"We should rest for some time brother Qin. Your injury doesn't seem to be light. Here are some pills which might help you recover strength." Su Menqi was quite worried about Qin Weng's situation, but Lu Ming stepped forward.
"Sister doesn't need to take care of him. My duty as a pill refiner is to provide the team with an ample number of pills. Here are some soul recovery pills and the green pills are to recover your QI. The injuries will begin to heal themselves once you rejuvenate your body with Qi." Lu Ming took out two small porcelain bottles.
"We shouldn't waste too much time. Qin Weng should stay here and recover first. We three will be moving towards the interior regions. Just follow the footsteps of this beast and we should be able to locate their main base." As the three of them went deeper into the woods, the fire energy became more and more noticeable.
The Crimson Fox was a fire attributed species and hence loved to live in hot environments. What Long Tao was surprised about was the location of their base. The group has really planned out well to have created such a sneaky base.
"We will scout the area under the number of potential targets. Please don't forget the limit of your strength. The strongest enemy you should challenge can not exceed one step higher than you. The precaution is necessary when we are fighting against a pack of beasts."
"Su Menqi, you should concentrate on conserving as much strength as possible. I require your energy for some other purposes."
Su Menqi nodded. The tribe was divided into inner and outer sections. The tribe leader lived within the center of the pack. Lu Ming decides to take care of the outer beasts first. He began to utilize his beast flame to kill the beasts. "Make sure to reduce the commotion caused. We shouldn't alert the enemy."
Long Tao asked Su Menqi to follow him. "Have you learned any Qi masking skills from the memories.".
"Not that I can remember."
"I guess we need to cause the commotion then." He signaled Lu Ming to go wild. Lu Ming instantly poured a lot of Qi into the flame, causing it to go berserk. The trees around rapidly caught fire giving rise to a massive flame that started engulfing the forest around.
The flame and smoke cause panic within the fox tribe and forced them to move out of the base. "This is the time to attack the cave."
The duo moved into the cave and found it unguarded. It seemed that their plan worked out well. "Take these Qi rejuvenation pills. These will be helpful in helping me succeed in the mission this time. Just guard the entrance and don't let anyone enter until I finish the job with the wolf king.
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"Fire attacks wouldn't be much effective against it, so you should concentrate on utilizing speed and earth type attacks."
"Why couldn't I use the rain sword arts which I obtained from the royal treasury?"
"The reason is pretty simple. You haven't been practicing water elements much, while thunder, fire, metal, and wood elements have the highest adeptness. The art is a Qi master grade sword art, which already makes it quite ineffective against a lord level beast. You topped it with the fact that you don't have any practice in this domain."
"Fine, I will be utilizing the earth and fire elemental arts to confront it."
The interiors were dark enough until Long Tao finally manage to reach the end. A surprising view could be seen in the center of the cave. Three figures were standing in front of Long Tao. The first one was the wolf king while the other two were two tiny cubs. From their current state, Long Tao presumed that they were recently born.
There was another corpse lying beside the three figures. It looked like the female Crimson wolf who died during child-birth. Long Tao wanted to laugh at the fate of this family of four. This was the meaning of survival of the fittest. If you are not powerful enough, the world will simply devour you.
He concentrated on the objective at hand. The wolf king was alerted by Long Tao's movement and confronted him with a growl. "I pity your wife's condition, but I must kill you to get my hands on the beats flame." He simply unsheathed his sword and rushed towards the wolf king.
A big problem was created by the congested space within the cave. There was no freedom of movement and hence flash step couldn't be used efficiently. Long Tao decided to use a newly formed 'Chisana suteppu'. It is a technique that was formulated by him keeping the Taoist technique and earthen arts in mind. This was the first time he was going to try it against a living enemy.
As expected, the step helped Long Tao move efficiently within the cave while the wolf king's movements were constantly being interrupted due to the lack of accommodation in the small space. The two babies were also holding him back from utilizing all his power. Long Tao simply decided to use this chance to get used to the technique and wear the wolf king out. He began to attempt small slashes on the wolf king's body every now and then.
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Even a stone would break if you hit it at the same place multiple times. The wolf king's body wasn't any different from that. His previously scarce wounds soon turned bloody due to the constant assault.
"Just aim at its heart, when you have the chance." The Ocular technique which Long Tao was practicing did give him an advantage in terms of scouting the enemy's Qi flow and weakness. Although It didn't work when the opponent was quite powerful than him, the wolf king was someone of equal standing.
He decided to utilize the chance and rushed right under the wolf king's neck, stabbing him in the chest reason. Blood spurted out in large quantities as the mighty body of the wolf king collapsed under the sword of Long Tao.
It was soon rendered motionless due to extreme blood loss. It was still looking at the two newborn cubs.
"You have proven to be a worthy opponent. I will make sure to take care of the two cubs, and help them reach a height you wouldn't even imagine to reach." Long Tao decided to pay his last respects to a worthy opponent. The pat was the last thing the wolf king felt before departing to the underworld.
Long Tao took either of the cubs into the Crimson lord world. "help me raise these two cubs. I have decided to present either of them to Su Menqi. Let them absorb the Crimson world aura for now. When they are able to walk, train them using the fire pool. I might even decide to use fire stones."
The Keeper was astonished to hear that. Using the fire stones to raise wolf cubs. It was a waste of resources according to him, but Long Tao seems to have made his mind.
"You should excavate the cores from the mother and the wolf king's body. They contain the beats flame you desire. Let the cubs have the rest of the meat. It would help them strengthen their bloodline and grow stronger."
"I guess Su Menqi's work would be beginning as of now."
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Su Menqi was bust fighting the horde of beasts who were rushing towards the cave after realizing the presence of an intruder. They need to protect their king from any harm. Su Menqi of the past might have a difficult time taking care of this situation, but the present one was quite powerful.
The only enemy who was able to confront her was a lesser flame wolf of lord stage. As the fight continued, Su Menqi got more and more acquainted with her power. She was salvaging the ecstasy of confronting a powerful opponent. She was so immersed in the confrontation, that the arrival of Long Tao went unnoticed.
"I am sorry to interrupting your fight, but we have more important matters to take care of." He just killed the wolf with a single sword slash. Su Menqi almost lost her cool but was brought back by the sight of the bloody Long Tao.
"Did you manage to take care of the wolf king?"
"I wouldn't be standing in front of you if I hadn't. The opponent gave me a hard time but I guess, I managed to make it through." He took out the core of the wolf king.
"I want you to help Qin Wen absorb this first, while the other one would be absorbed by me." Fate was smiling on Long Tao to have allocated him two demon cores which were sources of beast flames.
"What could I help you with. I am an ice elemental cultivator, which is an exact opposite in terms of characteristics to a flame cultivator like Qin Wen. Also, the material is a beast flame. I should just stay away from it."
"Yours is the most important task of all. You need to take care of the environment and help both of us create a balance within our system for the most efficient absorption of the beast flames." Long Tao said while holding her palms
