761 A Grotto

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The location they had been looking for this entire time was none other than a grove of thousand year old Hong Lin trees. This would be an astounding thing if it were revealed in the Hong Lin kingdom.

A grove of hundred year old Hong Lin trees was already shocking enough and there were very few of them. As for the normal ones, forget groves, the entire kingdom had a forest, thus they had little to no value.

Even a single Thousand year old Hong Lin tree was of a great value and a grove of them would be priceless. One must know that even top sects would be interested in one if it came up anywhere.

Plus the presence of thousand year old Hong Lin trees denoted the fact that it would definitely be producing more and more Hong Lin trees. After all, the thousand year old Hong Lin trees were also called as mother trees.

Without them, it was very difficult to grow any Hong Lin trees. That was also why it was extremely rare to find them out of the Hong Lin Kingdom. With the only places, being some sects that managed to grow them using their special techniques.

But this also meant that wherever there was a Hong Lin Tree forest, there was bound to be at least a single Thousand year old Hong Lin Tree.

And now, in front of Lin Mu and Little Shrubby, there was an entire grove of them.

"Marvelous…" Lin Mu muttered in awe.

In front of him was what looked like a grotto between two broken mountains. They looked like they were struck by lightning a long time ago in the past and were thus broken. The damage caused by the lightning caused the two mountains to form a grotto between them.

And in this grotto, grew over a hundred Hong Lin trees. Each of them was over a hundred meters tall and had thick trunks that would need at least ten men to wrap around them each.

From the gaps in the roof, faint light shimmered down, gently illuminating the grotto. The red leaves of the Hong Lin trees looked beautiful and made one feel calm subconsciously.

But the roof wasn't the only source of light here. Other than that, there were rocks embedded in the ground that had red cracks in them. They let out a red glow as well. Then there was a small pond in the center of the grotto that was filled with pinkish water.

Small streams came out of the pond and went all the way around the grotto, inundating the ground of the grotto. The entire scene was picturesque and looked mesmerizing. Then there were small insects and animals that resided in the grotto as well.

But other than them, Lin Mu couldn't really sense any bigger beast or animals living there.

"The fire attribute spirit Qi is higher here too," Little Shrubby spoke.

Lin Mu checked it and nodded his head.

"Indeed, it is almost as high as that volcano." He agreed.

He then looked towards the rocks with the red cracks in them. The fire elemental spirit Qi was seeming coming from there.

"Looks like these might be the reason behind that. Hmm… what are they? Adviser Chu did say that there were some strange things here, and he didn't know what they were." Lin Mu muttered.

"They look like Earthen Flame Ores," Xukong spoke.

"Oh? So these are Earthen Flame ores… but aren't they found deep in mines?" Lin Mu asked, recalling some information about them.

"They are usually. But in some cases, their veins come to the surface naturally. There are also some that get formed at the surface. Since we have already seen a volcano before, I reckon there must actually be a pit of Earth flames deep in the bowels of this world.

They might be the reason why these ores can exist here as well." Xukong replied.

"A pit of Earth Flames… what exactly are those senior?" Lin Mu questioned.

"They are a natural phenomenon and can be formed pretty much in any world. I told you about the core and insides of a world, right? The molten rocks and metals? The heat of those things gives rise to what is called as Earth flames.

In a general sense, it is literally flames that are born within the earth. The name is exactly how it means.

They are very powerful and can harm even cultivators that are above the Immortal Ascension realm. They can be used for a wide variety of things as well and can be very valuable… but that is only if they can be accessed." Xukong explained.

Hearing all this, Lin Mu was intrigued. He felt curious about it and looked at the ground, wondering if he should use phase to check it out.

"Don't even think of it!" Xukong suddenly said.

"Huh? What?" Lin Mu replied, feeling stunned.

"Don't try to go check out the Earth Flames. They aren't something you can even come close to now. While their power might be less than tribulation lightning bolts, they are sustained flames that will continually damage you.

Your armor will not last for longer than a few seconds. Those flames are hotter than the magma that you've seen. Besides, I think even if the Earth Flames are closer to the surface here, that distance might still be several thousand meters under the earth.

Your phase won't last that long either, since your consumption increases exponentially if you go through denser and denser places." Xukong explained.

While he was fine with Lin Mu testing out things and learning on his own, he certainly did not want him to do extremely dangerous things like these. He had not said anything when Lin Mu decided to block the Tribulation Lighting bolts, which showed just how terrifying the Earth Flames would be.

"I understand, senior. I won't do it." Lin Mu stated.

"Good… now then, you best get to doing what you are here for." Xukong replied.