Chapter 444. Crimson Flame Ice Lotus

Ye Feng was growing impatient with Huaihuai’s overreaction and hurriedly asked, “What exactly is this place?”

“This is a remnant from the dinosaur era—prehistoric civilization!” Huaihuai tossed out the answer, startling Ye Feng.

“No way! The dinosaur era? I thought dinosaurs were extinct on the surface. How could they possibly be here?” Ye Feng felt the world had gone mad, as if fate kept throwing him into the strangest situations.

“You should know that at the end of the dinosaur era, volcanoes erupted all over the planet because of tectonic movements, right?” Huaihuai explained as he questioned Ye Feng.

“Are you saying this cave was formed by the earth’s crust sinking into the sea?” Ye Feng countered.

“You got part of it right. After a series of future investigations into the dinosaur era, the conclusion was drawn that the locations of seas and deserts back then were totally different from those of later times. This place was originally a mountain, which sank due to tectonic shifts, and afterward, seawater flooded it. That’s how this cave came to be. It also explains why there’s no water inside—the seawater rushed in all at once, and the oxygen inside held it back,” Huaihuai explained.

“There aren’t still dinosaurs alive here, are there?” Ye Feng asked with a laugh.

“There shouldn’t be. I’ve never heard of dinosaurs living on mountains. But you could look around for any rare treasures—there might be some here,” Huaihuai replied with a grin.

“Really?” Ye Feng asked, surprised.

“Of course. This place has at least ten thousand years of history. Mountains have always produced the most rare treasures, and no one harvested them back then. If they’re still growing, imagine what they could be like,” Huaihuai said mysteriously.

“You’re sure it’s not dangerous here?” Ye Feng asked again, uneasy.

“I’m sure. You can have the engineering team come down to start renovations. It may not compare to the surface, but it’s not far off, especially the cave entrance—it’s easy to defend and hard to attack. Even if the Chilong arrive, we could hold out for a long time,” Huaihuai assured him.

“Let’s hope you’re right,” Ye Feng muttered before issuing orders to Ye Tianhua.

Soon, a hundred thousand engineers arrived to survey the land and prepare for reconstruction.

The situation was even smoother than Ye Feng had anticipated; the specialists told him the area was very suitable for habitation. The bedrock, compacted by millennia, was extremely solid, so there was no need to lay foundations for buildings, saving a lot of trouble. They could build multi-story housing—enough for everyone in the Ocean Fortress to live comfortably.

After hearing Ye Tianhua’s report, Ye Feng nodded and urged them to start work quickly. He then briefly informed the women and slipped away alone, heading to search for the rare treasures Huaihuai had mentioned.

Heavenly Dragons were indeed miraculous creatures. They were born able to fly, living up to the name “dragon.” Strangely enough, Ye Feng could fly as well. When he first began practicing the Heavenly Dragon cultivation method, he accidentally jumped and discovered he could fly—even though he hadn’t regained much strength and was only at the Yellow rank. Amazed, he had immediately asked Huaihuai about it.

After Huaihuai’s analysis, the conclusion was that the Heavenly Dragon’s meridians enabled flight.

Since there was no danger in the cave, Ye Feng flew about with abandon while Huaihuai scanned the surrounding flora, marveling once again at the wonders of creation.

Soon, Huaihuai spotted something and cried out excitedly, “Oh heavens, Ye Feng, guess what I found! Head northeast, to that small hill—there’s something amazing there.”

Following Huaihuai’s instructions, Ye Feng flew toward the northeast, asking as he went, “What did you find that’s got you so worked up?”

“Scarlet Flame Ice Lotus!” Huaihuai exclaimed.

“What? That name’s strange. Are you sure? ‘Scarlet Flame’ should be hot, ‘Ice Lotus’ should be cold—how could they be the same thing?” Ye Feng was puzzled, trying to picture it in his mind but failing to make sense of it.

“It’s indeed one thing, and legendary at that. It represents the ultimate fusion of ice and fire,” Huaihuai explained.

“How is that possible? Wouldn’t ice melt if it encountered fire?” Ye Feng asked.

“You’re wrong. Ice that’s endured for ten thousand years can’t be melted by ordinary flames; only magma can do that. The wonder of the Scarlet Flame Ice Lotus lies exactly here. It originally grew as a snow lotus on a snowy mountain, gradually transforming into an ice lotus after being covered by snow and ice for ages, developing remarkable resistance to cold. Then, either volcanic eruptions or tectonic shifts caused it to sink underground, where it was baked by magma. As I said, ten-thousand-year ice is incredibly hard to melt—it’s a slow process. During that long period, the ice lotus absorbed the energy of fire. When the ice finally melted, the lotus had become immune to fire, hence the name Scarlet Flame Ice Lotus,” Huaihuai elaborated.

“That’s extraordinary. Are there many of these in the future?” Ye Feng asked.

“There are plenty in the future, but those are artificially cultivated and not very valuable. What we’ve found is wild, and its effects will far surpass your imagination!” Huaihuai replied with a grin.

“What exactly does it do? Can’t you just tell me all at once, instead of teasing me?” Ye Feng said impatiently, as he neared the hill.

“A wild Scarlet Flame Ice Lotus needs at least ten thousand years to grow, so the energy it absorbs is immense, and extremely intense. As you said, ice and fire are irreconcilable, yet they’ve fused—what a terrifying and wondrous thing. Imagine what would happen if you ate it,” Huaihuai laughed.

“I feel uneasy when you say that. It won’t explode, will it?” Ye Feng asked.

“I’ve never seen anyone eat a wild Scarlet Flame Ice Lotus, but I’ve seen plenty eat the cultivated kind. There’s no problem, though the beginning is quite painful—like when you reconstructed your body, experiencing both ice and fire at once,” Huaihuai joked.

Ye Feng immediately thought of the agony he’d endured in the secret chamber, and his flying body shuddered involuntarily. “You’re not serious, right? I nearly died last time!”

“It’s not so bad, though there’ll be some discomfort. Maybe you should take it back and analyze it before eating,” Huaihuai advised.

“Don’t let me go through that pain again. I couldn’t bear it,” Ye Feng said, still haunted by the memory.

At that moment, Ye Feng saw the legendary Scarlet Flame Ice Lotus—a large blossom, its petals shimmering with threads of blue and red light, dazzlingly beautiful from afar.

[End of Chapter]