Chapter 72 - Under the Volcano (1/2)

"Incredible treasures are hidden within the volcano in the undergrounds; however, it is also the prohibited area of our Gu Xia City. There are Qi Practitioners guarding each floor and the entrance into the undergrounds are sealed off, making it impossible to be infiltrated by ordinary Qi Practitioners."

The seneschal said, "In this battle between the human and monster young generation, those who are qualified to observe the battles are the honorable elders and disciples of the nobles. However, since Mr. Long is a descendant of the dragons, exemptions will be made and he may be allowed to enter the arena, whereas for the four of you…."

He looked at Hu Wensheng, Bai Xiushi and the others before he shook his head, suggesting that the four Qi Practitioners' positions were simply not high enough for them to observe the battles.

What the seneschal said was very true as the territory of Hu Wensheng and the others were located at the periphery of Gu Xia City. The status of those that occupied and ruled the periphery lands was inferior to those that occupied the mountains due to their barrenness.

Those monster Qi Practitioners who held high positions were all congregated in the mountains that surrounded the Gu Xia City – a location that had long since become synonymous with the upper echelons of their society.

An idea then struck Zhong Yue and he said, "Senior, could you please make an exemption this time for me?"

For a moment, the seneschal was reluctant to bring them into the arena but he then laughed and replied, "I too want to observe the battle… Hmm… Fine, I could give face to Mister Long by taking them with me. Let's go, follow me."

Bai Xiushi and the others immediately felt thankful and as the seneschal clapped his hands, a monster Qi Practitioner walked in from the outside. The seneschal then laughed and said, "You, guard this place, I'll take them down into the volcano."

The Qi Practitioner nodded and then got into his position.

"Mister Long, please follow me."

Zhong Yue immediately followed and not long after, the seneschal led them to the lake in the center of the city. The lake was not very big as it appeared to be about the radius of two or three miles.

The lake was already dried up and cracked when they reached there. There was a crack in the middle of the lake that demarcated it into two parts, exposing a ravine that extended down under the lake floor. The lake was also heavily guarded as they could see a few hundred Qi Practitioner sentries standing at their positions all around the lake which was even protected by the statue of the beast god that was placed beside the lake!

All this ado suggested that their purpose was not merely limited to preventing monster Qi Practitioners from intruding the prohibited areas, but also the prevention of the four aces of Swords Gate from infiltrating the volcano.

There are seals all over the lake and they appear to be different from the seals in the Devil Soul Forbidden Land. The seals here are merely for the purpose of sealing off the entrance into the volcano.

Zhong Yue followed the seneschal down the stairs and he kept on measuring the surroundings. What appeared in his sight were tall walls and which when looked at closely, one could see some water elemental totem carvings all around these walls. The expertise of both the humans and monsters, regarding water elemental totem carvings, were similarly advanced but divergently accomplished.

Other than those totem carvings, there were also huge totem pillars that were plunged deep into the bottom of the lake like stakes in order to strengthen and consolidate the effect of the seals.

Contrary to their expectations, the ambient temperature grew cooler the deeper they delved into the volcano., which was actually very wonderful. It must be the result of the arrays and the teleportation portal established by Xin Huo that was constantly siphoning away the heat of the volcano.

After entering deeper underground, the surroundings became more and more spacious and there was even a huge empty area with volcanic columns erected throughout. These columns were supporting the rocks on top of them and the lava formed volcanic lakes.one after another, which emitted intense heat.

Zhong Yue and the others, however, did not feel any heat as the scorching heat energy was absorbed away by an unknown source.

"Mister Long may be a descendant of the dragons and also a member of the nobility, but I assume that you have not seen such a scene before, am I right?"

The seneschal expression suffused in pride as he and said, "This is just the fringes of the forbidden area, the god's treasures are located a few hundred miles deeper underneath, protected by a countless number of seals that are so strong that they have drained away the surrounding lava! Such rarity of such arrays cannot be overestimated. Just imagine how precious the treasures would be judging from the arrays that were set up just for protection by the god before he died!"

Zhong Yue could only continue nodding his head while he felt a little bit awkward, They wouldn't ever know that Xin Huo went through all this trouble just to send me to the moon to sense the spirits and become a Qi Practitioner… Gosh, Xin Huo you fool, how many monster Qi Practitioners lost their lives because of you?

In his psyche ocean, the little fiery figure felt very smug and a flaming tail grew out from his butt, just like a little fire demon.

As they went even deeper, the surroundings became even spacious. Inside the volcano, the walls stretched outwards, making them look like gigantic mushrooms between which, were black rocky bridges that connected them together. These bridges were often a few miles long and one could continuously walk towards the bottom level of the volcano if they followed the bridge.

"Be careful of your top, there are killing arrays hidden everywhere above."

The seneschal pointed towards the top and said, "The god who built everything here was a sly and cunning god. Everything would still be fine if you walked on these bridges properly, but if you tried to fly, the killing arrays will be triggered and you will be killed instantly."

In his psyche ocean, Xing Huo's tail raised up high and he showed a "quickly praise me" expression.

As time passed, they had gotten nearly a hundred miles deep into the underground where there was lava flowing all over the walls like cascading waterfalls. Torrid lava flowed down from the steep walls to somewhere unknown. However, the temperature around was still very cooling and so they felt no heat from the lavas.

Zhong Yue looked up in amazement and thought, Such wealth spent on the teleportation portal Xing Huo left behind in order to foster the growth of the Xin Huo inheritors!

The distance they had traveled into the underground would lead one to believe that the width of the underpass might have exceeded the volcano.

All around them were lakes filled with lava and volcanic columns stood highly on the ground. Some of the columns located in the lakes slowly moved as the lava flowed.

Everything remained calm as they ventured onwards but from here on out, the countless arrays set up by Xin Huo finally showed their ferocious side. Huge vibrations could be felt and when Zhong Yue looked towards the direction from which they came from, the volcanic columns consecutively transformed into seals and slaughtering arrays while lava formed countless totem carvings all over the columns.