Btth: The Rise of Qingshan

With the death of the Yellow Sand Magic Scorpion King, the numerous Yellow Sand Magic Scorpions that had lost their leader immediately fell into chaos, their formation thrown into disarray due to the lack of command.

As the last first-rank Magic Scorpion was killed, the numerous Yellow Sand Magic Scorpions, which were not even first-rank magical beasts, completely lost their minds.

The hierarchical suppression among magical beasts was strict. Having lost their leader and lacking command, they were suppressed by the higher-rank magical beast aura of the Desert Rock Snakes, fleeing in all directions.

After chasing for a while, the Desert Rock Snakes, upon Qing Ling's call, gave up their pursuit. Yan Qingshan and Qing Ling then proceeded to deal with the numerous magical beast corpses on the spot.

The ordinary Yellow Sand Magic Scorpions were not even first-rank, and their value was truly not significant, almost worthless. Only their venom had some use, and Yan Qingshan collected their tail stinger venom glands, including those of the first-rank Magic Scorpions and the second-rank Scorpion King.

Among the nearly twenty first-rank Magic Scorpions, only three had monster cores, a ratio that was extremely low even among first-rank magical beasts.

It could only be said that the potential of this kind of magical beast was indeed not great. Fortunately, however, the second-rank Scorpion King yielded a second-rank monster core.

This was considered good luck, as a second-rank earth attribute monster core of near-third-rank quality had considerable value. However, Yan Qingshan did not keep these four monster cores for himself.

Instead, he gave them to the Rock Snake King and the three most meritorious first-rank Rock Snakes to devour.

Although Rock Snakes had a rock attribute, the rock attribute was a mutated classification of the earth attribute, and the energy conversion rate between the two was high.

Moreover, Desert Rock Snakes often absorbed earth attribute energy, allowing them to maximize the use of these magic cores.

The advancement of magical beasts was much more difficult than that of humans. After adulthood, their strength increased very slowly.

Lacking the cultivation talent of humans, they could only continuously accumulate energy and then grow through the slow, cumulative effort of time.

Of course, high-level magical beasts with high-level magical beast bloodlines grew much faster, but most magical beasts followed the path of accumulating energy and slowly advancing.

Magical beasts had few methods of accumulating energy. One was through arduous cultivation and time, another was by finding and devouring precious spiritual herbs with abundant energy, and the last was through mutual slaughter among magical beasts, devouring the corpses of the defeated.

The corpses of magical beasts contained a lot of energy, but this energy was even more violent and chaotic than monster cores, generally unusable by humans. However, magical beasts had strong bodies and could directly devour them. Although the conversion rate was not very high, it was much faster than arduous cultivation.

In this battle, the Yellow Sand Magic Scorpion tribe's entered-rank magical beasts were all killed by Yan Qingshan and the Rock Snakes, and a large number of Yellow Sand Magic Scorpions also died, leaving behind more than a hundred corpses.

The remaining Rock Snakes, numbering about twenty, had a feast.

The scene of magical beasts devouring was truly bloody, and the Rock Snakes, lacking intelligence, did not even spare their fallen comrades. Qing Ling's little face turned pale at this sight.

"Qing Ling, take me to see where the Scorpion King appeared."

Yan Qingshan put the collected materials into his storage ring and came to Qing Ling's side, speaking softly. Qing Ling shuddered, turned her head, covered her little mouth, and hurriedly followed Yan Qingshan away.

…

"Young Master, I was leading the Rock Snake group as usual, searching for possible underground passages in this desert.

But when we came to this place, the Rock Snake King had just burrowed in for a short time when there was a big commotion below. Then, the second-rank Scorpion King rushed out.

Before this, although we had encountered Yellow Sand Magic Scorpions and other underground magical beasts, with thirty Rock Snakes, most magical beasts were startled and ran away.

Only the Scorpion King that appeared here was the leader of the entire Yellow Sand Magic Scorpion tribe. After being awakened by us, it summoned many magic scorpions, which led to..."

Qing Ling led Yan Qingshan to the north of the sandy area, in front of a clearly marked sand hole. "Young Master, look, it's here."

Yan Qingshan looked at the slightly sunken sandy area in front of him. In the sunken sand pit, there was a constantly shrinking hole. The dark hole at the bottom was less than a foot wide, with faint heat rising from it.

"This hole is very deep, and Yellow Sand Magic Scorpions like heat, often drilling into the ground following heat sources. They might have opened up an underground passage!"

Yan Qingshan had a vague guess. The underground of this desert should be the breeding ground for the Green Lotus Core Flame. After breeding this heavenly flame, the underground lava lake was extremely active, with several eruptions.

The spreading lava in the underground created some quartz rock cavity passages, which was why Xiao Yan found many underground forks after entering the underground.

These underground cavity passages were buried deep underground, generally difficult to find. After all, humans dug holes with specific purposes, and they would give up after a period of no results. But magical beasts were different. Sometimes, they relied on instinct and intuition to seek advantages and avoid disadvantages.

Yellow Sand Magic Scorpions liked heat but did not like to bask in the sun directly on the surface. They often traveled through the desert sand, looking for heat sources. It was normal to accidentally open up a cavity passage.

"Qing Ling, let's bring the Rock Snakes over first!"

Yan Qingshan tried to dig around the hole, but even a slight movement caused the surrounding yellow sand to slide, burying the hole a little more.

Yan Qingshan knew that even with a goal, it would take a lot of effort to get to the underground by himself. Fortunately, he had prepared beforehand.

"Little girl, you have done a great service for Young Master this time!"

Beside Yan Qingshan, the girl in the green dress squatted by the hole like him, with yellow sand on many parts of her body. However, her delicate little face had a happy expression.

Yan Qingshan smiled and affectionately scratched the little girl's nose, causing the little beauty to blush shyly, but her little appearance became even more charming.

Qing Ling's little face showed a hint of shyness, and then she winked at him playfully. "Young Master, how are you going to reward Qing Ling?"

"Reward?"

Yan Qingshan pretended to pinch his chin, looking at the girl who was developing very quickly due to improved nutrition. "How about rewarding Qing Ling with warming Young Master's bed tonight?"

"Young Master, you're so bad! I'm not going to pay attention to you!"

Qing Ling was, after all, just a young girl. How could she withstand such teasing? Her cheeks flushed, and she immediately covered her little face and ran away.

Yan Qingshan watched the girl run away with a smile and chased after her mischievously.

"Little girl, if Young Master catches you, you'll obediently warm the bed tonight... hahaha..."

"Young Master, you're so bad... ah..."

Qing Ling's shy voice was mixed with laughter. The two chased and played in the vast yellow sand, and their silver bell-like laughter echoed in the whistling wind.

…

In front of the underground sand hole, Yan Qingshan drove a deep wooden stake into a loess slope about ten meters away and tied a rope to it. At the location of the sand hole, Qing Ling directed the satiated Rock Snake group to widen the hole.

One Rock Snake after another charged back and forth, using their rock attribute magic to stabilize the sand layer passage. A passage opening more than half a meter wide soon appeared at the original pit.

"Qing Ling, remember to hold me tight later!"

Yan Qingshan came to the hole, holding the rope in one hand and the moonstone in the other. Qing Ling trotted to his side, hugging him tightly. Her pair of lively and charming jade eyes stared at his face, seemingly in a daze.

"Little girl, don't be nervous!"

Yan Qingshan lowered his head and kissed Qing Ling's forehead lightly, then tightened the rope. Qing Ling directed the Rock Snake King to lead the way and the Rock Snakes to cover the rear. With a leap, the two entered the dark underground passage.

In the dark passage, Yan Qingshan pulled the rope to maintain balance, while holding the moonstone in the other hand and protecting Qing Ling.

The two continued to slide down the passage. The light-emitting moonstone illuminated their path, allowing them to avoid the dangers of the uneven passage terrain.

In front and behind Yan Qingshan and Qing Ling, there were about ten Desert Rock Snakes each. The second-rank Rock Snake King led the way. Having devoured the Scorpion King's corpse and magic core, its strength was constantly transforming, faintly approaching the aura of a third-rank magical beast.

The end of this underground passage was a slope nearly a hundred meters underground. After sliding down for nearly three minutes, Yan Qingshan leaped forward with a tap of his toes, and with a muffled sound, he landed steadily with Qing Ling in his arms.

Yan Qingshan gently put down Qing Ling and came forward, holding the moonstone. There were ten or so passages with no visible end in the darkness, and seven or eight of them carried a faint hot wind.

"Let each rock snake go and take a look. Come back after finding the passage that is very, very hot!"

Yan Qingshan slightly sensed the aura with his keen soul perception, but the surrounding aura was mixed and chaotic, making it difficult to distinguish.

Searching one by one would waste time, but fortunately, Yan Qingshan had brought helpers. He had Qing Ling direct the rock snakes to explore and return when they encountered a very hot environment.

"Mhm!"

Qing Ling nodded lightly, her eyes blinking slightly. Three extremely tiny green dots silently appeared around her emerald pupils.

Qing Ling's instructions were quickly received by the rock snakes.

Except for the second-rank Rock Snake King, which stayed to protect Qing Ling, the rest quickly swam towards the various passages.

…

In the dark passage, two human figures and ten or so snake shadows slowly walked in the darkness with the help of the moonstone's light.

The journey was almost silent except for the slight rustling of footsteps and snake movements.

In the dark and deep passage, there seemed to be no concept of time. As they went deeper, after about five hundred meters, a faint hot wind blew towards them.

"Finally... almost there..."

In the underground passage, Yan Qingshan was drenched in sweat. After turning another corner, red light appeared at the end of the passage not far away.

His voice was hoarse and dry, and he seemed to have been soaked in water.

The fire attribute's restraint against the wood attribute was too great. Fortunately, he was practicing a Xuan high-grade technique, and he had specifically condensed his Dou Qi and trained his body for a long time. Otherwise, with his Dou Zhe cultivation, he wouldn't have been able to get here.