Chapter 15

The Sixth Brigade is divided into three teams, which take turns on alert and rest. Lei Meng ultimately assigned Zhou Lu to the Third Team, which was responsible for patrolling the outskirts of the mine tonight.

At the foot of the Western Mountain, a dense forest stretched out. Under the hazy new moon, the massive mountain cast a huge shadow, like a dormant prehistoric beast, silent yet full of danger.

Zhou Lu rode his horse in the middle of the team.

The patrol team set off from the foot of the mountain and traveled west for several miles, then circled around Wild Boar Hill and Ghost Feather Forest before returning to the foot of the mountain. In the dark forest, when a sharp arrow whizzed past and pinned a mountain badger to the ground, Zhou Lu suddenly understood why the hunters in the team had such joyful expressions when they set out.

It turned out that they could hunt and feast during routine patrols. Anyone who had eaten countless days of dry military rations would be tempted by the sizzling, oily mountain delicacies.

Zhou Lu and the hunters beside him let out a low cheer. One hunter leaned down from his horse and picked up the still twitching mountain badger, placing it on his horse.

With the steady hoofbeats, the entire team moved even faster.

With a precedent set, Zhou Lu became more unrestrained. The savage qi in his dantian circulated continuously, making him feel as if he had merged with the entire forest. In this dark forest, Zhou Lu almost had the instincts of a wild beast. Often, before others even noticed, Zhou Lu's arrow would already pierce the throat of a hidden prey.

The team's haul of game quickly became so rich that it made people marvel.

With each low cheer, the hunters' gazes towards Zhou Lu gradually became filled with awe.

His divine archery skills were indeed mind-blowing.

"Rest at the gentle slope ahead."

The temporary team leader's order delighted everyone. They galloped to the gentle slope, with some climbing trees to keep watch, others dragging the game to the river to clean and skin, and the rest gathering firewood to start a bonfire. Soon, the aroma of roasting meat wafted from the flames.

The hunters turned the iron skewers, excitedly discussing in low voices.

Zhou Lu was also infected by this mood, sitting contentedly by the bonfire, stretching his hands towards the flames to warm himself. As the flames danced, his clothes gradually warmed from the inside out, and the warm comfort made Zhou Lu almost moan. He greedily moved closer to the fire, feeling the warmth seep into his body.

Suddenly, Zhou Lu froze.

In that instant, he felt the demonic fire in his dantian convey a joyful emotion.

A light flashed in Zhou Lu's mind, and he suddenly realized: Could the demonic fire need heat to replenish the energy it consumes?

Zhou Lu thought deeper: What is fire? Isn't it the light and heat produced by burning objects? Isn't the essence of fire a form of thermal energy?

Although Zhou Lu didn't know what kind of fire the demonic fire in his dantian was, heat should be a common form of energy for fire.

So, by absorbing heat from the outside, could the demonic fire grow stronger?

With this realization, Zhou Lu was enlightened. He quickly calmed down, closed his eyes, and carefully observed the direction of the warm sensation.

The bonfire made Zhou Lu increasingly warm, the sweat on his chest armor evaporated, and beads of sweat gradually appeared on his forehead.

The warm sensation permeated his body.

Zhou Lu "saw" that in his dantian, the pale purple demonic fire clearly enjoyed the warmth, and its movements became slightly more vigorous.

Zhou Lu's heart pounded with excitement. After careful observation, he finally confirmed that roasting by the fire indeed made the demonic fire more spirited. After a while, the demonic fire no longer looked like it could easily go out.

Zhou Lu was overjoyed to understand this.

Although roasting by the fire to transfer energy was too slow, it might take months to replenish the demonic fire's energy, but at least Zhou Lu had found a way to evolve the demonic fire.

The hunters nearby gradually noticed Zhou Lu's abnormal behavior. Seeing that this divine archer could meditate even during rest, they all looked extremely admiring.

To avoid disturbing Zhou Lu, everyone tried not to make any noise, even lowering their voices when speaking.

"Look at Brother Zhou Lu, how hard he trains. His divine archery skills didn't come from nowhere."

"Yes, yes, every hero on the wasteland has gone through countless trials..."

"Brother Zhou Lu is our role model. From today, our training intensity will increase by thirty percent. No one should complain, got it..."

The temporary team leader's order made everyone nod firmly.

After understanding the method to replenish the demonic fire's energy, Zhou Lu felt a long-standing knot in his heart finally untied, and he was greatly relieved. He thought that once the demonic fire grew stronger, he could find some medicinal herbs to eat and let the demonic fire help him refine them, which would greatly accelerate his cultivation.

Thinking about suddenly appearing at the Tian Yao List competition and excitedly trampling those who once looked down on him, with countless beautiful women cheering in surprise...

Zhou Lu's saliva unconsciously dripped down.

The temporary team leader, who was praising Zhou Lu, suddenly stared with wide eyes.

The team leader's expression attracted all the hunters, who looked at Zhou Lu. They saw the fat man, who was meditating solemnly, with a lecherous smile and a long trail of saliva.

All the hunters felt their faith about to collapse and angrily gave Zhou Lu the middle finger: He's indeed a little rascal, even his meditating expression is so lewd.

The bonfire continuously transferred heat to the demonic fire in Zhou Lu's dantian.

Zhou Lu's mind slowly invaded the demonic fire, and gradually, he felt his consciousness merge with the demonic fire, as if he had become a cluster of leaping heat energy.

Zhou Lu's mind transformed into heat energy and extended outward. Suddenly, his consciousness extended through the heat to the bonfire outside, merging with it. Each movement of the bonfire felt like it came from his own instinct.

Zhou Lu's heart suddenly tightened, startling himself: I actually became a pile of fire?

He didn't know that the demonic fire was a form of life, far superior to ordinary fire. The high-level heat energy easily controlled every change in the ordinary fire's heat.

Zhou Lu's mind was surprised as it looked around in the flames. At that moment, he was the leaping heat, and every thought could control the light and heat of the flames to change at will.

This was an innate fire control ability the demonic fire bestowed upon Zhou Lu.

"What a magical feeling."

Gradually, Zhou Lu became familiar with the beauty of burning and became increasingly excited. He no longer rushed to withdraw from this state but instead fully immersed himself in the perception of fire.

Zhou Lu's mind slowly and perfectly merged with the bonfire in front of him. At that moment, he felt that a single thought could make the flames take on countless shapes.

On the other side, a hunter was about to tear off a roasted mountain badger thigh from the iron skewer, but someone suddenly poked him.

"What are you doing?"

The hunter turned his head in annoyance and was immediately stunned.

All the hunters' gazes were drawn to the bonfire in front of Zhou Lu.

The flames of the bonfire suddenly rose, burning fiercely, and transformed into a sexy and alluring woman, full of charm and allure. Her chest, especially, was so high that it made people's noses bleed, and as she danced, it made people's hearts itch.

The trembling sensation was so real that it made everyone feel hot all over.

All the hunters opened their mouths wide, their faces flushed and their blood pumping as they watched the bizarre scene. The hunter who was about to tear off the badger thigh forgot about it, thrust his iron skewer into the ground, and cautiously approached the bonfire, his hand slowly reaching out to grab the two mounds.

In an instant, the woman disappeared, and a rocket of fire shot directly at the hunter's face.

The hunter fell backward in shock, screaming, "A monster! There's a fire monster!"

The entire team was in an uproar, the sound of metal clashing as everyone drew their weapons and tensely guarded their chests.

Only then did Zhou Lu, the instigator, jump up with an exaggerated expression, looking around and shouting:

"Where? Where is the fire monster?"