NOVEL WEB Chapter 150 Magma River
Seven days later, the magma receded.
In an underground void of Boiling Spring Valley, the cave was eerily quiet; the surrounding soil and rocks bore the scars of scorching and melting.
With a crash, a large chunk of rock suddenly fell from the rocky wall, revealing a pitch-black hole behind it, right after which Zhao Sheng emerged, his face covered in ash and dirt.
Breathing in the hot, murky air of the cave, Zhao Sheng was rendered speechless, albeit with a slight sense of fortunate relief having survived a disaster.
Undoubtedly, the magma eruption three days prior had completely altered the terrain of Boiling Spring Valley and, incidentally, destroyed the Zhou family's millennium of effort.
Zhao Sheng composed himself, released his Divine Sense, and began to search for an exit along this magma-forged passage.
An hour later, having traversed many a false and dead-end path, Zhao Sheng felt he was nearing the surface, with one sign being the substantial drop in temperature around him.
After a while, Zhao Sheng walked through a rough and uneven trench.
By then, he could feel fresh air coming from the end of the path.
Joy surged within Zhao Sheng, and Spiritual Power within him turned sharply, lifting him from the ground, ready to fly out of there.
Just at that moment, a figure flashed by the end of the trench.
Zhao Sheng's gaze sharpened, and his right hand quickly brushed over his Storage Bag, suddenly holding two Concentrating God Talismans and an Invisibility Talisman.
In an instant, he concealed his presence, vanished from sight, and pressed his body into a recess on the top of the trench.
Soon, a silhouette rushed past below, heading deeper into the trench.
"It's him!"
Even though the person moved extremely fast, Zhao Sheng still recognized his identity.
"Zhou Yingze!"
The current Family Head of the Zhou family, a Perfect Foundation Establishment Cultivator, Zhou Yingze—supposedly their most important target—was actually alive!
This greatly surprised Zhao Sheng.
However, seeing his pale face and feeble aura, it was clear that he was seriously injured.
Zhao Sheng knew that the Zhou family was doomed, but why did Zhou Yingze dare to enter Boiling Spring Valley at such a critical juncture, risking discovery? There must be a significant scheme at play.
Without any hesitation, Zhao Sheng concealed his breath and quietly followed.
Zhou Yingze was gravely injured; while the damage to his meridians and internal organs was secondary, the more severe injury was to his Divine Soul, which had been struck by the Ice Soul Divine Light, freezing a soul and a spirit.
If he did not find treatment quickly, by the time the extreme Yin coldness fully infiltrated his Divine Soul, his death would be certain.
Therefore, he had to risk his life to enter Boiling Spring Valley, in search of a certain Treasure hidden deep underground.
About a quarter of an hour later, after flying through seven or eight forks in the path, he arrived at a spacious cave where Zhou Yingze stopped. Then he released a palm-sized black-furred mouse with only its pair of eyes shining a bright red, like rubies.
Once the mouse touched the ground, it squeaked twice and then scurried rapidly into the depths below.
Zhou Yingze's face brightened with joy, and he quickly followed.
Zhao Sheng didn't dare to follow too closely, nor did he use his Divine Sense to investigate; he simply tracked cautiously using his Spiritual Smell.
In the days that followed, Zhou Yingze passed through countless Melt Cave tunnels, sometimes having to make his own paths when none existed, with this task alone consuming a great deal of time.
After squeezing through a narrow and uneven crevice, Zhao Sheng saw a dim red light shining ahead, and of course, the wave of heat that hit his face.
Zhao Sheng's figure paused, then slowly floated towards the entrance of the tunnel, completely concealing himself, cautiously releasing only a sliver of his Divine Sense.
The next second, his field of vision suddenly widened, revealing an underground cavern before his eyes – below was a surging, boiling river of crimson lava, giant fire bubbles swelled and burst within, and tongues and pillars of fire spouted from the rock crevices, eventually turning into flows of molten rock that merged into the sea of fire below.
"Is this a lava... river?"
Zhao Sheng peeked out from the crevices, observing the thick lava slowly flowing along the riverbed, turning corners from one rock fissure to another, or splitting into even more branches. However, due to the force of gravity, the lava river ultimately flowed into deeper strata.
Surveying the cavern, he easily spotted Zhou Yingze's figure.
At this moment, he stood at the edge of the Magma River, staring motionlessly as if confronted with a dilemma.
Zhao Sheng's gaze quickly found the source of his trouble.
Above the Magma River, that thing was quite conspicuous, its pitch-black body bobbing in the red-hot lava, occasionally twisting - a sign it was a living creature.
Perhaps Zhou Yingze had been watching for too long, for that creature was extremely sensitive – its body suddenly twisted and rose, revealing a wide, flat, and substantial head.
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In the next instant, six molten gold, fiery pupils opened at once, six beams of golden light extended over a foot out of their sockets, staring directly at Zhou Yingze in a scene that was quite shocking,
Zhou Yingze's body noticeably stiffened.
"Molten Gold Frog?"
Zhao Sheng too, was startled, a name suddenly leapt to his mind.
When the demon finally emerged completely from the lava, Zhao Sheng got a clear view of its entirety.
It propped up its massive body, roughly ten feet tall, covered in dark gold scale armor – molten lava flowed out of the gaps in the scale armor seemingly without bothering the formidable creature.
Zhou Yingze moved very cautiously, immediately stepping back and assuming a defensive posture.
If it had been in the past, the Molten Gold Frog might be strong, but it would not be his match.
But now he was not only severely wounded, his handy Spiritual Artifacts and talismans were either lost or used up, his strength reduced to less than half of his usual.
Above the Magma River, the Molten Gold Frog, irritated by the creature that disturbed its sleep, hissed and roared – the three pairs of golden pupils dilated fiercely, and suddenly, blinding golden light shone in the dim cavern.
Zhou Yingze cursed under his breath and his figure abruptly retreated – a moment too late, and six arm-thick beams of golden light would have pierced six bottomless holes in his original location, their edges glowing red, molten rock dripping into them.
The six beams of golden light had shot out from the pupil of the Molten Gold Frog – their core temperature was several magnitudes higher than that of lava, comparable to high-energy lasers, incredibly potent.
If struck by these beams of light, ordinary defensive Spiritual Artifacts would be as fragile as paper, thoroughly useless.
After the attack missed, the Molten Gold Frog seemed visibly agitated. It thrashed twice on the Magma River, crying out loudly, wanting to leap over but hesitating – in the end, it could only release its golden light again, and not surprisingly, missed yet again.
"Eh?"
Witnessing this, Zhao Sheng's mind stirred.
The Molten Gold Frog clearly was not one to easily tolerate provocation, but despite Zhou Yingze's repeated taunts, it remained above the Magma River, preferring to spray and bellow angrily rather than leave its spot.
By this time, Zhao Sheng had realized that there must be something hidden beneath the Molten Gold Frog.
With this discovery, Zhao Sheng also noticed that Zhou Yingze, while entangled with the Molten Gold Frog, kept his eyes fixed on the area beneath the creature.
After a lengthy struggle between man and demon, Zhou Yingze had already figured out the Molten Gold Frog's main attacks.
So, taking advantage of dodging another golden light attack, Zhou Yingze chanted a Spell and suddenly lifted his hands upward.
Two vortices formed suddenly on the sides of the Molten Gold Frog's body, as if an invisible hand was stirring within them, and suddenly exploded upwards, sending a torrent of red-hot lava into the air, carrying with it a whirlwind of scorching heat.