With Black Donkey’s emergence from seclusion, Bing Xiulan was finally "released" as well.
"Flame Mountain! Flame Mountain!" Black Donkey and Bing Xiulan sang together, shouting the slogan as they marched toward the northwest, their spirits high.
"Girl, what species are you after all, how come after so long, this cheap donkey has already become a Seven-Wheel Sun King, yet you’re still at Moonlight King?" While traveling, Zhou Heng teased Bing Xiulan.
"There’s no way around it, it’s because my sister took all my talent, and I didn’t want this!" Bing Xiulan spread her hands, indicating that her slow progress in cultivation was entirely her sister’s fault.
"That’s clearly because you’re lazy!" Zhou Heng pointed at her with one finger.
"Nonsense, I’m not that lazy!" Bing Xiulan rolled her eyes in response.
"Right, I forgot to ask you, how many Moon Wheels do you have now?" Zhou Heng asked.
"Count them yourself!" With a thought from Bing Xiulan, a series of waning moons rose behind her.
One, two, three, four... sixteen!
Zhou Heng was shocked for a moment; this girl actually had sixteen Moon Wheels, easily surpassing the strongest historical record in the Immortal Realm of fifteen Moon Wheels! It turned out her talent wasn’t less than her sister’s, but rather, she had other strengths!
Of course, her laziness was definite, otherwise, it would certainly be impossible for her sister to be a Sublimation King while she was still only a Moonlight King!
However, it seemed the world had gone a bit mad!
He had once been a Twenty-One Wheels Moon Supreme, and although Black Donkey didn’t have many Moon Wheels, it had immediately obtained Five Wheels upon breaking through to Sunshine King, equivalent to having Fifteen Wheels at Moonlight Emperor stage!
Now, there was another peculiar girl with sixteen Moon Wheels, who suddenly broke the limits of Immortal Realm, as if all the talents of the universe had burst forth at one single point in time.
What struck him as odd was why there had been no heavenly resonance when he broke through to the Twenty-One Wheels Moon, yet when Bing Xiulan consumed the Silver Dragon Fish and formed Three Wheels, no heavenly phenomena occurred?
Zhou Heng, being magnanimous by nature, decided not to dwell on it since everything would eventually come to light.
"Another freak!" Black Donkey felt deeply struck, immediately letting its head hang low.
"Donkey, think about the treasures!" Zhou Heng encouraged.
"Right, Fire Dragon Peach!" Black Donkey immediately perked up, its eyes almost shining brightly.
"It’s Fire Fox Peach!" Zhou Heng and Bing Xiulan corrected at the same time.
The pair and the donkey hurried along, they had already fallen behind quite a bit, and needed to catch up.
Three days later, they saw a range of fiery red mountains in the distance.
This really was a Flame Mountain, the entire mountain ablaze with red flames, furiously burning against the sky, particularly conspicuous in this dark world.
"Hey, this Flame Mountain is not simple, it can be used to refine Sun Wheels, making them even purer!" Although Bing Xiulan was not very advanced in her cultivation, she had broad knowledge and immediately spoke up.
Zhou Heng’s mind slightly stirred, his own purity of Sun Wheels did not mean the same for others. He said, "Perhaps, the true purpose of this Flame Mountain is to refine Sun Wheels!"
"Are you saying that Yuwen Sword built this Flame Mountain on purpose?" Black Donkey asked.
"Possible!" Zhou Heng nodded, assuming Yuwen Sword must also have clan members or disciples.
"Never mind that, let’s go steal some peaches!" Bing Xiulan exclaimed.
Black Donkey immediately smirked, saying, "Only monkeys steal peaches!"
Thinking about another meaning of monkeys stealing peaches, Zhou Heng also couldn’t help but smirk.
Although Bing Xiulan was quite knowledgeable, evidently no one had ever explained to her this other meaning of monkeys stealing peaches; she just huffed, "You’re the monkey! No, you big stupid donkey!"
"Although this seat is a donkey, I’m not stupid at all!" Black Donkey retorted.
"Let’s go!" Zhou Heng led the way.
As they continued to advance, the temperature rose steadily, the surrounding air seemingly turning to flames, every breath seeming to scorch their insides.
Fortunately, as Immortals, they didn’t need to breathe; Zhou Heng and Black Donkey proudly displayed their Spiritual Power defenses, and a milky white halo flitted across Bing Xiulan, repelling the heat wave.
Flame Mountain was very tall and large, everywhere were rocks burnt red hot, the temperature here was already enough to threaten Moonlight Kings, even Spiritual Power shielding could potentially burn off their feet!
However, for Sunshine Kings, the current temperature still posed no threat.
After climbing perhaps a little over two miles on the mountain path, Zhou Heng suddenly exclaimed upon spotting a plant entirely red in color.
It rooted itself in the deep crimson crevices of the rocks, yet it wasn’t even slightly singed. Instead, it thrived healthily, and, astonishingly, bore a small fruit that emitted a faint fragrance—subtle, yet refreshing.
"Treasure!" The Black Donkey’s nose was incredibly sharp; after sniffing the air, it immediately locked onto its target and happily ran over.
A red blaze of light flashed by, and the fruit atop the plant was gone. Only a small, entirely red mink that was standing upright on a nearby rock was visible, its fur dancing around like flames.
"How adorable!" Bing Xiulan’s eyes lit up. She took out the Soul Suppressing Seal and shouted to the Fire Mink, "Come here, little one; let sister stamp you!"
"You stinking rat, return Master Donkey’s Spirit Fruit!" Black Donkey, wailing as if he had lost a loved one, pounced toward the Fire Mink. Taking its treasure was like taking its life.
The Fire Mink reacted swiftly and dodged with a quick movement.
This was a Sunshine King-level Demon Beast, and although it likely only had the strength of a One-Wheel or Two-Wheel Sun, this type of Demon Beast was naturally incredible fast. Black Donkey, despite being a Five-Wheel Sun, couldn’t get the upper hand in terms of movement, and a red and a black shadow rapidly weaved through the area.
"You stupid donkey, you scared away my pet!" Bing Xiulan was wailing loudly, trailing even further behind, but she was merely a bystander in this chaos.
Zhou Heng merely smiled; everything in these mountains was ownerless, so there wasn’t really a question of who was robbing whom. As long as the Fire Mink didn’t harm anyone, he had no intention of intervening.
After chasing for a while, Black Donkey stopped disheartened, and Bing Xiulan was even more out of breath. The Fire Mink, standing upright, chittered at them for a moment before darting off, vanishing instantly.
— As a Demon Beast of Immortal Level, it had opened its Spiritual Wisdom and could communicate with humans using Divine Sense, but this place had likely been uninhabited for hundreds of thousands of years; how could this Fire Mink possibly speak human language?
"Let’s go!" Zhou Heng smiled and continued climbing the mountain.
"Zhou, if you had intervened just now, you definitely could have secured the Spirit Fruit!" Black Donkey called out.
"Exactly, exactly, that little rat wouldn’t have been able to escape!" Bing Xiulan also said, hands on her hips and pointing the blame.
"Can’t be bothered with you two!" Zhou Heng flicked his sleeves. The Spirit Fruit just now wasn’t all that precious, so he couldn’t be bothered to compete with the "natives" here, much less turn a freely living Demon Beast into Bing Xiulan’s pet.
He was someone who inherently valued freedom.
After crossing over a mountain, the two and the donkey arrived at a platform that was bustling with activity.
There were at least a hundred people scrambling not for Spirit Grass or Immortal Fruit, nor for any medicinally valuable Demon Beasts, but over a spring!
The spring was small, likely only large enough to accommodate ten people simultaneously. It contained a fiery red fluid, already boiling and emitting rolling heat waves. At that moment, the spring was stuffed with more than ten people, those inside fighting to throw others out, and those outside fighting to squeeze in, creating a thoroughly chaotic scene.
Some people, unable to intervene, stood around discussing. After listening to them for a while, Zhou Heng and his companions understood why everyone was so desperate to get into this spring.
This was the Fireburst Spring, with the effect of refining the body, enhancing physical strength and defense!
For those Martial Artists who only cultivated Spiritual Power, this was indeed a precious Treasure Fluid, no wonder it was such a fiercely contested prize.
"Move aside! Move aside! Everyone make way for Master Donkey!" With the arrogance of a Five-Wheel Sunshine King, Black Donkey’s demeanor was extremely domineering, resembling those overbearing privileged youths as he charged forward.
It must be said, a Five-Wheel Sunshine King was indeed imposing, after all, in this world, there were not many who surpassed the Seven-Wheel Sun, and generally, only Six-Wheel and Seven-Wheel Sunshine Kings could suppress Black Donkey in terms of power.
As Black Donkey charged, it caused chaos, and it managed to forcefully make its way to the edge of the spring.
However, having fewer Six-Wheel and Seven-Wheel Sunshine Kings doesn’t mean there were none, and those who could fight their way into the spring from among a hundred people were naturally experts, including some Seven-Wheel Sunshine Kings! Although Black Donkey had made it to the edge of the spring, it was impossible for it to fight its way in. After a few exchanges, it was thrown out from the edge of the spring, tracing an arc in the sky, landing right at Zhou Heng’s feet with a thud.
"Nice posture!" Zhou Heng complimented.
"Zhou, seek vengeance for me!" Black Donkey simply lay on the ground, not getting up, and clung to Zhou Heng with all four hooves, crying big teary eyes.
"Let go of the hooves!"
"How am I supposed to fight if you don’t let go?"
"Fine then!" Only then did Black Donkey let go of his hooves, quickly scrambling to his feet.
This Fire Spring was a naturally occurring treasure of heaven and earth, unclaimed by anyone; whoever could seize it relied on their own ability!
Zhou Heng strode forward, his aura as a Martial King spreading out, making everyone’s legs shake, instinctively clearing a path for him. Most of those who managed to enter here were still Moonlight Emperors and Sunshine Kings.
There were stronger beings above Sunshine Kings, especially those in the Sublimation Realm, but these individuals all focused their attention directly on the Dragon Transformation Nine Slashes, hardly bothering with such a trivial Fire Spring.
Thus, without the will of higher realms, how could they resist Zhou Heng’s King’s Aura?
He didn’t even need to strike a blow; he simply arrived at the edge of the spring, his gaze commanding. With just a light sweep of his eyes, the dozen people inside the spring were terrified, and immediately, seven people jumped out, but six remained still.
— There’s room now, let’s all refine our bodies together!
"Please make some space. I don’t like to bathe with others!" Zhou Heng said with a smile. (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, please visit qidian.com to cast your recommendation votes or monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please read at m.qidian.com.)