Chapter 2253 – Someone Is Faster Than Us!

“Well, it’ll be fine as long as you can last for another month or two,” Zhang Xuan muttered.

Without picking the Monarch Spirit Grass, he turned around, returned to where the Dimension Silencer was floating, and said, “Let’s go.”

“I can still hold on. Quick, go pick the Monarch Spirit Grass first,” Luo Qiqi said anxiously.

Their goal there was to claim the Monarch Spirit Grass for themselves, so why was Zhang Xuan not picking it?

“There’s no need for that,” Zhang Xuan replied as he grabbed the orb floating in the air and pulled her out of the dimension rift. Then, the space behind shattered, and a seven-colored aurora burst forth.

“Why?” Luo Qiqi did not understand the reason behind Zhang Xuan’s actions.

“There are plenty of things I can use to advance my cultivation, but there’s only one Firmament,” Zhang Xuan said.

It would have been good if he could obtain the Monarch Spirit Grass, but it was not a necessity for him.

There were other medicinal herbs he could rely on for a breakthrough to God Monarch. There was no need for him to sacrifice the Flooding Sea and the Firmament for that.

As someone who had only arrived in the Firmament a month ago, he did not have any deep feelings for the Firmament. He also was not as noble as Kong shi, who harbored great compassion for the entire world.

However, at least as a human being, he could not bear to watch as an entire world was torn apart, and countless people lost their lives.

He was starting to understand how Kong shi and Luo Ruoxin felt.

Carrying heavy responsibilities on their shoulders, their hands were tied. They did not have the freedom to do as they pleased.

“But where else can we find a medicinal herb like the Monarch Spirit Grass?” Luo Qiqi asked worriedly. “You have to advance your cultivation as quickly as possible.”

She was not a person of many words, but she was extremely perceptive of her surroundings.

Despite not knowing about the War of the Heavens, she could tell that the young man was in a rush. He had always been keen to raise his cultivation, but he seemed to be more anxious than ever to do so.

This made her realize that he was facing some compelling circumstances.

But as the young man never spoke about it, she had chosen not to ask. She decided to simply do whatever she could to help him in his time of need.

“It’s fine. We’ll eventually find a way out,” Zhang Xuan replied with a smile as he took out a pinnacle God Essence Pill from Hu Xiao’s storage ring and infused it with his Pathos of Heaven zhenqi before passing it over to Luo Qiqi.

The young lady had exerted herself beyond her limits in order to stabilize the dimension rift earlier, causing her to sustain some internal damage.

“I still know of a few places where there are medicinal herbs that could help a God Monarch advance their cultivation. I can lead you there,” Ao Feng offered.

Zhang Xuan nodded in agreement.

As someone who had participated in the previous three Floods of Spiritual Energy, even though the treasures he had acquired thus far paled far in comparison to what Kong shi’s direct disciples had collected, he would still have been able to uncover quite a bit of treasure.

It would indeed be much more convenient for them with Ao Feng leading the way.

It did not take long before they arrived before another area where an invaluable treasure was located.

“The Midnight Flower. It’s a flower that only blossoms on the midnight of a full moon. It has to absorb the essence of the moon for thousands of years before it finally reaches maturity… Even though the conditions in the Flooding Sea are a little peculiar, the Midnight Flower only blossoms once every decade in here. The last time I was here, I saw one in the depths of the valley over there,” Ao Feng said as he pointed in a certain direction.

Glancing over, Zhang Xuan saw a lush mountain valley filled with innumerable God King realm phantasmagoric spirits.

“I’ll head in to take a look!”

Zhang Xuan activated the disguise amulet before flitting into the valley. A moment later, however, he returned with a frown. “Someone has already taken it.”

He could tell that there was indeed a Midnight Flower growing in there, but someone had beaten him to it.

“Did someone manage to gather a group to procure the Midnight Flower?” Ao Feng was a little taken aback.

The Midnight Flower, just like the Condensed Earth Essence, was protected by the phantasmagoric spirits, making it nigh impossible for a person to collect the Midnight Flower by themself. Even in a group, the chances of success were not too high.

So, it was a little hard to believe that someone would actually be able to claim it. Did a group of Conferred God Kings work together for it or something?

After all, not everyone possessed unfathomable strength like the young man before him.

“It doesn’t seem so. Based on the trail, it’s an individual who snuck into the area and discreetly took the Midnight Flower away with him. It looks like the phantasmagoric spirits haven’t even realized that it’s missing,” Zhang Xuan replied.

He would have noticed if there were any marks of battle in the vicinity, but there was no such thing. Clearly, the person had, like him, discreetly snuck to where the Midnight Flower was and harvested it before leaving without kicking up a fuss.

The reason Zhang Xuan was able to do it was because he had the disguise amulet with him. How did the other party manage it?

“Ah… Let’s proceed to the next location then. I know a place that has Desolate Iron. This material can be used to forge God Monarch-tier artifacts. It’s buried in the underground lava not too far from here…”

Since the Midnight Flower had been taken, there was no reason for them to remain there.

“Let’s head over!” Zhang Xuan nodded.

While he already had a weapon in hand, he could still take the Desolate Iron and trade it for cultivation resources with the other God Monarchs.

Swiftly flitting ahead, the trio took roughly ten breaths to get to the lava pool.

Zhang Xuan wrapped his body in a layer of zhenqi to protect himself before diving into the lava. Not too long later, he returned with a frustrated look on his face. “The Desolate Iron you spoke about has been taken away as well.”

“That’s impossible!” Ao Feng shook his head in disbelief.

The temperature in the lava before them was so great that even God King realm artifacts would melt in an instant in it. Even someone of Ao Feng’s strength would not dare enter it recklessly. Just who in the world could enter the lava and take the Desolate Iron discreetly?

“What other treasures do you know of?”

Knowing their time was limited, Zhang Xuan quickly pressed on.

“I know there’s a location that has Otherworldly Meteorite. Back then, the Heaven Subjugation Monarch and his three Conferred God Kings tried to claim it, but they weren’t able to take it away with them. The last time I was there, it was still around,” Ao Feng said.

He was starting to lose confidence in himself after those two failures.

“Take me there,” Zhang Xuan instructed.

The three of them continued rushing forward, and this time, their destination was an ice mountain. It emanated a chilling frost that would freeze even a God King’s zhenqi.

“I don’t think that anyone will have come here,” Luo Qiqi said.

The frost in the area was to the extent that it was hard for even her to enter the area, let alone the other Conferred God Kings.

“You should wait here for the time being. I’ll head in to look,” Zhang Xuan said.

Driving the Pathos of Heaven, he swiftly acclimatized himself to the coldness before heading in.

Around ten minutes later, he returned with a bitter smile on his face. “We came too late again…”

The ice mountain had only gotten colder the deeper one ventured, such that it was difficult for Zhang Xuan to endure the chill. Yet, he was unable to find the Otherworldly Meteorite that Ao Feng had mentioned. Based on the marks in the vicinity, it seemed like someone else had beaten them to it.

They had gone to three places thus far, but the items had already been taken by someone else. It had only been a few hours since the Flood of Spiritual Energy started, but it felt like the entire area had already been swept clean.

Just who in the world was so capable as to obtain everything so quickly?

Perplexed, Zhang Xuan turned to Ao Feng and asked, “Do you know if there has been a particularly formidable Conferred God King who has appeared in the Firmament in the past decade?”