Chapter 180 Liquid Fire Flower
As the story was very long Wu Long omitted a lot of its progression, only describing his journey in general terms and skipping most of the things that would not make any sense to the women born and raised in this small isolated world.
He mainly focused on what defined him as a person, and what his general history was. It was important to him that they knew who he was and not just some mystery behind what could be seen from the outside. He also reassured them with the way he spoke and his gestures, showing them that they were not meeting a new him or a 'real' him. He was showing them that he was himself the whole time and that nothing fundamentally changed in their relationship, only now they could trust him even more since he was no longer a riddle they had to be subconsciously wondering about.
They also understood Ye Ling's reaction earlier when he revealed her part in the story, and she also added her own words to it.
They talked the whole day as the storm raged outside, Wei Lan cooked dinner and they ate while asking questions that Wu Long answered one by one, not dismissing any of them, but sometimes answering slightly vaguely to the questions, which answers they were yet not ready to hear.
During this part, Luo Mingyu's eyes sparkled with interest as a whole new world opened up to her and she realized how tiny of a cage of perception she locked her consciousness in years ago when she learned the basic structure of the world from her teachers and its common sense.
They had to stay on the island for a few days more as the storm raged on. Wu Long noticed a strong current of Spiritual Qi inside the storm, meaning it was not a simple weather phenomenon but an anomaly.
As they set off to the sea again, three days since as they were passing not far from an island something caught the eyes of the crew.
"Huh? There's a lot more smoke than usual on the RuiXiao mountain..."
"No, that is..."
Cao Mei looked at a huge mountain that took up most of the island's territory and as her eyes widened a big explosion shook the eardrums of everyone aboard the ship as the top of the mountain flew off into the air along with massive clouds of smoke and ashes, as well as glowing particles.
"Watch out for tephra!"
Cao Mei shouted as the crew started operating the protective arrays of the ship. Large flaming rocks traveled at high speed in all directions as the clouds of ash and smoke followed.
A sheathed sword appeared in Wu Long's left hand as he grabbed its hilt with his right. The ripple of the airwave hit the boat's protective formations first and then Wu Long's sword flashed and the rock that was hurled at the ship split into two, then four, and progressively turned into small pieces which speed was reduced by the sword winds. They showered the protective formations without much damage but there were a lot more coming from the direction of the huge volcano that erupted.
Ye Ling joined Wu Long in disposing of the larger flying debris that had the potential to break through the protective formation as sparks flew in the air. The whole area turned scorching hot and was covered in volcanic ash as the visibility turned to almost zero.
The crew covered their lower faces with dampened cloth which did not help much as they started to choke on the gas, only helping against the ash.
"Wu Long!"
After the first wave of the falling rocks was cut down Ye Ling looked at him with a slight excitement on her face.
"Yes, it is highly likely with the storm before and this eruption, it should be the Liquid Fire Flower"
Wu Long nodded, as he too noticed the possibility. It was an incredibly potent Yang attribute medicinal ingredient that had very specific conditions for manifesting. It could be considered a type of natural treasure.
"We should get away from this area as fast as possible!"
Cao Mei emerged from the smoke and ashes not far from them and gave out orders to the crew.
"Can we wait a little on an island not far from this one?"
Wu Long asked, and she looked at him with widened eyes.
"Are you insane? What if it makes a second eruption?"
"We would help you then. If not, you can just drop us off here and we will hire a ship going from here forward. I need to confirm something on the island that is erupting"
"... fine, let's wait nearby. We're not going to leave you in this area alone as there are no inhabitants on the nearby islands, so you would not be able to hire a ship"
After Wu Long's suggestion, she hesitated for a little and then sighed as she could not just toss them aside after they helped her twice.
"Thank you"
He smiled as the ship proceeded to distance itself from the island with the erupting volcano. Wu Long and Ye Ling disposed of any flying debris that was big enough to be a threat, and Wu Long helped keep away the harmful gases with talismans.
They left the range of the smoke and ashes and anchored the ship not far from an island slightly in the distance.
"There were quite powerful demonic beasts on that island, cultivating with the Stones of Earth Fire that were sprinkled throughout the island and connected to the underground veins. But I guess none of them should have survived that eruption"
Cao Mei said as she looked in the distance where the clouds of smoke continued to spread.
"I bet you are right"
Wu Long nodded as he too did not expect demonic beasts lower than the 7th tier to survive such an eruption, and he did not notice any presences more powerful than the 5th tier when they were passing near the island before. After some time of talking, Cao Mei went off to command her crew and see if there were any damages to the ship, while Wu Long was left with Ye Ling on the deck, looking at the clouds of smoke in the distance.
"It should be around two days from now when the flower will bloom, do you intend to consume it raw?"
"No, although refining it directly would give a good result as well, not to mention that an immediate improvement would be nice, that would be too much of a waste"
"But where are you going to find an alchemist good enough to process it and make a pill?"
"I have one that I picked up an interest in, I am teaching her what I know as well"
"Her?"
Ye Ling smiled at him and he sighed.
"You know that if it is a woman it does not mean..."
But as he was saying this her smile widened and under her gaze, his words trailed off.
"I still haven't made a move yet you know"
She simply laughed in response as he shook his head. She really knew him too well, a lot better than he thought she did.
Two days later, the eruption entered a slow burn phase where there were no explosive bursts, and lava was simply oozing along with large amounts of smoke and ash being constantly ejected into the air.
Wu Long and his beauties went on a small boat and approached the island. But he quickly noticed that there was another ship in the distance, which approached the island from another direction from where their ship was anchored at some unknown point in time. Wu Long also picked up the presence of people on the island.
"It seems we have some competition"
He said as Ye Ling nodded. The fact that someone was approaching the island at this timing suggested that there was someone who also knew of the flower, as the distinct combination of natural phenomena it bloomed in was easily recognizable to anyone with the right knowledge.
As they arrived at the island in the scorching heat the other party seemed to also notice them as their auras started approaching them at a moderately fast pace.
As they appeared, Wu Long's group could see a group of eleven people, ten of whom wore similar plain clothes, led by a very handsome young man in luxurious clothes.
Shen Min's eyes shrank as she saw him and her chakrams instantly appeared in her hands. Wu Long was also surprised, as he did not expect to see a lust cultivator here. But when Wu Long's eyes flickered with profound patterns his eyebrows went slightly up.
'Extreme Yang Physique!'
He inwardly thought as he met the first Extreme Yang physique in this fractured world. He was slightly bewildered as he now not only met three women with Extreme Yin physiques but? another supposedly rare physique showed up as well.
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