Chapter 284: Damn Sense of Wealth

Just like An Wuzhi, Tong Mingshan’s other hand was also occupied. After the faint, silvery-blue flame completely drifted out, he also grabbed it.

Everyone looked down with anticipation, and they weren't disappointed; the fifth flame really appeared.

The emerging flames seemed very weak and struggled. Their speed was slow after breaking free. Shi Chun wondered if it was related to the many "Demon-Slaying Palms" he had struck.

It felt as if these weak divine flames had only one purpose: to escape the Ice Dragon’s body, ignoring the people in front of them, whether they couldn't perceive them or for some other reason.

Once the fifth flame drifted out, An Wuzhi consolidated the divine flames from both hands into one, and reached out to grab another.

Those who had been tricked by him numerous times couldn't help but glance at him, their eyes seeming to speak: 'You like divine flames, don't you? Now you've got three in one go; are you satisfied?'

An Wuzhi understood their thoughts and said with a wry smile, "Gentlemen, it's not that I'm greedy; it would be a shame to waste them, wouldn't it? Besides, for the same type of divine flame, absorbing one completely is enough. Absorbing more of the same kind is useless and a complete waste. I'm taking these for Zhu Xiangxin and the brothers from the Four Cauldrons Sect."

Shi Chun reminded his own people, "Zhu Xiangxin can have one, but forget about the Four Cauldrons Sect. Remember, they might be polite on the surface, but their hearts aren't with us. They are fundamentally not on our side. Unless they discover them, don't give them a single one."

He muttered to himself, 'Giving them to the demonic cultivators would be a real waste.'

Although he considered himself a demonic cultivator.

"What about the extra ones then?" An Wuzhi asked blankly, looking at the ones in his hands, then at Tong Mingshan's. There were only three of them here; they couldn't use all of them.

Before, they fought desperately because they couldn't get them. Now, they were troubled because they had too many. What a damned sense of abundance!

Chu Jingting shook his head and sighed.

"They're all caught, nothing to worry about," Wu Jinliang said, shaking off Chu Jingting's grip on his arm. It was boring to watch from afar; it was much more exciting to go forward with his saber.

Shen Moming did the same, pushing Chu Jingting's hand away, and curiously approached.

This was the first time in his life he had experienced something so thrilling and bizarre. While others found it difficult to even find one, they actually had so many that they became a problem. Who would believe it?

Chu Jingting glanced around a bit, then looked at the dark clouds slowly closing in the sky. Seeing that there was indeed no danger, he also walked over.

The Ice Dragon, which had been terrifying before, now had a group of people walking all over it.

However, for safety's sake, Chu Jingting still asked unnecessarily, "Chief, how long can this immobilizing talisman hold this monster?"

"Normally, it should hold for half an hour," replied Wu Jinliang, who then noticed Shi Chun was acting strangely. Shi Chun was still staring at the ground.

Soon, everyone understood what was happening. Their eyes widened instantly, as they saw a faint, silvery-blue flame flickering out of the Ice Dragon again.

"Ah, there's more?" Chu Jingting exclaimed in surprise.

"Weren't there five?" An Wuzhi also asked, surprised.

Shi Chun said, "Gu Lianni and the others might have escaped by discarding the divine flames in their hands as bait."

No one was stupid; they understood immediately. The Wind Scales weren't as fast as the Ice Dragon in flight. If they managed to escape, the Chief's reason was highly plausible.

Tong Mingshan said, "So, could it be that the several divine flames inside this Ice Dragon were all devoured by it?"

Shi Chun: "Perhaps. These things won't tell us what's really going on."

Never mind. Upholding the principle of fairness, Tong Mingshan also consolidated the divine flames from both hands into one, ready to ambush and capture another.

Strangely, this divine flame was different from the others. Perhaps it was startled by their voices, or perhaps it was afraid of them, for it suddenly retreated back into the Ice Dragon's body.

Its movements and speed were also noticeably more energetic than the other divine flames.

"Oh?" Everyone reacted with surprise.

Shi Chun's unique right eye saw the divine flame moving elsewhere inside the Ice Dragon, seemingly trying to escape from a different direction. Shi Chun naturally wouldn't let it go easily. Although they had more than they could use, it was still a divine flame. Their entire trip was for this very thing; how could he easily let it slip away?

However, it wasn't good to reveal his clairvoyant ability in front of everyone. He quickly pulled out a stick of incense and lit it.

A Fire God Incense. Most of the group showed expressions of curiosity and interest.

"What's that?" Wu Jinliang was puzzled, as he had never seen Shi Chun use it before.

Soon, seeing the burning smoke point around corners, and Shi Chun following it, with the rest of the group trailing behind, Wu Jinliang, who had raised a hand to scratch his cheek, suddenly understood, and couldn't help but chuckle.

Old partners understood. Sometimes, you knew what someone was going to do just by the twitch of their butt.

Shen Moming, however, didn't understand and asked him, "Brother Jinliang, what's that in the Chief's hand?"

Wu Jinliang chuckled, "Just watch, and you'll understand."

He knew what the trick was, but he didn't know what Shi Chun had named it, fearing that saying the wrong name would complicate things.

However, based on his understanding of Shi Chun, given their habits, they wouldn't come up with overly intricate or profound names. It wasn't that they didn't want depth, but some things, no matter how politely presented, couldn't hide their inherent lack of sophistication. Simple and effective was always the preference.

He guessed it was either called "Fire God Incense" or "Divine Flame Incense."

When the divine flame, which had sought another path, reappeared, and was precisely blocked by Shi Chun, Shen Moming suddenly understood, and was also surprised, that such a treasure existed! It seemed the Chief had come well-prepared for this trip to the Divine Flame Region!

However, shortly after appearing, the divine flame saw people and immediately retreated back into the Ice Dragon's body.

As a result, the group and this divine flame engaged in a game of cat-and-mouse, chasing and blocking it.

An Wuzhi and Tong Mingshan both landed on the ground, waiting, to prevent the divine flame from escaping from below.

If the divine flame dared to hide in a section and not emerge, the tracking group would immediately grab their tools and start digging, scaring the divine flame into running around again.

With this constant hiding and emerging, the Ice Dragon's body surface had become riddled with holes.

And the grid-like filaments restraining the Ice Dragon's body surface had also been riddled with holes and scorched by the divine flames that kept running and popping up everywhere.

When everyone felt thumping movements beneath their feet, Shi Chun looked around, and only after his unique right eye observed the overall damage to the immobilizing substance, did he become startled and suddenly shouted urgently, "Stop everything, let's go!"

No sooner had he spoken, and just as everyone was about to pull out their Wind Scales to flee, a torrential shower of 'flowers' appeared.

It split open, spraying, a spray that shot skyward, as if a mighty river had burst its banks, spewing countless tiny, glittering points of light, like a surging flood that threatened to sweep them away, accompanied by endless cold. One by one, they couldn't even turn around before they were rendered immobile.

Afterward, they all realized they had been frozen.

Shi Chun had experience being frozen and was already protected by his Devil's Bath skill. He continued to use his old method, intending to break out, but after a few more thumping impacts this time, just listening to the sound, he felt as though he was buried deep in the ocean.

The dense feedback after each impact made him realize that all his efforts were futile. He couldn't move an inch; he was truly frozen.

But he wasn't very panicked, because he had people he could rely on.

After struggling in his predicament, he tried to turn his head as much as possible to observe his surroundings.

The ice in front of him was very transparent, as he could see two faint, silvery-blue divine flames moving around. One of them was a large flame, about a zhang (3.3 meters) tall. The smaller divine flame followed behind it. They drifted around, gradually fading into darkness, disappearing from everyone's sight, no one knew where they went.

Shi Chun occasionally pounded his fists, making thudding sounds as a signal.

Sure enough, not long after, a red glow rose from below. Tong Mingshan, enveloped in crimson flames, quickly melted through the ice and came. The advantage of letting his own people absorb divine flames was evident at this moment.

The melting power of the divine flame's crimson fire was not to be underestimated. It quickly rescued their Chief first.

Shi Chun cast a spell and spoke from within the water, "Quickly find the others. Don't worry about me; I'll follow you."

"Okay," Tong Mingshan replied, and swiftly forged a path with the crimson flames of the divine fire, searching everywhere. Shi Chun followed closely behind.

Soon after they moved away, the melted water quickly refroze into ice.

Finding the others wasn't too difficult. Although the frozen individuals couldn't speak, they could all use spells to emit audible grunts from their throats as signals, which prevented Shi Chun from exposing his unique right eye ability.

Before long, the frozen members of the Bright Mountain Sect were all gathered. Tong Mingshan led the way, while An Wuzhi, who also practiced fire-elemental cultivation, brought up the rear. The group ascended diagonally.

Because no matter how large the ice mountain they were trapped in, moving diagonally upward was always the best shortcut to escape.

They walked for a very long time without managing to get out, making everyone somewhat doubt if they had taken the wrong path. It was only due to Shi Chun's persistence that the group maintained their course and continued to ascend diagonally.

It wasn't until the group broke out of the ice, standing on the mountainside in the biting cold wind, and found themselves facing the vast starry sky, with endless dark clouds beneath their feet, and saw the towering ice mountain peaks undulating through the clouds, reflecting countless dazzling starlight, that they realized what the collapse of that Ice Dragon truly meant.

The disintegration of a single Ice Dragon had actually transformed into countless ice mountains on the plains, changing the topography of the vast icy wilderness.

This scene was truly awe-inspiring. Those who hadn't witnessed it firsthand could not possibly imagine it.

"One, two, three, four, five..." Wu Jinliang counted the number of divine flames in An Wuzhi's and Tong Mingshan's hands, then exclaimed in surprise, "Huh, none are missing! I think I saw two more divine flames inside the ice just now, one of them quite large. Was I seeing things?"

Tong Mingshan said, "I saw them too. I tried to chase them, but couldn't catch up. They move very fast in normal ice."

Chu Jingting stroked his long beard, "I saw them too. Five, and two more... Good heavens, there were actually seven! I say, Sect Master, you artifact-forging sects, didn't you say divine flames were hard to find? And that there was only one in a region? Here, they're appearing in clusters, more than we can even catch, so many that your two hands aren't enough to hold them all."

Wu Jinliang said, "Chun Tian, with the continuous scale of these ice mountains, even if Xu Anchang and the others died below, and even if they had any good magical artifacts, with our current strength, we probably wouldn't be able to find them easily."

Shi Chun, however, looked at Shen Moming and asked, "I've been meaning to ask you, how did you get here? Is there something going on?"

Shen Moming simply stated, "I've found traces of the 'Thousand Rocks Sect' on my side."

Hearing this, Wu Jinliang looked at Shi Chun. He knew very well that this was one of the two demonic sects Shi Chun had previously asked him to investigate with his men.