Lin Mu and Little Shrubby ended up staying at the volcano for about five days. After that point, the fire attribute spirit Qi in the air dramatically decreased.
~shua~
The vortex that was spinning above them stopped and faded away, prompting Lin Mu and Little Shrubby to wake up.
"Huh?" Lin Mu looked around.
"What happened to the spirit Qi?" Little Shrubby questioned.
"What do you think happened? You two drained all of the spirit Qi in the area." Xukong chuckled.
"Ah! Never thought that would happen…" Lin Mu felt a bit awkward.
"Aww, I was liking that." Little Shrubby spoke.
"We'll find some other place. I'm sure the place where the Thousand Year old Hong Lin trees grow should also have more fire attribute spirit Qi there." Lin Mu consoled.
"Okay…" Little Shrubby replied before standing up.
Lin Mu spread his spirit sense around and could really tell that the concentration of fire attribute spirit Qi in the air had considerably fallen. It was even lower than the Xiaofan world.
Even the Northern town had a greater concentration of spirit Qi than what was present here right now.
"How long will it take for spirit Qi to be replenished here Senior?" Lin Mu questioned.
"Well, that depends on several factors and the kind of spirit Qi you are talking about. The normal attribute spirit Qi will soon spread here from the surrounding areas, but the fire attribute spirit Qi will take a while to be produced.
The way the fire attribute spirit Qi is produced is in two ways. The first is that the volcano emits fire attribute spirit Qi naturally, and this comes from the depths of the earth. Then there is the lava and heat itself which can slowly turn normal spirit Qi into fire attribute spirit Qi after long periods of contacts." Xukong answered.
"I see… so I'm guessing it will take several weeks?" Lin Mu asked.
"If it is fast enough, yes… but may take several months instead. You shouldn't forget the fact that you two aren't the only ones who are absorbing spirit Qi here. There should be several beasts and spirit herbs too that need it.
The beasts should have already moved out due to Little Shrubby's presence, but the spirit herbs should still be here." Xukong replied.
"Oh yeah! The spirit herbs! I almost forgot about them. I should go and get them too." Lin Mu spoke.
"Yes, they will help you too." Xukong replied.
Lin Mu looked at little Shrubby and said, "let's get the spirit herbs that are around here."
"Okay~" Little Shrubby replied and the two of them flew up.
The area directly close to the mouth of the volcano was very hot, so much so that even the armor of the Mortal Strengthening scripture was unable to prevent the heat from affecting Lin Mu.
As for Little Shrubby, it was still possible for him to stay there, but he certainly would not be able to get close to the lava and it would hurt him as well. But this was only for the lava that was in the mouth of the volcano.
The lava that was flowing out from the sides and had formed into the streams was cool enough that both Little Shrubby and Lin Mu could touch them without many problems. This was certainly not normal and any common cultivator at the same level as them would lose their hands if they did the same.
This point was important, since there were some herbs that were growing directly in the middle of those streams and lava pools.
"There's one," Lin Mu said as he spotted an orange bell like flower growing in the center of a lava pool. Half of its stem was soaking in the lava while the top petals were above the lava.
"That's the Fire Drip Bell Flower, I remember it is used in high grade pill." Lin Mu spoke.
"I found something, too!" Little Shrubby said in his mind.
"What is it?" Lin Mu asked.
"It looked like a rock like fruit, it stuck in the side of a cliff." Little Shrubby spoke.
The two of them had split up and were searching separately, thus could not see what each other did. Currently in front of Little Shrubby was a cliff, and embedded in it was what looked like a bulbous plant.
The bulb was embedded deep in the rocks of the cliff and looked almost the same as that of the rocks surrounding it. If it were not for the spirit Qi fluctuations coming from it, Little Shrubby would have missed it entirely.
"Okay, mark it and I'll come to get it later." Lin Mu replied.
Several herbs had different methods of harvesting that depended on their type. These harvesting methods were used so that the least amount of damage was caused to the spirit herb and most of its medicinal efficacy was preserved.
Of course, one could still rip it off directly, but then one would have to consume it right away. Little shrubby could use his prosthetic spirit tool hands, but since he did not know the right method, it was best to let Lin Mu handle it.
Having heard Lin Mu's worlds, he scratched and made marks near the bulb and flew away to find the others. Meanwhile, Lin Mu got to the Fire Drip Bell flower and got ready to harvest it.
Hot fumes were coming off the lava, but the brown armor of the mortal strengthening scripture was fully protecting Lin Mu. He very carefully sank his hands into the lava and felt around the plant to find its base.
The flower had a thick base from where it needed to be plucked so as to ensure that it won't leak out any spirit Qi and lose its efficacy.
"Found it!" Lin Mu exclaimed and gently broke off the flower from its stem.
Once that was done, a stalk and a flower were present in his hand. He nodded his head in approval and stored it in the ring before going to find more of the herbs.