Chapter 411 - Chapter 411: Chapter 403: Subduing the Demon Bird_1

Chapter 411: Chapter 403: Subduing the Demon Bird_1

“`

In its effort to haul the Fire Lotus from the magma to the shore, it had nearly exhausted all its strength, even its feathers had been burnt away.

This also left it powerless to pursue Qin Niu.

Under normal circumstances, this puny human would be nothing more than an easy catch before it.

But now, the tiger had fallen onto the plains and was being bullied by dogs.

Qin Niu used a jade hook to drag the huge Fire Lotus towards the cave’s exit.

The Fire Lotus continuously emitted scorching high temperatures, making it nearly unbearable.

Fortunately, he was protected by the Ice Lotus, allowing him to withstand the high temperatures, and thus he was unafraid of the heat emanating from the Fire Lotus.

The Misty Rain Elusive Step was performed to its extreme, as his figure turned into a blurred shadow, escaping from the intensely hot cave.

Upon reaching the cave entrance, he felt the ground melting at an accelerated rate.

He also distinctly felt the ground rise significantly, resulting in the cave becoming slightly shorter in height.

Behind him, the furious cries of the firebird continued to sound.

It was doggedly pursuing him.

“Lazy Bull, run fast, the volcano is about to erupt.”

Qin Niu had not forgotten about the Green Ox lurking outside the cave.

Actually, without his prompting, the Green Ox seemed to have sensed the danger as well. Its ears were erect, and its tail was swinging back and forth, showing extreme unease.

The birds and beasts in the mountains were also fleeing the area in a panic.

It was now deep into the night, but thankfully, the stars lit up the earth.

Qin Niu, with the Green Ox, fled the way they had come, and behind them, the firebird’s calls gradually faded.

Having lost its feathers and unable to fly, and with its demon power seemingly heavily depleted, its speed dropped significantly.

A bird’s innate ability is to fly.

Running on the ground is a weakness for them.

Qin Niu and the Green Ox had barely escaped five or six hundred meters when the ground began to shake violently. Almost immediately after, a roaring sound, akin to low thunder, came from behind them.

He instinctively looked back.

He saw that the mountain region was reflecting a red glow, yet there was no fire soaring to the sky as one might imagine. The volcanic magma wasn’t shooting hundreds of meters high into the sky either.

“Could it be that the mountain is too thick and hasn’t been breached by the magma?”

Qin Niu curiously wondered to himself.

According to records in books, there are usually some warning signs before a volcanic eruption.

For example, underground well water becoming hot, livestock growing restless, birds unrestfully flying into the sky, and wild animals fleeing from the mountains, among others.

However, these warnings had not occurred in Shuangfeng Village where he lived.

He thought it over carefully, the vast area of molten rock outside the cave indicated that in the past, scorching magma had indeed flowed out from the cave.

Perhaps the volcano had never had a large-scale eruption before.

Each time it erupted, it only caused a large amount of magma to flow out from the cave.

Having a cavity to discharge the magma greatly reduces the force of the eruption.

Additionally, with the mountain being so thick, the magma couldn’t break through the summit and, in the end, could only pour out in large quantities from the cave opening.

If his speculation was correct, now that he had left that cave, he was safe.

His greatest concern before was that the volcanic eruption would scatter high-temperature ash all over the area, and he would have to quickly seek refuge in a pre-dug cave.

Otherwise, he would be burnt alive.

Even if the falling volcanic ash wasn’t at a thousand degrees, it was still extremely hot.

Qin Niu looked up at the highest mountain peak, where the firebird’s nest was.

At this moment, the birds inside the peak were startled and all flew into the sky.

However, they did not flee.

Instead, they circled above the peak, constantly emitting cries.

Every sign indicated that the volcano was not going to erupt.

Qin Niu subconsciously turned his head to check on the Fire Lotus he was dragging.

It had already turned a blackish-gray color.

“`

Only the heart of the flower remained a deep red.

The heat it emitted had also noticeably decreased a lot.

It needed to live in scorching magma, as that was its most ideal growing environment. Away from the magma, it would struggle to survive.

Qin Niu had gone to great lengths and risked tremendous danger to get his hands on this Fire Lotus; he certainly didn’t want it to die.

He was considering artificially creating a suitable growing environment for it.

Now that he had ample wealth, he could afford to hire workers to continuously chop wood and light fires for twenty-four hours, providing the Fire Lotus with an endless supply of flame energy.

“That firebird paid a heavy price to obtain this Fire Lotus. It probably doesn’t have the capability to sustain the Fire Lotus’s life. So what does it want with this Fire Lotus?”

Before the magma erupted, had the firebird managed to escape the cave or not?

All these matters piqued Qin Niu’s curiosity.

Unconsciously, he had arrived at the previously dug cave that was intended for emergency refuge.

There were four caves in total, dug for urgent shelter.

This was the one closest to the cave.

About six hundred meters away.

He dragged the Fire Lotus straight into the cave. The outer petals of the Fire Lotus had already turned into a blackish-gray color, hard like rock.

Dragging it on the ground resulted in significant damage to the edges of the petals.

The Fire Lotus, which originally had a diameter of about two meters, was now just over one meter. Qin Niu could feel its vitality weakening bit by bit.

This process was much slower than he had imagined.

He tried inputting a trace of the Everlasting Spring Technique’s power into the Fire Lotus.

The originally dull heart of the flower became much redder. The speed at which its vitality weakened also visibly slowed down.

The Everlasting Spring Technique was very friendly to all plants.

Even for a peculiar plant like the Fire Lotus that existed between heaven and earth, the Everlasting Spring Technique was still effective.

“Lazy Ox, let’s go back and have a look,” he said.

Qin Niu stashed the Fire Lotus in the cave, then returned with the Green Ox.

He had been so focused on snatching the Fire Lotus that he had neglected everything else.

Now that he had secured the Fire Lotus and hidden it, and seeing that the volcano hadn’t erupted yet, he grew bolder. He decided to go check on the firebird’s condition.

During the struggle for the Fire Lotus, he had determined from the firebird’s behavior that it was in a weakened state.

If he could seize the moment, there might be a chance to subjugate it.

Qin Niu, ever audacious, indeed took the Green Ox and dashed towards the direction of the cave.

Before long, he reached the mountain where the cave was located.

From a distance, he could see that the vicinity had turned into a sea of fire, with the ground covered in scalding magma.

That area was completely submerged.

More hot magma was continuously gushing out from the mouth of the cave, flowing towards the surrounding area.

In the center of the magma, the firebird was fluttering about.

At first, Qin Niu thought it was trapped in the magma and couldn’t escape.

Upon closer observation, he discovered it was cultivating in the magma. A fiery red inner core was continuously rolling in its open beak.

It was visible that large flames were emanating from its abdomen.

What was it trying to do?

Rebirth through Nirvana?

Watching this scene, Qin Niu had no intention of going easy on it.

He immediately pulled out an Advanced Contract Talisman from his chest.

He had bought five in total, all for the purpose of subduing this firebird.

He had long dreamed of subduing a formidable Demon Bird to serve as his mount.

With the power of his cultivation technique, he activated the Talisman, and instantly a beam of golden light shot out.

“Eh, this Talisman seems to be even better than the ones from Bei Bing’s Talisman store!”

Qin Niu noticed that the golden light that shot out was much more solid.