Inner Alchemy

Long Chen slashed out with his sword, cold light surging as a terrifying Sword Qi struck heavily against the head of the Fire Lizard Beast.

To Long Chen's surprise, his strike only caused the Fire Lizard Beast's head to sink slightly; it failed to cut through its thick hide armor.

"What terrifying defense."

Long Chen was shocked inwardly. His sword strike had only managed to leave a faint mark on the Fire Lizard Beast's head.

Although the longsword in his hand was sharp, Long Chen felt it didn't suit him. He excelled in strength, and he simply couldn't use such delicate things.

"Still coming?"

Just after he slashed, the Fire Lizard Beast's massive tail, like a long whip, lashed out fiercely at Long Chen. It was the same move as before.

Long Chen snorted coldly, moved his feet, and leaped onto the Fire Lizard Beast's massive head.

"Boom."

Just as Long Chen jumped over and the massive tail swept down, he had already leaped away, and the strike lashed heavily against the Fire Lizard Beast's own head.

Using its own tail to strike its own head—Long Chen was both surprised and amused. The Fire Lizard Beast had actually been sent tumbling by its own tail.

"Hum."

The Fire Lizard Beast was enraged. Suddenly, its belly swelled up like a ball as if being inflated. Opening its maw, a torrent of flames rushed toward Long Chen, instantly engulfing him.

"Alchemical Flame, protect my body!"

Long Chen immediately coated his entire body with his alchemical flame to neutralize the impact of the fire. This was the main reason he didn't let Little Snow intervene; it absolutely wouldn't be able to withstand such terrifying flames.

Even with his alchemical flame protecting him, Long Chen still felt the scorching heat was unbearable, as if he were in a furnace. His own alchemical flame even showed signs of melting.

"Whoosh."

Long Chen leaped out of the area covered by the flames. There was no need for him to forcefully endure the Fire Lizard Beast's fire. From their physical size, it was easy to see that their capacities were not on the same level; it would be too disadvantageous for Long Chen to fight it head-on.

On the surrounding ground, countless crystals had appeared; they were glass-like substances formed after the sand was melted by the terrifying high temperature.

While shocked, Long Chen couldn't help but be ecstatic. It truly deserved to be a creature capable of making it onto the Beast Fire Ranking.

If he could obtain the Fire Lizard Beast's beast fire and refine it, then utilize his unique method of circulation, the combat power he could unleash would be absolutely unmatched.

This was the terrifying aspect of Alchemists; they could extract beast fire for their own use, and they could unleash even more powerful energy than the Demonic Beast itself could.

"I'm done playing. Time to finish you."

Long Chen let out a cold shout, and a divine ring appeared behind him. However, after it appeared, Long Chen retracted it again.

Because the divine ring had its own limitations—it could extract the surrounding heaven and earth energy to increase Long Chen's combat power several times over.

But in this desert, where not a blade of grass grew, there was almost no Spiritual Qi to extract. When the divine ring had no external power to draw upon, it would extract energy from Long Chen's Fengfu Star.

If it extracted energy from the Fengfu Star, the divine ring would be meaningless. He had a better method to utilize the Fengfu Star's energy more effectively.

"Fengfu Battle Body—Manifest!"

A star pattern appeared in Long Chen's pupils, and his aura surged violently. A terrifying wave of Qi shot straight into the sky, shaking the eternal firmament.

Seeing the Fire Lizard Beast lash out with its tail again, Long Chen let out a shout like a spring thunderclap that startled the heavens and shook the surroundings. He simply spread his arms and grabbed the tip of the Fire Lizard Beast's tail.

"Rise!"

Long Chen bellowed, straining his arms, and the Fire Lizard Beast's massive form actually left the ground. Long Chen swung it up and slammed it heavily onto the ground.

"Boom."

Yellow sand flew everywhere, kicking up monstrous waves of sand that surged in all directions. Little Snow in the distance hurriedly fled; otherwise, it would be buried by the sand waves that were over ten zhang high.

Holding the Fire Lizard Beast's tail, Long Chen felt his whole body filled with power, as if he would explode if he didn't unleash it.

But the ground was too soft. Long Chen spotted a small mountain nearby. Straining his arms and exerting force with his feet, no matter how much the Fire Lizard Beast struggled, it was still swung around by Long Chen.

Long Chen's feet moved rapidly, and he spun like a top, spinning faster and faster. Suddenly, he let go, and the Fire Lizard Beast flew toward the small mountain like a meteor.

"Boom."

The Fire Lizard Beast slammed heavily into the small mountain. The mountain, composed entirely of special rock, was forcibly smashed into a large crater.

The rock of that small mountain was of an unknown texture, exceptionally sturdy. Even with the Fire Lizard Beast's powerful Physical Body, half of its body was still shattered, bones broken and tendons snapped, with large patches of hide armor falling off and blood flowing freely.

"Roar."

But what shocked Long Chen was that even after suffering such terrifying injuries, the Fire Lizard Beast still hadn't died. Dragging its broken body, it charged toward Long Chen, its eyes filled with rage.

"Hmph, then I'll do it again. I don't believe I can't smash you to death… Hmm?"

Just as Long Chen was about to do it again, a sudden feeling of weakness washed over him.

"Oh no, time's up."

Long Chen was inwardly shocked. He had forgotten that the Fengfu Battle Body had a time limit, and without the divine ring's enhancement, the time had become even shorter. The star pattern in his eyes slowly faded, and Long Chen's strength returned to normal.

Seeing the Fire Lizard Beast charging over, Long Chen threw a punch.

"Boom."

Without the enhancement of the Fengfu Battle Body, Long Chen was simply no match for the Third-Rank Demonic Beast in terms of strength. He was sent flying far away, his chest aching violently, and he nearly spat out a mouthful of blood.

"The Demonic Beast's body is truly terrifying."

Long Chen exclaimed inwardly, though if others knew his thoughts, they would absolutely curse him to death.

That was a Third-Rank Demonic Beast! In terms of combat power, it often required several Yijin Realm experts working together to deal with it.

And this Fire Lizard Beast was a leader among Third-Rank Demonic Beasts. For Long Chen, with his Ningxue Realm body, to be able to clash head-on with it—wasn't his body even more of a monster than the Demonic Beast?

"Boom, boom, boom…"

Long Chen tried his best to avoid clashing head-on with the Fire Lizard Beast, but it acted as if it had gone mad, attacking crazily, causing the earth to tremble incessantly.

"Too insane. It's been injured like this, yet its combat power hasn't decreased much."

Long Chen couldn't help but curse. His longsword couldn't pose a fatal threat to the Fire Lizard Beast. Furthermore, having used the Fengfu Battle Body, his physical stamina was beginning to drop rapidly. If this continued, he would have no choice but to run away.

Seeing a supreme treasure but being unable to obtain it—that was the most painful thing in the world. He missed that broken broadsword more and more; otherwise, he definitely could have killed this Fire Lizard Beast.

Looking at the parts where the Fire Lizard Beast's hide armor had fallen off, revealing flesh—that was the area behind its head and neck. Long Chen had stabbed it there several times.

Although it lacked the protection of the hide armor, the flesh was still tough and couldn't be breached over a large area; it could only cause it a little pain.

Now, Long Chen's stamina was dropping crazily, while the Fire Lizard Beast seemed to have endless energy, showing no signs of weakening, which was distressing.

"That's it!"

Suddenly, Long Chen's eyes lit up. How could he have forgotten this thing?

Thinking of this item, Long Chen was ecstatic and regained his spirit. Seeing the Fire Lizard Beast pounce, he made a sharp dodge to the right, leaped up, and wiped his spatial ring, causing a massive object to appear.

That object had long hooks on it. Long Chen concentrated all his strength into his arm and slammed the object heavily toward the Fire Lizard Beast's wound.

"Pfft."

That object was none other than the Desert Giant Scorpion's tail hook. Now, the tail hook pierced deeply into the Fire Lizard Beast's flesh.

The tail hook had pierced into the Fire Lizard Beast's body and actually began to vibrate on its own. That was an instinct of the tail hook; once it pierced into a body, it would crazily inject venom. Even after leaving the body, it still retained that instinct.

The Fire Lizard Beast was hit by the tail hook and screamed madly, trying to shake it off. But it couldn't reach that position at all, no matter how it thrashed.

Long Chen could see the Fire Lizard Beast's flesh turning black at a speed visible to the naked eye. He hurriedly ran into the distance. His goal had been achieved; now he just had to wait for the result. There was no need to foolishly fight head-on.

The Desert Giant Scorpion's poison was even more terrifying than Long Chen had imagined. Even as powerful as the Fire Lizard Beast was, it couldn't withstand it. In less than a quarter of an hour, it had been poisoned to death.

If they fought normally, even a group of Desert Giant Scorpions wouldn't be a match for the Fire Lizard Beast because they couldn't pierce its thick hide armor.

The Fire Lizard's tail, however, could easily crush their carapaces, and its terrifying flames could instantly roast them.

Therefore, the Fire Lizard Beast was the Demonic Beast that the Desert Giant Scorpions feared the most. But this didn't mean the Fire Lizard Beast was invincible; once it lost its defense, the scorpion poison became its death warrant.

After struggling for a while, the Fire Lizard Beast stopped moving. However, Long Chen didn't go over immediately; instead, he waited another hour with Little Snow before slowly approaching.

On one hand, it was out of caution; on the other hand, Long Chen also needed to recover some stamina. When he reached the Fire Lizard Beast, it was completely dead.

Long Chen cut open the Fire Lizard Beast's belly and found a sphere about a foot in diameter there. It was completely snow-white and radiated a terrifying energy fluctuation.

"Hehe, Inner Core acquired."

Long Chen was overjoyed. This was the most precious part of the Fire Lizard Beast. Usually, a Demonic Beast's lifelong energy was contained within the crystal core in its head.

But some Demonic Beasts were different; their most precious essence was in an Inner Core, and the Fire Lizard Beast's flame power was entirely sealed within this Inner Core.

What excited Long Chen the most was that Demonic Beasts would crazily use all their energy. By the time they were killed, the energy in the Inner Core would usually be less than ten percent.

But this Fire Lizard Beast, from beginning to end, had only used its Origin fire once before being killed. The energy in its Inner Core was almost full.

The more energy in the Inner Core, the purer and more powerful the extracted beast fire would be. Long Chen fondled the Inner Core, unable to put it down.

But he couldn't utilize it just yet. To extract the beast fire from within, he still needed many auxiliary items; otherwise, he would waste too much of the beast fire's Origin power, which would be a terrible waste.

"Woo woo…" Little Snow looked at the Fire Lizard Beast's corpse and kept whimpering.

"Sorry, this couldn't be helped," Long Chen said, feeling a bit embarrassed. Little Snow was complaining to him that such a perfectly good Third-Rank Demonic Beast couldn't be eaten.

There was no help for it; the scorpion poison was too terrifying. If Little Snow ate the meat, it would also be poisoned. Such a powerful Third-Rank Demonic Beast being wasted like this was indeed a pity.

"Let's go, let's go into the cave and see if there's anything good."

Long Chen took Little Snow and cautiously walked into the cave. A wave of scorching hot air surged toward them, making it feel as if the air itself were burning.

After entering the cave, the inside was vast. However, when Long Chen saw a spot not far ahead where several huge eggs were lying, both Little Snow and Long Chen's eyes began to shine.