by <unknown>
In the city, there were still ridges of mountains, but the crests were low; in it, there were palaces and caves wreathed in clouds, those would be the cave dwellings of the higher up Qi Practitioners.
Although Gu Xia City could not be compared to Swords Gate Mountain, it was still impressive enough, and this was only an ordinary city of the monster race, imagine how the sacred monster city, Xian Kong City would appear to be.
To besiege such a secure fortress, I wonder how many Qi Practitioners would die in the process ... the monsters are indeed a strong race!’
Zhong Yue praised in his heart, and he thought, The four Swords Gate young successors dare to come here in pursuit of the two island lords! Their courage, bravery, prowess, and breath of spirit are indeed admirable; these four are undisputedly the pillars for the next generation of humans!’
Not long later, Hu Wensheng, Huang Shulang, and the other two Qi Practitioners descended from the monstrous clouds into the city; the city was vast and spacious, even the streets were broader than the other cities.
Due to the bold and unrestrained nature of the monsters, they have explicitly designed the streets to be broad and wide so that they could engage in combats even in the middle of the street.
Moreover, the monster Qi Practitioners were monster beasts that had successfully cultivated to a certain level, some of them were enormous in their actual forms, and if they ever transmuted back into their true forms while in combat, they would destroy the houses beside the streets if the streets were too narrow.
Zhong Yue was unclear of the monsters' local customs and practices before this, but ever since his arrival in the Gu Xia City, Zhong Yue had seen many events that opened his eyes。
There were huge disparities between the monsters and humans. Some of the monsters on the streets were not entirely enlightened, they were still in their monster beasts form, but they were walking around on their rear legs like a human; while some others were civilized, only retaining a few significant parts of their body in the beasts form, it could be the beast head or a pair of cat ears or horns.
In contrast to Swords Gate, disorder and chaos ruled this place. Nearly every minute there would be an outbreak of combat, a simple dispute on trifling matters between two monsters could easily set them off, they would often transmute into their true form and gnaw on each other, two enormous monster beasts ramming and slamming in a fight – the scenes were bound to be soul-stirring!
At this point in time, immense killing intent sank down upon this city of monsters, the auras from the ace cultivators stirred the monstrous clouds above the city; the dense air around heavily pressured Zhong Yue!
Among the emanated auras, there was sharp and incisive Sword Qi, heavy and dense Monstrous Qi; they were like the stifling heat of a volcano on the verge of erupting and the suffocating pressure of lightning that was about to strike!
“Swords Gate four young successors, Fang, Feng, Lei, and Jun, are all in the city confronting the aces of monster Qi Practitioners!”
Zhong Yue carefully reached out his senses, his heart was thrilled, There are quite some monster ace cultivators that are at the same level as Fang Jiange, except for that Gu Hongzi, all the other aces of Xian Kong City are basically all here. Is the young generation of humans and monsters going to wage a war here ... But the battles between them will surely attract everyone's attention, and it will be a perfect opportunity for me to sneak into the teleportation portal. I wonder … just how do I get into the volcano?’
Zhong Yue glanced around, but the monster city was tremendously huge, it was not easy to find a route into the volcano, For now, I’d better head over and register myself on the record and change my identity to a Gu Xia City Qi Practitioner.’
“Brother Long Yue, I'll bring you to the Gu Xia Manor so you can put your name on the record!”
Hu Wensheng the four Qi Practitioners led the way, Zhong Yue followed them to the Gu Xia Manor and greeted the seneschal, after they told him regarding Zhong Yue's identity, he exclaimed out in shock, “The dragon race of East Ocean?”
The casual and insouciant attitude of the seneschal was no more, he was all inspirited and measured Zhong Yue with a pair of glimmering eyes, his face expression displayed his doubts and questions.
This seneschal is also a strong cultivator that is not any weaker than Swords Gate's Zuo Xiangsheng. Zhong Yue thought to himself.
Bai Xiushi and the others quickly informed the seneschal that despite the fact that Zhong Yue was still not a Qi Practitioner, but he still slew Sun Xiao in a strike. The seneschal pondered for a moment and said, “It is possible for a dragon to possess such exceptional prowess. Mister Long, I have no intention of looking for trouble, but the human cultivators have various peculiar techniques, it is hard to tell whether or not if any one of them is trying to masquerade as a monster. You claim yourself to be a dragon, then you will have to prove it.”
Zhong Yue responded, “How do I prove myself?”
The seneschal asked, “Can Mister Long unveil your true form?”
“Why not?”
With a shift of thought, Zhong Yue's psyche poked at the beast god inner core, a violent burst of beast god essence engulfed him and flowed all over his body; Zhong Yue released a long and intense dragon whistle, he turned into a Xiang Dragon with over forty feet long.
Everything was within his calculations; he had controlled the strength that struck on the inner core so that it would release the precise amount of beast god essence that could be refined in a short period, allowing him to rapidly revert himself from the Xiang Dragon to the half-dragon and half-human form.
“Indeed one from the dragon race!”
Light rays flashed in the seneschal's eyes, he could feel a surge of soul-stirring pressure on him, it was the dominating aura of bloodline suppression that was imposed upon inferior bloodlines by the superior ones. Even though he was already a Qi Practitioner, when faced with Zhong Yue who was a bona fide 'dragon', he could still feel the repression from the draconic bloodline trying to subdue him.
So this Mister Long is actually from one of the branch families of the dragon race, he is not a pure-blood dragon. Which makes sense, how is it possible for a pure-blood dragon to come to places like Gu Xia City?
However, even though he was only a Xiang Dragon, Zhong Yue's status was still fairly high. The seneschal dared not to treat him with even the slightest of negligence, he quickly registered Zhong Yue in the records and respectfully handed over a token to Zhong Yue, “Mister Long, from now on, the lands within the radius of five hundred miles around Falcon Ridge will be your territory. Mister Long can expand your territory once you've become a Qi Practitioner.”
Zhong Yue refined some of the beast god essence and reverted back to the form of ‘Long Yue’, he accepted the token, nodded and thanked the seneschal.
The seneschal watched as Zhong Yue slowly reverted back, he was more convinced that Zhong Yue was a dragon; without becoming a Qi Practitioner, a monster could not shift freely and casually between his forms, as Zhong Yue was still not a Qi Practitioner, it was normal for him to be slow in shifting forms.
“Mister Long is here at the right time because today is the day where our ace cultivators will be battling with the aces of Swords Gate.”
The seneschal smiled and continued, “I suppose that the battle has already begun, I wonder if Mister Long is interested in such an event?”
“The battle has started?”
Zhong Yue was baffled, he asked, “Why can't I see them at all?”
The seneschal guffawed and answered, “Seems like Mister Long doesn't know about it, if the battle is staged in the Gu Xia City, their prowess will tear the city apart; hence, they are battling in the volcano beneath the Gu Xia City.”
Bai Xiushi shouted out involuntarily, “Is it in the ancient seals of the volcano underground?”
Zhong Yue was overjoyed in his heart, but he remained calm on the surface and asked, “May I ask, how do I enter the volcano
underground?”
Chapter 72: Under the Volcano |
“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 Mr.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.
“Mr.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 Xing 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.
“Mr. 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 gods’ 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 Xing Huo went through all this trouble just to send me to the moon to sense the spirits and become a Qi Practitioner… Gosh, Xing 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 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 Xing 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 Xing 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.
These totem carvings moved as the lava flowed and they were formed in an oddly strange way, hiding away the secrets of the totem carvings, making them impossible to be deciphered.
As the volcanic columns moved, roars could be heard in tandem with the vigorous surging of the lava flowing in the lakes. Suddenly, countless huge lava giants and lava monsters ascended from the lava lakes and they walked on the lakes imperiously!
These lava creatures had totem carvings densely covering the entire surface of their bodies. Some of them had lasers shooting out from their eyes, some spat fireballs as they opened their mouths, and some had flaming tails that emitted extreme heatwaves!
Other than that, Zhong Yue even saw the walls ar
ound the volcano remold themselves to have various types of alluring carvings which appeared to be totem carvings!
Xing Huo had literally transformed this place into a world of totem carvings replete with all sorts of slaughtering arrays. If one wished to enter the center of the volcano, they would have to survive these slaughtering arrays first!
And if not careful enough, that particular person will definitely have a bad ending.
“This is just the first layer, but seems like someone has found a safe passage to the entrance.”
Xing Huo looked at the outside through Zhong Yue’s vision and he showed a surprised expression while saying, “I’ve left behind a total of nine layers of array formations and each of these array formations contained one hundred and eight arrays. It is really surprising to me as someone managed to see through my formation and enter the second array formation.”
The seneschal led everyone into the arrays with extreme caution and as they passed through one after another array, they could see a path that was amassed with bones. The seneschal then explained, “In the past years, we finally managed to decipher the first layer of array formation at the cost of the lives of countless magnate monsters and this path that we are walking on is made with their bodies! Various totem carvings were carved onto the bones of these magnate monsters and their purpose is to counterbalance the power of the totem carvings on the volcanic columns. With that, their descendants finally managed to enter the second array formation.”
Hu Wensheng and the other monster Qi Practitioners had not experience situations like that in their lives, making them stick tightly behind the seneschal in fear that they would make an unforgivable mistake. The four Qi Practitioners’ faces were extremely pale and they dared not even breathe heavily.
