Chapter 928: Underground

Lubao turned her head. Without a word, the gem on her forehead lit up with a soft blue glow that enveloped Little Treasure.

Soon, the light faded, and Little Treasure’s form returned to normal, completely unharmed.

“You’ll keep using Energy Regeneration next. Recover your energy as fast as possible.” Qiao Sang instructed calmly.

She could already sense that Lubao’s reserves were running dangerously low.

There hadn’t been any particularly fierce battles so far, but the large-scale use of Ice field Domain earlier had consumed a vast amount of her energy.

If another wave of enemies showed up now, Lubao probably wouldn’t even be able to activate Icefield Domain again.

“Lu Di.”

Lubao nodded, her entire body shimmering faintly with icy light.

Gangbao, carrying Guo Ruiqi and Mikayla on her back, flew over to Yabao’s side.

“Xun~”

Little Treasure, feeling too embarrassed to face his

little brother

, quietly floated farther away from Gangbao, moving from Qiao Sang’s left side to her right.

Qingbao followed his motion, tilting her head curiously.

“Xun.”

Feeling Qingbao’s gaze, Little Treasure froze again, drifting back another few meters in silent guilt.

“This place is terrifying… so many General-level beasts.” Guo Ruiqi finally said once the air fell silent again.

At that, Mikayla turned to Qiao Sang.

“Don’t you think those Flame Night Birds were… a little weak?”

Weak?

Guo Ruiqi gawked at her, wanting to protest but not daring to.

In his mind, if not for Senior Qiao’s overwhelming strength, especially that beast named Lubao, they’d all be dead under the Flame Night Birds’ fiery onslaught.

“A little.” Qiao Sang admitted after a pause.

“But that’s normal for wild beast groups. Once the leader falls, the rest scatter, they lose all cohesion.”

That was something she’d learned after entering secret realms several times.

Wild beasts fought mostly on instinct. Their individual power could be terrifying, but once the strongest among them fell, the rest lost their will to fight.

Maybe the first batch of Flame Night Birds that died earlier had included their leader.

Besides, between Ice field Domain, Giant Ice Spikes, and Meteor Rain, how many General-level beasts could withstand that?

Flame Night Birds didn’t have strong defense to begin with, so falling in groups was perfectly reasonable.

“That’s true.” Mikayla agreed softly, then glanced at the crimson ground beneath them.

“But… I heard that certain material-type beasts can forcibly evolve if they come into contact with special resources, as long as their internal energy meets the minimum requirement.”

She paused. “Of course, beasts that evolve that way end up being the weakest of their tier.”

“You mean those Flame Night Birds might’ve been forcibly evolved by some kind of resource?” Qiao Sang asked.

“Maybe.” Mikayla said vaguely.

Qiao Sang only hummed in response, clearly uninterested. Then she turned to Little Treasure.

“Keep locating. We need to find the Lele Seed as soon as possible.”

But when she turned, Little Treasure was gone.

Sensing something, she looked back and nearly sighed aloud.

“Why are you that far away?”

“Xun~…”

Little Treasure sheepishly floated back from several dozen meters away to her side.

“Let’s keep looking.” Qiao Sang said.

“Xun.”

Little Treasure nodded, his eyes glowing faint blue.

Qiao Sang closed her eyes.

Beside her, Mikayla looked conflicted and a little exasperated.

This girl… doesn’t get what I’m hinting at at all.

If something could make that many Flame Night Birds forcibly evolve, then that resource must be extraordinary. Even those Flaming-Tail Fan Foxes we saw earlier were probably affected by it.

Otherwise, it didn’t make sense for so many high-level fire beasts of different species to live in one place.

By General level, wild beasts became extremely territorial, especially those of the same element. They’d never share a region unless something was powerful enough to force them to.

Whatever fire-elemental resource existed here… it had to be abundant beyond imagination.

Fire Qilu’s main attribute was fire, and his evolution path was still unknown. If there really was a resource strong enough to evolve this many fire beasts, it might help him.

She thought Qiao Sang would catch on and suggest they explore further, but surprisingly, Qiao Sang didn’t even seem interested.

We can’t just leave

… Mikayla thought, anxiety creeping in.

Her eyes swept across the crimson ground, then to the air beside them, and suddenly, Guo Ruiqi’s left shoe slipped off and fell.

He blinked, startled, watching it tumble down.

“My shoe!”

“Sleepbird.” Mikayla said.

“Fetch it.”

“Sleep~”

The Sleepbird flapped its wings and dove sharply.

In the blink of an eye, it caught the shoe neatly in its beak but at the same moment, the already fractured terrain below them collapsed.

A surge of unbearable heat roared upward.

The Sleepbird froze midair, eyes wide.

“T-this…”

Guo Ruiqi stammered, completely forgetting his shoe as he stared below.

“Qiao Sang, look!” Mikayla called out.

She didn’t need to. The moment the ground cracked, Qiao Sang had already opened her eyes.

Below them stretched a vast, glowing sea of magma, flowing like molten rivers beneath the earth.

Scorched black rock framed the magma’s edge, where countless fire-type beasts rested.

Some glanced lazily upward, uninterested.

So there was something below…

Qiao Sang’s pulse quickened. From the start, she’d suspected something unusual underground, why else would the surface be so red and hot?

But she hadn’t expected magma.

After all, Yabao’s last evolution had happened inside volcanic magma.

Her heart pounded faster. Maybe Yabao’s next evolution site really was here.

But the problem was, Yabao was still mid-General level.

Exploring down there now would be dangerous, and she couldn’t let him evolve forcibly. The competition was coming up soon, and the mission wasn’t even complete yet.

“Yap…”

Yabao gazed below, eyes burning with instinct. He could feel something calling him.

“So it’s magma down there.” Mikayla said, voice laced with meaning.

“No wonder it’s so hot. Do you think that resource, the one that caused forced evolution, might be below?”

Qiao Sang’s expression tightened.

“You mean what you said earlier?”

Mikayla nodded.

“Exactly.”

Qiao Sang looked down again, unease flashing in her mind.

Could Yabao have also evolved through forced means before…?

The thought unsettled her. She wanted him to evolve, but not in a way that weakened his foundation.

Seeing Qiao Sang still hesitating, Mikayla added lightly, “This secret realm’s full of surprises. If the ground hadn’t collapsed, we wouldn’t have found this underground area.”

At that, Qiao Sang’s eyes flickered. She turned to Little Treasure.

“Take out a dark-cyan Immutable Stone.”

She’d stocked up on them before leaving Chaosu Star.

The dark-cyan grade could suppress even King-level evolution force, perfect for Yabao’s safety.

“Xun~”

Little Treasure nodded and began rummaging through his ring without question.

Mikayla’s eyes gleamed faintly.

So they were going down.

Little Treasure handed the stone over. Qiao Sang took it and slipped it into her pocket.

Even without a cord, simple contact would activate it.

Guo Ruiqi swallowed hard.

“We’re… not really going down there, are we?”

Qiao Sang nodded.

“Yes. The Lele Seed might be below. If not, we’ll come back up.”

“Below?!” Guo Ruiqi blanched.

This was clearly fire-beast territory!

As he thought that... A wilted-looking grass-type beast wandered near the magma’s edge. A small fruit grew from its head.

As it passed a turtle-like fire beast, the turtle plucked the fruit and ate it.

The grass beast didn’t react, it just continued forward lifelessly.

Guo Ruiqi’s heart clenched. He remembered the Lele Seed’s ability to secrete bliss-inducing drops.

Could that be… his Great Happiness Lele Seed?

His expression stiffened.

“Let’s go, we’re going down!”

Qiao Sang patted Yabao’s back.

“Yap!”

Yabao’s eyes brightened, and he dove straight downward.

Gangbao and the Sleepbird followed.

Heat slammed into them like a wall.

“Qing qing~”

At some point, Qingbao rematerialized from wind form, forced out by the intense temperature.

The resting fire beasts looked up again. Yabao didn’t surprise them but Gangbao and Sleepbird drew curious looks.

So hot

… Qiao Sang hugged Lubao tighter.

Sweat ran down Guo Ruiqi’s forehead. Then, realizing something, he looked at the Sleepbird.

“My shoe.”

The bird obediently returned it.

He took it with a quick “thanks” putting it back on.

“The fire beasts here aren’t high-level.”

Mikayla noted, “But they don’t seem afraid of stronger ones. Stay alert.”

“Got it.” Qiao Sang’s gaze sharpened.

Below them stretched a world of pure red, magma flowing endlessly like molten dragons.

Is the entire path… magma?

She turned to Mikayla.

“If anything happens, I’ll count on you.”

“I know.” Mikayla replied calmly.

Qiao Sang looked at Little Treasure and nodded.

“Xun~”

Little Treasure floated beside Lubao, eyes glowing blue again.

Qiao Sang closed her eyes and the underground terrain appeared vividly in her mind.

Magma. Magma. Still magma.

Fire-type beasts on both sides, resting in clusters.

But, ten kilometers ahead, there was an area with no beasts at all. Strange. Eerily empty.

No Lele Seed detected yet, but Little Treasure’s range was limited to fifteen kilometers. It could be deeper still.

Qiao Sang refocused. She was about to have Little Treasure shift their position toward that empty region.

After all, she not only wanted to find the Lele Seed, but also to uncover what was drawing so many fire beasts here.

Just as she was about to move when in her mind’s 3D vision, a massive red head suddenly burst out from the magma.

Its scales glowed like molten steel, gleaming with terrible light. And a pair of cold, scarlet eyes locked directly onto them.

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T/n: *Currently helping friends check their students papers. Be speechless at the students wonderful grammar (very very sarcastic btw🤌)* So it ain't just my students' huh.