Chapter 112: Plundering the Violet Flame

Chapter 112: Seizing the Purple Flame

At this very moment, Chu Jie was tallying up his spoils. After releasing those men earlier, he found them not too troublesome and decided that in the future, if they showed some sense, letting them go wouldn’t be a problem.

All the items were stored within the Barbaric Cauldron, making the inventory process quite straightforward.

Inside the cauldron, there were numerous cultivation resources, with a large portion being mysterious crystals. These crystals were invaluable, whether in the Abyss of Gods and Demons or the Bloodslaughter City.

The Barbaric Cauldron had vast internal storage space, and many objects floated inside.

Among them were some Spirit-Gathering Herbs. For Chu Jie, absorbing these herbs now had little effect; they were most effective for warriors below the Spirit Convergence Realm.

Chu Jie had already reached the sixth level of the Spirit Convergence Realm. Only pills like the Spirit-Gathering Pill would be truly beneficial to him. But after slaughtering so many warriors, he had yet to see a single Spirit-Gathering Pill, proving their rarity.

Within a pile of cultivation materials lay several mysterious crystals. With a flick of his divine consciousness, several hundred high-grade crystals flew into the crystal pile.

There were also a few treasured artifacts, but the highest grade was only mid-tier, of no practical use. Chu Jie simply tossed them into the treasure pile.

That pile of treasures was already substantial, and after accumulating enough, once they left the Abyss of Gods and Demons, the members of the Mad Dog Battalion would each have their own artifact to wield.

Having glanced through the loot, Chu Jie withdrew his divine consciousness from the Barbaric Cauldron.

Above, the swirling vortex in the sky continued to spin relentlessly. Thunderstorms were no longer as dense as before. Occasionally, purple lightning would strike, but most of the lightning was ordinary.

Only when the lightning was purplish-red did it ignite the purple flame.

Now, they were focused solely on the purple lightning. Whenever such lightning struck nearby, they would rush over. Whether for cultivation or seizing rare treasures, the purple flame held immense significance.

“Everyone, keep your eyes on the purple lightning in the sky. Whenever it falls nearby, we move immediately,” Chu Jie instructed.

Everyone raised their heads, watching the sky intently.

At that moment, a streak of purple lightning struck the edge of the Windiron Forest.

“Let’s go,” Chu Jie, clad in golden armor, darted swiftly toward the forest’s edge. Below, Wu Long and the others followed in a mad sprint.

Suddenly, Chu Jie halted midway. They were still some distance from where the purple flame had descended.

Before Chu Jie lay a clearing. Thirty or so corpses lay scattered, each killed with a single blow.

Chu Jie recognized these thirty or so individuals—they were the very people he had spared not long ago. Surprisingly, they had failed to escape their fate; though they had slipped from his grasp, they ultimately perished here.

A heavy frustration welled within Chu Jie. The men he had let go had been killed—and so close to him, no less.

“Who killed them?” he wondered.

Looking around the illusory environment, it seemed the assailant was incredibly skilled. Even the bald warrior had no chance to resist. The killer must have possessed formidable power.

The only high-level warrior in the Abyss of Gods and Demons at this stage was Zhou Jie. With his early-stage Star Pill Realm cultivation and golden armor, he was fully capable of such a feat.

But where was Zhou Jie now?

Chu Jie scanned the surroundings but found no trace of him. It was as if Zhou Jie vanished into thin air after the killings.

He sighed and led his group away, now alert to Zhou Jie’s possible proximity. If a fight broke out, victory would be difficult.

However, Chu Jie had numbers—nine of them against Zhou Jie alone. Moreover, the peerless fiend was clearly indisposed, meaning only Zhou Jie was active outside.

Chu Jie had never encountered a Star Pill Realm warrior before and didn’t know the exact gap between himself and such a cultivator.

When Zhou Jie first ascended to the Star Pill Realm, his pressure was formidable, likely beyond Chu Jie’s ability to overcome.

Fortunately, Chu Jie had earlier taken all the crystals from the large cavern, leaving Zhou Jie to absorb spirit energy from only a small cavern, preventing him from advancing further. Otherwise, Zhou Jie might already be in the late Star Pill Realm.

Chu Jie’s understanding of Star Pill Realm warriors was limited, as his Reincarnation Scroll contained no records of them. Perhaps only by obtaining new volumes could he comprehend more. The dungeon’s scrolls only allowed cultivation up to the eighth level of the Spirit Convergence Realm.

He would have to find a way to uncover other volumes of the Spirit Convergence Scroll.

Leaving the spot, the group soon arrived at the place where the thunder had struck earlier. Two groups of warriors were confronting each other there, gathered around a deep pit containing three purple flames.

Altogether, fifty people stood tense, ready to fight. But upon seeing Chu Jie’s approach, they all scattered in panic.

The smaller group dared not challenge the golden-armored warrior, especially with nine of Chu Jie’s men present, making them even more wary.

Seeing them retreat, Chu Jie didn’t pursue. Collecting the purple flame was his priority; other matters could wait.

“Boss, won’t you kill them?” Wu Long asked.

If they had fought with full force, over eighty percent of those people could have been captured.

“Killing them would be too troublesome. All we want is the purple flame. Even if we kill them, we might not gain much more flame. It’s a waste of time,” Chu Jie replied.

“Begin gathering the purple flame.”

Leading his men into the thunder-struck pit, Chu Jie found the three clusters of purple flame much like those previously collected. Thanks to prior experience, this time the gathering went smoothly, and soon all three were fully absorbed.

Just then, another purplish-red bolt of lightning struck nearby.

“Let’s go, keep moving,” Chu Jie urged.

They had to collect as much purple flame as possible during this time. No one knew when the flames might cease appearing, so they must seize every opportunity.

This time, Chu Jie headed away from the Windiron Forest.

But when they arrived at the new location, the purple flame was gone, only an empty pit left behind—clearly blasted by lightning.

Chu Jie focused and sensed someone nearby. Eventually, he spotted signs on the ground.

With a slash of the Wolong Blade, he tore open the earth, revealing a cave from which several warriors crawled out, looking disheveled.

About twenty warriors emerged, all at the Spirit Convergence Realm but of relatively low level—none above the fifth level.

“So you gathered the purple flame? Hand it over,” Chu Jie said coldly. “And everything else on you as well.”

These twenty had intended to guard the pit to kill others and seize the flame. But they hadn’t expected the golden-armored warrior to arrive. Regret was useless now.

The leader threw out four clusters of purple flame, then produced their treasures and mysterious crystals.

Grim-faced, the others reluctantly handed over their belongings. All the spoils were piled on the ground.

Chu Jie strode forward, waving his hand to absorb everything into the Barbaric Cauldron.

“You may leave now,” he said.

They quickly departed, all deeply frustrated but relieved to have escaped with their lives.

Yet their luck ran out. After traveling some distance, they encountered another golden-armored warrior.

Like the previous thirty, they wished to negotiate, but the warrior gave them no chance. Diving from the sky wielding a long blade, he slaughtered them all with single, fatal strikes.

Chu Jie remained unaware of this.

After collecting these spoils, Chu Jie and his group immediately departed to await the next purple flame.

Sometimes, the purplish-red lightning struck close by, and Chu Jie would arrive quickly to claim the flame. By the time others arrived, only a deep pit remained.

Yet wherever Chu Jie passed, warriors kept dying—as if something trailed him, leaving death in its wake. Or perhaps it was mere coincidence.

“Thirty clusters of purple flame!”

After gathering for some time, they had amassed thirty clusters, each stored within energy orbs—an eerie sight.

However, none of the people they encountered knew how to cultivate using the purple flame, which frustrated Chu Jie somewhat.

He felt the purple flame was insufficient and resolved to continue collecting it. If the flame truly aided cultivation, each cluster’s power would rival that of a Spirit-Gathering Pill.

Driven by thunder’s guidance, Chu Jie and his men ruthlessly seized every cluster of purple flame wherever the purplish-red lightning struck.

If they encountered cultivators, they forced them to surrender all their belongings before leaving. If none were present, they took the flame outright.

With each raid, the amount of purple flame grew steadily.

“Forty clusters of purple flame!”

“Forty-five clusters!”

...

“Eighty clusters!”

Many warriors were stripped bare by Chu Jie’s raids. Worse still, after being robbed, some met true golden-armored warriors and were slain.

But some survived.

These survivors, after losing their purple flame, treasures, and cultivation materials to Chu Jie, no longer sought to gather more purple flame. Instead, they plotted to eliminate Chu Jie and reclaim what he had taken.

Having plundered so many, Chu Jie undoubtedly possessed substantial cultivation resources, comparable to a walking treasure trove.

Hence, many gathered forces, preparing to strike against him.

Though Chu Jie’s recent kill count was low, the spoils were vast. His collection of artifacts had already reached fifty—enough to arm the entire Mad Dog Battalion.

Moreover, he had amassed numerous pills, eliminating the need to purchase any in the future.

In addition, he gathered plenty of mysterious crystals, which he placed in the crystal pile—both replenishing what he used and adding surplus.