Free Web NovelChapter 107: Chapter 107: Netherworld Fire
Zale’s upgrade process from the moment the lightning rain fell took two days. When he stepped out of the spiritual energy vortex, his fur color seemed even pitch-blacker. Every step the black panther took, a black flame sparked on the ground. freeweɓnovel.cøm
Unlike when Kaelen and Sane upgraded, Zale’s upgrade did not bring a gentle healing rain, so the surrounding area was now a desolate ruin. Zale snapped out of his hyper-god state, looked at the scenery around him, and was a bit dazed, as if he had been transported to another world.
Cael agitatedly wanted to rush forward, but was immediately stopped by Kaelen.
"There are still electrical sparks, do not get close."
Deep in Kaelen’s soul was sheer terror. In his previous life, he had read the book about this fire to pieces; he could confirm with one hundred percent certainty that this was the legendary Netherworld Fire.
If comparing the tyranny among flames in the magic world, the supreme existence was definitely the Netherworld Fire. A flame as pitch-black as ink, carrying no heat at all but capable of making enemies vanish in the blink of an eye.
The Netherworld Fire did not just burn the physical body; it also burned the soul. If burned by other fires, one still had a chance at Nirvana, but if burned by the Netherworld Fire, not even a speck of ash would remain.
This abnormal ability was just too terrifying!
He wondered which was stronger between this and Sane’s dark purple lightning. Kaelen somewhat dared not have them spar to test it, afraid that the tribe’s two core figures would just stop breathing right there.
However, before Kaelen could think further, a dark shadow darted out from behind him like a flash of lightning, charging straight at the black panther. The black panther instantly snapped out of his dazed state, agilely dodged to the side, and then lunged at the shadow. The two dark figures flashed back and forth; in the air, one could only hear the crackling explosions of Divine Energy and the sound of the wind tearing as the two moved.
The beastmen standing outside observing immediately shifted into their beast forms, howling excitedly as if cheering for them.
Kaelen: "..." This tribe was beyond saving, let’s just destroy it all!
The large snake and the black panther fought a great battle for three days and two nights. It ended with the black panther being whipped by the large snake’s tail, smashing him into a crater in the ground. When the blinding dust settled, the black panther scrambled out of the hole, opened his mouth to roar, "So refreshing!", and then sprawled out flat on the ground.
Cael anxiously craned his neck to look. Draven handed Cael a handful of pine nuts, saying: "He is just exhausted, it is nothing."
Cael breathed a sigh of relief, then turned back to chat with the friend group. He really did not know what was so fun about fighting that made these beastmen act like they had chewed on Banshee weed. Group after group took turns standing outside, howling deafeningly.
Sane shifted back into human form, carrying Zale on his shoulder towards the tent. As soon as the panther was placed on the bed, he let out heaven-shaking snores. Watching this, the corners of Kaelen’s mouth twitched. He looked towards Sane and asked:
"How do you feel?"
"Very refreshing!" Sane stretched his body, answering: "Before, when training those brats, I did not dare to use too much force, afraid of accidentally sending them to the Beast God. It has been a long time since I had such a satisfying fight." frёewebnoѵel.ƈo๓
Kaelen smiled and nodded, waving his hand to signal Sane to lean down. Sane thought his mate wanted to give him a kiss, happily leaning down and puckering his lips. Unexpectedly, his ear was immediately pinched by his mate and twisted into a full circle:
"You bastard, you felt refreshed fighting, making me suffer for days and nights on end. Do you know that you two fighting made the kid in my belly jump around so much he almost poked a hole through it, huh?!"
Kaelen’s pinch naturally did not hurt Sane, but because he doted on his mate, he also let out a few symbolic "ouch, ouch" cries. The Sub-Beasts covered their mouths and giggled. Kaelen gave a cold harrumph, let go, and turned his face away.
Sane chuckled and leaned closer, picking his mate up from the lounge chair, saying: "Wait until he comes out, can I spank his butt for you?" Then he turned to the gossiping crowd sitting around: "Alright, if you are so free, go back and work overtime for me..."
"Ouch, why does my stomach suddenly hurt so much! I have to go to the toilet!"
"Hey, my stomach hurts too, do not fight with me for the toilet!"
"I suddenly remembered the male pig at home is about to give birth!"...
In no time, the clearing was completely deserted.
The corners of Sane’s mouth twitched, rendering him utterly speechless. Kaelen laughed heartily, teasing:
"It seems the great Chief’s authority has declined~"
Sane narrowed his eyes: "Hmph, they can hide today but not tomorrow. I have memorized their faces."
After speaking, he turned to tell the beastman guards to take Zale to the medical room for observation first to avoid any unexpected incidents, then carried Kaelen back to their house. Placing his mate on the soft chair, Sane lit the fireplace to warm up the room and put a kettle of water on the fire. Once everything was done, he turned to Kaelen and asked:
"It is getting dark soon, what do you want to eat? I will cook it for you."
Kaelen smacked his lips, swallowing his saliva: "I am craving braised carp with pickled mustard greens. Go to the dining hall and exchange for some pickled mustard greens for me, I will cook it myself."
"Did you not say your stomach hurts? Let me cook."
Kaelen shook his head: "It does not hurt anymore. The baby was probably just excited by the energy from you and Zale, so he acted up. Now that you two are not fighting anymore, he has quieted down."
Sane carefully touched Kaelen’s belly, asking a few more times. After receiving a firm answer from Kaelen, Sane finally breathed a sigh of relief:
"Alright then. In that case, there is no need to cook sorghum rice; I will just bring some rice back from the dining hall for you."
After Sane took the clay pot and left, Kaelen immediately stepped down from the soft chair, went to the kitchen, thought for a moment, and decided to cook two savory dishes: one stir-fry and one soup. Lately, he had been feeling a bit hot inside, so he stopped eating meat soup and switched to vegetable soup.
He took a basket out to the garden patch in the front yard. The garden was planted with all sorts of vegetables like wild mustard greens, dandelions, red jute, Malabar spinach... All were vegetables that could survive the winter. He had been away from home for many days, but the vegetables were still green and lush. Perhaps while he was away, some tribesman had come over to help tend his vegetable garden.
Under Kaelen’s influence, except for the single beastmen who lacked the planting gene, most households had a small vegetable garden in their yards.
Kaelen stood in front of the vegetable bed, picking half a basket of red jute, half a basket of wild mustard greens, along with a few stalks of wild scallions.
First, he took some dried river shrimp from a box, washed them clean, put half into a mortar to pound into a paste, then poured it into a pot with some water, added salt, and placed it on the stove to boil. The remaining half was set aside in a bowl to stir-fry with the wild mustard greens later.
As for the red jute, he used a knife to chop it into roughly 2-millimeter pieces, put it in a basin to squeeze out some of the slime, and set it aside to drain. For the wild mustard greens, he pinched off the roots and wilted leaves, washed them clean with water three times, and cut them into sections about ten centimeters long.
He used a net to catch a carp raised in the jar, knocked it out, scaled it, cleaned out the guts, and made shallow scores on the fish’s body.
By the time the fish was prepared, the pot of shrimp paste water was boiling. Kaelen opened the lid and put the red jute into the pot. He used chopsticks to stir the vegetables so they submerged in the water, leaving the lid off until the pot boiled again, then lowered the heat, and used an animal skin cloth to hold the two handles of the pot and lift it off.
He placed a pan specifically used for frying fish on the stove and added lard. When the fat was hot, he dropped the fish in to fry.
Next, he took down a piece of smoked pork belly hanging in the kitchen loft, washed it clean, and sliced it thinly. The shiitake mushrooms were soaked until expanded, then diced. Heating another pan, Kaelen put the smoked pork belly in and stirred it to render the fat, scooped some of the fat into a wooden bowl, then added the diced shiitake mushrooms, added a tiny bit of salt, stirred until firm, and scooped it out onto a plate.
Reusing the pan that had just stir-fried the meat, he poured the rendered fat back in, then added the wild mustard greens to stir-fry with the dried shrimp. He stirred the vegetables while simultaneously flipping the fish; his hands moved back and forth nimbly, which was very pleasing to the eye.
Just as the vegetables were cooked, Sane returned with a pot of rice and a bowl of pickled mustard greens. He placed the rice pot on the dining table, quickly brought the pickled greens into the kitchen, and conveniently carried the cooked dishes on the counter out to the dining room.
The fish was slightly golden on both sides. Kaelen scooped out some fat to make it less greasy, then poured the pickled greens onto one side of the pan to stir-fry briefly. Next was adding water. Sane quickly ran over to pour the water for him, pouring it into the pot until it just covered the fish and pickled greens. The pickled greens were already quite salty, so Kaelen did not add any more salt. He covered the lid, telling Sane to keep an eye on it until the water inside boiled vigorously, then lower the heat and let it braise slowly on a low simmer.
Covered in the smell of grease, Kaelen intended to wipe his body and change into fresh clothes. Seeing that Kaelen was about to fetch water from the fireplace, Sane quickly stepped forward and said:
"Let me do it, do not touch it or you will get burned."
Sane helped Kaelen mix warm water, conveniently helping the Sub-Beast wipe his body as well. By the time the two were done, the mouth-watering aroma of pickled greens had already filled the house. Kaelen checked the tenderness and tasted the braising liquid from the pickled greens, finding the sour, sweet, and salty balance just right, and said: "We can eat now."
The specialized fish-frying pan was oval-shaped, so it could serve as a serving dish. Sane just carried it and placed it on the table. The two ate dinner under the firelight reflecting from the fireplace. Occasionally, you fed me a bite, and I fed you a bite. The scene was both warm and romantic.
After dinner, Sane led Kaelen on a stroll around the tribe to digest their food. The two stood on the city wall, looking down at the class for newcomers on the other side of the valley. Kaelen pointed to the row of tables at the top in the classroom and softly asked:
"Austin’s group has also been in the tribe for quite a while. Besides Leonardo, who is still unconscious, the others are not bad either. Do you plan to officially transfer them to regular members?"
Sane nodded: "Yes. Tomorrow, the road connecting to Obsidian will be completed. I will organize an inauguration party, and take that opportunity to announce it to the tribesmen as well."
Kaelen was surprised: "It is completed that fast?" These past few days, he had buried his head in the upgrade area and did not pay attention to the work over here. He did not expect the road leaning against the canyon to be finished so quickly.
Sane clicked his tongue: "You would not know unless you worked on it. Except for a few spots that needed to be chiseled through, the rocks and soil there are fused into a solid block. We basically did not need to chisel and carve too much; we just built a path along the mountainside on the other side, then chiseled through the cliff face to create stairs going up. It was many times faster than expected."
Initially, the plan was to build gradually ascending stairs up to the mouth of the canyon, but then they discovered the rocks in that area were easier to carve than imagined, so they just made a flat road and chiseled stairs going up.
Kaelen licked his lips: "Can I go try it out tomorrow?"
When he was young, he had read in the orphanage director’s geography book and saw a 400km long mountain-piercing road in a neighboring country that took thirty years to dig. He had wanted to admire it for a very long time.
Unfortunately, living for a few hundred years, he could only linger around the spiritual plant fields and the Magic City; even if he sneaked down to the surface, he could only stay for a few hours before having to return.
Sane pulled Kaelen’s cloak tight around him, rubbed his head, and said: "Okay, I will go with you tomorrow."
Ian was practicing writing on the sand table when he seemed to sense something and looked up, only to see two figures gradually disappearing into the distance by the city wall. The hand gripping his wooden pen tightened slightly. Thinking about being able to follow and serve by the side of that powerful Chief tomorrow, Ian’s heart pounded non-stop.
The aura on the Chief was too domineering; even though he had only seen the Chief from afar, Ian still felt a speechless fear.
Actually, compared to walking beside the Chief, Ian wanted to walk closer to the Little Priest even more. The aura on Kaelen’s body was very pleasant, making Ian unable to resist wanting to get a bit closer.
Unfortunately, the Little Priest did not seem to need him.
Ian took a deep breath, soothing his heart. Having wandered outside for so long and survived so many pursuits, he was no longer that ugly Black Rabbit shunned and alienated by his own kind, who only knew how to cower in a corner licking his wounds.
The Chief was fine, the Little Priest was fine too; as long as he could prove his own value, he would not have to worry about being abandoned again.
