Chapter 187: Four Black Lotuses

The six mercenary corps were indeed strong. Even a terrifying magical beast like the Firewolf had failed to bring them much damage. There were no more than ten corpses on the ground, and most of them were low-level adventurers. The Firewolves came in packs of hundreds, so it could be said to be a complete victory for the mercenary corps in eliminating them with such losses.

But Lin Li dared not be negligent in the slightest. It wasn’t a good thing that the Firewolves were hanging around the woods. This meant that the magical beasts on the Fire Plume Ridge had been thoroughly enraged by the invaders—the six mercenary corps. He clearly remembered that there were no traces of life in the woods when he came yesterday afternoon, but today, a pack of Firewolves suddenly appeared here…

Since the Firewolves could run freely, other magical beasts could also appear in areas where they should not appear…

The expression on Lin Li’s face was somewhat grave. He took off the crossbow from his back, and carefully loaded it with a vampire fang. Then, he quietly walked through the withered and yellow forest with Sean.

They were lucky enough to cross the woods quickly. There were two roads ahead of them—one was a maze of the cave, and the other was the road that six mercenary corps had traveled.

Lin Lin chose to follow behind the six mercenary corps with no hesitation. With them opening the way ahead, it’d be much better than groping alone in the maze of cave.

The two men quietly followed the six mercenary corps at a distance neither too far nor too close—just enough to see the battle ahead through the Warlock’s Eyes.

But, as soon as the Warlock’s Eyes was released, Lin Li was dumbstruck by the sight in the distance…

It was only three hours since Andre drove away in his carriage. It never occurred to Lin Li that the battle would be so intense.

It was like a meteorite had struck Earth…

Thousands of members of the six mercenary corps had taken up positions on the mountain plateau. At this time, they were like meat grinders running at full speed, twisting all the magical beasts that came at them into meat sauce violently.

The Silver Storm, the strongest fighting force among the mercenary corps, had been transferred. A large number of armored warriors stood at the front of the teams. They held thick iron shields, firmly guarding their comrades behind them like a bastion of iron.

On both sides of the Silver Storm were the berserkers of the Dragon Mercenary Corp. They bared their tangled muscles to the waist; their axes danced like windmills. Many magical beasts did not even have time to pounce on them before they were chopped into meat paste by the whirlwind of hammers. Blood spattered on the berserkers’ bare chests, drawing totems that were full of primitive savagery.

A large number of mages was reciting spells; the surging magical waves—like the waves of the tide—constantly scoured the swarm of magical beasts coming from all directions.

Lin Li did a count from a distance. This group of mages were perhaps no less than a hundred—this was probably the strongest magical power that the adventurers had ever been able to gather. The hundred mages were at least above level-eight, including at least 20 Archmages. The staves in their hands gleamed with dazzling splendor. In the deafening roar, endless magical elements surged wildly, and in a split second a bloody storm was brewing.

The peak of the Fire Plume Ridge was like a pot of boiling water at this moment.

Countless magical beasts poured in from all directions; each of them carried the scorching breath peculiar to the magical beasts of the Fire Plume Ridge. Innumerable Fire Crows flew by, forming a large red cloud that blotted out the sun. Archers from the six mercenary corps drew their bows and fired their arrows constantly. A dense rain of arrows shot into the sky, instantly tearing a gap in the center of the red cloud. However, it was filled up by even more Fire Crows in an instant…

The burning Firewolves, like flowing blood, gushed from afar. The shrill howls of the Firewolves sent a tingling sensation down everyone’s spines.

The magma that used to flow slowly became turbulent at the moment. In the midst of the stormy waves, numerous Fire Salamandrids rushed out of the magma. With a flick of their long tails, a rain of fire started pouring from the sky…

Howls, screams, explosions—several sounds reverberated together, wreaking chaos on the peak of the Fire Plume Ridge.

However, all this had little to do with Lin Li.

The six mercenary corps had completely angered the magical beasts on the Fire Plume Ridge—this was even a good thing for him. Now was the best time to pick the black lotus. If he missed this opportunity, who knew how long he’d have to wait for the next one…

Lin Li recalled the Warlock’s Eyes after taking a hurried glance at the situation in the battle ahead. Then, he turned around, and asked Sean, “Sean, where is the entrance to the cave?”

“It’s not far ahead. Please follow me, I’ll show you.” Sean, clutching the huge sword in both hands, led Lin Li through a rocky wasteland, and then along a rugged path to a dark entrance…

“This is it, Mr. Felic. It was here that I fell last time.”

Lin Li looked at the hole in front of him. It was pitch-dark inside. When the two of them approached, they could clearly feel a wave of heat coming from within. Lin Li hesitated for a moment, and did not go straight down. Instead, he picked up a stone from the roadside and dropped it in. It took nearly ten seconds to hear a “plop” from the hole.

“F*ck…” Lin Li was stunned. There was some suspicion in his eyes when he looked back at Sean. “Sean, you jumped in like that last time?”

“Yes…” Sean nodded like it was a natural thing. “I was carrying a backpack, and when I fell, a rock caught the backpack while I was falling, so I didn’t sustain any injuries…”

“…” Lin Li broke out in a cold sweat as he listened. Fortunately, he did not jump in foolishly. Who could have his backpack accurately caught by a rock every time? It was better to count on money falling from the sky than to count on such luck.

Thankfully, Lin Li was a mage…

A hurried recitation of spell sounded, and two Feather Fall Spells were released.

One for himself, and one for Sean.

With the help of the Feather Fall Spell, they fell into the cave like two feathers. When they were in mid-air, Lin Li freely released an Illuminating Spell. It was completely dark inside; wouldn’t they be in big trouble if the magma just happened to be under their feet when they fell?

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How fortunate…

They were in good luck. As soon as Lin Li released the Illuminating Spell, he knew that the fall was most likely a safe one because the magma Sean mentioned was still a long way from where the two men landed.

However, the scene in the cave surprised Lin Li slightly.

Although he had heard about the cave dozens of times from Sean, Lin Li was still shocked when he saw it for himself. It was simply another world. The boiling lava flowed in the distance, and a thick smell of sulfur came with the heat wave. Under the blazing temperature, sparks burst in the air from time to time. Lin Li could even smell something charred when he landed.

Under the Illuminating Spell, everything around was dark red—just like a world on fire.

As Sean said, the cave was really spacious. At first glance, it was almost the size of two Guilds of Magic. The flowing lava was like a surging river. Walking in the cave would only give people the sense of majesty and magnificence, but it would not make anyone feel oppressed at all.

“I fell here last time too…” Sean scratched his head, and pointed to a prominent rock in mid-air. “Look, it’s the rock that caught the backpack.”

“…” Lin Li looked in the direction of Sean’s finger, and felt a sudden wave of cold sweat. The lad’s luck really surpassed the limits of humans.

The rock he talked about was about a dozen meters away from the entrance of the cave. The tip of the rock was pointed and sharp. From a distance, it looked like a razor-sharp tusk.

Falling from such a high place and coming across that rock was an oddity, not to mention that only the backpack was caught on it, and he hadn’t had his back wounded by it. It’d be a pity not trying their luck on lottery tickets…

“Unfortunately, my backpack doesn’t seem to be there anymore. I picked a lot of herbs and put them in it…” Sean mentioned the matter with great enthusiasm. It didn’t seem to occur to him that he had walked around the death’s door back then. After reminiscing for a while, he suddenly remembered the business at hand. “Oh, yes, Mr. Felic, the herb you are looking for seems to be right ahead. Let me show you there.”

Sean was right. The black lotuses that Lin Li dreamed of were indeed not far ahead.

In fact, even if Sean did not say so, Lin Li had already found them.

For Lin Li, who was well-versed in knowledge on herbs, there was no need to look for such a thing as the black lotus, because it was just like what a famous movie line described: “It (He) was so bright and outstanding; its (his) melancholic eyes and sad beard had betrayed it (him)… ¹ ”

Lin Li’s long-cherished black lotus grew just by the flowing lava. From a distance, four black lotuses the size of a bowl were blooming in a wreath of fire.

An unparalleled powerful fire magical element was emanating from the four black lotuses.

“Four black lotuses…” Lin Li couldn’t even control his limbs as he looked at the four black lotuses. This was what every pharmacist dreamed of. At least 90 percent of them could not obtain a petal even after exhausting their whole life.

But, at present, four blooming black lotuses were placed in front of him…

Calm down, calm down, this is too undignified. I’ve seen the world! Lin Li desperately sucked in his breath, trying to calm himself down. But he had just sucked in the hot air into his lungs when the fellow who told himself to calm down had already plunged himself forward. One of his hand passed through the burning flames, grabbing the root of the black lotus, and tugged at it hard. In an instant, the black lotuses, along with the soil, were pulled from the ground…

Harvesting black lotus did not require any skills. The only thing worth noting was that it was best to prepare a place with enough fire magical element when harvesting it; otherwise, the black lotus would likely wither without the nourishment of fire magical elements.

The black lotus petals that Sean got at the beginning lost a large part of their efficacy because there was no place where the fire magical element was strong enough. Otherwise, with Lin Li’s strength as a pharmaceutics guru, he could definitely concoct something more powerful than the Elixir of the Sages even with a few black lotus petals.

To be frank, Lin Li was still unable to create a man-made space full of fire magical element with his current ability. This was a propriety of a legendary-mage. To some extent, this was tantamount to creating a magic field of one’s own. In this field, the creator could even change the rules of magic operation, such as duration…

However, it didn’t matter. Without the magic field, there was still the Ring of Endless Storm.

The Ring of Endless Storm was a true artifact. Although Lin Li still did not know what power it possessed, one thing was certain—in the space of the ring, time seemed to be stationary; Lin Li once tried to throw a pocket watch into the Ring of Endless Storm. After a month, he found that the hands were still in their original positions…

That was probably the reason why a frog couldn’t fit into the Ring of Endless Storm that possessed infinite space. Why? Because frogs were living things; putting them into a space where time stopped flowing violated the basic rules of the world.

Until the four black lotuses were put into the Ring of Endless Storm, Lin Li still couldn’t believe that all this was true…

From the time when he discovered the few petals of black lotus in Jarrosus until he met Sean and learnt that the Fire Plume Ridge was where he could pick the black lotus, and then tried every means to get the Fire Salamandrid skin—all of this had taken up an uncountable amount of effort and attention from him. But, Lin Li never felt there was anything wrong with it.

On the contrary, he thought that all of this went without saying. The black lotus was such a precious herb that it should take so much effort and attention.

He was even prepared to spend more of them on it after coming to the Fire Plume Ridge…

However, with the six mercenary corps coming to the peak of the Fire Plume Ridge, everything seemed to become easier all of a sudden.

With a simple jump and a simple stretch of the hand, the black lotuses were in the Ring of Endless Storm. It was simply like a dream…

The feeling of having struck at thin air ² made Lin Li confused and uneasy.

“Let’s go, we’ll leave first.” Lin Li planned to leave with Sean after putting the four black lotuses into the Ring of Endless Storm. The uneasiness hovered in his mind, constantly making him feel that something was not right. With this subconscious sense of crisis, he did not hesitate to believe in his intuition.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Felic, you can’t go back.” But, at this time, there was a sudden frivolous laughter behind him.