After leaving the Sea of Fire Trees, the three dragons headed straight for the Land of Gold Sources. According to Lan Qing’s map, it would take at least seven days to arrive.
Originally, the farthest destination in their journey was the Heavy Water Sea. However, with the acquisition of Sunken Ice Crystals from the Sea of Fire Trees, there was no need to go to the Heavy Water Sea. Rumor had it that the Heavy Water Sea was filled with sea monsters, and the Sunken Ice Crystals were deep in the ocean, making it extremely difficult to retrieve. So, in a way, the Empire had done them a big favor.
What remained unknown was how the Empire’s team would feel when they next went to the Sea of Fire Trees and got beaten up by the phoenixes.
“Follow the Empire, and wealth is guaranteed.” Fu Qing even summed up a path to riches. According to him, with the Empire’s vast power, they must have their own sources of wealth. Just like the Sea of Fire Trees, the Empire knew that cutting off the source was ineffective, but they didn’t care.
Besides this Sea of Fire Trees, they must have other targets. Once they had exhausted the phoenixes here, they would retrieve the Sunken Ice Crystals and move on to plunder another group of phoenixes. During their absence, the ecosystem of the Sea of Fire Trees would gradually recover, and soon another group of phoenixes would come to roost and reproduce. With such vast resources, who else could compete with the Empire?
After sharing his thoughts, Fu Qing came up with many reasons to convince his two teammates, as he knew that those who relied on luck were generally not fond of conflicts and often thought that those with strength lacked intelligence. However, to Fu Qing’s surprise, his two teammates unanimously agreed with his idea.
“Don’t need to say anything else—let’s rob them!” Shu Bao slapped Jinzi’s head with a paw. Jinzi continued to fly steadily forward.
Lan Qing followed suit and tapped Yinzi’s head with the tip of his tail, saying, “Rob their ducks!” Yinzi felt a bit itchy and shook his head, nearly tossing Lan Qing off.
“Right, not even a duck should be spared,” Shu Bao nodded in agreement.
Fu Qing looked at his two teammates, who were even more excited than he was, and felt that his calm demeanor made him seem out of place.
However, no matter how high their spirits were, after several days of travel, all three were somewhat exhausted. Shu Bao and Lan Qing were better off, as they could rest on the dragon cubs’ heads when tired. Fu Qing, on the other hand, had it worse. Given his large size, lying down wasn’t impossible, but turning over often meant rolling off, and he currently had a buff that prevented him from flying.
As they continued flying west, the terrain and environment changed significantly. Large areas of forest began to disappear, and the glowing plants on the ground became increasingly sparse. The colors of the plant light also shifted to metallic hues like gold, copper green, and reddish iron.
Shu Bao, only after entering the Chaotic World, realized how even lights of the same color could have so many variations, which might be a unique feature of the Chaotic World.
By the sixth day, plant life on the ground had become very scarce. When they landed to set up camp, they found the land beneath their feet had become extremely hard, with some areas covered in massive metallic rocks. Flying at low altitude, they saw numerous exposed iron ore deposits on the surface!
This scene made Shu Bao, who was desperately short of minerals, quite envious. He even wanted to grab a pickaxe and start mining right away. However, Shu Bao knew that his single strength was limited and he couldn’t mine much alone. Unfortunately, he couldn’t bring the tribe members along; otherwise, the source of metal wouldn’t be a problem.
“This should be the outskirts of the Land of Gold Sources. It’s said that the central area of the Land of Gold Sources has no soil at all; what you see underfoot are various metal ores. Golden snails also grow there,” Lan Qing explained while flipping through a book of notes.
“Let’s find a spot to set up camp,” Shu Bao said, pointing to a small valley not far off, “That looks good.”
Lan Qing and Fu Qing looked over and found the area quite ordinary, with only a few sparse glowing plants. The two had no particular requirements for the campsite, so they nodded in agreement and landed.
As soon as the dragonlings landed, they immediately set off in groups to find food. After reaching the Land of Gold Sources, the number of flying magical beasts in the sky sharply decreased. Even the occasional ones that flew by were mostly inconvenient to eat due to their metallic parts.
Thus, the dragonlings had to search for food during the camping. Clearly, the Land of Gold Sources was not an ideal place for them to live.
Once they landed, Fu Qing skillfully set up a comfortable tent. Outside the tent, Shu Bao and Lan Qing were starting a fire. The wood that grew in the Land of Gold Sources was mostly difficult to ignite, but they weren’t worried. They had plenty of wood collected from the Sea of Fire Trees. They discovered that using a phoenix feather as fuel could easily light the plants of the Land of Gold Sources.
Of course, normally no one would waste phoenix feathers like this; most people preferred to use them in potions or apothecaries to maximize their benefits.
Once the fire was going, the coldness surrounded by metal seemed to diminish a bit, but the metallic taste in the air was even stronger.
After setting up the tent, Fu Qing joined the campfire, pulling out a piece of meat to roast for dinner. Lan Qing was roasting corn, and Shu Bao was cooking grasshoppers. Under the firelight, the scene looked quite harmonious.
As the aroma of the roasted meat spread, Fu Qing suddenly remembered the grilled meat they had at the bottom of the pond. Although eating it in the water was difficult, the taste had been quite good. He asked, “Do you still have any of that grilled meat?”
The green snake on the opposite side showed no reaction, occasionally nudging the corn with its tail to check its doneness.
After a moment, Fu Qing asked again, “Not-so-ugly snake, do you still have any grilled meat?”
“Grilled meat? What grilled meat?” Lan Qing looked up in confusion.
“The kind you had at the bottom of the pond that day!” Fu Qing felt that the green snake was pretending to be clueless.
Lan Qing tilted his head and then realized, “Oh! That wasn’t grilled meat, that was glowing meat!”
“What’s the difference? Isn’t it all grilled meat?” Fu Qing found it puzzling.
“Of course, there’s a difference!” Lan Qing replied firmly. “Grilled meat is just meat! Glowing meat is a potion!”
This was the first time Fu Qing had heard such a distinction. “No! Grilled meat is meat! Glowing meat is also meat!”
“No, no! I made the glowing meat myself. I’m an apothecary, so it’s a potion!” Lan Qing corrected him seriously once more.
Just as Fu Qing was about to continue the debate, Shu Bao suddenly shouted loudly, “That’s right! Glowing meat is a potion!”
Lan Qing looked at his furry teammate grinning and showing his little venomous fangs, and agreed, “That’s right, just like that!”
Shu Bao slapped his hand and declared, “The minority obeys the majority, it’s decided!”
Fu Qing was left bewildered. What kind of logic was this? The distinction clearly had problems! And he had just wanted to ask if there was any more of that meat, how did it turn into a debate about meat classification?
In the end, Fu Qing received two pieces of glowing meat generously gifted by the snake teammate.
“Here, try these two pieces of potion. You’ll find they’re quite unique,” Lan Qing said, looking at the confused Fu Qing. He thought to himself that the so-called ‘powerful’ team members really didn’t understand much; they couldn’t even distinguish between potions and grilled meat.
As for Shu Bao, the clever and furry teammate, he received ten pieces of glowing meat. Shu Bao quietly stored them in his system space, relieved by the confident attitude of the snake teammate. This was much better; otherwise, if they only ate vegetables, what if he ended up malnourished when he transformed into a dragon in the future?
“Lan Qing, I think glowing meat as a potion has great development potential. When I get back, I’ll catch more animals to send to you so you can research more flavors,” Shu Bao encouraged.
“Sure!” The obedient snake nodded and then sincerely suggested, “It would be even better if you could bring some plants and fruits from the real world. They might also have amazing effects.”
Shu Bao pondered for a moment, finding the suggestion quite reasonable. “Alright, I’ll do that. I’ll bring back any plants and animals the tribe collects that we can’t eat.”
Fu Qing, who had been lingering over the classification of glowing meat, was quick to shift focus to the trade. “Count me in! My base is in the tropics, so we have plenty of resources.”
“Great! Gather as much as you can!” Lan Qing, with a flourish, tapped his chest with the tip of his tail.
After dinner, the three of them returned to the tent to rest. The tent Fu Qing had set up was a comfortable one from the system, designed for two people, but it was more than spacious enough for one person, one mouse, and one snake, and even felt quite roomy.
After the dragon cubs returned from foraging, they quietly settled down, avoiding any fights among themselves. They formed a circle around the tent and began to sleep.
Gradually, the campfire outside the tent dimmed. As everyone drifted into sleep, Yinzi began to snore loudly.
Despite the noisy snoring, the three inside the tent, accustomed to their travels, slept soundly. Jinzi, outside the tent, opened his eyes and nudged Yinzi with his foot. When the snoring didn’t stop, he simply went back to sleep himself.
After a good night’s rest, even without the sun, the disciplined trio woke up early the next day. Outside the tent, it was still pitch dark, with only the faint light from glowing plants dotting the world.
Following their familiar routine of washing up and having breakfast, Jinzi and Lai Fu managed to wake up Yinzi with some dragging and biting. The three dragonlings set off together again to hunt. They also needed to find a water source to wash up, or they might be scolded by their parents during the flight.
Not long after the dragonlings left, Shu Bao and Lan Qing were washing up at a water cup when they suddenly heard voices approaching. Shu Bao twitched his small ears, easily distinguishing that more than one person was coming, suggesting a group was approaching.
Fu Qing, hearing this, quickly packed up the tent. “It should be some miners. We might as well ask them about the situation in the Land of Gold Sources.”
Lan Qing nodded and reminded them, “Don’t forget to take your potions in the morning. One piece will light up the whole day and keep you energetic all day long!”
Shu Bao paused while brushing his teeth and nodded repeatedly, “Yes, yes, yes!”
Fu Qing: “…” What were these two up to? Did their thoughts really need to jump around like that?
