Chapter 367: Intelligence Issues

One hundred li away from the center of the Blazing Fire Land, Lu Ye, at his current artifact-flight speed, arrived in less time than it takes an incense stick to burn.

At the very center was a massive pit, from which the extreme heat warped the surrounding space.

Lu Ye circled the rim of the pit on his artifact, peering in for a while. He could vaguely make out a furiously burning flame at the bottom of the pit.

The succubus was right; there was indeed a flame here. However, its power was astonishing, so much so that it seemed to have burned through the very earth.

No one had ever known that the center of the Blazing Fire Land appeared like this.

After all, the cultivators active in the Spirit Stream Battlefield were only at the Spirit Stream Realm. Even powerful figures like Feng Yuechan and Li Baxian couldn't safely reach this place.

Even formidable, overlord-level beings like the succubus could only stay over a hundred li away.

If not for the power of his Talent Tree, Lu Ye absolutely would not have been able to come here.

His head felt somewhat heavy and dazed, a sign of excessive mental energy consumption. He had experienced this feeling many times while challenging the Hundred Formations Pagoda.

He took out the last half bottle of Soul Cleansing Water, ingested a drop, and the mental fatigue rapidly receded.

There was no more time to delay. His spirit boat creaked beneath his feet, seemingly unable to withstand the erosion of the high temperature.

He propelled his spirit boat and descended into the enormous pit, falling several li before finally reaching the bottom.

He put away his spirit boat and gazed at the flame before him, filled with wonder.

It was a flame about the size of a washbasin, predominantly reddish-orange in color. It exuded an exceptionally noble and sacred aura, and within it, besides destructive power, there was also an indescribable vitality.

Lu Ye didn't know what kind of flame it was, nor did he have the inclination to investigate further. He had come here precisely to have his Talent Tree devour this flame.

Within his Origin Spirit Aperture, the Talent Tree became noticeably more active. If he were to activate the Insight Spirit Pattern, he would even see the Talent Tree's roots, spread across Lu Ye's body, continuously twisting and extending, as if attempting to embed themselves into the flame.

Never before had the Talent Tree conveyed such intense eagerness to Lu Ye.

Lu Ye reached out his hand towards the reddish-orange flame. With the Talent Tree roots covering his body surface, he didn't feel much scorching heat.

Observing internally, reddish-orange energy was continuously drawn from the Talent Tree's roots, surging into the tree's trunk.

Lu Ye then focused on the Talent Tree's leaves, curious to see how many of them would ignite if the Talent Tree devoured this flame.

A strange phenomenon occurred: the reddish-orange energy flowed through the tree's trunk, but instead of orderly igniting the nearest leaves, it bypassed many unburnt leaves and reached the upper part of the tree's trunk.

Instantly, a large number of leaves lit up with light, at least one or two hundred of them.

Lu Ye stared in astonishment.

This had never happened before. Previously, when he used the Talent Tree to devour geocentric flames, the leaves on the tree would ignite one by one, with the next leaf reacting only after the previous one.

He had never experienced one or two hundred leaves reacting all at once like this.

He wondered if it was because this flame was too powerful?

However, he soon realized something was amiss. This unknown flame was indeed powerful; otherwise, it wouldn't have made the environment within a radius of several thousand li around the Blazing Fire Land so severe. Yet, the reacting leaves hadn't ignited; they had only lit up with patterns.

As the Talent Tree continuously devoured the flame's power, the glowing leaves became increasingly brighter and more dazzling.

Finally, at a certain moment, those numerous leaves burst into fierce flames.

Unlike the Talent Tree's other leaves, the flames burning on these leaves were reddish-orange, appearing identical to the flame that had been devoured.

Moreover, Lu Ye vaguely felt that these converged flames seemed to outline a strange pattern.

At first glance, it resembled a bird entirely ablaze, perched on the Talent Tree, its flickering flames mimicking the bird's lifelike movements.

Its appearance strongly resembled the Vermilion Bird, one of the Four Auspicious Beasts, with its long, beautiful tail feathers.

Lu Ye couldn't figure out if this was just a coincidence.

He wasn't in a hurry to examine what spirit patterns these leaves contained. There were quite a lot of leaves that had ignited this time, so he could investigate them slowly when he had the leisure.

The previous reddish-orange flame had completely vanished, entirely devoured by the Talent Tree. Only then did Lu Ye finally relax his tense mind.

Activating the Talent Tree didn't allow for any relaxation, and maintaining it until now had been extremely difficult.

Just as he was about to leave, a whooshing sound echoed overhead, and a figure landed directly in front of him, not far away.

The figure was tall and slender, with a bulging chest, and her crimson eyes glowed like two points of flickering ghostly fire in the dim pit.

Lu Ye's expression tensed, and he raised his hand, pressing it against his Panshan Blade.

This underground pit wasn't small, but it certainly wasn't large either. Moreover, it had been subjected to constant scorching heat for years, causing the surrounding rock walls to vitrify.

Confronting an overlord-level being in such an environment was clearly extremely unwise.

His heart grew heavy. Preoccupied with devouring the flame, he had forgotten that without the flame's suppression, this individual could now approach him freely.

She had previously stopped over a hundred li away because she found it difficult to withstand the pressure of moving closer. Now that the flame was gone, the pressure naturally disappeared.

Her crimson eyes scanned left and right. "Where is it?" she demanded, utterly oblivious to the fact that Lu Ye had never promised her anything.

"Didn't see it," Lu Ye said, his fingers rubbing the hilt of his blade. His gaze flickered to her long, slender neck as he inwardly mused about the probability of surprising her now and striking her down with a single blow. He ultimately concluded that if he were to make a move, he likely wouldn't fare well.

"Impossible," the succubus shook her head. "I sensed it before."

"Why don't you look for it yourself?"

The succubus remained silent, bent down, and began to search. Her claws flew, instantly shattering the already crystallized ground and sending dust flying everywhere.

"I'll be going ahead!" Lu Ye announced, conjuring his spirit boat.

At the same time, he kept an eye on the succubus from the corner of his vision, guarding against a sudden attack.

To Lu Ye's surprise, the other party was fully engrossed in searching for the flame that no longer existed, completely neglecting him.

This succubus... she was powerful, but her intelligence seemed somewhat lacking. She probably wouldn't have imagined that someone in this world could actually devour such a powerful flame.

Recalling their previous encounter, Lu Ye gradually confirmed this: her fight with him was more like an instinctual reaction of a monstrous beast, rather than genuine hostility towards him.

His spirit boat shot skyward. The succubus, seemingly unaware, continued to furiously dig at the ground.

She kept digging for a long time, still finding nothing. Only then did it slowly dawn on her that something wasn't right.

She tilted her head and thought for a moment. Feathers sprouted on her arms, and in the blink of an eye, her arms transformed into wings. With a flap of her wings, she shot into the sky, leaping out of the pit. She looked around, appearing intent on searching for Lu Ye's tracks.

But after such a long delay, how could she possibly find Lu Ye?

At this very moment, Lu Ye was maintaining his Wind Spirit Pattern on his spirit boat, flying with lightning speed.

While the succubus had intelligence issues, Lu Ye couldn't expect her to be utterly clueless. Having barely escaped danger, fleeing quickly was naturally his priority.

He flew forward for most of the day until his spirit energy consumption became too severe. Only then did Lu Ye descend, finding a place to rest in the mountains. He then conjured formation flags and set up several interlocking formations nearby, which eased his mind considerably.

In the past, he lacked the ability to set up formations, so when resting in the wilderness, he mostly relied on Yi Yi to guard the surroundings. But now, that was no longer necessary. He had made some progress in the path of formations; with formation flags, he could easily set up simple warning, concealment, and protective formations.

Recalling his experiences over this period: first, he was hunted by a group of cultivators from the Myriad Devil Ridge, then pursued by a swarm of demonic bees. Afterward, he was forced to flee to this Blazing Fire Land, using its environment to escape the bee swarm, only to encounter an overlord-level being here...

His days had truly been thrilling and precarious.

He took out a few spirit pills and swallowed them to calm his nerves. As he activated the Gluttonous Feast, his belly rumbled, and the medicinal effects of the pills quickly dispersed, slowly replenishing his depleted spirit energy.

Lu Ye first contacted Yi Yi to confirm that they were safe, only then did he shift his attention to the Talent Tree.

This time, the Talent Tree had instantly lit up over a hundred leaves, indicating a massive harvest. He wondered what spirit patterns all these leaves contained.

He wasn't in a hurry to investigate; he could check once he had fully recovered.

Lu Ye then shifted his attention to a storage bag, which contained all the valuable items he had plundered from the massive beehive.

There were over a thousand catties of high-quality honey alone. He had tested its effects during his escape, and it proved particularly effective for stamina recovery, and also very quick for spirit energy restoration. Although not as potent as Vitality Fruit Wine, it was much faster than consuming spirit pills, though not as convenient to take each time.

It might also have other effects. He could take it back for his Second Senior Sister to research thoroughly; perhaps she would make some unexpected discoveries.

Aside from this high-quality honey, there was also a small half-bowl's worth of royal jelly.

Lu Ye still hadn't tasted this substance to find out its effects.

He strongly suspected that the bee swarm's relentless pursuit of him wasn't because he had stolen their honey; the main reason was likely this half-bowl of royal jelly!

From such a massive beehive and so many bee demons, only this small amount of royal jelly was produced, highlighting its immense value.

If Lu Ye hadn't possessed the Concealment Spirit Pattern, even a Heaven Rank Nine ghost cultivator might not have succeeded in obtaining it.

He took out an empty jade bottle, filled it with royal jelly, and drank it in one gulp. His mouth was filled with sweetness...

His depleted spirit energy and physical stamina rapidly recovered, much faster than with the high-quality honey. Yet, there didn't seem to be any other special effects.

Lu Ye silently sensed for a moment and soon realized something was amiss. An indescribable energy began to course through his limbs and bones, causing his flesh and blood to squirm and become denser. The circulation of his vital energy and blood also accelerated, and even the flow of his spirit energy became inexplicably faster.

This royal jelly seemed to significantly enhance the circulation of both vital energy and spirit energy!