Chapter 120: THE DEMONIC LIZARD(8)

The remaining disciples continued attacking the male lizard according to Li Yan’s suggestion, focusing their attacks on its legs and chest instead of wasting their spiritual Qi against the thick scales covering its back.

The creature’s movements gradually became slower as the injuries accumulated, but it continued to resist fiercely, swinging its claws and tail whenever anyone approached while spraying venom across the battlefield whenever several disciples gathered too close to it.

Li Yan remained near the edge of the battle while watching the creature’s movements and trying to keep the chaotic Qi inside his body under control. His Devouring Phoenix bloodline was still absorbing the spiritual energy around him, and although the process continued strengthening him, the amount of energy flowing through his meridians had become difficult to withstand. He knew that he could not maintain this state for much longer, so he needed to end the fight before his body reached its limit.

Meng Jiali attacked the male lizard’s front leg, forcing it to shift its weight to avoid losing its balance. Li Hanye immediately noticed the opening and struck toward its chest, pushing the enormous creature backward. The other disciples followed his attack and concentrated their techniques on the same area, preventing the lizard from recovering its footing.

Li Yan saw the opportunity and immediately moved forward. He gathered the overflowing Qi inside his body and directed it toward Fan Jian while using his lightness technique to close the distance. The sword released a stronger pressure than before as he brought it down toward the injured area of the lizard’s chest.

"Nine Heavens Blazing Sun Attack!"

The sword struck the same place where the other disciples had been attacking. The scales finally cracked beneath the combined pressure, and Fan Jian pierced through the damaged area before reaching deep into the lizard’s body. Blood poured from the wound as the creature released a furious roar and attempted to strike Li Yan with one of its claws.

"Hrrrrrr"

Li Hanye and Meng Jiali immediately attacked from opposite sides, forcing the lizard to turn away from Li Yan.

The other disciples also concentrated their attacks on the exposed wound, and the male lizard gradually lost the strength to defend itself. Its movements became slower, its attacks became less coordinated, and after another series of techniques struck its injured chest, its enormous body finally collapsed onto the ground.

The disciples who remained alive were exhausted, but several of them immediately turned toward the mountain path, now it was first come, first serve, the first to get to the cave would get the best treasure.

Having already lost so many people during the mission, none of them wanted to discover that another group had reached the cave first and taken everything that remained.

Li Yan did not follow them. His body was still struggling with the amount of Qi he had absorbed, he had no reason to rush after the others when he could collect what they needed from the two lizards first. Li Hanye also remained behind, and the two brothers began dealing with the enormous carcasses while the other disciples hurried toward the cave.

The work took longer than Li Yan expected because of the size of the lizards. Their bodies were covered in thick scales, and removing the parts they needed required them to work carefully rather than simply cutting through the carcasses with their swords. Once they finished, Li Yan stored what they had collected before following Li Hanye toward the cave.

By the time they arrived, most of the other disciples had already searched through the treasure chamber. The chests that had previously been scattered around the cave had been opened, many of the weapons were gone, and most of the spiritual stones that Li Yan had noticed when he first entered had also disappeared.

The disciples had clearly taken everything they considered valuable, leaving behind mostly gold and various smaller objects that they had apparently deemed useless or unworthy of carrying away.

Li Yan was not bothered by that. He already had a large collection of resources inside his mythical space, so he had no interest in competing with the others over the treasures they had chosen to take. However, that did not mean he intended to leave everything behind simply because someone else had decided it was worthless.

He walked through the chamber and began examining the remaining objects. Some were old ornaments, broken-looking containers, pieces of metal, strange stones, and other things whose uses were not immediately obvious. Since he had Xiaoxiao and an entire mythical space filled with manuals and resources, Li Yan was willing to take things that other cultivators considered useless and examine them later.

He picked up several objects that seemed interesting and stored them before moving farther into the cave. While searching through the remaining items, he eventually returned to the deepest part of the chamber where the nest had been.

His attention fell on the enormous egg that remained inside.

The two creatures had spent their time protecting the egg, yet neither of them remained alive now. The egg was still there, surrounded by the empty nest and the treasures that the other disciples had ignored.

Li Yan stood beside it for a while before speaking to Xiaoxiao.

"Xiaoxiao, can I keep this egg?"

"You want to keep a lizard egg?" Xiaoxiao asked.

Li Yan looked at the egg again before answering, "Its parents are dead now, and there is nobody left to protect it. If we leave it here, another demonic beast could eventually find it and eat it. I also want to see what kind of lizard will hatch from it."

Xiaoxiao considered his words before responding, "If you really want to keep it, then you should take responsibility for it. You cannot put it somewhere in your space and forget about it."

"I will take care of it until it hatches." Li Yan replied.

He placed his hand against the egg and felt the warmth coming from its shell. A faint life force remained inside, proving that the creature had not been affected by the deaths of its parents. It had no understanding of what had happened outside the cave and continued developing inside the shell as though nothing had changed.

Li Yan carefully transferred the egg into his mythical space. After making sure it had been placed somewhere safe, he returned his attention to the remaining objects scattered around the cave and continued searching through them.

After searching through the remaining items, Li Yan finally stopped and looked around the chamber. There was not much left that interested him, and Li Hanye was waiting near the entrance. "Let’s go, Brother," Li Yan said as he walked toward him.

Li Hanye nodded and followed him out of the cave. The mountain had changed considerably during the battle, with melted snow covering parts of the ground and water flowing down the slopes. The poisonous miasma had also begun to disperse now that the lizards were dead, making the air easier to breathe.

Li Yan glanced back at the cave before continuing down the mountain with his brother. He had come to Kunlong expecting to kill a rank-nine lizard and complete a mission, but he had not expected to leave with a lizard egg.