Chapter 268: Genesis Fire Herbs
Xu Que left the Imperial City without any qualms.
Acting tough required a magnanimous and unrestrained heart, whether it was towards the Flaming Sun Princess or the Water Empress.
Xu Que landed on the shore of the Great Lake not long after. He changed into a set of clothes and covered his face. When no one was around to notice, he emerged from his hidden position.
Initially, the fastest way to the Imperial Tombs had been through the teleportation device. But now that the palace was burning, the teleportation device in there was definitely gone by now. Xu Que had to enter the tombs through the passageway from the Great Lake, which was the safest as well as the next fastest possible route.
When he passed by the mansion located in the middle of the lake, he paused for a while.
After pondering for a moment, he sneaked into the mansion.
A beautiful female figure was standing by the railing, looking into the horizon and was muttering to themselves.
She was looking towards the palace where the fire was. "I feel like we both have known each other for years, even though we only just met recently! Master Li ... where are you now? Will you ... visit me again?"
The life and death of the Fire Emperor...the survival of the Fire Nation...
Madam Ya had never cared about that.
All along during her twenty years of pathetic life since birth, she had only been seeking solace, from poetry and songs by liaising with talented scholars and women alike.
That is, until the appearance of the extremely talented Li Bai. Suddenly, Madam Ya no longer felt like a walking corpse. However, the joy was only momentary and the yearning was long-lasting ...
That man...
Where is he?
Do you miss me like I miss you?
Alas!
Seeing Madam Ya's melancholy appearance, Xu Que couldn't help feeling sad as well.
It was a most pitiful sight, this beauty who sighed and yearned for her lover.
Xu Que could not show himself, as he knew very well that he did not belong here. He was unable to give her anything more. So he quietly walked to Madam Ya's bedroom, looking at the neatly displayed set of papers, ink slab and brushes. He picked up a large writing brush made of weasel's hair and left her a sentence: A good friend from afar brings a distant land near.
After leaving the note, Xu Que quietly left.
Xu Que concealed himself and flew to the sky, looking over the entire city. Using the energy from his dantian, he made an announcement to the whole of Imperial City. He used a majestic tone of voice and warned, "the Exploding Heavens Faction has an order! If anyone dares to disrespect Madam Ya, the 108 heroes in the Exploding Heavens Faction will never let thee off, and guarantee that thou shalt have an end that is worse than the Fire Emperor!"
After that, Xu Que flicked his sleeves and darted straight into the entrance of the tombs.
Easy come, easy go, a romantic prodigal needed to have such act tough qualities!
Of course, what he said was to protect Madam Ya.
Now that the Fire Emperor was dead, the Imperial City would undergo a period of chaos. The Ji family still had several lords who were located far away from the Imperial City, but still within the Fire Nation. Once they received word that the current Fire Emperor had passed away, they would lead their armies into the city and fight for the throne!
Xu Que deliberately left a malicious warning so as to deter the people from harming Madam Ya.
When Madam Ya heard that loud announcement, she quickly regained her senses and looked up to the sky. However, she could only hear the voice, there was nobody in sight.
"Master Li! Master Li ..."
She searched for him frantically around her mansion and found in her bedroom, on her study table, a sentence written on a piece of good quality paper: A good friend from afar brings a distant land near.
"A distant land near? Master Li ... you ... your heart will always be with me, right? Rest assured, you'll be the only man in my life, I'll wait ... wait for you to come back one day ..."
Looking at the poem, Madam Ya was in tears—but her heart was extremely satisfied.
...
Once again, Xu Que strolled leisurely along the tunnel that the old beggar had dug. He was feeling relaxed and refreshed!
Then, he executed Lightning Haste and in less than four hours, he had returned to the tombs.
He went along the path without deviation and headed straight to the master tomb.
He saw that the soul of Kim Fatty and all the others were still in deep cultivation.
Xu Que gave a frown and thought for a moment. Maybe it would be better not to take them away.
In any case, these few fellas could continue to stay here and if he ever needed to come back again, he could get them to run errands for him.
Leaving the master tomb, Xu Que hurried to the Dragon Veins deep in the tombs.
Finally, he arrived and at the edge of the lava pool, he pulled out the blood of the Fire Emperor and the tears of Madam Ya.
Boom!
The ground instantly shook up just as he took out the blood and tears.
The whole lava pool started to bubble and move vigorously as if the lava was boiling. And there seemed to be something that was moving upwards!
Xu Que squinted his eyes, his arms crossed in front of his chest, and calmly waited on the edge of the pool!
Splosh!
Suddenly, a golden dragon was spotted rising from the lava. Xu Que saw a dragon's head—but it was in reality only a bright, golden statue of the dragon's head that exuded a flaming halo. It felt like a living creature.
However, this was not really the Dragon Veins, but the most crucial essence of the Dragon Veins.
"Eh? That's ... the Genesis Fire Herbs?"
Xu Que stared wide-eyed at the dragon head statue where a small flame was located right above the head.
To put it more accurately, it was not only a flame—its form was constantly changing.
Sometimes it looked like a weak, small flame from a candle that could be extinguished at any moment.
At other times it had the shape of a herb, with leaves composed of flames. That change was truly strange to see.
Ding! "The Genesis Fire Herb was detected. Do you want to pick the herb and preserve it for 500 Acting Tough Points?" the system notification rang.
By now, Xu Que was indignant about the profiteering side of the system. Moreover, he knew about the properties of the herb, that it was the essence of the entire Dragon Veins and was much stronger than the lava pool.
If one were to pick the herb just like that, they would die instantly without the Dragon Veins feeding it.
Therefore when the system wanted to deduct 500 Acting Tough Points, Xu Que thought it was worth the price!
"Alright, just 500 Acting Tough Points is not a big deal to me, hurry pick it and go!" Xu Que replied to the system with a wave of his hand. He couldn't even be bothered to bargain.
After all, the system would pick, preserve and ensure its safety. Such a complete service covering these three aspects was uncommon nowadays!
Swish!
The system immediately flashed a light beam towards the top of the golden dragon head statue. Shining upon the Genesis Fire Herb, it formed a protective circle around it and proceeded to uproot it!
Ding! "500 Acting Tough Points have been successfully deducted. The Genesis Fire Herb has been picked successfully!"
System notifications rang again at the same time as the uprooting of the herb.
When Xu Que was about to leave, the golden dragon head statue started to form cracks.
Crack!
The crisp falling apart sound was very loud in the spacious tunnel.
Xu Que was startled by it. So many cracks continued to form in the dragon head statue that they soon covered its entire surface!
In the next moment, after another ominous crack sound, the dragon statue was blown into pieces, the pieces of stone falling into the pool of lava!
Boom!
The whole lava pool started to 'boil' again and this time, it shook even more violently than earlier. The large lava pool suddenly flowed deep into the depths of the earth, and it didn't come back again.
Glomp!
Finally, in the blink of an eyelid, the lava pool that was like the ocean completely dried up!
The whole lava pool had turned into a giant, depleted pit!
Xu Que was happy, for this essentially meant that the entire Dragon Veins of the Fire Nation had been completely destroyed.
Smiling, he was prepared to leave when his eyes caught something at the bottom of the depleted lava pool. Xu Que was stunned.
"Wait, there's something ... underneath!"
...
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