Its golden flames raged with great power, scorching the land and heating up the nearby lava. John’s excitement rose as he prepared to retrieve the lotus, when the other Heavenly Lightning Sect youths suddenly rushed up to him.
“That was awesome!” one of the youths, a boy also in his second year exclaimed. Despite being older than John by a year, he and the others acted like children swarming around an adult.
“Thank you for the help, General!” the girl said, a smile of gratitude on her weary face. The others expressed their gratitude as well, while John raised his hand dismissively at their words.
“It’s only natural that I help out my fellow sect members,” John said to them, not feeling like he deserved any particular praise for his actions. He had come mostly for the Golden-Flame Lotus anyways, and so his actions were not completely selfless.
The others noticed John’s gaze, their expressions turning more serious..
“As I said before, we tried to retrieve the lotus, but its heat is unbearable for us. We were not able to get close enough to retrieve it,” the girl said to John. She noticed his calm gaze and perked up slightly at the sight.
“Do you have an idea of how to retrieve it?” the girl asked, slight hopefulness in her voice.
“I do,” John replied as he suddenly sped toward. His actions surprised the others, as they were standing on an island of rocky earth at the moment, but the lotus was in the middle of a sea of lava. They had grouped up together and combined their protective Qi’s to resist the lava, but still just barely managed to do so. When they approached the flower, they were unable to get within one hundred yards, as it’s heat was just too unbearable.
As such, the five youths felt shock as they saw John speed directly into the lava, his protective Qi not felt at all. The five of them gasped in fright as they half-expected John to die right then and there.
John entered the sea of lava, his feet landing on the lava, while his body toughness fully resisted the heat. While it felt like he was standing in the middle of a hellish furnace, John was able to ignore the heat for the most part. His body was not only incredibly durable, but also very resistant to yang energies thanks to his lightning attribute body. While it was most effective against lightning, it also provided him resistance to other yang elements such as fire and lava.
Thanks to his fast footsteps, John sped across the surface of the lava thanks to its thick viscosity. While he could use his essence Qi to form a pseudo-floor to stand on the lava as well, such a thing was not needed at the moment.
John’s gaze shifted down as he noticed smoke rising from below. His eyes widened slightly as he noticed the bottom of his robes had caught fire, as they had been dragged through the lava.
“Ooops,” John muttered as his essence Qi suddenly flared, protecting his body. “I suppose I’ve got to get more durable clothing in the future,” John muttered as he sped forward. With his protective Qi coating his body, he no longer felt the heat of the lava below at all.
His speed was incredibly quick, and he quickly arrived one hundred yards away from the lotus, which was where the others had to stop. The scorching heat of the lotus washed over him, and John couldn’t help but be impressed by its power.
‘No wonder they stopped here. This lotus is fully mature, and must have been growing here for thousands and thousands of years!’
His excitement rose as he realized the lotus was even better than he imagined, and he sped forward once more without hesitation. The heat of the lotus grew with every step he took, although it still was not enough to pierce through his protective Qi layer. With his twenty times compressed dantian, John’s essence Qi was as powerful as a Late Heaven Tribulation cultivator, making him far more resistant than the other youths who had attempted to retrieve the lotus.
When he was within five yards however of the flower, John raised an eyebrow in surprise as he felt the heat seep through his protective Qi layer and attempt to burn his body. He activated his Limiter of Pain and Supreme Battle Art to resist the heat, allowing him to progress the last five yards.
John stood directly before the flower, its golden flames directly washing over him. The heat was incredible, as it was almost enough to overwhelm him despite his protective measures being taken. However, this only made John’s excitement rise again, as the stronger the flower was, the more beneficial it would be to his body.
With no further hesitation, John reached out and placed his hand on the Golden-Flame Magma Lotus. His hand began to turn red from the scorching heat, but John ignored the pain as he wrapped it with his Qi and Divine Sense. His mind and soul felt like they were set aflame as he did so, but John resisted the pain, pain which he had become quite used to over the last few years. Compared to the pain he felt during his lightning cultivations and tribulations, this was almost nothing.
The magma lotus instantly disappeared, as John transported it to his spatial realm, as his spatial ring could not store anything living, and would be destroyed from within by the lotuses power anyways.
The magma lotus appeared within the garden area of the spatial realm, much to John’s surprise. He had wanted to transport it to one of the empty rooms, so its raging flames did not destroy anything nearby. However, it seemed as though his spatial realm had a mind of its own, as it transported the flower to the garden containing his mystical tea plants.
“Shit!” John cursed as he noticed this. The tea leaves were worth a fortune, and if they were destroyed by the flames he would no doubt cry from the loss. However, his panic quickly abated as he noticed the artificial sun hanging high above in the room unleash a beam of mysterious energy which slammed onto the lotus.
A protective barrier formed around the flame lotus, containing its heat to one area and protecting the rest of the large garden. John had not been expecting such a thing to happen, but he breathed a sigh of relief as he realized the situation had turned out quite well.
‘I suppose it’s only natural that a garden in a place as profound as this would have some measures to protect the garden in case something like this happens,’ John mused.
His consciousness left the palace realm and returned to the real world, which was now far less hot than before. With the lotus gone, all John had to do was resist the lava beneath him, which was simple.
Having accomplished his goal, John turned to leave.
Boom!
The lava beneath his feet exploded outwards, while a massive figure slowly emerged from beneath the sea of lava. John’s eyes widened as a creature appeared before him, one whose power was not something he could contend with.
“A Peak Heaven Tribulation Lava Elemental!”