certain price to establish a place for themselves in the food chain under the Blood Moon Demon Palace, the Dragon-men had no more worries, internal or external. They could be said to reign supreme over the Day Flame Sea Region!
The cultivators of the Day Flame Sea Region entered the darkest era in their history.
That is, until eight hundred years ago, when the Reversed Moon War broke out. The Righteous Sects, led by the Jade Void Sword Sect, defied the odds and defeated the Blood Moon Demon Palace.
Only then did the situation in the Day Flame Sea Region see a turning point!
The Late-stage Nascent Soul Grand Cultivator, the Jade Void Sword Master, personally traveled to the Day Flame Sea Region!
Even though the Dragon-man Emperor of that generation had already reached the fifth tier, he was no match for the Jade Void Sword Master’s blade. This fifth-tier being, whose power was comparable to a Mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivator, was slain within three moves!
However...
Unexpectedly, the Jade Void Sword Master did not proceed to slaughter the Dragon-man race.
According to the records, after defeating the Dragon-men, the Jade Void Sword Master seemed pensive, then rode his sword light and vanished into the depths of the volcano.
He only returned after three days and three nights.
No one knows what happened during that time.
However, the outcome was clear.
The Dragon-man Race, perpetrators of countless evils.
They were granted a certain degree of pardon.
A purging of the entire race never occurred.
In fact, one fourth-tier Dragon-man was even allowed to survive, rather than all of them being executed!
And with the protection of a fourth-tier being, exterminating the Dragon-men without outside aid was clearly beyond the abilities of the Day Flame Sea Region’s cultivators.
The result is that, to this day, the Dragon-men can still contend with the human race within the Day Flame Sea Region.
This strange race will mercilessly attack any Day Flame cultivator who attempts to approach the volcano!
"Tsk..."
Su Ye clicked his tongue softly.
He made no effort to hide his disgust for the Dragon-men.
’Those bloodthirsty, man-eating abominations should have been wiped out long ago!’
"Speaking of which..."
"By acquiring the Seven-Colored Profound Flowing Paste, I suppose I’m doing my part to eliminate the Dragon-men?"
Su Ye muttered to himself.
In the centuries following the war, the population of the Dragon-man Race had been gradually declining.
Aside from historical animosity and cycles of revenge killings, this decline was also determined by the inherent racial traits of the Dragon-men.
This race had great difficulty reproducing.
Aside from the first generation born from the Fire Meteor, with each successive generation, reproduction became progressively more difficult!
「To this day.」
The vast majority of Dragon-man eggs could no longer hatch naturally to produce life.
Instead, they would undergo ’mineralization,’ transforming into an egg-shaped metallic ore!
This would also explain why cultivators from the Yaoguang Islands found no signs of an active Dragon-man Race when they first arrived in the Day Flame Sea Region.
They were not suited to the surface environment.
Even if they had reached the surface in the past, riding the waves of volcanic activity, they presumably went extinct over the long course of ages.
However, heaven always leaves a way out.
The Dragon-men discovered that by soaking their eggs in a special Spirit Liquid, they could suppress the ’mineralization’ phenomenon and ensure their propagation.
And this special Spirit Liquid was none other than the Body Refining treasure Su Ye had entrusted He Muyun with acquiring in the Day Flame Sea Region—the Seven-Colored Profound Flowing Paste!
Once every cycle, on the night of the full moon,
a glowing, nectar-like substance would gush forth from fissures in the seabed near the volcano, floating to the surface. It would stretch for hundreds of miles, forming a flowing ribbon of light like a strip of silk.
This flowing light, gathered and condensed into a liquid, is the Seven-Colored Profound Flowing Paste!
At that time, beings from both the human and Dragon-man races will compete fiercely for it!
For the human race, competing for the Seven-Colored Profound Flowing Paste kills two birds with one stone.
First, it curtails the Dragon-men’s population, giving them an advantage in the struggle between the two races.
At the same time, in addition to its Body Refining effects, the Seven-Colored Profound Flowing Paste can also serve as the main ingredient for refining several types of rare medicinal pills.
’However, the value isn’t beyond the pale... As long as I can guarantee this Seven-Colored Profound Flowing Paste won’t fall into the hands of the Dragon-men, a transaction should be possible.’
Su Ye assessed.
Given the preparations he had made for this operation, the probability of a successful acquisition was quite high.
’If everything goes smoothly... He Muyun should be arriving soon?’
Su Ye muttered to himself.
Just then, he felt a stir in his Divine Sense.
He received a sensation from his Soul-Stealing Demon Charm technique.
’He Muyun!’
’She’s back.’
’And...’
’She’s injured?’
’And besides her, there’s an unfamiliar Crystallization-stage aura?’
Su Ye’s eyes flickered.
