One day later,
Guo Feilong found a large snake-type spiritual beast at the early Golden Elixir stage. It was over two hundred meters long and two to three meters thick, with black and brown scales that seemed to be forged from steel.
The body strength of a Golden Elixir stage spiritual beast was comparable to a medium-quality sacred treasure. Some exceptionally powerful Golden Elixir stage spiritual beasts could even reach the level of high-quality sacred treasures, forcing cultivators of the same stage to retreat.
In the eyes of this early Golden Elixir stage snake spiritual beast, Guo Feilong was just a tiny insect, barely enough to fill the gaps between its teeth.
It raised its massive head and spewed a stream of flames from its mouth. The terrifying heat distorted the nearby air, capable of turning Foundation Establishment stage cultivators to ashes.
Guo Feilong, who had activated the Golden Body Technique, was unafraid, but he didn't want to waste his mystic power by getting burned. He dodged the flames, and his humanoid lifebound sacred treasure flew out from the Baihui Acupoint, transforming into a golden light that charged toward the snake.
The snake foolishly tried to bite his humanoid lifebound sacred treasure, only for it to slip into its stomach. While the snake's scales were as tough as medium-quality sacred treasures, its internal organs and stomach were at most comparable to medium-quality spiritual instruments.
Guo Feilong attached a portion of his divine sense to his lifebound sacred treasure and began wreaking havoc inside the snake's belly. First, he tore apart the snake's stomach and intestines, causing it to writhe in pain, and then he reached the snake gallbladder.
The gallbladder of a Golden Elixir stage spiritual beast was a high-grade medicinal herb. Guo Feilong couldn't bear to destroy it, so he plucked it out like a monkey picking peaches, causing the snake to nearly pop its eyes out in pain.
The snake's heart had no medicinal value, so his lifebound sacred treasure smashed it with a punch. However, beings at the Golden Elixir stage had incredibly strong life forces. As long as their divine soul remained intact, even if their heart was shattered, they wouldn't die immediately. Given enough time, they could regenerate a new heart using mystic power.
The higher the life stage of a creature, the harder it was to kill. After destroying the snake's heart, Guo Feilong controlled his lifebound sacred treasure to break the bones and sever the tendons beneath the snake's neck, rendering it immobile.
Bang!
At this moment, the humanoid lifebound sacred treasure shattered the snake's skull and retrieved a fiery red original beast core from its head. This core could be used to refine elixirs or embedded in sacred treasures and spiritual instruments to enhance their power. The most valuable part of a spiritual beast was its original beast core.
With the death of the Golden Elixir stage snake spiritual beast, its scales lost their spiritual luster and could no longer match the level of medium-quality sacred treasures. However, the scales could still be used to craft low-quality defensive sacred treasures, such as armor or shields.
Unfortunately, the beast core couldn't be made into a Spirit Explosion Bead, or it would have been incredibly powerful.
The dwelling place of a Golden Elixir stage spiritual beast was always a place rich in spiritual energy, often nurturing high-grade natural treasures like spirit herbs and spirit medicines.
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Every powerful spiritual beast had its own territory, and finding the lair of this Golden Elixir stage snake couldn't be done with divine sense alone. After reaching the Golden Elixir stage, spiritual beasts naturally learned some simple formation illusions to hide their lairs.
For such tasks, dog-type spiritual beasts were the best.
Guo Feilong released the ninth-rank spiritual beast, Ice Flame Hound Erha, from the Spiritual Beast Bag. Even though the Golden Elixir stage spiritual beast was dead, its aura still exerted a strong pressure on lower-level spiritual beasts.
Erha trembled with fear at the aura emanating from the snake's corpse, its tail tucked tightly between its legs. Guo Feilong patted its head to comfort it, saying, "I've already killed it. Smell its scent and take me to its lair."
Hearing that the snake was dead, Erha perked up. It ran to the snake's corpse, baring its teeth and growling fiercely.
"Master, can I eat some of its meat? Its flesh could benefit me and might even help me advance to the Foundation Establishment stage."
Erha returned, rubbing its head against Guo Feilong's pant leg in a fawning manner.
"Can eating high-level spiritual beast meat help you break through?"
Guo Feilong was taken aback.
"It should be possible," Erha said uncertainly, then added, "I have a feeling that if I can eat about one-fifth of this Golden Elixir stage snake's body, I could break through to the next level."
If that were the case, feeding the snake's body to five ninth-rank spiritual beasts could potentially yield five Foundation Establishment stage spiritual beasts.
Filled with anticipation, Guo Feilong said to Erha, "If you can find this snake's lair, I'll give you one-fifth of its body when we return."
Hearing this, the dog spiritual beast Erha became excited, sniffing the air and barking in a certain direction.
"Master, the snake's lair should be over there. Its scent is strongest in that direction."
Guo Feilong stored the Golden Elixir stage snake spiritual beast's body in his Storage Bag, then rode on Erha's back, traveling over a hundred miles to stop beneath a large mountain.
Erha barked, "Master, it's here, but I can't find the exact location. It's as if the scent suddenly disappeared."
Guo Feilong looked ahead, frowning slightly, and instructed Erha to continue forward.
"Master, if we go any further, we'll hit the mountain wall."
"Just go, no more nonsense."
Erha had no choice but to walk toward the mountain wall.
However, in the next moment, its body passed through the mountain wall, arriving at the entrance of a cave.
"As expected, it's an illusion formation."
Guo Feilong rode Erha into the cave. The cave was very long and sloped downward. They followed the tunnel for over 2,000 meters, and the temperature began to rise.
After another thousand meters, the temperature in the cave reached at least over a hundred degrees. An ordinary person wouldn't last a few minutes here before becoming dried meat.
Guo Feilong, being a Foundation Establishment stage cultivator, and Erha, being a ninth-rank spiritual beast with dual ice and fire attributes, naturally weren't afraid of the heat.
The Golden Elixir stage snake spiritual beast was over two hundred meters long, and the underground tunnel spanning several kilometers was a short distance for it.
Guo Feilong continued riding Erha for another 3,000 meters. Suddenly, the path ahead brightened, and there was a red glow accompanied by the bubbling sound of boiling water.
At the end of the cave tunnel was an underground lava lake, with the bright red lava emitting a sulfuric acid smell.
Hmm!
Guo Feilong's eyes suddenly lit up, focusing intently on the center of the lava lake, where there were nine red lotuses. If not observed carefully, they would be impossible to spot because the color of the red lotuses was identical to that of the lava.
Moreover, when Guo Feilong used his divine sense to probe the lava lake earlier, he hadn't detected the nine red lotuses. Lotuses growing in lava were naturally fire-attribute natural treasures.
Guo Feilong used the Soaring Cloud spell, and a white cloud appeared beneath Erha's feet, carrying them both to the center of the lava lake where the nine lotuses were.
"It's Earth Flame Fire Lotus!"
Guo Feilong was overjoyed. This item was a great tonic for cultivators with fire-attribute spiritual roots and fire-attribute spiritual beasts. Directly consuming and refining it could not only enhance the purity of the fire-attribute Foundation Establishment platform but also increase the power of fire-attribute divine powers and spells.
If used to refine elixirs, it could produce pills that quickly replenish mystic power for fire-attribute cultivators. Taking one could instantly restore mystic power even for those at the late Golden Elixir stage of great completion.
In battles, when mystic power was nearly depleted, consuming a pill made from a ninth-grade Earth Flame Fire Lotus to restore mystic power instantly would be incredibly advantageous.
Unfortunately, of the nine Earth Flame Fire Lotuses, only three had reached the level of ninth-grade spirit herbs and spirit medicines, while the remaining six were equivalent to eighth-grade, likely due to their shorter growth period.
The growth cycle of natural treasures was extremely long, often requiring hundreds or even thousands of years to advance.
Only the natural treasures that could fit into one's Storage Bag were truly one's own.
Guo Feilong couldn't wait for a hundred years and swiftly picked all nine Earth Flame Fire Lotuses, storing them in his Storage Bag.
Unfortunately, the Earth Flame Fire Lotus was a fire-attribute natural treasure, while his spiritual root attribute was water. The elixirs refined from it couldn't be used by him.
"Erha, can you dive to the bottom of the lava and dig out the roots of the Earth Flame Fire Lotus for me?" he asked Erha.
Being a water-attribute mystic power user, diving into the depths of the lava would cause his mystic power to deplete ten to dozens of times faster than usual.
"Woof woof!" Erha barked, "Master, I'll give it a try."
"Alright."
Guo Feilong dismounted from Erha's back. Erha leaped from the white cloud into the lava, diving into its depths without any issues.