Cultivation Starting from Choosing Augments-Chapter 61 - 59: Encountering the Lion King and Obtaining the Fire Spirit Crystal

Chapter 61: Chapter 59: Encountering the Lion King and Obtaining the Fire Spirit Crystal

My name is Xiao Chen. Right now, I’m being chased by several hundred Spirit Beasts, but I’m not the least bit worried, because their speed is no match for my Escape Techniques.

Deep within the Flame Pool Secret Realm, a streak of golden light shot across the landscape, leaving a large pack of Spirit Beasts far behind.

After traveling for dozens of miles without stopping, the Spirit Beasts chasing him suddenly came to a roaring halt before a turn in the path.

Seeing this, Xiao Chen slowed his pace and eventually came to a stop.

But the pack that had gathered behind him, numbering at least two hundred strong, only roared at him in fury. Not a single one moved any closer.

It was as if some invisible pressure made them deeply fearful.

’Could this be the territory of an even more powerful Spirit Beast?’

His guard raised, Xiao Chen rounded the corner and was met with the sight of a small hill.

Or rather, it was a hill formed from an open-pit Flame Crystal Ore deposit.

At the base of the hill was a cave that looked like a mine entrance. On the rock by the opening, the corner of a Flame Crystal was already exposed, refracting the light.

Xiao Chen drew his Evergreen Sword and, with a few deft movements, dug it out.

The moment he held it, he could feel the abundant Fire Spirit Qi within, equivalent to roughly two and a half Spirit Stones.

Peering inside, he could see another Flame Crystal with an exposed corner every few yards.

This was clearly an incredibly rich deposit.

’If there are this many right at the entrance, how many more must be inside?’

Xiao Chen’s eyes lit up. He cast the Golden Light Technique to protect himself and headed straight into the depths of the mine.

Sure enough, the deeper he went, the more exposed Flame Crystals he found.

After venturing about a mile in, he even found a Flame Crystal just lying on the ground.

At the same time, he noticed a small, smooth patch on the ground next to the Flame Crystal.

It looked like footprints left by a lion that frequently passed through here.

’Could these be the footprints of the Two-headed Lion King?’

If he’d found footprints, the Spirit Beast was most likely nearby.

Xiao Chen immediately sat down to meditate, restoring the Magical Power he had just consumed.

He then recast the Golden Light Technique on himself and summoned his Profound Fire Crows as a precaution.

’There was no one else around anyway, so he didn’t have to worry about being seen.’

After walking a bit further, the passage ahead suddenly opened up into a spacious cavern.

In the very center was a sunken, circular pit. At the bottom lay an exceptionally large Flame Crystal, emitting a brilliant, fiery-red Spiritual Light.

No, that was a Fire Spirit Crystal!

Though he had never seen one before, Xiao Chen was certain that it was a Fire Spirit Crystal—the kind that could help a Qi Refining Cultivator directly advance a Minor Realm.

GRRR-ROAR!

A thunderous roar exploded through the cavern, followed by a gale that blasted him in the face, thick with the stench of sulfur.

Xiao Chen felt as if someone were viciously hammering his eardrums while a gale raged around him.

He fixed his gaze and saw them: three massive lion heads on the other side of the cavern.

The middle head, a full three feet long, had its jaws gaping wide.

It wasn’t the wind at all. It was the lion’s roar!

"Poison Crow Black Fire!"

Xiao Chen immediately commanded his Profound Fire Crows to pounce, swarming the exceptionally burly Three-headed Lion just as they had with Scarface.

However, the torrent of flames washing over its body only managed to ruffle its red fur, having no discernible effect whatsoever.

If anything, the flames looked like a cloak, making the Three-headed Lion appear even more ferocious and terrifying.

"Hah! Fireball Technique!"

The Three-headed Lion simply opened its mouth and swallowed the fireball whole.

At the same time, its left and right heads sprang into action. One opened its mouth and inhaled, devouring three Profound Fire Crows, while the other opened its mouth and spat out a massive Fire Snake.

"Shit! Vertical Earth Golden Light, let’s go!"

Xiao Chen hastily fled, with the Three-headed Lion in hot pursuit.

As the guardian of the Fire Spirit Crystal and a mutated king among Two-headed Lions, the Three-headed Lion had an innate mastery of the Fire Escape Technique.

For the moment, he couldn’t widen the gap between them.

Seeing that Xiao Chen was faster, the Three-headed Lion’s left and right heads each spat out a large ball of flame, which merged into a single sphere in front of him.

Then, the Three-headed Lion rammed its main head into the massive, ten-foot-wide fireball, sending it hurtling forward.

Suddenly, the hairs on Xiao Chen’s neck stood on end.

He whipped his head around to see the fireball and hastily cast the Earth Shield Technique, simultaneously activating the Protective Golden Light from his Magic Robe.

BOOM!

A massive explosion erupted, instantly filling the entire mine tunnel with light and fire.

The Three-headed Lion, ignoring the surging flames, charged out from the heart of the blast.

But it found that Xiao Chen had actually been sent flying by the force of the blast, propelled away at an even greater speed.

HMPH!

The Three-headed Lion snorted, then turned and returned to the cavern.

It was supremely confident in the power of its attack. As a Lion King that could feast on Flame Crystals, it would have reached the Foundation Establishment Realm long ago were it not for the suppressive laws of this Secret Realm.

That attack had surpassed the limits of the Qi Refining Stage, capable of easily killing an adult Two-headed Lion at the ninth level of Qi Refining.

That foolish intruder from just now must have been blown to smithereens.

THUD!

Xiao Chen landed on a rock outside the mine tunnel, then rubbed his backside and scrambled to his feet.

’Hss... good thing I had three layers of Defense.’

Thanks to the tenfold boost to his Earth Shield and Golden Light Technique, he had managed to withstand an attack comparable to the Foundation Establishment Realm, at the cost of only minor damage to his defensive magic robe.

’No wonder those Two-headed Lions wouldn’t come any closer. So, how do I get that Fire Spirit Crystal?’

Xiao Chen returned to the cave entrance and rummaged through his Storage Bag, thinking up a new plan.

Looking at the Flame Crystal he had just picked up, an idea sparked in his mind. ’That’s right! It can’t just stay in the center guarding it forever. It must leave from time to time.’

He meditated outside, restoring his depleted Magical Power.

Xiao Chen returned to the cave, making his way back to the spot where he had found the Flame Crystal.

He had already formed a plan: when the Three-headed Lion was away, he would sneak in and steal the Fire Spirit Crystal.

To better conceal himself, Xiao Chen carved out a small hole in a nearby wall, just big enough to hide inside.

He then chiseled out a stone slab to block the opening, leaving only a tiny slit to peer through.

Next, he used the Sealing Acupoint Concealing Qi Technique he had obtained from Su Yuanpeng to suppress his cultivation aura, completely disguising himself as a mortal with no cultivation at all.

He waited there for a full day and night before he finally saw the Three-headed Lion amble past, on its way to a more distant spot to dig up Flame Crystals to eat.

Patiently waiting for the Three-headed Lion to pass, Xiao Chen immediately dropped his disguise and activated the Vertical Earth Golden Light with all his power.

Moving faster than he ever had in his life, he charged into the middle of the cavern. With a few quick slashes of his sword, he pried the Fire Spirit Crystal loose, taking a chunk of the ground beneath it as well.

He immediately tossed it into his Storage Bag and ran straight back to his hiding spot.

CRUNCH... CRUNCH...

He had only just ducked back into hiding when the Three-headed Lion returned, munching on a mouthful of Flame Crystals.

As it neared his hiding spot, it paused in confusion.

Its keen sense of smell told it that the scent of an intruder seemed to linger in the cave.

But after taking a more careful sniff, the Three-headed Lion relaxed. It confirmed this was just the lingering scent of that golden monkey from yesterday.

That monkey had probably been blown to bits, so it wasn’t a big deal.

So it continued to munch away as it ambled back into the main cavern.

To be honest, when the beast had stopped moving just now, Xiao Chen had held his very breath.

Fortunately, the lion wasn’t very bright, and he had managed to fool it.

Once it had moved a little farther away, Xiao Chen hastily pushed the stone slab aside and shot out of the cave.

He didn’t stop, but instead scrambled up the side of the ore-hill, making a beeline for the summit where he hid.

Before long, furious roars echoed up from below.

The Three-headed Lion was frantically searching the area, furiously blasting away chunks of ore with fireballs.

While it threw its impotent tantrum below, Xiao Chen, perched on the summit, began to absorb the Fire Spirit Crystal.