Facing the stampeding herd of horses, Long Chong was not frightened but delighted. He immediately channeled all his recently recovered Spiritual Power into his spear, and the majestic momentum burst forth with a sound as if a rainbow were tearing through the sky, resembling the roar of a water dragon in the mysterious void.

Behind Long Chong, Yuan Ming waved his hand and shot out two streaks of Black Sword Qi, striking first at the spirit light connecting the unicorns of the horse herd.

A Sword Qi capable of extinguishing souls directly penetrated into the Divine Soul of the Bone Horned Horse, causing the herd to panic and scatter in disarray, breaking the continuous stream of spirit light with ease.

Overjoyed, Long Chong charged directly at the flustered Bone Horned Horse King and with a "puff" sound, pierced through its head, splattering red and white matter.

The unicorn and most of the skull of the Horse King were blown away; Long Chong lifted his spear, wrapped it around the remains, and collected them.

With the Bone Horned Horse King killed, the rest of the horses dispersed in terror, running off in all directions. Naturally, Yuan Ming paid little attention to this.

"Haha, Brother Yuan, choosing this continent was truly a brilliant move. We've just arrived and already we've had such a harvest," Long Chong carefully cut off the unicorn, saying happily.

"It's just luck. This continent seems to hold many treasures, but we should restore our Mana first before exploring further," Yuan Ming said.

Long Chong nodded in agreement, and flew back with Yuan Ming to a hill where they sat cross-legged to recover their Mana.

"Fellow Daoist Yuan, we just assisted you and allowed you to escape a dangerous situation, consuming a lot of our Mana in the process. You really should compensate us well," Hong Ling's proud voice rang out in Yuan Ming's Sea of Consciousness, reverting back to addressing him formally.

"That's right, there are demon beasts all over this continent. Fellow Daoist Yuan, just capturing some and refining them into Blood Origin Power should be enough for us to recover," Blood Shadow said.

"Don't worry, you won't be short-changed," Yuan Ming said then stopped paying attention to the two, focusing on practicing the Nine Elements Technique.

The nature's spiritual energy on this continent was incredibly dense, and the four quickly recovered, proceeding deeper into the continent and advancing hundreds of miles quite rapidly.

Along the way, the four expanded their horizons; the continent was truly full of Spirit Grass and swarming with demon beasts.

In these hundreds of miles, relying on the Black Wood Compass from Qiong Yun, the four gathered many valuable spiritual materials.

Yuan Ming also hunted many large and Qi-Blood filled demon beasts, refining them into Blood Origin Power for Hong Ling and Blood Shadow to absorb.

"I've sensed another precious spiritual material, this item is extraordinary!" Qiong Yun summoned the Black Wood Compass, and the shadow of the spoon shook violently, pointing to the front left.

"Let's go." Long Chong took the lead and flew towards the left front, with the others quickly following until they soon arrived in front of a valley.

Without needing the guidance of the Black Wood Compass, everyone clearly sensed powerful Earth Attribute Spiritual Power fluctuations filling the valley.

However, they did not rashly enter. On this continent where demon beasts abound, all precious spiritual materials encountered along the way were guarded by demon beasts.

The spiritual object in the valley had such immense power, far greater than those materials they had encountered previously; securing it would inevitably require a battle with the demon beasts inside.

Long Chong and the others extended their Divine Sense to probe inside the valley but detected no trace of demon beasts.

"What's going on... Could it be that this spiritual material is unguarded?" Wulu said.

The group exchanged glances, then entered the valley.

They proceeded with caution, yet they did not shrink back from seizing the opportunity, especially since their strength had greatly increased with the power of the Earth Core Fire Lotus, enough to retreat unscathed even if attacked by a swarm of third-level demon beasts.

The four entered the valley, following the vibrations of the Spiritual Power, quickly arriving in front of a huge pit. Powerful Earth Attribute vibrations were emanating from the bottom of the pit.

Yuan Ming activated his Divine Sense to probe, quickly sensing the source of the strong Earth Attribute fluctuations at the bottom of the pit—it was a massive piece of yellow jade, several meters tall, enveloped in swirling yellow light, clearly a treasure.

"This is the Houtu Mountain Stone! Such a large piece could refine two or three Nine Rune Level Earth Attribute Magic Treasures!" Long Chong sensed the presence of the yellow jade, his face showing wild joy.

Qiong Yun and Wulu also showed joy on their faces.

Yuan Ming too, his expression more intense than the others, almost dumbstruck.

"Although the Houtu Mountain Stone is splendid, Brother Yuan, there's no need to be so thrilled," Wulu communicated telepathically.

"I have lost my composure," Yuan Ming regained his senses and smiled sheepishly.

It wasn't the Houtu Mountain Stone in front of him that excited him, but rather, when the Divine Sense of his first soul probed nearby, he made an unexpected discovery deep beneath the pit, hundreds of meters underground.

Seven or eight hundred meters below the ground, there was another piece of Houtu Mountain Stone, even larger.

To call it Houtu Mountain Stone might be an understatement; this stone was two to three hundred meters tall, nearly the size of a small mountain, and could almost be considered a Houtu Mountain Peak.

Near the Houtu Mountain Peak, astonishing gravitational fluctuations of earth filled the area, attracting the Earth's lethal gas and Primordial Magnetic Power from below, forming a strange magnetic field, which made it impossible for Divine Sense to approach.

Only with the enhanced Divine Sense from the Stealing Heaven Tripod could one explore it smoothly without being affected.

"Such a huge Houtu Mountain Stone would fetch an astronomical price if extracted, but the Houtu Mountain is simply too huge to be taken out, and even if it could be, there's no Storage Bag that could hold it," Yuan Ming pondered.

As he was deep in thought, Long Chong flew into the deep pit, attempting to retrieve that piece of Houtu Mountain Stone.

"Brother Long, be careful, there are demon beasts lurking underground!" Yuan Ming urgently warned.

There were demon beasts lurking near the Houtu Mountain Stone at the bottom of the pit, but their presence was hard to detect due to the influence of the Houtu Mountain.

Long Chong, hearing Yuan Ming's warning, did not pay heed. His body blurred, and he landed at the bottom of the pit, his sleeve sweeping towards the yellow jade.

The ground near the Houtu Mountain Stone cracked open, and seven or eight yellow lizards emerged from the earth, biting towards Long Chong, each with the strength of a Second Level Upper Stage.

Yuan Ming, Wulu, and the others did not take action, not out of disregard for their ally, but because Long Chong was filled with war intent and his momentum was like a rainbow. Any premature intervention by others would have hindered Long Chong's enjoyment of a vigorous battle.

Long Chong let out a long howl, his spear splitting into two, streaks of it slashing through the heads of two yellow lizards.

The lizards' heads burst open, the rest, shocked and enraged, surrounded him and attacked. The yellow demon light emitted by several lizards unexpectedly merged into one, similar to the previously encountered Bone Horned Horses, they knew Joint Attack Skill.

Long Chong was fearless, his body and spear moving as one. He charged directly at the weak spot of the joint attack by the lizard demon beasts.

Yuan Ming silently nodded in approval. Long Chong, having broken through to the Peak of Late-stage Core Formation, had significantly improved not only in strength but also in insight.

Just then, a strong demon energy surged from beneath the ground. It entered the range of the first soul division's Divine Sense and headed straight for Long Chong at an alarmingly fast speed.

Just as Yuan Ming was about to warn, the ground near Long Chong suddenly shook and cracked. From a fissure appeared a thick grey elephant trunk without warning; it whipped out and shattered the yellow light encapsulating the yellow lizards in an instant.

The remaining yellow lizards cried out in unison, their body's Spiritual Light dimming rapidly, fear evident in their eyes as they turned to flee.

Seeing the sudden change, Long Chong did not stop his attack. His spear glowed with a dazzling cyan Spiritual Light, crashing like a tsunami against the elephant trunk. However, as the light faded, only a shallow white mark was left on the trunk — it hadn't even pierced the skin.

Long Chong's complexion changed dramatically. He didn't even think of landing another blow but shouted, "No good, it's a Level 4 Demon Beast, flee quickly!"

Then, he no longer cared about retrieving the Houtu Mountain Stone and, like the yellow lizards, turned to escape.

A deafening roar erupted from below. The ground split open once more, emitting a strong suction force.

The yellow lizards fell one after another into the fissure and disappeared while the trunk whipped towards Long Chong.

At this moment, drained of Mana and unable to escape far, Long Chong was about to be struck by the trunk. Just at the critical moment, he saw a flash of silver lightning zip past him. A hand reached out from within the lightning, quickly pulling him into it.

The moment the trunk was about to strike, the silver lightning shot forward, narrowly dodging the attack, then without a pause, it ascended rapidly into the sky.

Within the lightning, Long Chong breathed a sigh of relief at his narrow escape and bowed, "Thank you, Brother Yuan, for saving me."

Within the silvery lightning, it was indeed Yuan Ming and Lei Yu. Sensing the surge of the powerful demonic power, he had called upon Lei Yu to escape immediately. However, seeing Long Chong in danger and recalling the care taken throughout their journey, he couldn't bear it and took the risk to save him.

Yuan Ming nodded slightly, did not respond immediately, but urged Lei Yu beneath his feet to quicken their flying escape. In a blink of an eye, they dashed out of the deep pit and fled towards the valley outside.

Qiong Yun and Wulu, hearing Long Chong's shouts, followed suit.

Qiong Yun's gaze was full of worry and concern as she looked at Long Chong, who managed a smile and was about to reassure her when a thunderous roar echoed through the sky. Turning his head, he saw a large fissure splitting the valley floor, and a gigantic dark shadow rising rapidly— it was a massive demon elephant.

The demon elephant stood ten Zhang tall, its body dark gray except for an earth-yellow pattern that extended from its trunk to its back, and its long, thick tusks were stained with dark red blood. Dangling from them were several barely alive yellow lizards, emitting intermittent cries of agony.

Unlike its massive body size, the demon elephant's eyes were as small as beans, yet they exhibited deeper emotions. Its gaze towards Yuan Ming and the others was filled with both wariness and murderous intent.

The demon elephant opened its mouth wide, a torrential sucking force enveloping the several lizard bodies and swallowing them. Then, it stepped forward, chasing after Yuan Ming and the others.

It seemed sluggish, but with each step, it lunged tens of Zhang forward, making it appear not so much that it walked but rather the ground whisked backward away from it.

The four darted side to side, constantly changing directions. The demon elephant, set in its resolve to kill them, relentlessly pursued.

Despite the demon elephant's stature suggesting sluggishness, its speed acclaimed it better suited than even typical Nascent Soul cultivators. Yuan Ming and his companions, while being outstanding in the Core Formation stage, were still slower in escape speed than Nascent Soul cultivators, and the distance between them continuously closed.

Seeing this unfold, Yuan Ming's heart sank. Even with Lei Yu's extraordinary escape speed, they were not eluding the chase. Soon, they would be caught and forced to confront this demon directly.

This demon elephant had just lunged from underground to attack Long Chong, making it clear that an escape by burrowing was also futile.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.