A Loose Cultivator's Path to Longevity

In the distance.

"HYAH!"

At some point, Huo Yezi had transformed. Gone was the little old man from before; in his place stood a humanoid bear. His body had swelled to over twenty feet tall, and from a distance, he looked just like a Barbaric Beast.

With a series of heavy thuds, he charged toward the Molten Earth Dragon, reached out with a massive palm, and grabbed its short, stumpy tail.

With a vicious tug.

He... he actually dragged the Molten Earth Dragon right out!

Lü Zhong was speechless.

’That strength...’

’Isn’t that a little... too absurd?’

"Fellow Daoist Lü, quick, help me subdue it!"

"Subdue it? You mean I can just bombard it with my Magical Treasures and Magic Skills?" Lü Zhong asked via voice transmission. Though he practiced Body Refining, he was fundamentally a Magic Cultivator and couldn’t perform feats like yanking a Molten Earth Dragon out of the ground.

"Yes!"

At that moment, Huo Yezi was desperately holding onto the Molten Earth Dragon’s tail, preventing it from burrowing into the ground to escape.

Seizing the opportunity, Lü Zhong began Casting with his full power.

He raised his hand and cast a Thunder Swamp—a mere appetizer for the beast.

Next, the Star Mirror erupted with Spiritual Light, firing off beams of Mirror Light that pummeled the Molten Earth Dragon’s head and sent shards of rock flying everywhere.

Then he unleashed his entire arsenal.

He showed Huo Yezi the true meaning of a Magic Cultivator’s full-throttle offense.

"Stop, stop, stop!" Huo Yezi cried out, his heart aching.

If Lü Zhong didn’t stop now, he would blast the Molten Earth Dragon to death.

’He never expected Lü Zhong to be so astonishingly powerful,’ Huo Yezi thought. ’Worthy of a cultivator who once slayed a Water Flood Dragon. His strength is even greater than my own.’

At that moment, the Molten Earth Dragon lay on the crater-pocked ground, gasping for its last breaths.

Streams of red magma, thick with an unnatural Demon Qi, spilled from its mouth and soon formed a puddle. This was the Molten Earth Dragon’s blood, a testament to the severity of its injuries.

But to Huo Yezi, this was a trivial matter.

As long as the Molten Earth Dragon consumed the lava from the Fire Vein, it could rapidly recover from even the most grievous wounds, provided it still had a single breath left in its body.

Such was the power of its Fire-Eating Divine Technique.

"Hold on. Let me re-establish the contract with it."

As he spoke, Huo Yezi took out a golden Spirit Contract and began the process of binding it to the Molten Earth Dragon.

Watching from a distance, Lü Zhong’s heart stirred.

’If I were to attack and kill Huo Yezi right now...’

’Wouldn’t I be able to...’

’And the Molten Earth Dragon’s power is undeniable.’

But in the next moment, he dismissed the tempting thought.

’A man has to have principles.’

To avoid arousing suspicion, Lü Zhong simply flew off, deciding to look around for any Spiritual Objects. On his way here, he’d noticed the area around the Magma Lake shimmering with Spiritual Light; there were bound to be some treasures.

Before long, his search paid off. He found a stalk of Fire Spirit Ginseng.

It was quite old—over six hundred years.

Red Flame Crystals, Red Snail Grass, Fire Lingzhi...

There was certainly no shortage of Spiritual Objects in this Magma Lake.

Lü Zhong had only been searching for a short time, but the total value of the Spiritual Objects he’d gathered had already exceeded ten thousand Spirit Stones.

Huo Yezi, who was in the middle of forging the Spirit Beast Contract with the Molten Earth Dragon, felt his anger flare up when he saw this. These were all Spiritual Objects he had deliberately planted to nourish his Fire Dragon Tea Tree.

’Hmph!’

But as angry as he was, he didn’t dare interrupt Lü Zhong.

’Huo Yezi knew full well that the temptation of a Tier Three Molten Earth Dragon was more than most cultivators could resist. Anyone else would have likely tried to snatch it by now.’

’Let it go, let it go, let it go...’

He kept telling himself not to get angry over a few Spiritual Objects.

Suddenly, a piercing pain seared through his mind.

"What is—AHHH!" Huo Yezi shrieked, clutching his head and rolling on the ground as blood streamed from his seven orifices.

At the same time, the Molten Earth Dragon, which had been lying prone on the ground, suddenly opened its massive maw. A human face twisted into view on its extended tongue, wearing a sneer.

"How do you like my God Destruction Forbidden Talisman, Master?"